Woman gives birth to baby
According to NBC Chicago, Mawi Asgedom and his wife were two of the lucky few who got coveted tickets to the Obama rally so even though Mrs. Asgedom was six days past her due date the couple decided they had to be a part of history. But their son could not wait for the election results to come in before he wanted to come into the world. The couple had to leave Grant Park and walk to Prentice Women's Hospital about a mile away because the streets around the park were closed to all traffic. Sawyer Tewolde Asgedom was born seven hours after the election results rolled in. Like Obama, Sawyer is the product of a Midwestern woman and an African immigrant. When speaking to NBC Chicago, Mawi Asgedom said Tuesday night was "the best 12 hours of our lives" adding that he knows his son "can do and be anything."
Watching history in the making
Loyola professor Hugh Miller couldn’t believe that he was witnessing history. More than once when he was by himself in the crowd he would catch the eye of a middle-aged, gray-haired black man and the two would look at each other, smile and shake hands. Miller described his conversations with these complete strangers about Obama becoming the first black President.
“He or I would say, ‘You look like you're my age, seen a lot, you from your side, me from mine. Did you ever dream?’ ‘No,’ would come the answer, ‘but here we both are, tonight.’ ‘Yes,’ the other'd say, ‘here we both are.”
Trade a date for panoramic pictures - or not
After getting a 2-day internship with ABC to help out with the coverage of the Grant Park rally, Marian Wang, 22, had access to the exclusive media section. Though she had to scour downtown for a particular Greek yogurt for one of the anchorwoman, Wang had front row seats for the action. She made friends with a young man who was operating the spotlights that would shine on Obama when he gave his acceptance speech. After asking her out on a date, which she politely decline, the young man took pictures for Wang of the vast crowds of people who converged on Grant Park. After he took incredible panoramic pictures for Wang, he sent the camera back down on a rope for her.
“We were all brothers and sisters.”
College student Kara Madden was on the very far outskirts of the rally because she opted to join the masses at the last minute, after she was told she didn’t have to work because her building was closed for security reason. Even with her distance from the main stage, Madden said the whole event felt like a big family party.
“There was this overwhelming feeling that we were all brothers and sisters,” Madden said. “Even though we didn’t know each other we were all there for the same reasons and it felt great.”
Dancing with strangers to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
College student 21 year-old Allie Al-Sehaim and her two friends hung out for the entire evening with two 60-year-old black women. On any other day these women would have little in common, but they were all equally ecstatic when the announcement came at 10 p.m. that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. When a celebratory song began playing over the loud speakers, Al-Sehaim and the older woman started dancing together.
“Once they made the announcement, we all started screaming, clapping and crying,” Al-Sehaim said. “I’ll never forgot dancing with those ladies to ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ after we all knew Obama had won the election.”
