Historic Moment

We're planted here in front of the television watching the Inauguration of President Barack Obama and a new dawn for America. I can't help but to think about how different, how disheartening, it would have been if it was McCain and Palin being sworn in up there. Instead of being filled with hope and pride in this country, I would feel dispair and anger. For that reason, and for so many others, we are so emotional and happy about this very historic moment in history. And so thrilled to actually be in the US to experience it, albeit in front of the television!

[See also this great message from Michael Moore].

For the past couple of days, we've have been surrounded by freezing fog hear in Sisters. And I was suddenly attacked by a vicious "Man Flu". Things were looking a little gloomy, but today, the future just looks a lot brighter. The sun is even shining again now. It is also quite appropriate that today I got an email from one of the jobs I had applied for, an Americorps position in Portland, requesting a phone interview this week. Should the interview go my way, I will be able to spend a year serving the community by teaching low-income teenagers, which will also give me really good experience to take into a career in secondary education.

We're still working on our job search and other job applications. Our trip to Portland went really well. It was nice to walk around in the city. Such a nice vibe. And our "informational meeting" was very useful. We got a lot of really good advice for how to find a job, especially in the current economic climate, which put a bit of wind in our sails. It is highly likely that we will move to Portland in about a week, so that we can be there because it is a bit difficult to do an effective job search from here. Our hope is that it will not be too much longer before we're both employed, but we thought we'd try to find a fairly cheap studio apartment in the city to use as a launch pad. This will give us time to get to know the city, too.

Get to know Barack Obama

Today there were a bunch of interviews with people who know/have known Barack Obama. Want to get to know him a little better before you cast your vote for him on the 4th? Read the articles online from The Observer.

And while I'm at it, let me just paste in something I got from Moveon.org the other day:

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.

If you agree that we shouldn't rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/office.html?source=blog&id=14534-5946886-Mon3lBx&t=1