Minnesotans on the inauguration

Reflections from Minnesotans, far and near.

The Uptake is at the Riverview
Phyllis Stenerson – With audacious faith
Colette Davidson – Watching from France
Dwight Hobbes – Not happy with Obama
Anne Nicolai – Standing room only and tears
Minnesotans in DC
Mary Jane LaVigne – Stand-up, Let-go: Inauguration at the Riverview
Photos from the Riverview by Deb Pleasants. Click here to view slideshow in large format.
Jennifer Godinez – My Day at Obama’s Inauguration

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The Uptake is at the Riverview
By Christian Torkelson –On January 20th 2009 an eager and ecstatic crowd gathered at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis to watch Barack Obama assume the Presidency. Follow along as the crowd reacts to key events during the days ceremonies and Obama’s inaugural address.

Phyllis Stenerson – With audacious faith

“Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again, let us sing a song of cheer again, happy days are here again!”

This song, written in 1929, became the theme for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1932 inauguration and associated with overcoming the pain of the Great Depression. I recall it being linked with Minnesota’s Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, the happy warrior, who practiced the “politics of joy.”

“Happy Days” has not been sung much since 1968 when the music of joyful politics was stifled by tragedy, dissent and disillusionment. My participation in the political process has gone from being fun to my being genuinely frightened that our democracy was slipping away. Involvement during these recent years has been intensely serious as my trust in our national leadership eroded.

The next chapter in America’s history started just a few hours ago when a gifted new president delivered an inspiring inaugural address. We’re being given another chance to get this experiment in democracy right. President Obama (I love saying that) says we have difficult times ahead and it will take time to get where we want to go, but we will get there – if every citizen accepts responsibility.

The very good news is that a record number of citizens, especially young people, are deeply committed to political involvement to bring about deep systemic change. The journey will be energized, and more fun, if we return to the politics of joy, the kind of joy that comes along with inclusion, compassion, trust, generosity and love.

My heart runneth over with gratitude for all those who helped make this transcendent time possible.

With audacious faith, Phyllis Stenerson

Colette Davidson – Watching from France

It’s almost a surreal experience to watch Obama’s inauguration from my apartment in France. Perhaps no more surreal than that guy in row 3,654 in D.C., but surreal nonetheless. With all this fanfare, pomp and circumstance, I am simultaneously filled with emotion that yes, we did, and with a feeling of oh my gawwwwd. Is all this really necessary?

The enormous crowds, the 24-hour coverage, the hand-held flags constantly waving – journalists are calling this “Obama-stock.” Even Dustin Hoffman got a special invite to the event. France is getting in on the fun, with several of the major news channels devoting this entire day to the Obama-love. I don’t remember much about Bush’s inauguration, but I doubt it had a lot in common with this one, besides that little hand-on-the-bible part.

Speaking of which, the religious aspect of the U.S. presidential inaugurations continue to shock me. I thought we had a separation of church and state in America. Why, then, is Pastor Rick Warren leading millions of people in prayer? Even Obama referred to the scripture in his address, signing off with the traditional “God Bless America.” Yes, I know, speaking about God on this day is part and parcel for the event, but I’m just saying – the international press is going to have a field day. Sarkozy would get laughed off the podium for talking about Jesus in front of the French public. …

I think the only person who remembered why we were here today was President Obama. His gleaming white smile came and went briefly but was otherwised replaced by a serious look and tone to show the world that he was ready to get down to business. As he said: “Getting down to the work of re-making America.” He appealed to the international community, the Muslim world and our “friends and foes,” while still putting up a hard fight against terrorism. “We can no longer regard the suffering from outside our borders with indifference,” he stated.

Obama’s greatest appeal was to the American people themselves. He asked us to turn to our neighbors in need to offer help, or to nurture a child, for example. He reiterated that this presidency is not about him, but about us. And if we are going to follow Obama on this promise, then we’ve got to walk with him and do our part. As he said, “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world…”

Dwight Hobbes – Not happy with Obama

The more he cloaks himself in the memory Abe Lincoln the clearer it is that he’s one more politician who happened to be slicker than the competition. Obama counts on knee-jerk, feel-good association with Lincoln’s image for expedience’s sake. And Lincoln has been cited time and time again as saying that if it took freeing the slaves to preserve the Union that’s what he’d do and that if it took keeping them enslaved, that is what he would do. …

Add to this that the inauguration invocation is being given by homophobic preacher Rick Warren (Jeremiah Wright may’ve been fiercely outspoken, but he never advocated denying anyone the civil right to be who they are) and, of course, that Obama is keeping Bush’s Secretary of Defense on board. If there’s any one office that cries out for the sweeping change on which Barak Obama based his platform, it is the military, which sent American soldiers off to war in, among other things, inefficiently armored vehicles. Never mind that we had no business over there in the first place, attacking another country for imaginary weapons of destruction.

