- Paul M. Davis is the Austin-based publisher of Is Greater Than and a serious pain in the ass. He edits science, tech and gov 2.0 for Shareable Magazine, writes for a number of other outlets and blogs at Eventual Ghost.

Poptimism > Indie rock snobbery

All these years we’ve been publicly dismissing pop music as vapid tripe while secretly listening to Britney Spears through furtive iPod earbuds.  But in this beautiful day and age, we have both excellent popular music such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce, and a critical apparatus that is equally comfortable dissecting the cultural nuances of “Tik Tok” or “Ready to Start.”  No longer need we have legitimate taste and guilty pleasures: all music can simply be a pleasure

- Brigid J. Barry is a freelance editor based in San Francisco, CA. She also writes short fiction and cultural analysis, and knits in her spare time.

Urban chicken coops > Grocery stores

I’m a Mutha Clucker—member of an urban five-chicken coop, whose eggscellent members are Pickles, Lulu, Space Invader, Attila the Hen, and Eggberta Peepers. It’s legal to raise chickens for your personal use in Chicago. We get eggs—brown, pink, and green—compost, and the pleasure of the company of the chickens. Besides the satisfaction of supporting and contributing to the local food movement, I like having firsthand knowledge of where my breakfast omelet comes from. I visit the coop after walking the dogs in the morning. Between gathering eggs every day or picking up dog poop, guess which activity I prefer.

Original musical artists > Glee

At first I went along with the camp karaoke appeal of Glee: a real life gaymo, Jane Lynch, playing the mean as dirt cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester–a straight woman in a track suit, playing off that so so gay glee club director Matthew Morrison playing a faux straight man Will Schuester—typecasting against type. Glee-larious! But then those brats started singing. Like it’s style sister American Idol, Glee’s musical numbers play to the lowest common denominator—a karaoke playlist of untranscendeded covers that diminish and gut the originals. Any drag queen can do a more authentic rendition of “Bad Romance” with or without the lip quivering and moist eyes. Call it sentimentalized autotuned pap for those who can’t tell the difference. Call me an anti-Gleek.

Chicago > Anywhere else I’ve ever lived, or visited, or attended a graduation, wedding or funeral

After a year in Chicago, something like $700 in parking tickets and towing fees, about an equal amount in city stickers and parking permits, emissions testing and some other stuff that cost money and had something to do with driving or not driving, I still love living here. I don’t love driving here.

- Lynette D’Amico writes THE SCHEME OF SPACES for Is Greater Than. She lives in Chicago.

Sharing > Owning

The recession, global warming, and maybe plain old common sense has people thinking that sharing might be better than owning.  Who needs the hassle that comes with owning?  It’s expensive and you have to select, store, maintain, insure, and then dispose of that special something when you’re through with it. And think about how much stuff in your place just sits there unused day after day adding to the clutter. With all that’s involved with owning, you have to ask yourself, do you own your stuff or does it own you?  Why not just pay per use and skip all that?  Carsharing has shown that sharing works, and many new services have come to the fore this year to help people share all kinds of stuff like party dresses, textbooks, handbags, kids clothes, camera lenses, planes, boats, couches, and houses.  Try it yourself to see if sharing is greater than.

- Neal Gorenflo is the editor and publisher of Shareable Magazine

Matinee > Primetime

Sitting through high-priced evening shows with a bunch of polite squares is out. Bargain matinee shows surrounded by chatty, shifty, unruly kids running through the isles is in. The pre-dinner show of Tangled was awesome, even after my daughter Ginger peed on me during a scary preview.

- Boaz Vilozny is a native of Santa Cruz, California, where he is currently completing his doctoral research in organic chemistry at UCSC. When not busy thinking deep thoughts about molecular recognition, he spends time with his family, plays music, reads, and cooks.

The idea of the James Webb Space Telescope > The actuality of the James Webb Space Telescope

You may be aware that JWST, as this money-hogging sucker is known, is causing NASA (and therefore all astrofolks) quite the headache. While a successor to Hubble sounds sexy, $1.4 billion (a recent post-evaluation minimum pricetag) during one of the worst economic collapses in the modern era doesn’t. So now, no one else gets a space toy until JWST sorts itself out, or gets cancelled. I hope you’re happy, infrared types.

- Chanda Prescod-Weinstein currently holds a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship in the Observational Cosmology Lab at Goddard Space Flight Center. Find her at www.cprescodweinstein.com.

2010 > 2009

For better or for worse, 2010 was interesting. There were extreme high and low points both on a broad and personal level. For instance: In the same weekend that I got broken up with twice within 24 hours (also my birthday weekend) I was able to experience the grand opening of 826DC, an organization I’ve helped nurture for three years. I’m working on essay about this. Get excited.

- Kira Wisniewski currently lives just outside of our nation’s capitol and continually tries to do her part in fighting the good fight. Her latest endeavor is co-founding 826DC, a free, non-profit writing center for youth in Washington, DC. She also has a pet bunny named Billie Jean.

Good storytelling > “print is dead”

2010 was the year e-books finally hit the big time, if only because the gadget manufacturers finally made some e-reading devices that wouldn’t earn you a wedgie if you were caught carrying them to school. But lost amidst all the tech-wankery over screen resolutions and the literary garment-rending over what it all meant for our precious books was the most important fact: 2010 was a hell of a year for the written word. Readers now have more access to good literature and journalism than ever, in a mind-blowing range of formats and media. I love an old fashioned book as much as anyone, but I’ll take good writing however I can get it. This is the year that finally became easy.

