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ShareWare OnLine Volume 2 (CMS Software)(1993).iso
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1993-03-23
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A Free American at the Mall Festivities
Partying For Bill On A Sunday Afternoon
by Jeff Epstein
Sometimes, the most important things are the simple ones. The Inaugural
festivities on the Mall during a Sunday in January seemed like nothing else
so much as the midway of a county fair. On a crisp but tolerable winter day,
the Mall was filled with white tents offering live entertainment, craft
exhibitions, and, thankfully, little government propaganda (the NASA tent
sold itself as education, and, fortunately, was so).
The crowds were jammed so tight I never got to see most of the
entertainment, and barely made it through the food tents.
It could be said, and has been said, that all this fuss over the
inauguration of a new president is a bit self-indulgent and silly. But the
thought struck me that what this was about something far more than mere
frivolity. Or, perhaps frivolity was the point, because what America really
needs right now, amid all the serious and grim facts Bill Clinton insists we
face, is a good party.
And nobody gives a party like America. The day was punctuated with
delicious moments among the chaos, such as when Aretha Franklin braved the
Mall. What she was doing there is anybody's guess, but there was no
mistaking her exit, as two chains of big men with linked arms formed a
fast-moving airspace for Franklin to escape. She did so, looking happy but
nervous, as she was cheered on with screams of "Aretha for President!" It
looked, from my vantage point, as if she left from the area of the
cheesecake tent. If she sampled cheesecake, she was more fortunate than
most, because the tent was apparently closed. Still, it was a beehive of
activity, surrounded by onlookers and TV cameras, but if there was anything
worth watching, I missed it.
Finding a spot to watch the show at the Lincoln Memorial was another
story altogether. It quickly became clear that the area on either side of
the Reflecting Pool would not provide any kind of a view, so I moved off
to the south side, and found a tiny tree to lean on. The spot provided a
clear view of one of the three large TV screens reflecting the action.
(Strangely, the video was in real-time, but the audio lagged behind by a
half-second, resulting in live performances that looked like the worst
grade of lip-synching. Such is modern technology.)
The show itself as wonderful, featuring a galaxy of stars. But the best
moment, perhaps, was the first appearance of the Clintons and Gores.
Following "Fanfare for the Common Man," they stood at the top of the Lincoln
Memorial stairs, looking out over the thousands that greeted them with a
roar. Bill Clinton didn't smile, and I understood why. I was standing there
with a lump in my throat, and he looked for all the world as if he was, too.
That undertone struck again at various points in the show - as the
Clintons travelled across the Memorial Bridge and rang the bell, as the
fireworks lit up the Potomac. That we need to have our hope restored, we
need to * not * let our dreams die. We need to refresh our spirit
periodically and find reasons to think that just * maybe * we can make
things work, after all.
Fun is the lubricant that lets our loads roll more easily, and, heaven
knows, we needed some fun. For all of our weaknesses, our strengths are
greater. Nobody does a party like America, as proven by that memorable
Sunday on the Mall.