MotherReader

First, for Nonfiction Monday let me give a shout-out to the winner of the Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book winner, The Day-Glo Brothers, by Chris Barton, which I reviewed here. Check out all of the Cybils Award winners and buy yourself a book to support the site. I bought three myself.

Now today, I was wishing that I had a specific biography that would cover Presidents Day and Black History Month. In other words, an Obama biography. I didn’t have a new book on hand, and frankly am not much in the mood to write up a whole new post when today’s chores are looming over me like the five-foot snow piles towering over my driveway. The answer came to me in a book that I reviewed more than a year ago, but that has since been updated to reflect the new developments in Barack Obama’s life. You know, like becoming president.

Yes We Can: A Biography of President Barack Obama, by Garen Thomas, serves as a great biography for kids or a quick overview of the man’s life for adults. Written for older elementary school kids, the book covers Obama’s life story with an interesting narrative. The first two-thirds of the book seem drawn very strongly from his autobiography, Dreams from My Father. The last third fills in the rest of the story, namely his law school and political years. The book includes lots of photos, and chapters are separated by quotes from Obama — including a section of his New Hampshire primary speech, “Yes We Can.” The original book went to press before the Democratic primaries ended, but the newer version is updated with the conclusion of the campaign and of course, the ultimate results of the presidential election. Certainly it doesn’t have the personal depth and elegant writing of Dreams from My Father or the policy implications of The Audacity of Hope, but for kids or adults who want to know who Obama is and where he came from, this title is a great place to start.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today at The Art of Irreverence.

I’ve read a few things lately about Obama’s use of the teleprompter as a a crutch and been a little confused by the snarkiness expressed. After the years of stupid phrases that came out of Bush’s mouth, I can’t see teleprompting as a bad thing. Clearly for years it wasn’t used enough. Indeed, when Obama went off script on Jay Leno’s show he made joking reference about his bowling score being like the Special Olympics that made me cringe and made others furious. I’m glad that Obama immediately called the head of Special Olympics to apologize for the thoughtless mistake. But this quick, unplugged moment didn’t show me anything about what Obama was really thinking. It just showed me that these cultural verbal tics and punchlines that we’ve grown up with can come on out at bad times.

The Washington Post has an op-ed piece today called “What the Telepromter Teaches.” I was expecting another rant about Obama not being authentic or real. But instead, I was treated to a tribute to writing — and one great title phrase:

Those writers and commentators who prefer the unscripted, who use “rhetoric” as an epithet, who see the teleprompter as a linguistic push-up bra, do not understand the nature of presidential leadership or the importance of writing to the process of thought.

Governing is a craft, not merely a talent. It involves the careful sorting of ideas and priorities. And the discipline of writing — expressing ideas clearly and putting them in proper order — is essential to governing.

I am glad that someone took this non-issue and gave it an intellectual interpretation. I, for one, am tired of off-the-cuff statements that led us to tell terrorists to “bring it on.” Authentic? Yes. Stupid? Also yes. I’m thinking that we give thoughtful, crafted statements and governance a try. The piece’s writer, Michael Gerson, is no Obama fan, but he recognizes that “good writing has an authenticity of its own.” I couldn’t agree more.

This week both our vacation plans and our DVR imploded. I’ve spent a lot of time online trying to reconcile the fact that airline fares are going down to lure in travelers in a tanking economy with the reality that I can’t find a reasonable flight from DC to Las Vegas. It’s maddening. At the same time our satellite digital recorder died, taking with it hours of unwatched movies and TV shows, along with the ability to tape new shows. I can look at this as a mixed blessing. While it is annoying to have lost all those things we were going to watch, now we have less on our list of things to do.

I was worried about missing President Obama with Jay Leno last night, but fortunately the whole thing is available on the Tonight Show website. It’s a great interview, where Obama covers the AIG and banking issues, but also talks about how cool it is to ride on Air Force One. It’s no secret that I am a big Obama fan, but I loved watching him talk in this setting. He’s so genuine.

