Party like a...

Last Thursday I saw Barack Stars, a show currently playing in DC and performed by Chicago's Second City comedy troupe. The show satirizes the current administration and other hot political topics. I was holding out since I've seen so many shows lately but I broke down, as I knew I would. (And a segment done by BBC America news last week really cemented me shelling out for the ticket before I got paid. I knew I'd done the right thing when a line from the show referred to the "BBC as the best news in the USA." It was a sign!)

I love smart political satire and you can't go wrong with features such as a:

• Duet between Ann Coulter and a Rush Limbaugh
• Dirty Dancing re-enactment
• "Teeny, tiny, terrifying" chief of staff threatening to eat Sarah Palin's glasses
• Song with the refrain of "Glenn Beck is fucking insane"
  
• Skit featuring a change in military policy from "don't ask, don't tell" to "don't leave!" as a result of a desperate need for troops

And many, many more topical skits and jokes that will all (maybe) have changed by the time they come back to perform again next summer, when I am sure I will see it again.

(Note: The graphic isn't from the show, just what came up when I googled trying to find the BBC link. It made me laugh.)

Saturday in DC

I had a good day last Saturday...

I started at the Archives, but the line was too long and too full of children, so I went to sit by the skating rink at the sculpture garden.

But I realized I was only accelerating my trip to Hell by laughing at people falling, and made myself leave. Pit stop at bookstore, then walked to the Renwick Galley, passing by the White House:

I had never been to this gallery and really like it. It’s quite small, but nice so as to not be overwhelmed by so many pieces. They have “American crafts,” so there were highly skilled quilts or woodwork, really my type of gallery.

I then walked to the Portrait Gallery/Art Museum. The American Art Museum, in conjunction with the Renwick, made a mural of Presidents Obama and Lincoln in honor of Presidents’ day. However, it wasn’t just any mural, it was made out of 5,000 cupcakes.

They were giving them away when they were done, which is how I came to have a volunteer ask, “Obama nose?,” and then hand over two exceptionally delicious cupcakes. The little girl beside me got "the twinkle in his eye." I contemplated knocking her down for them but again, no need to accelerate the express train to hell.
And just to make it clear, and to be perfectly honest, if someone said they were making a mural out of Stalin and Lenin with 5,000 cupcakes, and you could get some free after 5 p.m., I'd be there too. But unlike the Obama and Lincoln cupcakes, which tasted like freedom, I assume Stalin and Lenin ones would taste a bit more tyrannical, with maybe some of the blood of the workers thrown in for good measure.

(I was pointing this out to try and make me sound less like a raging liberal for eating Obama cupcakes, but I don’t think it worked. Besides, he's president now, so it's just being a good patriot.)

Inauguration Pictures

Finally, what you probably care about most, the pictures. Select to make them bigger.

The walk begins.

After hanging around the Capitol for about an hour, trying to get around, we decide to try a different route. Not by tunnel, however, like these poor people.

But through an empty field somewhere in Southeast/Southewestish DC. To bad there's no jumbotron here, it would have been perfect.

Abandoned building we later would realize is for sale. Score!

More people, left of the retaining wall.

The fire truck we ran in front of, oops.

The man selling pretzels. I didn't stop, a choice I would regret an hour later.

At least we know we're going the right way.

Hello Mr. Jefferson! A good sign, indeed.

The Monument, we're almost there!

Until we get stopped for a caravan of tour buses, the most tour buses I've ever seen.

We made it! Our spot beside the Monument.

Brave/stupid people on the porta-potties.

And in the trees.

And everywhere.

Finally, it's time!

Vice President Biden.

President Obama.

Speech time.

Crowd shot.

Done, walking back, through a tunnel, not scary at all today!

Random hill near L'enfant, we think.

It's been a long day.

And the picture journey ended. No shots of me walking half-hunched over on tip-toes because of my 80-year-old back and hips. No picture of us trying every restaurant on 8th street before ending up at Harris Teeter because they were all too full. No picture of me collapsing on my bed and sleeping like a baby for the next several hours. But still, a happy, happy day.

