Where Xutos skirts a hearse to vote
Death and taxes in Boise
By Nathaniel Hoffman, 5-22-07
On one side of the large church there was an optimistic funeral.
On the other side, four older ladies sat alone and bored in the voting chamber.
I used the sharp little puncher to make a clear hole in the ballot. Got my sticker. Hit the road.
As they say: “En la vida dos cosas ciertas. Son la muerte y el cambio.”
The first Xutos in Boise reader who can tell me the Latin Hip Hop band that sings that gets an autographed copy of the Canyon County seal.
[End of article]I'm with you. I had to vote at the polling place rather than via mail this year. But I did urge lots of people to vote early since most people don't experience voting as quite the existential event in their lives that I do.
I vote at the Idaho Parks Department building and I always run into people I know from the neighborhood and stop to chat. (Gotta be careful what I talk about because there is a law against politicking within 100 yards of the polling place.)
It is a reminder that elections are about people in our neighborhoods and that the best way to make our government reflect our values is first connect with the people in our neighborhoods. If not, a lot of folks may only get an analysis of the issues and candidates from Fox or other sound-bite, divisive sources. Fortunately, around the local community college issue, the field hadn't been sprayed with the "round-up" of typical election coverage. There was fertile ground to plant seeds for thoughtful people to consider.