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Mamma Mias a Hit No Matter What the Critics Say
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Inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander has many links to Washington & Obamas
Poetry is making a presidential inauguration comeback, Barack Obama having asked Elizabeth Alexander to read an original poem at his Jan. 21 ceremonies.
It will mark the first time since the second Clinton inauguration and only the fifth time in history that a made-for-the-occasion poem has been read at the swearing-in.
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(requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.For Alexander, 46, a poet and professor of African-American history at Yale University, the occasion will be a return of sorts, as well.
She grew up in Washington, attending Sidwell Friends School, where Barack and Michelle Obama are sending their daughters.
Anderson’s father, Clifford L. Alexander Jr., was a staff member of the National Security Agency in the Kennedy administration and an adviser on civil rights to President Johnson.
He later served as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and he was the first African-American secretary of the Army.
Elizabeth Alexander’s mother, Adele Logan Alexander, is an author and professor of African-American women’s history at George Washington University.
After Sidwell Friends, Elizabeth Alexander went on to receive her undergraduate degree from Yale and her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
Previous to teaching at Yale, where she will become the chair of the African-American history department next year, Alexander taught at several schools.
She met and became friends with Barack and Michelle Obama while she was on the faculty of the University of Chicago, where he was teaching law.
Alexander is also connected to the Obamas through her brother, Mark C. Alexander, a professor at Seton Hall University’s law school.
He served as the New Jersey director of the Obama presidential primary campaign and went on to be a policy director for Obama during the general election. He’s working now on the Obama-Biden presidential transition team.
Elizabeth Alexander, the author of four books of poems, received the $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize in 2007, the first year the prize was given.
The award recognizes a poet who has published at least one book of poems but has not received “major national acclaim.”
Other poets have applauded Obama’s selection of Alexander.
“I can only say, “Yay!’ She’s wonderful poet,” Rita Dove, the former U.S. poet laureate, told The Washington Post. “This is going to be a wonderful match.”
Alexander told the Times that she hoped that she would create an inaugural poem that “has integrity and life that goes beyond the moment.”
She follows in the footsteps of Miller Williams, who recited his poem, “Of History and Hope” for Bill Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997.
Previous to that, Maya Angelou read at the first Clinton inauguration, James Dickey at Jimmy Carter’s ceremony in 1977, and, most famously, Robert Frost for John F. Kennedy in 1961.
Like Dove, Angelou said that Alexander was the right choice to bring poetry back to the inauguration.
“She seems much like Walt Whitman,” Angelou told The New York Times. “She sings the American song.”
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This post is tagged with: Adele Logan Alexander, Barack Obama, Clifford L. Alexander Jr., Elizabeth Alexander, inauguration, Mark C. Alexander, PoliticsRead related stories: Politics · Recent Stories
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NY maestro Lorin Maazel rents out VA estate for inauguralDecember 23, 2008 at 12:30pm
Looking for a place to stay during Barack Obama’s inauguration? New York Philharmonic music director Lorin Maazel and his wife are offering their Virginia estate for $50,000 a night.
Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander Has Many Links to Washington Obamas
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Illinois businessman tied to ‘pay to play’ scheme to sell Obama seat
An Indian businessman with ties to both Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. is caught up in the probe of the governor’s alleged efforts to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
Investigators are looking at whether Raghuveer Nayak, a political and community leader in Chicago’s Indian community, offered to raise more than a $1 million for Blagojevich in exchange for the governor appointing Jackson to the Senate, the Chicago Tribune reported.
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(requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.Nayak, who became wealthy running a pharmacy and then a series of surgical centers in Illinois and Indiana, has given generously to both the governor and to Jackson
He and his wife, Anita, have also made donations to other politicians, including President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Jackson has been identified as “Senate Candidate 5″ in the 76-page federal complaint filed against Blagojevich. The complaint outlines secretly taped conversations where the governor said an “emissary” from “Senate Candidate 5″ offered at least $500,000 in campaign contributions to secure the post.
“We were approached ‘pay to play,’ that, you know, he’s raise me 500 grand,” Blagojevich said on Dec. 4, according to the affidavit. “An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise $1 million if I made [Candidate 5} a senator.”
Jackson has denied authorizing anyone to act on his behalf to make a deal with the governor.
“I did not initiate or authorize anyone at any time to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf,” he said at a press conference two weeks ago. “I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, to please my case or to propose a deal about a U.S. Senate seat, period.”
But the Tribune reported that Nayak discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich at an Oct. 31 meeting that Blagojevich attended.
“Two businessman who attended the meeting and spoke to the Tribune on the condition of anonymity said that Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi privately told many of the more than two dozen attendees the fund-raising effort was aimed at supporting Jackson’s bid for the Senate,” according to the Dec. 12 story.
That meeting led to another fund-raiser just three days before Blagojevich was arrested on public corruption charges, which was co-sponsored by Nayak. The second fund-raiser was also attended by Jonathan Jackson, Jesse’s younger brother.
Jackson’s spokesman Rick Bryant told the Tribune that Nayak is a “family friend and supporter” of the congressman, as well as of his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“He has talked to [Nayak] about the Senate seat and he has mentioned his interest,” Bryant said. “But he never asked him to do anything.”
Jackson’s attorney, James Montgomery, said that he could not rule out the possibility that someone not authorized by Jackson discussed a pay to play scenario with Blagojevich.
Nayak, 54, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Blagojevich; he and his wife have also donated more than $22,000 for Jackson.
Besides his surgery centers, he also founded and until recently, had an ownership interest in a drug testing laboratory with millions of dollars in public contracts.
In a press conference Friday, Blagojevich denied doing anything improper and said he would fight to clear his name.
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This post is tagged with: Anita Nayak, Barack Obama, Chicago, Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Politics, Raghuveer Nayak, Rod R. Blagojevich0 Comments
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Illinois businessman tied to ‘pay to play’ scheme to sell Obama seatDecember 21, 2008 at 3:23pm
An Indian businessman with ties to both Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. is caught up in the probe of the governor’s alleged efforts to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
Illinois Businessman Tied to Pay to Play Scheme to Sell Obama Seat
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Muck tracker – Paris Hilton robbed
Approximately $2 million worth of jewelry and other belongings were stolen from Paris Hilton’s home Thursday night, according to the Los Angeles Times. Authorities suspect the burglar entered through an unlocked door.
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Elite New York synagogue shaken by Madoff scamDecember 22, 2008 at 11:43am
In recent days, New York’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue has become a Who’s Who of Bernard Madoff victims.
Muck tracker – Gates orders plans for shutting Guantanamo prison
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked his staff to draw up plans to shut the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in keeping with a pledge by President-elect Barack Obama, reports CNN.
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Elite New York synagogue shaken by Madoff scamDecember 22, 2008 at 11:43am
In recent days, New York’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue has become a Who’s Who of Bernard Madoff victims.
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