ellen kanner

I was there when history was made Jan. 20, 2009. I was there, in the crowds, the mass of people, the crammed Metro, the cold, brisk air, I was there.
I was there celebrating and laughing, crying and hugging. Jumping and standing, in that most courteous crowd. I was there.
I was there to witness Barack Obama become the first African American president of the United States. The 44th president, in my 44th year. And I was there.
It was quite the experience, to say the least. People everywhere, and so were the lines. But all with happy smiling faces. Being on the ground, in the thick of it, one doesn’t see the enormity of the situation. The media displays that well for us and what I saw in the centerfold of the Washington Post, really hit home and showed me – who just had to keep my feet from freezing, just had to make it through the crowds, just had to keep walking, just had to wait in another line and go through yet another security checkpoint – that there were many more folks like me, determined to witness this Change.
I think Justin Ellis, a reporter from the Portland Press Herald, where I worked awhile ago, in this article, encapsulates it best, “They’ll have that memory, of their feet touching the ground, their hands clasping someone close, and the knowledge that off in what seemed like an immeasurable – yet close – distance, history was being made.”

And yes, it most certainly was.

I’ve been logging some serious blogging time lately, considering this blog gets my attention very randomly at best. I just posted this crazy conglomeration of maps, travel info, twitter feed, etc. to one of my favorite tools, Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com/ellentk#Inauguration

There, you’ll be able to follow the latest postings and what not from twitter, along with notes and status updates to Facebook, photos from flickr – this is fun! Amazing what you can do with this Web X.0 technology!