School and Classes in Botswana: Upon Completion

This post is the companion post to the entry from October 14th.

Yesterday (Friday November 28th) was my last final and as such I am officially done with my classes in Botswana and I won't attend another formal class until March 30th. Since they are over I thought I would revise some of my views posted in the October 14th post and add to those observations.

Overall the second half of the semester was easier than the first half. This was because most of the assignments were done in the first half which left me with less to do in the second half of the semester. In addition, most of my classes finished the material we were meant to cover before the end of the course and as a result the classes were often canceled for up to a week at a time. I guess this suggests that curriculum doesn't represent a structure for learning, but rather a checklist for topics to cover. That might be overly presumptuous but I really felt that way in all of my classes, except Setswana.
The final exams in every class, except Setswana, were essay tests that presented 4-6 questions and we were to choose two and right about them for two hours. On all of these exams I felt confident in my knowledge but not in my ability to guess what the teacher wanted, and that is what my grades will really come down to.

Population Policy of Botswana
I should revise my earlier statement, this class, especially in the second half didn't resemble anything similar to anything at K. I really liked the class but the bulk of the second half of the class was discussing, word for word, the 'National Population Policy of Botswana', a handout that, in my opinion, I could have looked at myself in a few minutes, but instead we spent at least three class periods reviewing it. It was interesting to learn the direction that policy makers want the population of Botswana to go. I actually used this learning in my economics final paper but argued that Botswana should encourage increased population growth, the opposite of the current plan. In the final 4-5 weeks of the course the class met maybe 10 times.
The final exam actually presented an interesting question that required critical thinking, "Sustained improvements in the level of Socio-economic development will bring about a fertility decline in the absence of organized family planning programmes; In light of the above does Botswana really need a population policy in order to achieve her objective of reducing the rate of population growth? Discuss." I was quite impressed with this question. I felt I had a good, well thought out answer. The second question was just word for word the same as on an earlier test so I chose to answer it as I already knew the correct answer.
Archaeology of Botswana
In the second half Archaeology actually improved, a little. Finally the group presentations ended and with no assignments, or tests in the second half of the class I could just try to learn something about the subject, a novel approach, I know. Unfortunately, for some strange reason the teacher decided this year that he was going to focus very specifically on one topic to the exclusion of all the others. He chose rock art, which would have been fine but most of what we discussed was theoretical models used to explain rock art in the region, not specific examples from in Botswana. I learned some things about rock art in general, but next to nothing about rock art specific to Botswana, which for me, was a little disappointing, but no less enlightening. I did gain knowledge about some of the best sites in Botswana which i will have an opportunity to see later in my time here, at Tsolido, and the one I have already seen at Manyana.
The final had two sections, first we had to re-hash one chapter from the book, I chose the chapter my group presented on, so that part was easy. Second, there were a couple questions but only one of them could I comfortably answer. The question was to describe the shamanistic model, unfortunately we had spent half the year talking about the shamanistic model, how am I supposed to write everything I know in an hour? I did what I could and called it good.
Social Problems in Southern Africa
This class continued to be strange. The teacher would wander off topic for half the class before rapping it all up in the last five minutes. The good thing about this is a learned a lot about the inner workings of Tswana culture and the social ills of Botswana, or at least Dr. Ntau's opinions of them. Both tests in this class were in the second half, but both were pretty easy. Simple fill in the blank, multiple choice and true or false. I have learned that these are the only kind of tests at the University of Botswana that you can really do well on, because they are objective, and it is beyond the teachers control to manipulate the grades to ensure no one does too well. (Some teachers would probably announce an 80% is the best grade they had ever given).
The final exam in this class though was an essay test so it caused a little bit of stress. Not to mention the fact that it was on the same day as Thanksgiving when I was planning the meal. I was impressed with the questions on this test as well. Both questions asked for definitions and then asked to use examples to explain how those affect real life. One question asked us to differentiate between Functionalism and Conflict theory (two social theories we learned about in class) and then to discuss which one we would use to explain social problems in Southern Africa. I answered that conflict theory should be used in South Africa because of the Apartheid, but functionalism in Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Economics of Southern Africa
In this class we submitted our "final project" a group, 15 page paper in the middle of October. I decided that it was worth so much of the grade I would put myself in position to compile and edit the paper. This allowed me to have real oversight over the paper and make it something I felt good about. On a related note I have learned that I am losing my trust in group work. I enjoy and value other people's input and incorporate it but when it comes to the final product, I like to be accountable for anything I put my name to. The second half was taught by a new teacher. He would lecture almost every class period for 5-10 minutes on how being late wasted time, while I though "well if you didn't lecture us every time less time would be wasted." The second half of the class was defined by one 4-page paper and a few lectures where the new teacher read from his own chapter in some text book, a chapter that he photo-copied and gave to each of us, so why review? UGH. The reason this is of note I suppose is because, it is different from other classes I have had hear. I attempted at all times to accept that cultural differences existed in the education system, but in this case the teaching was sub-par, especially by the standards at UB, I knew this because the Batswana in the class complained more than any of the international students.
Recently we got that second assignment back. Matt, Arnhild, and I (the other two internationals in the class) all received fifty-percents. We were confused, as we had written very different papers that each of us felt were better than the previous ones we had written, which had earned 80-percents. I met with the lecturer first and he explained to me that because I hadn't used headings the paper was ungradable. The assignment stated that we needed an introduction, discussion and conclusion. I had each but because I didn't have heading he didn't even read the paper. I was cordial and got no results, Arnhild met with him next, and Matt followed. By the time Matt met with him I was worried he was going to hurt the man. We called the routine good cop (me), crying cop (Arnhild), and bad cop (Matt), as a joke. Finally Matt found that if we wrote a letter and submitted it to the head of the department we could get the grade reviewed. Upon later meeting with the head of department she agreed with us that the grading had been sub-par and we resubmitted them for review.
Setswana
Setswana was probably my favorite class here. We raced through topics covering grammar, vocab and speaking. The instructor catered the course to our needs and abilites, removing the oral exam at the end because, "its my fault that you guys aren't ready for that." This kind of compassion and understanding of the plight of students was not typical in my other experiences as Botswana's culture generally doesn't value accountability of teachers to students, although there are strong signs that that is changing.
The final allowed us to cover the sections we knew. I had gotten a 94% on my first test and a 100% on my second test so I didn't even need to do too well on the final for an A but I still studied and felt good about the test.

