Update — I just got our hotel room for Monday night too, so Susan and I are now going to attempt to see the inauguration on Tuesday before going to our ball (we’re mid-atlantic).
I’m hoping to somehow snag tickets to an official inauguration viewing pen, but I doubt that will happen.
Maybe Evvie can post about what he’s going to do.
Susan here are tips for going to the ball.
I finally listened to this clip. I think we probably sound better than we actually did b/c it is pretty heavily edited - for example I remember also saying that I had done a lot of phonebanking and travelled around.
Great responses!
You both sounded great! How did you find this clip?
You sound great! Articulate, clear, and altogether put together!
More commentary on footwear (radio clip) — Susan and I are on less than two minutes into the clip
http://wamu.org/audio/nw/09/01/n4090121-24721.asx
here’s a link to my facebook album– I think anyone can look at it, even if you’re not my friend
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212076&l=328cc&id=519675297
fourth paragraph:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/01/mid-atlantic.html
Here is Reed’s facebook album, I still haven’t posted mine. If he’s not your friend he will be if you ask
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=33132990&op=1&view=all&subj=519675297&id=24805896#/album.php?aid=2090109&id=24805896
first photo: Susan and me getting on elevator at 6:15am:
There is just such an undercurrent of joy in all of this. We are not used to this! Thank you for the first of many narratives on this subject.
The day was joyous, inspiring, moving, exciting, fun and freezing cold. I’ll post pictures this afternoon and more details when I have more time. Quick outline:
I woke up at 5:30am. Evvie was already on the mall camped out with his friends. It was freezing cold.
After a somewhat arduous journey into DC from our hotel in Arlington, Susan,Reed and I made it into our respective pens about a half hour before the ceremony started. It was freezing cold. Everyone was happy, I can’t overstate this– the crowd was a mass of unmitigated joy. Susan was in the section in front of me, close to the dais, I was in the middle and Evvie was in back of me in the non-ticket crowd. I could barely see the jumbotron screen — there was a tree in the way and tall people in front of me blocking it. During Rick Warren’s prayer I said “including gays” whenever he said stuff about all people are equal or justice for all
As soon as Obama’s speech was over people started leaving — we didn’t listen to the poem. The next hour or so was kind of nightmarish as I tried to connect with Susan and Reed and kept walking from one side of the mall to another trying to escape, but they had blocked off many of the streets for the parade. It was freezing cold. But then we finally met up right near the front of the capitol, and walked a few blocks into Chinatown, where we ate one of the most delicious meals of my life.
We then got a taxi to Evvie’s apartment, it was abut 4:40, and changed into our ball clothes, which we had dropped off the day before. Evvie and his friendcus were back from the ceremony and were in bed resting or sleeping– I think there were 6 friends there on the floor so it was pretty croweded. From his placce we went to the GW student center so we could rest before going to the ball -that was a great suggestion by Evvie as there were empty couches and a nice bathroom to put on our makeup.
From there we got a taxi to the ball, where amazingly there was a very short line to get in to the ball. There we met Reed’s friend Eric, who had come up from NJ to join us for the ball. Contrary to the article about how the ball suckes, the ball was great. We talked to Governor Kaine and took our picture with him and hung out wiht our representative Rush Holt, we saw Senator Menendez, our state party chair and people like that. We saw Chuck Schumer, maybe Susan can remember others. Wycleffe Jean sang and I think someone else Susan knew the name of played, and then “The Dead” played, the surving members of the Grateful Dead. One thing I now am realized was nice is that there were no speeches by anybody other than the super short ones by Joe Biden and Obama.
We carried our coats in rather than checking them, and Reed went to the press box where he knew some of the reporters and asked them to watch our coats and bags — this was a coup for us. Reed gave an extensive interview to the Star Ledger wasr reporter, I hope to find it online–and Susan, Eric and I were interviewed by a local DC NPR reporter. Susan and I talked about our shoe strategy and Eric told how he had told his mother he was at the ceremony but really he was in his hotel workout room - she called him while he was on the treadmill and he said things like “it’s really cold– wait, can you see me.” IT was really funny. She was glad because she got her story from us and could leave the ball early. We also then connected with my friend Margaret and her daugher, whom Evvie knows. That was really fun. At one point they decided to sit on the floor since we were so tired of standing, and that started a trend where a bunch of people sat around us on the floor (since there were almost no chairs, just as predicted by the article).
