San Jose Inside

Last week, regardless of what side you were on, was one we won’t soon forget. When is the last time you saw people standing in crowds cheering and weeping over the election of a new leader? I remember the feeling when Clinton was elected, the feeling of sheer optimism that here we had this smart, sharp, young new President, but I think that pales in comparison to the feeling that prevailed last Tuesday. I was watching inside a bar, and at the Sharks game, and here was an undeniable buzz I hadn’t heard or seen before. Now what happens from here remains to be seen.

The generation of young people I work with, 18 to 25-year-olds, have only known historic moments through the experience of disaster. To be in a defining political American moment meant that there were elections being stolen, suicide planes diving into American buildings, wars beginning, cities drowning, or economies collapsing. Historic American moments were to be avoided.

This presidential election changed all that, and as celestial as Obama appears, he is a star that feels not so far away from the communities here on the ground. That is why these same young people, for the first time, are embracing this moment of history as theirs to claim.

Last Saturday, Nov. 1, I had the pleasure of meeting 17-year-old Eagle Scout Alex Gregory, who lives in the Almaden Valley. Becoming an Eagle Scout is not an easy process. A person who is seeking this honor must have dedication and perseverance. Only about 4 percent of Boy Scouts exceed expectations and achieve the high level of Eagle Scout.
 
To become an Eagle Scout, the scout must choose a project to share with the community. Alex chose to build a Veterans Memorial. He decided to create this Memorial at his church, St. Christopher’s in Willow Glen.

After a three-week hiatus, Rants and Raves returns. The election is over. Blog it or not.

In a video that was circulated among City Hall insiders last week, then-District 8 Council Candidate Pat Waite can be seen addressing a rally in favor of the recall effort against District 7 Councilmember Madison Nguyen. Word of the appearance set off a storm of controversy, and Waite immediately began to backtrack. He sent an email to Nguyen in which he performed a verbal tap-dance to explain that the “rumor” of his support for the recall was untrue.

Hologramervisors Will Have Authority to Cast Votes

Immediately following the CNN presidential broadcast in which the 24-hour news station showed off its new technology by beaming a hologram of Will.I.Am. into their New York studios to conduct an interview with Anderson Cooper, the County purchased the holography machine in order to beam their supervisors to the dais during weekly board meetings.

“This is going to be great,” said Supervisor Kniss. “I won’t have to commute down to San Jose anymore.”

Silicon Alleys

When it comes to contemporary American classical music composers, John Adams is probably the most widely performed while at the same time the most provocative and criticized. To this day, his 1990 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, about the Achille Lauro hijacking in the Middle East, causes political and emotional trauma whenever it’s produced. Other stage works like Nixon in China and A Flowering Tree have sent critics and purists into uncomfortable tizzies worldwide.

Food for Thought

Last week I asked the question: Is our national nightmare nearly over? I don’t think we know the answer yet, but come Jan. 20—which can’t come soon enough—we may see the beginning of the end. One thing is for sure, the landscape of American politics has been significantly and permanently altered for the better. With the decisive election of a mixed race African American as our president, we have finally exorcized the demons of centuries of racial intolerance and bigotry. We have shown the world that we really can live up to the promise and potential of our democratic ideals and doctrines, and that we can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

The volunteers who gave us our country back.

Guests started to arrive in force at the Silicon Valley for Obama victory party at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View at around 7:30 pm. The election had already been called. He had won.  And everyone was ecstatic. They walked in looking more stunned than happy. Who could believe it?

The shindig attracted some high-tech politicos and local elected officials, but mostly it was about the campaign volunteers. Silicon Valley for Obama, chaired by former State Controller Steve Westley, had been enormously successful.

Will the Measure B sales tax approval for BART completion go down the tubes, like the convention center expansion did in 2002, leaving San Jose with a blue striped circus tent instead of a real building? Both measures were approved by a majority of voters, but failed to capture the two-thirds approval needed for tax measures.

This time, the margin’s even closer: four-tenths of a percent shy of the magic number at 66.27 percent, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. (2002’s Measure F won 64.8 percent of the vote.)

Two speeches last night, the Obama acceptance speech and the McCain concession speech, surely give us all a new and deserved reason for feeling very good about our nation, and feed our hopes to turn the page on history, a period that we do not want to revisit and must change.  We received the type of conclusion to this often savage election that we so desired.

It was a night of celebrations around Silicon Valley, from swanky spots in Mountain View and Willow Glen to the Fourth Street Bowl and the Popeye’s franchise on Santa Clara Street. San Jose Inside was on hand to record the historic night.

I am feeling patriotic today. The historical significance of this national election is something we have never seen before, and I love the feeling of optimism, that perhaps a change will be made today in our country that will affect our lives for the better.

Even if there is little a new President can do to get us out of the gaping hole that “W” put us in, it’s nice to have that positive feeling. Even if it’s for a fleeting moment.