pardon my tense changes, yes you can

alright, here's my own personal barack hussein obama rally experience, told mostly through low-quality phone camera photos.

well, first and foremost, i did not fix my nail polish, as advised by jeff.

moving on, this is what it looked like behind me as i was about 15 minutes (and 10 feet) away from passing through the metal detectors:


so many people. the crowd was not getting to me at this point, though. the security thing was weird, actually. the tribune and the e-mailed ticket said to make sure to bring photo ID and blah blah blah but at every checkpoint, the security guards just barely glanced at IDs. i don't think they even checked to make sure the names matched. in fact, i'm quite sure they didn't because my ticket said brisbin, ally and my ID says allyson brisbin. there was never an instant of hesitation to make sure i was the right person.

okay, now i'm in the rally and the line for pizza looks like it's hours long. my friend that i entered with (we split up from another set of friends) decides she doesn't want to stay and would rather go home to prepare for a midterm. i tell her i don't blame her and hug her good-bye and decide to head into the crowd.

i plant myself near this lil' guy, among others:


he was dancing to some hott jamm. minutes later he was chanting 'o-ba-ma! o-ba-ma!' as the night wore on, he slept at his mom's feet. she woke him up when our boy won. he went back to sleep. then, just as prez-elect took the stage, lil' guy barfed.

i tried to move closer to the stage but it was a huge mistake. i almost barfed, myself. i literally couldn't move, could barely breathe since there was a man's wool jacket in my face. i ended up migrating back and finding some oxygen just a few steps back from where i was when i took the photo of lil' guy.

i was miserable and txting friends and family and trying to convince myself to work through the crowd-anxiety and three hours of sleep i was running on. cnn's election coverage was being shown on a jumbotron that i could see if people in front of me had their heads positioned correctly.

i sat down every once in a while. it was easier to block out all the ambient conversations that were swirling in my mindspace when i was crouched down in a leg forest. but i was a little scared of people farting.


anyway, finally the decision was announced:


we cheered. we cried. we rejoiced. we laughed at mccain when he thanked sarah palin. we waited (im)patiently for obama to take the stage. then he did. i couldn't see him.


i could barely even see the jumbotron during this portion. it didn't matter. i just wanted the two valley girls standing next to me to shut up.

when it was all over, i made my way out of the mess. i didn't realize how many people were there until i stood upon a hill and eyed this:

then, i took part in one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. everyone was walking the streets in the loop. no cars. everyone just walking. people standing on sidewalks were cheering and there were chants of 'yes we can' and 'yes we did' and 'o-ba-ma' and it was so surreal and beautiful. i felt like i was part of something.


everyone was happy and it was genuine and it was solidarity and it was dreams coming true. i heard a man on the phone say, 'we did it, mama! we have a black president!'

every thirty feet or so, i got all teary eyed. it was overwhelming, but in a really good way, and all of my bad, anxious feelings from the rally (and beyond) were washed away. i've been feeling so powerless and lost lately and a lot of that is gone now. i could feel what a huge turning point this is and what an important time we're living in.

let's not fuck it up, eh?