Sarah Brailey- soprano

Wow, what a week. I feel like an 80-pound weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Shortly after the race was called on Saturday, I began to hear cheering and car horns heading toward the Wisconsin State Capitol Building, which is just a few blocks from my apartment. After popping a celebratory bottle of bubbly, I hopped on my bike and headed over to join the throng. Upon arriving, I realized there were two separate groups gathered on opposite sides of the Capitol. I headed toward the one filled with MAGA hats first. Things were mostly peaceful, but I observed some heated conversations and the air was tense. I didn’t stay long before heading over to the other side. I felt more at home there, but I couldn’t shake that feeling of unease when I saw how many Trump flags were flying on the steps of the Capitol. It was a grim portrait of how divided my state is, and this country. We have a lot of work to do.

But let’s put aside the division and acrimony for a moment. This election should give both sides a reason to celebrate: more Americans voted in this election than in any other election in U.S. history. That is a resounding victory in the face of continued efforts to disenfranchise voters. When I moved back to Wisconsin in 2018, there were more barriers to vote—in the form of stricter voter ID laws, purging voter rolls, and limiting access to the polls—than when I had left ten years earlier. My beloved father taught me to be politically engaged so I knew how important it was to overcome those hurdles and cast my vote. Not everyone is lucky enough to have someone like that in their life. And not everyone has always had the same right to make their voices heard. 

American women won the right to vote in 1920 with the passage of the 19th amendment and yet it would be almost five decades until the Voting Rights Act was passed, eliminating racist practices intended to keep people of color from voting. If you are in the mood for a little cry, I highly recommend watching Donna Brazile’s emotional reaction to Joe Biden’s win. Uff da. She talks about how her mother and grandmother didn’t have the right to vote but that now, with this historic election, “We have made this country what it said it would always be, a country for all of us.” It is my sincerest hope that a new era is dawning, one where everyone feels empowered to vote and to engage politically. 

In the face of the pandemic, it has been heartbreaking to see our performances of Julia Wolfe’s “Her Story” be canceled. What a celebration it would have been to perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. But what an explosion of joy and defiance it will be when we are all able to come together and tell this powerful story. I can’t wait.