Crowded Streets, Tunnels, and Tony Dungy

Sorry, not many captions this time, too many pics, most of which are self explanitory. ( I know the captions are screwy, I'm going to fix them by Thursday)

Me right after the Inauguration

Rick Warren

That was across the street

BARACK!

The flags of our Nation's history

Tony Dungy

Biden gets sworn in as veep

12 and a Half Hours Later and I'm Still In Shock

Many of you may be looking at the title of this post and thinking to yourself, "Adam, the inauguration didn't start until 11:30 not 6:00." To you I say HA! You clearly weren't in D.C.

I set my alarm to wake me up at 6:15 so that I could get ready to be out the door of  Jenni's apartment by 7:00, instead I woke up to a party on D Street. People were just having a celebration of the end of what many consider to be one of, if not the, worst administration in American history (or at the very least since the Civil War). People were singing "Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye!" (AKA that song sung at the end towards the ends of blowout games in the sports world) chanting "OBAMA!" and "YES WE CAN!" at the top of their lungs. I saw people dancing right outside of the building.

From there I got ready to go and headed out at around 7:00. After attempting to trudge through the crowd I figured it'd be best for my to take a detour and hit the Metro. The Metro at Gallery Place wasn't so bad. It was the Metro Center stop (where I had to change from the Red line to the Blue line) that everything started to set in. After forcing my way onto a train I headed towards Federal Center where the Blue section of stands (where I was supposed to be) was located, or so I thought. Due to overcrowding at the station, the Metro authority decided to close the station temporarily. So instead we headed towards the Capital South stop. Now Capital South was the location of the Orange entry way, not the Blue. So I had to wait in a ridiculous line that stretched around the offices of the House and Senate. After waiting for almost three hours, almost getting hit by a few cars that were inexplicably allowed to pass through the lines, meeting Tony Dungy (the newly retired former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts for those of you who aren't big NFL fans), and having my phone die I almost decided to head back. Instead I went down to the front of the line and convinced someone to let me and some other people who were in front of me to jump a mini-barricade and cut almost the entire line. From there I was almost crushed against more mini-barricades as I made my way to the sole security checkpoint of the entire Blue section. Yes that's right there was ONE check point for over 10,000 people. Once I made my way through I went to find the best spot to settle in, but instead was pointed towards a broken "fence" that separated the Blue and Orange sections and ended up with a seat right about dead center. Now, I wasn't too close, but when I put my camera one full zoom I was able to snag some pretty solid shots of Biden and Obama getting sworn in as well as Rick Warren (who I know is not everyone's favorite guy, but he is a pretty good speaker).

After celebrating with the masses as Obama finished his inaugural address, which was amazing if I may say so myself, I was pointed to leave in the wrong direction. Once I figured that out I trekked back to the Mall where I was quickly trapped due to the security barriers that prevented me from going to where I needed to go. After about two hours at the Mall I finally started heading towards what I was told was the right way. But once again I was pointed the wrong way, this time by a D.C. cop as opposed to a member of the military as it was before. Once again I had to get directions. Finally a pair of surprisingly friendly police officers (most of the on-duty officers were pretty rude) sent me in the right direction. So about four hours after President Obama (say it out loud it's pretty fun) finished his inaugural address I reached Jenni's building. My feet were sore, my legs were tired, and I wanted to pass out as I hadn't really eaten or had anything to drink outside of some water and a bag of chips from a CVS, but Obama's Inauguration was easily one of the most memorable days of my life.

A little after getting my phone charged up my grandpa sent me an email. In it he reminded me of how important today was and how lucky I was to be able to be a part of it. The part of his email that really struck me though was when he said, "Hopefully you'll be able to tell of this great event to your grandchildren like I told you about seeing FDR while perched on my grandfather's shoulders," when FDR visited Cleveland in October of 1932.

The one thing I have to say about today other than how big of an impact this event has had on my life, was how ridiculously unprepared the city was for the crowds that arrived. They were supposedly prepared for between one and four million people to show up, and yet it was total chaos. Two people were hit by Metro trains, I saw around four people need medical assistance on my way out. Security was quickly overwhelmed, and the parade route prevented some people from going back to where they were staying in D.C. On my way back the Metro was essentially shut down. People were unable to move at all in some sections of the streets surrounding the Capital. It was very surprising to see that our even with all of the added security, all of the extra police, soldiers, and FBI agents, that D.C. had so much trouble handling the crowds today. With months to prepare for it, I would have figured things would have been run a little more smoothly.

Well that's all for me from D.C. I want to take this moment to thank Kellyn Moran and Laura Houser for allowing me to cover these amazing past few days. I want to thank my parents for paying for my flight, and of course I want to thank Jenni and Craig for their hospitality while I was in D.C.

