Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m pretty happy about what went down last night.  I was sad that I wasn’t at home in Chicago with Obama and a hundred thousand other people, but I had a good time on my college campus as it erupted soon after 8pm (Western Time).

As CNN projected Obama’s win and the results kept coming in, I started to realize the change in our country that was actually occurring.  And then as I began to read what people had to say about how Obama won last night, it began to dawn on me just how much change had occurred overnight in America.

The game that unfolded last night was not the same game that unfolded four years ago.  The Democrats that were battling the Republicans in 2004 were not the same people that stepped up to vote yesterday.  The electoral map changed significantly as red states went blue, but the issues that people are voting on and the people who are voting have changed significantly as well.  An article on Politico.com helped me realize the significant change that happened on election night:

If [Obama's] was the first 21st-century campaign, his victory was powered by a new face of America: made up of all ethnicities, hailing mostly from cities and suburbs, largely younger than 40, and among all income classes.

As they emphatically proved by obliterating the presidential color line, many of these voters are not guided by traditional cultural attachment to race, religion or region.

What makes his victory so resounding, and so daunting for Republicans, was that he combined support from African-Americans, Jews and young whites with other key groups. He also reversed Bush’s advances with Hispanic voters.

Further, and even more worrisome for the GOP, Obama was dominant among self-described “moderate” voters, a 60 percent swath of Americans larger than either self-described liberals or conservatives.

This 21st-century coalition allowed Obama to blow out McCain in cities and suburbs where Bush had narrowly won or lost by smaller margins four years ago, and to pull off narrow wins in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana and Ohio.

He ran up huge margins in heavily-black cities and counties in each but was able to edge out McCain thanks to big wins in populous, racially mixed localities such as Virginia’s Fairfax County (59 percent), North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County (62 percent), Florida’s Orange County (59 percent), Indiana’s Marion County (64 percent) and Ohio’s Franklin County (59 percent).

The coalition underscored the theme that made Obama famous in 2004, and one that he returned to in his victory speech, citing his support from “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of red states and blue states: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

The Obama campaign’s strategy, in hindsight, was remarkably genius for realizing that, as Obama put it many times, “our moment is now.”  The man behind the curtain, Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod, must have seen or guessed that the campaign could tap into a “new america” in order to get out the vote for Obama.  This “new america” allowed the campaign to play a larger and more ambitious map than other Democratic candidates.

The change that came about yesterday is thus more than a significant (although very important) power shift in Washington.  Its about the new face of America.  Its about the end of an era in America, and the beginning of a new one.  Another article on Politico.com pointed this out:

The 1960s are over — finally

For two generations, American politics has been dominated by issues and personalities that were shaped by the ideological and cultural conflicts of the Vietnam era.

The rest of the population may have been bored stiff, but the baby boomers continued their remorseless argument, as evidenced by Bush and Kerry partisans quarreling over Swift Boats and National Guard service in 2004.

Obama had not yet reached adolescence in the 1960s. He seems little interested in the cultural conflicts that preoccupy baby boomers. The fact that he admitted to using cocaine was hardly a factor in this election.

And this young president-elect exerted powerful appeal over even younger voters. They favored Obama by 34 percentage points, 66 percent to 32 percent — a trend with huge potential to echo for years to come.

Guns, God and gays will not disappear from our politics. But they are diminished as electoral weapons as the country confronts a new generation of disputes: global warming, mortgage meltdowns and the detention of terrorism suspects, to name a few.

Another genius foresight by the Obama campaign was to recognize that America was done with the 1960s.

Before Obama was elected last night, I remember the YouTube vidoes and other pro-Obama media in which people said that this was the first time they felt like someone in American politics was going to actually represent them; that this was the first time they felt like someone was going to be their president, the president of the people.  Not until late last night did I realize how fundamentally true that statement is to the America that I woke up in this morning.

I recorded ANOTHER new song the other day in my dorm room.  As the title suggests, its about carrots.  The story behind the song is that last semester, my friend Annie told me I needed to write a song about carrots for her.  This is the result of that assignment.

Click here to listen to the song.

Lyrics:

The Carrot Song
Jonah Geil-Neufeld

Carrots are long orange straight and round
you can buy them at the store but they come from the ground
They taste good with almost everything
you chop them up and put them on salads, in cakes, and carrot flavored ice cream

Carrots also have nutricious properties
They’re rich in dietary fibre, anitoxidants and minerals
there are so many things that carrots can do
And PS I love you.

Carrots are native to Europe and southwest Asia but are now grown all across the globe
They are full of beta-carotine which gives them there unique orange hue
If you eat too many of them you will get a disease called hypercarotenemia
Which causes your skin to look like you just used way too much spray on tan

Now there is  a popular ready-to-eat snack
There’re called Baby Carrots and you don’t even have to peel them
You just pop them into your mouth, and they’re good for dipping too
And PS I love you.

This has been a song about carrots
but it’s really a song about my love for you
Cause who really gives a fuck about carrots
What did carrots ever do for you?

