Elon students, alumni a presence at inauguration

Olivia Hubert-Allen
Senior Reporter

Washington, D.C. – Given a long weekend, a beige minivan and a free place to stay in Washington, D.C., Marshall Sharpe and Shane Morris knew what they had to do: pack up the van, spend some quality time on Interstate 95 and see America’s 44th President get sworn into office.

It’s not the typical way that Elon students spend Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, but it is one that many say they will fondly remember. Elon made a definite mark at the inauguration this year, as students and alumni made small sacrifices of time, gas money or bedtime comfort to attend the event.

“I think it’s one of those once in a lifetime opportunities,” said Megan Farrell a 2008 graduate. “I live right in the middle of it all.”

Farrell walked from her apartment in nearby L’Enfant Plaza to the national mall at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning to stake out a good spot. Her efforts paid off and she got as close to the stage as a non-ticked spectator was able.

Other students weren’t in such a convenient location, but were glad to attend anyway. Sharpe and Morris drove their van from Elon to Trinidad, a neighborhood in the northeastern part of the city. They stayed with Sharpe’s sister and were able to make a long, 6 a.m. hike to get to the inauguration on time.

“Being young and in college, you have to take an opportunity to be a part of this,” Marshall said.

A few Elon students showed up at Sen. Kay Hagan’s (D-NC) office to try and get one of the leftover inauguration tickets that her staff was handing out. Juniors Brandy Sparks and Iris Versmissen spent several hours in the hallway outside of Hagan’s office on Monday. The two were in D.C. with the teaching fellows program, and have marveled at how the city had transformed during their two weeks there.

“Everyone is so excited here. The energy is just crazy,” Brandy Sparks said. “It’s just exciting to be a part of something so big.”

Brad Hartland, a 2008 graduate also tried to get tickets from Hagan, but gave up quickly after he learned they were no longer accepting names for the waiting list. In the end his roommate pulled through with an extra ticket and he was able to get a close-up view of the inauguration. Hartland says that having recently moved to the area, he has a unique take on the three-day celebration.

“I feel like I’m getting to see it from the perspective of a resident because I live here now, but also as a tourist because it’s my first time being here for an inauguration,” he said.

No matter what Elon students or alumni went through to see the inauguration, they were all pleased to be a part of a moment that will live on in American history.

“For our generation, a lot of things have happened, but very few things have happened that we’ve been able to be a part of, especially politically,” Farrell said. “I feel a responsibility to my children and grandchildren to go.”

Not so much “good night,” but we need the “good luck”

Tonight is the night. It’s probably the night that will never end considering it will run into the morning when we leave the place we’re staying in Arlington for the Metro around 5 a.m. We definitely debated heading out on the first train at 4 a.m., but then reconsidered after realizing how much content we need to finish producing tonight before heading back to Elon tomorrow afternoon.

Today was very productive, once again. Our first interview was around 10 a.m. at the Willard Hotel. It was really interesting to hear about the history behind the hotel, especially when I found out that Martin Luther King Jr. stayed there to finish his “I Have a Dream” speech and that Abraham Lincoln stayed there on occasion.

We then made our trek to the Dirksen Senate Office Building to interview Kay Hagan. When we got into the office at 1 p.m., we were feeling very confident about getting as much in as possible into the 2-minute slot we were alotted with Hagan. She was very busy today! It was a great interview and it seemed like she would have loved to talk more if only she had the time. After that, we headed to Richard Burr’s office with hopes of an interview, but got a photo instead. Later, I conducted a phone interview with Howard Coble. It was a big day for interviews with politicians.

Our day was winding down, but before we headed out of the city, Derek and I were determined to get a story on the street vendors. After interviewing four of them, we had a solid base for our favorite feature story.

And now, I am tackling about four stories at once and uploading hundreds of photos to flickr so that The Pendulum and Burlington Times-News have solid content from us to run in the papers and online! So for now, good night (though it may never end) and good luck!

Inauguration concert sets tone for festivities

By Olivia Hubert-Allen
Posted to elon.edu last night

Bundled head to toe in mittens, long underwear, scarves and hats, thousands swarmed the National Mall on Sunday for an unprecedented inaugural concert that set the tone for the three-day inauguration party in Washington, D.C. Spectators clustered together from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to beyond the Washington Monument to witness a star-studded event that felt part pep rally, part Woodstock with a hint of a history lesson in the mix.

President-elect Barack Obama’s entrance drew cheers, applause and tears from the audience that has come from around the world to see him become America’s first black president.

“Robert Kennedy once said ‘Forty years from now there will be an African American president of these United States … well Barack Obama is the fulfillment of that prophecy and that dream,” said Ruthie Stevenson of Mount Clemens, Mich. who serves as president of the Macomb County Branch of the NAACP. The 62-year-old said she never thought she would see this day.

A host of artists performed songs, beginning with Bruce Springsteen who opened the concert with “The Rising,” which he wrote as a tribute to firefighters following Sept. 11, 2001. Between musical performances politicians, celebrities and everyday people spoke about past presidents, service and unity, serving the concert’s theme, “We Are One.”

