Snapshots

Sitting cross legged in front of the TV at preschool I watched Reagan take the presidential oath in 1980. I remember that he was on instead of Sesame Street and that my parents thought he was an awful choice even though my preschool teaches were besotted. My dad was in his bomb shelter planning phase and my mom was pregnant with my brother. I remember it as a series of snapshots, all of them yellowed and grainy, wedged in a box since the day they were taken.

This morning most of the estimated 7,000 people at Santa Barbara City College were taking snapshots of Barack Obama and I wished I would have thought to bring my camera. The morning was memorable; several times his speech gave me goose bumps. I don’t know how to recount what he said because hours later much of it is already a blur. But I do know that I liked him, liked his ideas on campaign financing, and felt he was capable of leading our country. There was a moment when he mentioned closing Guantanamo Bay and I turned to one of the women who was with me and said in my hushed satirical voice, “Seriously? I just finished shooting in the golf course there. That was a lot of work!” Immediately, four guys in matching flip flops and Cal Tech Biodiesel t-shirts spun on their heels and glared at me. It was funny but I didn’t laugh -- that golf course really was a lot of work. At the end of Obama’s speech the biodiesel contingent checked back in with me to see if I was cheering like everyone else or if I was truly a renegade heckler. I wanted to tell them, “I’ve already voted for him. He’s a senator because of people like me. You should thank me.” But of course I didn’t. I just ignored them.