Inauguration week is finally here!
January 2021 Newsletter
Inauguration week is finally here! What a ragged, demanding journey our Country has been on this year, stretching our patience, our collective resilience, to arrive at this place of new beginnings. Can we arrive here safely on Jan 20, with our Democracy intact?2021 began with a sense of new, of hope around the corner with an approved vaccine and new leadership. On the first Wednesday of the year, a coup was staged on our Capitol to disrupt the certification of the election. The second Wednesday, Impeachment #2. On the third Wednesday, our next President will be inaugurated. Quite a kick off for a new year!
Wednesday’s Inauguration opens space for new beginnings. Are we ready?
January 20, 2021 Inauguration
This year’s Presidential Inauguration will, of course, be very different. Covid restricts the opportunity to celebrate in person, and the insurrection on the Capitol has exponentially increased the need for extreme security. But celebrate we will, and here’s how.An official Schedule of Events is listed on the The Presidential Inaugural Committee’s (PIC) website.
Participate by sharing your Story with the Biden Inaugural Committee.
Join a National Day of Service on Jan 18.
Covid Memorial: On January 19, the PIC will host a memorial to remember and honor the lives lost to COVID-19. PIC is inviting cities and towns around the country to join by illuminating buildings and ringing church bells at 5:30 p.m. ET in a national moment of unity and remembrance.
In Los Angeles, artist Marcos Lutyens and his Rose River Memorial will lay out red felt roses created by individuals around the country to memorialize people lost to Covid.
On Inauguration Day, join virtually to watch President Biden and Vice President Harris be sworn into office. The celebration will feature an invocation by Father Leo J. O’Donovan, pledge of allegiance by trailblazing firefighter Andrea Hall, poetry reading by the first Youth Poetry Laureate Amanda Gorman, national anthem by the one and only Lady Gaga, performance by Jennifer Lopez, and benediction by Rev. Dr. Silvester Beaman.
Another way to celebrate
Join Women's March Action for the first of its kind - a LIVE watch party for the Inauguration! Get your Converse and pearls on, and watch with us!Possibility Project Panel
Last week, Create Protest was invited by Possibility Project to join a panel discussion on the theme “Create Protest: How Artists Frame Dissent and Hope.” CP artists Man One, Naimah Thomas, Florencio Zavala explored layered, relevant, insightful topics - calling out that we do not live in a post-racial America, recognizing that the system of traditional gatekeepers is changing and seeing how this opens opportunity for new systems, questioning whose history we learn and how histories taught can we be more inclusive. Ultimately, the importance of community emerged as an anchor of hope, as a way to engage in dialogue and support, especially through these times that we are living through. Watch the recorded panel here.
Great thanks to Heather Hiscox and Devon Dailey for inviting Create Protest to participate in their work to ask big questions -- what needs to be disrupted right now and what gives us hope. Check out all of their episodes at possibilityproject.org
Dr. Biden design by Melanie Green
Hey kiddo. Did you read that WSJ op-ed and wonder how in the world such an out-dated, musty opinion piece could be published? In response, we say "Relax, there's a DOCTOR in the White House!" All respect to Dr. Jill Biden, and we can't wait to call her First Lady, or maybe Dr. First Lady? Shop the design here!
Wear it/Post it/Tag it!
When you wear your Create Protest merch, be sure to take a picture, post it on your social media, and tag #createprotest, @createprotestmerch. And, send of a photo of yourself wearing one of our products, we’d love to share. Thank you!Thank you for joining us in our effort to Create Protest. This week, let’s celebrate a new Biden/Harris administration, a Blue Georgia, a coordinated national response to Covid. Let's find joy in new beginnings, and connect in ways big and small to our individual and collective communities.
Thank you!
Julie and Cynthia