I don’t generally talk about my politics here– certainly not as much as I do here— but I thought, given the day and all, I’d comment briefly.
First, go out and vote, no matter who you are going to vote for. That’s obvious. But still, you should show up to class. I had one student ask if I would cancel class for election day, and while I did think about it for a moment, that seemed to be going too far to me. Besides, the polls are open in Michigan from 7 am to 8 pm, so presumably, everyone ought to be able to find some time in there to get to their polling station.
Second, it all seemed very orderly to me this morning, not at all like the sort of “chaos” reports that I’ve seen on TV as of late. There were extra volunteers at the polls (including a guy who used to work at EMU who teaches out at Henry Ford CC– hi Matt!), everything was very organized, and despite the big crowd at the off-time of 9:30 am, I was in and out of there in 10 minutes. So don’t let the lines scare you.
Third, I voted for Kerry. I don’t try to wear my politics on my sleave in my teaching or in my writing here, but it probably also isn’t surprising that an English professor interested in things like technology and post-structualist theories of reading and writing is a “liberal.” Actually, I’m much more liberal than Kerry, but given the two party system and the alternative, it’s a pretty clear choice for me. But just to “spice things up” a bit, I voted for the Green Party candidates who were running for the board of regents at Michigan State, Wayne State, and the University of Michigan. What I should have done for the Wayne State post is written in Jeff Rice….
Fourth, it is very clear to me that anyone at this point who thinks they know how this thing is going to turn out this year is either crazy, self-deluded, or both. I’ve seen on TV and heard on the radio smart people making smart predictions one way or the other, and while I’m hoping for the best, I’m prepared for the worse, too. I did enjoy this story on NPR’s “Morning Edition” about weird things that predict the outcome of the election. Nickelodeon fans picked Kerry, and that’s good enough for me, I guess.