January the 20th

Fairmont Hotel, Arab American Institute Inaugural Celebration, Washington D.C. (11 p.m.)

The event is over, guests wait in line to meet Dennis Kucinich. He wears a black tux with a red bow tie...

Man with goofy face and watch chain: "We believe in you."
Young man in suit: "Nice to meet you, I'm Nelson."
Woman at his side: "I'm Bridget."
Man: "We're down from Lakeland, Ohio."
Kucinich: "It's an honor to meet, where do you live in Lakeland?"
Man: "On Lewis Drive." Kucinich: "Oh, we're not far away, we're just up the street."

A fashionable Asian man hands Kucinich a business card. On it is a picture of the Asian man in sunglasses in front of the Taj Mahal. A mustached man with square jowels passes Kucinich something from his pocket : "I found my card."

Woman in gown: "I'm very involved with the mission."

Three Indian sisters take photos with Kucinich. "It's a pleasure," he says. A woman in a red blouse introduces a woman in a shirt like a doile: "This is Noah Annie's cousin." A woman in a flowing floral dress hands him a thin diary embroidered in gold and a pen. Kucinich signs.

Living room, Watertown, Mass. (10:30 p.m.)

He:  The Regent Theatre in Arlington Center is simulcasting the inauguration on the big, big, BIG screen. What's next, the Inauguration on IMAX?

She: Maybe Smell-O-Bama?

He: According to Michelle Obama, his morning breath is something. A little TMI if you ask me.

She:  I'm sure it smells like hope.

Westchester County, N.Y. (5:51 p.m.)

The birds are flocking to the birdfeeder in droves—the tufted titmouse is holding its own but having a hard time competing with the male cardinals and bluejays who are much larger. The smallest birds are on the snow-covered ground looking for sunflower seed shells that are discarded by the feeder birds.

Bird Street Community Center, Dorchester, Mass. (3:36 p.m.)

At the Bird Street Community Center in Dorchester on Martin Luther King Day, there are about one hundred people—mostly teenagers, mostly black, volunteering their time. Everyone was painting the rooms blue and red, the colors of the Community Center. Before they began, the paint on the walls of the rooms was peeling and there was a general feeling of drabness.

At the beginning of the day, everyone split up into circles of about twenty people and one-by-one everyone shared his or her name and why he or she was participating in the Day of Service.  Of the twenty people in the group, ten were teenagers who were members of the Bird Street Community Center, three had seen fliers put up by the Community Center around the neighborhood, and the remaining seven had seen the Bird Street Community Center listed on Barack Obama's website as a place to do service on Martin Luther King Day.  By noon, all the rooms on the second floor, except for one hallway, had been repainted; some people worked through lunch to finish the hallway and to put a second coat of paint on some of the other rooms.

In line at a McDonald’s just off The Mall, Washington, D.C. (6 a.m.)

A bald man with a goatee: large coffee and two pieces of sausage
A man with a beret in a pea coat: small coffee
A newspaper vendor with a red bib and a red cap: sausage McMuffin and a medium coffee
A man with an ushanka: milkshake and two egg sandwiches
A prominent man in a coffee colored sweater: a McSkillet Burrito
Prominent man: “How ya doing Twitty?”
Twitty (woman behind register): “I’m here just like you.”
A man with a shiny watch: large coffee
A girl in leather: sausage egg McMuffin and coffee, just a little
A blonde woman in a turquoise shirt: two hash browns
A middle-aged man in fatigues with a crew cut: two sausage egg McMuffins, just the sandwiches, two medium coffees, two burrito meals and a bottled water (he puts his change in the slot for Ronald McDonald)
A woman in a trench coat holding a sleeping bag in one arm and a pillow with floral patterns in the other: egg and cheese McGriddle and a small coffee

The Corner of 9th St. & Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. (5 a.m.)

Huddled under the awning of a Wachovia are about  half-a-dozen men in hoods with backpacks and shopping bags. One is wearing a suede vest with a fur collar. Another is complaining about tourists.

“They couldn’t even figure out the subway machine, they get on the wrong bus...It’s too many people”

 

A sports car pulls to the curb and the hooded men crowd around. The driver calls roll:

Adam Zeal
James Collin
Ronnie McLeod
Debra Lucas
Vin Sanberg

Upon hearing his name, each man approaches the window and receives a pink and yellow slip. Second-hand observation reveals the slip to be a check.

The Mall, Washington, D.C. (4 a.m.)

The Mall is deserted, the air is icy, the Capitol building is aglow and rows of Porta-Potties snake into the distance. Many are green, but some are beige or blush. Inside, the toilet water has frozen solid. Most potties are unused. Each has a name:

Van Sant
Mr. John
Johnny on the spot
HCE
Allied Portable Toilets
Alpine
Bobby’s Potties
Don’s Johns
J & J Portables
Fogle’s Septic & Portables
United Site Services
Jiffy John
Pierson’s Comfort Group