As we were getting ready to go to the inauguration, some of our friends suggested that we blog from the Capitol. It’s the fashionable thing to do nowadays, especially with Obama’s embrace of Internet communication. We thought it was a great idea, but couldn’t quite deal with the practicalities of real blogging. A blogger carries a computer (or deals with the difficulties of typing on the tiny keyboard of a phone or Blackberry) and is always turning attention to the computer in the midst of events, in order to get the latest thing entered.
We ended up coming home at the end of each day with a lot of memories, which we tried to capture in notes that could jog our memory for writing later. “Later” turned out to start on the flight home. We did a couple of drafts and went through them together, so this is a joint effort. I also took photos erratically – some events were better suited to wielding a camera than others. Lots of them are just interesting people – a habit I started when I got my new camera for our trip to India in November. I’ll put a few of them on the text pages. Click on any picture to get to the full-size version, and you can browse from there. They are all in an album in my Picasa account. The full text (without pictures and all on one page) is also available here.
We were exhausted from the start.... more ...
...The Dean reception was in the National Museum of American History, an impressive building as so many are in Washington. The architecture in that city is indeed monumental (and not just the official monuments). Designed to impress and intimidate the “common man”.... more ...
...Everything over the weekend reinforced that shift. It wasn’t all about Obama’s being African American, but there was a pervasive sense that Black culture was taking its place in the nation’s center... more ...
...The Lincoln Memorial is a tremendously impressive setting, with the giant Abe looming over the proceedings. Over the years it has attracted many events of symbolic value about freedom. ... more .,..
...Lunch, on the other hand, sponsored by the corresponding House committee, was very different. A ‘haimish’ event with good mood, good food, and good music (Sheryl Crow and Bon Jovi). Carol attributes the difference to the influence of Nancy Pelosi, whom she describes as “much more people savvy, charming, and engaging”. ... more ...
.... My recurring strong feeling was one of “can this really be happening?” . ... more...
...The announcer kept saying the kind of things that airlines do when a flight is delayed – “ It should be starting soon.” “It will be a little longer,” “We’ll keep you informed.”… more ...
It’s clear that after the experience it is hard to just move on. We have found ourselves pulled back again and again into talking about it, reading about it, thinking about it. ... more ...
Peace,
Terry and Carol
