Susan's View of Inauguration
Posted, by permission, is Susan's minimally-edited view of Inauguration Day 2009.
Howdy.
Having shared pre-Inaugural hopes/plans w/ you all, I'm thrilled to share the product of the excursion and a taste of the experience.
I went with 2 friends, one a radio journalist and the other a photographer for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Their assignment was collecting audio and images for an on-line slideshow documenting events mostly on the "fringe" of the main show on Tuesday.
I tagged along, held stuff, chatted w/ folks, wept...
Here's the assembled piece:
http://www.post-gazette.com/multimedia/?videoid=101432
A few observations to add:
After scrambling a couple of miles from Union Station, around to the far far far edge of the Mall, we were able to see...nothing firsthand. Couldn't bust through the throng to even see the JumboTrons.
We did see lines of people. Smiling, beaming, calm.
Regal women in fur, high heels, and diva hats marching w/ gusto in the cold.
People swaddled in "Obama!" blankets on benches.
Kids scrambling along. Kids wrapped in blankets being carried by parents (for miles!?).
Kids in backpacks bundled against the cold.
It was butt cold.
But, no kidding, I didn't hear folks whining.
Shivering, not whining.
Lots of those packaged hand-warmers being passed around.
We finally parked ourselves in front of the Smithsonian and tried to tune into the muffled Inaugural speech
which was really too garbled to discern.
A guy riding by slowly on a bicycle had a little transistor radio. Someone yelled out
"Please share!" He stopped, set up nearby and cranked up the volume as loud as it goes.
A crowd of 8 or 10 gathered around craning to hear, people started weeping, someone passed out
napkins from Wendy's...it's an FDR wartime flashback!
I wouldn't trade that for all the Purple, Yellow or Silver tickets they had to give.
Ann Murray (collecting sound) had some wonderful conversations w/ people in our little
group. They're part of the slide show.
More priceless vignettes on the walk back to the station, during the wait for the train, on the ride back to W. Va where we were staying. Lots of folks in our car from Alabama.
So...
Now that my skin is tingling, it seems time to DO SOMETHING, doesn't it?
Else all the talk and momentum are just pretty party chatter.
Excerpt from Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugural Poem:
________________________________________________________________________
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons
on an oil drum, with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky;
A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."
_________________________________________________________________________
I'm so in love /w the highlighted line.
It could blow you away.
Get started. Keep moving. Keep trying.
Even (or especially) the solitary efforts are important.
xo
Susan
Labels: American history, celebration, friends, writing
posted by Grace @ 1/26/2009 11:06:00 AM
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