Post-Election Ennui

I’m plagued with ennui, I’ll admit it.  Three weeks since the election and I still can’t focus on any single thing.  In the past week, I’ve distracted myself with genealogy research, a friending frenzy on Facebook, and started reading yet another history book (in addition to The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Vol. 1, Atlantic America, 1492-1800 that I’ve been picking at for the past three months).  Now I’m reading Night Comes to the Cumberlands by Harry Caudill, something I was supposed to read 25+ years ago in a sociology class but never quite got around to (raising the question once again, how did I manage to graduate?).  I don’t know why I didn’t read it—it’s actually kind of interesting.

In the past three weeks I’ve cleaned the kitchen stove and cupboards, the washer and dryer, the floors, the bathroom.  Helped rake semi-frozen, wet leaves. Counted the dead deer on my way to work each morning (four, and one appears to be headless). Celebrated Obama’s election a couple of times, most recently with beer.  Removed the dry leaves, one at a time, off the bittersweet branches that are in two vases.  Planted some mums.  Felt slightly crafty but not enough to launch into a full-fledged project, such as sewing curtains.

I’ve not paid as much attention to the news.  I’m fairly certain I don’t need to, that the same storylines will be there tomorrow:  Will Congress bail out the auto industry?  Is Obama’s transition team getting all sloppy with leaks?  Is Bush the lamiest of lame ducks?

I am untethered, no longer bound to any campaign except my own.  (Which I keep forgetting about.  I’m supposed to run for office in the Pigspittle Dems party and because someone else is also vying for the position, I have to actually campaign. I think I have a mental block.)

I never ever in a million years would have thought that I would say this but I’m going to:  I miss canvassing.  Yes, I miss walking up to strangers’ doors and intruding on their Saturday afternoons with pesky questions about their voting preference.  I miss it.  I do.  I miss the incomprehensible Google maps.  I miss discovering new roads and getting just a little lost.  I miss the unpredictable public and their quirky welcome mats and cobweb-masked houses.

So I get an email from David Plouffe today asking me if I’d host a “Change is Coming” house party.  Do I dive in again?  What kind of change could we bring to Pigspittle?  It’s tempting.  Very tempting.  Seriously.  Especially if it involves canvassing.

3 Comments Post-Election Ennui

  1. Jacob R Clark November 26, 2008 at 2:33 am

    Just checking into Pigspittle again. It’s been a while. Beautiful, just beautiful, M.

    Funny. I walked by the OSU Obama office tonight after a couple of hours at Sullivant Library, where I study to get away from the house and focus. It was empty; you’d never know just a month ago it was just the most hip-happn’in place. I hung out there quite a bit the last two weeks (to the detriment of my current grad school ills). And we did it. I’m happy BO is in, but I’m certainly just a little more than anxious. I think maybe I, too, will clean the stove (underneath the lid, where all the spilled stuff falls) soon.

    Love, Jake.

    Reply
  2. Meg November 26, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Thanks so much, Jake. Pigspittle Dems HQ is empty and cold too. I thought you would be out there working on the campaign–no grad school work could keep you from it! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

    Reply
  3. jproundisfunny November 30, 2008 at 1:13 am

    Vote Meg: Abortions for Some, Tiny American Flags for Others!

    Hey, it worked for Kang & Kodos.

    Reply

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