Canton Votes - part III

Well, it's election eve and we can honestly say: Thank God! It's the culmination of pretty much 2 years non-stop campaigning. Do politicians actually do anything else?? I can't help but wonder sometimes. But, the good thing is that the whole world is covering this election and if you take the time and effort to look on some of the international sites you can actually find some refreshing insight into Election '08.

One of those sites is www.cantonvotes.com hosted by the Dutch current affairs program EenVandaag (like 60 Minutes or Dateline NBC). Last week they interviewed me for their web-only series about Dutch people in Canton, this week they interviewed us for the national TV broadcast earlier today. There's a few shots of our car and house at the very beginning, then we're on two features between 16 and 20 minutes in. The first clip has Niels speaking English (with me), but the voiceover and second part is in Dutch.

Link: http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=8211952

We'll see tomorrow if it will be President Obama or President McCain...

Canton Votes - part II

Today we found the link to the first interview they made of me for the Dutch current affairs show 'EenVandaag' who are covering the US general election from Canton, Ohio.

The video is in Dutch, but it talks about that life around here revolves around church and schools and since we don't (yet) have any kids we joined a local church (there are some other reasons too, in case you were wondering... *smile*).

Pastor Greg Nettle was talking about the elections and challenged the congregation to look at the major topics not only from a personal perspective, but also 'through the eye of a Jesus-follower'.

The rest of the video is about our personal struggle with prayerfully selecting the presidential hopeful that fits best from our perspective.

http://usa.eenvandaag.nl/index.php?id=24&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=33194

Canton Votes

If you have a moment you should check out a site called http://www.cantonvotes.com. Sounds like a regular local website on the elections, but it is not. Quite to the contrary... It's a website by the Dutch current affairs program 'EenVandaag' (OneToday) who are covering the US elections from right here in Stark County, Ohio.

They have a Dutch and an English-language website (just click on the US flag next to the top of the page) and are covering a variety of angles; portraits of local Cantonites, an exchange program between Hoover High and a Dutch highschool in Almere (NL) and stories and pieces about the national elections with a local perspective.

One other intersting angle they are covering is Dutch nationals that have made Stark County and Canton their new home. After a tip from my dad I sent the team of EenVandaag an email last week and after a call on Saturday we arranged for them to follow and interview me during the Sunday services at RiverTree Christian Church where I was running lights that weekend. The first (short) coverage is already available - in Dutch - on their website, but a more comprehensive interview is in the works for this coming Saturday.

For those with a more limited understanding of the 'Freaky Deaky' Dutch language, here is the English translation:

Five years ago Niels came to the United States working for a logistics provider in Cleveland. There he met his wife and together with her he moved to Canton. He is a volunteer at RiverTree Christian Church, a large church in Canton. This year he cannot yet vote but the vote of his American wife feels a bit like his. They are still undecided since they feel no candidate is an obvious choice. They are leaning towards Barack Obama. On the moral issues like abortion and gay marriage they differ with Obama's points, but Obama's stance on the war in Iraq and the economy will probably sway them to Barack Obama.

After reading the story we feel the reporter captured our stance very well. We are looking forward to the follow-up story. We'll keep you posted!