{"id":1825,"date":"2009-02-09T21:46:36","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T02:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2009-02-09T21:46:36","modified_gmt":"2009-02-10T02:46:36","slug":"lots-of-lincoln-hoopla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/uncategorized\/lots-of-lincoln-hoopla\/","title":{"rendered":"lots of LINCOLN HOOPLA"},"content":{"rendered":"

thursday is the celebration of lincoln’s 200th birthday.\u00a0 things are JUMPING here in the capitol city, let me tell ya.<\/p>\n

all kinds of activities, all the time, everywhere you look.<\/p>\n

on thursday, though…thursday there’s a lincoln dinner at the crowne plaza hotel, the 900 tickets have been sold out for a while now, and then they added an overflow room, 300 people get to eat dessert and watch the festivities on a screen.<\/p>\n

EVEN MORE HOOPLA because PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA is gonna be there!\u00a0 that’s right, the man himself, flying in (on a marine helicopter instead of air force one, i heard, although i can’t verify that and i guess it really doesn’t matter either way).<\/p>\n

of course we didn’t get tickets in advance.\u00a0 but because kevin is in the 114th regiment reenactment calvary squadron, THEY GET TO GO TO THE SHOW.<\/p>\n

first they were going to go just because it’s a lincoln dinner.\u00a0 then they weren’t going to get to go because of them carrying bayonets and guns.\u00a0 then they said they DO get to go, but their guns HAD BETTER BE EMPTY.<\/p>\n

so here’s the really good part – kevin said that if i could get a period dress, I COULD GO TOO.<\/p>\n

got one.\u00a0 lickety split.\u00a0 kevin and i have been ushering at “our american cousin,” a production that my friend pam brown is directing at the hoogland; it’s the play that the lincolns attended the night he was shot.\u00a0 debi iams, who is not just a costumer, but the person with her finger on the pulse of all needs costume-wise, ever, got me a dress to wear for the ushering, and i could also wear it to the dinner.<\/p>\n

I WAS SET TO GO.\u00a0 TO SEE OUR PRESIDENT.<\/p>\n

but then, yesterday, i had to go to a meeting of the 114th with kevin even though i hate meetings more than most things, and it was a very very VERY long meeting, so long that kevin had to buy me ice cream afterwards…but right at the beginning of the intermitable meeting, the guy in charge said that the CIVILIANS DON’T GET TO GO. THERE’S NO POINT IN YOU WOMEN TRYING TO GO UPSTAIRS IN THOSE HOOP SKIRTS, THE METAL IN THEM WILL SET OFF THE METAL DETECTORS, PLUS UNLESS YOU HAVE A TICKET, YOU CAN’T GET IN.<\/p>\n

damn.<\/p>\n

so then i had to sit there for ONE AND ONE HALF HOURS, being mad, listening to all the INTERMITABLE BLAH BLAH BLAH of the meeting.<\/p>\n

for nothing.<\/p>\n

at least kevin gets to go.<\/p>\n

at least he got me ice cream.<\/p>\n

i was thinking about going and greeting people as they came in the front door of the hotel, but kevin said that obama wouldn’t be walking in the front door, they’d slide him in some back entrance.<\/p>\n

damn.<\/p>\n

ok, so i guess i’m over it.\u00a0 my mom might get to see him – she’s a volunteer at the lincoln presidential museum, and she and her friend sharon are going to be setting up at the crowne plaza from three-six.\u00a0 the festivities start at six, and i suggested that she either go hide somewhere, or pretend that she’s very very busy still setting up or busy doing something.\u00a0 folding napkins, something.\u00a0 there will be other volunteers at the 6:00 shift (mom tried to get that one but too many people wanted it), so i’m hoping she can just blend in with those people.<\/p>\n

meanwhile.\u00a0 instead of getting to see PRESIDENT OBAMA, instead today i went with kevin to one of the many events he’s doing this week.<\/p>\n

this morning at the Old State Capitol (the place where in august we spent hours in the hot sun waiting for obama to show up with his new running mate joe biden), there was a NEW LINCOLN STAMP…celebration.\u00a0 damn, what did they call it?\u00a0 it was the unveiling of these four new lincoln stamps, and they were going to have a little ceremony.\u00a0 so i figured, might as well go.<\/p>\n

it was to start at 10, and we got there at 9:30.\u00a0 here is the line of people waiting to get in:<\/p>\n

