Election Fever

I've been trying to gather the energy to record my observations of life as an elementary school librarian in the 21 st century, here in the outposts of suburbia. BUT, I've been feeling the effects of the flu. After more than 3 days in bed, I dragged myself to work and back to my bed again. Twice. Today is the first time I have felt coherent enough to write-- without humiliating myself.

The kids have accused me of having Election Fever because I've been talking about the current presidential primary season. It's true. I must have that bug that's going around- the one strain of the flu that my shot didn't immunize me from. I have made it my mission to teach old- fashioned Civics here in the Library. I was the generation that fought to lower the voting age and it distresses me greatly when I look at the numbers and I see that young people aren't voting in droves. The little bit of energy I can muster this week has been spent on sharing books and interactive websites about voting, how our government works, and the responsibilities of citizenship.

I read the most wonderful book to my classes last week: The Day Gogo Went To Vote, by Elinor Sisulu. Based on a true story, it is about a 100 year old great grandmother who gets to vote for the first time in 1994 in S. Africa. I think the kids really got it.