Stateside With Rosalea: Toodle-oodle ooh!

Possums, just two more sleeps until the Bush presidency ends! Thousands of people have traveled from the Bay Area to Freezy D.C. to watch the inauguration, including the 100-year-old mother of a customer at my local convenience store, undaunted by the thought of the crowds and the cold.

I’ve been out and about this sunny, 60-degree Oakland afternoon getting some images of the local excitement and anticipation.

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The San Francisco Chronicle will be coming out with a special 2009 Inaugural Package but also has special expanded inaugural coverage, January 18-25. The Bay Area News Group, which publishes the major metropolitan papers in the East Bay, has subscription specials for their Sunday and Wednesday editions, and an online feature—oddly, at time of writing, entitled “Inauguration 2008”.

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In De Lauer’s 24-hour newsstand on Broadway in Oakland—a city institution since 1907—the magazine rack at the front of the store is dominated by Obama-related front covers.

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The gazebos set up on a sidewalk near where I live have changed their wares from T-shirts saying Obama For President, which were sold in the lead-up to the Democratic Convention and the election, to President Obama T-shirts for the inauguration.

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An enterprising merchant who likes to remake already created clothing into something new, Cynthia Lloyd of Cyzuki has used some of those earlier T-shirts, and added crochet work to make elegant Obama T-dresses.

rosalea.barker@gmail.com

--PEACE--

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