VivirLatino

Elizabeth Alexander (the woman who recited a poem during the inauguration) has gotten a lot of flak for her poem. Some have said very plainly that it just wasn’t a good poem. Others have gotten more academic and called it too prosy. Others–people I agree with–had this to say:

So leave it to a Woman of Colour…to say through poetry no less, and in a voice that reminds me of some spoken word artists, what I really wanted to hear. What stood out for me:

* Words are everything.
* Never forget history and whatever people have in the US, people of colour have BUILT IT and struggled for it. Also people of colour built capitalism!!!!
* Hope.
* Love – “What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national.” Yes, yes and YES!!!

Elizabeth Alexander also wanted to clarify some of the internet interpretations of her poem that are floating around and so sent this message out to followers:

hello my friends,

i wanted to send you all the official version of the poem. various
improper version of “praise song for the day” have been circulated on the internet and even in newspapers, culled from transcription. this community can understand how it feels for the poem to be out there with no line or stanza breaks — yikes. you can feel free to
circulate this *as long as you include the credit line from graywolf
press at the bottom*, which indicates that it is the official version
and respects copyright. in fact, given all of your networks, you’d be doing me a favor to circulate the poem — i’m trying to rectify those incorrect version out there.

it was a day beyond words, i have to say.

i also wanted to tell you all that during the official sound check,
the day before, they asked me to speak some poetry into the mike so
they could get the sound levels right. i recited miss brooks’
kitchenette building. it went out for miles and miles across the
mall. at the end i said, “that was kitchenette building by gwendolyn
brooks.” hundreds of tourists burst into applause!

that felt good.

love, elizabeth

Official version of the poem is after the cut.

Read more…

I think many of us here at Vivir Latino have expressed at least some amount of ambiguity with President Obama and the inauguration/election. On the one hand I was thrilled by Obama’s speech yesterday (the part about extending a hand if other’s hands were unclenched was especially nice), but on the other hand–well–a lot of the speech sounded so freaking familiar, it was rather frightening.

I really liked how Jon Stewart caught that sense of ambiguity–that sense of desperation, really–of so many of us.

How are you feeling on the first full day of President Obama? Do you like what he’s doing so far?

In case you missed the Obama speech, here is part of it–read the full thing here.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far–reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

Read the rest of it here.

See the new White House website. AND check out the White House blog!!!