drove thirteen hours or so to Alexandria, and slept at my friend's house. Her parents are very nice and funny. The next day we went into DC for the huge free concert on the National Mall. A lot of artists I don't particularly like doing their popular songs, the crowd didn't have that much energy for some reason. I really liked U2's performance, even though I do not really like U2. That could have been really moving. President Obama gave a pretty mediocre speech. Then Beyonce sang, and I love her. Pete Seeger was sweet, but I wished they would have shown the verses to "This Land is Your Land" on the big screens so that more people would sing along.
That night we went to a really strange party, I did not like it at all and we ran into some other friends from school... so my roommate and I left, while the girl whose house we were staying at remained at the party. We ended up sleeping at this new friend's house, because my roommate has an on-again-off-again type sex thing with her. She is pretty great, which is nice because usually he dates girls I don't like.
The next day we just hung out at her house, helped her set up for her party which was pretty tame. At the end her boss came with her husband. They have kids our age and were fun and smoking pot and drinking. Which was funny.
The next day was the inauguration. I woke up feeling really horrible, I think I was getting a cold compounded by being in the cold all day and not sleeping enough. We got off the metro in Adams Morgan to get tea and bagels. Mid-bagel I looked up when the ceremony started, and realized that we were going to miss it. We rode the metro downtown and got off and wandered the streets... it was really creepy, because at that point no one could get into the parade route/national mall/anything, so it basically looked like a zombie movie. people aimlessly wandering abandoned streets. I was on the verge of crying (I am not sure why.... a combination of happiness about the day and frustration) when we found a camera store that had a little TV. We watched the inauguration and speech on this tiny, staticy TV with a ton of other people packed into the store... everyone was crying and hugging each other and cheering. It was beautiful.
Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around trying to find a metro stop that wasn't overwhelmed with people. Eventually we ended up way down in southeastern DC, right by the Anacostia Bridge. We got on the metro and left.
The whole experience was really emotional and just... incredible. The first president I've voted for, and I have so much faith in him. What I find really moving is that I think that President Obama really believes in us. In a way that is more reasoned and mature than the way President Bush does.
I just kept saying to people, "He Believes in Us."
During the speech I kept thinking about this story my mom told me once about how when she was in High School, kids wouldn't stand up and say the pledge of allegiance (due to Vietnam War stuff). And every day, she would stand up and say it. Lids would make fun of her, and she wouldn't say anything. But she thought it was really important to say the pledge, because unlike those kids, she was not a citizen. She knew it was a privilege for her to be in this country.
I worry sometimes that that story isn't really what happened, that maybe I'm remembering it wrong... but I don't care. I think about this story a lot.
This is what I feel like President Obama has, beyond his intelligence and leadership skills and whatever, that really gets me.
I feel like he has a love for America that is unconditional, but at the same time he understands that America is not always perfect. He has a belief in the Idea of America, and he knows that Americans can do incredible things when they are motivated by this ideal.
I also think similar things about humanity in general. But I think there is something particular about America where we, as a whole, can take a crazy idea and actually make it happen. Or, if it is impossible, work towards it every day.
Head of State: My friend's ex boyfriend, in his creepiest moment, asked her if she would call him "Mr. President" or "Barack" during sex.
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Topic: Inauguration is Historic (Read 14707 times)