- Matt Wood is a writer living in Chicago and blogger for TriQuarterly Online. His work has appeared in The Best Creative Nonfiction Vol 3, Anatomy of Baseball, Oprah.com, Chicagoist, and his own site, Wood-Tang.com.

Glenn Beck > Coast To Coast AM

In the world of government-run skin failures and mysterian invasions from inner space lizard mole men, COAST TO COAST AM was the singular voice of the unreasonable conspiracy. When the paranoids needed validation of the war being waged by psychic bigfoots or PsyOp covert gang stalkings, they tuned their radios to the unpaved, mono gravel AM frequencies, indulging in their night lightless apartments, the TRUTH! But all the good that COAST TO COAST does to support the pseudosciences has become overshadowed by the puffy, sensible sweater rec room monologue of our Nation’s creepiest uncle by marriage, GLENN BECK. From his Great Awakening revivalist tent ranting that connects otherwise unconnectable dots of history, bible study, and political theory to his other-side of the Woebegone coin folksy common sense outraged fear mongering, BECK is a master con man. The sort of show man who updates the great con men of Twain or Melville to the cybergentic present. His rambling is best absorbed when nodding in agreement, ears stuffed with a never ending snack food. His logic is frustratingly precise in its faulty wiring, made all the more convincing by his own surprised moments of thoughtful pause–amazed by what he is saying, BECK seems constantly discovering, for the first time, live on air, hidden TRUTH! What COAST TO COAST does for the paranormal and cyrptid sciences, BECK does to American History – revising current events through a closed system of utter enraged morality and agitated connective idiocy. BECK is the best conspiracist we have working in ‘Merica today. And that is to Behold a Pale Horse, indeed!

- R. John Xerxes is a freelance librarian who will answer reference questions if asked nicely and paid for his time. He also runs Love Bunni Press which has been photocopying paper since 1988. He lives in San Francisco and blogs about it at Love Bunni Press West Coast. He watches too many movies than is good for him.

Previously

Is Greater Than’s 2008 Year-End Equations

Is Greater Than’s 2007 Year-End Equations

Join us as we break through the year’s rhetoric and double-speak as simply as we know how, and leave your own equations in the comments. For the historically minded, take a look at 2007’s edition.

Brigid Barry

Thrift shops > American Apparel
Why buy your ill-fitting 70s throwbacks from a misogynist who overcharges when you could buy them cheap and green from the used clothing store across the street?

Brigid Barry is a freelance copy editor based in San Francisco, CA. She is the Associate Editor of Is Greater Than and also writes short fiction and cultural analysis, and knits in her spare time.

Leland Cheuk

The Economy > The Price of Oil > The Popularity of Private Jets

2008 was a very bad year if you were a corrupt politician, Gordon Ramsey, a UK social services worker, a banker investing in oil futures, or a Republican. But 2008 was much worse if you were, say, a private jet company reliant on flying executives of Sean John or the Big Three automakers. Not only did the price of oil cause Diddy to swear off Cristal-loaded private jets early in 2008. The nose-diving economy caused private jets to become a political football when GM, Ford and Chrysler executives flew into Washington D.C. to ask for what ended up being a $14 billion bailout. I hope 2009 is friendlier to companies like Onesky and Privateair so we won’t have to bail them out in June. After all, it’s not their fault that we’re in the bind that we’re in.

Leland Cheuk is is a currently an MFA candidate at Lesley University’s Creative Writing program. His writing has appeared in MostlyFiction, Punk Planet, and other publications. Recently, one of his short stories was selected as finalist in the 2007 Washington Square Review Contest. He lives in San Francisco and is working on a novel.

Leilani Clark

Mushrooms > Anything made by humans

In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road mushrooms are the first organic matter to grow after the an apocalypse brings on nuclear winter. While humans fall into cannibalistic disarray, the fungi keep on trucking. Tenacious and communicative, mushrooms are key to a thriving natural ecosystem. They make a simple hike in the woods into an awesome treasure-hunt. In addition, they are damn good to eat.  In 2008, you could listen to mycillium guru Paul Stamets talking about the glorious power of toadstools on just about every media outlet–from books to radio to YouTube. We should pull up a chair, take notes and learn something new that just might save the world.

Leilani Clark has written for Clamor Magazine and the North Bay Bohemian. She loves free media and defending the working class. She writes about more then mushrooms at www.leilaniclark.com.

Paul M. Davis

Reason > Superstition

The election of 2008 wasn’t only a triumph for those of us who have watched the last eight years in horror as the imperial President attempted to drag this new century into the 17th. Indeed, it was a triumph of a reasoned, pro-science, pro-progress mentality over the superstitious beliefs of the Christian Evangelical crusaders. But it was also the year in which the reasonable majority appeared to wipe the collected mung out of its eyes and return to its senses. To wit, the Republican intellectual schism of August and September 2008, in which numerous vocal figures dismissed the party’s insane Evangelical wing in favor of critical thinking. It was also the year in which a realistic appreciation for regulated markets emerged out of the ruins of post-Friedmanite, neoconservative economic policy. It was a year for sober realism over faith in destructive myths, and even if the reality before us is fucked, it’s preferable to living a collective fantasy.

Paul M. Davis is the editor and publisher of Is Greater Than. His Is Greater Than blog is Attencion!

Whitney Dibo

Gail Collins > Maureen Dowd.

