Election Night Nostalgia

It's election night. I'm at home. Writing progress reports.

Two years ago on election night, I was on the edge of my seat in front of my computer at USATODAY.com, a small part of the election night coverage media. I had only a small role, but I was part of the bigger deal. I witnessed the newsroom bustle, the exclamations and profanity as results rolled in. I remember being in the newsroom, high off the journalistic adrenaline, until 3 a.m. I was a college senior then and had class five hours later. But it didn't matter. I was there.

I called a former colleague up tonight to lament my nostalgia. She returned my phone call and put it in perspective. I quote her loosely: "One word. You're a crackhead. You're out there teaching and doing something that is meaningful, that is real for the kids. If you were back in the newsroom, you'd just be working on tonight's breaking news that will only be tomorrow's old news. You're a crackhead."

Nonetheless, I am at home tonight. I am frantically refreshing the news Web pages to get the latest results while grading papers. I am indeed far from home.

Comments

[x-boss]

Actually, you played a big part on election night and the months building up to it. That's why we kept you on after your internship, silly.