Yes, you can, but will you?

Once all the confetti settles, the yard signs are recycled and the Conservatives are tucked snugly in their beds, Obama will be president.
Things will be the same as they were, or a little different, for most people.
Except for me, that is.
I will be sitting at a Carbondale Town Council meeting at 10:30 p.m. with a packet of papers in front of me as thick as the New York Times on Sunday and a self-proclaimed do-good developer with a vein popping out of his forehead pushing for just four more feet and five more units wondering why I am not playing hockey and drinking beer.
You see, I almost got swept up in election madness and thought I should get involved in politics. It was so exciting; I was giddy. I was part of the process last week at the Carbondale Democratic Caucuses.
I got to vote.
And it felt good for once.
"Yes we can," I was thinking as I raised my hand for Obama,
"Yes We Can!"
And then, at that vulnerable moment, just guess who (I’m not going to out her) said to me and every young, impressionable person with a pulse around, "We need some younger people to run for the town council. It is up to you! There are four seats open!"
Well, young impressionable number one just had a kid and has two jobs and just can’t do it. Number two had a similar story relating that "Scott Chaplin was right. No young person around here can afford to take on what is equivalent to a part time job with little compensation. I can’t even afford to live here as it is," he said.
Then me, (I was number three), "I’d love to... but, I’m really, really busy on Tuesdays. Usually playing hockey and drinking beer."
I said that kind of as a joke, but not really. It has actually been suggested to me on more than one occasion that I consider running for town council because, one, there are four seats up, and two, it seems like a bunch of people think it’s important for the board to somewhat represent the Carbondale community. And, while I am tan, I am not Hispanic, so I can’t help there, but, what I am, still (thank God), is young.
What I have proven, through my stint as a Valley Journal reporter, is that I can (Yes, I CAN!) sit through hours and hours of town council meetings, stay awake, take notes and write a summary of the important parts. And I live in town. So, voila! I am a qualified candidate.
Why is it that I, or the many other way-more-qualified-than-me young people of Carbondale, am not running right over to town hall to get the petition and gather the 25 qualified signature to run?
The answer is simple, time.
It takes more than one job and more than one income to afford to live in Carbondale. So, Scott was right when he said affordable housing in some form or another has got to be a high priority for Carbondale and any town like it.
I work (or ski) all the time (yes, teaching yoga is ‘work’). My husband Spencer works (or skis) all the time. We neglect our pets. If we had kids, we would likely neglect them, too. And we neglect each other, rarely spending our "free" time together because we have so much other stuff to do, like clean the house or install a new front door. Woo-hoo! And then, at the end of the season, when we do have time, guess what? Were not going to just hang out in Carbondale (as decidedly hip as it is.) We’re going south, far south, where the politics and mud of small town living and springtime is nothing but a whisper on the wind as we drink ourselves silly, surf, sun, and make up for lost sex.
So, while it is tempting to get involved, especially after a contagious caucus, the reality is, most of the young set wants to be young. We want to party and play when were not working to pay the bills for all these thrills.

But, if I was running for council my campaign would be "Keep Carbondale weird." I would want a slate of candidates so the four of us could ensure the weirdness for the future generations. I already asked my husband if he would run with me, thinking that if we both got elected it would eliminate one of the problems I would face on getting elected on my own and taken away from him on yet another night. But, he declined. "I’m waaaaay too busy," he said. Figures.

If I were to run for town council, which I’m not, I would also make it an absolute priority to finish what we have started. Yeah, yeah, yeah, every candidate says that, I know. It’s almost like Obama getting all this milage out of "change".
Are people really buying that? I sure hope so.
My goal (not that I would come in with an agenda or anything) would be to somehow fix the entrance to Carbondale. When I was working at the Valley Journal, I came across an article from 1982 that was all about how the town had plans to buy the property at the Highway 133/Highway 82 intersection to make an inviting entrance to town. That was 26 years ago and as far as I can tell, the entrance is still pretty uninviting. Then, a few years ago, a citizen group got all excited about building a river park out there including some kayaking features. The town spent almost $100,000 on studying the feasibility of the whitewater features, and even went so far as to draw all these amazing connecting trails and picnic tables and the like, but they forgot one small detail. The town doesn’t own the land. Duh.
So, whoever gets elected to the town council, whether you’re weird or not, rich, white, old or young, please, please, please, do something about the entrance to town. And do something about Highway 133 through town. I want to turn left out of Dos Gringos without my life flashing in front of me. Do it before 2040 when I am rich and retired and thinking it just might be my time to sit on the board. I’m sure by then there will be much bigger issues to deal with, like where are all of us old geezers supposed to live, and who is going to take care of us now that we have no social security.
I guess I better get back to work.