Obama Was Here!: An Inaugural Interlude at Book, Booker, Bookest

Well, he wasn't actually here at Book, Booker, Bookest, but President-elect Barack Obama and I share an alma mater-- Occidental College in Los Angeles (Eagle Rock), California.

Although he transferred from Oxy at the end of his sophomore year in 1981, Obama has indelibly left his mark on the College. All of these photos were taken at Oxy by yours truly after the November 4th, 2008, election.

Here's the Coons Administration building. According to PBS's Huell Howser of California's Gold, it's the likely location of Obama's first-ever political speech on divesting in apartheid South Africa. Click on the link for further information about the episode.

These are the steps in front of Coons.


Finally, here is the walkway in front of Johnson Hall. Obama encourages us to think differently about the world, including utility hole covers.
Yesterday, the nation was linked in at the Lincoln Memorial for the "We Are One" Obama Inaugural Celebration. Now, on the eve of Inauguration Day, also Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, many eagerly anticipate the end of an abomination, or "a bombin' nation," and the beginning of an Obama Nation.
Whatever your political perspective, it's hard to deny that Obama has inspired the imagination to imagine a nation anew.
A political life that began at 1600 Campus Road will soon arrive at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. From Eagle Rock, now to where the eagle rocks, rock on, Barack Obama!