Two Bros Rappin' in Beantown

In response to the question, "What's going on with your blog?" My answer was, "I don't want to keep writing about the election." That wasn't the purpose of the blog, I never want to read a single-focus work, so it stands to reason that I'd never want to write a single focus work.

As the final day to the endless campaign draws near I found a topic to share. And it has only a little bit to do with the election.

This past Saturday, I spent seven hours in Boston. The majority of the time was spent with my best friend and our time together centered in or around Trident Booksellers and Cafe.
If, as Sartre implies, "hell is other people," then for me , heaven is the Trident. It has books, great food, and a thousand different conversations all creating the soundtrack to whatever movie is showing on one of the flat screen TVs hanging over the counter. When I first went in City Lights was playing, a silent film classic. With no dialogue, the soundtrack of the store fought against the images on the screen. This was a bit disconcerting.

Then my friend came in and our conversation added to the mix. We spoke about the election, about "The West Wing." Off the air for two-and-a-half years, it still is the best education in both the power and powerlessness of the presidency. As always we touched upon events that are currently shaping both of our worlds. Work, money, family, a normal conversation between two people whose lives have be intertwined for almost thirty years.

The Trident was filled with flyers advertising the all-day election coverage that would be broadcasting on Tuesday,from the TVs currently showing Chaplin. The flyers were the best example of the home-grown mania that is gripping the nation. The main flyer featured a picture of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. I hope the coverage on election night will be half as entertaining.
We left the Trident and, as we walked and talked, my friend a long time resident of the area, kept up his streak of being unable to identify any historic landmark in Boston. To any question, his response was the same. "How should I know?" or the annoyed "Take a tour!"

Hours and many conversations later, we returned to the Trident for coffee and dessert. We sat at the counter right in front of a TV. Ghostbusters was starting. No sound, just the thousand conversations. As our conversation a fairly intense one continued, we watched Bill Murray's smirks and looks of shock that made him famous. We laughed and remarked how everytime we saw Murray it made us think of our college friend Jim.

As our seventh hour was coming to a close it occured to me that the election that had occupied so many of our phone calls from "The Garden State" to "Beantown", had played only a minor part of our time together.

While driving home I felt that essense of our day was going to be a common one in America after next week. Certainly on Wednesday there will be a great cheer from one group and a cry of agony from another. One of the men running for president will begin the transition process toward taking office. While the other will begin the transition process of defining a new political future. But once the cheers and screams fade we will all be more focused on our conversations about work, money and family. No longer will we be distracted by the constant coverage, the unending verbal malstrom of point counter point; no matter how entertaining it can be. We will have a new president-elect. And everyone will be waiting for him to take over, waiting for him to make a difference. History suggests that that is not always possible. But we gotta believe.

That belief isn't baseless either. Men have picked up the reins of office and helped America refocus herself. And I think this is why we vote. We are always hopeful, always optimistic about tomorrow.

I still feel this entry is not about the election. It has more to do with us, and our best friends and our families and everyone sitting at the Trident and all the places like it across the nation.