Thank god the New York Times finally landed a female columnist who can write coherent, if shrill, commentary. Collins’ editorials around the election season were hilariously poignant and spot-on, as opposed to Dowd (whose idea of a productive use of New York Times editorial space is to write imaginary conversations between famous people). And Collins doesn’t even have a glamour-shot picture, (almost no makeup – gasp!) a sharp contrast to Dowd’s vampy smirk.

Harry Potter > Twilight

As a child of the Potter generation, it seems painstakingly obvious that to even put the two fantasy novels in same league is treason so high even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wouldn’t dare do it. Harry Potter is to the Imaginatively Curious as Twilight is to the Sexually Frustrated. I mean – the apple on the cover? Come on.

Whitney Dibo is a freelance writer and also works in the Education Department of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2007 with a degree in English and Political Science.

Levi Fuller

Elective democracy > Direct democracy
In Washington, as in many states, “The People” lately have a huge boner for legislating via initiative.  Every once in a while this ends up being a good thing:  Smart, active citizens can ban together and pass legislation that our elected officials are too afraid or busy to pass (witness our recent “Death with Dignity” initiative).  For the most part, however, it’s a complete, unalloyed disaster that has our legislature and courts scurrying to and fro trying to manage the repercussions.

The most egregious recent example of this “tyranny of the majority” is, of course, California’s Prop 8.  Millions of church dollars went to hammer home the message that “traditional marriage” needed defending from the loony left judges who wanted men to marry men and gerbils to marry ducks and kindergartners to be indoctrinated into the ways of homosexuality.  Another, smaller example from Seattle:  Our City Council recently passed a $.20 per-bag tax on grocery shopping bags to encourage people to get reusable bags and curb the ridiculous waste of resources that occurs all day every day in grocery stores.  This bill was much more moderate than San Francisco’s outright ban on plastic bags, but of course it was still too much for the American Chemistry Council, who banded together to get a recall of this simple, sensible bill on the ballot for next year.  For now, the status of bags in stores is in limbo, and every time I shop at Fred Meyer the checker automatically starts putting my item or items in a bag without even asking.  Elective democracy isn’t perfect, and the initiative process can be a useful tool of last resort, but there are times when we should just let our elected officials do the job we elected them to do.

Levi Fuller plays music, DJs on the Internet, curates a quarterly series of compilations, and generally runs himself ragged in Seattle. www.denimclature.com

Matt Gajewski

Buying fruit at red light-stalled intersections > Buying subprime mortgages at red light-stalled intersections

In previous years, the lane line-tiptoeing hawkers at US-1 and Bird Road near my home were all about subprime mortgages: “Hungry and homeless and need investors for asset-backed securities,” “Will disregard borrower’s past credit history 4 food.” But with the housing bubble bursting, the global economy collapsing, 2008 was the Year of Intersection Fruit: sweet-smelling guavas, succulent mangos, to-die-for tamarinds and tangerines and papayas; investors clearly voicing their preference of juicy, vitamin-rich produce over risky, subprime collateralized debt obligations. Let’s hope that 2009 will be no less delicious, and that our nation’s intersections will remain a cornucopia of discount, indigent-vended citrus for many years to come.

Matt Gajewski hosts Pure Imagination, a radio program featuring darkly comic short stories set to music on 90.5 WVUM in Miami, FL. Listen to past episodes at www.vangloria.net/pureimagination.

Narinda Heng

Real food > Bacon-wrapped, deep-fried, gravy-drowned novelties

While I can see the fun in chicken-fried bacon (and am in awe of the genius behind the bacon weave), real food that can be eaten every day (without giving you a heart attack at 40) is infinitely more interesting. The appearance of people like Michael Ruhlman, Michael Pollan, and Alice Waters in mainstream media advocating more sensible, healthful cooking shows that there is hope that we might be able to fit into last year’s skinny jeans someday.

Narinda Heng is planning to start 2009 unemployed. She’ll be writing at Long Cool Hallway and wherever else she can get a word in.

Rob Miller

Hysterical hyperbole > bland euphemism.
The following are exact quotations from ABC World News Tonight as they have described the economic apoplexy during the past couple of months.
At least as we all get closer to selling pencils out of tin cups (or would the modern day equivalent be flashdrives?), we can rest easy that we will be suitably entertained as we watch the news (even if we might be looking at the TV through an appliance store window like a Dickensian waif cuz our electricity was cut off).  But still….

Thus, in order of appearance:

• Troubling downturn
• Confidence is ebbing
• Contracting economy
• The Dow is losing ground
• Has the Bull market run out of steam
• Grim jobs report
• Panic on the trading floor
• Cascading job loss
• Might send investors heading for the ledge
• It was a bloodbath on Wall Street

See?  Isn’t that more fun?  When we started, you could feel your eyes go droopy with the musty, lifeless talk.  Shit, it’s like you’re in some Econ 101 lecture after spending all night proving you CAN play Quarter Bounce with tequila shots instead of beer.  But by the end of the list, you can almost SEE Chuck Norris starring in the movie version with guts and explosions and falling buildings and cars driving through plate glass windows.
It’s more warming than drinking after-shave lotion.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Rob Miller is the owner and founder of Bloodshot Records.

Laura Pearson

Supporting independent booksellers > Buying books on Amazon or at B&N or downloading digital files to your ebook reader. (Plus, talking all about your Kindle just sounds gross.) As we all know, it’s getting more difficult to be an independent anything, and there are oh so many reasons to support nearby, non-chain stores (e.g., Of $100 spent at a local business, $68 stays in the community; whereas at a national chain, only $43 of your $100 sticks around (www.indiebound.org)). Most importantly, in an age where virtual experience often supersedes the tangible, real-world stuff, the time has come to get in close proximity to actual pages… Bookshelves. Book smells. Or to put it in another, lamer way: In 2k9, acquire a spine.

