apropos of anything

Sometimes I think there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to read through and digest all the news I want, in the way I want, which is to be able to step away from the computer and be able to speak knowledgeably for 3-5 minutes on the subject in question. There’s just too much news. Too many positions on each new story, too many new stories in each new section.

And sometimes it just gets to be too hard to handle, like this eyewitness account of violence in Tehran, which just makes me shudder, and feel a little vomity, and be grateful that I live in a country where the most outrage over an election (see Bush victory 2004) mounts to is scathing blog posts and late-night television satire. But, I suppose the Iranians had more to lose, or… more to gain had their guy won.

The problem with the Iranian election coverage is that I can’t suss out the correct story since there’s nothing even resembling unbiased media in the country right now. Foreign journalists have been asked to leave, at least partly for their own safety, so those of us not in Iran are relying on reports from their state-run media and then from various Twitter accounts, some of which have started accusing each other of being Basijis or secret Israeli spies.

The pictures, though… they seem real enough, and as I look at them, I can only pray that things work out for the best in Iran in the end, insha’Allah.

Obama signs executive order to close Guantanamo Bay.

I am so proud of him, and of us for having faith in him.

I know that I have higher hopes for our 44th president, Barack Hussein Obama, than I have had for any other president that I can remember. Julia and I watched the inauguration from the bridge that spans the two towers of the CNN Center; the atrium directly below us was full to bursting with people who’d opted not to deal with the frigid temperatures at the outdoor Centennial Olympic park viewing, and every time Barack Obama appeared on the giant HD TV, the crowd roared like their football team had just scored the winning touchdown. It was amazing, just a little piece of the emotion that must have been happening in D.C. at that exact moment, but from the familiarity of my office, where I have experienced almost every significant event over the last eight years and the most fitting place for me to be to usher in the Obama era of hope and change.

I know he’s not magic, but he does make me believe that yes, he can, and yes, I can, and if we all give a little and work a lot we can dig ourselves out of this quagmire. I trust him, and I have faith in him, and I hope he starts his term tomorrow by coming out swinging.

I know that Geoff was absolutely right when he told me to see Slumdog Millionaire, even if I had to fly to New York to do it (and at the time, I would have). It’s a beautiful and heart-wrenching movie that stays with you, that reminds you of the tenacity of the human spirit, and above all else, makes you so grateful for having parents. For me specifically, the footage reminds me of how much I love Mumbai, flawed as it is, and also that from whom much has been given, much will be asked. They can’t touch me, we break our friends so fast they can’t even touch me…

I know that what’s happening in Gaza, what has been happening in Gaza for weeks now, makes my stomach churn. I don’t really care if you think Israel is right or if you think the Palestinians are right — surely you can agree that no human being should have to stand in line for hours simply to get a loaf of bread, or be terrified to go to the bathroom because there are rockets flying overhead. Surely you can agree that the aid workers need to be able to get back into Gaza because… but for the grace of God, that could be you or I.

I know that grapefruit cake is yummy, that I work with awesome people who put together amazing products with grace and style, and that I am looking forward to tomorrow.

It’s a blessing.

For saying things that need to be said:

President Obama. I am so excited, and teary, and just plain HAPPY. If only my computer weren’t horking so I could post a screenshot of that awesome, awesome homepage where they finally called it.

Update 11/5: Looks like my vote wasn’t counted last night. Maybe Georgia will go blue after all, or at least maybe we can get Saxby Chambliss out of the Senate. Still quite annoyed by this development.

Thinking how funny I must have looked this morning making my multiple trips back and forth from the car carrying giant Target bags full of cookies and then later settling them around my desk so I could take them down to Farah when she swung by to pick them up.

Wondering what tomorrow will be like, and the next day, and the next day.

Wishing Madelyn Dunham could have seen her grandson elected 44th President of the United States, especially because every time I re-read Obama’s convention acceptance speech (“She’s the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she’s watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.“) I tear up, but I suppose that’s not so unusual because a lot of his speeches make me tear up. Joe Klein says it better than me, and some of the commenters on his post make me truly hate Republicans.

Being hopeful.

I know that one or two people who drop in here occasionally are fans of Sarah Palin, and I know I’ve made my opinion of her pretty clear. But I would like to know — why do people like her? What is it about her that makes you think she is a good vice presidential candidate and a qualified person to step in to the presidency if necessary? I really am asking to understand and not to mock, and I promise to immediately delete any comments that are rude or disrespectful to your opinion.

