Bruce Wayne-Ken Doll Hybrid Becomes Mayor of Vancouver

You may know him only as the founder of those delicious Happy Planet juices, but this weekend, Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver became the new mayor of Vancouver, ousting Peter Ladner of the NPA (the poor guy in the picture frame). Robertson has said he will make addressing the homelessness crisis his number one priority and he seems to be genuinely interested in how to make Vancouver greener and more sustainable. Vision Vancouver swept the city, leaving only one NPA council member. Kind of crazy considering that when Sam Sullivan of the NPA came to office we anticipated him being in power until 2011.

America Day

My mom sent me this photo of the cake she and her friend's shared on election night. I kind of think I'm going to throw an America party next November 4th so we can all remember just how awesome that day felt.

transitions

For the first time in my lifetime I get to really witness and pay attention to the transfer of power from one president (and party) to the next. I was sixteen when Clinton passed the torch to Bush Jr. and obviously occupied with issues much more important than how the president and president-elect work together--or not work together. Considering I haven't given much thought to how this process works I'm definitely going to have to do some more background reading before really delving into it on here. However, it's going to be very interesting to see how this transition takes place--especially in such a volatile time--and I plan on devoting a number of posts to the process and the decisions that President-elect Obama (man it feels good to write that!) makes over the next few months.

Welcome!

Well, here it is.... My very first blog. A long time listener, first time caller, I hope this space will peak your interest and help sort out the jumbled mess of thoughts that bang around my head.
I recently told one of my friends that I was interested in starting one of these things, and she passionately proclaimed her hatred of blogs and the death of the editorialist-- "Just because any Joe Smoe can post his writing on the internet does NOT make him a writer!"-- I suppose she has a point, it seems I spend a lot of time filtering before reaching something worthwhile... But at the same time, when I do find that treasure, it's kind of exciting! Who doesn't like the thrill of the hunt?
New media gives people who might not necessarily have the time-energy-chance to pursue "writing" a place to share their experiences, hone their views and maybe even gain some constructive criticism.. and what's so bad about that? I like the internet, but I still like the editorial section of the Globe and Mail and the feel of newsprint between my fingers, that's for sure. So maybe this won't be a treasure, or maybe it will...and maybe I'll never be an editorialist, but that doesn't mean I can't let you know what it's like to be an American girl in Vancouver living on the eastside.