How Sweet It Is!

It is now November 6th, and I guess I've been waiting to put my thoughts down because I have been walking around in a daze since the results came in Tuesday night. I was afraid to go to sleep for fear that I would wake up and find that either it was all a dream or the results had somehow changed as they did with Gore.

I am so proud of the voters of this country. I spent election night with a small group of close friends, all of us so afraid to get our hopes up....so afraid that it was too good to be true....so afraid that this election would somehow be stolen once again. When it became clear that an Obama landslide was indeed happening, we all ran onto the balcony cheering, laughing, chanting, crying, hugging, dancing and were joined by people across the street on their balconies and pedestrians walking by and cars honking, bells ringing, amazing euphoria.

For the first time in a long time, I have hope for this country. I am filled with a sense of possibilities to unfold. Equality and justice for all seems to actually be in reach.

We have made history, and how wonderful it feels!

-Dorothy Parker
www.ggontour.com
© 2008

Finally!

I woke up this morning with a funny feeling and I realized it was happiness. Is this what it felt like for the people of Germany when the Berlin wall came down? It is a good feeling.

Hope was in the air yesterday when I went to vote…long lines, excitement. Could this really be happening?

On the way to vote I passed a Catholic school. The 8th graders were out for recess. They were cheering and clapping for people going to and from voting. They would ask “did you vote for Obama?” and when they go a yes they high-fived each other and cheered. I thought- this is something, I want this to happen for those kids. I want that enthusiasm and hope rewarded. The future voters deserve this as much as the current voters.

But would it happen? I voted I got a tear in my eye; I walked by the kids and got high- fived. I got another tear in my eye.

Many years ago I was a Catholic school kid cheering people on to vote and then Reagan won. I didn’t understand. I remember seeing all the old Republicans cheering, wearing weird straw hats and red white and blue vests. I was so disappointed.

I’m happy to know that this year’s group of Catholic school kids got their wish. And I suppose the little school kid inside me finally got what she wanted too.

Thank you Americans.

Gracie Allen
www.ggontour.com
© 2008

Dear President-Elect

Congratulations. Guerrilla Girls On Tour takes partial credit for your being elected the 44th President of the United States.

You see we are a touring theatre company that humorously addresses issues that effect women. For the past 8 years we’ve been hitting President Bush hard on his anti-woman policies and more recently we’ve worked on skits and songs about John McCain’s 97% anti-choice voting record. We urged our audiences to Vote Obama! OK, so we did do a bit about you and Hillary acting out a scene from “Waiting For Godot” which was very funny. But we promise that we’ll only use you in our future shows if you need to be reminded that women need access to health care, reproductive rights, protection against violence and discrimination, and pay equity. I am certain that you won’t forget us.

In closing we are inspired by your promise to work for change, to lift up those who are still disenfranchised and to make our country once again great for all women and men.

Good luck and Goddess speed.

Guerrilla Girls On Tour!
www.ggontour.com
© 2008

Phew!!!

Election day is done. A conclusion has been reached. It is a good one. I started the day reading a quote on a daily website of Lake District photos, saying how men and women win elections more for who we vote against then who we vote for. It reminded me of how aware the world is that the Americans were at the polls and that this time around there was someone to vote for. And that made all the difference.

My favorite photo of the day was my Republican (from Ohio) friends' photo of himself casting his vote for Democrat Barack Obama - though I'm not sure he should have photo'd in the booth.

I came across one person who didn't vote. Tsk. Tsk. And, really.

I didn't partake in the freebies, but I didn't poo-poo either. Yesterday definitely had an air of the festive with people on the streets going off to parties and bars well into the night. Let it rock on, I say, and good stuff.

The longest wait to vote I heard - one and a half hours. (Just after 9 AM.)

I am disappointed in the passing of bans to gay marriage.

I applaud South Dakota for again supporting a woman's right to choose.

Congratulations to Beverly Perdue, North Carolina's first female Governor.

I thought the president-elect's victory speech had a delightful ring of Shakespeare's Henry V.

