Colbert is cool

On Tuesday, Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander read "Praise Song for the Day," her inaugural poem. She was delicate and deliberate.

The next night, on "The Colbert Report," Comedy Central icon Stephen Colbert offered his own verse for the historic occasion:

"Hickory dickory dock
We elected a guy named Barack."

I rolled. I hate to say it, but his seems equally effective.

Hope

Among the best paragraphs in Pres. Obama's inaugural address:

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

Among the best photos of the day, from Getty Images:



And so I remain awed by the achievement of a junior senator from Illinois, and fascinated by the family that surrounds him.

Inauguration Day pie

Or, in this case, Boston cream pie. That, I have decided, will be the Inauguration Day pie. We ate it all through college on the East Coast: dessert following Saturday night meals in the Ratty. It was the only reason to tolerate the turkey tet.

Boston cream pie. It reminds me of the people I met from across the country: black girls and guys from Florida and New Jersey, white guys from Mississippi, Japanese Americans from Hawaii, friends I made at school 3,000 miles from home. So many times, we talked and laughed in the dining hall.

It is fitting then, I think, as we welcome a new American president - one whose experiences and aspirations mirror our own, whose rhetoric and demeanor we greatly admire - to get to enjoy pie so good it is actually cake. Chocolate frosting, sweet cream, and soft, spongy cake. I will eat a slice with my morning coffee and turn on the television. I might even have seconds.