TOP TEN SURVIVAL TIPS FOR WASHINGTON, D.C.
1. WHEN ON THE METRO ESCALATORS, STAND THE RIGHT OR WALK ON YOUR LEFT! (THIS IS THE FIRST AND FOREMOST SURVIVAL RULE; THE OTHER IS DON’T BRING FOOD OR DRINK INTO THE METRO—YOU WILL GET ARRESTED (REALLY!)
its really that serious. WMATA (the DC equivalent of the MTA) is extending service on the big day. while DC still promises to be a mess, visitors can rest assured that they’ll go home with a commemorative metro farecard.
new york city makes us mass transit junkies by default. imagine bloomberg’s smiling face on a metrocard? dear god.
Change is a-comin eh?
Other than the obvious that makes this inauguration worth celebrating (a person of color elected President in our lifetime? still crazy when I think about it), the outstanding historicity of this election remains the fact that it engaged individuals who were never interested in participating in our psuedo-functional political system ever before.
WHY DO WE CARE? Electoral politics in the US has historically engaged and therefore favored the interests of the privileged across lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability and social positioning. Whether disengaged as a result of force or choice, this election brought out the historically marginalized here in the United States en masse. This election campaign, maybe, just maybe, it is possible that marginalized peoples saw room for their own agency through the campaign and now inauguration of Barack Obama.
Yet we are left with much to be done.
WashDC is preparing, the transition is a’brewing, and folks are packing their bags and making moves towards the District. There’s much to talk about. As folks on the fringes, what are our greatest concerns? Most importantly, which way forward?
This blog will track the Inauguration in all its glory (mess?), and more importantly engage MHC students in discussion. In following the transition through the first hundred days of Obama’s presidency, our voices will wield strength in space, place and time.