No Storytime Today

I spent the majority of yesterday on my bike, visiting as many polling places as i could. I had a great experience at my polling place in the Girard Estates neighborhood in South Philly, where i chatted with the old ladies manning the books, witnessed some heated debates out on the sidewalk about casino reform and general public apathy, and got a tingly feeling at the notion that more people may have a sense of civic duty than i previously believed. Most of the polling places had little if any action- i should have been out in the morning or late evening- but they are always rich with imagery.

I could go off on a million tangents. One thing that voting always brings to mind is the idea of humans as imperfect beings. When i see a bunch of old ladies writing in ledgers with pens, fumbling through cards, relaying numbers to eachother, often having to repeat themselves several times- the whole abstract act of voting suddenly becomes tangible as this long and crazy process with a million steps that involves just as many people along the way.

And the sign disasters on walls- taped and arranged in any way imaginable- these reflect the frenetic personalities of the people involved in poliltical campaigning, who will overlook a superifcial formality because they are focused on the big picture.