No they won’t stop the terrosist attacks
and they won’t stop the war in Iraq
Carrots won’t stop the genocide in darfur
and Carrots won’t pay for your college education
and Carrots won’t get obama elected as the next president of the united states
There’s not much that carrots can do for you
but PS I love you.

Hey all,

Here’s another song I recorded in my dorm room the other night.  It’s quite a simple song, just guitar and vocals.  I hope you enjoy it.

Click Here to Play the Song

Lyrics:

I Can Remember
Jonah Geil-Neufeld

I was crying on the way home
And I felt like rain drops

I was skipping down the pavement
And I felt like summer

CHORUS:
And I know we’re never going back there
But I can remember

I was laughing through the fog
And I felt like clouds

CHORUS:

Love,
Jonah

For your listening pleasure, here’s a song that I wrote and recorded in my dorm room with friends Jon Wash and Annie Fassler.
The song was originally performed and recorded by my band Busted Peach.

Here’s a list of the instruments you will hear in the track:

• Acoustic Guitar: Jonah
• Lead Vox: Jonah
• Backing Vox: Jon Wash, Annie Fassler
• Vocal Bass and Beat Boxing: Jonah
• 6 OZ box of Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese: Jonah

Click the play button to play, or you can download the song.

Here are the lyrics:

I Don’t Need You To Know
Jonah Geil-Neufeld

I was taken in
on account that I don’t want to go to war
And I was trying to tell you
that my beliefs are what I do
and there ain’t nothing that’s worth killing for

I know we disagree
but we act like everything’s fine
But now I’m really glad
to tell you that I’m really mad
I’m done pretending like these problems are mine

CHORUS:
I don’t need you to,
I don’t need you to know
This ain’t no give and take
this ain’t no quid pro quo

I was thrown in jail
on account that I know who I am
But these words that I am writing
are not getting up and fighting
they’re just making a quiet stand

I know I’ve done some things
I might not have in retrospect
But when I look back and I see them
I would only want to keep them
Because I haven’t finished living yet

CHORUS:
I don’t need you to,
I don’t need you to know
This ain’t no mistake
this ain’t no leaving home

I was shipped off
to spend days cutting big old trees
And all the time I was complying
while the government was lying
That’s the moment I was finally freed

I know that I can’t speak
for all of us or any other living soul
But there are things I will discuss
and there are things that I will trust
and there are things that I don’t need you to know

CHORUS:
I don’t need you to,
I don’t need you to know
‘Cause I can make it,
I can make it on my own

It’s such a good feeling.

My Darling,

We have been in a relationship for quite some time now.  We’ve had adventures; we’ve seen the world together.  And we’ve also been there for each other every day, even on the days when we don’t have adventures.  We’ve been there for each other every day at breakfast, when the sun rises and I complain as I trudge down the stairs and stumble blindly into the kitchen.  But you’re always there.  You’re always waiting for me with a smile on your face, even though its 6:04am and I really don’t feeling like going to school.  I mean, 6 in the morning?  Who on God’s green earth was made to get out of a comfortable, warm bed at 6 in the morning, and merrily trot off to a place called High School, a place infested with the faces of teenagers so forested with pimples that it is hard to make out their expressions underneath, which beg someone to tell them what life is all about.

But that is over now.  High School is a thing of the past.  6:04am is a thing of the past.  Now, we are even closer.  Now, I think, is the time when (if you are ready) we can take our relationship to the next level.

I don’t even have to go into the kitchen anymore to be with you. We sleep in the same room.  Me, in my bed, and you, in the closet.  But no longer, my dear.  No longer must we hide ourselves from people because they just won’t understand.  So come out!  I urge you, come out of the closet and proclaim your sexual orientation to the world!  I will take you by the hand, and you will look at me, and I will look at you, and I will know, by the way that you stare into my eyes, that you’re trying to say:  Oh yeah, its business time!

And then, I will unscrew your lid, and run my finger along your inner rim to wipe off the dry-crusty gunk left there from a knife.  It tastes good, but not as good as the dark, moist mass of you that is waiting for me about half way down the bottle (because you are already half way gone).  My finger dives in, and emerges as strands of you dangle from my finger, the way strands of melted cheese dangle from a piece of Giordano’s pizza.  I suck your goodness from my finger, turning it around in my mouth as to get the maximum amount of you.  Some of you lingers in the friction ridges of my pointer finger, so I wipe it on the sleeve of the sweater that people keep complementing me on.  My everything bagel sits halved, waiting to be caressed by your silky touch.  I procure a fork, and proceed to give the bagel what it desires.  Without you, a bagel is just a bagel.  An everything bagel is not completely everything until it includes you.  It is not whole until I experience the bagel with the added creamyness, chocolatyness, and hazelnutyness that is you.

