So Steph’s Dad finally sent her the *winning* music from Carnival 2008. I swear, both of these songs I was singing in my sleep until about yesterday. So I supposed it’s appropriate that I get the songs now to listen to in the dark and freezing library trying to navigate through the continuity vs. change argument for post-Civil War Virginia. I can still picture the main parade: thousands of people, tourists and locals, endless circles around the town center, beating sun, these two songs, unlimited refreshments, me wearing only…well, that’s not important. Just listen to the songs. And get up and dance.

Daddy Chess – “Forward We Go”

Unknown Artist – “On My own”

*You might need a Windows Media Player plug-in to listen/download these, especially if you’re using Firefox 3 Beta 5.

I hate being in a foreign country during major elections. (Note: That doesn’t mean I hate Dominica, I love Dominica.) But I felt incredibly disconnected last night, watching CNN with Calypso parade bands blaring in the background. It just wasn’t the same. There was nowhere I could stomp off to when CNN’s commentary just started getting campy. Too bad they have the best ticker and general election commentary infrastructure (“The Best Political Team” whatever the hell that means.) All that aside, however, I felt like Super Tuesday (Known as Tsunami Tuesday over at Rolling Stone) lived up to the hype that is Mardi Gras and seemed like a fitting way to rollover into Ash Wednesday.

Carnival and Mardi Gras celebrations kicked off Sunday night at 11:00 with a Calypso dance that went until 4:30 AM on Monday. We followed it with three parades on Monday (which are basically large crowds of people that dance in the street in front of and behind large flatbeds blasting music). One of the parades was a costume band. I’ll have you all know, that you will never see pictures of me in costume (though I have it on authority from various members of my roommates family that I have a Dominican ass–I can’t decided yet if that’s good or bad). There was one final parade yesterday in which each flatbed truck had at least 1000 people dancing around it. The climax of it all (for us at least): Super Tuesday.

On the whole, I was not disappointed. I actually think Obama did really well. I haven’t read a whole lot of analysis of last night, but it doesn’t really seem like anyone’s surprised. I certainly wasn’t as the night went along (go North Dakota) and I was excited to see Obama win more states than Clinton. What I think people are surprised about, however, is just how much it isn’t good for Clinton that there were no surprises. It was CNN who pointed out that she, though she may give Reaganesque speeches, has to reckon with a movement. I’m excited to see how the next month plays out. Plus, dude, Clinton’s totally funding her own campaign now. That sucks for her.

OK, I’m off to a Dominica v. Barbados World Cup Qualifying Game. Woo-hoo! Go football. More Obama later.

-Em

PS: Quote of the evening courtesy of CNN. “Huckabee don’t believe in evolution, gravity or photosynthesis.” Beautiful.