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Examiner Neighborhood Inaugural Ball for DC/Frederick, MD
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MoveOn.org Frederick Inaugural Bash Hostess Paris Zlotak **
A reporter would have to have kept a dispassionate face to cover the events of a Move.On.org Inaugural Bash in suburban DC. But luckily, I had come with camera and notebook to observe, as well as report. Admittedly, I planned to observe from the standpoint of awe at this amazing leap into history, for what else could I do? I had been a reluctant Caucasian student at a segregated school in Virginia in the mid-1950s, when such things should not have happened. My mother dragged her heels obtaining the birth certificate they demanded to prove my racial identity; she didn’t like it at all, at all. But there was no choice. Later, I attended the Univeristy of Georgia graduate school less than two years after that school had been forcibly integrated. No, I never thought—although I had been raised to consider all persons equal—that this would ever happen. And certainly not now, not here. So yes, I was—and am—in awe.
***
Not a ball, but a daylong celebration of changing times, the gathering that began at 9 a.m. at a house in Frederick, Maryland, and will go until 9 this evening, displayed the quintessence of the election of Barack Hussein Obama. The hosts, who had worked with MoveOn.org for the past year to get Mr. Obama elected, are Scott and Paris Zlotak, members—like Mr. Obama’s own parents—of different races. But race, as Mr. Obama pointed out in his inauguration speech is nothing; unity is everything.
Just so, the 30 or so people gathered with the Zlotaks as the Inauguration ceremony began were varied. Some had ancestry on the Indian subcontinent, several could trace roots in Africa, and many had roots in Europe or South America. There were probably no Native American Eskimos, though, despite the chill of the day and the icy downtown sidewalks on the route to the Inauguration Bash, as the sign above the fireplace in the historic row house proclaimed.
Whatever its own origins, the house is a couple of minute’s walk from the house of Barbara Fritchie. Fritchie, a Unionist/abolitionist living almost literally upon the Mason-Dixon line (Frederick is a scant few miles from the Pennsylvania state line), is reputed to have hung her American flag out her window in defiance as Stonewall Jackson’s troops in the Maryland campaign passed by. In fact, the 95-year-old woman was sick in bed, but her American flag did continue to fly outsider her house, left in place by her housekeeper. As a result, it was shot up by the Confederate troops. Fritchie’s house, today, is an historic site, and an integral one for anyone following the Potomac-side encounters of the Civil War. (Wikipedia
It was in 1864 that poet John Greenleaf Whittier expanded the Barbara Fritchie incident into a poem, recited the better part of a century later by Winston Churchill as he visited the site.
The poem goes:
“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country’s flag,” she said.
A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came;
The nobler nature within him stirred
To life at that woman's deed and word;
"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
Dies like a dog! March on!” he said.
Perhaps Whittier’s sentiments are instructive for today; noble sentiments certainly enveloped the gathering at Zlotak’s…although to be fair, all were Obama partisans to begin with. Still, there was no lack of civility in the room during the morning’s run-up to the swearing in and inaugural address. Nor was there any racial partisanship; it would seem that his crowd had it all together, as Mr. Obama foresees and requests.
There was, however, a sense of wonder. “In my earlier years, I thought I might be old and gray before this happened,” Scott Zlotak said. Zlotak was also happy that it had been a grassroots movement that elected Barack Obama. “His campaign was one of the digital age. He could and did reach anyone and everyone from all walks of life.”
Zlotak called it a phenomenal day, and was jazzed, still, after the President’s ride though Baltimore a few days earlier. “It was amazing to see how he connected with the people,” Zlotak, a Baltimore native, noted.
In the prelude to the Inauguration itself, there was excitement every few minutes, as the gathering watched the flat-screen TV over the fireplace, or moved to the buffet table to snack on bagels, muffins, cheese, fruit and a huge smoked salmon. The coffee was “Obama Buzz,”* a blend by a local Frederick coffee roaster, Dublin Roasters; it was delivered and donated by the owner of the business.
There was excitement that Michelle Obama had decreed that Sasha and Malia would still have to make their own beds in the White House.
There were exclamations when Aretha Franklin sang; her gray ensemble and elegant hat were appreciated.
“That’s Granny,” someone yelled when Michelle Obama’s mother, Mrs. Robinson, first appeared onscreen.
Someone commented that Dick Cheney didn’t look so good.
When Mr. Obama first appeared onscreen, still waiting to take his place, there were cheers and applause.
When Vice President Biden walked through the door, there were cheers and applause and Paris yelled, “Go Biden!”
It seemed, with this crowd, that Mr. Biden is a lot more than the second banana; they seemed to genuinely like him for himself, and to think that he was an excellent choice as VP.
Tellingly, though, there was no reaction when the announcer mentioned Steny Hoyer. Hoyer, a Democratic Maryland Congressman representing the Fifth District, which includes a part of Prince Georges County, not far from Frederick.
Almost certainly, there were gay attendees, and yet the Rev. Rick Warren, whose selection to give the invocation had elicited a storm of protest from the LGBT constituency, got a respectful hearing and an honest assessment.
The rendition of John Williams’ arrangement of “Simple Gifts,” played by violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist YoYo Ma, clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gabriela Montero was gentle and perfect—and got noticeably more perfect, or so the Frederick gathering pronounced, when 12 o’clock passed and the quartet knew they were playing for the 44th President. A huge smile suffused YoYo Ma’s face.
Mr. Obama’s swearing in was greeted with acceptance of his fumble over a phrase: “He’s human!”
Mr. Obama’s inaugural address was received in intense quiet, even from the children present (one or two purposely hushed by attentive parents). There was no cheering until it was over, although swells of knowingness washed over the gathering, so much so that two local reporters covering it had to work at keeping a neutral aspect.
The message of responsibility, virtue, hope, inclusiveness, helpfulness, endurance and friendship for all the world—even to those with fists shaken at us if they will just open their hands so we might reach out to help—all these messages in Mr. Obama’s speech left them speechless.
They liked Rev. Lowery’s benediction. Although he is quite elderly now, the phrases of this founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference still stirred hope, pride, and above all, appreciation in the gathering.
They thought the poem by Elizabeth Alexander was touching, and it was. Not, perhaps, Robert Frost. But powerful and perfect in its own right.
Finally, as one, they rose—in that living room in a small city that has felt the strain of its tenuous perch between the Union and the Confederacy, between Red and Blue states, between love and divisiveness— and stood and sang when The United States Navy Band “Sea Chanters” sang the National Anthem.
* Obama Buzz, The Inaugural Blend is “A special, hand selected blend of our very best beans to celebrate Barack Obama's inauguration as our 44th President! Yes we can!” and it’s only $12. a lb. You can order online.
** Paris Zlotak was displaying a dog-oriented Obama sticker that said "BARK OBAMA," brought by one of the guests. Just in case your dog's want to display one on their doghouses! Bark Obama items available here.
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