Today someone I’m acquainted with will be sworn in as the Vice-President of the United States. Don’t get all het up. This is Delaware. I picked up trash along the Red Clay Creek with another of our Senators whose name is now part of the retirement planning lexicon. It doesn’t mean I’m on his holiday card list either.
However, unlike most other inaugural ceremonies, I do plan to televise the ceremonies during my class periods as appropriate. I am still a seasoned enough cynic that I don’t feel assured that the coming four years are going to be any better than the last eight. I did not sit out in near zero (degF) temperatures on Saturday, like my sister and numerous friends, to hear the speeches at the stops along the Obama Express. I welcomed the excitement in my sister’s voice when she reported back to me by phone about the speech in Baltimore. I felt it was historic, but my cynic’s voice said – “Keep your feet warm. Watch it on TV.”
I am, though, cognizant enough that this inaugural is significant. I do not want any of my students to wish they *could* have watched it live on TV. And I myself, want to make my own impressions and not be dependent upon the infotainment business for my understanding of what happened.
