Prof. Grady is working on a photo-essay about the current US presidential election for a new Bulgarian weekly magazine called Idealist. He's doing most of the work on Tuesday but in the last couple of days he's spent quite some time taking photographs of election activities, activists and artifacts that would appear, among other things, strange to Bulgarians. Earlier today we walked over to the Obama campaign office here in State College where I spent three hours making calls to Pennsylvanian voters, encouraging them to turn out and vote.
And, strange it was. For those short three hours there, I really thought that my actions would impact the future of the country. I really felt that there was hope and that we were all contributing to bringing about change.
That is not a feeling I get when considering political action in my native Bulgaria. Alas.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Thanks, Petya, for the comment on my blog and for your efforts on behalf of Obama. I will be out in front of our polling place working for Obama and the down ticket Dems this year. Tell Kyle to come over to Holy Trinity Orthodox Church on 119 S. Sparks St. to get some pix of American democracy in action. I have a good feeling about tomorrow; perhaps it will be a very special day.
You need to download and watch the last "Goreshto" that aired. The main guest was George Ganchev. I have never really liked him and always considered him too loud. But now, a decade after I last heard him speak and hopefully a decade smarter, I find logic in his words that is so obvious, I don't understand how the rest of the nation doesn't see what's really going on in our political scene.
I am not allowed to vote in the US but this campaign has sucked the life out of me, I have so much to say about it. My husband (American) doesn't seem to quite get the in-born passion (call it what you will :)) for politics us Bulgarians have.
If George ran for president in Bulgaria, I will probably go out and vote for the first time in my life..
Tomorrow will be interesting...
P.S. I really enjoy your blog(s)
Ellie:
Where did you find the GORESHTO episode you were talking about?
I share your disappointment with Bulgarian politics. I go back and forth...from extreme dispair and disillusionment to guarded optimism and desire to get involved.
The election of Obama gives me hope that even people back home will realize that it's ok to expect a lot from politicians.
Do you have a blog?
Mrs. K-G,
http://0.arenabg.com/torrents.php?search=goreshto&category=0&active=1
all you need is a simple bit-torrent client. ArenaBG which you have probably heard of, contains a lot of other Bulgarian TV content that you might find interesting. Take a minute and look into it.
I don't have a blog or personal websites and web-profiles, the type of work I am in deals with a lot of sensitive information. A security breach like that would prevent me from ever getting another job or keeping the one I have. Besides, I am not as verbally gifted as you are, my writing is not intriguingly expressive and my life is not particularly interesting, I doubt it that if I had a blog I'd have any readers :) So before I destroy my professional reputation and my self esteem beyond repair, I'd rather just read yours :)
I am at the point where Bulgarian politics just aggravates me and I avoid following any of it. I have spent the last 9 years abroad and have not voted in a single election. By choice I must say. I figured that since at the time I didn't wish to live in the country and knew little or nothing about the parties and individuals who were running, it wasn't my place to make uninformed decisions and try to influence how the country would be governed.
US-politics right now leaves me with a certain sense of hope, although my choice of president would have fallen differently. Sadly, the candidate I considered best-qualified and who would have effortlessly won even against Obama, chose not to run. Can't blame him, who would want to inherit this bloody mess anyway?
Post a Comment