Thank you Colin Powell!

Colin Powell officially endorsed Obama recently and commented on a frequent belief held by some voters that Obama is Muslim:

"He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America," Powell said. "Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?"

This makes me want to stand up and cheer. Why haven't I heard this before from either side?

Here's a link to the article, from the AP

Despite occasional frustrations with people who are racist or... um, lets just call them "hesitant to trust others perceived as unlike themselves," I am ridiculously excited about how this race has been unfolding and the possible outcome of this election. Obama is a politician to whom I can actually relate, he comes across as polished--even professor-like--with the clarity of his explanations and encouragement thrown into his speeches. And his wife is so inspiring! She might be my new hero. Can she be president too?

McCain's family memoir, Faith of My Fathers, was actually really good. I respected McCain before I read the book, but now I'm humbled by him. It helped me understand the "pro-war" side (or, the anthesisis of an anti-war stance) and made me think twice about my instinct to dismiss the necessity of any war. (Unfortunately for McCain, I still hold that instinct.) It's a shame that his campaign has gone in the direction that it has.

On to Obama's book, this should be great... another one about a Father. Makes me really want to call my Dad. :-)

Ode to Water, Power, and Music.

Holy goodness... a lot has happened. Galveston was pretty much annihilated from Ike. Boo Ike... BOO! But now I know my neighbors since we were powerless for a week afterwards. The older man who lives next door to me is a professional violinist in the Houston orchestra and in a band that plays “a kind of Egyptian Jazz music.” He says that in this awesome European accent... I totally love that I can hear him practicing through my walls.

It is kind of neat that despite camping out for so long the atmosphere in houston and the hospitals was pretty upbeat the whole time, even with all the Galveston residents relocated here who lost their homes. I guess such a strange/sad situation can be pretty uniting! Apparently I qualify for some sort of government reimbursement but it’d kinda be lame to ask for it since my place was fine, I was stranded in LA of all places (yay!!), and this gave me an excuse to mooch of my friends in Houston with apartments much nicer than mine. But now a lot has changed--all the stoplights work and I don't need to leave for work an hour early anymore! I have POWER and WATER!

The music festival in Austin was awesome! There was so much good music, and much of it was new to me. The most impressive thing about ACL this year was that they really improved the sound leak between stages—that was very annoying in years past. Outside water was allowed in, and there was plenty of power... so much that my Sprint cell phone kept switching between eastern and central time! It was political at times with many artists giving shout-outs to both candidates. I was surprised when bands who mentioned their support for McCain were rewarded by silence (given that I was supposed to still be in TX) but I have to admit it was pretty funny. I do think they need to sell fewer tickets as there was very little space between crowds around stages at opposite ends of Zilker. Also, the Frisbees we threw around seemed to hit people more often. Unless you're a Russian guy with superior aim whose discs only go to Siri.

My fav: The Swell Season, with Glen Hassard and Marketa Irglova from the move ‘Once,’ who played Friday. I still can’t believe I got to see them... they sounded beautiful. I think what made the night was Glen Hassard’s attempts at philosophizing. His speeches/song explanations were usually accompanied by wild guesturing, and while some of it might be over my head he did say one profound thought. I am paraphrasing, with hopefully less rambling. "Sometimes when you have an obstacle in front of you that’s like an endless wall… and you can’t go around or over it, I've learned sometimes you can walk away from it... and keep walking so that eventually you walk around the whole f*ing world and find yourself where you wanted to be in the first place!" Genius.

Other favorites: Tristan Prettyman, Erykah Badu (this woman is phenomenal. she's also very pregnant!), Jose Gonzales, Jenny Lewis, Okerville River, Beck (yay!), and Manu Chao mostly because I figured that anyone new I saw after the Swell Season wouldn't be able to hold my attention, but I was wrong--Manu Chao was freakin amazing.. yo yo yo! I also loved a three minute moment during the Foo Fighter’s encore where they busted out with ‘Big Me,’ only after butchering my favorite Foo Fighter song ‘Monkey Wrench.’ And let's talk about this Monkey Wrench thing. I was SO looking forward to rocking out to that fun yelling thing he does at the end of the song... but where was it? Oh after the false ending and weird creative drumming and... lets pretend we're stopping the song again... oh wait no here's the rest of it.... and yes, here is that fun yelling part only I'm not going to yell with the music... and I'm going to cut the stage lights again. Not that I'm bitter. :-)

But then they played Big Me... it's the sweetest song of all time! My love is regained!