CiteZEN

This year marks my 10 year anniversary of being an American Citizen. It's pretty exciting. I remember being giddilly excited when Bill Clinton defeated Bush the Elder in 1992, and when Paul Wellstone was re-elected in 1996, and seeing a wave of hope and optimism rise in my family and in our neighborhoods. I remember being in 4th grade, telling my classmates that it was only a matter of time when people will be begging democrats or left-leaning leaders to regain control, after losing it in 1994. So it didn't happen in the 1996 election, but it happened eventually.

A lot has happened since then. Hope and optimism seemed to take a backseat to dread and cynicism. I guess we have plenty to be cynical of, regardless of our political affiliation. However, I won't let the fact that I'm fearful about my professional future, or about my ability to pay whatever few bills come my way, or the fact that I'm practically broke stop me from doing my part as a citizen of the U.S.

I'm voting,and I'm serving as a provisional election judge. For a number of reasons, whether it's a change in address, or one's name is not on the registration roster, sometimes a person has to fill out a provisional ballot. The most common reason for voting provisionally involves a person voting outside his or her voting district. It becomes my job on election day to help administer the provisional ballot process. I can't help a person vote, I just give that person the forms they need, give them a smile and a sticker and send them on their way. :)

We had a 3 hour training session a few weeks back, and I took a look around to see who else does this kind of "volunteerism" (we actually get compensated, just a little). The room was filled with older African-American women, one middle-aged White man, and I was the only person under the age of 35, as well as the only minority that wasn't African-American. I think it'll be interesting to see the changing demographics of city officials, public servants or involved community members change with the passage of time and the naturalization of current immigrants. It'll be interesting to see everything that changes within the next few monthes, years or decades. It's been 21 years since my family came to the U.S., quite a bit has changed....