(location of the Freese Family Farm)
Just got off the phone with my mother, out on the farm. Yes, she’s going to the caucuses. Yes, she’s caucusing with the Democrats.* Her candidate? Not Biden/Dodd/Kucinich/Gravel, none of whom she mentioned. Not Richardson, even though she does think he would do the best job of “protecting the borders” (my mother is conservative on immigration). Not Obama (my own preferred candidate), because she thinks he’s too inexperienced and also isn’t going to vote for somebody just because Oprah tells them to. Not Clinton, who she regards as being “for the rich” and feels screwed up health care reform when handed the chance. Instead, my Mom will be caucusing Edwards, who she regards as “honest” and as someone who “sticks up for people.” She was especially impressed with a promise of Edwards, which I’ve not heard about, to take away the health coverage of the U.S. Congress if they do not pass a plan to extend health care coverage within his first year in office.
She did not refer to him as “Little Edwards” the way she did four years ago.
What about my father? He told my Mom that he was going up tomorrow morning to vote right after breakfast. My Mom explained to him that with the caucuses you couldn’t just vote any time, but instead you had to show up at 6:30 and go to a meeting. That was it for any chance of him showing up. If memory serves, this is exactly what happened four years ago.
The other day somebody was asking me about my thing for the Hawkeyes, especially now that I have a splendid new gold-and-black stocking cap to go along with my scarf. It’s not really about college. It’s about Iowa. The way it works in my mind bears a lot of affinities to an ethnic identity. As I’ve said before, I’ve many conflicted feelings about patriotism with respect to the United States, but if Minnesota ever invaded Iowa, I would immediately drop everything and drive back there to fight. (Lo, especially if it was Minnesota.)
If I knew how to rig it on the MacBook, I would try to get a podcast of my Mom from the caucuses. Or Sister B, who will be caucusing with the Republicans and who I haven’t been able to reach to find out who she’s supporting. Can you record audio conversations on Skype for Mac?
* My mother’s voting record in presidential elections in my lifetime: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Reagan, Dukakis, Perot, Clinton, Gore, Kerry.
8 Comments
How far is the Freese family farm from the caucus?
I didn’t ask. I’ll probably talk to her tomorrow. We live less than 2 miles outside my hometown (pop. ~1800), and my guess is their caucus precinct meets there.
rest easy, jeremy. my family in tracy would have warned me if invasion was imminent. and for all these years i thought we were the good guys…
Go Jeremy’s Mom! I knew she had to be good people since she raised you (awww!)
I love edwards’ real focus on poverty. Haven’t had a candidate who gets that in a long time.
Zach (my 11 year old son) wants Obama or Clinton because he thinks it is important for there to be a “first” (woman or African-American president). Skyler (age 7) prefers obama because he is going to “do the most for the environment” — I have no idea where he got that, but there it is.
I am happy with any of those 3 and frankly glad i don’t have to decide right away. BUT if I had any connection to iowa I would probably try to stay registered there and go back every 4 years for this.
Regarding recording conversations on skype in a Mac, yes you can, but you have to download a special feature of skype (for which you need to pay something) for recording voice. I think it should be easy to find on the skype website.
You know – this makes complete sense to me. My grandmother is from Iowa originally (as is my mom, but she moved when she was four). To this day, I still have a fair amount of Hawkeyes gear in my wardrobe. Of course, there are also mixed loyalties, after moving to Colorado, she developed a love for the the Denver Broncos – a love which passed from her to my mother to me and still symbolizes “roots” to Colorado.
I have to say, since starting school at Michigan, the amount of Hawkeyes gear has diminished considerably. I’m not positive this is simply correlation or a more direct causation.
it seems to me that any invasion of iowa by minnesotans would ultimately be successful because many of the invaders would be twin citians who are the children and grandchildren of iowans. i can’t see my grandparents of osage putting up much of a fight against me (though grandma is still pretty scrappy).
when i was approaching the job market i had this conversation with dad (A u of iowa alum who CONSTANTLY nagged me to finish grad school more quickly):
Dad: So, where are you applying?
Me: [Names a bunch of schools]
Dad: What about Iowa?
Me: They want a social psychologist.
Dad: Great, when will you apply?
Me: Ummmm, I’m not a social psychologist.
Dad: How long will it take you to be one?
Me: Ummmm, another four years or so.
Dad: Well, you better get on it then. [Long Pause] Maybe you should think about staying in grad school another year.
Similar conversations followed with Mom, also a native Iowan. Despite my getting a job, moving across the country, and only having started four months ago, she asked whether Iowa was hiring this year ["just in case"].
Wire Tap Pro will let you record any sound coming through your Mac, regardless of where it’s coming from.
Jeremy, shoot me an email, I don’t have your new address…