Look for my article in Friday's Miami Student which can be found either on campus or at www.miamistudent.net

I'll post more photos tonight.

Thanks again and CNN had nothing on us! (OK, maybe they did)

-Adam Hainsfurther '11

No Sign of Jack Bauer... yet.

OK, so now that my first full day in D.C. is winding down (I'm writing this at 11:40) I figured it would be nice to give everyone a recap of how the day went.

To start off, Jenni (my cousin) took me to Union Station to meet up with Craig (her boyfriend for those of you who didn't read my photo post) for lunch before we hit the Hill to grab our tickets to Tuesday's events. After packing into the Union Station food court (BUSIEST FOOD COURT IN THE WORLD!) and scarfing down a burger and fries we headed over to the Senate office building so that Jenni and Craig could get their tickets, but after seeing one of the many massive lines on the Hill we decided it'd be best if we split up. Craig and I then took off for the Longworth House Office Building, where we hit another massive line. 

After chatting with a former News Anchor from Greensboro-turned- Mary Kay director and a professor from Lincoln, Nebraska among other people I was presented with an interesting question, "Are you from Ohio?" The reason I say this was interesting was because A. I'm not from Ohio originally, and B. I was wearing a Cubs hat, Lacoste polo, and a coat so I have no idea how the girl asking me could possibly infer that I was from Ohio. Anyway, as it turned out, the girl was part of a news-team from Bowling Green's BG News newspaper looking for an Ohioan (I guess I was close enough) to interview. After doing the interview, a Japanese T.V. crew came running up to me and shoved a camera in my face, why, I don't know, but it was funny.

After waiting in line for about an hour we made it inside and past security. Craig had to make a stop at Congressman Brad Miller's office. Miller is a representative from North Carolina (Craig's home state). Congressman Miller was kind enough to take a picture with me and Craig (which I posted earlier).

From there we headed down a floor to Congressman Boehner's office. The Congressman wasn't around but I did manage to get my ticket from a pair of very nice aides. Upon opening my envelope I found not just a ticket, but a map, a program, a picture of Obama, a picture of VP-to-be Joe Biden, and, easily one of the coolest things I could have gotten, an invitation from Obama and Biden to the inauguration itself. I'll post pictures of the swag later.

Anyway from there I met up with Ben Lockshin, Stephen Kostyo, and Jessica Gephart, all members of Miami's College Democrats. After searching for a while (my phone had died earlier in the day) we finally were able to find each other at the Air and Space Museum and then headed off to the National Gallery of Art on the Mall, where we all compared inauguration seats (Ben and I will be in the standing sections of Purple and Blue respectively while Stephen and Jessica lucked out to get actual seats in the desirable Orange section). After hanging out and admiring some art (as well as getting told by security guards that the corners of my manila folder were to sharp to point at the art from 3 feet away) we decided to part ways.

To close out the night I got Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries, which was hands down the best fast food I've ever eaten, and chilled while doing some writing, photo uploads, and what not (which included watching the Allen Iverson shut down the Memphis Grizzlies in the "6th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Classic") .

Now the one observation I had about D.C. today was that there was a ridiculous amount of security today. Honestly I don't know where these guys came from but there were at least three cops/security guards/government agents for every one person. Not only that but they were armed to the teeth. I was walking back from getting dinner and swear I saw two cops holding AK-47's. I've never seen one of those outside of a video game or History Channel show, so to see two, being held by cops, was a bit of a culture shock.

At Union Station I saw cops with full out body armor, multiple guns, dogs. Honestly I was half expecting Jack Bauer to show up. Lucky for everyone he didn't (how many bad days can one guy have). There were police dogs everywhere I looked. I think half the city's sidewalks were off-limits. To top things off I don't think a five minute span went by where I didn't hear a siren go off either because a cop was speeding off or someone in the government was going somewhere in their blacked-out SUV's. 

If this is what the day before the inauguration looks like, I can only imagine the insane security I'll get to experience tomorrow.

That's all for now, more coverage and photos tomorrow.

Until then CNN's got nothing on us.

-Adam Hainsfurther '11

Brad Miller, Obama-Ville, and a Porta-Potty Army: Photo Highlights from Day 1

OBAMA-VILLE USA!

Pepsi's idea of change: A new logo and an ad campaign that rips of our new Head of State. One more reason to drink Coke

              

People waiting in line for tickets (I waited for over an hour)

Those buses were literally an inch away from each other and going in opposite directions.

     

     

 More lines

Hey look...more lines!