Overall, my classes especially Social Problems, Setswana and Archaeology gave me interesting insight into Botswana aided by inferences and out of class research but, they peaked my interest and introduced me to interesting topics.

That's all for now, I'll probably update this post later with complete info on grades and test results.
Love to all,
Tommy

Thanksgiving

Firstly, let me say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. I hope it is a wonderful and happy time for all of you and yours.

So this year Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday had many firsts for me.
1)This was my first Thanksgiving away from home (home being defined as were my parents are)
2) This was my first Thanksgiving cooking/organizing/shopping for and in fact I single handedly did all three.
3) It was my first time having a test on thanksgiving (hopefully, my last)
4) It was my first time having thanksgiving in 100 Degree heat (also, hopefully my last)

Ever since I arrived in Botswana I have been discussing, with any number of people, the possibility of organizing a Thanksgiving dinner. There were always problems with the plans, first and foremost the lack of a place to buy Turkey and the very real question, what is Thanksgiving without Turkey? We discussed a number of solutions to this problem, including buying a live turkey and slaughtering it ourselves. None of them ever materialized and Thanksgivng always seemed so far off. That is, of course, until monday, when, out of nowhere I realized thanksgiving was Thursday. I immediately sprang into action, asking around to see if people were interested, they generally were so I went about preparing.Many people offered to help but of late I have become distrustful of group work and decided I should take control and just kindly invite them to join in the eating parts. I had never planned a major food event, least of all Thanksgiving, but I thought I could handle it.

(Me with my food)

The first order of Business was to find a Turkey. I went to the local grocery store (Pick 'n' Pay; it is a nice grocery store located at Riverwalk) and simply asked at the butcher if they had any Turkey. The lady answered yes and walked me to a freezer case that, until a week ago had been filled with frozen meals, and vegetables. Lo and behold this day it was packed full of frozen turkeys and at P18.50 per KG (about $1.50/lbs) they were reasonably priced. That was, as you may say, the spark that light the fire. I was fully committed. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday scouring the internet for recipes and how-to videos on youtube. On Wednesday, I made an excursion to Riverwalk.

