Yes I Did - Purple Ticket Made It!

What an astonishing amazing experience! and what an amazing sequence of events that got me there!

Sunday Jan18th, 5:30PM -- Deirdre gets an email from a student, Jim McGreevy, cc'ed to two other people, A friend has a VIP ticket she can't use, does anyone want it? Well, Deirdre's off to California Tuesday AM, so she says to me, Julian, do you want to go to the inauguration?

I have recently made a vow that I am not going to miss any more once-in-a-lifetime events that I get the opportunity to go to, personal aversion to crowds notwithstanding, so the answer is YES -- how are we going to work this out? YES, says Victoria who has recently offered to take care of Reuben whenever; YES another Victoria who lives in DC NW has an unclaimed room; YES Jonathan can feed the cats; YES Washington Deluxe bus service has space at only $40 round trip; YES Carla still has the ticket and will leave it at the hotel for me to pick up....and YES I'm on my way.

Tori -- the second Victoria -- most kindly picks me up and schlepps me to the hotel where YES the ticket is waiting for me. On the way, and the other wonderful guests, including two starving teenagers, wait until we get back to go for a great Greek dinner. Then careful planning for the morning. Julian the designated alarmer sets the clock for the agreed upon 5:45 AM.

Up and att'em gang -- coffee set by Tori the night before, great breakfast prepared by Tori, long johns on, two pairs of socks, Obama fleece over Lands End jacket, earmuffs, hat, scarf, Maine mittens with fingers, two cameras.... and Julian's off, going "earlier" than the others because they're only going to the Mall..... Easy bus ride full of happy folks, debark at 14th and L, and a brisk 1.5-2 mile walk to First and --oh, wait, great souvenir, there's a mobile post office, I can get the commemorative stuff and mail it back to Dee and there won't be anything to take care of-- that's done, off again, which way, which way. No signs, no one giving directions. Quick reconnoiter and map check with wonderful Black family at First and E, okay straight on till morning, pass the EMT ambulance, arrive at First and D, 8 AM, the gates should be opening about now, here we are where we should be..... And we stop and wait. And wait. And wait.

Glimpses of purple signs to right. Large bus blocking further progress dead ahead. Wall of people in every direction. Bus decides to move. Cheers from crowd. Motion forward several feet. Halt. Wait. Foot stamping. Around me, activation of hand and foot warmers, and bending down to insert in shoes and re-tie. Note there is still room to bend down, to move feet, to keep warm, to joke and tell stories and laugh and be happy. Oops, people going the opposite direction, they had no tickets, yes we really do all have purple tickets.... 8:45 Traffic person on scaffolding at corner points left and suggests we go that way. A few people believe him. Not me. Mistake. They can actually walk easily, and they appear to be leaving the field. 9 AM, shouts of "Medic" to front and right. Pass word back to EMT. Siren wail from behind -- but where to go? Some climb car, we squidge to left, still jovial, let Ambulance through. Watch your toes! But Wait, no no, hoards follow in wake of ambulance, getting tighter now... Rumors: entrance is blocked by non-ticket holders who refuse to leave. 9:30, more emergency vehicles from right, more squishing. 10 rumors purple area is full, they have closed the gate. A handful of people bail. 10:15 a voice goes up "Jesse Jackson! It's Jesse Jackson." Cameras up and waving around "Well if it isn't it's his twin." Did Jesse Jackson pass through our humble crowd? No idea. Me, I'm too short to see. 10:30 maybe, getting almost too tight to reach cell phone and check time. Rumors: Silver tickets rushed the gate, security called off to Silver area, closed Purple to deal with Silver. Still no officials, no bullhorns, no real information. More people bail. 11 AM More emergency vehicles from right on D Street, okay we're not going backwards, push forward.... Everyone breathe in....They pass behind, more people in their wake. Now it's getting too tight, can't actually move very much at all. Feet starting to get really cold, almost impossible to wiggle them. People begin to show signs of panic. More people struggle to get out, go home, leave.

Just ahead of me a wonderful 6'8" Black man says, "I can see people moving up front, we can get to them." I believe him. About eight of us follow as he starts to plow forward, one white-haired woman reaching back to hold onto her husband who is holding onto their teenage granddaughter. We follow in the tall Black guy's wake, blood rushing back into feet, eventually break out into a relatively free area. There does seem to be some kind of line of folks, but we are in a loose crowd of people moving forward, so we don't actually believe them when they yell at us.

We stop at the back of a crowd about 40 people deep from the gate with the big purple sign over it. I can only see a hint of purple -- I'm short, remember? 11:25, perhaps, a fellow with red hair, a little taller than me, comes back through the crowd. "I've been on the front line," he says, "there's no way through, the gates closed. The entrance is over THERE." I believe him. I follow. Maybe twenty feet on the tall person next to me says "I can see the gate, it's about 20 more feet, they're only letting a few people in at a time." Now for the first time we can actually here instructions "Purple tickets only!" We all roar back "Purple Tickets!" and hold them up. Now we move forward steadily. More directions "Move all the way down when you get in!" We crush in, and blessed space, and rush obediently all the way down, only a few people deep at the security gates, they let us through rapidly, open only occasional bags to check. We open jackets, second jackets, and are through, bundling up again.