\"stamp-1\"<\/p>\n

ok, so WHY WERE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE?\u00a0 FOR A STAMP THING?<\/p>\n

when i finally got up to the door, they said if we were there for the ceremony we could go on in.\u00a0 the people were lining up TO BUY THE STAMP.\u00a0 i guess they could get a cancelled stamp and it would be very historical and could probably fetch a good price on ebay.\u00a0 someday.\u00a0 maybe they were all just stamp fiends, i don’t know.<\/p>\n

kevin went off with his pack-o-soldiers and i tried to find a place to sit.\u00a0 i found one in the balcony, but i decided i wouldn’t be able to see, plus it was filled with children.<\/p>\n

here are the guys waiting around to go in.\u00a0 kevin is second from the right.<\/p>\n

\"stamp-2\"<\/p>\n

the ceremony took place right in the house chamber where lincoln worked.\u00a0 it was very historical, and when i do manage to make it inside the old state capitol, i remember what a cool place it is.<\/p>\n

i went in and somebody handed me a little card that was a program, and at that point i realized it was going to take longer than the 15-20 minutes i’d figured it would take.\u00a0 the program was inside an envelope that had THE FOUR NEW LINCOLN STAMPS ON IT, plus is was postmarked today’s VERY IMPORTANT DATE and so now that can be the start of my retirement plan; i’ll hang onto it and i’m sure it’ll net me big bucks in 20 years or so.<\/p>\n

i found a place to stand pretty close to the front, and it wasn’t long before they started.\u00a0 the 114th came in almost immediately and i wasn’t quick enough with my camera.\u00a0 so here’s kevin’s back, plus that startled-looking woman in the big pink sweatshirt.<\/p>\n

\"stamp-3\"<\/p>\n

kevin asked me how they looked when they marched up there, but i had no idea because everybody was standing so all i saw were the tops of the flags.\u00a0 but they did a fine job marching in, nobody tripped or anything.<\/p>\n

then there were some speeches and at first i though OH MY GOD NOT SPEECHES, THE DAY AFTER A NEVERENDING MEETING.\u00a0 but the speeches were pretty short and not bad.\u00a0 first was our Mayor Davlin.\u00a0 he must be VERY VERY HAPPY because HE GETS TO GO TO THE LINCOLN DINNER.<\/p>\n

\"stamp-4\"<\/p>\n

The US postmaster spoke, and he talked about lincoln being a postmaster at new salem and how he carried letters in his stovepipe hat.\u00a0 an historian also spoke, and he mentioned the letters in the hat, too, so i guess it’s probably true.\u00a0 the historian talked about how much it cost to send a letter, but then he said the the person receiving it was the one who had to pay for it.\u00a0 i thought that was interesting.<\/p>\n

they unveiled the stamps, and there they are.\u00a0 sen. dick durbin was there, second from left.\u00a0 the tall guy is the us postmaster.<\/p>\n

\"stamp-5\"<\/p>\n

Durbin was spoke and here’s an OK photo of him.\u00a0 i’m annoyed by how dark these photos are.\u00a0 as i was taking pictures i watched a woman sitting in front of me who had a fancy digital camera that had a much better zoom.\u00a0 i guess something like that would be very expensive, plus not small and easy to stick in my pocket like kevin’s camera.<\/p>\n

\"stamp-6\"<\/p>\n

some kids from rochester high school were there; they sang at the beginning (what did they sing?\u00a0 something very patriotic.\u00a0 the star spangled banner?\u00a0 why can’t i remember), and then they sang at the end, “the battle hymn of the republic,” and they were very good.<\/p>\n

there were two interpreters for the deaf there; one was an older woman, and the other was a very very round fellow.\u00a0 i was watching him as they sang the battle hymn; during part of it the chorus broke into two and the guys sang one thing and the girls sang something else, and the interpreter kind of gave up there for a while.\u00a0 it was almost impossible to hear exactly what the guys might have been singing, and it wasn’t much easier to hear the girls and that would be a hard job, interpreting.<\/p>\n

here’s a picture of him, hard at work.<\/p>\n

\"stamp-7\"<\/p>\n

not a very good picture.\u00a0 even though it was hot and tortuous that day on the capitol mall when i got to see obama, at least i got a lot of good pictures.<\/p>\n

but this morning, i’m glad i went.\u00a0 it was pretty interesting and i felt that at least i was doing something to celebrate the big birthday.\u00a0 i definitely will need to eat some cake at some point later in the week, because really, that’s what a birthday is all about.<\/p>\n

ok then,<\/p>\n

monday night grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

thursday is the celebration of lincoln’s 200th birthday.\u00a0 things are JUMPING here in the capitol city, let me tell ya. all kinds of activities, all the time, everywhere you look. on thursday, though…thursday there’s a lincoln dinner at the crowne plaza hotel, the 900 tickets have been sold out for a while now, and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,8],"class_list":["post-1825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barack-obama","tag-birthdays"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6JLYy-tr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}