Annalog

I went home to Washington, D.C. for winter break and got to see first hand as the city made the last few preparations for the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20th. Posters flew up announcing events and the iconic image of Obama by Shepard Fairey. Every magazine had an image of the President-elect on the cover. This was a historic occasion, but in all my years living in D.C. I never saw as much hype and anticipation for the transition of office.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists flocked into the city in the days preceding the inauguration to be part of the occasion and try to catch a glimpse of Obama on the jumbotrons scattered around the Washington Mall.

I attended both the "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial and the inauguration two days later. Everywhere I turned there were tourists. Chaos could very well have broken out during the festivities, but, to the best of my knowledge, nothing like that happened. MPs who blocked off streets during the concert posed for pictures with civilians. Firefighters who stood atop fire trucks took photographs on attendees’ cameras.

As I walked through the crowd toward the Lincoln Memorial on the day of the concert, I saw an MP holding a video camera, and, for a second, it looked as though he were videotaping the crowd for military purposes. To record faces? But, a second later he handed the camera away and picked up another. Filming for people standing on the ground. What a heartwarming moment it was.