I was chasing Hillary Clinton down a sidewalk. She was dressed in a pantsuit and was frequently looking over her shoulder at me. It was not that she was afraid of me. Rather, the conversation was over and Hillary was signaling that she didn't want to talk with me anymore, meaning I should really hurry up and try to catch her -- which is what I did.
Then Hillary and I were talking face to face. I had taken a hold of her shoulders in a kind of pleading way, but I might also have been pressing her up against a brick wall that suddenly appeared. It's unclear.
I gave Hillary a rehash of the dialog that's been in my head for the last two weeks or so, which is that Barack Obama is the most exciting political candidate the Democratic Party has seen in 40 years, and that instead of getting behind him, Hillary (and the party) were tearing him down and dragging him through the mud, destroying his chances of winning. At one point I looked right into her eyes and said, He grew up poor. I mean truly poor, at which point Hillary broke eye contact and looked off in a peevish kind of way that said to me that she knew I was right, but that she couldn't be bothered.
I woke up feeling stricken, which is how I felt when I went to bed. But the dream was still cathartic in a way that I can't explain. I feel more at peace today.
24 April 2008
121. 38-Year-Old Married Man With Three Daughters
23 April 2008
120. Female College Student In New York
I'm looking at photos of Bill and Hillary from way back when. They're both only wearing underwear and they're in a dorm room with another couple only in underwear. Bill is sitting up and Hillary is lying next to him. She's staring blankly. She's really stoned.
In my dream, as in life, I support Obama, but looking at those pictures makes me like Hillary more than I had. I feel like once upon a time, she had fun. Then I am talking to my mom and she says it's too bad that women get uglier with age and men get more attractive.
21 April 2008
119. 40-Year-Old Woman Who Took Women's Studies Voting For Barack
I was telling the actress Kathy Bates, who was my therapist, about my mid-life angst. She responded with a feminist lecture that all of women's unhappiness is really about thwarted ambition that turns into bitterness and anger. While Kathy Bates was talking, there was a panning over a large display of Hillary magazine covers, and in each of them Hillary looked monstrously enraged.
18 April 2008
118. Married Man, Father And Musician In San Diego
In my dream, Hillary wanted to date me. Her intent was more physical than just going out. I heard she was looking for me. Then she appeared outside in a shopping plaza and was acting coy. She told me she wanted to be with me, and I respectfully declined. She insisted that I consider her advances and there was an undertone of "or else". I still declined and she still insisted.
She took off her dress and asked me to check her out. She was wearing a t-shirt and average, women's underwear. It was not very flattering. I tried to walk away, noticing her car and that some of her secret service people were behind her, about 50 feet away.
She put her arms around my neck and pressed against me in a very awkward way. At last, I was able to leave the area.
Next, I found myself running from her secret service men who were trying to kill me. I was able to run into familiar territory and lost them. Then I got to my car and began driving, but they were hot on my trail. I was able to somehow leave the car and I watched the Secret Service men drive their car over the edge of a cliff.
Then I was in a different home from my own and the Secret Service guys still were looking for me. They were saying that they needed to find me or Hillary was going to be mad as hell. I was able to jump out a window and fly downward, rather comfortably, through some trees.
I was able to get away from Hillary and her henchmen only to realize that she was no different than any other "crazy" woman I've met. Weird.
16 April 2008
117. 38-Year-Old Texas Lesbian Leaning Toward Hillary
I was at a church retreat or convention. I ended up sitting next to Hillary in the dining hall. We struck up a pleasant conversation and she admitted that she didn't know how to skate-board. I offered to teach her.
She got up on a skateboard and rolled along the sidewalk with me by her side, offering my arm and shoulder to steady her. She seemed game for anything, interested in learning new things, and was open to talking with all kinds of people. She wasn't nervous about being on the skateboard, yet didn't try to hide her lack of skill. I found her easy to talk to, genuine, and personable.
15 April 2008
116. Female Teacher Who Subscribes To The Nation
I’m a writer for The Nation magazine, and I’m on deadline for an article that I’ve basically forgotten to do. Just as I'm packing the car with my boyfriend -- we're about to go on a trip -- I remember the article, stop packing the car, and go dash off a draft. Then I take it to the office. I know it’s not very good but I’m hoping to get away with it.
Hillary Clinton and Keith Olbermann are the editors and they read it on the spot. Clinton asks me if I understand the meaning of the word homogeneous, which is a word I use in my article. I can’t think of its meaning, which makes me angry, since I understand it in context but just can’t think of how to define it.
They continue to be quite rude to me. Olbermann gives me a really arrogant and over-the-top dressing down in front of Clinton and a bunch of other staff who come in to watch him yell. I end up in a huge childish fight with them, screaming and giving them the finger before I run out.
I return to my boyfriend, crying. He tries to comfort me and tells me he’s often done a shoddy job on articles for The Nation, and I should relax. I know he works harder than I do on his articles, and this makes me more angry, and I get in a huge fight with him, too.
We cancel our trip and I end up by myself, taking the dog for a walk and crying.
12 April 2008
115. Woman With A Blonde Bob Who Makes This Site
Hillary and I were walking through my city, Toronto. A few paces behind us my boyfriend was walking with the woman Hillary had just announced as a running mate -- a cheerful, friendly young woman who looked like Hillary but prettier, with a blonde bob and the same orange makeup Hillary was wearing. It wasn’t clear who this women was. I had told Hillary that it was a brilliant political choice, though I wasn’t sure it was true.
The four of us were walking through back-alleys, past clothing shops, toward a movie theatre. Hillary was impressive and serious and wasn’t making conversation, and everything I could think of to say sounded stupid to me (Do you come to Toronto often? – obviously she didn’t, but she was here now) so I didn’t say a word. When we passed a bunch of furniture and garbage that someone had thrown out, I looked at it desperately, thinking it might help provide me with a topic of conversation, but as we walked past it, I didn’t remark on it and neither did she.
At last we came to a large Canadian Tire store where her political rival – Bill Clinton (that is who she was running against) was going to announce his running mate. The store was closed but was being prepared to be open so that the announcement could take place. I felt bad for Hillary, for Bill's announcement would take place in that huge store, while hers had taken place that morning in a tiny shop, also closed, when no one but me was around.
10 April 2008
114. Woman In New York
I am working as Hillary's assistant. My primary duties include walking her really big dogs and carrying shopping bags full of auto parts. I am unsteady on my feet because of several unwieldy hubcaps I am carrying, when a passing rodent causes the dogs to go crazy and drag me through a puddle of raw sewage in Central Park.