Mr. Seth Goes to Washington, Part 3: Inauguration Day (Written January 21, 2009)
Dear Friends,
I woke this morning with the throbbing pain of heel splints. The physical exhaustion of the marathon walking, standing, waiting, and herding for 14 hours-a-day over this freezing concrete city has finally taken it’s toll. The Messiah may arrive today, and I’d watch on television. (grin).
I tried to write something last night, but my brain and body were in utter retreat. I jotted down a few notes, had two classes of champagne, fumbled with the video camera, and passed out. I actually slept 7-hours for the first time in who knows how long.
It’s hard for me to put into words what an extraordinary whirlwind of a day it has been.
I feel as if I am in the vortex of history.
I don’t know where to start or which theme to cling to. Perhaps, for the first time in my life, I feel psychically overwhelmed… and the Inauguration hasn’t even happened yet.
As many of your know I’m in DC for the Obama Inauguration.
The spirit down here is insatiable. The city is abuzz. Everyone is happy. I’ve been able to strike up a conversation with all sorts of people, from police to waiters, to random people. Everyone has as story. Everyone has a perspective. And after this, everyone will have a memory.
I’m staying in the Georgetown neighborhood which is walking distance to all the major attractions. Needless to say, I’ve done a lot of walking already, more than I’ve probably done in years. My legs are sore!
There is so much more I want to say, but I’m so completely exhausted. It’s nonstop. I don’t even have the energy to download the photos.
Personal Reflections on a Seminal Event
By Seth J. Itzkan, August 29, 2008.
I won’t soon forget the most important political moment in my lifetime.
Antidote to Timidity
In addition to the superlatives that are no doubt in abundance this August morning, I would add that Obama’s treatments of the abortion, gay rights, and gun ownership issues were transcendent. “Don’t tell me we can’t uphold the second amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals”, he angrily exalted concerning the latter. That type growling clarity is exactly what the Democratic Party has been lacking. He is the antidote to timidity. Another pinnacle moment came when he proclaimed the bipartisan principles of patriotism, “The men and women who serve in our battlefields…have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America”. Read the rest of this entry »
I attended the Barak Obama 47th Birthday Party Fundraiser yesterday, August 4th. This was in the “Great Room” on the 33rd floor of 60 State Street in Boston. Harry Connick Junior was there to sing Happy Birthday.
What is the sound of one hand clapping (and the other hand holding a cellphone camera)?
My social observation of the day is that everyone, myself included, had all their cellphone cameras in full gear so no one had a free hand to clap with. When he came out there was a curiously mild applause, almost like a gulf clap. Seeing as this was such an enthusiastic group of supporters that seemed strange, until I realized why. No one had their hands free! It was a sea of cell phone cameras held high in the air like periscopes from a mass of heads. I was reminded of Vonnegut’s classic eyeball-hands of the Trafalmadorians. Feeling somewhat ashamed at contributing to this unintended awkward artifact of the modern era, I quickly stashed my cellphone and started clapping gregariously. How strange.
Thomas Jefferson Returns:
Seeks Third Term as President
To announce his candidacy for President of the United States.
Location: The steps of Widener Library at Harvard at noon on March 9th, 2007.
Thomas Jefferson will announce his candidacy for President of the United States on the steps of Widener Library at Harvard at noon on March 9th, 2007. Declaring that the great American experiment in self-governance is foundering, the author of the Declaration of Independence feels compelled to return to seek a third term as Commander in Chief. Read the rest of this entry »
The hysteria that gripped Boston as a result of harmless cartoon characters placed around the city for a marketing campaign aimed at youth hearkens analogies to the classic apocalyptic science fiction movie Twelve Monkeys (1995), and should give us pause as to the unwarranted and taxing state-of-fear we have created for ourselves in our post 911 world.
Like the movie Twelve Monkeys, images of a cartoon-like character, in this case monkeys, are clandestinely placed in public places and are subsequently considered signatures of a terrorist plot. And, like the movie, the images are nothing but a form of graffiti aimed at a particular youthful sub-culture. The movie though, does feature a terrorist intent on harm, however, he goes unnoticed amidst the innocent distractions.
On this MLK Day, I am intrigued by the story of Mukhtar Mai, a poor village woman who is being hailed as the Rosa Parks of Pakistan. Mukhtar is a rape victim who had the audacity to stand up to her tribal-leader attackers and see them prosecuted in the nation’s highest court. Her stance has helped change the attitudes and laws concerning rape and even “honor killing” in her country.
Letter to the editor: Five minutes for democracy
This is a letter to editor I wrote to the Globe. A similar letter was sent to The Herald and the MetroWest Daily News
- s Read the rest of this entry »
Jill spoke at the Beacon Hill Friends’ Meeting House on November 7th. My parents and friends were there. It was a great event.
Pictured here, left to right: Karl Thidemann, Ray Conte, Susan McLucas, Jill Stein (in blue), Richard Callogero (in back), Irving Itzkan (in back), Annette Itzkan (black coat), Shirley Kressel.
Green-Rainbow Party candidate for Secretary of State
Jill Stein, M.D.
“I come to the race as a medical doctor and community advocate, with years of experience helping people engage the democratic process to improve our lives and communities.” Read the rest of this entry »
I wonder if there is some cosmic undercurrents in having Judge Alito sworn in to the Supreme Court on the same day the Correta Scott King dies?
Although these events are of course unrelated, the juxtaposition non-the-less gives one pause.
May the legacy of Mrs. King not yield to the forces that would undermine her and the march of Human Rights and Civic Progress.
In eulogizing her, on the very day that Alito swings the court far from the course of freedom that she lived for, I can think of no other words than those uttered by Lincoln himself at Gettysburg. How
true they still are:
“… we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Of Sequoias and Democracy: Two hundred years ago today
Two hundred years ago today, November 7 1805, Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition penned what is considered one of the most famous journal entries in all American history: “Ocian in view! O! the joy“. It marked (what he believed to be) the first sighting of the Pacific coast after a two year journey into the unknown (see detailed explanation below). It would be the equivalent today of a manned journey to a planet outside of our solar system and outside of our view or radio contact.
Jim Laurie took me tonight to see Good Night and Good Luck - a powerful and timely docudrama in which Edward Murrow tells it like it is. The correlation to the present could not be more compelling. I highly recommend it.
For Immediate Release:
Twelve Monkeys (err.. Mooninites)
Like the movie Twelve Monkeys, images of a cartoon-like character, in this case monkeys, are clandestinely placed in public places and are subsequently considered signatures of a terrorist plot. And, like the movie, the images are nothing but a form of graffiti aimed at a particular youthful sub-culture. The movie though, does feature a terrorist intent on harm, however, he goes unnoticed amidst the innocent distractions.
Jill spoke at the Beacon Hill Friends’ Meeting House on November 7th. My parents and friends were there. It was a great event.
Jim Laurie took me tonight to see Good Night and Good Luck - a powerful and timely docudrama in which Edward Murrow tells it like it is. The correlation to the present could not be more compelling. I highly recommend it.