vote – Knit+ Librarian

two people sitting in the car with sunglasses each with red I voted stickers

I am proud to have voted in every election since I became eligible – from local primaries and school referendums to presidential elections. There is an excitement and a patriotic satisfaction in that simple act of going to the polls. Whether as the four-year old who, in 1956, was allowed to pull the large metal lever that closed the curtain of the mechanical voting booth at Lincoln Elementary School, the Ninth Ward polling place, or standing in long, long lines in 2008 waiting to vote for Hope.

Only once, when a national library conference conflicted with a Minnesota spring primary, had I ever voted early. Of course, Covid changed that and health issues again this year factored into our decision not to wait for November 5. Richard served 20 years as an election judge, always working the early morning shift, 6:00 am-2:00 pm; part of the team responsible for setting-up and covering the early morning and lunchtime rush. Rather than take a chance of not feeling at our best on election day, we took advantage of Minnesota’s early voting option and voted at the County offices. Twenty-six minutes from ballot to voting booth to seeing a flag on the optical scanner.

Join us in the vital democratic process! Vote early or vote November 5. Just VOTE!

Every time I hear Amada Gorman read her poetry I shiver with inspiration. To be so young and yet so eloquent. This past summer in Chicago, during the Democratic National Convention, she walked proudly unto the stage and laid this challenge before each of us:

This Sacred Scene

We gather at this hollowed place because we believe in the American dream.

We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the Earth, and if our earth shall perish from this country.

It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall for a people that cannot stand together, cannot stand at all.

We are one family, regardless of religion, class or color. For what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another.

This is loud in our country’s call, because while we all love freedom, it is love that frees us all.

Empathy emancipates, making us greater than hate or vanity. That is the American promise, powerful and pure. Divided, we cannot endure but united, we can endeavor to humanize our democracy and endear democracy to humanity.

And make no mistake, cohering is the hardest task history ever wrote, but tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship, but by the audacity of our hope, by the vitality of our vote.

Only now, approaching this rare air, are we aware that perhaps the American Dream is no dream at all, but instead a dare to dream together.

Like a million roots tethered, branching up humbly, making one tree, this is our country. From many, one; from battles won; our freedoms sung; our kingdom come has just begun.

We redeem this sacred scene. Ready for our journey. From it together, we must birth this early republic and achieve an unearthly summit. Let us not just believe in the American dream. Let us be worthy of it.

Check the Gathering of Poetry pages shared by Bonnie and Kat for more October verses.

Tag: vote

Civic Duty: Two votes cast

A Gathering of Poetry | October 2024