Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mythology and Obama's speech.
Obama's speech from his Inauguration presents signs of hope and optimism to his audience and the people of the United States. However, Obama rejects mythmaking by being realistic in regards to the hurdles the country has to overcome. He makes references to the hardship the country faced, when fighting the British during the American Revolutionary War. This reflects the dark side the country is in at the moment and he addresses the problems of the United States, such as the economy, the health coverage crisis and the situation in Iraq. Even though these are major hardships, if the country stands united, then he reassures successes. And gives his audience hope by saying that we "brush the dirt of our shoulders, get up and stand strong."
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
First Observations
I went to the Inauguration this past Tuesday. Firstly, I am not one to wake up early in the morning and when I first woke up, my first thought was to go back to sleep and watch the inauguration in the comfort of my own room. However reason came to my mind and I woke up and was at my friend’s dorm in the next twenty minutes.
Stepping out of my dorm, I had never seen D.C so lively at 6:30 am. Groups of people were up and ready to go the inauguration. I went with a group of about 12 other people. Not only were there students of GWU in our group, but also younger siblings of my friends and although they were not of legal voting age they were still excited and ready to go. No one was tired or at least no one showed how tired they were. Everyone understood the gravity of such a historical event. Even one of my friends, who actually didn’t even care to vote and is also not a morning person crawled out of bed ready to head over to the National Mall. So we all went armed with blankets, hand-warmers and plenty of snacks to keep us going for a couple of hours.
Arriving at the National Mall, it was astounding to see hundreds of thousands of people, which came to be about 1.4 million by the beginning of inauguration. Buses of high school students were everywhere. I assumed that many students were forced to go because they were told how important such an event would be, but I could also tell that was not the case. Everyone wanted to be there and I kept hearing my friends that one of the reasons why they wanted to go because they wanted to say that they were there. There, the day the first African-American president became inaugurated. Our group ended up splitting in half, due to space constraints because of the crowd. As we waited for services to begin, we spoke of the problems in America currently and blamed the Bush administration. All of us were concerned with the current state of the economy, some of us, including me felt the high cost of health and national health coverage was important and some of us spoke of the stupidity of the Iraq War. Not only were there adults in the crowd, but any children, who were just as excited as we were. One thing we all had in common was that we looked up to Obama as almost the one to the save the country. We see him as the light at the end of the tunnel.
Two ladies sat next to our group. They both were graduate students, except one was a Russian student, dragged by her friend, who said at first she wanted to stay home under a blanket and watch the inauguration. But she spoke to her parents, who were all the way from New Jersey and they couldn’t make up and longed to be there. So, she was there for her parents. I remember my father said about the same thing to me as well. He thought it was a shame I did not attend the concert, held on that Sunday.
At about ten, the cold weather was definitely getting to everyone and me around me. But I kept telling myself to stay and then on came the concert of the jumbo screens. Everyone paid attention, so that time would go by faster. The common ground though throughout the crowd was the excitement building up the watch the inauguration and everything prior to the inauguration only pumped up everyone. As we all watched the concert, we cheered for our favorite celebrities and sang all to the patriotic songs. I never felt such a feeling of patriotism in others and myself since the events following 9/11, when everyone came together so that the country could recover from the tragedy.
As the events of the inauguration began, the jumbo screen displayed the arrival of the important guests. People cheered for Oprah, Jay-Z and Diddy, along with roars for our former Democratic President Bill Clinton and Obama’s family. When Obama finally arrived, the cheers were at their loudest and flags were waving in the air. However the arrival of Bush and Cheney lead to boos coming from everywhere. You could feel the anger towards those people because of the atrocities of the past eight years. People say, “Na na na na Hey hey hey good bye” to Bush. Honestly, although I am not a fan of Bush at all, I found it a bit disrespectful.
The moment Biden and Obama became inaugurated a rush of joy filled the crowd and the cheering was at it’s loudest. During Obama’s such everyone listened attentively and at the best lines of his speech, many people in the crowd nodded in agreement. His speech was amazing and to hear it being spoken for the first time was one of the greatest experiences of my life. In his speech, he addressed the problems of America and gave hope that all these problems can be solved. His speech gave a light to the end of a dark tunnel for everyone. When his speech ended, people slowly began piling out. Throughout the events of the inauguration, the themes was most certainly change and hope. Change for good in this country and the hope that it can and will happen. Even a commercial MTV had for the coverage of the inauguration highlighted this theme.
Stepping out of my dorm, I had never seen D.C so lively at 6:30 am. Groups of people were up and ready to go the inauguration. I went with a group of about 12 other people. Not only were there students of GWU in our group, but also younger siblings of my friends and although they were not of legal voting age they were still excited and ready to go. No one was tired or at least no one showed how tired they were. Everyone understood the gravity of such a historical event. Even one of my friends, who actually didn’t even care to vote and is also not a morning person crawled out of bed ready to head over to the National Mall. So we all went armed with blankets, hand-warmers and plenty of snacks to keep us going for a couple of hours.
