The Symbolic Vote Scandal
Being back in the states has made me nostalgic for when I was a grad student. The nostalgia primarily comes out around book stores, because that was one of my favorite pastimes while I lived in San Diego. A friend of mine who I haven't seen since I left grad school and finished my Ph.D. is on the verge of defending her dissertation in Ethnic Studies. All of this is for some reason reminding me of my dissertation. The days I would spend in coffee shops working on it. The hours spent poring through books and articles researching it. The times I would spend while driving across California contemplating it and then rushing to write hasty notes on anything I could before a random, but precious thought escaped me. One of the central scandals that drove my dissertation was the issue of "symbolic" or "fake" votes for the delegates from the colonies of the United States. It was a site that was so rich with material for illustration my arguments, I could have written