(Riverwalk Pick 'n' Pay)

I knew from my facebook event that about 15 people would be attending and I went from there. I had decided hastily that I should keep the menu simple and limit my number of courses to enable me to succeed. I decided that Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and stuffing were musts I added green bean casserole as a possible addition if the ingredients fell into place. I had never shopped for a group but I had a jotted list of ingredients and a lot of enthusiasm to accompany me. Surprisingly I found nearly every ingredient I needed with the exception of all of the spices, but I didn't know what they were anyways. As I walked around the store I even found enough ingredients for the Green Bean Casserole and two pies, one apple tart and one pecan.I decided not to buy the turkey for lack of refrigerator space but to leave it until Thursday morning. Wednesday evening I prepared the stuffing and the mashed potatoes and got in some last minute studying for my final exam on Thursday (a final on Thanksgiving, good grief Charlie Brown.)
Thursday morning I trekked back to Pick 'n' Pay and bought my Turkey. I decided to go with a 6 kilo (12 pounds) instead of a larger because of price, cooking time, and tools. I brought it back and prepped for cooking. Unfortunately I thought the Turkey was thawed, but alas, it was frozen so i set about the arduous task of rapid defrosting. While defrosting I studied more and found someone whose oven I could use (our oven has been broken for over a month) Finally the bird was defrosted it I opened it up. unfortunately the inside of the bird was still frozen and the giblets were frozen inside. After about ten minutes, a knife and some hot water I ripped the giblets out and was on my way. I loosely followed this video(including the butter under the skin). By 12:30 the Turkey was cooking and I was on to studying furiously studying for my final.
At 2pm I went to take my Sociology exam. The exam went better than it should have, considering how little attention studying had gotten because of my Thanksgiving planning.
After I got out of my test I rushed to take the foil off the turkey, make the green bean casserole and prep for my dinner. At about 5 the turkey went came out, near perfect, and the green bean casserole and potatoes went in. Everything was ready at about 5:45 and dinner was scheduled for 6pm.

(The food tasted as good as it looked)

Before anyone came over I printed out this flyer explaining the history of thanksgiving as most of the people eating were Europeans who had heard of the traditions but didn't understand them.

(My poster, to read the text click on the photo)

People loved the food. 14 people ate truly, 7 people paid and Biki and KT (two of my roomates) picked at some of the leftovers. I wish I had had a little more food but frankly everyone got everything they wanted and everyone enjoyed the food.

(The food was enjoyed, every last bite)

Most of the Americans thanked me sincerly for the food. unfortunately the party mostly broke up right after dinner.
I was really really proud of myself for getting everything done and doing a good job of everything. I was also proud of how economical it all was, I managed to make the whole meal for about 20 Pulas per person ($3-$4). This is even more impressive considering the novelty of some of the items, for example the turkey was apparently imported from Brazil, don't ask why. I even overcame some uncommon challenges:
1) Availability was extremely limited
Turkey
green bean casserole
2) I didn't even know what Oven I would be cooking in until I put the Turkey in it
some anxiety did result
3) I completed an exam between the time the Turkey went in and came out
4) Tools
no serving tools
small, bad ovens
The green bean casserole was a real adventure. Campbells doesn't market in Botswana so I bought another cream of mushroom condensed soup but didn't notice until I got home that it was mushroom and ham soup and instead of white it was dark brown. It tasted about the same but the color was way off. Also, there are no french's fried onion in Botswana so instead I picked up an Indian snack called Bhujia. Turns out this stuff is really spicy but overall the dish came out alright.

(Random find made for a totally different taste, pretty good)

I also had the challenges of my tools. Do you know how hard it is to cube a loaf of bread without a serrated knife? Suffice it to say, VERY.
I really missed some things too. After all I always say Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (after the NFL Draft of course) because of the three F's: Food, Family, and Football. This year was a bit different instead it was: Food, Friends, and Finals. I prefer the former. I really missed my family and many of the traditions from home but this was a wonderful experience as well.
Thats all for now,
Love to all,
Happy Thanksgiving
Tommy

