I woke up wondering if it was all a bizarre dream, and then hauled my laptop into bed to rewatch the ridiculously powerful victory speech Obama gave (my first sober viewing of it).
To spend election night here was surreal. I ended up celebrating at a bar in Silver Lake, making use of the intense feelings of comradeship going around to have one of those of nights where I instantly became best friends with a group of complete strangers. I had initially felt anxious to spend it in such an unfamiliar surrounding… I thought it just seemed like something you should enjoy with people close to you. But to enjoy it with strangers, in a part of America I’ve never known, actually ended up being a really cool.
Everyone just kept hugging each other, and screaming “Obama” or “yes we can.” I drank travellers in a parking lot with this girl I just met… She couldn’t stop crying and talking about how this was the first time she felt like a first class citizen of her own country. And another guy must have been running up and down the street outside the bar with a flag for three hours straight.
It’s too bad about Prop 8.. Suggestions of its fate came around 1am here, and it ended up making everything feel really bittersweet.
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