But for many African-American reporters, the 2008 race brought out some of the most complicated emotions of their lives.

NPR: California Gay Leaders Assess Marriage Defeat

But first, speaking of complicated emotions, in one way, election night was a bitter one for thousands of gay couples in California and across the country.

NPR: California Gay Leaders Assess Marriage Defeat

In the text book Emotional Geographies, geographer Joyce Davidson (Queen's University), sociologist Liz Bondi (Edinburgh University) and environmental ethicist Mick Smith (Queen's University) dedicate an entire chapter to this complicated mix of emotions that Western travellers experience when they encounter fast food abroad.

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"When emotions stay stuck within themselves, that's when grief tends to become more complicated, " he said.

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