I’m too distracted to come up with a poem for Poetry Friday, but will direct you to the host, Wild Rose Reader. Besides, I have to save my energy to host Nonfiction Monday in three days. I’m looking at a woman in history book for my review... you know, for Women’s History Month. How about you?

I rarely request a title from the publisher, but when I heard about this book, I had to ask. Obama and Kadir Nelson? Lay it on me.

Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit was a bit of a surprise. For one thing, it’s small. Like smaller than a breadbox. (Does anyone use an actual breadbox or do we just use the expression?) I was expecting a regular picture book and instead it’s the size of a half-sheet of paper. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I thought you should know.

The second thing shouldn’t have surprised me at all since I’d seen the cover of the book, but it threw me anyway. This isn’t We Are the Ship Kadir Nelson or even Please, Puppy, Please Kadir Nelson. You won’t find his intensely real and lush painting here. Again, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I thought you should know.

What you will find are significant phrases from Obama’s speeches paired with sketches inspired by those words. Some of the sketches are very loosely rendered, like one featuring the backs of several people at voting booths. There are scenes from the rallies that are simply sketched, yet capture the feeling of the crowd and the energy. The illustrations of Obama are the most meticulously drawn, with an accurate and vibrant representation of the man.

Change Has Come offers a quiet, short space for reflection on this amazing election. I kept returning to one picture of a serious, resolute Obama that was accompanied by this phrase: “The audacity to hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.” Because it is tomorrow.

As I watched the Inauguration yesterday, an insight came to me as to the one gift that we give our children as future leaders of this great nation:

Digital photography.

You see, when I was growing up — as when all of our current leaders were growing up — the cameras were crap. The pictures were often blurry or overexposed. Someone’s elbow was in the shot. Or there wasn’t enough light or too much flash. Or the pictures simply faded in their albums. Let’s not even start on Polaroid.

It didn’t really matter then if the photos weren’t great, because these were our memories. Without digital cameras, parents took the picture and hoped for the best. With the cost of film and processing, people didn’t take that many pictures. And it was fine.

Until you become President of the United States and Life writes a book about you and all the pictures covering your earliest years are not good.

During the slower parts of the Inaugural day, I skimmed through The American Journey of Barack Obama. I won the book from Book Dads (Thanks guys!) and was really looking forward to spending time in the Obama world. But now I realize that I was mostly looking forward to the photography of a Life publication. What I didn’t think about was that only a fraction of Obama’s journey was photographed by the experts. A great deal of the book relies on the photographs from his family. Pretty much the same type of blurry, overexposed, faded, poorly framed photos that I grew up with.

I still enjoyed the book and am looking forward to really reading it, including the essays at the end from some great writers. I can still highly recommend it for Obama fans. But personally, I may look around for a book that only chronicles the campaign with fantastic photography. I’ll also look at my digital camera with new respect, knowing that if one of my daughters is ever leader of the free world, the biographers will have more than five thousand pictures from which to choose.

Leaders of tomorrow, we give you digital photography. You’re welcome.

Going to an Inaugural Ball is a surreal experience. You are dressed like a movie star, but you are checking in for the party at 5:00 p.m. like you were a senior citizen catching the Early Bird special at Denny’s. You’re prepared to wait in the cold with your warm dress coat and cashmere scarf, but there is nothing you can do about your feet frozen in their strappy Prada heels you bought on eBay. The music is too loud to talk, but you don’t know anyone to chat with anyway — even though you share the crowded space with hundreds of people. But for all this, the five minutes that President Obama and his wife grace the room will make the experience completely magical.

Or so I hear.

I was at home cleaning the hamster cage and wondering why the stylish Mrs. Obama chose to wear the dress of a 1980s debutante.

Like Cinderella, I didn’t get invited to the ball. And without a fairy godmother to swoop me into DC over the closed bridges (do pumpkin coaches count as official vehicles?), I stayed home with the family for the day and watched the whole Inauguration on TV. But it is a really good TV.

