Mr. Vice President

Sister's oldest and dearest friend is the daughter of my high school home room teacher.  A through Ba, we occupied the coolest corner of the coolest corridor with the coolest adult in the school.  

For three years, we started our school day at our desks, alphabetically arranged so that new friendships were bound to occur.  I didn't see most of my homeroom classmates in any other setting, but in that room, with that man, everything was possible.

He was big, larger than life, in stature and personality.  He was inclusive before that was a buzzword;  he just did the right thing.  When the fraternity of cool jocks' hazing rituals sent a boy to the hospital, our school was in an uproar.  The cool kids were astounded that anyone thought they were wrong.... which was when Mr. Jan began to speak, to us in home room, to the teams, to the individuals, and, finally to the whole school.

I don't remember what he said, and I don't know if the pledge ever got over the social isolation and stigmatization  (How dare he report our names to the cops in the ER!) that was pretty obvious for the rest of that year.  I do know that in the moment, in the auditorium, I felt safe.  I could smile for a while.  

And that's how I felt after Tim Walz was introduced to me today.  As The Golden Gopher texted, Watch out for Minnesota nice.  Walz will destroy trump with a smile on his face.  

Is he too progressive?  Is he just a continuation of the Democrats' welfare state mentality?  I'll let him answer for himself:

“What a monster. Kids are eating and having full bellies, so they can go learn, and women are making their own health-care decisions.”

It just may be that the Democrats have finally figured it out.  It may be that the Obama campaign advisers VP Harris has assembled as a brain trust are as good as they think they are.  I can't think of any one else who could talk about shrinking the Lyin' Liar and not sound petty. He slipped in that couch reference without being cringey.

I feel really happy right now.  I'm sure that will change over the next 90-some days (I'm loving this countdown to the election thing), but right now I feel like someone is speaking to people who weren't listening before.

I'm hopeful.