I sent my college-age daughters the link to Morgan’s article. I voted for Hillary and was glad for not only the opportunity to vote my mind and heart together in one ink-filled bubble (no chads?), but also glad to know that even if I don’t get my first choice, Obama would be good for us, very good for us, too.

Peace to you Aaryn.

@Melanie: I couldn’t agree with you more. But I have to admit that I’ve even fallen prey to the insidious existence of the sexism that gets used so effectively against Clinton. Racism, I’m starting to learn, is much more easily and frequently pointed out and addressed.

@San: It wasn’t easy. Right up to the end.

@Jillian: I agree that this election is bringing a lot of important conversation to the consciousness of the American (and the Canadian!) public. I find it intriguing that pundits—and therefore people I meet in real life—talk about how this election shouldn’t be about race or gender. But race and gender inform every part of American life and to pretend they don’t is live in a fantasty. The conversations are awkward and difficult but they must be had; if this is what it takes to begin having them, then I say we should take the blinders off and slam on the gas pedal.

@Nathan: The conversations this election is igniting are fascinating and important. As for a Ground Hog Day effect, it will be interesting for sure. But as you said, black men suffer from oppression to a greater degree than women and evidence of this is in the fact that though they were given the right to vote in 1868 (thanks for not making me go look it up), they were most often prevented from doing so until well past the time when women could easily vote. Remember poll taxes, intimidation tactics and whatnot.

@Rayna: So nice to hear from you…thanks for stopping in! Kiss the girls for me, please. Now, to what you said, I think a vote for either candidate sends all three of our girls a positive message. They can’t be losers here because they can see themselves reflected in the female and black candidates. As to whether Obama is “white” well, I fall back on our experience with adoption to decipher this one. I don’t know what you and Taylor experienced but during our process, we learned that many agencies do not allow white couples to request a bi-racial child; this is a good thing, in my opinion, because such a request raises a lot of questions, the least of which is “why.” But when I inquired about this (not because I wanted to request anything but because I wanted to understand our agencies’ policies), I learned that this kind of selectivity is prohibited because a bi-racial child who has one black parent is considered in the black community to be black, and the agencies worry that any parent who requests a biracial child will dismiss/ignore the black heritage of the child. And part of becoming the white parents of a black child requires a commitment to connecting our child(ren) to her heritage. So, I am hesitant to say outright that Obama is exploiting one part of his ethnicity.

@Martha: I don’t doubt that V will make you and me and Hilary very proud.

Who knew being XX was such a liability (rolls eyes)? Sexism is very much alive and well.

Change is starting with my son. He’s going to be a bigger feminist than I. Count on it!

I can’t help wondering if the primary will repeat history in the same way black men got to vote (1868 14th Ammendment) before women (1920 19th Ammendment).

It’s so interesting to me that you would post this today, because I was thinking just this morning that this race is bringing some ugly truths to light. Truths that exist regardless of the election, but I’m thinking about them more lately. And this piece made my blood boil.

Oh, and one more thing : I freakin’ love your writing. I feel compelled to say thanks for everything. Your words and photos inspire me everyday.