I'm back in Melbourne after two weeks in the States. There's one less thing I haven't done, and it sort of feels that way.
I asked a few people about the election when I could. Not an easy thing to bring up with strangers, and particularly Americans. Most of the people I spoke to about it were my age and younger, and most of them said something along the lines of "I'm not interested in party politics". Of the committed, they divided pretty evenly between Barack and Hillary. I didn't meet anyone who identified as a Republican. The sample was small enough to be incredibly pointless (maybe 10 out of 270,000,000 or so), but I was struck by the level of disinterest anyway.
In other news, apparently while I was at SXSW, Ms Fits' Reasons You Will Hate Me won a Bloggie. Of course it's for Fits' skillfully crude humour, rather than the design or functionality of the site (for which I'm broadly to blame), but still. Congrats, ma'am, even if you didn't get a statuette.
Anyway, if you read one or two of the entries in my American diary, cheers. It was fun to write regularly, gave me a helpful prism through which to comprehend what I was seeing and doing, and I enjoyed channelling the ghost of old Tocqueville for a few weeks. Also, thanks to the folks who made suggestions on my itinerary — I acted on most of them, and improvised elsewhere, and saw a lot more than I otherwise would have. Now, who's up for a beer?
Joseph | 24 Mar 2008 | 7 comments
Topographic view
The qualifier
Two weeks with the apple and the lone star (illustrated).
Mon 24 Mar 2008, 11:42am Vince
Checked AD every day for new entries.
See you today at Sarah + Ro's?
Mon 24 Mar 2008, 11:51am Joseph
You're a champ, Vince. I got ya something from NYC. Nothing much, it was free. Still, thought that counts and all.
Yep, we're gonna be a bit late tho.
(Also: Soledad 4 evs!)
Mon 24 Mar 2008, 2:03pm Naz Hamid
Joseph -
It was great meeting you and Virginia. Hope you folks had a fine time stateside.
AD is a nice glimpse into your time here, I enjoyed reading it quite a bit.
Hope all is well!
Mon 24 Mar 2008, 9:10pm Joseph
Thanks Naz! Now, of course, you guys have to come to Melbourne...
Tue 25 Mar 2008, 3:45am Ianca
Sublime. Enjoyed your posts daily with a nice lager.
Tue 25 Mar 2008, 7:20pm Joseph
Cheers Ianca. Would really have liked to catch up with you and Jen and met little Marley, but Florida was just out of reach. Next time. Won't be far off, I think.
Thu 27 Mar 2008, 1:44pm Ned
Me! come to the edinburgh castle tonight.