His predecessor issued 171 pardons. Does anyone really believe Obama is going to pardon Native American activist Leonard Peltier or African American activist Mumia Abu Jamal, both of whom, it is exhaustively documented were railroaded to jail? Or that he will so much as look into pardoning the vast number of women whom report after report indicates are in federal prisons for defending themselves and/or their children?

It is ridiculous to get head-over-heels excited just because Barak Obama is black. When Martin Luther King urged this nation to judge someone not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character it cut both ways. Just as someone is not to be discriminated against because they are black doesn’t grant them immunity from scrutiny because they are black.

History is not being made. All we’re seeing is a switch in birthday suits.

Anne Nicolai – Standing room only and tears

Here in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, the restaurants and bars with big-screen TVs were filled with standing-room-only crowds for the televised inauguration ceremony. I was at Casa Milagro, standing next to a man who appeared to be in his 80s. Throughout Obama’s speech–in fact from the moment our new president stepped to the podium–this man was in tears. He whispered, over and over, “I never thought I’d see the day.” Toda la gente estába llorando.

Mary Jane LaVigne – Stand-up, Let-go: Inauguration at the Riverview

When I got to the Riverview Theatre at 8:10 a.m, the line was down the block. Teetering along the bunker of snow, I walked down it until I saw a friend. Carl was standing with a life-size cardboard cut-out of Obama. I’d met Carl, back in the spring of 2007, when the Minnesota for Obama campaign was still holding meetings in each other’s living rooms. Carl’s living room was one of them.

Even Obama’s corrugated presence had lots of charisma. People posed with the cut-out, greeted it. Someone said that the President-Elect looked cold, so Carl put his stocking cap on the cardboard head. A little kid said, “Look Mom, O-mama’s waiting in line too.”

Watching the debates at the Riverview was a highlight of the fall campaign. So when I walked through the doors at about 9:30 a.m, I felt a rush of shared experience and of warmth. Inside, it was part solemn, part Rocky Horror Picture Show. Many watched the screen with one eye, while keeping the other peeled for familiar faces. The theatre filled quickly and we settled our focus on the big screen.

As Cheney was shown leaving the White House, people hissed softly. Someone shouted “Dr. Strangelove.” Then boos came too. Someone behind me said, “that only gives energy to what you don’t want.” But, I couldn’t help it. I cupped my hands around my mouth and booed, as hard as I could, my hands vibrating like a conch shell. On my right, my Quaker friend, Mary Ann, raised her eyebrow, tolerantly. I told her, “Sorry, but I feel another one coming-on.” It was sort of like vomiting, and a whole lot like venting. And, just like a good up-chuck, afterward I felt both humiliated and a whole lot better.

The warmest cheers went to Aretha’s hat, Jimmy and Rosalyn, the Obama girls, and Yo-Yo Ma grinning with wind-tousled hair. When George W. Bush was announced, there was silence, more thoughtful than disdainful. Then the elementary school children in the front row clapped politely and I was happy for that.

I liked it best when Biden was sworn in. The Supreme Court Justice said, “Will you all please rise.” There was a pause as we collectively considered whether this also applied to us at the Riverview Theatre in south Minneapolis. Then, we all stood. And, when it was Obama’s turn, we didn’t even have to consider whether we ought to, we knew we had to stand together, wherever we were.

Jennifer Godinez – My Day at Obama’s Inauguration
First I should explain why I invited my mother along for this adventure. First of all, she is truly a mother and a friend. She has encouraged me in everything I have done in my life—from ballet, to dance, to singing, to leadership programs—she has motivated me. We are both sooo inspired by a good speech and a great story of triumph. My mother was a 14-year old immigrant when she entered school in the U.S. She finished high school and with about a year of business classes, she married my Dad and started her family (at 19!). She did everything she could to encourage my siblings and I to be the best—and she shares our success in everything we do. When I am acknowledged in the community for service and leadership, I know it is from her strength and commitment that I stand at any podium!! I love sharing these kind of events with her—she had always dreamt of attending an U.S. Presidential Inauguration!

Fast forward to January 20, 2009—The day started at 4:30 a.m.! My mother and I stayed nearby D.C. at a friend’s place. Well, not a friend I’ve known very long—she was a colleague who I met on my travels to Europe last October. I emailed her two weeks ago and she eagerly awaited my mother and I for a one-night stay the night before the Inauguration! She definitely shared enthusiasm over Obama and joyfully offered her home to me—sent me her key and directions before I even left Minnesota!

