Election Day (November 1884)

ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884
-Walt Whitman

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
'Twould not be you, Niagara - nor you, ye limitless prairies - nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite - nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyserloops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon's white cones - nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes - nor Mississippi's stream:
This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name - the still small voice vibrating -America's choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen - the act itself the main, the quadrennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous'd - sea-board and inland - Texas to Maine - the Prairie States - Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West - the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling - (a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern Napoleon's): the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity - welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
- Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify - while the heart pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.

Well said, Walt, well said.


photo credit

Truth, Peace and Justice - Challah Bread for Election Day

I've been craving the taste of fresh baked bread. I don't know what it is, but the smell of baking bread just gives me the feeling of fall, even though the rain hasn't totally started yet.

So, when I happened across a recipe for Challah bread (that looked delicious, fairly easy, and beautiful) I thought, "that's the bread for me!" Add to the fact that my husband always raves about the delish challah bread he's had in the past, I thought it might make him happy too!

Anyway, as I was combining recipes to find the perfect challah bread for us, I found some interesting facts about the traditional braided challah. I'm attempting a double stacked three strand braid. (Wish me luck! Perhaps I'll post a picture when it's finished.) Anyway, apparently the strands of the braids have meanings. For example, "Twelve humps from two small or one large braided bread recall the miracle of the 12 loaves for the 12 tribes of Israel." But a simple 3 strand braid? Truth, Peace and Justice.

As we enter into an election day that is going to be extremely polarizing and divisive, I realized that a little challah bread might be the perfect food for our challenging times.