Laura Pearson is a Chicago-based editor and writer. She has written music news stories, as well as book, zine, and comic reviews, but her favorite subject to write about is people who are both contributing to culture and creating culture.

Erica Phillips

The Beijing Olympics > everything else

The rest of the world got served by China this August. From the awesome spectacle of the opening ceremony, to the mod and exemplar facility architecture, and the over-coverage, obsessive interviews and photo opps. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games was the shiny and bedazzling thing that made us all forget everything else.

We forgot China’s human rights record and the Olympic torch parades through Tibet, when residents were not allowed in the streets unless they promised to yell “Go China” and nothing else. We forgot that NBC was making it censorship-level impossible to find Beijing youtube footage anywhere on the internet. We forgot about the diplomatic mess between Russia and US-backed new “democracy,” Georgia. We forgot about Pakistan and Iraq and Turkey and everything, because China stepped up and we were like “Woah, it might not be all about us anymore.”

Erica Phillips currently splits her time between an immigration law office and the Venus Zine headquarters. She is editor / publisher of globalhuman and has written a few things for Love, Chicago.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Cloud Cult, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) > Any other new music I heard this year (or last year)
I heard a lot of great music this year, including great new stuff from Sam Roberts and Malcolm Middleton, but I feel that this album really just is 2008. Taste this bit from “Hurricane and Fire Survival Guide”:

“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired
I’ll laugh my whole way through the hurricanes and fire
That’s why you don’t wanna bring me down.”

The first Black President of the US was elected. You just try and bring me down. I will laugh my way through hurricanes and fire.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is in the process of building a veritable cornucopia of degrees in physics and astronomy. The black hole of academia is a dark and dangerous place. In a perhaps related story, she also seems to be known as a trouble maker. Her Is Greater Than blog is Disordered Cosmologist Is >.

Elaina Ramer

1929 > 2008
None of the Wall Street dudes who were taking those huge bonuses from dying financial companies really lost much as the markets have crashed and, thus did not throw themselves out the windows of Manhattan skyscrapers. Bummer.

The Half Pint (8 oz.) > The Imperial Pint (20 oz.)
At some point a few years ago, I discovered that my fav local pub, the Poet and the Patriot, serves beer in 20 oz. glasses. I was delighted. This year I discovered that consuming more alcohol makes me neither healthier nor wealthier nor wiser and that the Poet also serves beer in 8 oz. glasses. If I’ve got to cut back, I’d rather sacrifice the quantity of my beverage rather than the quality.

The Wide Leg > The Skinny Leg
Just trust me; I’m right.

The Shoes > The Bicycle> The Public Transit > The Private Automobile
This is as much practicality as it is green washing. For those of us who live in urban areas, walking, cycling, and taking transit are things we do and things we could afford to do more often. Each of the things listed above are affected by the price of gas and the political situation (listed from least to most affected). But when gas hits $10/gallon and people are rioting in the streets, you’ll still have your boots and no one is going to set your bicycle on fire.

Elaina Ramer is a fashionista, bike messenger and radical economist living in Santa Cruz, CA. She completed most of a degree in Global Economics before she dropped out of college to pursue enjoying her youth. Elaina blogs about fashion and global politics at frugal and hep dot com.

Boaz Vilozny

pretty good > best
Let’s face it—it was nice being the world’s dominant nation for a while back in the 20th century, but who wants to deal with all the pressure? It’s high time we stepped back and let someone take over as superpower #1 while we get our own house in order. Any volunteers? China? India? Cuba? Anyone? What if we throw in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Boaz Vilozny is a native of Santa Cruz, California, where he is currently completing his doctoral research in organic chemistry at UCSC. When not busy thinking deep thoughts about molecular recognition, he spends time with his family, plays music, reads, and cooks.

Leland Cheuk

Tonight we are finally the city on the hill.

But tomorrow and come late January when Obama is sworn into the office, will we still be? Will Obama make the right decisions and get us out of Iraq? Will he make the tough decisions necessary to restore fiscal and executive responsibility back to the White House in this economic meltdown? Will he resist the urge to compromise, both personally and politically, as Clinton did? And will Obama lead and inspire as he has the potential to do? Yes he can. And yes he did, for one night. But will he continue to?

Leland Cheuk is a novelist living in San Francisco.

Paul M. Davis

I have never been so proud to be an American citizen as I was last night, as McCain took the stage to deliver a speech that may go down in history as one of the most dignified and eloquent concession speeches ever. Barack Obama — a Constitutional Law professor, a black man in what remains a bitterly divisive nation — became our President-elect. And it is good. For the first time in eight years, we can all hold our heads high as citizens of the world, as people celebrate in the streets — not only in Chicago, IL, not only in the United States, but around the world, from Canada to Kenya, France to Japan.

We have much work to do, and Obama can not possibly fix it all. There are many things that must be done that are not even on his docket. Once again, civil rights for homosexuals in this country have been shot down, with the passage of Proposition 8 in California. We have a Constitution bowing under the weight of precedents set by the George W. Bush administration. We are in two wars that no one has a idea how to resolve.

Let’s not make the mistake that Clinton supporters did in 1992, pinning unrealizable expectations on a single charismatic, yet inevitably flawed, figure. For many readers of and contributors to this site, Obama’s administration will take an at-times-frustratingly centrist approach to governing. There are many inequalities in this nation and this world which the Obama administration will fail to redress.