My mother and I got on the red line on the metro around 6 a.m. and headed to the capitol. We had to switch to the blue line—and as we neared the exchange metro center, the trains filled up more and more!! By accident, I got off the metro early at the “Federal Center” stop, which should have been the “Federal Triangle” stop on the blue line. It was not even light out when we left the metro stop—that hazy dark blue sky was disappearing as the sun rose up. Just picture the Obama logo—with the sun rising over the blue! It was now about 7 a.m. As we headed from the wrong stop towards the line we needed to get into, we were told a couple of times to enter the “silver ticket section” from 3rd and Constitution. Not knowing D.C., it was pretty much following the crowds at this point. We started to feel the cold, but my Mom and I stayed focus on entering the section by 8 a.m., when we were told they would open the section. We entered and my mother and I waited for the program to start—it is now 9:15 a.m. Tons of text messages come my way w/friends asking, “Are you cold?” “How’s your mom?” or during the ceremony, “yaay’s!” It was all a reflection of how our presence there was not just a representation of our families and friends, but all the other people who were watching around the world! Folks around us started chanting “O-ba-ma”! And every time the “jumbo tron” showed a car that seemed to be Obama’s car, there was silence and then screams of “O-ba-ma”! When the Bush family appeared, tons of boos and polite, “Oh, we feel sorry for them for being hated.” All in all—great entertainment to hear the crowd’s comments on everything that we were witnessing together!

The screen showed all the faves—Clinton, Howard Dean, legislators, movie stars, Jay-Z, Oprah, etc…It was hard to imagine that we were sharing the moment, an event with all these stars and political legends! It made the anticipation that much greater!

Then, the Obamas arrived. First the children and their grandmother—they looked like any family we all know—excited at a family event because it’s a family event and because of the celebration you are about to witness. For regular folks, that could mean a wedding or baptism, but for these girls, it was their dad’s inauguration! Wow.

Then, Michelle Obama. My mother and I were thrilled to see what she wore. Beautiful yellow/greenish dress—and I quickly commented to my mom—it looks very Latin, a delicate crochet look to the top layer!

The, finally, President Barack Obama is announced!! He looked so proud and majestic!! I remembered seeing him at the Target Center in Minneapolis and just thought wow—from the 2004 Convention speech I witnessed in Boston, to his announcement for candidacy, the primary, election night and now his Inauguration!! What a journey—and how fortunate to follow the whole leadership story!

What brought my Mom to tears first was the convocation. The mass crowd did the Lord’s Prayer together, and my mother turned to me and weeped, “I pray that this young family is protected and that he does the best he can for our country.” It’s the same prayer I think she does for any one of our family members—the prayer of safety and strength in whatever we are trying to accomplish in life.

Obama’s speech was amazing!! As everyone has said in the news, it’s like the cold didn’t matter anymore. His words were about a global vision. He talked about how 60 years ago someone like him would not have been served at a D.C. restaurant, and here he was now being inaugurated as the nation’s President! It made me think about all the struggles of the Civil Rights movement. The fights for Brown v. Board of Education, the fights over affirmative action—how talent can be uncovered if only our laws and our policies were shaped the right way.

The cannons shot off—and my mom and I were full of pride and, yes, Hope.

We left the Mall right around 1 p.m., the Bush airplane flying overhead as they returned to Texas. The crowd would look up and cheer. Happy for their departure, and anxious for the first family to lead D.C. and the nation.
We finally got out of the crowd and walked towards a metro stop. The first one was full, we traveled about 10 blocks for a free one and the spirit was calm and still happy. We stopped into a hamburger shop, people still grinning and politely getting out of each other’s way for us to order. A news story in the shop says “Obama claims sacrifices for our country, who will suffer”? A girl turns to me, “That was not Obama’s message—that some would have to “suffer” to make sacrifices, we just heard a collective message of unity, and this news reporter twisted it”.

It’s as if the cynicism of before, the media, or of others would be present, but we all now had the strength to combat it.

We all became more aware that Obama’s vision could be realized—regardless of the cynicism of the past.

My mother and I took a 5:30 a.m. flight from Baltimore to NY, then Chicago on Wednesday morning.

We flew into Chicago and it was fun to see all the travelers returning to Chicago.

A Latino employee from the airport stopped us and asked us how our trip went.

We smiled and told him about our adventure—sharing it with him like we knew we’d do soon with my Dad and other relatives and you all!

Twin Cities Daily Planet - Amplifying and connecting marginalized voices

Twin Cities Daily Planet - Amplifying and connecting marginalized voices

Minnesotans on the inauguration

By staff (TC Daily Planet) | January 22, 2009

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