I cried yesterday. I cried for a country that my mom didn't fit into 45 years ago. I cried for a country that was the salvation of my family. I cried for the country that my dad's father fought to protect. I cried for the people that have come to this country, only to find that the system will eat you up and chew you til it spits you back out. I had said that if Obama didn't make it as the next president that I would move out of the country. I would be paying taxes towards a country and a freedom that I didn't believe in. I would be lending family members to wars that I didn't think were just. This is not the case. I will be staying in this country and fighting for its ideals. I am so proud to have gotten past the color lines yesterday and I have a renewed hope for our country to be the one that is the home of big dreams and big realities. Its a new year starting today..and will last for 4 years. I feel sorry for the Obama family and all that they have to step into. I fear that our secrete service might not be enough for the brutality that our country has bred into its citizens. I do not believe that Obama would ever be a target of another country or terrorists, I do however, believe that we have to protect him from the ignorant people that don't think that he can be our leader based on the color of his skin. I think that if Obama would be assassinated that our country will rip in two. There will be riots and looting and general lawlessness that would take over. The world as we knew it would cease to exist. I have never been one to talk politics. I have never really concerned myself with the wars and state of affairs in other countries. I have always been treated well. I am white, I am middle class, I pay my taxes, I participate in community affairs. I think that this general lack of interest was reflected in the rest of the people of my generation and generations after me. I didnt have to come to this country in search of the great American dream like my mother and her family. I didnt have to fight for it like my grandfather. I have hope. I think that its time to pay attention, to not accept things that we do not agree on. I think that its time to get to work and make this country the place that it has always been in other peoples minds. I am tired of hearing about the Hilton girls parading around and how much their cars are worth. I am tired of hearing about a manic depressive singer that has lost custody of her children. I am tired of the ignorance of the people not allowing two people who love each other to make that promise in front of their family and loved ones. I am tired of people dying of ailments that are preventable. I know that the fashion police is a frivolity. That is okay. That was my grandmothers dream when she came to this country. She wanted to make clothes. Amazing clothes..and she did...first working with Bob Mackey on the Laugh In show in the 70's and the doing all of the costumes for the Jackson 5! The best thing about her was the fact that even after all of that success, she still wanted to turn it around and teach it to other people who would be able to profit from her knowledge. So, in a way, I am living my grandmothers legacy. I have to say that I love what I do. Hairdressing and making people feel exceptional. On the day of 9/11 I didn't know what to do. I had appointments for haircuts and haircolor, but it seemed to be a flight of fantasy in comparison to the events of the day. Until I volunteered at a Cut a Thon. Top hairstylists from all over came to work a cut a thon to raise money for the victims of 9/11! That was the day that I knew that I had a purpose and a cause. All of the people that donated their money to look good that day all said the same thing, they wished that they could give the people of NY the same treatment. I kind hand, someone to touch them and play with their hair, someone that was willing to listen, to care, and to tell them that they were beautiful. That says a lot. Now, my mission with hairstyling and make up is to make people feel as though there is at least one person out there that is willing to talk to them , listen to them, and make them feel as pretty as they are on the inside as they are on the outside. Okay...i dont know where that outpouring of emotion came from, but I thought that I should get it out, while it was there!