Thousands flooded the streets and formed a spontaneous parade after Obama’s victory speech last night. I caught some of the jubilance on the corner of 125th and Clayton Powell Boulevard in West Harlem.

Becca is my 31-year old roommate. We walked over to our neighborhood polling place together this morning, around 11:30am, getting in well before the lunch-time crowd and after-work crunch.

I grabbed my camera before we left, not planning on playing journalist today. But I couldn’t resist documenting the experience through this slideshow, just for fun (click below):

We were surrounded by the 30-something self-employed hipsters of our neighborhood, as well as other locals of all ages and ethnicities. Overall, our voting was pleasant and uneventful, not consuming more than an hour of our day. Pulling the lever of the ancient manually-controlled metal box felt like something out of Wizard of Oz.

Friends tell me they’re anxious about the outcome of today’s ballot-casting. To me, the musty air in Manhattan today felt serene. I’m hopeful for change, but only time will tell if it’s the “change we need.”