January 2009
History in person
Flyers joined millions of Americans in Washington, D.C., to be present at the inauguration of the nation's 44th president, Barack Obama, on Tuesday.
Click the image for a slideshow of some images of their day from the mall to the parade to the inauguration balls.
For more reactions, including a video diary by a UD videographer who navigated the throngs in the capital that day, see the UD news site.
Never underestimate the Flyer connection.
Just hours before leaving for Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration, I casually mentioned to colleague Regis Lekan '71, assistant vice president for gift planning, that we'd love to attend an inaugural ball. But we had no tickets.
Two hours later, Lekan called with improbable news that Andy Ridley '72, a Washington, D.C., attorney who lived with Lekan in Founders Hall, may have a lead. Over the next four days, Ridley, whom I've never met, called numerous times with updates on the hunt.
"Do you like Southern music?" he asked one morning. "I may be able to get a couple of tickets to the Southern Ball."
"Beggars can't be choosers," I responded. He erupted into warm laughter.
"Still working on it," he called the next morning, our hopes dimming despite his optimism.
On inauguration eve, he reported that he'd scored "the hottest ticket in town": the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, where Beyoncé would sing a soul-stirring revival of the Glenn Miller classic "At Last" for Barack and Michelle Obama's first dance as first couple. We meet Ridley in his condominium parking garage in Falls Church, Va., where he pulled the coveted tickets out of his car but refused to take money. "I would do anything for Regis, anything for UD," he said.
Not believing our good fortune, we swayed to Stevie Wonder leading Mariah Carey, Sting, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé and the crowd in a rousing, joyful version of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," frequently played on the campaign trail. Obama danced with a handful of neighborhood residents as the event was broadcast live on ABC.
"We got the idea for the neighborhood ball because we are neighborhood people," Obama told the crowd of 3,500. "And if you think about it, the word 'neighborhood' starts with the word 'neighbor' because it indicates a sense that we as Americans are bound together."
The same rings true for Flyers.
What this inauguration means to me
Law school graduate Lemuel Harrison ’89 attended the inauguration with his brother. The following reflection was sparked by a national solicitation from the inauguration committee.
It means that this country has turned the corner. It means that I will have access to information about my government directly from the executive branch by simply accessing a search engine. It means that the incoming portrait of the new president's cabinet may inspire the makeup of tomorrow's corporate boardrooms and executive offices.
It means that all life, even that of soldiers called to arms by foreign governments, will be valued, although in war it may be lost. Any lost, however, will be dignified.
It means that we can be hopeful that vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court will be filled by competent jurists who won't contort the letter of the law. It means that we should earnestly strive to exercise as the president t is able to find time to do so. It means that we should continue to take pride in our appearances as the president does. It means that we should be deliberate about our education as the president has been. It means that we can look forward to hearing messages that promote the family as the president has already begun.
It means that we can have confidence that the president will empathize with those looking for work. It means that those receiving public assistance aren't stereotyped or frowned upon.
It means that we can profess a belief in God without fearing repercussions as the president has unabashedly professed his faith. It means that we won't likely hear disparaging comments from the country's top leader about race, gender or social status. It means that we can go to sleep at night believing that we are as safe from terrorism as we can be. It means that we can realistically hope for a better life.
It means that as long as we are citizens of America that any humble or privileged roots will not work against us. It means that I can go abroad again to many places as an American and be received with goodwill.
It means that if I could put my uniform on again, that medical care and benefits would be available when I returned from war. It means that my children can be optimistic about their future. It means that my associations will be given an opportunity to be placed in context. It means that no matter how critical and mean-spirited some were, and continue to be, in their zest to keep an African-American/biracial American from taking the reins of the most powerful country in the world, they were in the minority. It means that the president can expect my support.
The inauguration of Mr. Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States means that if I had the wealth to live in any country in the world, I would choose to live here, in the United States of America.
'Our lives overlap'
"We Shall Overcome" has been remixed to "Yes We Can."
So said Kevin Powell, political activist, poet and entrepreneur, as keynote speaker of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast Tuesday. He spoke of King's strength, vision and humanity, tying events of the civil rights movement to the day's historic inauguration.
In both times, it took diverse groups of people coming together to create change, he said.
