who are your heroes?

To tell you the truth, I am feeling a little overwhlemed. Now-- the good news is-- I kind of love this feeling. It makes me feel alive, engaged, inspired, focused, excited, and ultimately, HOPEful. I thrive on it.

I am really excited about Hillary and Barack. I am really excited about the incredible Democratic turnout in the myriad precints acorss the country that voted on Tuesday. I am excited that I had INCREDIBLE conversations with many different people, friends, people my parent's and my grandparent's ages, even Republicans, about the candidates and what this election means. I am excited that this dialogue is in full swing, and not at all over. I think it is really good for the country.

I wanted to tell you about a good friend from high school who has really inspired me this week. In high school he was funny and popular, an actor and an athlete, and smart, and very pure of heart. Two of my favorite personal memories from high school include sitting in a tree by Jamaica Pond with Sam, and, him making me a mix tape (!), of him playing the piano and singing I think. Wow, very special. I wish more of these high school students I work with were so bold and brave and original!

Anyway, Sam didn't take the oft-traveled road from Latin School to Harvard to law school/med school/business school/investment banking/lucrative consulting. He spent some time in NYC working on documentary films and fell in love with Obama at that shockingly moving speech at the Democrtaic Convention in Boston in 2004. Now, he travels with Obama and writes his official blog. He says he never thought he would be working in politics and he wouldn't be if he didn't believe in Obama as much as he does, and how much he believes we have the opportunity to make history here. And I am not taking about Obama's race/ethnicity.

Anyway, here are a few links I've been enjoying in the past few days. As if you aren't already inundated with information. Well, some of 'em will make you think, or laugh, or smile. So, if you have a moment, check 'em out.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog
http://jasongrote.blogspot.com
http://foundmagazine.com/find/203
http://gallivantingmonkey.blogspot.com
http://foundmagazine.com/find/242

[Since I'm using Internet Explorer the whole link thing isn't working too well for me... so make like its arts and crafts time and do the old cut-and-paste...]