| Yes We Did! by Katie Massie On the plane from Boston to Washington, I saw a couple of people with bags with pictures of the Obama family, and lots of hats that said Barack Obama, 44th president. I had a lot of fun the whole trip reading people’s different pins and stickers that said funny things. I sat down next to two men. The one on my right, was fiddling with his Blackberry the whole time, and the other was very kind and answered all my questions. He handed me the things I needed and helped me find the menu for drinks. These were the first, of many, signs of kindness I saw throughout this trip. ☺☺☺☺☺ When we were off the plane, and in the Washington Dulles airport, I noticed more and more people had pins, hats, tote bags, sweatshirts, and stickers that had something to do with the Obama family. But it was when we passed the newsstand, when I really stared at the “inauguration spirit”. Every magazine had a photograph of Mr. Obama, that is, every magazine except a women’s magazine which had a big picture of Michelle on the front. But the adult Obamas were not the only ones who were getting the fame. Malia and Sasha Obama had their faces on several of the family magazines, posing cheerfully with their parents. I looked at it with wonder, thinking of the day I would tell my grandchildren of this. As I turned back to my parents, I saw my dad buy a box of Milk Duds, and in return he received, not only a box of Milk Duds, but an Obama pin as well because the lady behind the counter had seen his Obama hat and had liked it. My mom pointed to the balloons. I twisted back and gazed with my jaw dropped, at all the Inauguration balloons. There had to have been about a hundred. But that was not all. There were sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, stickers, and on every one of them somewhere it said Obama. Soon he would be President Obama. It didn’t take very long to get to my dad’s friend’s house, and I was surprised at how little the traffic was. I thought that everything was going to be jammed up. Little did I know, a lot of crowds were coming my way. I knew that it was a very important event. I knew that I would not be able to repeat this day. I knew that it was a very important inauguration. But when it was 6:30 in the morning, and I had very warm blankets wrapped around me, all I was thinking of was how the air outside of my bed was several degrees lower than the temperature my blankets were making me. My mom, little do I want to admit it, had to almost wrestle me out of bed. I tiredly gave in, and my important day began. Morning – I dressed as fast as I could, because I was very cold. A tickle in my throat sprang up as we pulled the door shut, and did not go away until the end of the day, and it then jumped again, the next morning. I coughed the whole taxi ride to the Metro station, and through the crowds of people on the train. We saw newspaper after newspaper, sweatshirt after sweatshirt, and pin after pin. As we got closer to the Capital, the anticipation was obviously building. There was no space to move, but people were helping each other the whole time. Late Morning – Since we were stuck in place, a couple people said hi. “Hello! I’m from Denver!” “Hey, we’re from NY State.” “I’m from California.” “I’m from Massachusetts.” I piped up. Everyone asked each other’s names. Then my mom realized, with a groan, that she had left our lunches on the kitchen counter. She asked for some food. People gave up energy bars, and every bite made me my stomach more full, and made me happier. One lady fainted and everyone quickly started yelling for a doctor. Around Noon - As we came to the Capital, my parents became more daring. Instead of staying behind the Reflecting Pool, we moved up in front of it and had a much closer view. My dad moved a little bit to the center, to get good pictures, and my mom and I stayed near a screen and through the trees we had a clear view. We could hear the swearing in clearly. But I could hear his speech very well. The mass of people stretched farther than the eye could see. And it took longer for the speech to reach the people farther down, so we could hear a ringing echo of victory. But President Obama wasn’t the only one getting all the attention. Our former president was getting a lot of attention too. But he got a whole different kind of attention. When people saw even a glimpse of him, millions and millions of people were suddenly booing the man who led our country into a lot of screw-ups. But the time he got the most attention was when he was leaving in his helicopter. I don’t know who started it, I don’t know how it happened, but all of a sudden, I found myself and countless others singing as our former president left. But not just any normal song. “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye!!!” Everyone was so joyful. Afternoon – Numbly my parents and I stumbled through the streets. We were very cold, very tired, but in our minds we had a good thought that kept us going. Barack Obama is the president. Barack Obama is the president. As we passed huge lines for small cafés, we hoped we would be able to find somewhere to stop. Luckily, my dad’s friend invited us to his office. We stopped and had hot cocoa, and muffins, and I can’t tell you how good it felt to get out of the cold and to get food. I sat, all warm, in a new Inauguration sweatshirt. We still had a long way to go, but we had good thoughts and good people in the White House. The End |
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| new staff Katie (center) and Lucy (right), holding pizza boxes Boys (Jeremy, left, and Zack) were the only ones with any cash and bought the pizzas. Maya (left) and Eliza with tonics. |
| A REAL "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL" by Lucy Coombs The Somerville High school production of Bye Bye Birdie was excellent. My favorite cast member was Guchie Bessa. He played Conrad Birdie. I think that the first thing they did at the auditions for the part of Conrad Birdie was, “If you can sneer and still look like you’re smiling and stand like your back is really hurting you.....” and only Guchie could do that. Another really good player was Gabriella Scimemi. She played Kim MacAfee, who was going to be kissed by Conrad. Conrad, you see was a big teen singing idol. And he was going to be drafted into the army. He was going to kiss one last girl before he left. This fun and curious story is told by great singing and dancing, acting and dialog. |