Rush past the port-o-potties, yes there is an empty one, quick pit stop. Didn't know I needed to go that bad. Onward -- almost there. Yes. 11:50. I hear Dianne Feinstein. Now where is the podium?

Another tall Black guy next to me is pointing a camera, a good one, DSLR -- Which way do I point? "I can't tell," he says, "I'm just shooting until I can figure it out." So up with the cameras, and I start to shoot too.

Rick Warren. Not too much hissing and booing, we are all too happy. A lot of Amen responses, mostly Black women's voices. Well I could have said Amen to some of it too. Only -- way too long. Isolated voices joining the Lord's Prayer.

Joe Biden, oath strong and clear. John Williams' music. Oh so that's why Yo Yo Ma wasn't in the Sunday concert. Then, muffled, garbled a bit? Obama's oath? And the announcement, the 44th President of the United States. WILD CHEERING!!!! We made it! We are all there!!

The rest, as they say, is history. Easy for us ticket holders to get out -- long walk, lunch at a place right near the bus stop, bus ride back to Tori's house. Folks talking about trouble leaving the unticketed area -- one person seen running across the tops of the port-o-potties! Got off too soon but short walk, turning corner to house, loud whistle behind me -- Tori and co! They were on the bus behind me.

What an amazing experience. And what wonderful kindnesses -- thanks to all the friends who made it possible for me to go, and special thanks to
The wonderful Black family
The first tall Black guy who could see where to go
The redhead (Irish?) from the front lines
The second tall Black guy who could see where to point the camera

And thanks to you, Barack Obama, for bringing us all together.

Goodnight sweet princess

Diamond's gone.

The God Strategy

Op-Ed news has an article on the "God strategy" in campaigning today, by the authors of The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America(Oxford), David Domke and Kevin Coe.

It's basically a review of how the religious right is influencing elections, but lacks any real exploration of why this is happening. What's happening to the religious left or the secular center? Here's a hypothesis I'm not sure anybody has explored: what if this is more about doing what you're told to do, adhering to a standard imposed by an authority, or believing that what you do has significance, than about religion? In other words, what if it's about the fact that the religious right simply goes to the polls in greater number and with stronger conviction that their doing so matters? What if it's simply about the habits of showing up in response to the requirements of a respected authority?

On the Lehrer show last night, Michael Gerson ascribed the success of Huckabee's campaign in Iowa to the understanding that winning votes is not about promoting the candidate, but about understanding the voter. Is anyone trying to understand or speak to the non-voter who could be mobilized to vote, but who no longer feels a sense of duty or purpose or point in voting?

Diamond

I love this video, and it breaks my heart. We know she was in pain, this is the last time she played like this with all four legs, and the next couple of days she wasn't nearly so frisky. But she is so game, such a determined spirit. You can see the limp near the end of the video. And the next day she wanted to strike out on a long walk, and we did two miles.

We got the diagnosis today -- it is osteosarcoma after all. Amputation was our only alternative to letting her go, and I think she wouldn't have lasted much beyond now if we hadn't amputated. The question now is, did we get it soon enough, before it metastasized? All we can do is try to live in the moment with her and hope we did.

Here she is a few days ago, hanging out on the mattress in the study, looking way more relaxed and happy than when she still had that leg and it hurt so much. She's not looking back, at least not while she's awake -- and she's still playing and running with all four legs in her dreams.

Snow and Redpolls

Sooner or later, you learn some things do not improve with time. And living just in the moment doesn't always work. Snow is a great instructor in these things.

45 inches of snow in the month of December 2007 has been a really good instructor. Last year, when we had heavy snow in April followed by pouring rain and plunging temperatures within few hours, I learned it's a good idea to shovel the snow while it's still snow. And when we had two major snowstorms in rapid succession, I learned that shovelling snow in Maine isn't about this snowfall, it's about the next one -- as in, where are you going to put it next time? After 8 snowstorms in December, am I ever glad I learned those lessons last year!

I'm sure there's something profound in these lessons for the New Year, but right now I'm just taking away from them that starting to actually keep a blog on New Year's Day isn't going to happen if I don't start it now, and this one doesn't have to be really profound, because keeping a blog, in many ways, is all about the next entry. I have no idea where this is going or what my theme is, but I suspect it will have something to do with learning things, and the other great teacher of the moment is Diamond our dog (hereafter DD, to differentiate from D, the other half of "our"), so she may appear here soon.

Meanwhile it is snowing again, and the snow we have shovelled off the deck is now starting to peep up over the edge of the deck -- and I'm trying to think creatively about where we go with it next. And winter is only 11 days old.

And the common redpolls we saw for the first time yesterday are reinforcing the lesson about not procrastinating.....

Coffee, Jane Goodall, and my hagiology

Earlier this week Maine NPR re-broadcast a Chataqua lecture from this summer by Jane Goodall, and I hung on every word. What an extraordinary, loving human being she is! I think we all create our own calendar of saints, and she is certainly on mine. I went to check on the title of her autobiography, Reason for Hope, today -- I read it several years ago but had forgotten much of it until this lecture -- and discovered:

COFFEE!

Yes we can drink coffee to benefit Jane Goodall's chimpanzees at Gombe -- to keep their habitat safe, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is collaborating with the local coffee growers. Yes it's expensive, but what are the Chimps worth?



Here's the link to the ordering page. Gombe Coffee from Green Mountain Roasters.