You'll have to excuse me for being self-indulgent, I just want to share my election experience this time around.
at 22 this is only the second presidential I've been eligible to vote in. Last time around, I was a college freshman, completely wrapped up in my own problems. By election day I was deep in what I would later come to recognize was severe depression. I was a Kerry supporter, vocal but not active politically, and informed if not well-versed in the issues. I had friends who canvassed in Nevada and Oregon, and they took the loss hard. For me it was a distant tragedy, but I was numb to it. In my 18-year old mind, what did presidential politics matter when my heart had just been ripped out of my chest?
Four years later, I find myself in a remarkably similar place...