We waited around for what seemed like forever for Obama to get there. At about 11:30 Biden came and gave a short speech and danced with his wife on he stage, and then around midnight Obama and Michelle came. It was amazingly short and a little weird– Obama gave a little speech and then said “and now I’d like to ask my wife to dance” and then they danced for like a minute and a half and then left. It was still really great.
Since we had our coates and stuff we bolted for the door. I had made plans to meet a bunch of New Jersey friends at the Rocket Bar a few blocks away at 9pm, but since it had gotten so late I decided to abandon that plan, and Reed wanted to go to a seedy gay bar right near the convention center. So we went there instead and had a few drinks, it was not crowded and that was pretty fun. The bartender was very nice to Susan and me– when we came in he told us how clean the women’s bathroom is and I think he offered us discount on our drinks, maybe Susan can remember. A guycame in and struck up a conversation with us who Reed quicly realized was a scam artist — he said he was a federal immigration judge and showed us his judge badge — it was pretty interesting because he was pretty good.
We left the bar when it closed at 2pm and went out into the freezing cold. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to get at taxi but we did, and got back to our hotel room at about 3pm. The next morning Reed came to our hotel room and woke us up at 8:15, so we got up and left for home at around 9:30 after packing up and having breakfast at the hotel free breakfast. We stopped at Evvie’s and picked up our clothes from the night before. When we finally got home in the afternoon I was totally exhausted and just took a nap and lazed around in a daze until going to bed at 9. I was too tired to post my photos or anything. Now I have to do a few things around the house and go to the grocery store.
This seems pretty boring, let me know what you want to know about.
We The People want to know what happened at the inauguration and inaugural ball!
This process sounds daunting but you can do it. Does Evvie have to wear a red carnation in his lapel? Good luck!
Boring Logistics
I’m about to leave to pick up Reed and then pick up Susan in Philadelphia and head down to DC. The challenge is go pick up our various tickets.
I just read that 46,000 people are attending the different balls at the convention center. My friend pointed out that we should think of it as attending a huge sporting event, since there are often sporting events of this size. The only difference is we’ll be wearing our ball clothes.
The logistical challenges of Tuesday are even greater of course.
Evvie, your quote sounds like a happy citizen. Thanks for the report–I am hanging on every word. The universal Tedder signal is to smile broadly and wiggle your head a little from side to side because your tail is wagging so hard.
Hmm…my quote is ok. It kind of sounds like a ten year old.
Anyway, the city has been brimming with excitement for the past week and beginning Friday, port-o-potties and cops started to pop up all around my neighborhood. Yesterday, me and my friend Avery decided to start at the Lincoln Memorial and take a walk down the mall to see what was happening.
At the Lincoln Memorial construction crews were preparing for the star-studded concert set to be kicked off by Obama today at 2:30! The concert will feature appearances by such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, and even Tiger Woods! That should be really fun. Anyway, they were setting that up at the Lincoln Memorial.
Walking down the Mall, people were everywhere, including tourists, construction workers setting up jumbotrons and (what seemed like) millions of port-o-potties, as well as hawkers of Obama gear. My favorite Inauguration product being sold was a bootleg CD promising an exclusive Obama desk-top calendar.
After the World War II memorial we stumbled across some sort of makeshift MSNBC broadcast booth. Three of its four walls were see-through plexiglass, and inside was Chris Matthews shooting Hardball! We were really close to him and watched him for a while. He paid a lot of attention to the crowd while the cameras weren’t rolling. During the broadcast they would periodically cut to the people gathered outside (which weren’t many because it was really, really cold) and we would all cheer for the camera. They had a big display so we could see when we were on TV, and that was thrilling and gave us a second wind for the rest of our walk, which we also broke up by making detour stops at the museums of Natural History and American History.