Still, this is a day for celebration. The good that Obama will do for this nation — and has already done, by sheer glint of winning the office — will reverberate for generations to come. He is truly this nation’s first President of the 21st Century, as opposed to our current lame-duck-in-chief, who seemed to govern as President of the 18th Century. But for all the caveats, with Obama in office, this country will finally move forward.

Paul M. Davis is the editor and publisher of Is Greater Than.

Peter Koht

Halfway through the Chicago speech last night (and three quarters of the way through the champagne bottle) I had the rogue thought that this election represents a new model of activism and a much better approach to building a coalition.

The Clintons and Kerry were representative of the old guard, anti-war 60s ideology tempered by the gradual accumulation of wealth, privilege and habit. But Obama’s volunteer army and his embrace of social media allowed many more people to actively participate in the election rather than criticize on the sideline.

I think the two David’s deserve a lot of credit for expanding the base, and their efforts to target rural “red” areas will continue to pay dividends down the road. I just sincerely hope that Obama realizes that his large electoral college win will be served by governing pragmatically and working with the fiscal conservatives to fix infrastructure and the finance system before tackling health care. In other words, don’t go out and make HR 1 about gays in the military.

Peter Koht is a freelance journalist based in the San Francsico Bay Area.

Levi Fuller

I would not be surprised to learn that there have already been more words written about the 2008 Presidential Election than about any election in history, and that total is only going to increase geometrically over the next days, weeks and years. I don’t feel the need to add too much to that total, but I do want to say that yesterday evening, as it started to become apparent that Barack Obama was indeed going to become our 44th President, I realized that my attitude toward the majority of my fellow Americans (and people in general) could be softened in one fell swoop. For the majority of voters to sit through that campaign – the lies and the slander and the fear and the exaggerations and the guilt-by-association attacks – and to see through it all, and to rise up and speak clearly and say “we choose That One,” instilled a faith in my fellow man that I didn’t think I could ever have. I just hope that the energy and positivity I saw last night – running through the streets of Seattle high-fiving strangers of all ages and colors – can be carried through the next 4 (8!) years and beyond and really bring this country the change and hope it needs.

Levi Fuller is a Seattle-based musician, and the man behind the Ball of Wax compilation quarterly.

Rob Miller

I want to drink from the Kool-Aid, I really do. And, yes, this is a tremendous victory for reasons symbolic and beyond; the rose-colored big media would not let me forget that, and the self-congratulatory mythologizing of America’s story was in its full throated glory. But let us not forget that there were still 50 million plus voters who chose to support the losing party, despite an eight year administration that has piled civil liberties, foreign relations, the environment, science, fiscal responsibility, human rights and reasoned discourse on to a flaming shit wagon and kicked it down a hill. There is, at this writing, only a 6% difference in the popular vote. Let us take the good, verging on euphoric feelings and energy of last night, the culmination of so much activism and political engagement, and keep them stoked. It is only through persistent personal action on a massive scale that the potential of last night will have a chance. The fact of Obama’s election is truly remarkable, to be sure. A victory, yes, but also just a first step.

Rob Miller is the founder and owner of Bloodshot Records.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

My people, we have arrived. And no, I don’t mean my American people. I mean Black folks. You see, I grew up Black in a country started by and run by white folks. I grew up learning at school that the only great achievements of people who looked like me were not being slaves anymore and no longer getting beaten in the streets just for trying to sit at a lunch counter. I grew up being asked to celebrate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, slave holders — people who took advantage of their right to own people who looked like me. I grew up in a country where it was understood that Blacks don’t become President. So I grew up Black in America, but I never felt American.

So, Black folks, we have arrived. As I spoke to my 90 year old grandmother tonight, the lady who did the hard work of leaving her homeland (Barbados) to start over in the US, the lady who was at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, I cried tears of joy because my grandmother lived to see the day. Because I lived to see the day. The day when a Black man became President. The day when white folks thought the content of his character mattered more than the color of his skin. The day when young Black men and Black women saw, really saw, that we can and should tear down the barriers put before us and our communities.

So, today I am a different woman. I am a woman who knows that she has a problem with Obama’s Zionism. I am a woman who doesn’t want to bomb Pakistan. I am a queer woman who thinks she deserves equal rights. Who wants universal health care for everyone. Who wants to end sweatshop labor. Who wants and hopes for a lot of change that Barack Obama may not care to make.

But today I have faith that the young Black or Latina or Chinese woman who will commit to that kind of change, the kind that I believe in, now knows that her time is arriving. And I realize that, at 26, I am one of those women. Si se puede!

O, let America be America again — 

The land that never has been yet — 

And yet must be — the land where every man is free.

The land that’s mine — the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME — 

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Langston Hughes

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an American living in Ontario, Canada, working on a PhD in theoretical physics.

Heather West

Why haven’t we heard from Bill Clinton on the election of Barack Obama? Were no journalists camped in front of his office in Harlem the night the first black man was elected president? This seems highly out of character for an attention addict like our former President. After a numerous google searches, I finally found this statement from Hillary, “Tonight, we are celebrating an historic victory for the American people. This was a long and hard fought campaign but the result was well worth the wait.” The full story can be found here. Pretty weak statement on the enthusiasm scale.

Clintonian reaction aside, I am proud to live in a country that elected a black man president. For Christ’s sake, it’s a recent development to let blacks play quarterback in the NFL! Though my fellow citizens are surfing on a wave of rainbows and unicorns, I can’t help but point out that it probably wouldn’t have happened if the economy hadn’t tanked, taking the retirement money of countless Americans down the drain. It’s a shame that it took such tragic circumstances to galvanize us into action, but the end result is the same, the long, ugly era of Republican rule is at an end. The real work is coming, and I’ll put my faith in Barack Obama because I believe he will surround himself with fine statesmen/women who’ll give him honest feedback and help find solutions to our country’s seemingly insurmountable problems.

