Af-riikka

I actually didn't believe this was possible. But it is. America will have a half-black, African/American (because I refuse to say that he would be black or African-American, just a matter of principle...) president next year. Tonight I went to two different places to follow the elections results: first to a huge Democrat party in midtown Manhattan, where there were just too many people and I had to escape to a smaller bar in Lower East Side. The fist photo is from the big party, and the other one is from Stanton Street in LES (Lower East Side) where somebody (maybe a Republican?) apparently lit a motorcycle on fire, causing two fire trucks to rush on the street. In the subway a couple was reading a fresh copy of the Daily News with a cover of a smiling Obama - very quick action for the press if they really released it at 1 a.m. already! I just returned to my home in Harlem and I can still hear people shouting "Obama!!!" outside on the street six floors below me. Overall, ...

Oh well, I'll just continue with the topic of politics. Besides the economic crisis, there is obviously another main topic in the news here - and all over the world - The Elections, with only three weeks to go. It annoys me a little bit that I'm here, in the heartland of the Obama zone with no real competition from McCain, which makes discussions quite boring. As for the campaign paraphernalia, Harlem is definitely the ultimate place for Obama-shopping, you can find practically everything around the 125th street... Particularly Sarah Palin is relentlessly mocked in the NY free newspapers (yes, unfortunately I don't have time to read the NY Times during my subway ride to work, so I must content myself with the free ones) - but you've surely had the chance to read all about her in Finnish or whatever countries' newspapers. It seems that the US elections are perhaps even more passionately followed abroad, or at least Obama is embraced with an amazing fervour. I attende...