Matt's Words

Below is Matt's description of election night in Seattle, taken from an email he wrote a few days later. I think he captures it perfectly... (scroll down to see pictures of that fabulous and historic night.)

Good morning my fellow Americans,

Now that I've settled back in Alaska and have been able to catch my
breath, I wanted to share our experience on election night. We flew
back to Seattle for the week as Jen with her usual foresight realized
that we would be much happier in the Bluest of Blue Cities for
election night. We spent the night at my friend Noel's house with
several other people watching the returns. The excitement of course
built after Pennsylvania came back for Obama, and when they called it
at 8PM we all erupted with happiness of course. Jen and her friend
Blythe were crying. We kind of settled into the glow and watched more
and more returns coming in, and people gradually went home and went to
sleep. When it was just me and Jen still awake and glued to the TV,
the local news started showing video of a spontaneous celebration on
Capitol Hill.

We couldn't resist and drove over. What followed was one of the most
amazing and beautiful things I've experienced in a long time. Pike
and Broadway, on of the major intersections in the neighboorhood, had
been comandeedered spontaneously by several thousand revelers. The
were mostly young, many of them gay, and there were a lot of African
Americans (not a commonly seen demographic at typical Seattle pinko
street demonstrations). People were literally dancing in the streets,
thanks in part to Neighbors, a big gay bar on the corner that had
decided to move its PA system to the roof so that they could thump out
dance music for the outdoor crowd. There was an absolutely gorgeous
black transvestite in a silver dress on the roof MC'ing the festival.
The grocery store on the corner ended up selling out of champagne,
half of which ended up being drunk and the other half was sprayed
around liberally. There were several people that had climbed on top
of street signs above the crowd, one of whom spent hours slowly and
wordlessly waving a huge american flag. At one point the crowd
spontaneously sang a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, which was
way more fun and felt way more sincere than any time I've heard it
sung at a baseball game. One woman had a lifesize Sarah Palin
cardboard cutout that she was parading around with, which ended up
being decapitated. Jen later ran into someone carrying the head
around, and with his permission she gave it several suprisingly
violent punches, Detroit street brawl-style. Oh, and did I mention
the fireworks being shot up from the crowds?

Needless to say, I was REALLY glad we were in Seattle and not Soldotna
for the night. Now that we're back, it seems like the election never
happened. It's been stupifying watching the Ted Stevens thing though.
I was truly shocked that he (apparently) got re-elected. It seems
certain he'll be kicked out though--can anyone say Senator Palin?

I'm hoping we'll be able to post some pictures and/or video of the
Seattle street party on the blog soon. We're going to be telling our
grandkids about this a long time from now.