Coming Home

Hi, I'm Johnny. One of two photographers heading down to D.C. for this melee of tradition. This is going to be an interesting trip for me, mainly because its also a trip home. I've lived (excluding college obviously) in the Washington D.C. area all my life, and I'd thought I'd share some facts about the city, and why this election means so much to the residents.

A quick primer:

Population: Roughly 591,000 residents. That's just a few thousand shy of Boston, but 150,000 less than Columbus. The metro area boasts more than 5 million. D.C. is one of the nation's leaders in traffic congestion as many people who work in the city commute from Maryland or Virginia.

Mayor: Adrian Fenty has been in office for two years, preceded Anthony Williams who in turn was preceded by notorious mayor Marion Barry. Fenty, once in office, hired Michael Rhee to the post of "School Chancellor" to take control of the district's troubled school system.

Demographics: 55.6% Black, 36.3% White. Obama won here with 90% of the vote. Kerry captured 85%. Either way, the end of the Bush Administration and the ushering in of the first black president holds a special place for Washingtonians. On an ethnic level, sure. But on ideology and politics, lets just say that Bush wasn't the most welcome here and it seems Obama has been greeted in open arms.

Representation: None! A common misconception about the district is that it has a voice in Congress. Thats a half truth. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's only voice in Congress, is allowed to vote in commitees but is completely barred from vote on the floor of the House of Represenatives. Which means in turn Washington D.C., a city bigger in population than Wyoming, is put on equal ground legislativly with Puerto Rico, Samoa, and Guam. There have been debates going on for years bringing up the idea of D.C. voting rights or even statehood, but none of them have successfully passed through the legislative branch. It seems that Obama will be supportive of such a measure, but with all the problems on his plate, I doubt we will such much happening with this issue for awhile.

So there are some quick facts. I hope they help put this inauguration in context to what it means locally (they do foot the bill for the Inauguration by the way). I'm leaving town in a few hours, and I can't wait to start sending images from whatever's happening down here.

The build-up

MSNBC was broadcasting from a mobile studio set up in the mall.



Hundreds of people got their pictures taken in front of the Capitol building. You can see the stage, huge flags, and 230,000 chairs in the background.



A flag hangs in a window in the northeast quadrant of D.C.



Here's hoping there are enough porta potties for the crowd.

A Change is Gonna Come

On Tuesday, millions of people will squeeze into a 3.5 square mile space in downtown Washington, D.C. to watch Barack Obama become the new president of the United States at the 56th Presidential Inauguration. Naturally, a group of Ohio University students will join the bunch, including three of us here at the Athens NEWS. We leave on Friday to begin the 355-mile road to the White House, and want our readers to join us.

To keep up with the events, we have created a blog at http://athensinauguration.blogspot.com , which will be updated regularly throughout the weekend. Here we’ll post words and pictures to show what we’re experiencing, so Athens can follow us on our adventures in the capitol.
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The theme of the ceremony this year is “A New Birth of Freedom,” commemorating the 200th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth. In his famous Gettysburg Address, Lincoln used these words to show his hope that the sacrifices made by those who died for the United States would lead to a “new birth of freedom” for the country. And 46 years and one day after Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, our first African-American president will assume presidency in the same place. Some people have been waiting for this event forever, but for young people like us, this is just the beginning.

For most of us college students, this was the first time we had the chance to vote for a presidential candidate. This was the first time that serious issues such as the economy and healthcare became reality for us, as opposed to just topics that show up in the newspaper. This is the first time that politics really has a direct impact on our lives, and although we will go to the polls many more times, we will always remember 2008 as the first time our votes really counted.

And going to a presidential inauguration ceremony will be a first for me. I have never been to an event of this magnitude in my entire life, let alone Washington D.C. itself. This experience is going to be surreal, to say the least.

Besides being crammed into a space with tons of people, I don’t have any idea what to expect this weekend. But I do know that after all those nights of staying home to watch the debates on TV last quarter, being able to see the end of the campaign trail and the beginning of a new presidency in person will be an incredible experience. And by adding the blog to your RSS feed and checking it regularly, you’ll be able to watch the excitement unfold as we do.

--- Kristin Majcher