Sufferin' until Suffrage... and beyond

Got up this morning and pulled on my hoodie (didn't have time to buy a black one, so I went with navy blue and a bright bayberry mock turtleneck underneath - for the stylish mosher on the go!) and made my way to the polls.

My vote was challenged.

I looked at the six people behind the table and said, "Oh, ok, so, I can't vote, right? I should just go home?"

The one white, blonde, coiffed lady smiled. The five black people looked at me in horror.

I looked right at the blonde lady and said "Oh, *please*. Could I speak with a voter's advocate?"

Facial expressions were reversed.

With a minimum of fuss, I got my ballot. I voted. Then I offered to head to the grocery for the folks behind the table. They all said they were fine, but thanks for offering. We exchanged "have a good day!"s and I left.

It's not over by a long shot, but at least I did what little I could.

Election Escapism - Help me make a playlist!

On New Year's Eve, my friends J&P have a themed dinner party for about 15 of their close friends. I'd never been able to attend until last year, because I was working the live New Year's Eve radio show at WFMT. But I quit that and joined them last year. Since I was late to the party, all the tasks had been assigned already (J cooks, P sets/clears, others bring wine, dessert, decorations, etc.). I offered to download a bunch of music to my iPod from iTunes while Jeremy was prepping to go with the food (Northern Italian Cuisine). I wound up with an eight-hour playlist that ranged from Puccini arias to Mambo Italiano. It was a *blast*. So I am now the official music person for the party.

This year, the theme is "Seventies Comfort Food". At first, I thought to simply find a list of hits from each year of the 70s. But then I thought, well - most everyone at this dinner party is of the same age group. We were all kids in the 70s. (I'm 35; the guests' ages don't vary more than 3 years up or down from that.) Kids didn't listen to Led Zeppelin; kids listened to Funky Favorites and Grease.

So my thought was, rather than music that was released in the 70s, I'd do like a "what we remember as music of our childhood from the 70s". And I need help building this playlist. It's gotta run about 8 hours. As I've started putting together my own list, I've come up with three basic categories: Disco, Schoolhouse Rock, and Pussy Music. ETA: thanks to valarltd for reminding me about "novelty songs". Four categories.

( songs so far... )

Am I missing anything glaringly obvious? And do you have more suggestions for me?