The moment has almost arrived

I can't settle down.

I've had the jitters all day, struggling to stay focused at work and aching for the time to move more quickly toward the poll closings. Unlike my fellow teachers at Bronx Letters, I'm more excited than nervous. This election has unified the country in an extraordinary way, whether you're for McCain or for Obama. I think some of the excitement has to do with finally being able to celebrate the end of the Bush administration. Today marks the first page in the next chapter of our history.

Seeing videos of the lines wrapped around polling areas all over the country reminds me of the pandemonium of the last Harry Potter book's release. We can't wait because we want to know what happens, and we kind of know that we'll be celebrating in the end. We're so close to something so monumental. It's still hard to believe that this country has come this far. What an extraordinary time to be an American.

And that's what it feels like - an extraordinary time. I took a bus all the way down 135th Street last night, and for the first time since I've been in New York I saw Harlem come alive. People were in the streets, voices were being heard. There was a community. There was passion in the voices and purpose in every person's step between the bodegas and the vendors. It reminded me of what happens to a dream deferred. The explosion was palpable last night.

This evening I was walking through Manhattan and I saw the throngs of people gathered around NBC's studios in a red, white, and blue Rockefeller Center. There's already magic in the autumn air, and everything that's happening multiplies it a million fold. What a time this is. I only wish I could be in Grant Park right now. That'll be a party bigger than all the Bulls' championship celebrations put together, and those were some big parties. What a time this is.

I'm sure I'll be back writing before long.