In return I got a very charming form letter adressed, "Dear Students;". Oh noooooooo! Obama thinks I'm ten!
The form letter included a great speech about participation and becoming leaders. I also got an illustrated map of the white house, with a reverse side interview of the president himself. It featured all kinds of regular kid questions like: "Do you play sports?, Do you get a day off?, and Who is your best friend?" (the first lady of course!) The kid pack also includes a photograph of Obama and a family photograph with signatures printed on. So regal like! I might hang it on my wall!
At first I was amused that my project was perceived as kid stuff. And then I was thinking how, if I was ten, this white house kid pack response would be awesome! If I was ten, I might think of the president as this distant television character, and getting mail from him with all this cool info and photos, wow! But then I remembered reality through my own lens, and how as much promise as it seems, it's really a propaganda punch. Cause I don't see how United States leaders can continue to go on and on about how great America is when there is so much trauma and people hurting everyday. I believe that the suffering has come to outweigh any sense of greatness, because people, including me, are beginning to understand the consequences(e.g. oil spill, war on Irag, war on drugs, mass incarceration, JLWOP, destruction, destruction, violence, disconnected, mental health crisis) of what America stands for. And that that idea of greatness is at so much expense. And that only some people get to play anyway, cause the deck is stacked sooooooo high. So yeah. Thanks for nothing Obama, except this nudge towards blog posting.
