Spent the morning at the Cottonwood Arts Festival looking at the work of painters, photographers and ceramic artists from both the Texas area and some who came from places as far as South Dakota, Seattle and Santa Fe.

Yesterday, I did something that I have never done before. I registered to vote. At the local headquarters of a Republican Congressman. Last time I was living in Dallas we had an election in which I did not vote. Living in Texas, you just figure that it's not really going to count because the Republican demographic here is so terribly skewed. You drive around the neighborhood and it's Bush/Cheney '04 signs stuck deep into perfectly manicured lawns. I have in fact never before voted, nor have my parents since becoming citizens of this country. Growing up, I observed that my folks were always much more concerned and aware about the state of politics in Taiwan than here domestically. I've heard stories of their Taiwanese friends who live stateside flying back to Taiwan for the sole purpose of casting their votes in the Taiwanese presidential elections. I think that because they did not value the right to vote in this country, I inherited a certain amount of political apathy until more recent years. You just can't sit around anymore and not have an opinion about what's going on at any level. Sitting there in the local campaign office, I felt overwhelmed by the chaos of the office, the volunteers, and their diets (fried chicken, potato chips, liters of soda, and candy). I also thought about the voter registration card I was filling out which seemed strangely stressful. If I were an immigrant and could not read English, I would probably never even think of voting. It seemed somehow complicated - asking for instance for an address (which we don't have right now exactly) and interestingly enough, if you didn't have an address, it asked for you to explain why.

I will actually be in Chicago on election day, but will cast an early vote before leaving.