Why are you so angry?

When you tell me that you don't care, what I hear is "I don't know".
Apathy = ignorance + laziness.

You say "nobody", but you really mean you. I care, and I'm a somebody.

Obama Inauguration

As I stood amongst the silent crowd, I craned my neck for a glimpse of the jumbo screen. I focused all my energy to my ears to let the speaker's words move me as she wished. It was an unusually warm day for January in the Bay Area; but then again, this was an unusual day. This was history in the making.

Hundreds of students took part in prayer as they followed along with the strong preacher who now took the screen. I wondered if these students had ever prayed in their life, let alone in the time since they moved away from home, yet understood the feeling in their hearts: bubbling with hope and anxiety for the world's near future. Old folks waved jubilantly at the screen before us as we excitedly watched former president George W. Bush step into a helicopter. This was history in the making, too. Maybe not for the world, but for our own little world in Berkeley. It was an experience that hundreds of us shared and will recount to our grandchildren. The two hours of inauguration ceremonies touched us all individually as we listened, lost in our own thoughts and emotions. It also touched us collectively; for finally, we all were united under a common hope for the future.

Dancing in the Streets

Wow, my first presidential election, and it was a big one. We're at war on the other side of the world, my father is in the military and living in another country, and my parents are homeowners. Oh, and I live in arguably the most progressive city in the country.

It's madness in the streets. I'm getting calls from my roommate, boyfriend, friends telling me about the mobs all over the campus and the main streets. I can hear loud whoops and endless honking outside the apartment.

This is it. Obama is going to be our president for the next four years. I wonder what kind of changes the world is going to see by the time I'm 24?

As we watched his speech on T.V., I felt like I was watching a scene from Heroes. I mentioned this to Lenny, and he agreed, saying that it felt like watching the future. But this isn't the future; this is now.

"Yes, we can." Alright. We'll see what comes next.