Someone in my neighborhood is trying to send a message of love by altering the one way street signs around the block. I’m not sure this is legal but it’s really sweet and I don’t think anyone has been able to pass by the signs these past days without smiling!

I was there. Again! And while less spectacular than the 2009 inauguration, it was definitely worth it. As you all know by now, the speech was fantastic! Perhaps, in my view, even better and more visionary than the one in 2009. And it felt like this year’s inauguration, with President Obama and his family, Sonia Sotomayor, and Richard Bianco (whose poem, by the way, was very touching) really represented today’s America Also, Charles Schumer did a good job at hosting it – really funny and relaxed, and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir did the event’s best performance. Certain things worked less well, of course. I’m not sure who is responsible for organizing the logistics around the inaugurations, but they definitely could learn some from the big Northern European Music festivals. Just as last time, there were too few jumbotrons, the speakers or sound system didn’t work properly (or barely at all where I was standing), and the logistics of people, facilities, trashcans, etc, was poor as always. (It’s sometimes curious how much power this city still has in the world…) What makes this event so special, though, is to see Washington DC come together. I don’t mean Washington as in the Federal Government, but Washington DC as in the city district. In many aspects, it’s such a divided city. Not between the haves and the have nots, but between those with prospects, education, and opportunities, and those almost without. But when President Obama is inaugurated at the National Mall, we’re all there and we’re all celebrating. It’s a nice feeling!

18th street packed with people walking back from the Mall after the inauguration.

I just came back from my last ballet class before the holidays. To go to my classes, I usually take the S2 bus outside my building, which runs on 16th Street all the way up to Silver Spring in Maryland, where my dance studio is. 16th Street is apparently the street in the world with the most religions represented in the same street. (Yes, I too see the irony of me living here!) Therefore, the bus is always full with a variety of different church goers every Sunday morning when I take the bus. It’s quite interesting to watch people from all over the world, often dressed up traditional clothes, heading to their particular church. I am, of course, not entirely sure what the difference is, but it seems important to my fellow passengers who get off at different stops according to their Christian affiliation. They often come in larger groups with several families going together and they seem to look forward to their church visits. It is still more common in the U.S. to believe that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time over the last 10,000 years or so” (45 % according to a 2007 Gallup poll) than it is to not belong to a particular religion (some 15%). Perhaps in an attempt to counter balance all the different believes in the street, this this campaign has run on the 16th Street buses these past months.