November 7, 2012
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Seeing Red
My entire state is red. All Republicans. Every national representative and my governor.
It's hard to explain sometimes why I live here when it is politically so divergent from my beliefs.
I love the sky. And bird migration. And the change in seasons. And the affordable cost of living. Great public schools.
And there are Democrats/Liberals here. We just don't show up on the electoral result maps.
My office building has all the liberals - Nebraskans for Peace, the Nebraska ACLU, Nebraska Appleseed (a Ralph Nader nonprofit that works on systemic change) and Legal Aid of Nebraska. There's even a telemarketing firm that does canvassing for liberal causes. It's not like I hang out with Republicans. The Department of Insurance also rents space here. They have two floors. And they LOOK different than us. I am not kidding you that they are greyer and grimmer.
Yesterday the ACLU bunch was on the elevator and it came up instead of going down and we joked about the ancient elevator and how you never know what floor it is going to. I suggested that we needed to be more Zen and just be in the moment with the elevator and not have an agenda of our own. When I press "1" it may go up to "9" first and then down to "1." The elevator has a purpose. We then proposed a romantic comedy about a crazy liberal and an insurance department employee who ride the elevator together and that is the elevator's purpose.
Liberals in Nebraska have a sense of humor. We have to.
Comments (3)
At work I'm surrounded by republicans... in some cases, republicans who assume we're all one big happy right wing family. I've got one guy... a manager... who's a kindred spirit. He'd called me into his office to share some vendor swag this morning. before we started chatting, he said "oh first off" and held out his fist for a quiet victory fist bump. I joked that we needed to be careful or we'd be accused of being gang bangers, just like Barack and Michelle. Then he admitted that he'd had a dream last night that the other (republican) managers kicked him out of the building! anyway.. btw... my dad was born and raised in Beatrice NE. When I was a kid and we visited for his HS reunion, I was awed by the wide open spaces.
I'm in a blue bubble in a blue state - my county voted 75% for Obama, but 21% still voted Romney. At least you live in an urban area, which has its own vibe.
i so get what you say here...
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