I just watched the Presidential Inauguration this morning (Live-streaming on the computer--who'd have thought!) and was so glad I wasn't there in person. I cannot believe that people were taking babies and small children--it's cold, it's crowded, restrooms are few and far between. Yes, it is an historic occasion, but your child's welfare should come first.
But let me step down from that soapbox to step onto another. I loved the relative simplicity of the ceremony. While there were thousands there, and a certain amount of protocol getting everyone up on the platform who needed to be there, the ceremony itself was brief and to the point.
Obama's speech was inspiring and filled with words of conciliation, both for those of us within the country and without. He acknowledged that all is not well with America, but stressed several times the personal responsibility we all share to get it back on track. There were other things, but I thought it was a most impressive speech.
I had some quibbles with 1) Aretha Franklin's version of the song, because if they hadn't told me what she was singing I wouldn't have recognized it from her words (unintelligible) or tune; and 2) the "poem". I know poetry doesn't have to rhyme, I know poetry doesn't have to make linear sense; I know even blank verse should have some kind of meter. The poem today was a garbled collection of words with no cohesion and all the meter of a two-legged horse with a wooden leg and a crutch.
But enough of nitpicking. Let us go on with our historic moment and make life better for everyone.
(Jumping down from all soapboxes now.)