Autumn Souvenir

"We've already voted. Thank you so much."- 83 year-old woman in North Carolina "She's leaving work early at 230 to go vote." - Mother of a 24 year-old woman in Missouri "My daughter and son have voted and I will be tonight. Thank you so much!" - Mother of a 24-year old woman in North Carolina "We're getting eight calls a day. He voted for your candidate already and you need to take him off your list." - Mother of a 24-year-old male in North Carolina "I'm in walking distance of my poll and I'm just about to leave." - 61 year-old woman in Missouri "We've already voted. He has and the whole family has." Mother of a 21 year-old man in Indiana "I will and I'm voting for Obama." 25 year-old woman in Indiana "Thanks, I already voted today." 42 year-old woman in Virginia Again, most of the folks have been very pleasant, regardless of their candidate. Since I appear to be about to hit my ...

Tomorrow may be the most important day of my lifetime. Thank you all for reading my rants and raves over the past 20-plus months. I'm certainly not done writing about politics, but right now there's nothing left to say. That is, until tomorrow. Get some rest and vote tomorrow. By the evening hour on the West Coast, we will have set the future of not only America, but the World.

I spent a good part of today calling prospective voters in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and Virginia. This year's get out of the vote effort has been much more pleasant than in 2004. In the 04 election, I couldn't count the number of folks each day who either slammed the phone down or quickly went on the attack when I noted my support for Kerry. Aside from a handful of folks, this year has been much different. Obama supporters are excited to talk, and McCain supporters have been, for the most part, very respectful. Here are a few highlights from today: "We got ya covered, buddy" - 83 year-old man in Virginia "You should never have children" - 75 year-old woman in Virginia "I'm voting for John McCain but my brother's voting for Obama" - 20 year-old man in Pennsylvania

Boston, 1994-1995 In the fall of 1993 I enrolled at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA. I had just transferred from a smaller school in New England and felt ready to finally begin caring about my education. I can’t say that it was truly my own will, but rather threats from my father to cease paying unless I exceeded a certain grade point average each semester. Despite putting this pressure on and likely only doing so in hopes of not having to pay, it may have been the best thing my father has done for me. Before I knew it, the usual 2.5-2.8 grade point average jumped to 3.5-3.9. I was taking classes that mattered to me: Black Rights: Eyes on the Prize , Crime and Punishment and Inequality in America , to name a few. I was reading Faulkner, Camus, Richard Wright, and some of the best writers this world has ever seen. This was all entirely new to me. It was like my mind couldn’t get enough. I would sit in class watching the Birmingham bus boycotts and the March on Selma and feel thing...