Idaho Perspective

Working on this for a class. Writing like this is read over the radio, by regular people like you and me getting their five minutes of fame, on NPR/PRI here in the spud state. The submission guidelines are that the piece must be 350-500 words and the last sentence must be "And that's an Idaho Perspective." This one is serious so that I don't get laughed out of my class on Monday but, in the process, I wrote some funny ones, too. I'll post them over the next little while. Hope everyone's well!

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Idaho Perspective One:

It’s the right time of year and the excitement surrounding it prevents too much complaining, but I feel ready for the political TV hate ads to stop. I don’t need to hear about democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brady wanting to eat my children or republican candidate Butch Otter’s history with drugs; I want to know where they stand on the issues. Jerry Brady does NOT want to eat my children and Butch Otter doesn’t have a drug past that I know about, but every time those commercials come on with the ominous synthesizer chords playing behind black and white pictures of the candidates in awkward poses, well, I can’t help but laugh out loud.
Nor do I find it necessary to see televised spots telling me that “he was such a nice sweet boy” and “I didn’t know there was a homosexual living under our roof” staged and scored like overwrought after-school specials. Taking a hot-button issue like same-sex marriage and putting at the front of a resolution designed to penalize heterosexuals who are also existing in common-law marriages is at once politically masterful and knowing one’s audience but also reeking a bit of desperation. I have my opinions and try to make an informed decision at the polls that doesn’t necessarily run along party lines, but does tend to fall in the left-leaning area in a very right-leaning state.
As much as I can roll my eyes, at all this, I do admire the enthusiasm behind all the current state elections. It’s sort of like studying literature and frowning on something as mainstream and basic as the Harry Potter series but knowing someone who wants to clobber you over the head with one of Rowling’s volumes all the while shouting, “but kids are READING!” It’s like that. The commercials I see on TV and hear on the radio are over-dramatic and, in many cases, hateful and spiteful. But I can’t help but applaud people and organizations that feel so strongly, one way or the other, about candidates and issues in such an apathetic modern society.
Turn off the TV, find a nice pamphlet at City Hall or another location, and make up your own mind. I vote left and you might disagree with me but I have a pretty fun time talking with you about it. Happy Election Day! I’m Ian Taylor, and that’s an Idaho Perspective.

-IT-

I've been watching:

--Nacho Libre (Directed by Jared Hess)
--Mission: Impossible III (Directed by J.J. Abrams)
--The Break-Up (Directed by Peyton Reed)

I've been reading:

--A Life Force by Will Eisner