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Bullwinkle58 -> RE: How I Planned to Spend Election Day (11/8/2016 12:07:16 PM)
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I started my day at 0535, watching the combat replay of a turn in my game with Lokasenna. The turn is away at 0650, so, priorities . . . Now thirty of "Morning Joe", coffee, breakfast, and off to volunteer as an adult ESL tutor. Our students are about 50% Somali and Muslim. Many spent all or most of their lives in refugee camps in Kenya. This is their first presidential. The rest are a mix of Russians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican, Egyptian, Eritrean, Belorussian, one Spaniard/Venezuelan, and a few others. Some come from strong democracies; others are amazed there is more than one name on the ballot, or a ballot at all. The teacher is a naturalized citizen who grew up under communism. She speaks four languages--English is her fourth--and is passionate about US politics. She will have voted already when class starts and be sporting her "I Voted" sticker. We are doing a mock election just as Obvert's class will do. I will be the Head Judge. Each student will also get a red "I Voted" sticker. One student is already a citizen and another soon--I helped her with the stonkleringly long citizenship application. It makes some sense in a Chinese wiring mindset, but some of the questions are fairly strange. Humbled by what these folks have seen and done in their lives, how they left everything behind and came here to build a new reality for themselves and their children, I will go vote about 1400. Then three hours at the gym. Then home to watch every second of the results, two channels on the remote jump button, my phone on my chest tuned to politico.com. I will go into the wee hours of tomorrow. I hope to make it to the Hawaii returns. Yesterday I was musing that the spending on just the presidential races amounted to a figure possibly larger than the total GDP of the nation when the Constitution was ratified. Have to look that up. Regardless, it's a heck of a show. I'm not going to miss it.
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