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November 10, 2006
Rank and File
by Nova Stubbs, insurgent49

A Night at Election Central

     I walked through the doors of the Egan center Tuesday night to get a glimpse at Election Central. I had done this before, but this time was particularly bad.

     The four glowing movie screens reflected the overall unsavory results. People meandered back and forth, some smiling and hugging one another, and some with looks of disappointment etched in their faces. The results were, sadly, what I expected.
    
    After understanding that almost everything and everyone that I had voted for was not gonna make it, I turned to look for a familiar liberal face. My eyes scanned the crowd as I was accepting the fact that, once again, my ideologies don’t correspond with those of the majority of Alaskan voters. My bitter disappointment was nothing new, however, so I quickly sucked it up and set eyes on my husband and a group of friends. I went over to say hello but, at the time, I wasn’t feeling much like having a conversation.

     I wanted a beer.

    That’s right … at Election Central, there is a full bar. For celebrating or for drowning your sorrows, overpriced drinks are available for all. I got in line behind some Knowles supporters and it was evident that they’d already had a few. The man behind me, dressed in an expensive suit, swayed back and forth with a cocktail in hand. The Knowles supporters staggered away and then the man in the suit said to me, “it’s okay, you can go ahead,” as if he was doing me some sort of favor, but was irritated at the same time. I looked at him briefly and then realized that, in his mind, he believed that he was better than I because I was simply clad in my casual wear. I retorted, “yes, I will go ahead because I was here first.”

     I ordered my beer and walked away thinking that people who abuse power make me sick. After finding a corner, I realized that I was in a room full of these types of assholes.

    I sipped my beer slowly, knowing that I sure as hell wasn’t going to buy another seven-dollar beer. I was only there a few minutes when Sarah Palin and her supporters entered the room cheering. My disappointment grew into feelings of anger. I wanted to boo, but I was told that this type of behavior was not appropriate at these types of functions. My anger eased as some drunken guy covered his mouth and intermittently screamed “rednecks.”
 
    The cheering only increased as Palin began to speak. I couldn’t watch this. I needed to go back to my people on the other side of the enormous room. I thought of my friend Alex who had suggested, weeks earlier, that we put coat hangers on Sarah Palin’s campaign signs as a way of demonstrating our anger toward Palin’s anti-choice policies. “Fuck it. I am going home to gather up all coat hangers,” I thought to myself, but then I remembered that stupid rule … it’s not appropriate.

    I quickly found my familiar faces and was able to express my disappointment. But then Palin and her entourage decided to move across the room to where I was standing. The look on my face must have reflected my feelings because a man holding a Palin sign looked at me and said with a smile on his face, “sorry, but Alaska has decided to move forward.” I knew that there was a comeback in my head somewhere, but I couldn’t seem to locate it.

     Instead I just turned away and wondered … when is it going to be my turn to cheer for the Alaskan election results?     
 





 


      Nova Stubbs is a freelance writer and activist, and is co-founder of Insurgent49. Nova resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage and may be contacted at nova@insurgent49.com.

     'Rank and File' appears on insurgent49.com every Monday.

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by Soren Wuerth

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Copyright 2005 Insurgent Media. All Rights Reserved.
in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership.