Get Involved - Days of Service and Celebration
There won't be many weeks like this one, America's history and America's future sitting back to back on your calendar. A fine week to get involved! As a warm-up for the big events Monday and Tuesday, get your hands dirty over the weekend at the Daniel Webster School's Environmental Education Garden: "The Daniel Webster Garden was established to teach children growing up in an urban area about the environment. Join us as we create new plots, remove weeds and brush, and add new plants."
MLK Day is Kingdom Day in Los Angeles. On January 19th you can check out the 2.5-mile Kingdom Day Parade, which starts at Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard at 11 am and snakes down Crenshaw Boulevard and Vernon Avenue before ending in celebration at Leimert Park.
President-elect Obama has called on January 19th to be a day of service. L.A. Works invites you to join them in a "special day of service" at Loren Miller Elementary School. "[W]e will revitalize the school with murals and green spaces, energize the community, and inspire a new generation of leaders. Project activities will include murals, planting and landscaping." Go here for more info.
Those of you feeling more introspective should consider the upcoming Zócalo lecture at the Hammer: The Future of Martin Luther King's Legacy. Randall Kennedy, author and professor at Harvard Law School and Debra Dickerson, journalist and author will "discuss the meaning of the King holiday, the rise of President-elect Barack Obama, and the ongoing significance of race in America."
And then, of course, there is the big day. The "inauguration party" dilemma has been chewed to death from every possible angle. (Green, anyone?) Our friends at LAist recommend keeping it simple:
Now here's a great use for those criticized TV screens all around LA LIve's Nokia Plaza. Councilwoman Jan Perry invites all to come "celebrate history" at "L.A.'s Biggest Inaugural Viewing Party." It's next Tuesday morning with events beginning at 7 a.m. Barack will take office around 9 a.m. with post ceremony coverage, entertainment, and the parade to follow.
The weather will be great, the screens will be huge and Get Involved/KCET New Media will be there recording the event for posterity. We'll buy you an inaugural tee if you can figure out who we are.
The image associated with this post was taken by Flickr user juliusbulius. It was used under Creative Commons license.