Arriving at the National Mall, it was astounding to see hundreds of thousands of people, which came to be about 1.4 million by the beginning of inauguration. Buses of high school students were everywhere. I assumed that many students were forced to go because they were told how important such an event would be, but I could also tell that was not the case. Everyone wanted to be there and I kept hearing my friends that one of the reasons why they wanted to go because they wanted to say that they were there. There, the day the first African-American president became inaugurated. Our group ended up splitting in half, due to space constraints because of the crowd. As we waited for services to begin, we spoke of the problems in America currently and blamed the Bush administration. All of us were concerned with the current state of the economy, some of us, including me felt the high cost of health and national health coverage was important and some of us spoke of the stupidity of the Iraq War. Not only were there adults in the crowd, but any children, who were just as excited as we were. One thing we all had in common was that we looked up to Obama as almost the one to the save the country. We see him as the light at the end of the tunnel.
Two ladies sat next to our group. They both were graduate students, except one was a Russian student, dragged by her friend, who said at first she wanted to stay home under a blanket and watch the inauguration. But she spoke to her parents, who were all the way from New Jersey and they couldn’t make up and longed to be there. So, she was there for her parents. I remember my father said about the same thing to me as well. He thought it was a shame I did not attend the concert, held on that Sunday.
At about ten, the cold weather was definitely getting to everyone and me around me. But I kept telling myself to stay and then on came the concert of the jumbo screens. Everyone paid attention, so that time would go by faster. The common ground though throughout the crowd was the excitement building up the watch the inauguration and everything prior to the inauguration only pumped up everyone. As we all watched the concert, we cheered for our favorite celebrities and sang all to the patriotic songs. I never felt such a feeling of patriotism in others and myself since the events following 9/11, when everyone came together so that the country could recover from the tragedy.
As the events of the inauguration began, the jumbo screen displayed the arrival of the important guests. People cheered for Oprah, Jay-Z and Diddy, along with roars for our former Democratic President Bill Clinton and Obama’s family. When Obama finally arrived, the cheers were at their loudest and flags were waving in the air. However the arrival of Bush and Cheney lead to boos coming from everywhere. You could feel the anger towards those people because of the atrocities of the past eight years. People say, “Na na na na Hey hey hey good bye” to Bush. Honestly, although I am not a fan of Bush at all, I found it a bit disrespectful.
The moment Biden and Obama became inaugurated a rush of joy filled the crowd and the cheering was at it’s loudest. During Obama’s such everyone listened attentively and at the best lines of his speech, many people in the crowd nodded in agreement. His speech was amazing and to hear it being spoken for the first time was one of the greatest experiences of my life. In his speech, he addressed the problems of America and gave hope that all these problems can be solved. His speech gave a light to the end of a dark tunnel for everyone. When his speech ended, people slowly began piling out. Throughout the events of the inauguration, the themes was most certainly change and hope. Change for good in this country and the hope that it can and will happen. Even a commercial MTV had for the coverage of the inauguration highlighted this theme.
First Observations
I went to the Inauguration this past Tuesday. Firstly, I am not one to wake up early in the morning and when I first woke up, my first thought was to go back to sleep and watch the inauguration in the comfort of my own room. However reason came to my mind and I woke up and was at my friend’s dorm in the next twenty minutes.
Stepping out of my dorm, I had never seen D.C so lively at 6:30 am. Groups of people were up and ready to go the inauguration. I went with a group of about 12 other people. Not only were there students of GWU in our group, but also younger siblings of my friends and although they were not of legal voting age they were still excited and ready to go. No one was tired or at least no one showed how tired they were. Everyone understood the gravity of such a historical event. Even one of my friends, who actually didn’t even care to vote and is also not a morning person crawled out of bed ready to head over to the National Mall. So we all went armed with blankets, hand-warmers and plenty of snacks to keep us going for a couple of hours.
Arriving at the National Mall, it was astounding to see hundreds of thousands of people, which came to be about 1.4 million by the beginning of inauguration. Buses of high school students were everywhere. I assumed that many students were forced to go because they were told how important such an event would be, but I could also tell that was not the case. Everyone wanted to be there and I kept hearing my friends that one of the reasons why they wanted to go because they wanted to say that they were there. There, the day the first African-American president became inaugurated. Our group ended up splitting in half, due to space constraints because of the crowd. As we waited for services to begin, we spoke of the problems in America currently and blamed the Bush administration. All of us were concerned with the current state of the economy, some of us, including me felt the high cost of health and national health coverage was important and some of us spoke of the stupidity of the Iraq War. Not only were there adults in the crowd, but any children, who were just as excited as we were. One thing we all had in common was that we looked up to Obama as almost the one to the save the country. We see him as the light at the end of the tunnel.
Two ladies sat next to our group. They both were graduate students, except one was a Russian student, dragged by her friend, who said at first she wanted to stay home under a blanket and watch the inauguration. But she spoke to her parents, who were all the way from New Jersey and they couldn’t make up and longed to be there. So, she was there for her parents. I remember my father said about the same thing to me as well. He thought it was a shame I did not attend the concert, held on that Sunday.
