Now we'll see

Yea!
It's hard to discern what impact this or that president has on the practical facts of an individual person's life; so much more depends on yourself and those immediately around you. Certainly these Bush years have cast a certain uneasiness and embarrassment over me. I find myself too ready to apologize for or distance myself from my country's leader.
So it is with a refreshing sense of lightness that I come to work today, to continue the work of yesterday as I would have regardless of who will inhabit the White House in January. But there's a bit of happiness in the air, and it isn't just me. There's an anticipation that things can come around now; that being an American is a good thing, for me and for everyone. Maybe now we can change for the better, stop making enemies, get people moving toward getting along.
There's a lot of hope with Obama.
Nobody knows how that hope will be transformed into facts on the ground, but I think there's a willingness to try, and to experiment, that bodes well. So don't just sit back with your arms crossed over your chest, thinking, 'alright, now prove it'. Pitch in. Be part of the answer.

The world sees America as many things, but the most positive is as an ideal. Many have been wondering where that ideal had gone. All over the radio this morning, it seems that ideal is back. The French, at least, are thrilled.

That should be it for the political posts. The older ones I already deleted, and we'll get back to travel very soon. I've been working on a thing about trains - perhaps I'll complete it once my Oncogenetics class is finished at the end of the week.

Ciao!