Christie at the Stanford filibuster

What an amazing experience...

Stanford University is one of the most beautiful places in the already breathtakingly beautiful Bay Area. It is also the epicenter of intellectual power (sorry, Lynbrook kids, but you guys are a close second).

So I went to the Stanford filibuster. I drove. As I expected, it was about two people standing near a table and podium, one of them dressed in a suit and reading the Constitution of the United States of America. The other person was an adult, I think, with slightly thinning hair. I was really shy when approaching them, but they were both amazingly nice. After explaining the filibuster to one of the other people there (there were like, five people at around 8 pm or so) the speaker backtracked to re-read the Preamble to the Constitution. Meanwhile, the older person was amazed that I knew about the Senate tradition of reading PHONE BOOKS during filibusters (hey, Strom Thurmond once filibustered for 24 hours... he needed SOMETHING to read, didn't he?) so we got in a discussion about it. Turns out, he's studying Constitutional Law, so our discussion soon turned into some constitutional history, then the unconstitutionality of the Schivo law that Congress tried to enforce upon a State district court. I asked him to clarify the duties of the appellate courts, which he gladly did... Then we talked about how nobody learns anything from history, how Iraq is so hauntingly similar to Vietnam. He was thrilled when I mentioned "Tonkin Gulf" so we discussed the politics of war. He made a good point. If we had a draft now for the Iraq war, there would be more political pressure on the Bush administration to withdraw due to public protest. After discussing the draft and the possibility for one in the near future... I realized it was getting dark (I had stayed by the filibuster for more than half an hour). After finding my mom, we walked back to the car and came home.

I seriously had the most amazing time talking about things I am passionate about with people who share the genuine interest. Yeah, I'm always up for a challenging debate with APUSHers on the affects of the Vietnam War, but it' has a DBQ tone to it- an impersonal, detatched discussion without much personal thought and input. My mom told me in the car that she was so amazed at how just HAPPY I looked. That's what it is. Call me a dork, a flaming liberal who needs to stop obsessing over the world and start studying more... But tonight... isolated from the inane aspects of junior year, I felt like I truly belonged. No, not necessarily at Stanford (though a girl can always dream, right?) but unafraid to showcase my beliefs and proud of who I am.

Through this whole process... My mom stood nearby, watching me take the path I know she wishes I wouldn't take. Wow. If there is such thing as unconditional motherly love... I felt it today more than any other time. But I think both of us desperately needed something like tonight to clear things up: for me to not feel guilty about wanting to go into political science, and for her to realize that this truly is the right thing for me. Also during the car ride back (mom drove, and ironically, we got lost) she rescinded her previous reservations and inhibitions about my interest in political science- I looked like I belonged, and most importantly (for her, and also for me, I suppose), I looked satisfied. Thanks mom; I love you!

So now... PICTURES!

Because every school has a bell tower.

Um, we actually took this picture while we were lost near the undergrad housing area.

This was the poster explaining the filibuster.

Studying their material on filibusters. Due to my obessive news-browsing, I had read most of the stuff.

Don't you just LOVE the speaker's hair?

Not really paying attention to the speaker. By this time, we were probably discussing either the Schiavo case or Iraq war. But ugh, I hate talking to people much taller than I am. I'm talking to the person in blue, who, as you see, is much taller. *bleh*

Gotta love these Stanford kids... actually, all these people who actively care about the government. Amidst the cynicism, they haven't given up hope that this CAN and WILL be a govern by the people, for the people, and of the people. And considering that some of these people will be our next leaders, things might not be going so badly after all...

And as a tribute to some of the brightest minds in America... the parting image I leave you, my friends...

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) talks to the pro-filibuster crowd.

From the New York Times [May 12]:

Democratic senators from New York and New Jersey plan a rally for Thursday with Princeton students who began a protest against the proposed rule change on April 26. In tribute to the filibuster, the parliamentary tactic of refusing to close debate that Democrats have used to block the nominees, the students have talked and read aloud for more than 350 hours at the university outside the Frist Campus Center, which is named for the family of Dr. Frist, an alumnus.