The Moment

*Note: I have taken great lengths in the past few months to mostly be neutral regarding politics. But this is my blog, my outlet. I am a writer and find great peace in words. Read it, skip it, your choice, I don't care.*


This is a picture of Barack Obama a second before he lifted his hand to take the oath. It's the last second of the Bush presidency.

CNN conducted a mass campaign to have those at the inauguration send in a picture of Obama as he took the oath. They called it "The Moment." The moment history was made. The moment the old guard passed to the new. The moment where you either soared with exultation, crumpled in desperation, or somewhere in between. Either way, the moment where something - inside you, outside you, all around you - shifted.

This is about the moment in between this picture, and the one at the end of this post.

The word "hope" has been bandied about a lot in this election, and for good reason. It's not trite or contrived, it's real. For the first time in a long time, there is something real. I witnessed the inauguration from a spot nearly in the bushes beside the Washington Monument. All around me, beyond what I could see, huddled an estimated 1.8 million people. Every gender, every race, every age, every religion, every class. How often does that happen?

I don't know how you begin to capture the joy and expectancy of those on the Mall. Of those in their living rooms and workplaces across the country and around the world. Those who finally feel that their voices are being heard. Those who know that it's not supposed to be about entitlement and secrecy and might. It's about this. The feeling that we are on the cusp of something big. The great hope of something new. The history of the day.

And this unity, this gathering, is history. And beyond that, as much as we may want to think otherwise, race still matters. It unites and divides and it matters. To quote UNC professor-emeritus Chuck Stone, "recognize the differences, but don't let them make a difference." Recognize that after more than 200 years of rule by the same class, gender, and race, it's time to acknowledge what this means. That no one, including Obama, can possibly speak for every one, but we are too big of a country to let the same people do so over and over again. That race influences who you become just as gender, class, and geography. But it's the voice, opinions, actions, and passion that you draw from all of those factors, that make people take notice. All of that is what made me take notice. All of that is what made people listen.

And I am so proud of my generation for listening, for finally waking up. (Though obviously we were just a tiny part in this outcome.) This is the same generation that brought school shootings, childhood obesity, and atrociously violent video games to the forefront of our national consciousness. And now we are also the generation that finally put our vote behind our over-active mouths. From the college students that waited in line to vote for six hours in Pennsylvania, to every person standing on a corner with a candidate's sign in hand begging you to listen. And I'm not referring just to Democrats, but to everyone who recognized this election was a crucible in the future of our country, even if the outcome isn't what they wanted.

And I hate that as I celebrate the day, there are many who see it as the dawning of a terrifying era. But that gives me patriotism more than anything else. We are free to disagree, and the balance of power can shift in a moment.

So I will remember the crowds and the cold and the sore back. I'll remember the 2 hours it took to get from my apartment to the Mall, instead of the usual 25. I'll remember daringly dodging fire trucks and men holding machine guns with a good friend

But I'll tell my kids about how I took a picture of the last second of the Bush presidency, when I felt the shift occur that changed things. And how a second later I took a picture of the beginning of President Obama, because it happens that fast. And suddenly it's the moment when you know it won't be easy, it won't be perfect, and that day by day that hope might fade away. But not yet. And hopefully not for a long time. It's the moment in between the two, where anything can still happen, I'll try to remember the most.

Oh, U2

U2 Confirms Appearance at Inaugural Concert

This is going to make it really, really hard to maintain my plan of avoiding Tourists by not leaving my apartment this weekend. How do I balance my supreme love and utter devotion for all things U2, with my intense hatred of people? Which is of course amplified times ten when they are en masse. Yet another prime example of why I need to get my hands on a giant hamster ball.

Day 311: CNN: The most trusted name in news...and t-shirts

I first noticed the initially absurd CNN headline shirts when Anderson Cooper asked Donna Brazile to be his boo. (AKA, one of the best moments in news, ever.) And though I really wanted a shirt that had a white boy using hip-hip slang on a prominent Democratic stategist, I resisted. Because despite my unabashed love for CNN, I thought I may be crossing some invisible nerd line by getting one.

