move over mary sue

there was a time when wendy woods ruled our lives. a sight of that braided, or feathered, mullet woman could send us into a tizzy and leave us to analyze the interaction for days. the glamour of bmw, or fmw, faded as we left the security of couzens and found there was a bigger fish to idolize, mary sue. mary sue earned a place above our fireplace, where we could gaze upon her smiling face as we contemplated the female greatness we ourselves were capable of. we love us some mary sue. i love me some mary sue. however, i feel that her prominence in my life may be over. im sorry mary sue, but you have been replaced by michele bachelet. Chile has a presidenta. I have been caught up in all of the festivities surrounding the changing of the president for the past few days, an exciting event even for someone who is little affected by it. first of all, not only is she a woman, but she is also a single woman (well, separated), and an agnostic. i respect the chilean people for their openmindedness. her position also allows me to forgive all of the relentless cat-calls and whistles i receive. the machismo in this country, it seems, is only on the surface. michele bachelet was inaugrated saturday at the national congress in valpariso, and i went to la moneda in downtown santiago to hear her address her capital city for the first time. it was a political celebration like i have never seen, flags and banners, confetti (challas again), music, chants that everyone seemed to know but illana and i, and an entry parade. interestingly, there was no protesting at all, whatsoever. the people love her. she addressed the people evita style, from a balcony in la moneda. we also returned to that area on sunday for an all day concert in her honor. there was constant music on two stages with artists from chile, bolivia, brazil, peru and argentina. she also spoke at the end of the night. it has been amazingly cool to get to see all of this stuff as it has been happening, first hand. the mood of the city has been jubilant. it was also really interesting to see the votes of confidence in her from leaders of other american nations. im especially impressed by the presidente of peru, alejandro toledo, who was asked about her abilities as the first woman president in south america. he said, its not a question of gender, but ability, and she is more than capable. and, as if there were still any doubts about her ability to stand up to the precedent set by those female marvels bmw or mary sue, ´´vive, b-chet´´ sounds so good rolling off the tounges of a couple hundred thousand chileans.