As the sun was setting we finally made it inside the “pen,” which on Tuesday will be open only to exclusive people like Mom and Susan. Obama’s team keeps promising that this inauguration will be the most “open and accessible” in history, and I think we were the beneficiaries of that because they let people walk up really close to the area of the capitol where Obama is going to stand when he takes the oath of office. The place where he will become President was decked out with a couple of huge flags and was nicely lit by special lights and the Capitol dome. I took a picture with my cell-phone which I can send to Dad (who maybe knows how to post it here) but the resolution is not great.
While we were standing there, a man and a woman came up and asked us if we were from New Jersey (my friend was wearing a Giants jacket). When we proudly said yes, they interviewed us and the result is on the third page of the link Mom posted. I personally thought I was much more eloquent than the quote suggests (”great at the job of president?!”) but they had the tape recorder. Also, they didn’t use my favorite quote in which I suggested that Obama combined both “style AND substance.” But now you guys have heard it, at least.
At the same time that Avery and I were walking down the Mall, Obama had been making his own journey on the inaugural “whistle-stop” train tour from Philly to DC’s Union Station. We had been hoping to end our trip with an appearance by the big guy himself, so we headed from the capitol to the train station hoping to get a glimpse. We walked with a couple of excited elderly black ladies who we had lots of fun talking to. Unfortunately, they broke the news that Obama was not scheduled to make a public appearance at Union Station and so we probably wouldn’t see him.
By the time we got to Union Station a large crowd had gathered. Nobody seemed to know if or where Obama was going to show up, but a funny group mentality caused everyone to gather around “Gate G.” There was a lot of excitement in the air and people were cheering and taking part in “Obama” chants. We stayed for a while but, being tired and uncertain as to whether Obama would really appear, decided to take the metro back to Foggy Bottom.
When we got back, we saw Obama arrive on the train. Luckily for us, he didn’t head inside and just hopped in the motorcade directly from the train tracks (after taking pictures with lucky Amtrak employees.)
We relaxed after our many media appearances by going bowling and watching the Tar Heels blow out the University of Miami as Wayne Ellington went 7-for-9 from 3-point range in the second half alone! I eventually fell asleep reflecting on what had been a memorable day.
Jenny and Susan, I would love it if you could call while you’re there, but I’m sure you will be distracted and busy. But if you find you’re bored, call! I am going to be at an inauguration party from 10-ish until sometime in the early afternoon, and it would be neat if you called me while I’m there. Let me know if you need my cell number.
Evvie is quoted in the Star Ledger! His quote is on page three. We’ll go out later and get the real paper version to see if there’s a photo.
In other news Susan and I now most likely have tickets to the official inaugural viewing pen! This means we have to get there by 9:30am and can only take a small purse. We have to stand up the whole time.
I forgot, I will be watching for Evan and his friends also. Evan, I wish I could have seen you on MS NBC tonight.
I will be playing bridge in Pennington or maybe Princeton. If in Princeton they will have a TV we can watch. What is the tedder signal? Is it a lick or a leg lift? I will be watching for Jenny and Susan and a cousin of mine from Oslo.
Exciting things are happening!! I’ll write a longer post later tonight!
On Tuesday, I will be grooming dogs and cleaning up the kennel, which is reminiscent of Obama because he’s a mutt, too. And Hillary Clinton can be a real . . . well it’s a wonderful country. Jenny, Susan and Evvie, you are being suspiciously silent in your pledge to remember the little people.
On Tuesday I will be in Lincoln Nebraska, which is reminiscent of Obama because of Lincoln. If I were able to go then I would be sure to give the universal Tedder signal of licking bystanders’ faces, but the last time I tried that, I was handcuffed and taken away.
Jenny, Susan and Evvie, please remember the little people who can’t go and post many details of this experience. And when the camera is on you, remember to give the universal Tedder signal. It looks like you can wear sweat pants and sneakers, and a glittery top and earrings, and no one will know the difference. (Except Evvie.)
Evvie are you seeing security precautions yet? It looks like you’re almost inside the security perimeter!