Just a short round up today. Sort of a slow one.

1. I went to measure a poster frame today because I couldn’t remember what size poster frame to get for my new Animal Collective poster. The ruler I used? It had all of the Presidents on it… up to Clinton. Tee hee. He’s two presidents away now. Wild!

2. Just got a hold of former musician Ryan Adams’s unreleased record, The Suicide Handbook. It’s actually pretty great. Lots of ‘old’ Ryan Adams voice, which I sort of classify as sounding somewhat more…vulnerable? Either way, it’s good stuff.

3. Rachel Maddow makes me laugh. Her show tackles serious stuff, but she’s funny about it. Yay liberal media!

4. I’m sort of shellshocked that W is gone. Here’s a new classic clip where he declares the very alive Nelson Mandela dead. Those were the days. And by ‘the days’ I mean ‘last week’.

5. I implore you to check out Oklahoma-based Moon Mission Death Squad. Two brothers who put out an album every other year.. and it’s all free to download on their site. Check out Fuck What You Heard. Great stuff. Thanks to Mike Ross for the introduction to these guys.

I was inspired today watching the inaugural festivities, and decided to cobble together a mixtape featuring songs I felt were appropriate for the occasion. Enjoy!

Click here to download.

Tracklist:

Change Is Gonna Come – Otis Redding
The World Is An Open Door – Franz Nicolay
Sorrow – Bad Religion
Afrobama – Cody Chesnutt
Come Together – The Beatles
The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Bob Dylan
Black Man – Stevie Wonder
Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
I Want To Take You Higher – Sly & The Family Stone
The Start of Something – Voxtrot

At long fucking last, we’ve come to the final day – erm- final HOURS of the Bush Presidency.

The morning of January 20, 2001 has been seared in my mind for eight long years. It was cold and snowy here in Chicago. I sat in my room quietly as I watched GWB take the oath of office. There was something painfully unfair about the whole event. I was fifteen at the time – old enough to have a political conscience, so the Bush v. Gore election from the previous November hurt – yet I really was not mentally capable of handling the repercussions of that ugly and incredibly costly election.

One day short of eight years later, I can look back and safely say we are not at all better off than we were before George Walker Bush took office. The Twin Towers no longer punctuate the New York City skyline. Thousands of our troops are dead in two very costly (and completely unnecessary) wars. So many scandals and controversies. No progress. Had there not been strict restrictions on stem cell research, by this point, we could have been leaps and bounds ahead in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s research among others. Nah. It’s against Dubbya’s religious beliefs. Ugh.

I could go on and on. Not necessary at this point.

Tomorrow is such a big day for our country. It’s the 1UP in this Super Mario game we call life. This is the do over. At 11 AM CST, and Barack Hussein Obama takes office as the 44th President of the United States.

That still blows my mind every time I think about it. Like many other Americans, I feel like I have a personal relationship with the guy. It’s like watching your kid go off on the school bus on the first day of school. I haven’t forgotten his cheaply produced Senate ads from 2004. I remember thinking: “Who the fuck is this guy?”. Then he became Senator. Then my mother and I watched him declare his candidacy for President on that cold day in February 2007 in our kitchen. Then he became the frontrunner. Then the candidate.

Then that perfect, inspiring, life-altering moment in Grant Park that mild evening in November.

Now we’re here. One night before the weight of the world is placed firmly upon his shoulders. I can’t deny that I’m rooting for him every step of the way. I think it’s that important. If it’s anyone that can direct us out of the trouble we’re in, it’s this dude.

Barack Obama is no messiah. He may not even get half of the things done he’s promising to get done. The challenges he’s facing are immense, and quite possibly, are beginning to rival those of FDR’s first days in office during the Great Depression That’s definitely something to consider. Regardless, Barack Obama, motivates people to be better. To try a little harder. That’s what matters. We can’t do the big things without the push to get us going. He’s providing the nudge.

This transfer of power represents a change of course. A total 180 from any other American Presidency we’ve ever seen. I’m hoping to see some openness in government again. We need a modern presidency. One that keeps the nation involved in the changes and allows us a voice that we can hope will listen.

I look to tomorrow and the days that follow with excitement, cautious optimism, and even some idealism. Regardless of your politics, I think that’s something everyone can invest a little in. Your future depends on it.

With examples of the past eight years and this seismic change in leadership, I hope that this country can again be a place to be proud of – instead of angry with.

