Hopeful and Inspired

The morning after the election, I watched Obama's acceptance speech live in my classroom, tears rolling down my face, thanks to a student who received a text from her husband that the results were definitive. Obama had won.

The extent to which we discuss politics in class varies, as we are encouraged to keep our students plugged into current events, but we are also encouraged to steer away from too much politics, and too much religion, as topics of discussion. So how does one address current affairs without politics, you might wonder. We faculty do too.

But lets face it, during an American election year, providing a weekly touch with current events would be a sham if it didn't at least cover the election, a bit. Therefore, over the weeks, it became clear to my students that I am a fan of Obama , and as the election drew close, the gals asked smart and sometimes funny questions. Why is his wife in so many pictures with him? Why does he have only two children? How many maids are there in the White House? Is he afraid of the middle east? And how on Earth is he not a Muslim with the middle name Hussein?

Fortunately one of the perks of being in a well-funded college system is that most of our classrooms are smart, meaning they've all got fantastic teacher kiosks, attached to the internet with drop down projectors, fancy speakers and in many cases smart boards, where where I can mark up an internet screen shot with fancy laser pens and then save or print the manipulated screen, instantly. So when my student reported that the results were in, somewhere between 8 and 10am local time, and near midnight DC time, I scrambled to get my class online, and like magic, Obama was about to start his speech.

I am grateful to my students, who watched me, speechless and grinning through tears, without saying a word till it was over. At that point, volleyball player Mariam, pictured in my Semester One posting, looked over and said, 'Miss, we are very happy for you and your new president'. At this point I was almost a total wreck and all I could do was nod in thanks to my dear patient students while I gathered myself up for another lesson on writing letters.

Before long, the inaugural was upon us, and though classes are not in session this week, I hope that some of my students tuned in to CNN, like we did here last night, to watch the swearing in, the inspirational poem, and Rev. Lowery's excellent final benediction, 'when the red man can get ahead, man' . We watched it here with friends, and I took great pride in the interest and attention Brady gave to the whole thing, including his worry that Bush might be sad, and bored now in Texas. Liam and Brady both were pleased that they've visited Washington and touched some of those monuments where mobs were gathered on TV. And though there are days when I question the decision we've made to live away from our country, I take solace now, knowing that despite the fact that we are abroad, our citizenship in the United States has the power to make us hopeful and inspired.