Ishinoy

It’s Post-Electinon Day 3 and I still can’t get over how excited I am.  As an English major, I’ve been struggling with creating new words to describe all that I feel, but even made up terms can’t even begin to encompass what I wish to describe – the closest I’ve gotten more closely resembles Whitman’s yawp (although not barbaric) than anything else, and, needless to say, it falls short.

Thanks to a reminder from seeing Jersey Boys recently, I called up some distant memories of a literature course I took sophomore year and I have decided to use, analogously, T.S. Eliot’s theory of the objective correlative to convey my sentiments regarding this year’s election.  Simply put, as far as my understanding takes me, Eliot’s fancy-schmancy theory states that, despite our best efforts, sometimes literature fails to articulate completely and accurately all that we know and recognize as human emotion and feelings.  In my case, I’ve spent this whole week trying to articulate in words what this election means to me and (I am just a little embarrassed to admit) soaking up the punditry-at-large hoping to adopt some of their commentary as my own, but even Rachel Maddow (and how I love her work!!) has not been able to articulate fully what I’ve experienced this week.

So where words have proved inadequate, I now turn to music, imagery, and the other senses.  For those of you out there who actually read this, you’ll need to participate actively.  Seeing how we’ve all been so dedicated to activism recently, this isn’t so much to ask.

• Imagine you’re in your favorite place, at your favorite time of the year.  On the summit at Sugar Bowl with an entire slope of fresh powder…bathing in the waters of Cancun in the early summer…hiking through the Daintree Rainforest…lying on your back in the middle of a grassy field…on the track or in the pool getting ready for your next race…sitting in your favorite coffee shop…
• Imagine what it smells like – the air, your surroundings…
• Imagine what it sounds like – animals, ambient noises, the people around you…
• Imagine what it feels like – what’s under your feet?  What’s over your head?  what are you holding in your hands?  What are you wearing and what fabrics are your clothes made of and what do they feel like on your skin?  How is the air moving around your body?

Soak it all in.  Then play Obama’s Victory Music and visualize it all together.  It makes me feel like I could run miles and miles without getting tired.  And I never liked to run.  But now’s the time to do what you never thought you’d do and achieve what you never thought possible.

*And on another note, I just want to caution you that I’m still gearing up for a future super-post on all that I love about Michelle Obama.  It definintely has the potential to go over the top, so keep your seat belts fastened and make sure your carry-on items are properly stored.