Inauguration, baby
January 27, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Politics | Comments OffHere’s what I did over the most historic weekend of my life:
Here’s me with my friend Pat Reis who hosted me. He’s one of my best friends from high school and one of the funniest people I know. He said all the tourists walking the mall this weekend were really going to ruin his fields for Spring soccer; I thought that was hysterical but he wasn’t joking. We walked the mall for awhile anyway, and we saw THE MOST AMAZING SIGN held by a religious fanatic:
In case you can’t see the words, it says “Beware: Baby Killing Women, Porno Freaks, Sports Nuts, Drunks, Homos, Jesus Mockers, Mormons, Judgment Coming.” Of course, I asked for someone to take our photo with us pretending to hold the sign. We thought it was especially interesting that “Mormons” made it onto the list of sinners, and Pat put it well, “There’s probably about 10 people here in this city right now that agree with them, and three of them are Mormons.” Why would they want to alienate them? We thought team hate would probably want to stick together. But what do we know, we’re just some baby killers and sports nuts. Then, we went to one of Pat’s favorite places, the Botanic Gardens:
We tried to go to a Wisconsin “breakfast” (it was from 2-5, but I’d slept in until noon that day, so I considered it breakfast. Pat had been up since 7:30 for work so he wasn’t amused.) Unfortunately the lines were too long and we’re pretty impatient people, so we just called it a day and went back to his house. We stopped by the African American Civil War Monument on the way:
Then we went out for delicious Ethiopian food on U Street, and later to a party and to some bars in Adam’s Morgan. Not trying to be cliche, but I really did feel such great positive energy and some sort of connection to everyone. One guy I met worked on the campaign in Pennsylvania and lives in New York, and quoted the Onion article about how our country was finally shitty enough to make social progress, and I knew these were my kind of people.
Sunday night after the concert at the mall, I played tourist with Shannon and Jill. We saw the monuments at night, Lincoln, Washington, and especially the new World War Two Memorial which we agreed was a little bit much with all the eagles and “Victory” engravings everywhere. Definitely built during the Bush administration. I’m very glad we won WWII and all, but still, there’s an excessive amount of eagles. Then we headed out to Dupont Circle and had a great dinner at a little French restaurant where five people bought Obama earrings right out of my ears. I always feel a little sleazy about that… “Oh, you like these earrings? Well, I happen to have ten pairs in my bag! And in five different designs! Look at that!” But what can I do? Everyone wants to wear Obama gear.
On our way to Jill’s sister Chrissy’s bar, Red Rocks, we swung by Krispee Kreme and Jill asked me to order a free abortion donut. I didn’t know what that meant, but I like donuts, especially free ones, so I went ahead and asked. Here’s Jill’s transcript:
Kate: Hi. Can I have a free abortion donut please?
Krispy Kreme Dude: Uh… a what?
Kate: A free abortion donut. I heard you were giving them out.
Krispy Kreme Dude: Abortion donuts?
Kate: Yeah. For the inauguration. Free abortion donuts.
Krispy Kreme Dude: Abortion donuts? Did you have an abortion?
Kate: No. But I think if I did, I would probably want a donut.
Then Jill explained to me and the Krispee Kreme dude how Krispee Kreme was offering free donuts on inauguration day and had put out a press release using the word “choice” so The American Life League got all up in arms:
“Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American’s sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies — just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet ‘free’ can be.”
The American Life League got upset about this and asked their supporters to protest Krispee Kreme’s “abortion donuts.” Ridiculous. Read this post up at Feministe to learn more. Needless to say, I went back on inauguration day and got my free abortion donut.
Monday night I didn’t go to any inauguration balls, and honestly balls aren’t really my thing, I’m into dive bars and house parties anyway- not just saying that because I wasn’t invited to any! Though my friend PJ had a “creative black tie” ball at his apartment, and this guy was wearing a tie made out of a plastic Obama banner. If I worked at a shmancy office/firm, or went to private school like Constance Billard, I would copy his idea and wear this every day.
Here’s a Metro ticket with Obama’s face on it. So awesome. Also, why are the DC Metros SO clean? And they tell you when they’re coming, and they run every few minutes! But they stop running at midnight. Even on their busiest night arguably ever in history (Monday evening,) they stopped running at 2. While waiting at the platform, Pat asked me, “So, what’s your plan for tomorrow?” and I said, “I’m going to the inauguration.” He was like, “Oh, right, you think you’re going to the inauguration tomorrow.” What a jerk. He didn’t think I could wake up in time. I sure showed him.
