Voting

Nomi and I voted first thing this morning.

We enjoy voting before work for a few reasons. The obvious reason, of course, is that it's nice to know that we've gotten the task out of the way and don't have to rush back home in the evening to vote. But we also enjoy voting early because we just like to exercise our franchise.

As we waited on an actual line before seven o'clock this morning, I had a few thoughts. One thought was that we're very lucky to be living in a country where the government doesn't send people with cameras to photograph you and make sure you're voting the way they want you to. The other thought was that come May, Brookline will have a very important town election due to a Proposition 2 1/2 override vote being placed on the ballot. And it always saddens me to think about how few people will come out for that election compared to this one, especially given how much more impact the town election is going to have on people's taxes and quality of life.

People reading here last week know that I, as a former John Edwards supporter, was torn between voting for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the primary. For the past few days, I've been asking everyone I can for advice and suggestions. Last night, Nomi and I ran into Nancy Daly, the chair of the Brookline Board of Selectmen, at the supermarket (imagine running into your mayor at the supermarket, and having her greet you first), and I asked her who she was voting for.

And then it occurred to me. The one constituency I hadn't been polling have been other local former Edwards supporters.

So I called up a friend and fellow Town Meeting Member I've worked with who also happens to be a former Selectman. Like me, he had been an Edwards supporter, and I discussed my dilemma with him. He felt that a vote for Edwards now would be a waste, and he was amused by my idea of voting for either myself or Stephen Colbert. I asked him which candidate he was voting for now and why. He told me his choice, went into details on how he had come to that choice, and in the end, although he wasn't trying to urge me to vote his way, in the end that's what I decided to do.

So this morning, for better or for worse, I voted for Barack Obama.

Buy the Jennifer Pelland UNWELCOME BODIES Short Story Collection!

OK, this is a shameless plug for a friend. Enjoy!

My friend Jennifer Pelland (LJ:jenwrites) has her first book coming out at the end of the month, and I have a hardcover copy on pre-order. But unfortunately, there aren't currently enough hardcover pre-orders for her publisher to justify the expense of the print run. The publisher is going to see how many orders come in by February 15th before making the decision on whether to pull the plug on the hardcover run and downgrade all the hardcover pre-orders to paperbacks (while refunding the price difference, of course).

This would be a shame, if purely for selfish reasons, because I really want that hardcover.

So if you'd like to own a collection of emotionally dark short stories nestled inside a nice, sturdy, hard cover, you should consider buying UNWELCOME BODIES before the 15th:

http://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/unwelcome-bodies

As an added bonus, it will come autographed. Or, you could buy the paperback, which won't be signed, and which will make it that much less likely that I get the hardcover that I so dearly desire.

Supporting Robbie Greenberger

Folks may remember my post Robbie from just a few weeks ago, when I reported that Robbie Greenberger, the son of my good friend and sometime writing partner Bob Greenberger, was diagnosed with leukemia.

When Bob shared the news privately with me via email, I immediately called him and asked if there was anything I could do to help within the unfortunate obvious limitations. Bob and his family are in Connecticut and I'm in Massachusetts, so there isn't much I could really do to help except offer my moral support.

Well, Bob's daughter Kate has found something we can all do to help her brother. Over on her blog, under the title In Which She Fights, she's announced a fund raiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Let me quote her directly:

"I want you to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of Robbie Greenberger...For every $10 you donate between now and Sunday, February 24 in honor of my brother, your name will be entered in a raffle for yarn-y goodness. If you are a non-knitter and win a raffle prize, I will come up with something for you. So far, prizes include Claudia Handpainted Yarn Silk Lace, Dream in Color Smooshy, Fleece Artist and more. I will be photographing and posting the prizes over the next two weeks."

The ellipses above mark where Kate put the link for donations. If you've got the inclination to support Robbie and his family, and you love yarn, please consider reading Kate's post and donating in Robbie's honor. As Nomi and I have just done.