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Inauguration

[Credit: Inauguration Day, Washington Post; US Capitol. Getty Images]
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Inauguration Day. President Joseph R. Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris promise a new day. "I know these are dark times but there’s always light," Biden said on the eve of his inauguration. Do you see a hint of that light today? Write about this moment in history as you see it.

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Responses to this Challenge

Jan 20
essay challenge: Inauguration

Inauguration Day Thoughts

It's 9:27 P.M. I'm sitting alone, in my bed, and my head is racing. 

America. What do you think of when the word pops up in your mind, on your feed, flashing across your TV screen? Right now, I'm pretty damn sure that the answers aren't as great as a lot of people would hope. 
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Posted: 01.20.21
Jan 20
nonfiction challenge: Inauguration

An Election Reflection, Part II: On Patriotism in 2021

I watch the inauguration live on TV in my school library. The clouds literally parted in DC right when Lady Gaga started singing. I felt my heart pounding along with the beat of the "President's own Marine Corps band". When I was young, one of my first words was flag. I loved American history ( still do) and was very patriotic. These days, that feeling is harder to dig up the way it used to be. It's hard to feel patriotic especially during the difficult year we have had and especially during the weird pomp and display of the inauguration. I don't know, though, I guess for a moment there I was hopepful. Hopeful for our country and for the future and the new administration. Some say hope is a waste of time in this dystopian world of ours, but in that moment – in that moment – hope was all I had to go on.
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Posted: 01.20.21
Jan 20
poem challenge: Inauguration

Time Played a Trick On My Good Friend William

11/04/2020 2:31 a.m The Shadow comes lurching across the plains

Where has your America gone Walt Whitman?
What rough beast slouches now towards our capital?
Dragging the cursed dregs of society in his cacophonous wake,
Slogging waste deep through the mires of deceit.

What penance comes rapping now on our midnight door?
A reckoning has come to be sure
Two savages now, grapple in the widening gyre.
A victorless battle fought by its victims

Visions fill my mind, dancing specters of what could have been.
A choir of varied harmonies sings in my ears,
When did the melody collapse?
When did this war begin?

A specter of biblical proportions.
Here comes the beast crowned by the people,
Who flung that gilded door open for him?
A realization comes in with the dawn.

America, pay no attention to the bloodstains on my hands for they belong to all of us,
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Posted: 01.20.21
Jan 19
poem challenge: Inauguration

America, Part 1

I am a kid. 
I am just a kid.
Who has done nothing wrong,
but is afraid for 
my life & the 
lives of the peolpe around me.
I am not normal.
No one is, but I 
am not a 
standard person in 
society. Sometimes I
get scared and I can't breathe. 
Other times, I 
can't focus on anything.
& even others...
I convince myself (somehow)
that I am not worth it. 
That I shouldn't be here.

Because America is telling me that. 
America, you are a little voice,
stuck inside my head,
telling me 
I do not &
will never belong in society
as I really am.
I really don't want to believe you,
but I feel like I
have no choice.  Because you are
"The Promise Land,"
"The Melting Pot,"
all that crap that you 
claim you are.

An apron does not
a waiter make.
A crown does not
a king make. You need
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Posted: 01.19.21
Jan 19
poem challenge: Inauguration

Is it Wednesday yet?

Trees whirled past as the car
Flew swiftly past.

The trees were a blur
Of green
And golden. 

I asked my mom when was Inauguration Day. 
What was
Inauguration Day?

The media was
Swarmed with news about what 
Would happen Wednesday. 

And so,
I searched
Inauguration Day on the
Web. 

About 268 million
Results after 0.68
Seconds. 

Is it Wednesday yet?
Is it Wednesday yet?
Is it Wednesday yet?

Riots might
Happen and there will be
Violence. Joe Biden will 
Move into office
On the
Inauguration Day. 

Republicans were fighting
Against the 
Democrats. 

People dying because
Of riots. 

Is it Wednesday yet?
Is it Wednesday yet?
Is it Wednesday yet?

Washington D.C.
Was a fortress

And everywhere you went
Every corner you 
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Posted: 01.19.21