The Third Decade

Inaugural Memories

First of all, congratulations, President Barack Hussein Obama. After two long years of campaigning and dismissing your initial nay-sayers, I'm happy to see you in office and hard at work from day one.

There aren't any words that can sum up Inauguration Day without sounding cliched, but it really was an incredible and momentous occasion. The crowds were huge, but not impossible or unbearable. After living in Japan and London and dealing with Paris and Madrid's crowds on New Years Eve, this crowd was comparatively small. Besides that, the crowd control measures were organized and everyone was in a mood to party, not act the fool. The Metro was very effective at shuttling people around, although at times some of the outer stations were temporarily shut down to keep the crowds on the platforms from growing dangerously large.

Despite the blue skies and bright sun, it was cold. A chilly wind whipped up a little dust from time to time, but for the most part, it was a beautiful day. Snow was in the forecast, but not a single flake fell during my time in Washington. The Mall itself was a beautiful sea of humanity. People were smiling, holding hands, huddling (mostly for warmth), and just having a good time. Vendors sold everything from Obama photos to buttons, to t-shirts, but I don't think too many people bought t-shirts. My friends and I arrived around 10am and found a spot near one of the jumbotron TVs between the Washington Monument and the last set of buildings in the Smithsonian complex. 

Between our arrival and the noon swearing in, the audience grew and grew and grew. Official estimates are that 2 million people showed up, but with such a large open space, it never felt crowded or uncomfortable. We had a clear view of the jumbotron and I even walked around the crowd a couple of times to take crowd shots as we waited. I thought I'd lose track of my friends by walking around, but it was always easy to meet up and stand next to them again.

May Calm Nerves and Blue Skies Prevail Tomorrow

Like thousands (maybe millions?) of other people, I will be making the trek to Washington DC tomorrow. Fortunately, I bought airline tickets weeks before the general election and live relatively close to Logan Airport. On a normal day that would mean a quick trip to DC, roughly 90 minutes or so. However, with record crowds, increased air traffic, and snow in DC's forecast, I'm a little nervous about potential delays. My flight is late in the afternoon, thus raising the possibility of slowdowns earlier in the day having an effect on my departure. There's some comfort in knowing that the thousands of extra travelers tomorrow are all going to the same place, but who knows it that's really a plus. Either way, this is truly an exciting time! Safe travels to everyone who's heading to DC with me tomorrow. For those of you staying home, enjoy the TV coverage and have fun at the local celebrations.

State Goes in Debt, Leaders Lose Their Damn Minds!

Wow! 

In an effort to save money, state senators are proposing to create a new transportation uberagency that would combine the powers of two highway agencies and the MBTA. Supposedly, efficiencies achieved by the merger would save billions of dollars. Ha!

You know what the merger is really going to save? Time. Now instead of grumbling about how bad each agency is at doing its job, we'll be able to point our collective fingers at one agency. How convenient!

Seriously, though, does Massachusetts need another quasi-public agency of mass proportions (pun intended, yuk, yuk) to sap our souls and be inefficient on a statewide scale? Isn't that part of the problem we have with the agencies currently in existence? I'm all for saving money by eliminating redundancies. But I hope conditions are put in place to increase accountability, reward good performance, and penalize poor performance. Hopefully contracts with the unions will also be renegotiated to allow for flexibility in developing creative solutions to old problems. For example, isn't part of the reason the T doesn't run later because it would cost too much to pay drivers and subway operators overtime after 1am? I know there's the maintenance reason as well, but I've never really bought into that.

It's an interesting proposal to say the least. What will be more interesting is seeing how the unions fight this.

Note: This article may move from breaking news to regular news by the time you read it. If so, I'll fix the link once it's moved.

Secretary of the Arts

There's a petition circulating the net urging President-Elect Barack Obama to create a Secretary of the Arts. The idea is attributed to Quincy Jones and it seems like something that could greatly enhance the quality of life nationwide. As the email notes, other countries have Ministers of Art and Culture. So why shouldn't the U.S. have someone who promotes the arts here? 

Click here to see the petition and sign.

DOMA Rally at City Hall

Sometimes I don't understand why the Globe doesn't run more photos with its news stories. I went to yesterday's rally against DOMA at City Hall Plaza just for practice. Surely they could have spared one photographer or hired a freelancer. Maybe the print edition of the Globe has a photo, but it shouldn't be that hard to run just one with the online version of the article. Rallies are such great opportunities for photos and the article would've been more interesting with images.

If I Could Talk to the Animals

I'd never make it as a Dolittle.

On the way to work today a hawk swooped down and landed on a large stone gate about 20 feet in front of me. It was the first time I've ever seen a hawk in my neighborhood - and so close - let alone with fresh kill in one of its talons! I kept walking toward it since I had to go that way to get to work, but I kept an eye on it...you know, just in case. Well, the hawk didn't like that. It noticed that I was looking at it. In return, it stared back and we locked eyes for a few seconds.

When I was about 10 feet away, I decided to be neighborly and half-jokingly said, " What's up, birdie?" In a flash the hawk spread its wings, took off in the opposite direction, dropped the squirrel with a dull thud onto the sidewalk, and perched itself in a high tree. When it saw that I was about to walk under that tree, it took off again and flew across the park.

On the return home hours later, I saw the dead squirrel still on the ground where it had been dumped.

So much for fearless birds of prey. Even pigeons and seagulls will come back for their food. Then again, with so much fresh prey around here, I guess there was no point bothering to come back for old meat.

1000 Great Places

One of the great things about living in Massachusetts is the passion and the commitment people have to celebrating the state's art and heritage. Although most people think that the Boston area gets the most attention and publicity, I think state and regional officials do a great job at making sure that a balance exists between the metro area and the rest of the state.

That said, I was surprised to read today's Globe article about the state wanting to create a commission that would create an official list of 1000 great places in Massachusetts. As the article implies, the list great places would be subjective. I didn't see any mention of an official criteria for determining greatness, which adds to the dubiousness of this project and the commission. Besides, if a place is truly great (in whatever way that eventually becomes determined), wouldn't most people already know about it and take advantage of it? Do we really need a list of great places just for the sake of having a list? State officials could save time and money by mandating that the Massachusetts Office and Travel and Tourism (MOTT) take a poll of residents statewide and then create the list. Anything else just seems like reinventing the wheel.

Besides that, what are they going to do with this list? Is it for tourism? Will it help residents become more aware of what's around them? Is it for preservation purposes? Rep. Turkington is quoted as saying that, "It's sort of the equivalent of a UNESCO World Heritage site, in a much more modest way." By referencing UNESCO's World Heritage program, surely he's aware that their compilation is about more than having a list of sites. UNESCO sites are protected. Furthermore, that protection is funded and there are reporting, technical assistance, and training programs in place. Is he suggesting that Massachusetts' 1000 official great places would receive the same protection, funding, and safeguards? Or, is the "much more modest way" his euphemism for saying that it's just a list?

C'mon, state officials. Stop looking for ways to keep yourself busy when there's real work to be done regarding the state budget and the current economic downturn. If you want a list, leave it to MOTT and ask residents to make their suggestions. We don't need to be told which places around us are great. Plus, residents would most likely develop a list which is relevant to how they actually use and appreciate the state's great places. Opening up the discussion to the wider public may have the added benefit of boosting knowledge and patronage of lesser known attractions without stealing the thunder of better known ones.