Oh, I'm so moved and so happy and so hopeful. What a wonderful feeling! We watched it as a school, and it was fantastic to hear the girls cheering (and making snide comments when Warren took the podium, which I pretended to shush but was secretly amused by). I have so many things I want to say about the speech and the music and everything that I don't even know where to begin. So a few of my first thoughts-

-Regarding Aretha's hat: The reason NPR referred to it as a crown is because of the tradition (especially in the south, but all over the US) of African American women and their church hats. A wonderful book about this tradition came out in in 2000 called Crowns, and the book has been adapted to a musical (which I saw and loved):

Countless black women would rather attend church naked than hatless. For these women, a church hat, flamboyant as it may be, is no mere fashion accessory; it's a cherished African American custom, one observed with boundless passion by black women of various religious denominations. A woman's hat speaks long before its wearer utters a word. It's what Deirdre Guion calls "hattitude...there's a little more strut in your carriage when you wear a nice hat. There's something special about you." If a hat says a lot about a person, it says even more about a people-the customs they observe, the symbols they prize, and the fashions they fancy.

Photographer Michael Cunningham beautifully captures the self-expressions of women of all ages-from young glamorous women to serene but stylish grandmothers. Award-winning journalist Craig Marberry provides an intimate look at the women and their lives. Together they've captured a captivating custom, this wearing of church hats, a peculiar convergence of faith and fashion that keeps the Sabbath both holy and glamorous.

In that tradition, Aretha's hat struck me as a gorgeous salute to African American heritage and, as always, Aretha's personal "hattitude."

-The speech itself--so many things to say, but I want to start by echoing Jessica's sentiment that it is so nice to be included as a real American, even though I am agnostic. Go Obama! The rest of my thoughts will have to wait until I can collect them into some semblance of order.

-I am totally in love with the First Family.

-The quartet of superstars playing the new arrangement of part of Copland's "Appalachia Springs" blew me away. What a perfect choice for source material, and what an amazing new interpretation of it. I've sung the original folk song Copland wove in ("Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free, tis a gift to come down where we ought to be, and when we find ourselves in a place just right, it will be in the valley of love and delight") and the full orchestration of Copland's symphony, so it meant a lot to me personally. Plus...seriously, could you get four more talented musicians? Wow.

Okay, that's all for now--must somehow now go teach. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Though he weirded me out when he was talking about "committing [the Obamas] to your care, lord" because isn't that what you say at funerals?

Heh. I was thinking, "Wait, aren't they already under God's care?"

well, if you re-read the posts, it seemed like there was a def. boo-Warren, yay-other dude vibe until Liese said something.

They say "commit into your hands" stuff at commissioning type events too, like sending a new church leader off or whatnot.

Obama is left handed! I didn't realized that! AWESOME!! :)

"committing [the Obamas] to your care, lord" because isn't that what you say at funerals?

It is. It weirded me out too.

BTW, This American Life from last weekend is all about the inauguration, and includes an interview with the evangelical guy who did a prayer at the DNC (? I believe) and how much backlashhe got for doing that. Along with everything else in the hour, it's fascinating listening.

well, if you re-read the posts, it seemed like there was a def. boo-Warren, yay-other dude vibe until Liese said something.

And not only that, the boo-Warren has been incredibly antagonistic and attacky to evangelicals in general, which has been really unfortunate. For all the talk of how the choice of Warren feels like a personal attack, there's been a lot of similar invocations of evangelicals on the board the last few days.

They say "commit into your hands" stuff at commissioning type events too, like sending a new church leader off or whatnot.

That makes sense. I've really only heard it at funerals, though, which is why it was kind of creepy to my ear.

I'm not a huge fan of Billy G's either, but I like his speech more than Warren's. It reads broader to me, more univeral in theme and well, not having the Lord's Prayer at the end.

So, it's ok to invoke racism at the Inauguration

I don't think anyone was saying that.

I don't either. I haven't heard the benediction, so I'll wait to have an opinion.