   

   

The Army of Porta-Potties lined up for Tuesday's festivities

                 

  Some Buckeye-fans (and Ohio natives) in line for tickets

Me, Congressman Brad Miller, and Craig (My cousin's boy friend)

Ikea is also cashing in on "Change"

More "change" as sold to you by Ikea

The Capital from the Mall

Before the Inauguration (look for During and After tomorrow)

A penny saved is $4999.99 earned

Well, I finally made it to D.C. My journey was not too arduous, but man has it taken a long time to get here. Here's how this whole thing got started:

About a week before the election I was sitting at a Miami hockey game doing some writing for my USCHO.com article in between periods. Well I realized that later that week history would be made as we would be electing our 44th president and thought to my self, why don't I shoot an email over to the editors of the Student and offer my services to cover the inauguration (and pay my own way). A few days later Barak Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States. I won't lie, I did vote for Obama, who as we all know is the first African-American president of our great nation. As a native of the Chicago suburbs, I've followed Obama since he ran for senate in 2004 against Jack Ryan and then Alan Keyes. He was a great state senator, an even better senator, and I was ecstatic when he was elected as our president.

After being informed of my assignment I quickly hit some road blocks. First I had to figure out where to stay. It came down to splurging a ridiculous amount of money (something I don't have seeing as I am a college student) on a hotel room, or I could stay with my cousin at her apartment in China Town. After many attempts to convince my parents to splurge for the hotel (all of which failed) I sent my cousin an email asking her if it would be cool if I crashed there during inauguration week. Honestly, as nice as a hotel would have been, her apartment is pretty swank for someone just out of law school. plus, her queen-sized air-mattress I slept on last night was probably better than my mattress at school (sad I know).

After locking down a flight to D.C. for all of $10 (thank you Dad for the all of the sky-miles) my next task was getting an actual ticket to the event. So I started emailing every politician in Ohio and Illinois looking for a ticket. I called the senate press gallery to get a press pass but was repeatedly (and often rudely) told that the Miami Student didn't get a pass to the inauguration for some reason.

I didn't hear anything good for a very long time. I could probably make a children's book from all of the "We're sorry to inform you..." emails that I received. And then something wonderful happened. I slept in over winter break. Well, not just that, but it was pretty nice. No I woke up and saw I had a missed call from a number I had never seen before. I also had a voicemail. So I checked the message and it was someone named Erin from John Boehner's office. Yes, the same John Boehner how hit Brick Street with the College Republicans earlier in the year. Erin told me to call her when I got the message. I immediately called back and was informed that I was on the short-list for tickets to Obama's big day and that I'd find out for sure right after Christmas.

Well Christmas came and went, and I still hadn't heard from them. Then New Years passed by, still no call. So I took it upon myself to call Boehner's office again. After a vague conversation with Erin about a letter they sent to my house at school, she told me i'd be getting an email shortly. Very confused about if I was getting a ticket or not, I patiently waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally about 10 minutes later (OK so I wasn't that patient) I got an email saying that yes I had a ticket. I just about went nuts. I actually got a ticket.

So now I got to play the waiting game for a couple of weeks until yesterday. I flew out of Dayton and into Dulles International Airport outside of D.C. From there I hopped on the Washington Flier to the nearest Metro stop, took the orange line (which was surprisingly empty) to Metro Center, then jumped on the red line (where I felt like a sardine) until my stop. 

Security hasn't been that crazy yet. I've seen an average number of cops around. I mean it is D.C. so obviously the average number of cops at the capital is different than that of the average number of cops in Chicago or Cincinnati is. The one thing that I have noticed is that there was a cop at just about every intersection.

Another crazy thing I noticed is that on just about every block (at least in China Town) there is an Obama-themed shop. I walked past Obama-Land Super Store and Inauguration Super Store on my way to the apartment. It was nuts.

I also realized how lucky I was to have a place to stay. It seems like 80% of the people I've met aren't form D.C. I heard stories about people renting out dorm rooms for $400 a night. $400 a night to stay in a  dorm?! American University and Georgetown must have really nice dorms if kids can charge $400 a night to stay there. I also heard a story about someone paying $5000 to stay on a couch. Not a sofa bed or a futon, a couch. A standard couch. I don't know who would throw down $5000 to sleep on a couch, but unless it's the president's couch, I'm going to say they over-paid. But them's the 'breaks' in D.C. this week.

Today I'm heading over to the Hill to pick up my tickets and meet with some of the College Democrats that also got tickets from Boehner (who, oddly enough, is a Republican). Hopefully I'll be meeting with some important news people at some point in time, and then who knows. There's a lot to see and do here before tomorrow's craziness.

Photos will be posted later.

Until then, CNN's got nothing on us!

-Adam Hainsfurther '11