Color of Happiness » Inauguration

Inauguration!…in which there were many celebrations and events

suslane — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:37:50 +0000

more about “Inauguration!…in which there were m…“, posted with vodpod

Yes, the Inauguration was a month ago. Yes, I missed the boat a little on posting these. BUT, the exciting thing is, I learned how to embed flickr slideshows in my wordpress.com blog. Hurrah for free technology! All thanks must go to Geeky Coder for creating an original post, which I commented on and requested a simplified version for the non-techies among us. AND, he/she obliged! Thanks! Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to make the font in this post un-tiny after my embedding victory. Anyone know why it won’t change??

Anyway, I keep looking back at the Inauguration and thinking: Why didn’t I tweet more? Take more photos? Get my well-thought-through and compelling post up quickly, like Julia? And then I remember everything that was going on (see photos–also there were an additional 8 events I didn’t photograph…). And that it was FREEZING. To give you some background on this, I am from Atlanta, and I hate cold. To be clear, cold to me is 50 degrees or lower. Maybe 55. Believe me, I am moving to a tropical island soon. The point is, when I woke up and it was 12 degrees on the morning of the Inauguration before windchill, and I was excited about going to the mall, it was a big deal.

I am not sure that I can encapsulate all of the amazing things about that day in one post or my thoughts, feelings and analysis of our political future. So, I will give you the highlights of my favorite parts of the day:

1. My brother was there. And he looked Amish. And he put me on his shoulders to take photos. (Note: My brother likely weighs possibly 10-20 pounds more than me and has almost a foot of height on me. So, also a big deal.)

2. We made friends with a guy from the Netherlands and his friend from Italy who were shooting a documentary. It felt incredibly appropriate to have foreigners there and excited for this new era. Certainly this would not have been the case for the last few inaugurations.

3. The crowd was massive and peaceful. This amazed me and I was so impressed with the kindness and excitement that surrounded me in the sea of 2 million.

4. I didn’t know what would happen next, but it felt like progress was being made. Right there on the mall, we were stepping forward. Together. Into some unknown new world. I can’t explain it, but that is how it felt. Some background here. I am currently job searching, laid off in early December with about half my colleagues (and many other Americans). One would think that more change and uncertainty in my life would be worrisome, unwelcome. Instead, it was exciting. It is exciting. Change, in what seems like the right direction (both in our politics and in my career), is exciting, not scary. At least not until we run out of money…but we’re not there yet. And hopefully won’t be!

So, those are my very belated thoughts. What are your thoughts now that we are about a month in?

Posted in DC, Inauguration, Technology Tagged: Flickr, Inauguration, Obama

And then I met Rev. Jesse Jackson (or Inauguration Party 1 of 36)

suslane — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:07:25 +0000

I realize that I have dropped off the face of the earth for the past few days, but when you live less than 3 miles from the White House and history is happening in your city, you just have to go and worry about life later.

To begin our recap of the last week, we start with Saturday night, when I went to a party thrown by a board member of a nonprofit where a friend works. The party was less than a block from the White House and full of many political folks I probably should have recognized. While enjoying my first bite of hummus covered carrot, Rev. Jesse Jackson turned to introduce himself. Then, he gave a speech. Then, he took this picture with us. And that is how my inauguration week began.

Stay tuned for more!

Posted in DC, Inauguration Tagged: Inauguration, Rev. Jesse Jackson

Finding Beauty and Truth in a Chaotic World

suslane — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:30:50 +0000

My apartment is about ten minutes from the National Mall in DC by car, twenty by metro. To say that there has been a flurry of excitement here about the upcoming inauguration and all accompanying events and balls (stop giggling) would be a severe understatement.

However, I will be covering that in a later post. For now, I will speak on how we stay focused amidst the chaos. Here are some thoughts:
1. It’s all about attitude. My most recent fortune via fortune cookie read, “Life to you is a dashing and bold adventure.” I love that. If you are looking for the adventure in life, it isn’t just “fun” or “exciting,” but it is “dashing” and “bold.” Thus, the fact that I will likely be walking the hour to and from the National Mall next week to stand for hours in 20 or 30 degree weather is a dashing and bold adventure. Not because of the crowds or the cold or the distance, but because I get to stand there and witness history and participate in it.
2. You often find what you seek. Seek good things. If you are looking for distraction, a reason the world is sad and lonely and falling apart, or if you fear you will be overwhelmed by chaos, then you likely will be. Because you are looking for that. Why not look for something better? C. S. Lewis said: “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.“

There is a lot to say about the topic of comfort, and why we seek to always hide ourselves in our comfortable worlds instead of seeking out change. We begin this year in a place of uncertainty as a nation, economically, politically, environmentally and so on, but if we seek comfort through it, we will likely continue to find what we as a nation seem to have fallen into: overindulgence in spending, eating, and fighting. Instead, why not seek change? Truth—and all the weight and meaning that comes with that word? And for me, most of all, beauty.

I have been trained to represent beautiful things. Now I hope to continue to focus my thoughts and writing this year on all beauty and truth.

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Beauty, Inauguration, Truth