When I Followed the Elephant (Paperback)

When I Followed the Elephant offers a glimpse of dodgy American ideals shortly before the rise of Barack Obama and Obama-mania. It's an uncertain time that preludes the explosive growth of the controversial Tea Party Movement. America is entering into yet another grim cycle of extreme religious and political polarization. The year is 2007 and the Presidential Primaries are right around the corner. America is electric with a new sense of political fervor. Our disconnected hero is Desi Marquiso, a hard-line Republican who watches Fox News, listens to dicey conservative talk radio, reads Time Magazine, despises Radical Islam, and mixes his religious faith with his ideological politics. Desi's also a conservative theology teacher at a very liberal Catholic high school. Foolishly convinced the entire faculty and staff is devoutly left-wing, Marquiso finds himself alone throughout his school days. This only helps fuel his anti-Left politics. But that's not all of Desi's troubles: he hasn't had sex in a very long time; he's experiencing major car issues; he's in the process of purchasing his first home; he and his wife are expecting their first child; and he becomes convinced his wife is cheating on him because he stumbled upon a strange nose hair trimmer in the bedroom bathroom. Soon enough, Desi's life alters for the worse. Desi fundamentally becomes an insurgent of his own personal convictions. But there's hope. Unlike many religious and political extremists of today, Desi becomes aware of his misguided convictions and soon realizes that atonement is not too far out of reach.