Our relationship is intellectual as well as sexual, but its orientation transcends the binary categories provided by society.  You are neither women nor man, neither male nor female.  Even your name clashes with traditional sexual identities:  Your first syllable, “nut” is one of a pair of “nuts” that dangle dangerously from males and house the production of millions of sperm.  They are an essential part of maleness, and yet only a swift kick can render them destroyed; just as one swipe of a bear’s paw can render a beehive, the essential factory of a bee’s toils, destroyed.  Your last two syllables form the word “ella” which is Spanish for “she”, which is usually associated with femininity.

And that is why, my darling, my love for you will never fade.  Your beautiful name lingers always on my lips, that male prefix of “nut”, that female suffix of “ella”, that form your glorious name: Nutella.

link

So I was bored tonight, and I’ve been thinking about experimenting with this kind of music for a while.

I took out my MacBook, booted up Garageband, and sang.  The result:  Six tracks of Jonah, all a cappella.  I made up the lyrics on the spot, as I was singing.

Enjoy.

-Jonah

————————-

Update:  Here’s two other experiments.  Enjoy.

 

 Jonah A Cappella Song [1:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Another One. [1:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 And Another One. [1:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

So this past week, my friend from college came to visit Chicago.  We spent a lot of time exploring the city and going to museums, and I tried to show her all of the things that make Chicago what it is.  We went to the new Maxwell Street Market, we walked down the Mag. Mile, and we visited a bunch of neighborhoods that the regular tourists don’t usually visit.  We had a blast, and it was really fun for me to get to explore Chicago as I usually don’t do.

She left on Wednesday morning, leaving me a “thank you” card on my desk.  Along with a gift certificate to dunkin donuts, she wrote a note which included a sentence about how her “patriotism was blooming like the violets that Illinois holds so dear.”  This sentence got me thinking about patriotism and the way that my generation thinks about the U.S.

Growing up as a white liberal in the 90’s and 00’s, I began to think about American politics at a time when it was a general rule among my parents, my parents’ friends, my friends, and my friends’ parents that patriotism was not a good thing.  If anything, America was a place, at least politically, that we were very ashamed of.  Patriotism was a sort of bad word, and it still brings to mind pictures of red-necked hillbillies sitting on their front porches with guns in their hands as an American flag flies on the front lawn.  The Bush presidency perpetuated this of course, but I think, for my parents, it was definitely a much more deep-seated view of American politics that began in the 60’s and with the Vietnam war.

Of course I got my first taste of political bias from my parents, they were the ones who taught me about politics first, and through their view on America I came to my own.  And so my parental-influenced view was one in which we felt ashamed for the wars our country was waging, for the laws our government was passing, and for the stupidity of our president.  It was not “cool” to like America.  It wasn’t “in” to talk about America in any sort of flattering way.  The view that my parents passed on was one in which we were smart, liberal people living in a stupid, conservative world.  “We” as a community were smart, progressive, forward-thinking, environmentally friendly.  “We” as a nation were stupid, reactionary, gas-guzzling, wasteful, and un-resourceful.

Of course, these views are still held, some of them by myself as well.  But I am referring to these views in the past tense because of a very recent rise in patriotism (the good kind) among liberals again.  A major force to this new view is, as you might guess, Barack Obama.  Obama and Hillary Clinton have changed the tides of liberal cynicism and political depression among liberals.  Now, for the first time in a long time, we can point at our politicians and say “Look!  Here are some people who don’t like the war in Iraq!  Here is someone who represents the America we want, the America we may already know!  Here is someone who all of Europe likes and who will better our image globally (and internally)!”

This new kind of Patriotism is something that many people, especially young people, are flocking towards.  It is a new found love for the country in which we live, it is a new found hope in American politics.  But it doesn’t necessarily fit into the “old” definition of patriotism:

New Oxford American Dictionary:
patriot |ˈpātrēət|
noun
1.  A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.

So maybe we don’t yet “vigorously” support our country, but we love it now when we used to be ashamed of it.  And maybe we aren’t prepared to defend it yet, but maybe we will argue with someone who calls Americans stupid, rather than nod sadly and say, “yeah, we are.”

I was watching a video on Politico the other day, and they were talking about Charlie Black’s political mistake, when he said that a terrorist attack inside the U.S. would provide a big advantage for John McCain in the election.  They were talking about how this was one of the mistakes politicians sometimes make when they accidentally speak the truth.  Of course he had to retract his comment, but what people are talking about is not how horrible it is that he said that, but that in reality, its the truth.  I think the same thing is true for that “political mistake” when Michelle Obama said that this was the first time she was proud of her country.  Of course she had to retract the remark, and she is still fighting to display a sense of patriotism because of that remark, but I think, especially for all of the liberals who were at the event at which she said the remark, what she said is ultimately true.  For people of my parents’ generation, and for people of my generation, this is the first time that we look at America and think “I’m kinda proud of this.”

So when my friend and I explored Chicago the other day, we explored it with a new pride.  We looked around and thought “I’m glad I live in this country.”  Our patriotism bloomed with each new neighborhood we visited, and with each new idea we heard.  I guess patriotism is the new black.