NHS 1965 News

I was selected to receive two tickets for the presidential inauguration from Congressman Dan Lungren of Sacramento.  He is the former California Attorney General and had visited our child abuse and neglect program at UC Davis Medical Center (caarecenter.org) several times over the years, and he is very good on the issues.  I emailed him the morning after the election asking for tickets for this historic event.  Every congressman received 200 tickets to distribute. I asked my sister JoAnn (NHS Class of 1970) to join me and we were on our way to Washington D.C. We had great tickets — in the standing blue section immediately behind the seated section below the Capitol

Everyone that JoAnn and I met at the inauguration was positively buoyant, happy, and friendly.  People just started conversations and introduced themselves to one another on the monument grounds, in the metro, and at adjacent tables in restaurants.   It was an amazing experience to be among a million people at the Sunday concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial singing together with Garth Brooks, “Bye, Bye Miss American Pie”, other pop songs that we all know, and the national anthems.  An estimated 2 million people were at the Inauguration.  Everyone was respectful, careful with one another in such large moving groups, joyful, and fun to talk with! Signs were everywhere in restaurant windows about celebrating change and moving forward.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the Adams Morgan area of NW Washington.  So many interesting people — the sound design engineer for the inauguration, congressional staffer, pastor, literary agent, parents with young children.  We would eat breakfast together and come back at the end of each very cold and exhausting day and tell our stories;  then watch CNN to get full coverage of what occurred that day.

We also went to the Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball hosted by Jackson Browne at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  He played the entire time from 8 p.m. to midnight with his band.  Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills and Nash) also played and sang with him.

The “call to action” from President Obama is strong and compelling  There is something about President Barack and Michelle Obama that makes you want to do more, and to figure out what that can be for our community. What are the various possibilities for us in Sacramento?  Augment the Channel 10 Coats for Kids Drive that got 40,000 coats donated this past year? Work with Habitat for Humanity? Figure out how to raise money for Afghanistan to build infrastructure to resist the Taliban? Provide needed food, clothing, and household supplies for needy CAARE Center families? Reduce driving and consumption of gas? How can we coordinate with other individuals and organizations who have similar interests? What steps and organizing can we undertake to strengthen our community?

It was a memorable experience and I was glad that my sister JoAnn and I could go together.  We had a lot of fun together.

Written by Marilyn Strachan Peterson  and posted and edited by N. Larsen