I voted for Barack Obama in this election. At the risk of sounding recurrent – he’s really a once in a lifetime candidate. Although his political stances are actually edge more toward the middle than most people seem to understand – he as an innate ability to inspire and motivate a huge part of the country. We haven’t seen anything like this from a candidate in a very long time – maybe since John F. Kennedy. I had that feeling the first time I saw him speak – a replay of the 2004 DNC, like most others.

He’s run an incredibly tight campaign, largely without leaks and slanderous remarks that plague his opponent’s campaign. There’s some real structure and sophistication with Obama – that pales in comparison to the rough edges and disasters caused by the current president. I think that would translate well into an administration, and I trust him with his pick of Senator Biden and that he’d choose a talented group for his Cabinet.

I’m excited. Incredibly. Also, very anxious too, because of the 2000 and 2004 elections. Those were really hard to handle.

It’s remarkable how 2004 and 2008 contrast with each other. In 2004, there was an incredible amount of voter apathy despite some real anti-Bush sentiments in the country. That’s probably why Kerry lost. That, and the fact that he didn’t do a whole lot to distinguish himself from Bush.

This year – this election – is incredibly different. You don’t hear people talking about how they aren’t going to vote. There’s no apathy. EVERYONE seems like they’re going to vote. The past four years have been very dark for this country – especially with the economy tanking in the past few months – there’s a very palpable anxiety in the air. People want something different. Growing up in the nineties when ‘nothing was really going on’, to an era where people talk about the ‘end of days’ is a dramatic shift in attitudes. That’s terrible.

I think about that a lot: What happened here ? And no one did anything about it. We just let all of this inexcusable shit happen to our country and within our government. That makes me really angry. I’m on the cusp of graduating college, I feel I have the opportunity to change something. I want to do something important. I want that opportunity – but it’s sad that the way of life for a lot of people deteriorated to the point that us as a collective country is literally resting our future on this winner of this election. We shouldn’t have to do that – but since it really seems like it now, I want the guy in office who I think is going to give us the best shot to get us out of the gutter and make things normal again.

Dear Those of You of Legal Voting Age:

Recently, I was having a discussion with someone who shall remain nameless for reasons of extreme apathy, and he told me he didn’t vote.

I sort of figured this out, but at the same time, I was disgusted. Guess what his reasoning was…
“My vote doesn’t count, so it’s stupid.”

While I do agree (slightly) that the electoral system in America is flawed, it’s the hundreds (probably thousands) of people of legal voting age who assume that their vote doesn’t count that proves problematic.

I’m not saying that one vote may make or break an election, but people who consciously DO NOT vote may ruin what those of us hope for America to accomplish over the next four years. Not voting is an insult to the African Americans who fought for years to gain the right to vote, and still had obstacles to conquer after they were granted the right to be politically active.

It’s an insult to the women who stood outside of the White House for months during Woodrow Wilson’s administration to gain the right to vote, enduring hecklers and abuse, even incarceration. Do we not place any stock in the hardships and endless work that the aformentioned groups went through to simply make their mark on society?

Have we become so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we can’t look at what the rest of the
country is doing? I don’t know about you, but the Republicans scare me…and they are mobilizing to carry on just as things are right now. This very second.

Talking about how much Bush administration has messed things up isn’t going to get things done. Complaining about how high gas prices are isn’t a productive way to voice your opinion. Joking about Sara Palin’s resemblence to Peggy Hill is funny, but it doesn’t matter if you aren’t putting your figurative two cents into the ballot box.

You can bitch, moan, complain, cry, blog about it, text about it, and talk about it, but when it comes down to it, if you didn’t vote, do not complain. Just remember those who would have died for this awesome right to have a voice (however small it may seem), and it won’t seem too hard to find 10 minutes to vote, nor will it be hard to register if you already aren’t.

I know I may sound preachy, but people our age are about to inheirit a world with many problems, but the very least we can do it attempt to elect someone who can speak for us and not shame us. I am not the most patriotic of persons, and it may seem like one vote will get lost in a sea millions, but America needs you. Get registered. Know the facts. Decide what matters (it’s really not the new iPhone or who you’re boning…not on a national or global scale at least…). And most importantly…get out there and do it. I cannot stress this enough…so just do it.

Best Regards,

Kelsey

P.S. It doesn’t matter if you’re for Obama or for McCain, but you had better get your apathetic asses out there on November 4th and show your country what you’re made of.