Dear Everyone,

Recently, I have received a flurry of emails regarding Sarah Palin. I have also been in or overheard many conversations about her, in addition to the dismaying information I've taken in from NPR or the newspaper. After a while of this, I thought: 'Wait a minute, I used to feel *excited* about this election. Now I'm feeling this awful dread….' Though it is unusual for me, I feel compelled to speak up in a wide forum and say 'Yopp!', as one small person did once in Horton Hears a Who. I apologize for the lengthiness.

Over the past few years, I have come to appreciate the profound effect focused attention can have - be it on small or large systems. However you might or might not choose to explain this, there is more evidence compiling about the truth of this and so, I want to put out a call for consciousness about where we're choosing to put our focus.

Just a few weeks ago, most of us were feeling pretty uplifted, excited, hopeful, engergized about putting Obama andBiden in the White House. That seems to have slipped away, and by now, all I am hearing about anymore is how scared people are about Palin and what> could happen to the election and our country if she's elected (along with that other guy). Many of us (me included, for a while) have> been fairly freaked out by her. She's so extreme that she's a parody of her kind - when I haven't been distressed I've been laughing. She seems like something SNL cooked up. I am not denying that she's a serious issue, or that the scary picture is a possibility - it's happened the last two elections. What I am saying is: as a collective group of engaged citizens, what do we want to focus on?

Democrats are really good at what I'll call Righteous Anxiety. If I keep talking very strongly about how frightened I am by her, somehow this will get a message across about what a real threat she is. Perhaps it's a hope that we will bring awareness to others, it will somehow be educative to…to whom?

Conservative Republicans are not self-reflective enough to have any self-doubt, or any doubt whatsoever about their agenda. This kind of let-me-tell-you-how- scared-I-am goes nowhere with the other camp. On the other hand, many of us are very willing to talk at length among ourselves about how worried we are. It becomes a kind of: 'Let me tell you how scared I am, so you can tell me how scared you are, and we can feel how affirming it is to join one another in ourscare.'

Enough! Some of our statements of fear are just our need to express ourselves. Okay, fine. I've done it too. But now she's old news. Even if more creepy information surfaces about her (and how can it not? she's pretty creepy), we already know that she's creepy. Given what I named above about attention, it actually does us no good to keep our focus on her. My only caveat is: if you happen to  know specific people or  groups who are undecided (such an odd idea to me), and they have some willingness to be educated, then by all  means, go for it. Otherwise, we are hurting our cause, deeply.

Look around and listen to what fellow Democrats are talking about - it's almost all Palin. We are too ready  to play victim to this crazy lady who's going to swoop in and lay ruin to all we've hoped for. So to this I say: 'Whoa, Nellie; not me.' I have felt the deep dismay, the anger, the dread. And now that I have noticed it, it points me to what I really want: I want Obama to win, and to win big. To whatever degree you've felt it, please remember your excitement! *That's* the word, the feeling, to focus on. It's so exciting! Wow, think of how much could change for the better! We have felt so very hopeful not> so long ago. It's all still there, if you attend to it consciously – it can resurface quickly. Let's wipe the smear of Palin off of our collective windshields and look clearly out at our excitement.

So these are my constructive ideas, if you have any interest:

1) At some point after reading this, take a minute to close your eyes and picture Wednesday, November 5th, and  feel your jubilation and relief, the thrill that Obama has been elected as the 44th President of the United States of America . Picture,  in sensory detail, where you hear of it, whom you're with, and how you feel. Let this feeling linger with you; savor it. Build on it. Keep coming back to it. Make yourself a DVD for your mind that you can pop in at any moment.

(Now, some of you might not feel comfortable doing this because…what if he doesn't win, and I've gone and gotten myself all hopeful? 'I don't want to feel disappointed.' Okay, but, come on, just this once, can you risk it? The stakes are pretty high. What if you allowed yourself to go all out and be crazy hopeful?)

2) If you find yourself freaked out by something else you hear about her (likely to happen to most of us), notice it, file it away or toss it out or whatever, but then take a deep breath (really - do this), and bring yourself back to 1).

3) Start calling him President Obama. People will laugh; you'll  laugh  too…then keep doing it. Make it a habit, of thought and of word.

4) Go to YouTube and watch part or all or any of the speeches from the Democratic National Convention. Be uplifted by it.

 I, personally, will no longer read any scary Palin emails that come to me. I will politely delete them. My intention is to avoid getting worked up about her. This is not head-in-the-sand; this is intentional focus on what we really want. (Again, see caveat above if it applies to you, or if you happen to be a journalist.) Yes, I have already contributed to the website that is  out there saying 'no' to Palin. But now, I am reminded that it is  much more important to say YES to Obama, loudly and enthusiastically. Enough attention on  her. We must stop scaring ourselves, and get back to the business of> President Obama.

If any of what I've said has seemed useful to you, please pass this on. We are capable of creating a powerful and positive movement if we can guide our attention back to our goal.

Your Fellow Citizen,

Jenny

Pat Launer

Theater Critic, Arts Writer

www.patteproductions.com