My family vetoed the trip downtown. Repeatedly, since I kept bringing it up. I think it was the last rally that did them in, and I honestly can’t blame them. The day before the election we spent an hour in traffic, ended up parking our car in a subdivision, walked two miles to the rally, waited an extra hour for Obama to get there, slowly made our way out with a crowd of 100,000 people, and walked two miles back to the car. The idea that the Inauguration could be more difficult to attend was far too much for my family.

And really, until they closed our highways and bridges into the District, Virginia had been lucky in the Obama camp. My family saw him three times. At an event in Fairfax, we were so close that could see his every gesture. As he walked out, my youngest got to shake his hand.

So yesterday, I left the TV on all day and we watched. We were reverently silent as he took the oath of office and as he gave his address. We smiled at Sasha’s thumbs-up gesture to her dad. We cheered as the millions of people on the mall waved their flags. I couldn’t be there, unless I acknowledge that we were all there. In spirit, in dreams realized, in hope unfurled — we were all there.

Eh, who am I kidding? She was there. She was really there (waiting for the story...). I was on the couch in my Obama T-shirt and ripped jeans eating Fritos. But it was still good.

First order of business: The Comment Challenge. It’s totally rocking! If you haven’t signed up yet to join us in spreading the wealth in terms of words, it is not too late. I repeat, it is not too late. Okay, you won’t have the whole twenty-one days, but we’d rather a little late than not at all. Story of my life there.

Now, on to Poetry Friday, hosted today at Check It Out.

I wasn’t sure how to introduce this, but since I saw Barack Obama’s words made into a found poem at Carol’s Corner, I’m feeling better about my choice. It was a quote from Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, at an event to support Obama’s candidacy.

Rosa Parks sat,
So Martin Luther King could walk.
King walked,
So Barack Obama could run.
Obama ran,
So we all can fly.

I love this so much. This week I’ve been very moved by the outpouring of emotion about President-Elect Obama, but I admit that Jesse Jackson crying at his victory speech got to me most of all.

(I’ve tweaked the wording. Here’s the exact quote: “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk, and Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama is running so we all can fly, so let’s fly.”)

Edited to Add: Apparently, this quote/poem has been going around with slight differences and, as far as I can tell, no direct credit. There’s even a T-shirt already. Which, by the way, I want.

I was surprised that I didn’t explode with happiness when it was announced that Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States. Or when Virginia went blue on the map — an amazing event. It couldn’t sink in. But when President-Elect Obama spoke tonight... wow. It felt real. It felt great.

This is from my email tonight and it says more at this moment than I can.

Pam —

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

I’ve got to say, besides the beautiful message of history, dedication, and gratitude, I totally love that we’re on a first-name basis.

Last night my family attended Obama’s final campaign rally, held here in Virginia. The rally turned out to be a little more involved than I had thought. Getting 100,000 people in a rural fairground will do that. After an hour creeping along the one road in, we pulled into a neighborhood, parked the car, and walked the rest of the way. Two miles. Inside, we waited an extra ninety minutes beyond the scheduled start time for Obama to speak. Afterwards, we had to take baby steps with the tightly packed crowd to get out of the fairground and then, at midnight, walk the two miles back to our car. Along the way we saw that drivers had simply abandoned their vehicles all along the road to the venue. Cars were on the shoulders, the paved walkway, even the median strip as far as we walked and beyond.

The verdict is out on whether we were in “real” Virginia at the time. Driving to Manassas, we saw signs proclaiming the area “McCain Country.” Inside the rally, however, I saw the real America that I know in the variety of people and colors and cultures. There on the fairgrounds all people — black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Muslim, young, old — were doing the same thing. Trying to see Obama through the freakin’ blinding lights focused out on the audience.

His speech wasn’t new, but it was inspirational. Even though we were cold and tired, it was exciting to be there with my family making history. But perhaps most important for me in looking around at this diverse crowd was the validation of an inclusive politics. This is where we belong. Change is coming. Hope is here.

I’m not going to take long on the Obama thing, but I have to mention the three references to reading or children’s books in the informercial last night. Yes, three.