When I read last week that Colin Powell was on the verge of endorsing a candidate for the presidency, I have to admit, I thought, pfft. Who cares. It’s so late in the game, and if he picks McCain, everybody’s going to say he just picked the Republican, and if he picks Obama, everybody’s going to say he just picked the black guy.

Well. That’ll teach me to underestimate the General.

I always had a lot of respect for him, even during the Iraq WMD debacle because it must be tough to have to sell something because your boss tells you to and not because you actually believe it. I still don’t think he believed it, but I also think Colin Powell is not a man to sell out anybody, much less his former boss and the current President of the United States. He’d rather take the hit himself.

Maybe I’m being too soft on him because on Sunday he said this: “Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America.” Maybe. But I liked and respected Colin Powell on Saturday too; his statements on Sunday just solidified it for me. Now I like and respect him more for being honest and intelligent and straightforward and brave enough to say the things that need to be said.

(…which, he was even more to the point in the press conference after the show — see the YouTube below)

I’m still worried about the possibility of a McCain/Palin victory (not counting out a sneaky, underhanded last-minute surprise, or the impact of the DVDs, or the relentless robo-calling) but somehow, Colin Powell has managed to give me some of my optimism back. He took a stand. He made it clear he doesn’t think “Muslim” and “American” or “Muslim” and “good person” are at all mutually exclusive. It’s what I wanted Sarah Palin and John McCain to do. I guess this is why I think more highly of Powell than I do of them.

But then… I watch The Daily Show. I don’t live in a small town. I prefer the First Amendment to the Second. By the McCain/Palin standards, I am not a “real American”, so I suppose what I think doesn’t really matter after all.

I have been looking forward to this election since November 3, 2004. I have been counting the days until the entire world can rejoice at the end of the Bush administration. But the reason I want this election cycle to be over already has nothing to do with my desire to put a fork in the Bush Jr.’s legacy or the undeniable truth that somebody somewhere has been campaigning for president since 2002 and dear GOD that is a long time to be building up to an election. The reason I want this election cycle to be over already is because it’s gotten so freaking ugly I can’t stand it anymore.

Muslim family on the streets of New York City. We’re just like everyone else, you know.
Click on the image for the original Flickr page.

I first noticed it when McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Sorry, Palin fans. It’s not a partisan slam. When I heard her speak at the Republican National Convention, I had a scary moment of wondering what my life as an American Muslim would be like under a government headed by this woman who makes absolutely no secret of her dislike of the people of my faith. I’m sure if you ask, she’d qualify that she means only the TERRORIST Muslims, but to listen to her speak, there’s really no other kind, and nowhere in all her posturing does she ever make me believe that she would care that I have no terrorist designs whatsoever before she locked me up in a SuperMax somewhere and threw away the key.

Maybe that’s not what she believes, but it’s what I hear when she speaks, and I am the one who is usually unrelentingly optimistic and cheerful about the future of Islam in America. I am the one who agrees wholeheartedly with Imam Magid that there is no country on this Earth that is better for Muslims to live in than the United States because of all the freedoms and protections that are available here. I am the one who points to the incredible post-9/11 support of American Muslims as evidence that no, we are not in danger being put into of internment camps like the Japanese were during World War II.

And yet, Sarah Palin scares me.

What scares me more is that John McCain, a man I would have described four years ago as “honorable”, is tacitly encouraging this campaign tactic by not shutting it down or reigning in his surrogates. If John McCain expects me to ever consider him as a possibility for the office of the presidency (and if I am honest, that ship probably sailed in February, if not before), he needs to make me feel like he would be representing me and mine instead of just the people who look and think like him.

More than that, I resent this innuendo that somehow there is something wrong or “evil” with being Muslim. Frank Rich touches on it, Campbell Brown attacks it head-on, and Jon Stewart knocked it out of the park tonight.

I would really love to meet Sarah Palin or John McCain in person (her more than him because I do honestly think that somewhere in there the original John McCain is disgusted with the levels he’s stooped to) and ask them why it’s okay for them to spin me and mine as though we’re all always secretly scoping the joint to find the best place to put the C4 and why they think “Muslim” and “good person” (or “Muslim” and “American”) are mutually exclusive.

In the meantime, I suppose I’ll take comfort in knowing that the team at Five Thirty Eight is against Muslim-murdering Presidential Christian babies !FOR! Ohio.

What does it say about me that I am seriously contemplating mimicking Sarah Palin’s choice in footware?

The shoe Sarah Palin wore to the VP debate
(but I’m guessing hers was in black)

Not because she wore them, of course, but because they’re cute, but still….