Hilary Comes to Indiana

It has been 40 years since a primary election mattered in Indiana. Since Bobby Kennedy won his first state here in 1969, Indiana has seen "a long cold winter" (thanks NPR for that metaphor) of inconsequential primaries.

But yes, you guessed it, that has completely changed this year. When Hoosiers go to the polls on May 6th their votes will matter. After all, 72 delegates are up for grabs. And as we all know, those delegates and the votes that come matter very very much to both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama.

There is buzz everywhere of the candidates being in our fine state. They've been through, their spouses and children (Chelsea I'm sure wearing very nice shoes) stumping for them too. While they both have campaign offices in the city where I work, we've yet to see their gleaming smiles parading through our local Starbucks in hopes of getting that story of "small town America," showing themselves in the heartland of Indiana.

So I've not met Hilary yet. Or Barack for that matter. I did however, meet three of Hilary's "references" on Tuesday. I have not liked Hilary this whole campaign, but I went into this meeting with an open mind, really I mean that, wondering what these people had to say and wondering what they would offer us. In fact, this meeting with the references made me dislike her even more. (I could go on about why I don't like her, but I'll save that for another blog. I do have reasons though)

I was sitting in my office Tuesday and usually Andrea, our administrator, answers the phones, but sometimes she doesn't and this time I happened to answer. I said my name and the voice on the other end said, "Is this Kate Yoder?" And of course I said it was and she told me she was on our website and found my name. She identified herself as someone from Senator Clinton's office in New York and would it be possible for me to round up some mayors, economic development folks, the chamber, etc. to meet with three "travelers" who were going around the state representing economic redevelopment, etc., etc.

My first comment was, (and yes, I can be sarcastic at times) "This isn't political of course, because economic development transcends all political boundaries right?" And she was very quick to assure me that all the candidates care very deeply about economic development and this was not strictly about Hilary. Ha. Right....

So later that afternoon my boss and I ended up in the office of the mayor of a small town nearby where we welcomed the three travelers, a staffer from the Senator's office, an academic dean from RIT, and a retired GM worker. It didn't take them long to launch into a monologe about the great things Hilary has done in New York, how bipartisan she is, how she is a hard worker, etc. Believe me when I say this was over before it began, economic development transcending politics or not.

Here's the thing. I'm not opposed to hearing about the good things a presidential candidate has done. In fact, I'm all about experience for someone entering the highest office in our land. I am however, opposed to being walked on and overlooked. Never once did the three references ask a question about our community. They folded up the paper we gave them about some of the new businesses we've brought into our community in front of us. Everything was all about Hilary, Hilary, Hilary. For over an hour we sat and listened to this desperate sounding pitch about why we should support her. And yet, strangely, the disconnect between who Hilary is and why we should care grew larger and larger as the hour passed.

No matter who does it to you, it's a terrible thing to feel like you're a box to be checked off. It's a terrible feeling to feel like you and your community you love and are proud of despite some of its problems, are not valued or even cared about by someone who claims she cares deeply about the problems you are having.

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh and I'm welcome to comments if you think I am. But tell me why she should get my coveted vote when I don't trust she actually cares?

Our New Home!

I moved on Friday into the house Rob and I will live in once we're married so I wanted to show pictures of it to all of you. It's the cutest little place, not very big, but perfect for us. We're just on the edge of town, about 5 minutes from campus so there's definitely less of a college atmosphere out here.

I cannot even begin to describe to you how good and strange at the same time it is to have a place to call ours. It's good because for the past year and a half, probably since Ashley graduated early and moved out to get married and I moved in with other friends before I graduated, I haven't felt like I've had a home. Pennsylvania and my parents home where I grew up wasn't home anymore, heck, I have an Indiana license plate now, but the three places I lived with other girls never felt like home either. It's a very strange, detached feeling to have a house, but not a HOME. In a small way it gave me great sympathy for those who are truly homeless.

But now, I have a place to call HOME. I don't think it will fully feel like home until Rob and I are married and living here together, but for now it's good. It's funny because I've never moved into a place where I had to do things like figure out which drawer the silverware should go in. It's like a clean slate of decorating and literally "setting up house."

The house itself is owned by missionaries who are working with YWAM in Malaysia. This is their home, but they rent it out to people while they live overseas. We are the fourth newly married couple to live here so we feel a kinship and like it is a house just for us. The house is very old and feels like whoever built it just started tacking on rooms so the layout is weird. But it's full of character (complete with sloping floors), a yellow kitchen which I love, (I always wanted to live in a house with a yellow kitchen because they feel so friendly and welcoming), a compost pile (yes for being environmentally friendly!) and lots of flower beds. We have very little furniture, basically a kitchen table and chairs, my little twin bed, a dresser, an armchair, a few bookcases, and then a couch and a chair that belong to the missionaries we're welcome to use. It's nice to have some time to look for more of our furniture before we get married. We're pretty poor too so Craig's List and thrift stores will work out just fine. :)

It's strange though to live here by myself and as some of you know, I'm not always a fan of change. It really feels like now we should be married, but there is still some 80 days to go....

But anyways, this is part of putting down roots here in Indiana. Really, the whole thing of moving and finding a house is a testimony to the Lord's faithfulness to us and I would be remiss not to give him full glory for that. He certainly opened just the right doors for us and we feel his blessing upon this place and the way our marriage will unfold here.

Know that the door is always open to you friend! We have two guest rooms (both have beds, although you might choose the one that is not a built in loft held together with packing tape....) so we would love to welcome you into our home.

Hooray for our new home!

Here we are on the side of our house (the only place we could set the camera was on top of the car so it's not the best shot) but you get the idea. :)

Being Objectified

I got honked at by a truck driver this morning walking the block from where I have to park this week (they're repaving our parking lot) to my office. I suppose there's the chance that this particular truck driver was not honking at me, but the honk was one of those "toot-toot" kind, not one of the "hey, get out of my way!" kind. So for my thoughts purposes today, I am going to assume I was being honked at.

I know that there are so many women around the world who are objectified and discriminated against much more than me, but you know, bottom line, being oogled at incenses me whether is is happening to me or to another woman.

I mean, let's be real here. Does that truck driver think by honking at me I'm going to drop everything, race after his truck, hop in the cab with him, and ride off into the sunset? Wow, my heart swoons over being honked at.

Or as another example, I was driving on the highway the other day and this SUV with what I assume were college students pulls up beside me and the guy in the passenger seat blows me a kiss! I mean, get real! (Granted, I was wearing my huge pink sunglasses that are pretty hot, but I certainly don't wear them to get kisses from strange men). What did he expect me to do? Write my number on a piece of paper and hold it up for him to see? Oh wait, I don't exactly appreciate being pursued in such a way.

Like I said, I know this happens time and time again to women everywhere. The thing that absolutely astounds me is men, not all, but many, do not understand how it makes a woman feel to be evaluated by her body or her hot pink sunglasses. It's degrading. It makes us feel worthless. At least that's how I feel. Understandably there are plenty of women out there who would love to get honked at or who seek that sort of attention. I am certainly not one of them and I personally hate being evaluated, pushed down or around, or sized up because of the way I look. There is a lot more to me than outside beauty. Hello, I have a mind.

I'm not accusing all men of being this way, I know there are so many who value women highly and see them as equals in the workplace and in life. So maybe I'm pointing out a small segment who are bored or whatever. But it pisses me off that we have to live in a society that treats women as such.

Case in point, when I explained to my boss (an older, white man) how I feel objectified and stared at and honked at walking up from this further away parking lot, he didn't even believe that objectified was a real word.