In a speech segment Barack says, “No government program can turn off the TV set or put away the video games or read to your children.” The emphasis was his, as well as mine.

Then Michelle Obama talks about how Barack has his thing that he does with each of his daughters, “and for Malia it was reading through every single Harry Potter book, and they got through all of them.”

Then the segment about the family in Kentucky starts with showing the dad reading a bedtime story to his little girl.

Not bad for books and reading, huh?

(Okay, I have to add something. I went to find the video where Michelle and Barack talk at a party about reading Harry Potter, which I found. But it led to another video titled — I kid you not — “Barack Obama Reads Witchcraft to His Children.” You have to laugh, right? The video features Michelle talking about Barack reading the books, but starts with a text statement, “Does Barack Obama oppose Harry Potter like most Christian parents?” Most Christian parents? Really? So I suppose that the huge Pottermania that has spurred on the children’s book industry for almost ten years can all be credited to Jews. You’re welcome.)

I don’t usually participate in Nonfiction Monday, mostly because I’m generally not organized enough to do so. But today I’ll start my week of politics, elections, and um... Halloween with a biography.

First, let me say it makes no sense to me when people — or campaigns — say that we don’t know Barack Obama. With two books, numerous articles, twenty-two months on the campaign trail, and umpteen episodes of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, what’s left to know?

But for people who may want a quick version of the man, let me recommend Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama, by Garen Thomas. I won this from the raffle drawing at the Kidlitosphere Conference. Greg got the picture book Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope, but I like my book better anyway. (Nyah-nyah!) Written for older elementary school kids, the book covers Obama’s life story with an interesting narrative. The first two-thirds of the book seem drawn very strongly from his autobiography, Dreams from My Father. The last third fills in the rest of the story, namely his law school and political years. The book includes lots of photos, and chapters are separated by quotes from Obama — including a section of his New Hampshire primary speech, “Yes We Can.”

Having gone to press before the Democratic primaries ended, Yes We Can misses most of 2008 in its coverage. And, of course, it will also miss the result of the election, now eight days away. It doesn’t have the personal depth and elegant writing of Dreams from My Father or the policy implications of The Audacity of Hope, but for kids or adults who want to know who Barack Obama is, this title is a great place to start.

I know only yesterday I said that I was moving my Obama Love to YA for Obama, but I have to share this video from a rally in my home state of Virginia. It is inspirational, energizing and 100% positive. It actually gave me goosebumps and a lump in my throat. Please take the five-and-a-half minutes to watch it and pass it on to your friends. Please.


Let me note this line, from the five-minute mark: “Everyone in this auditorium, at some point, somebody stood up for you... They might not have been able to vote, but they marched and fought so you could vote.”

Because that’s what it all comes down to — voting. In that vein, I hope that you’ll be participating in a online event to Blog the Vote. I’ll let my new-best-friend Lee Wind explain:

Blog the Vote is a one-day Kid and Adult Lit Blogger Event, where we all blog on Monday, November 3rd, about the importance of voting on Tuesday, November 4th. Blog the Vote is about sharing WHY it’s important to vote. It’s about the issues that will be decided by whoever wins this election.

He hatched this plan alongside the amazing Colleen Mondor, who has agreed to track and keep a master list of posts. Here’s what she has to say:

The plan is to run a One Shot event on Monday, November 3rd, where all participants blog about why they personally think voting matters this year. You can write a post that touches on historical issues or policies of significance today. Anything you want to write about that expresses the idea that voting matters is fair game. The only hard and fast rule — and this is very hard and fast — is that you do not get to bash any of the four candidates for president and vice president.

Go to Chasing Ray for the official announcement and to get your post on the master list. As an example, Little Willow has the right idea already with this intensely moving post that incorporates voting issues and books. A winning combination in anyone’s... um, book.

If I didn’t do this, the next twelve days would be all election, all the time at MotherReader. So I’ve accepted an invitation to join and post at YA for Obama. I’ve put up a new post today and uploaded two videos. (Not my own — don’t be silly.) Anyway, come on by if you need a place to read, talk, vent, and connect. You’re invited.

