America Is Listening

Friends: To achieve the full experience, please listen to this song while (or after) reading.



Election night. Hot damn. What we lived through on Tuesday, the 4th of November, 2008, will go down as one of the defining events in America’s storied history.

The year is 1967. Blacks have only recently been given the right to vote. WTF. James Brown releases “America Is My Home (Part One).” The optimism and unrelenting love for his country shine through, despite all the shit we’ve gotten wrong.

I have never felt prouder to be an American than I did two nights ago at 11pm, when Barack Obama surpassed that magic number of 270 electoral votes. CNN called it. So did Jon Stewart. Everyone around me at Bell House erupted in cheers. We hugged. We cried. We screamed the way children do for ice cream. My cheeks hurt from smiling.

Digital communication fueled the fire that brought Obama to the people. On election day itself, we witnessed donated Facebook statuses, the Will.i.am hologram, pie charts galore and a jumbotron display of emotions from Chicago’s Grant Park to LA to Kenya.

Aided by tweets and texts that night, we took our celebrating to the streets – Dekalb and Carlton (outside of Madiba), to be exact. BrooklynVegan and flickr offered proof that similar showdowns were happening across NYC...and the nation…and the world.

Technology no doubt enhances real world happenings. But nothing trumps bonafide human connections. A few things I never want to forget about that night:
- Feeling like I was part of something monumental.
- Clapping as impromptu drummers played maracas, pots and pans.
- Singing with a cover band performing Weezer’s entire Blue album.
- Riding ever so briefly on the back of a garbage truck.
- High-fiving cab drivers as they tried to make it through the crowds.
- Drinking champagne in the streets.
- Embracing strangers.

For the first time in a long time, we are listening. Why? Because we finally have a leader we believe in. This alone is proof that the American dream is alive. Change has come, Sam Cooke. Hell yes.

p.s. Much love to my home state of Wisconsin for turning an impressive 59 out of 72 counties a brilliant shade of blue.