I'm a mother of one 13 year old daughter and three step-kids, aged 19, 22 and 27.  I work full-time for our school district as an aide in Special Education.  My daughter's biological father, who was pursuing a dual degree in Law and Psychology in Philly when he died, passed away in 1996 of a drug overdose ten days after being discharged from rehab (a ten-day-stay for an IV heroin addiction!).  Our daughter was only seven months old.  He had insurance through his employer, a drug and alcohol agency, where he worked part time while attending school full-time.  You aren't reading it wrong, I have a very unusual story and I could write so much more about what it felt like to grasp for help and be met with backs turned, to lose my husband along with all of our hopes and dreams and to enter the world of public assistance with an infant in my arms as a recipient of social services, not as a practitioner of them as I was accustomed to. I will never be able to describe what it felt like the first time I used food stamps at my grocery store, the grocery store where my mother used to shop with me when I was a little girl.  It was my own hometown grocery store.  I was unrecognizable to the clerk as anything but an "other" type of person.  That exists right here in middle America and it is time that it stops.  Even in my little sheltered hometown the world is turning and people are changing and to some, people who receive assistance are lesser than them.  It makes no sense to me how we, a country of wealth beyond measure, have become so mean and petty toward each other and so willing to judge but so unwilling to help or to care.  That comes from the top and it has been being cultivated for a very long time in this country. I am someone who has struggled but have always worked hard and done my very best.  I had earned a Masters Degree in Social Work before having my daughter and have always worked as a public servant.  I have hoped for this moment in time in America ever since watching the Democratic National Convention four years ago when Barack Obama spoke about an America where there is compassion for one another and not the devisiveness we are seeing today.  That spoke to my heart.  We need a leader who inspires compassion and kindness and concern.  That is without a doubt Barack Obama.  And that's why I and my husband and family embrace Barack Obama as our president.

Well, I already voted for Barak.  Last day of early voting in Chicago.  Long lines, but what the hell, I felt good walking out knowing i cast a vote for a guy who will gather a good team around him and work to 1) fix the economy (this is triage, folks, stop the bleeding then treat the hangnail); 2) fix the rule of law, ie get rid of Gitmo.  Put your prisoners in US jails and prosecute them, but don't keep them in limbo for years, not in a place that allows torture.  

But even if Barack gets in, there's no certainty his vision will prevail.   I want change, but there is no guarantee the change will be good or last.  I think it will, but we need the votes to pass.  It looks like there's a possibility Dems could get a 60/40 or better split.  That's exhilirating in a way, mostly scary, though.  The inclination is to right wrongs, but over-zealousness is it's own discipline.   What I mean is too much power does tend to corrupt, it seems to me.

Anyway, I'm very glad I voted for Barack, and I think he will be a great President.  Great.