I know most of the kidlitosphere bloggers don’t like to talk about politics on their blogs, but I gave up that high ground long ago. Um... sorry? Anyway, I’m offering a safe space to comment about the debate last night because I feel that some of us — and by that I mean me — need to talk about it.

Now my motto is, “If you can’t say anything nice, at least make it funny.” Based on that, I searched the opinions for a good bit about the debates that rang true, but was also funny. This is the only one — so far — that made me laugh:

McCain came off as sour, agitated and petulant. Obama — man, nothing rattles that guy. But McCain was two tics away from a vein-popping “You can’t handle the truth!” Jack Nicholson moment.

Gotta love movie quotes. And this was from Crunchy Con, a blog about conservative politics and religion. Makes you wonder what the liberals are saying! Oh wait, that’s me.

I found that quote in a round-up of opinions from Andrew Sullivan’s blog, a great place to find out more about the debate if you’re so inclined to do so. Or you can read the transcript at the New York Times. Like you’ve got that kind of time.

My main thought watching the debate was that Obama was calm, cool, articulate, and... presidential. McCain was like the angry old guy at the homeowner’s association meeting sniping about untrimmed hedges on the neighbor’s lawn.

Now there were times I got mad. McCain’s assertion that talking about horrible things shouted at rallies equals slandering all Republican rally attendees is a ridiculous diversion from a serious issue. I don’t think “health” of the mother should be put in finger quotes, no matter what you think the “pro-abortion movement” (my quotes are deliberate and derisive) is doing.

I was baffled by the rising celebrity of Joe the Plumber. Anyone else think that maybe Joe just needs a good accountant? Oh, and there were moments of amusement. The crowd actually laughed at the question of the moderator, “Why would the country be better off if your running mate became president rather than his running mate?” Obama talked about why Biden would be good president if need be. McCain instead talked about Palin like she was his feisty kid, even saying that he was proud of her. Gee, thanks, Dad. One of the best examples of Obama’s coolness, and his way of turning the topic around, was at this point in the debate.

SCHIEFFER: Do you think she’s qualified to be president?

OBAMA: You know, I think it’s — that’s going to be up to the American people. I think that, obviously, she’s a capable politician who has, I think, excited the — a base in the Republican Party.

And I think it’s very commendable the work she’s done on behalf of special needs. I agree with that, John.

I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we’re going to get serious in terms of research. That is something that every family that advocates on behalf of disabled children talk about.

Personally, I wouldn’t have been able to hold back a laugh at that question. This would also have been an ideal time for Obama to make sure that McCain understands that Palin’s son has Down’s Syndrome, not autism. I would have paid money to see that correction by Obama with a pointed and yet totally cool look. Awwwk-ward.

Overall, I thought it was certainly a more interesting debate than the other two. I do wonder if McCain realizes that going completely negative during the debate gave Obama the opportunity to answer all the criticism with his actual policies and the actual truth. In some ways, the whole debate came off more like the world’s angriest interview of Obama.

So, what did you think?

Originally, I thought that John McCain had sold his soul to the Republican Party. Now I think it’s possible that he has sold his soul to the devil. Lately it doesn’t seem like a big distinction, but it is. It really is.

I disagree with the ideology of the Republican Party, and think that cutting basic social services to undocumented immigrants is wrong. I am appalled with the political strategy of the campaign, and think that wasting the time of the American people on stupid issues like “lipstick on a pig” is wrong.

However, I am absolutely horrified by the current approach of McCain/Palin, and think that inciting angry mobs with insinuations and lies is wrong. Not just wrong in ideology or wrong in politics but morally wrong. Like God-Should-Smite-You-Down Wrong.

Who’s with me? Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, says in a Washington Post editorial that not only is the jeering use of Obama’s middle name insulting to Muslims, but more importantly, “The real affront is the lack of firm response from either McCain or Palin... [to] denounce the use of Obama’s middle name as an insult.” He goes on to note that the most recent attempts to change the level of disrespect have been small.

