The Inauguration (Creative Non-Fiction Writing Assignment #1)

It was an historic day. Barack Obama was to be sworn in as the first African American president of the United States. People from around the country were making their way to Washington D.C. with a fervor that resembled a religious pilgrimage. They were traveling by plane, bus, car, and train; any way they could just to bear witness to history in the making. Obama Fever had reached its zenith and it was taking our nation’s capitol by storm. As for me, I can’t think of somewhere I wanted to be less than the national mall outside the US capitol building. 

Don’t get me wrong. I voted for Obama. I’m hopeful about change in Washington, “Yes We Can”, yadda yadda yadda.  My wife made fun of me because I cried more at Obama’s DNC victory speech than I did at our wedding. I’m a big fan of our new president, but there was no way in hell I was going to Washington D.C. for the inauguration. 

There are several reasons I’m glad I wasn’t in Washington on that historic Tuesday in January. First of all, it would have been expensive. A round trip flight between L.A. and D.C runs about $250 on a good day, and there’s no way my wife would let me make that trip alone so we’re looking at $500 at least for flights. Secondly, there’s the problem of where we would have stayed. Hotels were sold out for weeks if not months in advance. There was a story on NPR about a large family from Louisville that couldn’t even get a hotel in Baltimore, 35 miles outside of D.C. Let’s suppose the gods look favorably upon me and I find a motel somewhere in rural Virginia. The prices are sure to be triple the normal rate so I’m guessing I’d pay $250 a night and even then I’m lucky if there aren’t any fleas. Throw in a rental car, food, gas, and the cost of this trip quickly adds up to at least $1500. 

$1500 is a lot of money for someone of my economic stature. Maybe it would be worth it if I were going to play a little one-on-one b-ball with Prez Obama after the inauguration ceremony, but all that money just to catch a glimpse from 1.5 miles away? I don’t think so. 

Another thing is that I tend to be discouraged by the combination of large crowds and extreme weather. This is why I’ve never gone to the Coachella Music Festival. I can’t imagine braving the hippies, the drunks, and the desert heat just to hear some music I can download on Itunes for 99 cents a song. So even if I would have made it to Washington I would have heard about the lines at the metro stations, the gridlocked traffic, and the sub-freezing temperatures and I probably would have just stayed at the flea motel to watch the ceremony on TV. 

My worst fear would be that I would suffer a similar fate of those unfortunate purple ticket holders who were held up in the “tunnel of doom” while the ceremony took place. Poor people! They traveled great distances, they got up early, they bundled up, and then they were left to freeze on the interstate 395. My fear of a logistical mishap such as this one was yet another deterrent keeping me away from Washington.

So, call me an agoraphobic cynic, but I’d rather witness history from the comfort of my office with a hot cup of tea, and the thermostat at a balmy 72 degrees. But the question remains: can those of us who were too cheap and lazy to make the trip out to Washington still appreciate the magnitude of Barack Obama’s inauguration? The answer is yes. With Anderson Cooper as our guide, yes we can.