well, now

my paternal grandmother, the one with west texas roots, had a way of emphasizing the wrong syllable, but it made you think..you had to sort through what you heard and really listen for meaning... UN'vers'ty, U-kelele, and caldWAYell county...it seemed contrary for the sake of contrary...'would be hard to find anyone else who put the accent on the first syllable where it should be on the third, and on the second where it should be on the first ...but, it was merely her own unique inflection.

for another thing out of memory, the distinctive cruuuttt cruuutt of her scissors cutting material on the old square oak table gave me the whole picture without looking...i could see it because i could hear it...i could see the pins she used, turned cattyCORNer in some places on the pattern, and straight at the black diamonds that had to join up JUST right when you sew it ALLtogether...Lord, if i could just have one more foldover fried peach pie to hold with both hands while i watched her sew... the crust made with lard, Lord...crimped with a fork to seal that one side...

i bring all of this up because when you hear a distinctive voice intone ordinary words in a different way, it strikes your ear, you hold it and replay it a couple of times, and it tends to stay with you...

john edwards' and elizabeth edwards' voices were so hard to give up....they spoke the things i believe as no other voice has spoken them in the public arena in many many years, if ever...distinctive, progressive, truth cut from whole cloth, true warmth from the heart...

but i am no longer sure which hillary is speaking until she opens her mouth...one minute strident, the next easy, the next formulaic, and yet another willfully cutting her own throat with lies and half-lies...

and now, finally, the voice of barack obama...his delivery is as instinctive as his voice is distinct, his thoughts are extraordinary, his words assume an intelligent listener...it is heady stuff to be treated as an adult out here in constituent land... michelle is no less articulate and perhaps she is even more exceptional than he in extemporaneous speaking...

so, after the long hopeless night of bushnik despotism, perhaps there is a son of hope rising...