Which makes me think, am I single issue? And the answer is yes and no. Everyone I vote for is pro choice, but they have a constellation of other issues that are as important (and frankly more so) than just that one.

I voted for Obama because I genuinely like him. I like the no drama, contemplative thing, which is hard to keep and maintain. I like the pragmatism even when it means he drags his heels on issues I care about. And, you know what, I like that he seems like a genuinely thoughtful, compassionate, careful human. Those may all be "bad" political reasons, but I just like him.

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I'm single issue if a candidate is vocal about trying to relegate me to second class citizen status, but otherwise tend to vote for whomever I think will do the best job for the most people. For the past couple of decades that's tended to be Democrats, even though we disagree on abortion and in some cases gun control and military action.

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Assuming there was a pro-gay republican, would I vote for them? Hm. Maybe if their opponent sucked. I did vote for Senator Lugar back when I lived in Indiana, and the democrat who won this year was pro-life, so who knows. But generally, single issue that will make or break is your views on gay. So...yeah.

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In total other news, I'm reading 1984 with my AP students and To Kill a Mockingbird with my 9th grade.

I have forgotten how amazing 1984. I think the last time I read it was around 1984 so I'm enjoying it so much this time around. Orwell's use of language is phenom.

My students are doing a role-play though. They have a list of 10 rules (what color to wear, how to speak to people, what stairways they may use). Each time they break a rule and it is reported, they have to write an additional page in their reflection paper. There are 4 Thought Police among them who report their misdeeds and I then announce them each day. They are seriously wigging out.

TKAM is a lovely book. Funny. But my students don't get the humor as much.

The classics are wasted on kiddies.

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I support any candidate who is for the free coinage of silver and bimetalism.

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I have forgotten how amazing 1984. I think the last time I read it was around 1984 so I'm enjoying it so much this time around. Orwell's use of language is phenom. I have forgotten how amazing 1984. I think the last time I read it was around 1984 so I'm enjoying it so much this time around. Orwell's use of language is phenom.

I love 1984. I remember actually jumping up from my chair in shock the first time I read a certain scene.

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meara what if there were a pro-gay, antichoice republican? (Seems to difficult to conceptualize)?

I think the weird thing is that I am getting way more conservative in my old age. I trust government less, but still more than corporate america. I am way more anti-abortion than I have ever been given my experience but also way more pro-choice. I care about pro-gay more than I care about most issues, but how a candidate considers and thinks about education and pay equity matters more. Maybe most. I'm pro-immigration reform, just not in the way most people would think and I'm definitely pro-tax reform, but again, not in the way most candidates think.

I'm also pro-grammar. Any candidate who uses the subjunctive correctly rises in my esteem.

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Yikes! I need to get off my ass and find a pink or burgundy knee length crinoline. Any suggestions for sources that don't charge an arm and a leg for non-white underskirts? And are smooth and comfy to the legs?

You want the Malco Modes #582 "soft chiffon" petticoat. One on eBay in burgundy: [link]

Or there's Amazon, which has it in pink: [link]

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I don't think there is any argument against abortion rights that is not, at its root, anti-woman. So in that sense, I am a single issue voter because that single issue illuminates so many others.

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So I was talking to my little brother on the way home, and he told me the most amazing story.

He was in line to vote on Tuesday, and the woman behind him asked what to do. He said, "Well, pretty much like last time, they didn't change anything." And she said that she'd never voted before and didn't know what to do.

White woman, mid-50s.

So he tells her to go check if she's registered (she didn't even know if she was), and she was. Then she looks at the ballot, doesn't know what to do, he tells her to draw a line in the arrow for who she picks to vote for. Then he asks, "So who you going to vote for? Romney or Obama?"

She says, "Who are they?"

t facepalm

My little brother: he found a unicorn! An honest-to-god low-information voter, in (of all places) San Jose. I can't believe it.

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