America itself, which is a menagerie of mutts, has been a mightier nation for its diversity: I must admit, I cried. I’m not perfectly sure why, but of course I was overjoyed. It is still astonishing that a country with our history of slavery and racism could elect a biracial man who identifies as African-American. This is a proud moment for all of us. I even photographed my ballot in the voting booth, my fingers pushing the X into the Obama-Biden slot. But then again, I also cried when Bill Clinton won in 1992. I wept because after 12 years of Reagan and Bush, we were free at last. It was as if air had been released into an oxygen-deprived room. To be young in a nation under Ronald Reagan was to hate life.
