jan 20th, Inauguration Day, ubiquitous conscientious mob, pt 1

Inauguration day was an amazing, albeit an amazingly confusing, experience. We watched the inauguration from the National Mall on the same plot as the Washington Monument, via jumbo-tron, 1.4 miles away from history. In fact, this distance remained pretty constant; I never saw the Obamas in the flesh once during my entire trip. But I quickly came to the realization that the distance from the President didn't really matter. People are more likely to trust something they see on tv than with their own eyes anyway. Video can be rewound and revisited. Just like a referee can be overturned by instant replay, the camera shapes people's perception of fact and validates their memories of history. People's lack of proof is what makes them question their lives when told to others. Did I really see Bjork in New York City 4 years ago, or was it just an asian in a gigantic blue bubble jacket wearing a ponytail on the left side of her head?

The point is, the history that was happening on screen, on camera, and perhaps through the eyes of ticket holders in vantage, is fact that cannot be altered. This perspective can be corroborated by many and replayed as proof, but the camera is actually a disconnect from the experience. People at home witnessed an event, while the people on the mall actually experienced it. Even though I was over a mile away from the Inauguration, I never once felt distanced from it.

Jan 19th, MLK day

The Capitol was very blurry, all night.





The filming of an episode of Hardball on the mall. The media was basically a circus all week. People didn't care so much about the news, but they desperately wanted friends and family to see them waving a plastic bag in the background.



Sue lives so close to the National Cathedral that she didn't think she needed fingers on her gloves.

Inauguration week photos, jan 18th

Sunday, the 18th, heading toward the mall and Lincoln Memorial Concert. It felt like a post apocalyptic zombie film...but with street vendors. Favorite sales pitch: "Hand warmers $5. Frostbite is free."



Firemen doing their job (taking pictures for people in the crowd, of people in the crowd, from their exceptional view).

There were so many people trying to see the concert at the Lincoln memorial, that they were backed all the way up to the Washington Monument watching jumbotrons of the event. Some even risked life "on" limb....

Jan 18th, Inaugeration week

At 6am in Boston, it was snowing. My flight had been cancelled the night before and I had made immediate rearrangements to catch another on AirTran. I wheeled new bright red luggage down my lonely snow-dusted street, blemished with the marks of one early-risen driver, and toward the train station. I got to the airport early, and was expecting to camp out for several hours during the morning snow storm, but everything went remarkably according to schedule. My window-seat was waiting for me, next to 2 sweet middle-aged black women with american flag painted fingernails. they asked me what I was doing in Baltimore, as if they didn't already know my answer. "On the way to D.C.," I said, "How 'bout you?" Throughout the 40 minute delay these women told me all about the plans they had not yet made. They, like many Americans, were winging it. The important thing was just to be in D.C. for the moment; everything else would fall into place.

As it snowed, Airport attendants sprayed green and orange Nickelodeon fluids on the airplane, getting ready to de-ice us for takeoff. I looked down at the armrest where the XM radio receiver was. The channel was left on Lithium 54. Somehow they had known I was a closet 90s grunge fanatic. REM was on. I waited a few seconds to see what song would scroll by. "It's the end of the world," it read.

Oh great. I buckled up and went to sleep. In a little over an hour, I'd be in DC.

hiccup

10 pm, just 10 hours before my flight, jet blue calls me and cancels my flight.

I found another with a different airline, even cheaper actually, but there might be a storm brewing in Boston which could potentially delay things again.

We shall see. I'll get some great pics of the airport at least...

Bobby Goes to Washington

My bags are packed. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my first adult visit to our nation's capital. I've been there twice in my life as a child, which means I remember dinosaurs and a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln. This trip will be significantly different. As an adult I've read about Capitol Hill and all of the rotten and sometimes amazing bills that have been turned into law. D.C. is an amazing city to me because it is more of an idea than a place. Living in Boston for a handful of years has given me an interesting perspective of history and location. Every major city in America has a ghetto and a ritzy downtown. Likewise, they have experienced miracle and tragedy. It's easy to live somewhere and forget it's history, and it's even easier to visit some place and forget that people live there.

Through the grace of good friends I have accommodations for this trip to D.C. and thanks to the bad players at Cake Poker, I have the means. I'm excited to feel the emotions of the people who've been charged up by politics and hopefulness, not Britney Spears or the New England Patriots.

Hopefully I will be able to get some great video and pictures for you all who cannot make this trip, though I'm sure CNN will do a more complete job. Stay tuned!