Before I turned 18, actually, before I declared journalism as my major, the first Tuesday of November didn’t carry much meaning for me. Once I began caring about politics – mostly due to the nature of my job, everything changed.
Election night now means hectic evening filled with constantly checking results on my BlackBerry, shooting interviews, shooting stand-ups, following candidates, running around election night parties, etc.
This year, I had an opportunity to attend Independent Candidate Tim Cahill’s election night party and Incumbent Deval Patrick’s party. Just as the polls predicted, Cahill received only a small number of votes, and Patrick won the race to serve as governor of MA for the second time.
Here’s my coverage of Cahill’s headquarters at Copley Marriott.
“Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.”
“Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine.”
Approximately 24 hours of round-trip bus ride, about 10 hours of sleep and thousands of people basically sum up my weekend in Washington D.C.
It was a last-minute decision to spend the Halloween weekend in D.C. for Stewart and Colbert rally. What initially prompted my decision was simply getting away from Boston for a weekend. When else will I be able to take off a random Friday to go to D.C.? Also, Comedy Central’s dynamic duo hosting a rally… for SANITY & FEAR. How can you resist?
All in all, I am extremely happy I attended the rally. News sources say “well over 200,000 people” gathered at the National Mall. From my observation, more were interested in restoring sanity than in keeping fear alive. Regardless, people of all ages – literally, ALL ages – brought good ol’ posters to show their support.
(Yes, these guys are in banana suits)
(The BEST sign ever)
I think what Stewart said during his closing remarks puts everything in perspective: If we amplify everything, we hear nothing. Especially nowadays when information bombards us constantly via social media, TV and web, we eventually ignore more than half of what we see. Then we tend to either forget about the little bit that we managed to process or twist it to what we wanted to hear.
When two comedians said come to D.C. for this rally, thousands of people listened. When politicans, economists and diplomats speak, well, not much gets done. Interesting, huh?
D.C. as a city, however, did not prepare enough for the crowd. The metro, although definitely superior to Boston’s T, experienced frequent delays and jam-packed trains. Cell service was practically non-existent from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pedestraisn ruled the streets while cars waited in a traffic jam. In this aspect, maybe sanity wasn’t quite restored…
(Yes, these guys are in banana suits)
(The BEST sign ever)
Yoojin Cho 