11.06.2006

Mailing it in

So. Election Day is tomorrow. I know I promised to give some reasons not to vote (the AARP's awesome, misleading commercial for www.dontvote.com caught my attention), but looking at my absentee ballot, I feel like the more important question is 'why the hell haven't I heard of anybody on this?' With 11 parties on the ballot I was familiar with where they generally stood. But the candidates? I knew they had names, and parties, and that was about it.

I flipped open this week's Ithacan and found a break-down of the midterm elections, and while there was a general summary of the latest scandals and a few sentences about the Democratic and Republican candidates, the rest of the candidates were relegated to the name-party combination I already had. Further in, I found an article arguing for not voting. While that idea, as you can probably tell, did cross my mind, the allure of mailing a letter was too much. So, as long as I was embracing the pretence of democracy, I figured why not give my vote to someone who I might actually agree with. Maybe if I was the only one they would send ME a letter.

So I did some research, which I am not going to share with you, but I do encourage everyone to google (the only research worthwhile) the Republican, Democratic, Independence, Conservative, Working Families, Green, Libertarian, Rent Is Too High, Socialist Workers, and Socialist Equality parties before tomorrow. Not that their websites will necessarily tell you the truth, but you might find something useful.

If you're voting absentee, it needs to be postmarked today at the latest, so you've either voted already or not (either way we can watch the exit poll results on tv and ponder over the futility of our efforts). If you want someone to tell you how to vote check out alt-weeklies the City Newspaper and the Ithaca Times for some decent ideas. The City's campaign for voters to write in REFORM for state assembly seems like a particularly good idea for the jaded.

If you don't care about politics, look for a full City on Film Show recap within the next few dates (with pictures and video). Read Popcorn Youth's interview with Bob Nanna. And if you're not sick of this yet, Bryan Kerwin's reflection on Elliot Smith is below. It's a little dated but what the hell.

-Andrew

Elliot Smith: Three Years Later
I credit one person with starting me on the path out of my blink-182 jones in high school – Elliott Smith. Like many people, I first became aware of Smith’s music thanks to Gus Van Sant and Good Will Hunting (you know, the movie where Matt Damon is good at math), and I was immediately drawn in. The sparse and haunting arrangements, the ghostly tremor of Elliott’s voice, the palpable angst – all the songs affected me in a way that pop-punk dick humor had yet to touch. I immediately went to the music store (and subsequently the internet) and collected as much Elliott as I could get my hands on.

When Smith passed away on October 21, 2003, I was a freshman in college, and it hit me right then that my generation had lost a great musician. We were too young to really absorb Cobain, but Elliott Smith was something of a contemporary, someone who was living and making music that distilled things about my life at the time I was living them. We all know the tendency of public opinion to inflate an artist’s importance after their death, especially if they died young, but this doesn’t apply to Smith – his genius was recognized every time he put out a record.

On the third anniversary of Smith’s suicide, we can look back at some of the things he left the world, most importantly, the music. Records like XO and Figure 8 still resonate as much now as when they were released, and I expect that’s a trend that will continue as new people discover them. There’s a clichéd sentiment that I will repeat here unabashedly: We’ll always have the music. Elliott’s family has also set up the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, a charity organization that donates proceeds to Free Arts for Abused Children. For fans that have the same personal connection to his songs, and want to help out, check out www.sweetadeline.net for more information, and for tons of other stuff about Elliott Smith. -Bryan Kerwin

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