Old Fashioned Democractic Feeling

There's something to be said for democracy. Granted, this is all coming from a Government teacher, but I wasn't always a government teacher and I'm really very new at this. Some pretty darn cool things happened today. The last one has to do with that old fashioned democratic feeling.

Pretty Darn Cool Thing #1--After stressing out most of the day because I didn't have anything for my gov class, I had a wonderful lesson (but it wasn't me...it was Rob who came up with it). The dilemma was that to be able to accomplish what I want to accomplish next week, I needed today. BUT...like I said yesterday, my students all flocked to the feet of Obama so I didn't know how many of them to expect. It stressed me out. I didn't know whether to use the day or not. I don't want to use the day and have half the class miss out, but I also didn't want to not use the day and have the half that came to school feel like they should have skipped. Plus, I didn't know how many would be there, and it was also an assembly day so we had a short period and I had this feeling that, with the weird day, and with their classmates gone, they would probably be kindof lazy anyway...In the end, I stressed out until lunch and was at the end of my rope when Rob said, "I've got an idea." It was amazing. Seriously amazing. I didn't have to plan anything but it was one of the most fun application lessons I've ever had. Rob had this collection of strange (like a black and white picture of an old man with a monocle holding up a cabbage and grinning) photos by a British photographer. Basically, I put a bunch of these pics around the room and the kids rotated through and they had to find something in or about the picture that reflected something we learned in the unit. It was great. If they really knew their stuff, they'd find something in the picture to explain. AND THEY DID!! It was awesome. In a picture of three chefs and a bunch of pies they saw the primary and caucus system. Each of the chefs had the same clothes on and their heads were hidden behind the delivery window. The kids said that the chefs were like the candidates. They are all close to the same, different body types but really...all very similar. They are all with their hands into the electoral pie. The pies represented the different states having their primaries or caucuses and the pieces represented different proportions of the vote that the candidates are waiting to get. I was so impressed.

Pretty Darn Cool Thing #2--After the day was over, I was exhausted. I fell asleep at my desk and was awoken by raucous laugher and, "Go home!" from Keith, my next door neighbor. While I was shocked out of my slumber and still staring at my laptop, Keith gave me 10 minutes to leave my classroom, tickled to death that I had fallen asleep and had woken up completely disoriented. I was so tired...but...I was torn. My students had skipped. I had about half my students today. The other half were standing outside Key Arena waiting to kiss the feet of their idol, Barack Obama. Can you believe over 20,000 people were at the Key Arena today to see Obama? They had him playing on the TV at lunch! My students came back and said that they didn't even get into the stadium, there were so many people! (Some did get to see him because after he had finished his speech to the 20,000 inside the stadium, he came outside and gave the speech again to the 500 outside the stadium). I tell you, those kids are smitten. BUT ANYWAY...that's not what was so pretty darn cool. Since they had gone to see Barack Obama, part of me felt obliged to go and see McCain. He was going to be in Seattle, 15 minutes from my house (well, much longer with traffic). But I was tired, and it was Friday and traffic today was the worst it's been in years (the guy on the radio said so) since there were all these political rallies! Plus, I was unable to find a single conservative person in my acquaintance to drag along. Anyone who knows me well knows I'm deathly afraid of people and horribly afraid of doing things by myself, especially when I don't know what to expect. But, that's the pretty darn cool thing #2, I went to Seattle, when I was tired, when I didn't know what to expect, ALL BY MYSELF!! You have no idea, I am so proud of myself. I figured, I'm a govt teacher, and McCain is here, not very far away and whether he becomes President or not, he's an important figure in our country. I've known about him since high school, before I knew him as a Presidential candidate. Plus, I figured, there's no way a Republican candidate would draw the kind of crowd that Obama drew, so I might actually have a chance to shake his hand or at least see him.

Pretty Darn Cool Thing #3--There were a couple hundred people there, and I didn't talk to anyone because it was sortof weird, but I saw John McCain! I also saw Dave Reichert, our well-known Congressman, the Attorney General of WA, and other important old Republicans (which, was pretty cool). I was pretty close to the front so I was about 10-15 feet from him. I could see his face and see his eyes, and when he was leaving the room I just couldn't make myself plow my way through because the media was attacking him and the only way to get to him would be to draw the attention of the media and I didn't want to do that. But at that point, he was only 2 people away and it was really cool to be that close. Now, I'm not crazy happy about McCain. Tonight there were very definite times I didn't clap, but sometimes I think we forget that the candidates are real people and when you're at a Republican event in a democratic state, you can actually get near the candidate and see that they're flesh and blood, not makeup and flash-photography. Oh yeah, and I got a free McCain poster for my classroom too!

Pretty Darn Cool Thing#4--The pretty darn coolest thing of the day was the old fashioned democratic feeling. In class today (during First Amendment Friday) we talked about the candidates and about the caucuses and about the fact that Washington actually makes a difference in the elections this year. All the candidates came to see us today and you can feel it, Americans (well, Washingtonians at least) care about the elections! The Primaries! It felt good to discuss. It felt exciting to think of the role we have. And then tonight at the rally, it was exciting and heartening to see all my fellow Republicans, especially since they are so sparse in this state. It was community! Mock my fervor if you will, but we were standing there, all from different places and yet...we were Americans and we were Republicans! I felt that good old fashioned democratic feeling! We were voters! We were coming together and unified! We were participating in our democracy! You could hear cheers and see nods and just...man...there was just something about that good old fashioned feeling. I know as well as any the reality of our democracy but I can't help but feeling that the good old fashioned democratic feeling has been lost by the way we do politics anymore. I wonder how much different our society would be if we gathered together for things other than rock concerts or football games. Caucuses are more difficult for participation, but I bet if govt had been turned over into the hands of bureaucrats, we'd still have more of that good old fashioned democratic feeling.

Reflection: I didn't teach the kids anything new. I didn't get to actually meet John McCain. But, I got a free poster and I felt like I belonged in a room full of strangers.

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