a blind flaneur

Ordained minister Edson Forrester presides over the Paradise, Michigan ’s annual snowmobile blessing . Edson burns cedar and tobacco, then spreads smoke over each vehicle, saying, “Creator, protect this snowmobile on its travels.” This year, people in Paradise say they’re adding an extra prayer for a better economy next year — and more snowmobilers. [Photo [...]

C-Span: President Barack Obama 2009 Inauguration and Address
See full text.
See Andy Carvin’s video for a crowd’s eye perspective.
See other #inaug09 content on this blog. See #inaug09 on Twitter.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address: Part 1 | Part 2
On March 4, 1933, FDR delivered one of the most quoted affirmations in the history of American political rhetoric:
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. [...]

This photograph of Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address is the only known photograph of Lincoln giving a speech. Lincoln stands in the center, with papers in his hand. John Wilkes Booth is visible in the photograph, in the top row right of center [Source: Wikipedia/White, The Eloquent President]
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln stood [...]

MARIAN ANDERSON.1939.LINCOLN MEMORIAL
See also MLK 2008: The Legacy of Strange Fruit.
See other #inaug09 content on this blog. See #inaug09 on Twitter.

Bill Cunningham captured the excitement of history in the making on Election Night in New York, then he went back for a reality check the morning after. As these shots from his On the Street photo essay attest, New Yorkers were more than happy to stand in line to buy newspapers documenting Barack Obama’s victory.

Les Misbarack makes a grumpy old man feel like Gavroche again — mischievous, irreverent, and hopeful as ever. Thanks to Kaitlin at Inside Islam for pointing me to this.

msnbc.com video: ‘Change has come to America’
This email from Barack arrived just about the time that he took the stage in Grant Park. Nice touch, and one more example of the volunteer engagement cultivated by the Obama campaign’s extraordinary Internet operation:
Mark -
I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but [...]

Halloween has come and gone, but there are still plenty of funky pumpkins out there. Bill Cunningham’s fascination with them, and the goth look on Fashionista Street, transcends the end of October. See this week’s On the Street photo essay for more. The final word in funky pumpkins, though, goes to the annual Naked Pumpkin [...]

Bill Cunningham is back from Paris, and his latest On the Street photo essay takes a look at autumn in New York. The pumpkins seen here festoon a balcony in my favorite Manhattan neighborhood, Gramercy Park. As the season turns, Bill salutes the élan of NYC fashionistas as they head to work every morning, even [...]

Times are tough, and mavericks everywhere are damping personal ambition to put Country First. This panhandler working the street outside NPR’s New York studio reaped windfall profits with his financial strategy. Someone who wouldn’t drop a buck in his basket offered him $20 for the sign. Now that’s how the free market can work for [...]