Dream, Aspirations

In sociology we discussed a lot of the basic concepts of sociological theory, the ideas of how society provides for the basic needs of individuals (functional requisites), how societies govern themselves through norms and values (normative consensus), how societies set goals and definitions for “success,” and how societies define and deal with deviance. We also discussed that societies are not universal or static, they change over time and from one place to another. As such, it tends to follow that Botswana would have different sets of societal parameters than my own culture. As an outsider it is much easier to observe these parameters than in one’s own culture although that is not out of the question either.
I was asked recently, “what motivates Motswana? What are their dreams? What do they hope to accomplish?” As I see it there are two different answers to this question. The first is what does society tell these people they should do to be successful and secondly, how does the individual see these goals.
I should state now, as I am wont to do, that I haven’t talked to every Batswana, I don’t even have a fair or diverse sample. Everyone I have talked to is college educated and rather familiar with my culture so my view is skewed to their perceptions but I don’t think that makes my observations less valuable or interesting.
Botswana has had an interesting developmental history that has seen it mold its own destiny as a long independent, and at least semi-independent economic, state but it has also had a long colonial history and a sort of father-son relationship with the West. As such Botswana has developed what seems to me to be a dual culture that is actually only one. On the one hand Botswana has traditions and culture that goes back generations and is still very much alive and well today, but on the other hand there is an obvious obsession with all that I western, western movies, music, government, art, and many other things are very popular here. The two coexist and I don’t think its fair to say, in this case that one is “killing” the other. All of this means that the goals and desires of this society are shaped by often conflicting forces.
Now it would be hard and unfair of me to suggest that I really have a good grasp on all of what makes a person “successful” but I do have some ideas. It is easiest for me to compare this society to my own. For example, both Botswana and America suggest that marriage and child rearing are keys to success. However, in the U.S. there is the artificial notion of the 2.3 children (or whatever that is) and here, in Botswana, it seems to me that the “ideal” family size is much bigger. Everyone wants to get married and have a family, a big family. On this topic, I also think that less emphasis is put on the “falling in love” part. It could be that I mainly talk to young men who don’t have love on the mind, but the whole culture of the “small-house” (see earlier post) makes me tend to think that the chivalrous constructs of “love” and “monogamy” so cherished in my culture are less important here.
In terms of professional goals or aspirations there is an interesting strain between the traditional and modern. One of my professors joked that, “the real problem with this country has is that even when a man gets his masters degree and you ask him, ‘what do you want to do now?’ he responds, ‘I’m going to become a farmer!’” The irony of this is one of my roommates (Puso) has just finished his masters degree in chemistry and his ultimate goal is to become a farmer. Another example is my friend Onky’s dad. Onky was telling that his father was the second oldest of many children and when he was still a student he was encouraged to drop out of school and help his family with their cattle to earn money so his elder brother could go to school in the U.S. He did and now he has no highschool education and his mother says “you’re nothing, you didn’t even go to school.” But Onky’s father is in no position to remind his mother that it was at her request that he ceased his education. The fact of the matter is people want to go to school, no doubt about that and it would seem anybody whose family is patient enough has the means to attend the University of Botswana with the schooling paid for and a stipend provided. Beyond that most people realize that the best potential for jobs is in the government and to own cattle on the side. It seems that this is such a common outlet because it what their fathers did. There seems to be little motivation to break the mold. When I ask people why they don’t go into business for themselves it strikes me that they respond as if they had never even considered the possibility as realistic.
As a nation it seems Botswana is driven to westernize and become increasingly similar to those countries. In as much the economy is aggressively encouraged to grow and development is constantly on the lips of all people in power. The nation has been pretty successful in this push over the past five or so decades. The diamond wealth helps.
In general, in my experience, people aspire to be self sufficient and comfortable much as their parents before them. I don’t see much drive to really improve there standing or “break the mold.”

That's all for now
Love,
Tommy

Websense: Internet Censorship in Botswana

I have been at UB for over three months now and there are lots of differences between the atmosphere here and the atmosphere in Kalamazoo. Academic expectations are lower, confrontation of teachers is frowned upon, and a whole slew of other things, but the one difference that has the most direct impact on my day-to-day life is the blocking of the internet.

