Just bought another year for this journal - guess that means I should write more.

I have become scarily addicted to political blogs.  I hate them, and yet I love them.  They all cover the exact same stories and issues.  They refer to each other constantly.  Basically their whole purpose for existing is to refer to each other.  They repeat themselves.  They blow everything out of proportion.  They bicker like children.  They are ruining American democracy, and maybe saving it too: at least they are talking about the issues, sometimes.  Good or bad, I am addicted. 

Another new addiction: the Sweeney Todd soundtrack.  Can it really be healthy to spend an hour every day in my car singing about cannibalism?

I signed up to be an Obama precinct captain, as I may have mentioned, which means that I am responsible for contacting likely Democratic and independent voters in a couple-block radius to see who they are planning to vote for, and as election day nears, to get Obama supporters to the polls.  Only my precinct is not actually near my house.  Also, 80% of the people in it are over the age of 80 (there's an assisted living center smack dab in the middle).  I

 tried to make calls tonight after I got home and had dinner, but it was 8:30 so I didn't want to call any older people who might be asleep already.  Calling only people under 65 meant I could call 1-3 people per page (18 to a page).  I do not have a good work schedule for this.  But I will try to devote myself to it this weekend. 

One of the women I talked to said that she was undecided, even though she lived Obama better, because she did not want to get too attached to a candidate and be disappointed.  I laughed, sadly, and said, "I'm bad at that."  I really hope I am not disappointed this time.  The Clinton machine is on the attack, and that scares me.  Why does the lowest common denominator always win?  (but it hasn't won yet - and I am going to tell myself, at least for the next 12 days, that it won't win this time)

Other than that, I am taking a newswriting class at City College of San Francisco, one night a week.  The teacher has been in journalism and editing for over 20 years, and he has lots of good stories.  His experience is both an asset and a drawback.  He knows all of the reporters in SF, and at the San Francisco Chronicle - which is cool because he has the inside scoop, but unfortunate because he is unable to separate himself from them or be critical of their work.  We were discussing an article in class yesterday, and he seemed to take criticism of it personally, and rather than admit it might not be perfect, he finally suggested that an editor might have changed it - as if we were criticizing the reporter and not the work.  Institutional thinking - the press defends itself.  I'm interested to see how he critiques our writing, as that is the real test.  I hope he can teach me to be clear and concise.  Obviously, my conciseness needs some work.