DISPENCE

Rain doesn’t bother me anymore.
It used to.
I hated it. It got all my things wet.
Especially camping or away from home.
Now?
No big deal. I like it.
It smells good, is refreshing.
Windshield wipers.
Rain doesn’t bother me anymore.

I just saw this ad on Facebook. Something just seems wrong about it. Offering more credit to students when there is apparently a credit crisis doesn’t make sense.

Soon I’ll write about how this election has turned racist.

I’m wondering now what it’s like to have a president that the country likes. What’s it like to have a hero in the oval office? What’s it like to have someone you admire as Commander in Chief? What’s it like to trust your President? What’s it like to have faith that he will make the right decision? What’s it like to know he’s making America and the world a better place?

I can’t answer these questions. I don’t know. All my life – or the whole part I’ve been aware of the government around me – I’ve disliked our current leadership.

I asked my grandmother the other day if she plans on voting for Obama. I knew the answer but asked anyways. The distress she displayed on the thought of him in office was unsettling. How can it be that people are afraid of the other candidate for President?

I can’t say I’m afraid of McCain as a president, but I am afraid of a McCain administration.

There’s something lacking in our country now. I can feel it. It has something to do with a disconnect between the people and their leaders. The approval rating and trust in the government is low. The causes of this erosion of faith in our American institutions can be attributed to whatever you like, but the fact is this isn’t good.

(more…)

Between school, work, more work, Capital Hill, the Justice Department, various NGOs, IGOs, interest groups and think tanks, and a visit to Syracuse, the good ‘ol blog has been left out.

No more!

A preview:

• What the hell is going on? Bail-out, election and our American life-as-we-know-it concerns.
•  What is Spencer up to? An update from NPR headquarters, the classroom and athletic fronts.
• DC. The capitol city has some neat stuff like running/biking trails, bar areas, lots of universities, monuments and smart people.

OK, so I just almost wrote “Stay tuned.” But then thought of all the other things that mean the same all at the same time! Don’t change the channel. Don’t touch that remote. Keep it locked. Don’t go anywhere. Stick around. Back in 90.  OK, I’m done.

I’ve been monitoring visits to my blog and since I created it in January and have slowly gained a larger audience. In January, www.dispence.org saw just over 200 unique visiters. By August that number jumped to 804.

I only have a few days left in Oregon. I’ve been skiing a bunch and spending a lot of time figuring out what to do with all this random stuff in my room.

I’ve updated my blog here. Now it’s accessible at www.dispence.org. I will try to give updates as much as possible and show photos from my new camera. I’ll also post here any audio stories I do.

I leave Wednesday morning and will fly through Vancouver, BC straight to Beijing.

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