Last Week’s Diary Recovery

Last week was an adventure in many ways.  I wanted to capture some of the moments:

• The inauguration of President Barack Obama brought several articles to mind.  Rick Warren met the uproar of the previous weeks with the comment that his invocation would speak for him … so here it is in "What Rick Warren Prayed for our New President."   Mark Labberton invited us to pray specifically for humility, wisdom for our president, out leaders (and could I add for ourselves as a "pluralistic, conflicted, and divided nation") in his piece "What to Pray for a New President."   Of course, who would want to forget Joseph Lowry's inaugural benediction beginning with James Weldon's Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Here is president Barack Obama's inaugural address and Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s reflection on Obama's "Sacred Effort."
• Kay Yow's death brought a pause to many in the Wolfpack Nation.  Here are a collection of the comments from the N&O.  Reaction to Kay Yow's Death, A.J. Carr's "She's in a Better Place," Ron Green's "The Way Yow Lived, That's What Lives On," and simply "Kay Was a Treasure."
• I enjoyed stumbling upon this bike lane that rides with you at Fast Company.  The story of John Thain's "$87,000 Rug," how other tone-deaf Wall Street executives responded by only making "Excuses, Excuses," and the news today that Thain would repay the 1.2 million dollars for the remodeling was so out of touch.  Gordon MacDonald brought me back to earth with his recognition that collaboration may be the greatest "Miracle on the Hudson."
• And it snowed in Kinston!!  The Free Press predicted 3-5 inches of snow, told of local stores where folks were stocking up on the makings for milk and bread sandwiches, and pleaded with the heavens "Let it Snow."  Two days later they offered this reflection on the southern holiday.