I'm going to rant about politics for about the only time ever in this site's history. I realize it's pointless because this is the internet and most of their "born-again Christian" fat asses in the fly-over are too busy reading about Britney Spears' marriage on their AOL sign-on screens to ever find this site. But that's ok. Stop reading, choir, if you don't feel like hearing another preacher.

I voted for the first time yesterday, a fact I'm not entirely proud of. Four years ago, I registered to vote in my hometown. I went down to Town Hall one day in the summer and filled out the forms, but I was so anxious to vote, I did it before Penn had sent me my housing information. So I didn't know where to tell them to send the absentee ballot. They gave me a form, told me I could mail it in or come by and drop it off when I knew.

When my parents dropped me off at school, I handed my mom the form, all filled out. She never dropped it off, a fact I didn't realize until it was too late to register in Pennsylvania. So I didn't vote. But I figured that as a resident of Massachusetts, it didn't matter very much. And besides, I wasn't even sure who I wanted to vote for.

But that was before Sept. 11, 2001. And that was before we were lied to as a country and convinced to invade Iraq. That was before over 1,100 soldiers had died there, and God-knows-how-many new terrorists were inspired by a new-found hatred for the U.S.

So yesterday, the girl who was almost a little bit happy that George Bush won in 2000 and who had previously rooted for every Republican presidential candidate in her life time went to the polls, excited to vote for John Kerry.

And then, I went to watch as they counted the ballots. And as the states turned their unexpected colors, all I kept thinking over and over how this might as well be a map of the liveable places in the U.S.

There, I said it. I'm a snobby Northeastern girl, who would only consider living in another part of the country if it was California, Seattle, or Chicago. I can't imagine living in a place where you vote to ban same-sex marriage, or where you re-elect a politican who needed to read from a teleprompter during his debate, or where you think a man who LIED TO THE COUNTRY is superior when it comes to "moral values."

If you vote for George W. Bush because you're trying to protect your financial assets, ok. Maybe I understand that. I think you're selfish, but at least I see the logic of how you might benefit more from having him in office.

But if you voted for him because you think he's somehow going to be better at fighting terrorists, all I can think is that the states that are the most likely terrorist targets are the ones who voted in masses for Kerry. Because Bush is only turning more people against us, people who might -- big fucking shock -- want to kills us. But they won't be going after you, Alabama. You're probably ok if you're sleeping tight in fucking Kentucky or Mississippi.

I was born in Ohio, a fact that will follow me around for the rest of my life on my passport. I don't remember Ohio. It was just a breif stop really: an agreement between my dad and the government that they'd help with medical school if he'd go where doctors didn't want to live -- at least, that's roughly how I understood it worked. At any rate, according to my mother, they'd been toying with the idea of staying longer in Ohio -- the cost of living was cheaper, for one thing. But shortly after I was born, a woman in my father's office commented on how lucky he was to have three daughters. Three weddings are much cheaper than three college educations.

And so thankfully, we moved back east.

Sometimes, I get so disgusted with this country. I hate that by the time the primaries came 'round in my state, my vote meant nothing. It had already been decided by a couple thousand people in places like Iowa. I am disgusted that people in this country don't seem to notice that there are fewer jobs than there were four years ago, that things are worse for them, much worse, and that they're not getting better by plodding ahead with more of the same.

So fuck you, Ohio. Fuck you Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, both Dakotas and Carolinas, both Virginias, Tennesse, Utah, Wyoming. Oh, and FUCK YOU TOO, TEXAS. Outside of a few cities here and there, you are states largely consisting of wasteland, where nobody ever really wants to live, unless they're plotting schemes against academia in a little shed, hoping to marry their cousin, or wave a Confederate flag with pride for the good ole' cause of racism.

This morning, I composed an apology email to my old flatmates in London, telling them I didn't get it either. And, I asked, if they knew anybody who'd be willing to sponsor a visa for me to come over there.

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