Heather West is a publicist and freelance writer living in Chicago.

A. Zell Williams

There are three words that have never meant as much to me as they do now.

As I stood in a park smothered by love and fear, a new friend and I watch with an odd feeling between us. She is a foreign student from France fortunate enough to be in a country as they evaluated how they would enter the future. I was born in that country and had long before had become cynical, seeing that the rest of the people I was supposed to call fellow countryperson could naively be tricked, mislead, or feed lies about someone patriotism based on hands held over hearts or coat accessories.

But we shared the experience of it all. Children running from one another as their mother tried to get them to look at the high screen aglow with pundits and analyst. The flyers that littered the ground and hands reminding us that there would, indeed, be a tomorrow with much turmoil and injustice. The man who paced the same fifteen feet over and over for twenty minutes, fist clenched and tugged between his chest and the night in a manner that appeared out of his control.

I told myself I would watch from a friend’s house with the plan of sipping drinks, sheltered in my usual distain for crowds. However, a great teacher reminded me that there are few moments in which time becomes tangible. As much a part of you as your sex or skin and you can wear that moment throughout the course of your life. But time is also fluid. It can pass you by unless you are active in its capture so it can refresh you in days of drought and struggle.

I stood in a park wrapped with joy and hope. I stand at corner, not sure what awaits my turn. But now I can say — fear quenched and hunger fed — I was there.

A. Zell Williams is an award-winning playwright living in Chicago whose works include BLOOD/MONEY, The Woman I Live With, and A Motherless Child.

Kira Wisniewski

“10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1”

And the crowd goes wild!

I spent my election night in our nation’s capital watching the results party in an environmental non-profit office. (Side note: I was wearing an H2Obama shirt, which the enviro-kids loved, thinking it wasn’t legendary NY hardcore band.) The atmosphere was festive, the drinks were plentiful, the food was organic and the cups were made from corn. We watched with high anticipation the countdown until the polls closed in California and Obama surpassed the 270 votes necessary to become our president. Everyone in the room counted down the seconds New Years Eve style and then the room erupted in a moment of absolute happiness. I had chills for over 45 minutes. Then we took it to the streets. Right to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave where we joined by tons of other people jubilantly celebrating at the future home of Barack Obama. As the crowd started cheering “USA! USA!” I felt connected, proud and hopeful in a way I haven’t felt in a long time.

Kira Wisniewski currently lives just outside of our nation’s capitol and continually tries to do her part in fighting the good fight, and is currently working with the Capitol Letters Writing Center.

Load up on popcorn and cheap beer while we liveblog the debate between Failin’ Sarah Palin and Firin’ Joe Biden. Listen/watch/stream along at home for the inevitable gaffes and painful silences, and drop your comments below!

Liveblogging tonight will be:

Novelist and satirist Leland Cheuk
Our resident activist-physicist, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
New media guru Dan Sinker
Is Greater Than publisher Paul M. Davis

	dansinker I think we can all say on a bipartisan level, that the true winner of this debate was beer. God bless beer. 9 minutes ago from twitterrific
	dansinker My Palin bingo card fucked me tonight, by the way. Corner spots: Karzai, Pit Bull, & Bad Guys. Damn 9 minutes ago from twitterrific
	dansinker OK, David Brooks’ lipstick is SERIOUSLY FREAKING ME OUT 16 minutes ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist at heart, but if that baby was her own, she would have picked it up when her daughter brought it up 19 minutes ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Man, if I can make a closing comment: Gwen Ifill really didn’t do a very good job, did she? I feel like there are a ton of Qs she didn’t ask 20 minutes ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda JOE BIDEN WINS! He totally just won that debate. 20 minutes ago from web
	lcheuk Biden just took it home, took it to Palin in the last 20 minutes. Finally, he adds some value to the ticket. 20 minutes ago from web
	BuChanda I’m sorry, but I’m at the end of my rope. STFU Sarah. 23 minutes ago from web
	dansinker OK, definitely, let’s HAVE MORE DEBATES. 24 minutes ago from twitterrific
	dansinker How is Palin’s family diverse? They like country AND western music? 25 minutes ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk Finally Biden questioned McCain’s maverickhood / maverickness / and maverickosity. 26 minutes ago from web
	dansinker My very smart wife: Biden’s a smart guy and he says smart things, but nobody’s listening to him because they’re all playing drinking games! 27 minutes ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda By the way, I think those tears changed the election for me a little bit. 27 minutes ago from web
	dansinker So OK, let me just get this straight: Biden has a perspective that stretches the entire globe. And Palin? It’s all about Alaska. 27 minutes ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda That’s right!!! Take off the gloves Joe!!!!! 30 minutes ago from web
	dansinker Thank you Biden, “Let’s talk about this Maverick thing for a minute” THANK YOU 30 minutes ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk Wow! I think Biden just won this…with his tears. 32 minutes ago from web

