Well...where to start? After having stayed up very late (for me) to watch as much of the unfolding election drama as I cared to take in, I'm pretty tired today. I'm also thankful for small favors, like not having my crotchety co-workers cheerily (and offhandedly) ask, "so, did your candidate win?" again. I'll reserve comment on them for now. I mean, it's not as if waiting for all the ballots to be counted would have been such a huge imposition. Our country would have survived the wait, and the Oval Office would have not sat vacant a single moment.

This may be simply some sequela of reading a great deal about prisons lately (for a class, folks), but I swear I feel like I've just been denied parole for another four years. Back to the cell.

On a lighter note, I'm also proud and very glad that I live in Illinois, one of the few decisive Democratic victory grounds last night; and new Senator-elect Barack Obama's victory speech last night only served to confirm my beliefs we've a mighty fine candidate on our hands here in the Land of Lincoln.

The Village Voice today rings the mourning bell, with the headline "The Dream Is Lost." Perhaps not yet lost, but delayed for what seems like an endless dark tunnel of unknown future days. Let's not forget these words: "Justice deferred is justice denied."

Yes, as leaden and confining as the concept sounds, it is four more years - no more, no less. We all know how much can change in four years time. We all recall the one day that can make all the difference.

We may have called it a war, but perhaps in longer view it may be reassessed as a battle. Let us move onward and forward, and make every one of these coming 1,461 days count like never before.

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