Inauguration Story-Final

Inauguration Neighborhood
By Travis Mitchell

A California school teacher who became separated from her family while traveling to the National Mall on Tuesday took her frustration in stride, ending up with one unique inaugural memento.

Shirlynne Isham, a first grade instructor from Wilton, Calif., a suburb of Sacramento, was boarding Metrorail in the early-morning hours when the doors closed suddenly in front of her, leaving her stranded from her companions, without any food or supplies.

All Isham had on her was a copy of President-Elect Barack Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope,” and a sense of general enthusiasm for the inaugural events.

Harnessing the palpable feeling of goodwill that surrounded the inauguration of the first African-American president, Isham decided to make the best of the situation and started collecting signatures in Obama’s book from those around her.

Each signatory represented a unique geographic region, stretching from the District of Columbia to Japan, Jamaica and Granada.

Isham said she got the idea from observing people at Sunday’s “We are One” concert, part of the inaugural weekend celebration that drew hundreds of thousands to the Lincoln Memorial. Isham said people there had also collected signatures to commemorate the moment.

She called her collection of signatures “the neighborhood,” and she eagerly and kindly welcomed new members.

“Join the neighborhood,” she said, as the anxious inauguration crowd gathered on the mall began doing the wave.

After a long, early-morning journey from the Metro to the National Mall, Isham was reunited with her companions around 9 a.m., at the intersection of 3rd Street and Independence Avenue. In just a few hours, she had dozens of autographs, many of them simply including the signatory’s name, hometown and state. Despite her frustrating commute and the frigid temperatures on the Mall, Isham’s spirits were high with anticipation.

“We’re here to share in this moment in time, in history,” she said, while waiting for the swearing-in ceremony to begin.

Others who gathered nearby, along with nearly 2 million people in 20-degree weather, shared Isham’s enthusiasm.

“I’m missing school this week, but all my teachers were all about me being here, said Molly Cooke, 20, an anthropology student from California, who came equipped with Obama chaptsick. It was her first visit to Washington, D.C., and she said leaving her suburban Virginia hotel room at 3 a.m. was well worth it to witness the “politics and change”.

Others in attendance brought scarves, sleeping bags and blankets of all types, opting to cozy up under the shadow of one of many large viewing screens that was brought in for the event. For those wanting to get a closer view, ticket and security lines stretched for blocks and took hours to navigate.

Once the program got underway, around 11 a.m., the viewing screens captured the attention of the crowds, showing cameos and headshots of Hollywood and political bigwigs. One group of men began singing trademark songs from the Obama campaign. The crowd cheered and chanted, united behind the clear historic undertones of the day.

Alan Kares, -who traveled from Erie, Pa., to witness the events, summed up why he thought people had traveled from all around the globe to attend the historic event.

“It’s the Woodstock of the 2000s,” Kares said.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeZmytL3GdA
***check out video I took of the crowd cheering at the inauguration*** (posted 2/5/09)