I am really looking forward to such an intelligent, articulate President. I have complete confidence in his ability to lead us through such a difficult time. And I am sad that at such a glorious time in his life, there is also such grief.

Well done America!

Edith Evans
www.ggontour.com
© 2008

My Vote Mattered

Last night, I asked my roommate if he voted. I thought it would be nice for us to watch the results together. His response was SHOCKING. He did NOT vote. He was not even registered! "It's just not my thing", he said. What?!? What?!? I literally saw spots. I couldn't even bare to look at him. "It's not your thing?" I said. "I just doesn't seem that important. He's already going to win. My vote doesn't matter." I immediately went into my speech....

"We, as black people, as American's, must always exercise our right to vote. We were granted voting rights in the 1860's, but it was not until 1965, when Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, that we were actually allowed to vote. For one hundred years we were threatened, murdered, and taxed to keep us from polls. Literacy tests were created to stop us from having a voice. We fought dogs, and fire hoses! And you, a black man, on the brink of the most important election in history, are not going to exercise the right that our people fought so hard for? (FYI, I have a similar speech for women who don't vote)?"

Well, he said nothing. Just continued to take out the trash. He probably thinks I'm crazy. I don't really care. I just don't understand how anyone would not want to be a part of history. Oh well! We won without him!

Josephine Baker
www.ggontour.com
©2008

Thank you, America

I am crying tears of joy. Barack Obama is the next president of the USA. I am proud of my country for the first time in a long while. I sit here breathing in history. It is a new era. I can say to my children that they can be anything they want to be and really mean it now. New possibilities are opening. The dawning of a new America is here, one that is embracing of differences, that is open to change, that is willing to grow. I await tomorrow with a new sense of hope and possibility. Thank you, America.

Fanny Brice
www.ggontour.com
© 2008

The Street Where I Lived

I grew up on a racially charged street where the blacks lived on one side and the whites on the other. I remember being around 7 years old and having a girl friend that I could talk to only with the fence that enclosed our front yard between us. It wasn’t acceptable for either of us to cross that fence. But sometimes it happened. One day the woman who lived directly across from us came over and asked my mother if she could use our phone. I remember that my mother helped her find the number she needed to dial. It wasn’t hatred that divided my street, it was more like confusion. As a child I was expected to act a certain way that didn’t feel right. Yet, everyone on the street at one time or another smiled at each other and said hello. We just did not mingle beyond that. Today as I cast my vote for Obama I thought of my old street. If I went back I would not find it the same, I am sure of that. I might be able to recognize some patch of it, some small broken down fence, perhaps. But for the most part my old street is far away and gone.

-Aphra Behn
www.ggontour.com
© 2008

My Fellow Feminists

Going to Pittsburgh, I felt the pressure of the election; being that it is so close to the voting date. Obama's and McCain's supporters are everywhere, everywhere, everywhere! You can tell the Pittsburgh/Washington community is torn between the two political parties. I saw the McCain and Obama campaign signs all over Washington Jefferson College campus and surrounding areas. However, our message to vote was only heard by a moderate-sized audience when we performed "Feminists are Funny". I hope our message was clear and that they will vote... for Obama. ; )
I really want Obama to win. I just can't deal with another Republican President; someone who doesn't care about poor and middle class issues, health insurance coverage, affordable education, and unemployment. Everyday I read in the news that people are losing their jobs and homes. It's enough to make me lose my mind. That's why if Obama doesn't win, I vow I am moving to Toronto sometime next year. Sorry people, but that's what I have to do, since citizens of this country are not listening to the truth of the matter; and the truth of the matter is McCain can afford to lose one of his seven houses, whereas I just need a place to sleep! I'll be moving to a country where I can get free education, free health coverage, and more job opportunities. I can honestly say I have tried to be a force for change; from protesting against the war in Iraq, to writing our Senators and congressmen and women about issues of concern to me. I feel sad as I write this, because I don't know what is going to happen come Nov 4th. All I know is, it's time for change!!!!

Frances Harper
www.ggontour.com