	lcheuk Wow! I think Biden just won this…with his tears. about 1 hour ago from web
	dansinker BIDEN BRINGS THE TEARS!!! THIS THING IS OVER. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Does she know what an achilles heal is? Like, did she understand the question? Didn’t she see that movie with Angelina’s baby daddy? about 1 hour ago from web
	lcheuk Equal rice? about 1 hour ago from web
	dansinker Damn, I’ll take “Aggrandize the power of a unitary executive” for 1000, Alex. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Biden just realized, “OH MY GOD, I GET TO RUN AGAINST CHENEY POLICIES NOW!” Here goes. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Have we read the same Constitution?!? They were not flexible about the VP at all. about 1 hour ago from web
	dansinker Oh good, she agrees with Cheney. A thousand John McCain advisors just threw their hands up in frustration. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk I’m sure the McCain/Palin camp is wondering when Gwen Ifill will ask a few questions about children with special needs? about 1 hour ago from web
	BuChanda OH. MY. GOD. A SHOUT OUT? ARE WE ON MTV? My hope for humanity is dying a swift but extremely painful death. about 1 hour ago from web
	dansinker Did she just give a shoutout… to an elementary school? about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	dansinker “Doggone it.” Really, I have a GREAT job right now. But if she gets to be VP, I’m going to have to consider leaving the country. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk Reference eight-hundred to heaven. about 1 hour ago from web
	BuChanda Republicans ARE corruption and greed on Wall Street. + a bunch of Democrats. about 1 hour ago from web
	dansinker Why does Biden spend a lot of time in Home Depot? A LOT of time? Really? about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	dansinker “A team of mavericks”???? Christ. It’s painful. Really, it’s painful. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific

	lcheuk McCain knows how to win a war? Did we win in Vietnam? about 1 hour ago from web
	dansinker How much would someone pay to get ahold of Palin’s doodle pad? about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Man, she went like 15 minutes before bringing it all back to Alaska again. about 1 hour ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda I think I have the stomach for failure? about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker “rebuilding civil society” isn’t the surge strategy? WTF is Palin talking about? Did I miss a memo somewhere? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk Did the Demo’s tell Biden not to look at Palin or the camera? about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda You guys think she knows what the word disenfranchised means? about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda Let’s secure democracy for disenfranchised Black Americans first lady. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker We’re right back to the Axis of Evil shit again, huh? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker “He has been The Maverick” seriously? Does he have an action figure? Did McCain ever refer to HIMSELF as a “maverick”? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Glad to see the Palestinians are right up there with Pakistan. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker “I’m so encouraged to know that we both love Israel.” That’s it. I may be done with this thing. Does her gay friend have a jewish friend? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda I’m Jewish, and not in my name or the names of those lost in the Shoah, sister. about 2 hours ago from web
	lcheuk Oh! Biden referring to himself in the third-person! Joe Biden’s gotta do what’s best for Joe Biden. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker Joe Biden referring to himself in third person is so WWF circa 99. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda I know what the administration has done wrong on the Israel-Palestine conflict: sold weapons to Israel in support of their apartheid state. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox

	dansinker Sometimes I feel a little bad for the blender that lives inside Palin’s mouth. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	mrbeck Women’s rights- like charging for rape kits about 2 hours ago from web
	lcheuk Gwen Ifill’s really scoring low among uncommitted Ohio voters according to the CNN focus group. about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda Someone tell her how to pronounce “nu-cle-ar.” Please. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker Oh good, she’s continuing the “nuke-u-lar” pronunciation that Bush made so popular about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Oh there’s something they can all agree on. Bombing Pakistan. God help us. And Pakistan.’ about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	isgreaterthan Biden busts out some history. 700 years of tribal warfare. No one gives a shit about the facts. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	lcheuk I’m trying to stay objective. But Biden’s kicking Palin’s butt in foreign policy. about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda Let me say that again: John McCain voted against funding for the troops. about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda Yeah our troops don’t need the war to end Sarah. They need to keep dying, right? God, does she have a soul? about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker @BuChanda Sorry to say, you are. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific in reply to BuChanda
	dansinker Did I hear a “Taliban-i”? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda I think Iraq can’t spend its money because Halliburton has all of it about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker I swear, I’m going to slit my wrists if she says “surge” one more time. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda @dansinker Crap. I’m a gay that got married. Do I have to chuck my US passport? about 2 hours ago from web in reply to dansinker
	dansinker “With all due respect I dind’t hear a plan” Again, that’s good stuff. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda My affection for Joe Biden grows despite that whole racist “clean cut Black man” comment. I know, I am just a hypersensitive Black woman. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox

	isgreaterthan and this is where you fail, Biden. We might as well be living in the dark ages to not recognize gay marriage. It’s appalling. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker Oh good. I’m so glad we can all agree that gays shouldn’t get married. God bless america. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda hahaha she has homos in the fam. Maybe we’re related! about 2 hours ago from web
	lcheuk Vladimir Putin is really going to care about your “diverse friends.” about 2 hours ago from web
	isgreaterthan she says “tolerant” like it pains her about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker I hope she mentions her gay friend. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker You know what? I didn’t like Biden when he was announced; I thought he was the milquetoast choice. But now? Now, I actually like the guy. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Bad China! Bad China! Well, I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords, probably because I am married to one. about 2 hours ago from web
	isgreaterthan hungry for those domestic sources, like vampires! about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda “How are we going to get there to positively affect the impacts?” Okay, I had to type that sentence to parse it. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker Gwen Ifill: Governor Palin, could you tell me ANYTHING that doesn’t have to do with Alaska? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Yeah Sarah, you are so right! We should really be getting the natives off that “sacred” land so we can drill for uranium and oil, drill!!!!! about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker I seriously can not take any adult seriously that uses the word “Heck” about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk The word is “them,” Sarah. With a “th.” about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker “Some who do not like america” I think I just saw her flag pin grow! about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	mrbeck Tactic for avoiding substance- Blatantly avoid the question/ Talk about energy/Alaska. about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda wow she just said “your ticket’s energy ticket” about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox

