Race, Equality and Comfort

The sunlight is long here.
The heat remains and everyday large storms bring thunder, lightning and plenty of rain to break the humidity. I’ve been sharing my room the past few days with one of my best friends, Amanda. Our fan runs all night and day and our one window is always open. We laugh and talk far too much each night and wake up to the summer heat, humidity and 5am sunrises.

Work continues to go well. I carpool most days with two co-workers. The days are long, but I’m learning so much. I write every day and it’s wonderful. Tonight Amanda and I headed to the fitness center here. I jogged on the track and every memory came back. Spending so many evenings there during my first and second years. The stress relief, the time to think, the basketball and soccer games below the track and just everyday being so different and learning everything I could.

I’ve thought about St. Andrews here and there the past two days. Never when I thought I would, just thoughts and memories coming back unexpectedly. While I’ve maintained the friendships and they’ll remain what I miss most, lately I’ve thought back to the small moments. The moments I had to myself, the moments I explored, the quiet moments. It began last night. I was seconds from sleep but so many words still drifted in my head. And then a clear and bold memory. The academic business school at St. Andrews. The windows. The sunlight streaming in. Walking through it searching for a place to study. The feeling of warmth, exploration, awareness and comfort. And then this morning the memories returned unexpectedly again. Like being awake in a dream. Buying raspberries my first few weeks there, my daily walk into town and classes every day, spotting the ocean from afar most mornings, the bitter wind some days, walking through the hallways of my residence.

Yesterday’s (June 25) Supreme Court ruling on Section Four of the 1965 Voting Rights Act ruled unconstitutional surprised me. As I drove in the carpool yesterday, the three of us turned NPR up and listened to the news of the court’s ruling on the rainy drive home and discussed it -- raising our voices to be heard over the heavy raindrops hitting the windshield. We discussed and agreed that states still need Section Four of the law. When did justice and racial/income equality arrive equally to all fifty states causing the federal government to no longer speak for voters denied the right given to every American citizen?

The ruling sounds somewhat similar to the Civil War. A selection of the southern states – the same states that currently restrict the most voters on race and class, now free of the federal government’s interference when it comes to voting; a return to states’ rights over the rights of a nation.

            And then today. Fresh air. The repeal of DOMA bringing equality and full recognition and benefits under the law for every American marriage. Beautiful.