Dr. Metablog

Dr. Metablog is the nom de blague of Vivian de St. Vrain, the pen name of a resident of the mountain west who writes about language, books, politics, or whatever else comes to mind. Under the name Otto Onions (Oh NIGH uns), Vivian de St. Vrain is the author of “The Big Book of False Etymologies” (Oxford, 1978) and, writing as Amber Feldhammer, is editor of the classic anthology of confessional poetry, “My Underwear” (Virago, 1997).

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Inauguration Highs and Lows

I couldn't bear Rick Warren.  I have no tolerance for the unctuosity of preachers, and Rick busted all standing records for unctuosity.  I thought he was entirely too Christian — if there is one event that should be absolutely ecumenical, it's an inauguration.  Also embarrassing was Elizabeth Alexander's poem — poetry by the yard, absolutely prosy, undistinguished, predictable, and read in such a pretentious I-am-a-poet-all-hail-poetry-and-me voice that I had to leave the room.  The Perlman-Yo-yo Ma thingy left me cold.  Why not play some proven piece of celebratory music, especially since Aaron Copland had already made a major work out of "simple gifts."  Three cultural low points, as far as I am concerned, but all of them redeemed by Aretha Franklin's hat. Praise to Luke Song, its designer, and all hail the queen of soul, the queen of hats, and also the absolute and utter triumph of undiluted, unparalleled African-American churchladyness. The hat made the whole day worthwhile. 

I also liked Obama's speech and Bush's helicoptering the hell out of there.   And wheel-chair bound Dick, who hurt his back trying to smuggle out boxes of top-secret stuff that he should have left behind.  

Hey, Barack, do you want my advice for 2012?  In a nutshell: less religion, more hats.  

2 responses to “Inauguration Highs and Lows”

  1. Otis Jefferson Brown Avatar
    Otis Jefferson Brown

    Nowadays when someone dies at age 70 we think, “So young. Too bad he/she didn’t live another 15 years.” The four historic U.S. inaugurations have been Washington (1789), Lincoln (1861), FDR (1933) and Obama (2009) – four inaugurations separated by roughly 70 years. Three relatively short lifetimes, that’s how young this country is. In 1789 there was no nation, no legal/constitutional precedent for anything. In 1861 there was still slavery, and women couldn’t vote. In 1933 there was neither Social Security nor any safety net to speak of. Who knows what changes the next 70 years will bring?
    The glow of nostalgia surrounding JFK’s inaugural address in 1961 is historical revisionism at its most myopic. I remember the acute disappointment felt by liberals. JFK made only passing reference to civil rights. His was mainly a cold-war speech, designed to show – in the post-McCarthy age – that young liberal Democrats could be as tough on the Reds as old conservative Republicans. The result was the Vietnam debacle.

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  2. pagost Avatar
    pagost

    doctor, I love your writeups on the inauguration and bad professor. I liked yoyo ma and the other virtuosos and am surprised you did not mention lowery who was the highlight for me, but I agree that warren and elizabeth whatshername were sappy. So… I wonder what you think about goethe’s quote to the effect of “when you commit to a course of action the universe adjusts accordingly”, or something like that. You’ve got a perspective on 18th C I’ll never have. This has nothing to do with the inauguration, I’m just using the comment feature. Or maybe it does.

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