I was going to blog about my writing, because I haven't been blogging as much lately. I've been writing. But not as much --- especially last week --- as I should have. Why? Well, in my opinion, last week's presidential election was historic! I know. I said right at the beginning, more or less, that I would almost never put anything in my blog other than material related to my writing, that is to say, Neandertals, medieval England(especially the earlier medieval period), and of course, my own writing process. But Nan Hawthorne's blog Tales from Shield-Wall Books
/a> had a post on this historic election. I could not allow myself to be outdone by a fellow writer, though she expressed herself much better than I!
But I can't help myself. Nan is right. This election has truly been historic. I can remember a time when it was inconceivable to even imagine that a nonwhite man, or a woman, could even dare to dream of getting elected President of the United States. True, this election happened the way it did, because after eight miserable years of an incompetent president and an even more incompetent --- and avaricious --- presidential team surrounding him, people simply got tired of the "same old, same old", and were demanding change. And a lot of people voted with their pocketbooks. The mess on Wall Street and elsewhere didn't help things much.
But this doesn't alter the fact that in so many ways, President-elect Obama represents change. Not only does he represent change, he represents a significant breakthrough for many people, perhaps for all of us, in the future. I think a lot of people realize this and acted accordingly, whether they were aware of this or not. And it's about time. I am now living in hopes that this country will begin again to try to live up to the ideals on which it was founded, and go forward. There is going to be a lot of hard work ahead, and though I was euphoric last week, I am realistic this week, both for myself, and for my country. I do not know how an Obama presidency will play out in the long one. But for now, we have hope again. And for now, that is enough.
And that, gentle readers, is all I'm going to say about anything "political" or "current affairs" here on this blog, for a long, long time --- at least until something of equal importance ivertakes us. It's now back to writing my Great Medieval Science Fiction Epic Masterpiece With Neandertals,
Anne G
Redheaded Neanderlady
This is a photoshopped version of something I found in National Geographic about the time I started researching
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2 comments:
Thanks for your observations, Anne, and may I repeat one point about the election that very much impacts us as writers and readers. This election was a breakthrough in social and pollitical justice, yes, but it was also the long awaited return to respect for the intellect. I am old enough to remember VP Spiro Agnew's tirades against "effete intellectual snobs" and even before that the characterization of of my mother's political hero, Adlai Stevenson, as "an egghead". In my opinion even the well educated Carter and Bush Sr. downplayed their intelligence to seem more like "just folks". As much with the victory of Obama, the defeat of the anti-literary book-banning Sarah Palin I hope we are seeing the end of the Glorified Illiterate pronouncers of of "nucular" at least for a while.
Nan Hawthorne
www.nanhawthorne.com
Author of "An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England"
Nan:
I well remember that "effete corps of elite snobs" remark by Sprio Agnew, he of the "nattering nabobs of negativism" fame. I remember this so well, because I actually saw him deliver the speech on TV, when I was eagerly awaiting the Dark Shadows program to come on, we all got Agnew instead.
And yes, I agree with you about the "anti-intellectual" streak in American politics. Obama wants to appeal to "just folks" too, but he doesn't do it by playing down his intellectual gifts. Instead, he plays to "just folks" by treating them as basically intelligent. This is an entirely different strategy from deliberately "playing dumb", and I think we may be a lot better, in the long run, for the fact that he does this.
Anne G
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