Homeland Elegies brings self back to that time of innocence, pre-Former Guy, when we thought all he was good for was palaver.
Father: He’s not going to win . . . You’re smart enough to know that. He doesn’t even want to win. He’s trying to send a message.
Ayad Akhtar: I thought you said he was trying to start a channel.
Father: Same thing.
AA: He’s running for an election he doesn’t want to win so he can start a channel to send a message?
Father: The system is broken . . . I’m saying he won’t win, so you should calm down.
— pp. 18 – 19, Homeland Elegies
And then he did win.
Self still remembers how, on the evening of Election Day, she took Caltrain from Palo Alto to the City, and the packed train car was full of anxious buzz buzz buzz. She finally asked the young woman next to her what was going on.
The young woman said: “Trump’s winning. I’m scared.” The woman held up her cell. Polls on the East Coast had just closed, and the numbers were shocking.
The next morning, when self turned on her cell, the first message was: Your representation has changed. Then, a long long list of newly elected candidates ending with: The President of the United States: DT!
That night, the smell of pot was stronger than usual from the apartment above. Self remembers there were people hanging out on the fire escape, and she could distinctly hear their conversation: “Can you believe he WON? What’s going to happen NOW?”
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Kanlaon 
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