Five Extraordinary Experiences at Barack Obama’s Grant Park Rally

More than 250,000 people descended upon Grant Park in Chicago on election night. Together, men, women and children from all over the world and from all walks of life watched history be made, as Barack Obama became the 44^th President of the United States and the first black President ever. Here are 5 extraordinary experiences of ordinary people who came to watch that historic night.

Woman gives birth to baby

According to NBC Chicago, Mawi Asgedom and his wife were two of the lucky few who got coveted tickets to the Obama rally so even though Mrs. Asgedom was six days past her due date the couple decided they had to be a part of history. But their son could not wait for the election results to come in before he wanted to come into the world. The couple had to leave Grant Park and walk to Prentice Women's Hospital about a mile away because the streets around the park were closed to all traffic. Sawyer Tewolde Asgedom was born seven hours after the election results rolled in. Like Obama, Sawyer is the product of a Midwestern woman and an African immigrant. When speaking to NBC Chicago, Mawi Asgedom said Tuesday night was "the best 12 hours of our lives" adding that he knows his son "can do and be anything."

Watching history in the making

Loyola professor Hugh Miller couldn’t believe that he was witnessing history. More than once when he was by himself in the crowd he would catch the eye of a middle-aged, gray-haired black man and the two would look at each other, smile and shake hands. Miller described his conversations with these complete strangers about Obama becoming the first black President.

“He or I would say, ‘You look like you're my age, seen a lot, you from your side, me from mine. Did you ever dream?’ ‘No,’ would come the answer, ‘but here we both are, tonight.’ ‘Yes,’ the other'd say, ‘here we both are.”

Trade a date for panoramic pictures - or not

After getting a 2-day internship with ABC to help out with the coverage of the Grant Park rally, Marian Wang, 22, had access to the exclusive media section. Though she had to scour downtown for a particular Greek yogurt for one of the anchorwoman, Wang had front row seats for the action. She made friends with a young man who was operating the spotlights that would shine on Obama when he gave his acceptance speech. After asking her out on a date, which she politely decline, the young man took pictures for Wang of the vast crowds of people who converged on Grant Park. After he took incredible panoramic pictures for Wang, he sent the camera back down on a rope for her.

“We were all brothers and sisters.”

College student Kara Madden was on the very far outskirts of the rally because she opted to join the masses at the last minute, after she was told she didn’t have to work because her building was closed for security reason. Even with her distance from the main stage, Madden said the whole event felt like a big family party.

“There was this overwhelming feeling that we were all brothers and sisters,” Madden said. “Even though we didn’t know each other we were all there for the same reasons and it felt great.”

Dancing with strangers to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”

College student 21 year-old Allie Al-Sehaim and her two friends hung out for the entire evening with two 60-year-old black women. On any other day these women would have little in common, but they were all equally ecstatic when the announcement came at 10 p.m. that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. When a celebratory song began playing over the loud speakers, Al-Sehaim and the older woman started dancing together.

“Once they made the announcement, we all started screaming, clapping and crying,” Al-Sehaim said. “I’ll never forgot dancing with those ladies to ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ after we all knew Obama had won the election.”

What was your experiences on Election Night?

Yes We (the world) Can! Responses From Around the World to Obama's election

When the long-awaited results of the 2008 presidential election were announced at 11 p.m. Eastern Standard time in the United States, across the globe whether it was 8:30 a.m. in the village where Obama’s father was born or noon in Jakarta where Obama lived as young boy, celebrations erupted across the globe as Barack Hussein Obama official became the president-elect of the United States of America.

As the crowds exalted in Grant Park in Chicago where the election rally turned into a celebration, there was a party at Menteng Elementary School in Central Jakarta, where Obama went to school when he lived in Indonesia as a child.

In the city of Obama, Japan, the 32,000 residents celebrated the victory of the man who shares their name with a performance by the local Hula dance group 'Obama Hula Girls.'

My Chinese professor, Yin Yinghua, a recent immigrant to the U.S. who is still a Chinese citizen told the class how proud she was of our country right now saying, “Things will be better now.” For Yin and others across the globe, President Bush has destroyed the image of the U.S, but a young man from a country highly critical of the U.S. and its policies had praise for the election results.

An Iranian student interviewed by NBC said, “I was jealous of their democratic system and the opportunity that is afforded to each and every citizen regardless of color or religion. I wish we had the same type of opportunities here.”

As election results came in from the country that everyone loves to hate, newspapers editorials from around the world sounded off what this election meant beyond the borders of the U.S.

An editorial writer for the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, wrote of the how power anti-American sentiment may wane after Obama’s inspirational victory, “When the whole world saw America as aggressive, destructive, war-mongering, arrogant and racist, this marvelous power shook itself and showed the world a different face. For a moment, for just a moment, something else is in the air: ‘Change, yes we can.’”

The South China Morning Post’s editorial stated, “Barack Obama is the breath of fresh air Americans and the rest of the world so sorely need.”