"Even when we don’t get along, we get along," he said. "Even when we don’t influence each other, we influence each other. Our lives overlap, brothers and sisters, because we're all God's children."
He gave the ballroom crowd a charge: Never stop being a student of the world. Transform religious tolerance into religious know-how. And figure out where you're going and how you'll get there.
In a day filled with talk of leadership, we each hold the potential to be a leader, he said. You must believe in yourself and determine your path. "It should be part of your value system every single day of your life."
Mowing into history
Few people will witness Barack Obama's historic inauguration from behind a lawn mower.
In an unusual twist, University of Dayton buddies Kevin Monahan '00, Brian Marchal '01 and John Megyimori will march with lawnmowers in the inaugural parade as part of the World Famous Lawn Rangers from Amazing Arcola, Illinois.
The precision lawn drill team, whose motto is, "You're only young once, but you can always be immature," features members from 21 to 80 years old who push whimsically decorated mowers, according to an inaugural blog. Obama marched with them in Chicago's St. Patrick's Day parade in 2003.
"It's hard to explain but hilarious to see," Monahan says. "There are military bands and marching bands, but no one in the world like us." Although members decorate their lawn mowers and sometimes dress like the Lone Ranger, the unorthodox group is made up of "otherwise respectable citizens," he insists. By day, he's director of student activities at Niles North High School outside Chicago.
Wikipedia notes that the Lawn Rangers are "currently evaluating whether the inauguration parade meets their exacting standards," but Monahan says 55 of them are going. And humorist Dave Barry is marching with them.
Listen to the language
A 137-year-old revolutionary poet lives among those in the UD community. He is Paul Laurence Dunbar, as enacted by Herbert Woodward Martin, UD professor emeritus, poet and performance artist.
Martin, who often mentions retiring his Dunbar character, is the focus of a new documentary, Jump Back, Honey, to premier 7 p.m. Friday in Boll Theatre. “My own feeling is I lived it once and I had no intention of doing it a second time,” Martin said of the film. “But in another sense, it’s very complimentary.”
Martin was first introduced to Dunbar’s poetry in a segregated primary school while growing up in the South. He and his classmates dreaded memorizing the poems of Dunbar, with whom Martin shares a resemblance. Some of Martin's classmates even asked if he could tell his “family member” to give them a break.
Then, “When I moved to Ohio, all the black writers disappeared from the textbooks,” he said.
The appreciation for Dunbar’s works came back to Martin through textbooks in an American literature class at the University of Toledo. “I liked literature, I liked reading and all those things came together,” he said.
Working as an English professor allowed Martin to develop his own outstanding body of poetry. One, "Poor Old Martin," explained to his students of the ’70s why he chose not to experiment with drugs to spark poetic influence. “I thought that I was already gifted creatively,” Martin said, “maybe unbalanced anyways ... ”
When reciting his own works or those of Dunbar, he keys in on the power of words. “You have to listen to the way that people use language,” he said.
Acme decoys
Outwitting a roadrunner is hard enough as Wile E. Coyote knows, but when the bird in question is the persistent Canada goose (Excrementis extremis), UD staff have taken a cue from Father Chaminade: new times call for new methods. The geese were making a characteristic mess of the soccer field at Main and Stewart streets, creating an unpleasant environment, according to Roger Banks, associate director of facilities management.
Grounds staff found the pseudo-coyotes (Carnivoris plywoodius) and installed them in the spring. "We would put the success of the cutouts at 80 to 85 percent," Banks said. "The geese eventually figure it out and we have to move the coyotes at least once a month."
Press 1 for perpetuity
More and more people are taking their cell phones to the grave with them — literally. That's according to an msnbc.com article posted Tuesday that quotes Frank Perman ’83, owner and funeral director of a funeral home in Pittsburgh.
“We had a young man die this past summer and they put his cell phone in the casket for the viewing and it rang constantly,” Perman told the reporter. “It was turned to silent, but you could see the phone light up so you knew people were calling. And they were leaving messages. They knew he was dead, but they were still calling.”
The article is going worldwide, said Perman, who's seen versions in at least 20 languages.
No word on how many folks have Grateful Dead ringtones.
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