the Wellspring

Yesterday morning, i came into work and spoke to a few colleagues, who were anxious to inform me, knowing my enthusiasm for a Barack Obama presidency, that he was coming to Kansas. El Dorado, just half an hour from Wichita, was hosting Obama the very next day at 12:30. i expressed my disappointment at not being able to go, having already planned some personal days for family things, and went back down to my classroom to prepare for the day. A few minutes later, my principal walks in and says, "get a sub for tomorrow." From that point on i was a twitter of anticipation for the big day. i stayed late into the night to get two days worth of work done in one, and then left school into the balmy spring-like evening to go rest up for the trip.

This morning i awoke to classic Kansas weather. Cold, ferocious wind, and snow. i headed out to the campus well in advance of the publicized 11:45 door-opening. i arrived at 8:45, and was already 100-deep into the line. So i staked my spot and bundled into the huddle. People poured in as the hours went on, and it became quite clear that my decision to arrive early was a sound one. i got to know a lot of people in the crowd. With 3 hours to wait in the frigid temperatures and blowing snow, we did a lot of talking, mostly, i think, to keep ourselves warm. i met Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, Democrats, black people, white people, Asian people, poor people, rich people, young, old, fat, thin, brilliant, and clueless. There we all stood together, looking to be inspired.




Thankfully, as hypothermia had so nearly set in, they opened the doors a bit early. It was a really good thing they did so, because it then took another hour and a half to get everyone seated and to find an overflow venue for all those who didn't fit into the tremendous gymnasium. i expected to see propaganda everywhere -- Obama signs and waving cardboard banners and streamers. There was none of that. Oh, they passed out bumper stickers (and yes, i got one, and yes, it will go on my truck) but the rest was very simple. As soon as he started speaking, i knew why. He doesn't need all that. He commands so much attention with his words, he doesn't need you to look at waving banners. i have heard so many times that hearing Barack in person is so much better than seeing it on television, or, even worse, YouTube. i didn't think there could be a whole lot to that... after all, he had won me over with those debates and interviews and televised speeches. How much better could it be? The man is transfixing. He speaks with so much passion and ardor. You get the sense that he really believes in all this audacious hope.



He discussed a tax plan that would stop cutting rates for the richest in America and large corporations, especially those who outsource jobs. He explained that economic growth should be a "wellspring, not a trickle-down."

Passionate about the energy crises, he acknowledges the need for investing in solar, wind, and biofuels, rather than funneling $1 billion per day away to foreign nations. And on that note, that the $9 billion we spend each month in Iraq will be redirected to improving domestic infrastructure and curbing the Debt.

When he spoke about universal health care and eliminating the preexisting conditions clauses, he attacked the "empathy deficit" in America. What a great perception on his part. The empathy deficit. The fact that we all go around thinking that we are an island. That if someone is different from us in one way, they must be different from us in all ways. And we can't or we refuse to see each other as our responsibility.

Barack Obama does not agree with me on everything. For one very important issue, abortion, we are opposed. But though we are different in some ways, we are more similar than not. And yes, i was inspired.

For all of you who continue to say that he is not experienced enough to be president, recall Ted Kennedy's words when he endorsed Barack: "It is not the length of time you have in Washington, but the reach of your vision." Listen to his speeches. Read his books. Be open to a politician with a vision, for a change. Then, when you are reached, as i am certain you will be, caucus for him. Or if you are not a Democrat, vote for him in the general election.

At the end of Obama's speech, he introduced Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas and at one time thought to be Hillary's first choice for a running mate. my friends in the stands looked at each other as she strode out and we all muttered, "will she?!"




After telling us the stories of her two sons and how they had come to support Obama (one for his politics and one for his ability to get a hottie like Michelle to marry him), and why she felt he was inspiring to so many, and so many different, people, she did. Most of her remarks were lost in a roar of applause and whistles, but clearly before the din drowned out her voice we heard, "my enthusiastic endorsement of Barack Obama." She later said that she believed we were in the presence of the next great American president.

God (or whomever) willing.

For me, i go home and grade more papers. Life goes on, as someone told me this weekend. No matter who becomes president. But i will remember the day i saw Barack Obama, and will continue in my own quiet way to keep informing people how to caucus, and to keep hoping. Audacious as it may be.

Manhattan

No, i've not been to New York lately. Chances are i will never go there again. Nothing against your city, or anything, y'all. i'm just not big on the hustle and bustle.

i have been unusually busy since i returned from Pittsburgh, but have not wholly identified why. Ever have that problem? In November i had time to get my grading done, post in my blog, take photographs.... but in the last few weeks have found myself behind on everything that's important, making everything a dire priority. And other than my New Year's resolution to make time for the gym 3 days a week, i can't find my time sink.

So last night, around 7pm, still sitting in my classroom doing research for a lecture i am giving... today... i discovered something curious about my family's history. my class has just finished up the periodic table, and though their book does not address it, i decided we would also cover the mechanisms of radioactivity. Of course, 14-year-old boys have only one question about the strong nuclear force: how does it make an atomic bomb work?

The history teacher in 8th grade only covers the Civil War and Reconstruction, so i find myself needing to give a lecture on the Manhattan project, of which i knew virtually nothing except that it happened in New Mexico and produced one of the wonders of nuclear physics. Turns out, the National Laboratory at Los Alamos was just the main campus of the Project. There were also two other major sites: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Hanford, Washington.

Oak Ridge was chosen by the US Army in 1942. The site is located in those beautiful folded foothills of the southern Appalachians. And it was populated with rural people who would probably have frightened me with their one-toothed grins had i been around to meet them. They were farmers, mostly. Many of them had owned the land since colonial days, but when the Army decided that this was the spot for enriching Uranium, they gave them about two weeks' notice to vacate. i don't know whether the Army gave those people somewhere to go, or paid them for their land, or just told them to make like a drummer. The town growing up around the three nuclear plants was soon the 5th largest in the state. During the mid-40s, Oak Ridge used 1/6th of the nation's electricity - more than New York City, but the governor of Tennessee never knew it was there.

the Hanford site

The other other site was in Hanford, Washington. And while the verdant Appalachians were pumping out Uranium-235, the eastern Washington desert was pumping out Plutonium. The Hanford site sat directly on the Columbia River, using the water to insulate the cooling towers. At this point in my research, i made a connection. my mother was born in eastern Washington, and my grandfather was a nuclear engineer. So i called my mother and asked her. Sure enough, that's where granddad worked. Now, he wasn't there during the Manhattan Project, but he was there during the 50s, when the first H-bomb (a much nastier version of the atomic bomb which uses a fission device to trigger a fusion device) was tested. He's been dead since i was about two years old... one of the greatest regrets of my life. He and i were supposedly a lot alike. Both of us scientists and curious adventurers who love life and lived it hard.

As it's probably still classified to this day, i will never know what he actually did there. He may have been working on designing new rotors for the base vehicles. Or he may have been designing the most powerful weapon then known.