Inauguration

Well, it happened. Eight years of Shrub that felt like forty are at an end. That loud woosh you heard around noon today was a collective sigh of relief.

The speech was good. I watched at a university function that we tied to some of the racial incidents on campus. Faculty spoke about the significance of the election and the changing role of the Presidency. Students from both sides spoke about their responses to the election. It was a good event - very well handled.

The phrase I liked the most, I think: "people will judge you on what you can build not on what you destroy."

And while I'm not a big one for nationalism, I've got to say that Aretha singing "My Country Tis of Thee" was almost enough to make me rethink it. And the piece with YoYo Ma and Yitzhak Pearlman was great. I'd love recordings of both of those, so if anyone stumbles across them, let me know.