Future Fist-Bumpers of America

Last night we watched the returns come in from the safety of our neighbors' living room, partly because none of us could bring ourselves to believe it would actually go our way. But after McCain conceded (nice speech, by the way -- thank you, Senator) and we were done jumping up and down screaming, we flung the kids into the cars and headed into town to party with the 37th District Democrats.

Columbia City was lit up. People drove up and down the street honking and waving and bellowing. We piled into the Columbia City Theater and hugged everyone in sight and danced and shrieked and cried. We watched Obama's acceptance speech on the jumbo-tron with a light show swirling all around it, and Simon shouted "Yes We Can!" in all the right places. After a little more dancing we finally dragged ourselves away, but made sure to do our share of honking and waving and bellowing on the journey home.

This morning many, many families straggled in late to school, ours among them. The afterglow permeated the building, in possible violation of district policy regarding partisan expressions of jubilation: Obama's voice boomed out of several classroom doors; parents and teachers hugged and fist-bumped in the hall, giant portraits of the president-elect appeared on the walls.

We are told that the Garden Coordinator (who is also a DJ) hosted a wild dance party in the lunchroom/gym all day long. We heard that the lights were low, that the music was mossy, and that some of the boys can really break-dance. A semi-reliable source reported that Anthony actually scratched records. Josie apparently dances crazy, but doesn't like to be seen (we have long suspected this). It turns out that all the teachers know all the words to "Billie Jean." We hear the students are circulating a petition requesting that teachers be prohibited from dancing at future events, because it's just too embarrassing. We also hear that an alternate petition may be in the works that would permit dancing by teachers, because it is absolutely hilarious. And Simon reported with pride that he had started a "Yes We Can" chant that spread through the crowd like wildfire.