"You know there are other orbits."

   This was like somebody saying at college, (i)there's this thing called identity politics,(i) or, (i)there's something called (i)critical race theory(i).  It was like fresh air let into a room.  The elections were over.  In my mind's eye I looked at the floor and "saw" an empty wrestling mat. 

  I was definitely having an immediate reaction of both separation anxiety and the loss of power that happens when people split up.  (i)Just a voter now(i).  Made sense because I hadn't run for anything, I'd been learning about it all as a journalist.  I did understand it better so that had me feeling more a part of it, but... 

  You're either in an office or not.  In theory there's governor and governed.  But what about governance itself?  Observing but not participating.  Minds had wrestled with this some in thinking about "objectivity" and "activism". 

  That was a crux of the matter in what seemed like a phase of journalism...to be subjective or not in writing a piece.  Tom Wolf's (i)Vroooooom(i); the people reporting a story have their own ears and eyes and sensations about an event.  This blossomed from (i)personal journalism(i) into (i)literary journalism(i) for some. 

  What was striking me about elections over was really similar to an experience I'd had in grammar school.  I'd been privileged to attend a Catholic parochial school, maintained as a fortress of values and safety and learning.  My mom already had a lot of children by the time it was time for me to do SEX ED.  A controversy in and of itself.  And as tensions kept growing about it, mom and I realized something like (i)people ruin everything(i).  Mom was almost going to (i)just say no(i) or opt out, but was intrigued about chromosomes.  She and my Dad had worked really hard to get healthy for that last birth (not as easy in times of stress and strife), and by number six, mom was at a place where she was curious about the Science of it all in addition to how she was running her home.  So I had to take it.  But I got to share the information.  This made for some thought-provoking conversations in which we were better able to think about the Bible and real life.  Helped us relate to Biblical characters.  And kept us developing that practice of weaving our religion with world.