Due to technical difficulties of feeling cut off from the world because of no election news coverage, the Pomp election watch was shortly canceled and we made our way down to another LES hang out, preferably one with drink specials and television screens; all the while staying close to the Williamsburg bridge so that the trip to BK would be quick and painless no matter who the victor. Our group consisted of Pomp editors, photographers, writers and illustrators, armed with red and blue glowsticks and huge Obama pins, we made our way through the strangely quiet streets. In bars, people were glued to television screens in a rapt alcoholic daze.
Inside Iggy's (great jukebox, $2 pbr and $3 red white and blue shots) with it's multitude of news channels and it's guardedly optimistic patrons we were able to rejoin the rest of the world in waiting with baited breath. Yes Obama's lead was pretty extensive but the talk of the town was "dirty tricks". The general murmur was of great enthusiasm - and as the night wore on and the red white and blue shots were imbibed aplenty - growing wariness.
In the middle of talking to a friend, a cheer went up. We turned towards the TV to see CNN declaring Obama president-elect. Everyone started screaming until someone shouted "Wait! Isn't it too soon to tell?" People immediately stopped cheering and started drinking like mad. Like I said already, guarded optimism.
Finally the news reached our paranoid minds! Whoops and shouts, people laughing hysterically, me and my roommate jump up and down and hold on to each other. Everyone else hugging, talking rapidly and smiling hugely. We find noisemakers and start blowing like Lewinsky. Strangers hugging, kissing and high-fiving as if there is absolutely nothing separating them (because at that moment nothing is). Like New Years but better, all that hope and expectation distilled into a balmy November night.
The rest of the evening was an ecstatic haze of taking pictures of Obama-won-faces, celebrating loudly and reveling in the noise. The LES was a parade of insane elation. The city felt like a community again.
- Kastoory
PostScript: Obama's speech was also a high point of the night as all the noisemakers and revelers silenced to hear him speak. It just further cemented his place in history. How many presidential acceptance speeches are that humble? And give we-the-people so much credit? I don't know, but seeing Oprah as just one of millions in a crowd thawed my cold dead heart even further, it might even start beating again.
