Elizabeth Alexander to Read at Inauguration

I think one of the things that I have liked so much about Obama winning the Presidency is all the stories that come out surrounding him, who he knows, where he's from, and what it means for Black Americans. He was so clearly moved when he announced that he'd won in Chicago, for instance. It seemed so uncharacteristically non-political when he mentioned in that speech he mentioned the Civil Rights movement. You could just feel what it meant for Black Americans, even if you're not Black (like I'm not), and specifically what it meant to him to be a part of that.

So like I said, I've enjoyed the smaller stories that have come out, too. For instance, I just learned today that Elizabeth Alexander, who is a poet at Yale's African-American studies program, will be reading at his inauguration. The entire article is short and has some interesting anecdotes about Obama and her that I enjoyed. For instance, she is what you might call a second-generation Civil Rights activist. Secondly, she and Obama are friends because she had been on faculty at the University of Chicago that same time as him, making (in her words) this a double important ceremony for her. What a unique thing that must be for those who knew Obama, and her were progressive activists in this ongoing Civil Rights movement. Not only did a Black man win, but one of their good friends at that! That makes this historical event personal, which is so rare as to get to have even the first happen, but even rarer to have both. It'd be like being MLK's dissertation adviser, or the guy who cut Malcolm X's hair, or to have gone to church with Rosa Parks - to see history unfurl like that around you and including you is a powerful thing. Congratulations to Professor Alexander. I look forward to reading her poems.