Audience members hung from trees, sat on each other’s shoulders and climbed on top of portable toilets to get a better view of flag adorned stage. At the chorus of “Ain’t that America,” by John Mellencamp or “Lean On Me,” by Mary J. Blige viewers sang along, dancing to the familiar tunes. James Taylor joined together with John Legend to perform Taylor’s hit, “Shower the People,” and Sheryl Crow and Will.i.am collaborated to cover Bob Marley’s famous, “One Love.”

Though many came for the music, the highlight of the night for many was Obama’s speech which addressed the hardships that the country faces. Speaking with a sense of purpose and resolve Obama explained his hopes for the future.

“Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead — I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure — that the dream of our founders will live on in our time,” Obama said, noting the things about America that make him hopeful.

Despite the turmoil in the world’s economic markets, the Iraq War or the situation in Gaza, few people spoke about the problems that will certainly plaque the first months and years of the Obama administration. Instead conversations took an optimistic tone as attendees reveled at the historic moment they were witnessing.

About 400,000 spectators looked up at Obama, their cheeks red and chapped from the cold, but their eyes bright and eager. The enthusiasm of the masses made it clear that this party will go on – no matter what.

“I never thought in my lifetime I would ever see a black president in the United States,” said Gregory Floyd of Germantown, Md. “There’s so many people coming out to see this. It’s wonderful, just wonderful.”

For Pepsi, inauguration means $$$

Pepsi is taking over the inauguration.

It may seem unlikely, and it may be hard to believe, but I saw it for myself today on the streets of D.C.

The banners on the right are above the entrance to Union Station.  Do they look familiar?  Do they look like they fit right in here at inauguration?  That’s because they do.  Pepsi’s new advertising campaign is startlingly similar to that of Obama’s, meaning the ads like those at Union Station are practically camoulflaged into the rest of the pro-Obama messages around the city.  It’s only when you look a little harder that you realize the sign is a Pepsi ad.

Take, for instance, the new Pepsi logo.

Remind you of the Obama logo on the right?

Walking on the mall today, a man in Pepsi gear shoved six small buttons into my hand, all with the word “JOY” on them with the Pepsi logo.  Some of my friends got Pepsi hats and stickers with similar messages.

Printing an Obama-like logo alongside Obama-reminiscent words such as “Hope” and “Joy” in a font strikingly similar to that used in old Obama ads?  Sounds like Pepsi has found itself a recipe for big checks…er…success.

-Alyse Knorr

I’ll stick to video

I never thought I would be in D.C. for the inauguration. Since Olivia and Ashley have already told you about our trip up, I will go ahead and talk about our life on the city streets.

Unlike the two print journalists I am working with, I am carrying an aprox. 20-30 pound pack. I guess this is the price you have to pay for refusing to become a writer. I just don’t understand how they can do it, its pretty imressive. They both have written a few articles in the time we have been in D.C. 

I am thoroughly enjoying my time in D.C. The most memorable thing I have done here so far would be climbing on top of a port-o-potty to get a better shot in front of the Lincoln Memorial. When I jumped to the top of this outdoor toilet, the roof started to cave. This might have been because there were two other people already up there; they were not happy to see me.  I am hoping to get to sleep tonight before 2 a.m. tonight I still have one video to edit.

A cure to loss of epicenter

When I woke up this morning, I diagnosed myself with having “lost my epicenter.” I couldn’t quite figure out why my balance was so off and why I couldn’t stop feeling so dizzy, but I was determined to not let it ruin my day and keep me away from the city. So, like every journalist should, I sucked it up. And sure enough, as soon as I hopped out of the car and approached Washington monument, I felt significantly better. The cold air certainly helped, but seeing the hundreds and thousands of people trek toward the Lincoln Memorial for this morning’s concert made the most significant change to my morale.

Derek, Olivia and I made our way through CIA security in about 10 minutes and waited at the end of the reflecting pool near the WWII Memorial. We gathered some man-on-the-street interviews and captured b-roll of the crowds and police officers at work. As it approached 2 p.m. we made our way along the left side of the reflecting pool to get closer to the jumbo screens where we could watch the concert. We could barely see the steps of the Lincoln Memorial but there was such an enthusiasm in the way that Barack and Michelle Obama came down the stairs to greet the crowd.  Approaching the capitol yesterday and the Lincoln Memorial today brought on so many varying degrees of excitement and made me realize how incredible it is to be a part of this. I just wonder what we’ll witness tomorrow.

Tourists vs. Residents

For me, one of the most trying aspects of covering the inauguration this weekend has been answering the question everyone asks everyone else during the long lines, waits and metro rides: “Where are you from?

It’s not that I’m ashamed of my Elon residence, and it’s not that I don’t love my hometown of Atlanta, either. The problem is that hailing from anywhere other than D.C. this weekend makes me, undeniably, that breed of spectator considered by true D.C.-ites to be both cluless and annoying, constantly disoriented and constantly in the way

I am a tourist.

The shame I feel at my non-D.C.-resident status is rooted in the fact that I spent three months living in the city over the summer doing an internship. By the end of my stay, I considered myself a true resident – at least true enough to get as annoyed at confused tourists as the rest of the Washington crowd.