Almost a month and a half ago the University of Botswana initiated a system with the aims of limiting the traffic on the, already overstretched network. The problem seems to be that UB simply does not have adequate bandwidth (that is the virtual space used to transfer things from the internet to your computer that is shared by all the users on a network) to support all of the users on its network. As a result, instead of purchasing more bandwidth, UB invested in a system called Websense. This is, oddly enough, exactly the same system utilized by Visteon to limit its employee’s use of the Internet while at work. The difference here is that we are not employees, and our Internet is being limited during the day as well as at night, during our free time.

(websense logo)

Soon after it was installed a group of international students wrote a petition and circulated it. I signed it reluctantly because I had reservations about whether or not it was our place to ask for something to change. After all, we are ‘guests’ here, a fact we were amply reminded of during our first month here. I did sign it and we did submit it to the administration. Simultaneously the student news paper wrote an article concerning the issue citing students and faculty who complained of the system blocking things that made being an academic difficult. This was the primary concern of the International students, that the system was not simply blocking frivolous sites. One of the German students, and the most passionate about the issue, found that the system was not only blocking things like games and movies but it was also blocking e-zines that deal with homosexuality, communism, and other hot-button political issues. We also found that a similar system is employed in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and China. The response from administration, unsurprisingly, was abysmal. The basically told us that they cared what we thought but had no plans to change the system. Big surprise, a uni-lateral change is opposed by the students and the administration fails to get the message, or do anything about it. This lack of accountability is an issue that has become particularly bitter for me as I have stayed here.

To be honest I am most affected by the blocking of frivolous websites and, as such, have been less aggressive in my protest to the system than some of my peers. The biggest hardships for me include the fact that facebook is blocked between 8am and 6pm, games (including fantasy sports) are blocked during all weekdays, and some things, like internet radio is never unblocked.

(Facebook: Blocked ‘During office hours’)

However, the system has also caused other problems intentionally or otherwise. First skype stopped working the same time the system came online. I sent an email to IT and received a message that “skype has never been blocked” but a friend of mine, who is a computer science major found that they are indeed blocking the ports that skype uses. However, some students have access and others don’t. Additionally, occasionally my Kalamazoo email address is blocked. The IT department claims this has nothing to do with skype but the fact that it is unblocked after 6pm makes me think that that too is a lie.

(Kzoo Webmail: note that it says ‘proxy server refused connection’)

(Blogspot: note that in this picture it says ‘connection reset by peer’)

(skype failing to connect)

These issues have left me disarmed and slightly disenfranchised as I realize more and more that questioning authority (especially elders) and general accountability and transparency are not valued in this culture. I have been assured that this is not the case by some of my friends, but the fact is that I have seen it, when I asked a teacher to explain the grade I received, or ask IT why something isn’t working, or when the international students go to administration with a concern and they simply shrug us off with a comment like ‘we will look into it, but the system is in place for a reason.’ A favorite story of mine that serves as evidence to this point is that in parliament when a junior parliamentarian questions an elder is acceptable for the elder to simply respond ‘I am older than you, who are you to question me?’ How is a system supposed to function like that? I suppose I am also considering the ‘respect for elders mantra’ into my evaluation of a lack of accountability. I understand respecting elders, but that should not bar me from questioning them, or allow them to boss me around for no reason. I suppose that just shows that I am from a different culture, but this is an issue I honestly believe must be addressed before Botswana can truly excel.