I got up at 10am, left his apartment and walked/ran the 45 minutes there since I’d heard the Metro would take hours. Getting through the thousands people wasn’t easy. I didn’t have any purple or blue or any color tickets (which was fine by me, really,) so I didn’t have to wait to go through security. All I had to do was maneuver my way over to the far end of the mall, but there sure were some crowds in the streets.
I finally made it in the back end of the mall, just in time for the swearing in. I found my new favorite protester of the day holding a sign that told me I wanted change not with Obama but with Jesus. Please note that he’s wearing a “Turn to Jesus or Burn in Hell” sweatshirt . Good thing I got that Christmas tree this year, maybe now JC has my back.
Here was my view of the inaugural address. I was pretttty far back, but all I wanted was a jumbo tron and to be near my 2 million pals. My favorite parts of the speech were when he gave a little shout-out to nonbelievers, when he said our country should be known for what we can build, not what we can deconstruct, and that it’s not about how big or small government is, it’s whether or not it works. So true. And this is what really got me in tears, along with everyone else around me:
“a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”
I just can’t stop crying every time I think about how amazing that is.
Anyway, after the most moving 20-something minutes of my 20-something years, I went to the Brightest Young Things Inauguration Party held at Bohemian Caverns. It was an all day and all night event full of DJs, live bands, burlesque acts, comedians, and sponsored by Colt 45. I was there to party, duh, but also to sell my AuH2O Obama shirts, dresses and earrings. Here’s my little booth:
I was lucky enough to be selling next to the free cupcakes. They were so incredibly delicious and I want her to bake for all my future fashion shows. Here’s Rebekah Calo of Sweet December
Huge thanks to Libby Ellsworth-Kasch. Libby hooked me up with this party so I could sell my Obama stuff. Much appreciated! Do yourself a favor and read Libby’s posts on Brightest Young Things EVERY DAY. They’re hilarious and interesting. I live for her “Rise and Shine” posts where she gives a daily round-up of must-visit links. For example, she turned me on to this gem: Guess what I did last night?
Jeanne Brooks, a customer, wearing her AuH2Obama dress she just bought
Another customer in her AuH2Obama purchase. Photography by Dakota Fine: www.dakotafine.com
One of the bands, photography by Dakota Fine: www.dakotafine.com
Crowd at the show, photography by Dakota Fine: www.dakotafine.com
Finally, the party ended, it was 4am, and I had a 5:15 bus to take back to New York. I tried to go to Ben’s Chili but it was closed, and nowhere else was open for me to eat or hang for an hour. The subways don’t run until 5am, but I figured maybe I could at least go sit there and read (don’t worry, I have mase) to at least stay warm, but they were gated off. Shit. Right outside the subway, there were two guys standing talking, and I complained to them about the subways not running and nothing was open and what am I going to do for an hour and fifteen minutes until I have to catch my bus? They said that I could hang out with them and I did for awhile, learned that one of the guys, Carlos, was born and raised in DC, and Winston was from “all over this beautiful country” but goes to school in Atlanta. He was from Harlem and knew all about “Clinton Hill where they keep it ill” (where I live.) When they offered to walk me to my bus stop, I said “I don’t know… I don’t think that’s a good idea…” and Winston said “Why not? Cause we’re black?” And I said, “No, come on. Because I’m a woman and you’re guys and it’s 4am. It’s just hard to trust anyone.” He said “Alright, well we can’t trust you any more than you can trust us, you know.” He was right. On this night, he was right. They were good guys here to celebrate Obama’s inauguration, just like me. They were stuck outside after the bars closed at 4am, leaving tomorrow to go back home, just like me. Any other time I would have thought to myself, “This isn’t safe, you can’t just walk through the street with two guys you’ve never met,” but not on this night. I was going to trust these guys. And I did, and it felt wonderful. They ended up walking me exactly where I needed to go and I made my 5am bus back to the city. We exchanged information, I googled and facebooked them, and it turns out Winston Shaw is something of a poet. “Almost a Poet” to be exact, which is the title of his book available on amazon. Well done, slim. Keep in touch, okay?
To view all of my photos of the weekend, check my flickr set: “Inauguration, baby”
And Obama’s been in office for what, five days, and he’s already ending torture and shutting down Guantanamo, reversing the Global Gag rule so women overseas can have access to health care and family planning services, regulating emissions standards and proving he’s true to his word on climate change, and keeping things grassroots so the people who got him this far by twittering, blogging, and making clothing with his face on it (okay, that wasn’t mentioned) can still be involved. I could not be happier.
Finally, here’s a video of Obama dancing. I wasn’t at any of the balls, but if I were, I think he and I would make a good team on the dance floor. We both bounce a lot and take big steps. He’s definitely better than me, but I think there’s a resemblance.
