Inauguration!!

[oyceter]

I am still jetlagged beyond belief (I swear, I haven't been this jetlagged for a long time) and classes are starting and my act is so not together and my brain has exploded a billion times yesterday reading comments on the Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of DOOM, part Umptymillion and I have complicated feelings about the rhetoric of the USA and the (US of) American dream thanks to finishing Octavian Nothing 2 a few days earlier and my own personal issues about nationality and belonging and I still have my own doubts and there is the economy and all, but.

But.

Oh people, I did not think I would ever see this in my lifetime.

And I should write more to counter the massive word-splooge of doubt and fear and hesitation, because oh, so much of that is because I am afraid still of what will come and what our new President has to see us through and I am afraid of being part of that "us." But.

I feel as though a long nightmare is over, and the dawn is breaking.

Comments

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

Yeah. People are dancing in the streets.

Want to do celebratory tea tonight? The tea place is 3 blocks from your place.

[oyceter]

Oh darn it, I think I will pass... Have class till 5 and reading already for tomorrow, and I already feel like I'm going to keel over =(. But will email about anime watching once I get my act together.

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

I feel as though a long nightmare is over, and the dawn is breaking.

I think an awful lot of us outside the US feel the same way. ^_^ I'm much happier about this than I've ever been about anything political in any country.

[oyceter]

OMG yes. And he's shutting down Guantanamo! And advocating erring on the side of openness! I am SO HAPPY!

[jadelennox]

part of my brain says "he's just a man, and an imperfect man at that, in a system that relies on corruption for its very functioning, and he's a hawkish centrist capitalist and doesn't really represent me."

The other part of my brain -- the one which is in charge today -- doesn't care about any of that. Even if he weren't smart and driven and all of the good things about him (believes in science!), I believe in symbols, and in what those symbols represent. And what this symbol represents is so wonderful. Doris Kearns Goodwin on MSNBC can kiss my ass when she talks about the end of racism, but that doesn't mean something wonderful hasn't just happened.

[oyceter]

I know! I just.. OMG. Looking at pictures of the extended First Family made me tear up. There are people who look like me in there!

It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Your icon is exactly how I feel. I get everyone saying, "Be cautious, the President can't solve everything," and so forth, and it's all true. But there is nothing wrong with being happy and leaving the cold water alone for one day!

Re: It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive

[oyceter]

I know! Me too! And just news of what he's been doing in the first few days makes me SO HAPPY.

[oyceter]

Yes, and yes.

[octopedingenue]

"History is not a pageant arrayed for our delectation. We are all always gathered there. We have come to the riverside to fight or to flee. We are gathered at the river, upon those shores, and the water is always moving, and the president of the United States always gesticulates silently above us, his image on the water. Nothing will cease. Nothing will stop. We ourselves are history. The moment is always now."

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

I have hope. I have hope that America can be better and things can change. I didn't realize how valuable hope like that is until I listened to Obama's speech this morning. I realized that hope is more powerful than I'd ever thought. That's worth something, even if Obama doesn't fix a single thing, which I think is a very unlikely event.

[oyceter]

I know! And even though i do not agree with all his politics, just reading reports of what he's been doing just in the first few days makes me so happy!!

[deepad]

I am happy and cynical both, and have no compunctions for the duality.
That said-- you finished the book! Book post!!!!

[oyceter]

Yes! I really mean to, as soon as I catch up on reading for class and get my brain back together.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Me too. Happy inauguration.

[oyceter]

To you too!

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Just, yeah. This made me tear up.

I feel as though a long nightmare is over, and the dawn is breaking.

[oyceter]

Yes. And oh! The pictures of the First Family! The picture of the picture of the president being swapped out at Guantanamo! The closing of Guantanamo! The advocacy for openness!

[fannishly.livejournal.com]

Good luck to you in the coming semester/quarter!

[oyceter]

Thank you! I will probably need it ;).