McCain's Dead Corner

For the record, before I begin, this is just an observation.

I was driving in Studio City yesterday, and I came to the light at Ventura and Laurel Canyon. It's a pretty busy intersection. As I waited for the light to change I noticed a bunch of people with signs for McCain saying this and that about Obama. No problem. Normally when people are holding signs on a corner for whatever reason, people are yelling slogans, drivers are honking their horns; you know, the usual. However, something stood out to me.

The corner was dead. ... Not a single slogan yelled, not a single car horn. I could barely hear the cars drive by. It's like everyone was driving a Prius or something. Those cars are frighteningly quiet. It was as if time slowed down like that scene in 300 where Leonidas kicks the Persian messenger down the hole that leads one to the floor right above Hell.

Maybe people are ready for something different, at least an attempt at something different. Maybe everybody on the corner was just tired. Maybe the drivers didn't see them, or maybe they had one hand dedicated to the wheel and the other to their Blackberries or Frappuchinos. Maybe they were on Obama turf.

Ironically, during my stint on the dead corner (and during this historic election that involves black and female candidates), I began listening to KCRW, and they were playing a segment that delved into the historic run for the U.S. presidency by Shirley Chisolm, the first black woman elected to congress. They played old sound bytes and talked about how brave she was, and it triggered a desire to learn more about her.

Crawling down Laurel Canyon for about 15 minutes (traffic was rediculous) gave me time think about a couple of things.

1. Shirley Chisolm was one baaaaad woman.

And.

2. I should've taken the 101.