But let's face it. First, lines are meant to be crossed. Second, I am a nerd. And third, there's nothing nerdy about a shirt proclaiming topical issues and stories! So on those notes, I bought a shirt to mark the historic week we just had, from CNN.

I think it will go lovely with my CNN hat and bumper sticker.

Day 310: Just for today, be happy

The order of the day was to smile and be happy. And that I did. And what's happier than maybe another Obama Poma, and hopscotch in your living room? I made a mini-hopscotch grid with duct tape and did a few hops in my living room.
Unfortunately, I made them a bit too close, even for my freakishly small feet, and it was a bit tough. And in lieu of a rock, I had to use my gnome, Pedwick. Yeah, I just realized exactly how sad this post is, in the pathetic sense, so I'll just end it now.

Day 309: It's here, it's here!

One day every four years you are not allowed to complain about getting up early, waiting in line for hours, and pricking your finger on a #2 pencil. Today was that day and I did all of these things as I voted in person, at a real voting booth, for the first time. I also voted outside of my beloved blue NC for the first time, too.

Waiting in line, three blocks from the entrance. There was a playground to the left. Brandie refused to hold my place so I could take a turn on the slide.


Getting closer...

Waiting in line, smiling at the kids selling the baked goods, and coffe, for the third grad. (They can't afford an "e.")
Brandie, debating who to vote for in our "shadow government" and being proud of our three electoral votes.
Almost there!

So I went, I froze, I voted. All was well. And then I worked and later went home and spent several hours shaking and stressing in front of my television, until I had a few Obama Pomas and calmed down a bit. (My choice of drink is not an endorsement of either candidate. But I do wholeheartedly endorse the pomegranate juice.)
And now I am happy, proud, excited, and hopeful, none of which has anything to do with my drink. Yes we did.

Day 307: I think something important happens this week...

This already interminable election era, I mean season, may have been slightly more bearable were it not for Facebook status messages. This nauseating little doohickey lets me know what my friends are doing, eating, reading, or thinking at any point in the day. Score! Which means I am also privy to their innermost musings on this election, none of which I need to know, even when I agree with them.

To be fair, I do use the status feature for some unknown reason, to update on the most mundane facts of my life that I am sure no one gives a damn about. I have, however, been especially carefully this year to not put my political beliefs out there for general consumption. Or at least, I’m really really trying. But I needed a new thing, and no matter what, I think it is important for people to vote, so I donated my Facebook status message to remind people to vote. Because, you know, I’m sure with all the TV ads, campaign signs, and never-ending coverage, they are likely to forget.

Day 212: Change, change, change

Maybe he saw me gawking at his plane from the metro. Maybe he reads the blog, thinks I may be a fan. (Though if he did read it he'd know I have no money.) Either way, today I got hit up for support/vote/money from Mr. Barack Obama. Because of my zeal for political and social issues and groups, I sign up for a lot of email listervs and mailing lists, and am hit up quite often. But this is the first letter received from Mr. Obama.

Day 210: Change you can believe in!

My commute takes me by Reagan National Airport every day. I like it, as just past the train tracks is the airport, just past that are the runways, and just past them are the Potomac. It's not an extraordinary building or anything, but there is something peaceful about my metro train moving along as a plane takes off at the same time. Same forward motion, same goal, same human ingenuity that created both. But different enough to be unique and to make me take notice as one pulls away as the other one glides up.

Today, fighting exhaustion, I glimpsed the tail of a plane with a very distinctive "O." Knowing full well that I don't have good luck and never see anyone, I grinned, and as a gap in the buildings appeared I saw the rest of the white plane, just like on the news, and "CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN" stenciled on the sides. I saw Barack Obama's plane! And the door was open, too! But, no, I didn't see him. But I saw his plane! And I think it's kind of cool.