Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Wednesday, Nov. 08, 2006 - 7:15 p.m.

So, heady on the highs of a day that saw not only the Republican party booted from its position of arrogant authority in Congress but also Donald Rumsfeld's resignation and the single best press conference of the entire Bush presidency - though not for the reasons the president or his groupies would like to think it was - I went out to have drinks and dinner and celebrate with my french pals, who are just as happy as I to see the end of the Republican Reign...at least for 2 years. Jokes were made, most of them poking fun at me for having grown up in Texas, and a jovial atmosphere pervaded the whole thing. The air was one of optimism and relief. I really had no idea how much the political situation in the US had been dragging me down, like a millstone around my neck. I was treading water and losing. Now I feel a lot more bouyant. And frankly, I really think the country runs better when the business of governing is split between the parties. Because when the president is of one persuasion and the legislature is of another, it really forces both parties to work together. There's no such thing as political capital when each has to depend on the other to achieve anything. If everyone in Washington can just get over themselves now, the next 2 years could be good for Americans on both sides. Unfortunately, I don't think that will happen. There's too much bitterness. However, I think 2008 could go really well if the power stays evenly divided.

On the way home, I bumped into a girl from Kansas who's studying here and got to pass the election results on to her. I have never seen anyone visibly sag in relief over election results before. It was interesting. She said she'd been avoiding it because she was really just too afraid to find out how it had gone.

I was going to also post some images from my trip to the Statue de la Liberte, but I've had 4 hours of sleep in 40 hours, and I suddenly crashed hard. Here's a really neat picture of the Eiffel Tower I got, though. Thanks, Em, for the bitchin' Flickr pro account. I have an entire set dedicated to nothing but images of the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower. You can't actually see it from everywhere in Paris, but I can sure understand how that myth got started.

I didn't change any of the colors; that's all the glory of a fog bank that was rolling in while I was shooting. The bright white spots are the strobes, and the stream of lights on the bridge are an RER train.

And here's a frontal view of Lady Liberty's smaller twin sister:

The tablet reads "July IV, 1776 = July XIV, 1789", the dates of independence for us and them. I just sat at the base there for a while, looking up at her, thinking about how much America means to me, even when I wish it didn't, and talking to God, asking him to help us sort our messes out.

I hafta sleep.

Peace out,
Katie

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