Classroom Publication

Most may view the presidential elections of 2008 as one of the most important elections of all time and there is no other place to experience the importance than in a bar in downtown Albany.

The typical scene at any bar either in a movie or by personal experience is characterized by loud music, people dancing, drinking and yelling at the top of their lungs because they can’t hear each other. Drinking, laughing, some crying and other emotions are expressed as well. There is typically a television or three on the wall with random shows on each, sometimes they are all the same, other times not.

On Tuesday, November 4th 2008 Lark Tavern, a bar in Albany on the corner of Madison Avenue and Lark Street was transformed into a place of worship almost. This was not literally what happened, but when president elect Barak Obama gave his speech that night, everything in the bar stopped and all attention was given to the televisions mounted on the walls. The music was shut off, people slowed their chug to a sip, drinks were not being served or made and everyone stood at attention, listening as if it was the last thing they would ever hear, almost reflective of the powerful speech given in the movie Independence Day.
 
The rock-star welcome that Obama received was a reflection in itself of how much the United States was desperate for a change in government and the crowd’s cheer in Chicago was reflected in Lark Tavern in Albany as Barak Obama stated, “we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states we are and always will be the United States of America.” Some individuals cheered at the end of these words and others cried; there were hugs and kisses and some individuals just kept on drinking, but no matter the reaction, almost everyone at Lark Tavern that night experienced the first step towards “change” in the United States of America.

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