Eyes Shut, Fingers Crossed

Hear ye, hear ye! The polls are now closed. Do poll workers actually still call that out? I wouldn't know, since I've never been one of those last-minute voters (of which there are surprisingly many, as I found out during the phonebank last night).

And now the nail biting can begin. Actually, I won't be doing any nail biting. I am going to cut myself off from all media until tomorrow morning--late morning when all the votes are counted. If things aren't looking good for Measure 49 during early returns, I'd rather not be sitting here wondering if things will turn around or if all is lost and I'll have to move to Canada.

I went through that with the last presidential election. Watching election returns can be way too stressful and disheartening.

So in a few minutes, I'll be drawing myself a nice hot bath, lighting some candles, pouring myself a glass of red wine, and hoping for the best.

Today's Random NaBloPoMo blog: July Bug

Save Oregon

I'm not so great at political blogging, so I'll let this video I made speak about my love for Oregon's rare and varied beauty.

Land this beautiful is worth protecting, so I'm doing everything I can to support the passage of Measure 49.

Having moved here from Chicago, I've seen the soul-destroying horror of unrestrained, unplanned, unsustainable development and suburban sprawl and the loss (forever) of prime farmland.

Oregon will face the same horror if Measure 49 fails. Good-bye to Wine Country, good-bye to the fruitful orchards of the Hood River Valley, good-bye to much of the public's access to the beaches on the Coast, good-bye lush forests. Hello to strip malls, hello to massive housing developments in areas without adequate water supplies to support them, hello to more clear-cuts and polluted rivers, and hello to a pumice mine and housing development in the middle of a national monument. I've been having nightmares about all this--seriously! That's why I've even ventured far out of my comfort zone to work the phone banks for the Yes on 49 campaign and to urge my fellow Oregonians to vote Yes on 49 and to do what I can to clarify the misleading claims presented by the opposition.

Oregonians, please vote "Yes" on Measure 49 to save Oregon's farms, forests, coast, and wilderness from inappropriate commercial and industrial development. More information here.