	dansinker Palin’s entire strategy: “No, that’s not true. BUT, I want to talk about this preprogrammed response instead.” about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda @dansinker hahaha suspensionator!! about 2 hours ago from web in reply to dansinker
	dansinker I can’t believe she’s mentioned McCain suspended his campaign TWICE now. Good plug for the suspensionator though: http://bit.ly/3WxNlK about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	isgreaterthan “toxic mess” “main street” she is more Orwellian than Dubya about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	lcheuk Love the focus group favorability meter on CNN! about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda I wonder if Sarah knows what a windfall profits tax is. I mean, I wish I were joking and being mean. But it’s true. about 2 hours ago from web
	lcheuk Ouch. 5 weeks too long. about 2 hours ago from web
	mrbeck I heard Hillary is on suicide watch about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda I know what she had to do. Sell her airplane at a loss on Ebay. Or wherever. about 2 hours ago from web
	isgreaterthan “I want to go back to my limited energy experience!” about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker John McCain doesn’t tell one thing to one group and one thing to another group? Really? That’s like his entire reason for living now. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda So far Joe Biden shows no signs of crazy MAVERICK-like statements. about 2 hours ago from web
	lcheuk I think Biden, Burt Reynolds and Kenny Rogers have the same plastic surgeon. about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker “The ultimate bridge to nowhere” that’s a nice line. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	isgreaterthan I thought this debate was supposed to be about foreign policy, not keeping the privatized health care status quo? about 2 hours ago from web
	BuChanda Hey $5000 will pay for a few weeks of my grandpa’s chemo. Thanks Sarah face. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	dansinker “I don’t know where to start” me neither Biden, me neither. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Listen, I purchased my own health care coverage for ten years. It sucked. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific

	BuChanda uh oh sarcasm voice!!! Sarah, don’t hurt em with the SARCASM VOICE. Joey can’t handle it. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	isgreaterthan okay, she’s nailing Biden right now about his rhetoric. Granted, it’s catching him on a gaffe, but at least she’s putting up a decent fight about 2 hours ago from web
	dansinker Palin’s worth 1.2 million dollars. That’s not middle class. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda Thou shalt not fuck with Gwen’s time keeping!! about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	isgreaterthan It’s Palin vs. the “elitist” moderator, and she’s talking SHIT (in the Ricky Gervais sense) about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	BuChanda wow, she’s good. at lying. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	mrbeck What’s a procedural vote, Sarah? about 2 hours ago from web
	isgreaterthan Biden coming through with facts. That’ll get you nowhere. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	dansinker Uh, Sarah, I’ve been living with less for a long fucking time now. How about you? about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	isgreaterthan folksy wisdom from Biden and Palin. “darn right we need relief!” about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	BuChanda I hope deregulation for health care works as well for John McCain’s heart as deregulation of banking did for Wall Street. about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	dansinker We’ve officially moved into the folksy-off part of the debate! about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Joey at the gas station! about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk I had no idea Suze Orman was running for VP. about 2 hours ago from web
	isgreaterthan and from there comes the spectre of “never again”. 911!!!! about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	dansinker JOE SIX PACK! about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker When Palin talks about “sending the Maverick” in, it feels like some theme music should play. about 2 hours ago from twitterrific
	BuChanda So wait, to prove you are committed, you have to vote against your party, even if you agree with your party? What? WHAT?!?! about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox

	isgreaterthan if I hear “Maverick” one more time, my head will literally explode about 2 hours ago from TwitterFox
	lcheuk Thanks Sarah for informing us about what’s happened over the past few weeks for those Americans who have been stuck in a cave. about 3 hours ago from web
	isgreaterthan Palin: Capt. Catchphrase-a-lot about 3 hours ago from TwitterFox
	BuChanda okay Palin, ya think? YA THINK PEOPLE ARE WORRIED? I don’t think my blood pressure/heart are going to make it through the debate. about 3 hours ago from TwitterFox
	lcheuk Reference one to motherhood. about 3 hours ago from web
	dansinker They sent the Palin-bot in tonight. about 3 hours ago from twitterrific
	isgreaterthan ooh, she’s folky! Go to a kid’s soccer game! about 3 hours ago from TwitterFox
	BuChanda I’m kind of scared. about 3 hours ago from TwitterFox
	dansinker Sarah Palin wearing the XXL flag pin. about 3 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker Weren’t they supposed to be sitting at a table? about 3 hours ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk Gwen Ifill seems to be wearing a rare breed of teal-skinned zebra. Perhaps this is why her choice as moderator was so controversial? about 3 hours ago from web
	dansinker Wow, David Brooks chose the bright pink lipstick for the night. A daring choice! about 3 hours ago from twitterrific
	lcheuk I think Biden is a sleeper for most absurd tonight. Do not sleep on Biden’s gift for unintentional comedy. about 3 hours ago from web
	BuChanda thinks it is so appropriate that tonight’s debate is sponsored by ExxonMobil. about 3 hours ago from TwitterFox
	dansinker election.twitter.com can’t keep up. This morning it was a 5 second delay. Now it’s “less than a minute ago” about 3 hours ago from twitterrific
	dansinker I love how many tweets are referring to the debate, palin, and massive amounts of beer. We are through the looking glass here, people about 3 hours ago from twitterrific