Time and Place: “I was there”
January 28, 2009 at 5:47 pm by Wendell Hassan Marsh in News, Photography
Jan. 20, 2009, 11:51 a.m., at East Capitol and First Streets N.E., Washington, D.C.
Neither the cold nor the crowds were as bad as people projected. Sure, the lines stretched for city blocks. Yes, the temperature was well below freezing. But, this was history. Frosty fingers and long wait times would not deny me the right to say in my old age “I was there.”
I decided on November 4 that I would be in Washington D.C. on January 20. I didn’t know how I would get there, where I would stay, or if I could get remotely close to the main action. During the months in between, I begged, borrowed, and dealt my way. By a few days before the inauguration I had hopped in a backseat of a car headed to D.C., commandeered a couch in Georgetown, and found a gleaming golden ticket to one of the closest sections to the capitol. I felt like Charlie in the chocolate factory, or rather in the Chocolate City.
Armored with several layers, I went into the cold on the big day. The trains were crowded but not impossible. I waited in line not too far from Chris Tucker and his mother. Throughout the festivities (and I do mean festivities) you could smell alcohol on the breath of some, reaffirming the sense that this was a college homecoming. When Bush came out, the people closest to the Capitol building sang out “na na naa na, hey hey hey, good bye.” Like Obama who would take Bush to task later, we let him know once and for all how we felt, dismissing him to irrelevance.
Looking down the Mall to the Washington Monument, I felt a like a drop in a powerful sea, turning the tide of change and roaring “O-BA-MA!”
(Photo by W. Hassan Marsh)
January 28th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Sweet. Thanks for sharing the moment. Definitely would love to see more photos and writings about your experience.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
So I’m scrolling through my Google Reader and I run across your name. “Huh, Wendell posted to his blog again. FINALLY!” And that’s when I realize that this wasn’t your blog, it was Fresh Loaf.
So they let you in the big time, huh.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Your Mom shared your blog with me this morning and I see why she’s so proud of you. Not only did you have an interest in your world and community but you also had a vision. That vision lead you where you were meant to be, experiencing a part of history. God’s blessings to you in your future endeavors and keep writing (you’re a wonderful writer).