That’s all for now,
Love to all,
Tommy

Zim I Am and Zim Fest

Before departing for Botswana I did some extensive research about Botswana and the surrounding region of Southern Africa. In that research I learned of the generally good fortunes of Botswana, and in contrast, I learned of the bad fortunes of the people of Zimbabwe. Botswana has, since independence in 1966, enjoyed impressive economic growth and social development. Zimbabwe also enjoyed substantial growth after independence, that is, until recent, catastrophic, and universally disruptive social upheaval in that country. Without boring any one with extensive details that I could not hope to fully or fairly relate, Zimbabwe’s economy, over the last half a dozen years, has completely collapsed. During this period, Zimbabwe has experienced explosive inflation, at times as high as twenty million percent a year. Recently on the coattails of this economic ruin, the political structure in Zimbabwe failed on a massive scale. The results, needless to say, were horrific. Fortunately, to date violence has been limited, unlike other countries in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the suffering, especially by those on the fringes of society, and thus least at fault for the crisis, has been wide spread. The crisis has led to a melt down in civil services and in every facet of the economy, including food production. As a result, all goods must be imported and the black market has boomed, leading to massive wealth for criminals and incredible, unimaginable suffering for the poor.
Recently I visited Zimbabwe out of curiosity, not only of their current state of affairs, but also of their monumental past. In my visit I was fortunate to meet Zimbabweans who were more than frank in their assessment of their situation. In my discussions with them they explained that their only way to get by was to sell goods in a gas station parking lot, barely affording necessities of life. They also told me that those who lacked the means to do the same suffered more than them. I was impressed though, with their refusal to throw hope away, or allow themselves to be thought of as helpless victims.
Some of my fellow international students from all over the world had similar experiences in Zimbabwe, and as a result we decided that it was our place and our time to do something. Admittedly, it is with the blissful hopefulness of youth that we made our plan, but we are dedicated and passionate and we hope to really help, at least those that we can. We formed the ‘Zim I Am’ campaign and set a goal of raising 50,000 Pulas (Just over $6,500).
In order to reach this goal our group looked introspectively and found that all of us love music and some of our group have many good connections with local musicians. As a result a music festival to raise money seemed a great idea, the result was Zim Fest!

In planning we found that we were ill equipped in many instances to fully work with the bureaucracy of University of Botswana but our grit and determination saw us through. For example in meeting with the Student Representative Council we found many difficulties with not being understood, after more than a half dozen meetings finally all parties understood and a solution was reached. Thank goodness I wasn't a main organizer. We ended up with many acts and lots of donated alcohol and soft drinks to be sold for additional revenue.

(One of the groups performing, the drummer in the red hat was also one of the main organizers)

Almost all of the international students were asked to volunteer, I volunteered for a the 3-6 shift at ticket sales and the 8-12 shift for bar tending. Bar tending was exciting but also, at times, stressful. The hardest part of the job was the free drinks, each musician was to have some free drinks and each volunteer was to have a free drink too, unfortunately it wasn't simple.

(Me bar tending)

Overall, the event was successful, turn out was low, but not as low as I expected and Beer, as expected sold tremendously well and I expect that we made a lot of money. All of the musicians were excellent and I believe fun was had by all!

(Some of the attendees)

Love to all,
Tommy

More pictures of the event can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30742450&l=bcfda&id=40901950

Election Party

Tonight, as all should know was the quadrennial election to determine the chief executor of the American government, to serve for the following four years. Or more simply, the 2008 presidential election.
This was my first presidential election as a qualified voter and I was thrilled to play a role in both the primary and national election process. Although, because of a strange situation with the Democratic National Convention my primary vote counted for naught, it made the National election no less sweet.

On the night of the election proper a group of American, and some interested/concerned Europeans, congregated to watch the events live. As we are seven hours behind, thanks Day Lights Savings Time, the first polls were set to close at 2:30 CAT I decided that I would take a nap and get up at 3am.
The watching was exciting especially as lots of people were very excited and all were of like mind. An interesting sidenote is that of the 22 or so American students in our exchange program, all but one supported Obama, the outlier was a Ralph Nader supporter. Each set of closing states brought excitement as students from all parts of the U.S. were in attendance including, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, New York, Washington, Oregon, Texas, and maybe some other places. As each person’s state closed and a winner was projected we made a game of claiming sole responsibility for the success of Obama in our state. As the night progressed it became increasingly clear that Obama’s victory was imminent. At precisely 5am when California, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, and Oregon closed CNN declared that Obama was projected to be the next president of the United States of America. The room went insane. Many students began jumping around screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing chairs to the floor. I watched in a state of paralyzed glee.

(This picture fails to capture the real excitement, but its the best I've got.)

McCain’s speech was conciliatory and classy. I appreciated the words he spoke but was disappointed with both my friends, and McCain’s supporters who demonstrated their continued distaste for the opponent. Obama’s speech, to me, was thoroughly inspiring especially his quote: “Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”
I find myself thoroughly proud of what our Nation has wrought, thoroughly proud of my peers for fully participating and influencing our future (Voters in the 18 to 24 age group broke 68 percent for Obama to 30 percent for John McCain, according to the exit polling. Those in the 25 to 29 age bracket went 69 percent to 29 percent in Obama's favor), and truly hopeful that our tomorrows will continue to be ever brighter than our yesterdays.
Love to all,
Tommy