Every time we sing the national anthem we ask the question, “does that star-spangled banner yet wave?” amid the perilous fight and the bombs bursting in air.
These past two weeks, since violent insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capital, the answer has been in doubt. Not literally—Congress reconvened that same day and democracy carried on—but the spirit of the nation has been dazed as we suffered this terrible attack and reckoned with the deeper divide.
But today, Inauguration Day, as Lady Gaga belted out “The Star Spangled Banner” on the same Capital steps that two weeks ago held a swarming mob, it did the spirit of this nation well to see those broad stripes and bright stars so gallantly streaming.
Continue reading There Is Always Light →
Thanks to the flubbed oath on inauguration day, President Barack Obama retook the oath of office yesterday out of “an abundance of caution.”
That’s an awesome phrase. I’m not the only one who thinks so.
So we should have a T-shirt: I have an Abundance of Caution.
Once upon a time I thought i’d be cool to make a T-shirt of the month. I never quite got there because I’m not much of a designer and I’m no Threadless. But I can dream, can’t I?
I watched bits and pieces of the Inauguration today and caught much of Obama’s speech on NPR. But I really enjoyed much of the festivities through Twitter and the various reactions, comments and snippets. Apparently I wasn’t the only one enjoying Twitter: Traffic was up five fold.
The breadth of opinions was hilarious. One person would be euphoric about an Obama presidency and the next person would be taking potshots at hope and change. One person loved the inaugural poem and the very next tweet called it a flaming failure.
It was also great to see people’s personal reactions, what lines of speeches/prayers/poems stuck with them, what made them laugh, what made them cry (quite literally).
Continue reading Enjoying the Inauguration with Twitter →
A work-at-home dad wrestles with faith, social justice & story.