Barack Obama was declared President Elect?

That is the question of my lifetime.

Previously, it had been, “What were you doing when you found out planes were crashed into the World Trade Center?”

And now, with Barack Obama as our next President, history is being made.

I used to be a party girl.  And I guess, I still am at heart.  One of the first thoughts I had when I heard the results of the election was how it was going to be the bar night of the century.  I thought of the energy of hundreds of people celebrating and crying in happiness, crowding around cars to hear snips of Obama’s speech blare through the speakers.

I thought about how I was at home, my 15-month-old son sleeping and dreaming away.  It was very quiet and calm in our home, his father away on business.  I could hear the shouting and cheering outside, I heard fireworks explode.  I longed to be out celebrating with everyone.  I even contemplated taking my son for a victory walk through the downtown streets so he could experience this time in our nation’s history.  So he could experience this time in the history of his heritage.

Instead, I kissed his forehead, and let him rest.  I walked outside and stood on our lawn, looking down the street.  My celebration was within my home, within my heart.  My son is beginning his life in a time of change and hope.

Those Obama beers will be bought on his inauguration.  Compromise!

In college, my best friend had a roommate who was about as vain as a varicose. She was a model, and because she was compared once to Laeticia Casta, she really milked that compliment and acted like she was the shit. And she was the shit, literally. She suffered from colitis. I didn’t know what colitis was until I met this girl.

I also didn’t like her very much because she could be such an unlikable snob! She’d made some comment about this great find I had — a pinkish/purple suede trench with a rabbit fur detachable collar — and how it wasn’t cool because I got it off of the discount rack!

My friend who was pre-med at the time informed me about a link between colitis and narcissism, and this has always intrigued me. I found this to be very interesting. That Miss Almost Laeticia was so full of herself that she couldn’t even make it to the bathroom to poop. What an unfortunate medical condition.

I was reading “Psychogenesis and Psychotherapy of Ulcerative Colitis” by J. Groen, MD, and this doctor points out the following that he observed in his patients suffering from this condition:

1.) Well developed intellect.
2.) Exaggerated carefulness and neatness. (I remember her being really anal about cleaning up after parties.)
3.) Sensitive, and sometimes oversensitive.
4.) Narcissism is always present, sometimes even under false modesty.
5.) Egocentric.
6.) Ambitious to a limited degree.
7.) Fearful and cowardly.
8.) “they gossip and complain about who they hate but do not fight them”
9.) Great need for love, sympathy, and affection.
10.) Exagerrated, infantile conception of love.
11.) Male cases had an abnormal affection for their mother
12.) At first these patients are difficult to talk to.

Look at number 8! It sounded like an an article written by someone who got badly burned by a person with colitis, much like this article I read about Borderline Personality Disorder. It was in Psychology Today. The doctor wrote about an affair he had with a BPD patient who just downed a charcoal shake after an overdose. It sounded very bitter and as if he was writing the article to spite her.

The colitis article was also written in 1947. I am interested in reading more recent case studies. While I know that all people who have colitis aren’t egomaniacal clean freaks, I would like to explore the other side of that — do people who are full of themselves have problems with their bowels?

Loving Day is June 12, a day that celebrates interracial marriages. It is named after Mildred Loving, whose marriage to Richard Loving in 1958 caused them to be banned in Virginia as man and wife for 25 years! Their case went to the Supreme Court. After nine years of legal bullshit, the Court found unanimously in their favor. This was in 1967. In 1975, Richard passed away when a drunk driver hit their car. His wife, Mildred Loving, recently passed away.

She issed a statement last year supporting same sex marriage. “I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

Interracial and multiracial unions definitely are something to celebrate and to support! There is a girl I know who did not want to have a child with someone of a different race than her because she wanted her children to look like her. I found that interesting on many levels, but one being that when she eventually did get married she married a man who was Korean and she is Taiwanese which is not the same race! I think there are still many people who are under the misconception that racism and the stigma against interracial couples are a thing of the past.

Photo courtesy NPR archives.