Odd Bits
The Thrill of the Vote
This post first ran on election day in 2008. My feelings on the subject haven’t changed: It’s election day in Chicago. I just walked home from voting for a new mayor and a new alderman–and I miss my old neighborhood. For ten years I lived in South Shore: a white graduate student/small business owner/writer in…
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From the Archives: Why You Can’t Vote
If you’ve been hanging around the Margins for a while, you’ve read this one before. I think it’s worth repeating. From sixth century Athens on, who has the vote and why has been a touchy and evolving subject in democracies. People who already have the vote have hesitated to extend it to others for two…
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Word(s) With A Past: Left and Right as a Political Metaphor
As some of you may have noticed, here in the United States we’re coming to the end of a long, weird election season. A lot of labels have been thrown about with little reference to what they mean or why. At some point, when I had become almost numb from the rhetoric, it dawned on…
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