I spent about an hour this morning waiting in line with other people starting their work day a bit late, at a junior high only a few minutes from my house. We were all participating in the democratic process.
The school, and my neighborhood, is mixed race. Across from where we were lined up to vote was a classroom of what I'd bet were fifth or sixth graders, about 3/4 of whom were African American. As they filed in and saw what we were lined up to do, many of them let loose with shouts of things like "Obama '08!" "Vote for the brother!" and "First Black president!" Technically, of course, this was illegal--electioneering too close to the polling place--and it was stopped by their teacher pretty quickly, but they got their point across. These kids were excited. And why I'd have loved to see similar excitement about the a possible first female president, I couldn't help but find their excitement a little bit contagious. Marking that ballot today felt like being a tiny part of history, and I'm glad I was there.