I am such a mix of WEEPY OVERJOYED to have a WOMAN vice president, and SO ANGRY that this is THE VERY FIRST TIME, ONLY NOW IS IT HAPPENING FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY, OH MY GOD HOW HAS THIS BEEN TOLERABLE. I feel like the men in my life, as enthusiastic as they are about this, as glad as they are, don’t and can’t understand what this is like. The FIRST woman. This is the FIRST TIME. They have no idea what that’s like, and they can’t. I appreciate the ones who make the attempt to understand, and I don’t blame them for their failure.
Agree completely. Just wanted to say that I follow you on Twitter and have really been appreciating your tweets. My account is private, so I know it’s fruitless to tweet at you, so wanted to say something here. Would love to see a pic of the American flags lining your property, if you are able to post one taken from an angle that still protects your privacy. I’m going to start putting my name as “Another Maggie” because I think you’ve got another commenter named Maggie who is a more frequent commenter than I am.
I know what you mean about men not being able to fully process the “first woman” part. I was trying to come up with a situation that would be similar for men and just could not. Even the most enlightened guys have no idea how it feels to see yourself, more or less, in a place where there were only men for our whole history.
I kept trying to convey the gravity of this last night to my daughter and husband. The first woman. Ever!!! In the entire history of our country!!!!!
Explaining this to my eight yr old daughter made me so very sad. When I said that Senator Harris would be the first woman VP, she said “why?” I just didn’t even know where to start.
When I told my pre-pre-teen daughter that Kamala was our first woman to become VP, her jaw dropped. A friend reported the same. For me, that was super encouraging. Contrasting her reaction with the casual sexism I’d fully internalized at that age (I remember filling out some kind of survey as a 13 year old and answering “How would you feel about a female doctor?” with a check next to “Surprised and curious.” 🤦♀️) makes me so hopeful.
My tiny kids will not remember Trump. They will remember Harris. Harris will define their normal.
It can’t be captured in words.
Oh, yay. Mine only know 45. It will be nice for them to see not that.
And, the woman thing? Has not sunk in. I think I’m so used to our rampant misogyny and sexism, I’ve failed to grasp it.
I am wearing pearls today though. Because of all that jazz. Couldn’t do it on Tuesday. I did in 2016 and the was so so sad.
A woman. The first time ever. It’s long overdue and so amazing.
I basically cried tears of relief and joy all day yesterday. My kids are 6, 4, and 2, so they extremely do not understand what a big deal it is and were probably alarmed by my crying 😂 The first woman!
I’m old enough to have voted for Geraldine Ferraro (and it wasn’t my first election, either). I never, EVER would have believed that it would take until 2020 to elect a woman as VP. But here we are, and it’s delightful and amazeballs and weepy and exultant. I’m sorry there wasn’t a nod to Hillary. I am thrilled right down to my socks about this election. So. Much. Work. going forward, but now it seems do-able. And thanks, Swistle, for your series over election day. You helped way more people than you know. xo
YES ALSO THIS. Truly helped keep me sane over the last week.
Same here except it was my first presidential election. I cannot believe it took this long either, but I am so, so happy about it. FINALLY! PS thank you from me also Swistle
I’m an ex-pat who’s spent the past twenty years in Germany, a country which has been led* by a woman since 2005. My dual national kids have grown up under a female leader in the country we live in, that’s the norm for them, thank God. At the same time, it is such an enormous step for the US and yes, it is high time! I remember the Mondale/Ferraro ticket and remember the news articles and commentary about if a woman could lead a country. I was 10 then and found such commentary discouraging. That it would take 36 more years to get there, sometimes we are slow as molasses. But we’re here!
Sorry, lots of rambling. Releasing 4 years of pent-up anxiety and stress.
*yes, technically the head of state is the Federal President, who is a man, but for all intents and purposes the Federal Chancellor Leads the country and that is Angela Merkel (who happens to hold a doctorate in quantum chemistry).
I watched this weekend’s SNL cold open last night and highly, highly recommend it. Maya Rudolph as Kamala is always great, but you could really tell last night that she was really feeling the words personally as well <3
Amen to all of this.
I’ve been playing This Land is Your Land by every artist I can find. I made a playlist of them all. My favorites are by Bruce Springsteen and by Elizabeth Mitchell.