Blog a la Cart

yesterday, everywhere i looked i saw purple. i suppose that’s not an unusual thing given that i live in the purple valley, and work for williams college, home of the purple cow. but yesterday was different. my facebook stream, my twitter feed, the streets outside my work window, were filled with shades of that royal color. all in a united effort to stand against bullying, to support the lgbt community, to participate in the trevor project, and to show that we care. i donned my purple “gay? fine by me.” shirt and addison wore accompanying lavender hues. her first engagement with a, dare i say, activist moment.

the feeling i had as i read blog posts, watched youtube videos, followed tweets and updates, and observed the groups of students walking throughout campus in clusters of purple rivaling the crowds during our homecoming weekend, was a sense of community, and outreach, and coming together that i had not felt since obama’s election.

i remember sitting gathered in a friend’s living room watching the election unfold, 4 months pregnant, and being filled with such gratitude and hope about the world into which i was bringing my child. i held my breath and tears ran down my face as the obamas walked out on that stage in chicago and i cried with relief, and happiness, and anticipation for the future.

but then, in the very same evening, a crushing blow. one step forward and ten, no hundreds, of steps backward as california voted yes on prop. 8, banning gay marriage. in that living room with me were two women, two women that have shared a loving relationship built on mutual respect and support for over 17 years, being told that their partnership was not equal to that of a man and a woman. two women who i see as role models for my child. two women who do more justice to the notion of commitment and love than the over 50% of hetereosexual relationships that end in divorce. and there we sat, being told that some people were more valued and deserved more access than others. the last acceptable form of discrimination. my tears turned to those of disgust and disappointment.

but yesterday i felt that glimmer of hope. that inspirational tingle that i felt on election day as the obamas took the stage and my little one kicked in my belly.

it gets better.

the prop. 8 vote was overturned this august.

it gets better.

however slowly, however painfully, however much i am fearful of this midterm election and the outward and vocal support of the tea party, i am trying to hold on to those moments where i feel the hope. where i feel the better.

her generation will know a different world. a more tolerant world. with the work of all those people who wore purple yesterday, she’ll get to live in the better.