While a breathe of fresh air has been sorely needed after years of war and months of financial crisis, no matter what time it was across the globe Obama supporters celebrated his historic victory. After the election of Obama, the rest of the world, like Americans wants the future to be a lot different from the last eight years.

Facebook and I Will Always Be Friends

I hate new Facebook changes, but I've come to the conclusion that I will never quit Facebook and neither will you...so deal with it.

Facebook from Day 1
Oh the history of my time with Facebook. I began my profile as a bright-eyed freshman in Fall 2005. Everybody was doing it. At a meeting for the soccer club, every girl on the team introduced themselves with their name, year in school and whether or not they FacebookeHTMLd. (Oh yes, it was already a verb way back then along with the request that you friend me when you get home.) It was just us college students back then and we thought we were hot shit.

But all good things must come to an end and despite the whining of millions of Facebookers, within a year anyone with a valid e-mail address was allowed in. All of us original Facebook users were outraged. We joined our share of protest groups and threatened to leave for MySpace. Now I can't imagine a Facebook without my best friend's 50-year-old uncle and all my Chinese friends from the semester I spent abroad.

Stalkerbook
In Fall 2006, another upheaval began when the news feed was introduced. Everyone can see what you're doing on Facebook all the time. Let's just be honest with ourselves. It made what we all were already doing on Facebook that much easier and you know it. However, the uproar from the Facebook community was so fierce that a public apology was issued by Mark Zuckberger, the site’s 24-year-old founder and CEO.

A few days ago, after being given the option to use the new Facebook for weeks, which I never did because that’s how much I hate change on Facebbook, I signed onto my page and everything was all switched around. Now, Facebook has become even easier to stalk people on and in turn have people stalk you.
It's about communication, it's about networking and it's about knowing what your friends doing all the time because with everything else going on your life you need to look at the mind-numbing photos of how drunk Kelli got last week.

Friends Forever
In conclusion, I will never quit Facebook no matter who's on it and how stalker-friendly it becomes. Zuckberger always knows best that's why he's worth 1.5 billion and you're still checking your ex-boyfriend's status update.





Photo by: Tk/Associated Press

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The Early Bird Catches the…Vote — Early voting sets records in Chicago

Early voting in Chicago has set records for turnout at all the 51 locations where Chicagoans have been voting since Oct. 13.

As of Wednesday, Oct. 29, 544,000 ballots had been cast in the city and the suburbs. The early voting will be open until Thursday, Oct. 30. In Chicago, registered voters can cast their ballot at any of the 51 early voter locations regardless of what ward or precinct they are registered in. Nor do voters do not need a specific reason for voting early. All they need is a little patience if there is a long line and a current government identification card.

Vote one, vote all
“We’re all forecasting heavy voter turnout for this election,” Chicago Election Board Chairman Langdon D. Neal. “Records are being set in many categories. Early voting gives people the chance to vote when and where they want, without risking a scheduling problem on Election Day.”

On Wednesday, the Chicago Board of Elections posted the wards where traffic at the polling stations has been lowest so voters can avoid long lines at their local ward. The least busy early voting locations so far have been the 10th-14th, 16th, 22nd, 25th-27th and 30th-32nd wards.

Almost 245,000 early birds, or about 25 percent of the total registered voters in Chicago, are expected to vote before the early polls close Thursday at 5 p.m. In the 2008 primary voting, only 81,690 ballots were cast early.

100% handicap accessibility at early sites
Early voting has been encouraged not only for convenience, but also because it makes it easier for people with disabilities to cast their ballot. All of the 51 early voting locations are 100 percent handicap accessible. However, on Election Day 22 percent of the polling places in Chicago are not handicap accessible. Those taking the most advantage of early voting so far are the 45 and older population, who accounted for 65 percent of the early voters.

Around the wards
Hundreds lined up across the city to vote on Saturday. At the Edgewater Library at 1210 Elmdale Ave in the 48th ward on Saturday, the lines snaked through shelves of books as some voters waited more than an hour to do their civic duty. The library’s security guard estimated around 600 people voted on this weekend. Early voting was even offered on Sundays at the Chicago Board of Elections Office.

Each of Chicago’s 51 wards, or legislative districts, has a designated early voter polling place. The Chicago Board of Elections released the early voter count for the first week of early voting, Oct. 13-19. The 48th ward, which encompasses the Edgewater neighborhood, is ranked 14th in early voting with 1,819 Chicagoans showing up already to cast their votes. The 6th ward on the city’s Southside is ranked first with 2,531 people voting during the first week.

“We believe early voting is a great way to keep voters from being left on the sidelines in this historic election,” Chicago Election Board Commissioner Marisel A. Hernandez said.

The Age of Early
Early voting was first introduced in Chicago in the 2006 primaries where it accounted for 3.47 percent and then 3.71 percent in the general election. The percentage of early voting for the 2008 primaries more than tripled the results two years ago with 11.85 percent of voters turning out early. This is the first time the procedure has been used in a presidential election cycle. Illinois is among 35 states and the District of Columbia that now allow early voting. - by Laura Burns

Photo by Laura Burns