At about ten, the cold weather was definitely getting to everyone and me around me. But I kept telling myself to stay and then on came the concert of the jumbo screens. Everyone paid attention, so that time would go by faster. The common ground though throughout the crowd was the excitement building up the watch the inauguration and everything prior to the inauguration only pumped up everyone. As we all watched the concert, we cheered for our favorite celebrities and sang all to the patriotic songs. I never felt such a feeling of patriotism in others and myself since the events following 9/11, when everyone came together so that the country could recover from the tragedy.
As the events of the inauguration began, the jumbo screen displayed the arrival of the important guests. People cheered for Oprah, Jay-Z and Diddy, along with roars for our former Democratic President Bill Clinton and Obama’s family. When Obama finally arrived, the cheers were at their loudest and flags were waving in the air. However the arrival of Bush and Cheney lead to boos coming from everywhere. You could feel the anger towards those people because of the atrocities of the past eight years. People say, “Na na na na Hey hey hey good bye” to Bush. Honestly, although I am not a fan of Bush at all, I found it a bit disrespectful.
The moment Biden and Obama became inaugurated a rush of joy filled the crowd and the cheering was at it’s loudest. During Obama’s such everyone listened attentively and at the best lines of his speech, many people in the crowd nodded in agreement. His speech was amazing and to hear it being spoken for the first time was one of the greatest experiences of my life. In his speech, he addressed the problems of America and gave hope that all these problems can be solved. His speech gave a light to the end of a dark tunnel for everyone. When his speech ended, people slowly began piling out. Throughout the events of the inauguration, the themes was most certainly change and hope. Change for good in this country and the hope that it can and will happen. Even a commercial MTV had for the coverage of the inauguration highlighted this theme.
Stepping out of my dorm, I had never seen D.C so lively at 6:30 am. Groups of people were up and ready to go the inauguration. I went with a group of about 12 other people. Not only were there students of GWU in our group, but also younger siblings of my friends and although they were not of legal voting age they were still excited and ready to go. No one was tired or at least no one showed how tired they were. Everyone understood the gravity of such a historical event. Even one of my friends, who actually didn’t even care to vote and is also not a morning person crawled out of bed ready to head over to the National Mall. So we all went armed with blankets, hand-warmers and plenty of snacks to keep us going for a couple of hours.
Arriving at the National Mall, it was astounding to see hundreds of thousands of people, which came to be about 1.4 million by the beginning of inauguration. Buses of high school students were everywhere. I assumed that many students were forced to go because they were told how important such an event would be, but I could also tell that was not the case. Everyone wanted to be there and I kept hearing my friends that one of the reasons why they wanted to go because they wanted to say that they were there. There, the day the first African-American president became inaugurated. Our group ended up splitting in half, due to space constraints because of the crowd. As we waited for services to begin, we spoke of the problems in America currently and blamed the Bush administration. All of us were concerned with the current state of the economy, some of us, including me felt the high cost of health and national health coverage was important and some of us spoke of the stupidity of the Iraq War. Not only were there adults in the crowd, but any children, who were just as excited as we were. One thing we all had in common was that we looked up to Obama as almost the one to the save the country. We see him as the light at the end of the tunnel.
Two ladies sat next to our group. They both were graduate students, except one was a Russian student, dragged by her friend, who said at first she wanted to stay home under a blanket and watch the inauguration. But she spoke to her parents, who were all the way from New Jersey and they couldn’t make up and longed to be there. So, she was there for her parents. I remember my father said about the same thing to me as well. He thought it was a shame I did not attend the concert, held on that Sunday.
At about ten, the cold weather was definitely getting to everyone and me around me. But I kept telling myself to stay and then on came the concert of the jumbo screens. Everyone paid attention, so that time would go by faster. The common ground though throughout the crowd was the excitement building up the watch the inauguration and everything prior to the inauguration only pumped up everyone. As we all watched the concert, we cheered for our favorite celebrities and sang all to the patriotic songs. I never felt such a feeling of patriotism in others and myself since the events following 9/11, when everyone came together so that the country could recover from the tragedy.
As the events of the inauguration began, the jumbo screen displayed the arrival of the important guests. People cheered for Oprah, Jay-Z and Diddy, along with roars for our former Democratic President Bill Clinton and Obama’s family. When Obama finally arrived, the cheers were at their loudest and flags were waving in the air. However the arrival of Bush and Cheney lead to boos coming from everywhere. You could feel the anger towards those people because of the atrocities of the past eight years. People say, “Na na na na Hey hey hey good bye” to Bush. Honestly, although I am not a fan of Bush at all, I found it a bit disrespectful.
The moment Biden and Obama became inaugurated a rush of joy filled the crowd and the cheering was at it’s loudest. During Obama’s such everyone listened attentively and at the best lines of his speech, many people in the crowd nodded in agreement. His speech was amazing and to hear it being spoken for the first time was one of the greatest experiences of my life. In his speech, he addressed the problems of America and gave hope that all these problems can be solved. His speech gave a light to the end of a dark tunnel for everyone. When his speech ended, people slowly began piling out. Throughout the events of the inauguration, the themes was most certainly change and hope. Change for good in this country and the hope that it can and will happen. Even a commercial MTV had for the coverage of the inauguration highlighted this theme.
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