Along with middle-name teasing, which we should have been done with in grade school, we hear that we don’t really know Obama. This message coming after two books he wrote and twenty months on the campaign trail — and delivered by someone who apparently doesn’t read and has been on the campaign trail for barely one month. We hear that Obama “pals around” with terrorists and felons. Of course, Ayers bombed buildings before Obama was an adult, and the University of Chicago and two nonprofit boards seem to have vetted him into society, but somehow Obama should shun him. Now Rezko was convicted after Obama had dealings with him over his house and property, but somehow Obama should have predicted that and shunned him too. The Wright controversy won’t be coming up, because Palin has her own preacher issues. Plus, it’s a lot of work to paint someone as both a radical Muslim and a racist Christian — but looking at the campaign, it was still worth a try.

Now McCain and Palin take all this crap on the road and get people really, really angry. The party line is that they can’t control what the people in the rallies say, things like “terrorist” and “get him.” Oh, or what people do, like threatening the media after Palin slams the media. Bullshit. If they’re going to rile up the people, they have to take the responsibility. Or, as said in this New York Times editorial, “The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder.” The writer, Frank Rich, begins his article starkly and bluntly, noting our biggest fear with an African-American candidate.

And I swear, if some angry, idiotic person takes this sewage and does something stupid, unmentionable, unconscionable, then John McCain is going to hell. And at that point, the country’s going to hell in a handbasket with him.

FatherReader here, making a brief guest post (in no small part because Pam’s busy trying to get the kids ready for the first day of school tomorrow). But since she didn’t want to leave you, dear readers, without original content over the long weekend, she asked me to fill in. So be forewarned — I can’t claim to be as wittily smart-assed as MotherReader, so I tend to make up for it by being merely long-winded and inflammatory.

That said, I’m really just going to pass the buck and post a video we both found amusing this week. See, Pam and I are convinced that the main reason the G.O.P. campaign machine has promulgated the previously-unheard phrase “arugula-eating” in its attempts to smear Obama as elitist is that they needed something new: The de facto phrase when making such a smear — “latté-drinking” — just might raise some uncomfortable backlash accusations of racism. Y’know, what with Obama being of... blended racial heritage.

But rather than delve into a whole discussion on that topic (feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments section, of course), I just thought I’d post this similarly-themed Onion News Network segment. And then go see if I can pick up some arugula while waiting for my own morning latté.

Let’s have a Barack’n day, shall we?

First, a photo I found on Flickr that shows me and the girls at the Obama speech. Follow the long blue light down and you’ll see my fourth grader directly underneath. My seventh grader is to one side with a blue hat, and I’m on the other side. You can click on the picture for a closer look at where we’re sitting, and go here for the original and more pictures. I guess I didn’t need my camera after all.

In honor of my recent Obama encounter, I wanted to show a Wordle I made of his famous speech. But I couldn’t find my original attempt, so I did it again, and it turned out better than the first one. Here is my “Yes We Can” Wordle:
In addition, I pulled together some of the text of the New Hampshire speech. I cut some parts to give it more of a poetic feel, but truly this speech is pure poetry to me. And as he mentioned in yesterday’s talk, he wrote it himself. I had planned to put this up for Independence Day, but as it turns out today is perfect for it, too.

We know the battle ahead will be long,
but always remember
that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
nothing can withstand the power
of millions of voices calling for change...

We’ve been warned against
offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America,
there has never been anything false
about hope.

For when we have faced down impossible odds;
when we’ve been told that we’re not ready,
or that we shouldn’t try,
or that we can’t,
generations of Americans have responded
with a simple creed
that sums up the spirit of a people.
Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents
that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists
as they blazed a trail toward freedom
through the darkest of nights.
Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants
as they struck out from distant shores
and pioneers who pushed westward
against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized;
women who reached for the ballot;
a President who chose the moon as our new frontier;
and a King who took us to the mountaintop
and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can....

