OK, back to blogging.

What a week/month in Baltimore!

A couple of weeks ago, a state grand jury indicted the mayor, Sheila Dixon, on 12 counts. The mayor, of course, denies all charges; her attorney argues that the state prosecutors have targeted her for a long time, that after a 3-year investigation, the charges were not all that serious, and that she's done a good job, so why is she being persecuted. 

Since she was an early supporter of Obama, and he was coming to town last Saturday, we wondered how he and his staff would handle her appearance at his speech. Would there be photos of the two of them together?
Well, she was on the stand with the other dignitaries, but he did not mention her, not even to thank her as mayor for hosting the appearance, and at no time did they appear on the tv screens together. Probably the best solution, but it must have hurt her. However, her lack of ethics while she was on the City Council did put her in bad odor with the president-elect and his staff. She has done a pretty good job as mayor, but some of the things she's done and said as mayor suggests that she feels entitled. Too bad.  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.rodricks13jan13,0,2224880.column

Obama's visit to Baltimore on Saturday--one of the coldest days of the year--was exciting and attracted a large number of people, who stood for 3 plus hours to see and hear him. And he gave a wonderful speech, saying al the right things about the people of Baltimore and asking for our continued support in the hard times to come. I didn't go, but watched in the warm confines of my home.

The concert at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday was fabulous! I don't know how those performers survived in the cold, but I'm glad they did. We all got up and danced to Garth Brooks and the choir of young people who backed him up in Shout, and to Shakira, Usher, and Stevie Wonder. It joyful and serious at the same time.

The cold has persisted--temperatures in the low 20s--very unpleasant on Saturday and Sunday, but the last 2 days have been sunshiny and not windy, so it's been rather pleasant. But again, too cold for me to go down to Washington to see any of the inauguration. I admire the people who did.

Today, inauguration day, I went to our church and joined a group who meet once a week for breakfast, mostly former clients of the Samaritan Community, to make a LOT of chili, plus cornbread and rice to serve anyone who wanted to come watch the proceedings together. And a good-sized group showed up! Applause, cheers, and tears erupted at various times and we all stood up with now President Obama when he took the oath of office--a show of solidarity and support.