where were you when it happened it really happened
And if you are wondering what I did, I waited until it seemed real, and then I walked to the corner bodega where someone was screaming that now things were going to go THEIR way, and then I walked to the other corner where people spilled out onto the streets, where fireworks (the real kind) joyously erupted from stoops, where strangers wept into my arms and wept with me, poured champagne for each other, danced on the sidewalk, cheered with their arms in the air, screamed with happiness as cars and city buses honked in symphony with the collected relief, disbelief, feeling of finally that changed everything for everyone. I phoned Hyde Park, I phoned Indiana, I heard from Manhattan and Toronto and Los Angeles and Vancouver and then I watched the skyline of my childhood projected on the wall of the restaurant, everyone in the room both somehow silent and bursting all at once, and in this moment I desperately missed Jeff, desperately missed Oliver, and I watched the city I grew up in make an entire country, an entire world proud, not change everything but change something so so big and I never before felt more homesick or more at home.
Paul said,
November 12, 2008 @ 8:08 am
Spectacular.
I was closer to your home City, in South Holland, that night. I was running communications for a crew of suburban folks who probably hoped to bust heads running security around the City that night. They were disappointed, as the crowd was peaceful. CPD radios lit up with reports of shots fired, but it was just people firing into the air in celebration. Other than that and some lady reporting her panties got stolen, all was calm. So we slept in a tent on a ball diamond behind a Catholic high school that night, then woke up and went home! Here’s to a new day.
Annie Stokell said,
February 10, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
Hi Liz;
If you watch ‘Food TV’, this may be redundant:
http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=6839
Hope you’re doing well.
Take care,
ciao!
annie
aka Sojourn/Armchair_Traveler and a fan of ‘not fooling anybody’ and ‘infiltration’.
Maureen said,
April 23, 2009 @ 3:49 pm
Rob and I went down to Grant Park. Wearing our “White Devils for Obama” t-shirts, we spent about three of the most peaceful, happy hours of our lives in our native city Chicago. We were just outside the fenced off area (we had passes but couldn’t get in!) and could hear an echo from the main stage, while we watched the festivities on a huge screen that was showing the CNN coverage. While we leaned against a 100 + year old tree, we and 500 of our closest friends rejoiced in unison when my fellow White Sox fan became our president. Yippie!
Lollapalooza will be held in that same spot again this summer.