And so we will remember
that there is something happening in America;
that we are not as divided as our politics suggests;
that we are one people;
we are one nation;
and together, we will begin the next great chapter
in America’s story with three words
that will ring from coast to coast;
from sea to shining sea —
Yes. We. Can.

The amazing music video interpretation is here, and Poetry Friday is hosted by Under the Covers.

I just got back from an Obama event. What a rush. It was a town meeting held here in Northern Virginia, and I brought my two daughters. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, to my now crushing disappointment. I left it home because it doesn’t take decent pictures when you are far away from the subject. However, when you are so close to the subject that you could toss a Nerf ball to him... well then the camera would have been handy.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh, and did I mention that my cell phone wasn’t charged because it hasn’t been working, so I didn’t charge it? Of course, it would have done fine taking pictures of someone famous and perhaps presidential three feet away from me. You know, if the battery hadn’t died.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

But let’s focus on the positive. We did get there early and did get nice seats behind and to the right of Obama. We saw him in profile most of the time, but because it was town-hall style he did face us sometimes. The speech was interesting — not soaring rhetoric, but more down-to-earth policy. He did have some nice elements of humor in both his scripted remarks and his responses to questions.

There was one question in particular of interest to us book lovers, and that came from a woman who asked what Obama would say to young writers. He was surprised by the question, which he admitted was one he hadn’t heard before, but didn’t hesitate to answer. He referenced his two books, and specifically mentioned how he wrote them himself, along with many of his speeches. With a light inflection, he said, “In terms of getting a job, knowing how to write is a good thing.” He talked about how he kept a journal, and how it was important for teaching him not only how to write, but also how to think. But my favorite part was when he said, “Over the course of four years I made time to read all of the Harry Potter books out loud to my daughters. If I can do that and run for president, then you can find time to read to your kids. That’s some of the most special time you have with your children.”

If the entire remarks come online later, I’ll copy that whole section rather than relying on my scribbled notes on a volunteer application form. (I did find this video about him reading the Rowling books.) But I was too excited about a potential president that really cares about reading and writing to wait. Also exciting personally — the yin to the yang of leaving the camera home — Obama walked right by us, and my younger daughter got to shake his hand! Shake. His. Hand. My older daughter debated waving the copy of Harry Potter that she had brought along to read during the wait, but since it was book five, we decided that its extraordinary size might cause it to be seen as a weapon by the Secret Service agents if she wielded it over her head.

I’ve got to say it. Obama’s speech on race was extraordinary. It’s late, I’m tired, and I did not need to spend forty minutes listening to him. But I did, and... wow. Oh, and he wrote it himself. Double wow.

If you haven’t seen the speech, you can find it here or along with the Washington Post article. I couldn’t resist pulling out this one part for my book-loving peeps:

And it means taking full responsibility for own lives — by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

“And reading to them.” Yes.

I’m all discombobulated today. I blame the date. Leap Day. You just know adding an extra day to February is going to muck something up. All week, though, I’ve been looking forward to putting something different out for Poetry Friday. It’s a “Doonesbury” cartoon.

Then you can go over to the Slate website and see how the week of strips progresses. (“‘The Prose of Hillary Clinton.’ I don’t want to talk about it.” Ha. Ha.)

The Poetry Friday round-up is over at Kelly Fineman’s place today.

An article, “Finding Political Strength in the Power of Words: Oratory Has Helped Drive Obama’s Career — and Critics’ Questions” is over at The Washington Post. Does anyone else find it strange that Obama is being attacked for being too good as a speaker? I find it interesting as an Obama fan, certainly, but I also find it intriguing as a lover of words. How is it unfair in campaigning that he can string words together in a powerful way? The article doesn’t answer that question exactly, but it does break down his speeches, also mentioning that a big section in the middle of each speech is about policy plans, contrary to public perception.

Leap Day also brings us February’s Carnival of Children’s Literature, over at Anastasia Suen’s place.

Edited to add: Leap Day ends February and thus my guest blogging spot over at ForeWord. I've ended with one simple way to raise readers in your family. Go take a look at I Am a Mother Reader for my favorite kid story ever.