Yesterday morning I woke at 4:30 in the morning to books falling on my head. I had stored them on the top ledge of the window frame. This did not seem like an ill-fated plan at the time because I had done so on my other window frames with no ill effect. And, in truth, these books stayed put for a month and a half.

Beyond the physical discomfort of suffering a bloody nose from paperbacks falling on my face, there is potentially some psychological trauma that may need to be dealt with stemming from being assaulted by the paper-back copy of Anne Frank's diary that I read in second grade.

Tomorrow is mid-term elections. I felt pretty removed this year, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've just moved, and if there's anything more complicated than the electoral college it has to be DC politics. Since I plan to raise my familiy in Denver (whenever that may be) I don't feel badly about having voted absentee in Colorado. The big issues in my district were the gubanatorial election, the two marriage amendments. There was a seat in the running, but it is a Democrat versus someone in the Green Party.

Getting back to the two marriage amendments. One is a definition of marriage stating that it is between a man and a woman. The other is a domestic partnerships amendment which also defines marriage as between a man and a woman, but allows that people in domestic partnerships should have the exact same rights. Personally, I don't have any problem defining marriage as one thing and domestic partnerships as another, as long as they really truly mean the same thing. To me it reeks of "seperate but equal" and we know how well that worked out. I don't understand what the problem is. I don't understand why two women being wives detracts from a man and a woman's joy in being husband and wife. Why is it so offensive?

For legal/ civic purposes I think everyone should get a domestic partnership. Let's removed the term in question from the equation. Everyone gets a domestic partnership, and if you want to get "married" you can do so in your church/synagogue/coven whatever. If you belong to a religious organization which objects to the love you have for your partner, at that point it becomes your issue, not the government's.

If I thought anybody read this I would prepare myself for an onslaught, but since I think there are maybe three people in the world who check it periodically I'm not all that concerned.

I'm feeling disenchanted with democracy. Don't get me wrong, I love to vote, it's crucial to vote, GO VOTE TOMORROW (the three of you who are reading this... maybe). It's just that I can't get past the idea that the people are stupid. Or maybe not the people. I don't know any truly stupid people, so I have a hard time qualifying anyone as stupid. And yet the American People (writ large) seem to allow, condone, encourage incredibly upsetting behavior. I don't understand the disconnect. Where is the majority that voted for Bush two years ago? I haven't met any of them... where are they stashed?

Anyway, I belive in the power of democracy, but I can't help but think that the people with whom I share this democracy aren't paying attention.

The system is too big, and too broken.