Suit Up and Discuss!

Inauguration

President Obama's Inaugural Speech was more than I even hoped for yesterday!  This is the man I voted for!  When he included Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall in his speech, I was thrilled.  When he included marriage equality in the arena of civil rights, this brought it to its rightful place.  He also addressed climate change, immigration reform, war, and many other relevant issues we care about.  This second term should be interesting!  Hope they can all work together.  That's so frustrating! 

Michelle and their daughters looked great, too!  What a wonderful day!
 
And evening!
 

Richard Blanco's poem was excellent.  Here is an article about his life. 
This is his poem "One Today"

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.


My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper -
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives-
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.


All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the "I have a dream" we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won't explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.

One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father's cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.


The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind - our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day's gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.


Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across cafe tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos dias
in the language my mother taught me - in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.


One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower
jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience.


One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn't give what you wanted.

We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always - home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country - all of us -
facing the stars
hope - a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it - together.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Golden Globes

Bob's recap HERE expresses my thoughts on the show perfectly.  We are as one on this.  Scroll on down.  You'll get there.  Also his post on Jodie Foster's speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award reflects my feelings as well; HOWEVER, after what he wrote, I hope he was being ironic when he tagged her fashion commentary with the adjective "lesbian" on there.  Knowing Bob, he probably was.  We can hope but won't have to since he'll let us know.

Part of Jodie Foster's speech confuses me.  Is she retiring from acting?  Will she still direct?  Is she retiring from show business entirely or what?  Not clear on that part.  She seemed nervous and rambled through some of it.  She referred to coming out but primarily to her desire for privacy.  The part about her family was touching and moving.  I'm sure this was hard for her, and it showed.  I've always admired her.  She has remained loyal to her friendship with Mel Gibson, who was at her table and looked stunned and unsure of where he was and what was going on. 

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were hilarious and got some good zingers in there.

Tommy Lee Jones was not amused.
 

Good show. 

Gnu Attitude

This is going to be a year devoted to taking care of myself.  I'm still recovering from heart surgery and going to cardiac rehab for it.  I'll add to that with some other exercises and weight loss.  However, I'm going farther!  I had a facial today for the first time in my life.  Yes, Maddie, imagine how my skin needed that!  I've been getting massages, manicures, and pedicures periodically and will get into a regular routine, I hope.  OK, I'll try.  So healthy habits and pampering!  Bring it on!  It's time!  All that enthusiasm made me tired and hungry.  See you later.