During my weekend in D.C., I’ve been staying with two residents in the Van Ness neighborhood who have already expressed their annoyance at the tourists sweeping in, taking over their city, and leaving immediately after.

“I don’t even like the word ‘tourist,’” said Kale, a neighbor of the friends I’m staying with, last night as we drove to the only spot in Dupont Circle where we thought we could avoid tourists.

So what is it about them? The crowds they create, for one thing – tourists tend to flock to certain areas together, and they can create thick throngs on the regular routes D.C. residents use every day.

Then there’s the metro issue. There is a certain etiquette to the D.C. metro: a set of unspoken rules such as staying to the right when riding the escalator, standing to the side of the doors of an unloading car and keeping quiet and respectful on the trains themselves. Tourists, of course, don’t know these rules. This annoys D.C.-ers to no end.

Julie, one of the friends I’m staying with in D.C., missed a train today because tourists on the escalator wouldn’t move to the right while standing on an escalator.

“I said excuse me and they didn’t move to one side, they just moved to either side and I had to just squeeze through the middle,” Julie said. “It’s not something they would know, but I just got so mad.”

Ultimately, the tourist pest isn’t something that’s disgusting or enraging to D.C. residents – just a mild annoyance they already put up with during summer field trips and Fourth of July festivities.

Being so annoyed at the tourists isn’t a personal thing – honestly. It’s more of a way of life for D.C. residents. It’s a common, uniting that all residents share, and it’s a way of proving one’s true loyalty to the thread city.

In the end, the tourists will all leave and the escalators and metro cars will be free for true-blue D.C.-ites to claim their own again. But until then, they will gripe about them to make themselves feel better – feel more at home in their city, that is.

Catch one metro rider on a crowded train of tourists rolling her eyes at another metro rider and the other smiling back – you’ve just found two D.C. residents showing, in their own protective way, how much they love their city.

-Alyse Knorr

Viewing the capitol with new eyes

Driving up to Washington, D.C., today, I had no idea what to expect.  Derek Noble, Olivia Hubert-Allen and I were the “meat” of a sandwich caravan between the journalists of Phoenix 14 in front, and Colin Donohue, our adviser, and his wife behind us.

 

We drove here with a decent idea of stories that we wanted to seek out and cover, and the various ways in which we would go about writing, photographing and filming them.  But I never could have expected what we faced when we hopped out of the car and approached the capitol this afternoon.  Our first plan was to take photos in front of the capitol before everything gets too busy and crowded to snag those few moments with a clear view of the American flag-bedecked building.  But as we made our first attempt at a headshot, we were approached by a woman from Georgia, who wanted to share her story with us. 

 

Several interviews and meetings later, we had solid material when we did not expect anything more than the comfortable feeling of getting our bearings of the area.  We met an online reporter whose mother just moved to Elon, a man from Durham, someone for works for Voice of America, a retired Marine, a pair of pedicab drivers from Texas, and my favorite, a man from the Comoro Islands, which is between the eastern coast of Africa and Madagascar.  Because of Abou Kaudra’s strong enthusiasm for Obama and the American way of life and politics, he was given a free trip to D.C. by the American ambassador of Madagascar.  Traveling for 16 hours, he is here to take small steps and a giant leap for his country. 

 

Two hours passed by and we hadn’t even realized it until it became dark enough to use a camera light for our final interview with Kaudra.  Exhausted on the ride home, but energized by our productive first day, we got to working as soon as dinner was over.

 

This is going to be one of the best reporting experiences of my college career, and as I mentioned to Olivia and Derek when we were first approaching the capitol, I never imagined that I would attend an inauguration, but covering it is even more incredible.

Hubert-Allen: My first impression, Saturday

It is three days before Barack Obama is scheduled to be sworn in as the 44^th President of the United States, and Washington, D.C. is already abuzz with excitement. Tourists stroll around The Mall with a newfound vigor and purpose as they snap photos of the empty space where millions will soon watch the historic event. Couples stand with cameras and outstretched arms in front of the thousands of chairs set up before the stage. Children run around happily, unaware and unbothered by the significance of their geography. And police officers answer visitor’s questions about Tuesday’s security measures – no bags, no pets.

Perhaps it is the frigid temperatures, or the anticipation of a crowd, but there are not as many people visiting the U.S. Capitol this Saturday as I might have expected. Those who are here just want to get a glimpse of the stage that they know they will be far from when Tuesday rolls around. Authorities are expecting as many as 2 million visitors. Most inaugurations draw about 1 million, with the largest inauguration, Lyndon B. Johnson’s, drawing 1.2 million. But for now, the Mall is mostly empty. Even the bicycle taxi drivers complain about the low numbers.

For those who are surrounding the Capitol, the feeling in the air is one of unity and calmness – like just before the storm. It’s a similar feeling to going to the grocery store just before a hurricane – everybody’s a tad excited, a little anxious and nobody knows what to expect. Electricity fills each empty space.

It’s going to be an interesting weekend.