Jenn and I had both stayed up late to watch election returns last Tuesday night, so when we met super-early on Wednesday morning, we were both incredibly cranky and depressed, hoping that the worst was not yet inevitable. During our flight over Jesusland (as the map that’s been going around now calls it), our pilot announced that Kerry was planning his concession later that afternoon. Fuck. At least we were on vacation.
Our goals for our trip were to see friends, catch up on sleep, and relax, and I had the additional goal, as I always do, to find fantastic, cheap, local fare. We succeeded on all fronts. Between my SF Mates dinner at Tao Cafe (thanks again to the Chowhounds), to dim sum at Ton Kiang, from hitting happy hour at Nectar, a sleek and comfortable wine bar, to happy hour at trendy-wendy Lime, from sushi on boats at Warakubune to small plates at Three Seasons to modern Chinese at Firecracker, and the grand finale at the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market (where else can you have sweet, fresh oysters at 10 AM?!), I was definitely grateful for the hills and a travel companion who liked to walk as much as I did.
Without going into too much detail (or I’ll never catch up), it was great to see Hinman, Leslie, Spike, Mindy, Joe, Jon, Eric, Bill, Adam, Arielle, David R., Stephen, Sid, and Seth — I was thrilled that I was able to spend at least a little bit of time with so many people and some quality time with a few folks I hadn’t seen in way too long. Thanks particularly to Eric and Bill for their incredible hospitality and to my cousin Matt for letting me crash at his home away from home.
(yes, it’s the Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate, but this is the view I had while eating those oysters I mentioned. Nice, huh?)
Can’t say I’m ready to move quite yet, but I had a great trip — and although I still have a great deal of recovery to do from the election, I’m glad I started down the road with friends and like-minded blue-staters. It certainly softened the blow. You can see the rest of the pictures here.
Comments
4 responses
Laren, greeting from the blue state you just visited. Yes, you did sample a lot of food with us, but it was good to catch up too when we weren’t busy trying out the sushi.
One comment on your recent entry. You mentioned that there was a map going around that called the red states in Middle America “Jesusland.” I would be careful throwing that term around. Many of us progressive Christians (especially some of us in the Bay Area) have had to correct folks who thought that all Christians were supported the Bush adminstration. There are millions of people of faith–Jewish, Muslim, Christian–who are fighting along with all the atheists or non-religious folk for justice and for better government.
I’m in the middle of writing an article for The Witness magazine, a faith-based online publication that come out of my own tradition, the Episcopal Church (Protestant), which recently consecrated its first openly gay bishop, and whose head person in America has opposed the war in Iraq vociferously. So we have to be careful not to let conservatives become the only version of “Jesus” people in “Jesusland”–it’s this kind of generalization that led to liberals ceding the “faith and values” vote.
Rock on!
Laren, greeting from the blue state you just visited. Yes, you did sample a lot of food with us, but it was good to catch up too when we weren’t busy trying out the sushi.
One comment on your recent entry. You mentioned that there was a map going around that called the red states in Middle America “Jesusland.” I would be careful throwing that term around. Many of us progressive Christians (especially some of us in the Bay Area) have had to correct folks who thought that all Christians were supported the Bush adminstration. There are millions of people of faith–Jewish, Muslim, Christian–who are fighting along with all the atheists or non-religious folk for justice and for better government.
I’m in the middle of writing an article for The Witness magazine, a faith-based online publication that come out of my own tradition, the Episcopal Church (Protestant), which recently consecrated its first openly gay bishop, and whose head person in America has opposed the war in Iraq vociferously. So we have to be careful not to let conservatives become the only version of “Jesus” people in “Jesusland”–it’s this kind of generalization that led to liberals ceding the “faith and values” vote.
Rock on!
Jon — an incredibly valid point — you’re absolutely right. I think that some of us are looking for someone, something to blame for the results of the election, and it seems easy to blame fundamentalist Christians — who voted for Bush in such large numbers — because I tend to disagree with them on virtually every point in the book. But not all Christians voted for Bush, and you’re right that sweeping generalizations don’t do anyone any good. My apologies.
What is interesting is some of the stats going around about who voted for Bush/Kerry based on education levels . . .and the map that compares the blue/red states to the states on either side of the Civil War.
Jon — an incredibly valid point — you’re absolutely right. I think that some of us are looking for someone, something to blame for the results of the election, and it seems easy to blame fundamentalist Christians — who voted for Bush in such large numbers — because I tend to disagree with them on virtually every point in the book. But not all Christians voted for Bush, and you’re right that sweeping generalizations don’t do anyone any good. My apologies.
What is interesting is some of the stats going around about who voted for Bush/Kerry based on education levels . . .and the map that compares the blue/red states to the states on either side of the Civil War.