Nearly two million people coursed through the District of Columbia yesterday. Many of them didn't know where to go or how to get from one place to another. So they asked the folks who were manning security checkpoints and other crowd-control stations.

Professional crowd controller Jim McClory got a lot of those questions. Too bad he came in from Philadelphia for the event. “There’s just an unbelievable amount of people," says McClory. "And when they’re all asking for directions, you’re trying to give them the best ones possible, even if you’re not from the area.” Most of McClory's time was consumed by directing---he didn't have to get out the pepper spray.

McClory works for Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC), an organization specializing in peer group security and crowd management.

The 80 crowd controllers from the company were assigned positions at 6:30 a.m., and they rotated spots every few hours. At around 2 pm, McClory’s post was at New York Avenue and 14 Street NW. “I feel like it’s a bit more controlled up here, but still, I just become completely inundated with questions. It’s important to stay calm and answer clearly. This sort of thing is more like customer service crowd control."

“Joe Temp” chronicles the District’s inaugural working class.

Photos by Charlotte Kesl

T-shirts are as common a sight as cops. Hats, too.

But two women from Brooklyn are claiming a corner on the Obama commemorative water supply. "I haven’t seen anyone with water like this,” says 23-year-old Julie Harris, one of the Brooklynites. “It’s not really for public use. You supposed to keep it, not drink it. But if you do drink it, it tastes like a Harvard Law degree. Yum. I’ll take that. It makes you smart.”

Harris's partner, Abby Blanchard, also 23, takes credit for scoring what the women refer to in on-street promotions as "H2Obama." “My dad got this Obama water and my friend made some Obama pins, so we thought, yeah, let’s go to D.C,” says Blanchard, a music promoter.

The two did their hawking at the intersection of 9th and E Streets NW. Cloaked in a “Yes We Can Believe” scarf and a cozy oversized Obama hoodie, they were reaching the end of a vending marathon in D.C..

Blanchard, who bought hundreds of Obama pins from a New York designer, made her real money on the Mall Sunday afternoon. “At the end of the day we had made $1,500 just on selling buttons,” she says. “When Obama’s re-elected in four years you’ll see me back in D.C. selling these things.”

The girls store the water and buttons in a space downtown that Blanchard’s father owns. But what will they do with all the bottles and buttons surplus at the end of the week? “I’m gonna hold it down and sell all the leftovers to Japanese people on eBay,” says Harris. “You can really turn this stuff around if you know where the market is.”

“Joe Temp” chronicles the District’s inaugural working class.

Photos by Charlotte Kesl

Traffic deadlocks. Detoured buses. Jammed Metro. The city’s roads and railways are completely inundated and it’s gridlock-inducing. But if there’s one traffic channel that hasn’t experienced unendurable congestion (unless you're trying to go from the swearing-in to the parade route), it’s the bike lanes. D.C. Pedicab recognized the inauguration for its unique chance to drum up business. And it needed more drivers.

Josh Sachs, part-time mechanic at Silver Bikes in Silver Spring, heard D.C. Pedicab was looking for people for inaugural week. As a bike enthusiast who is desperate for work, Sachs jumped on the opportunity to get paid for spinning. And he's prepared for the forecast: “I got my leather motorcycle boots and this thick layered jacket that I bought just for this job. Yeah, it gets really cold.”

The only requirement to be a Pedicab driver is to have a driver’s license. Drivers make up their own schedule and rent the cabs for 40 bucks per day. They pocket all their profits and create their own rates. Sachs, who has been driving for a week, had his best day yesterday, raking in 200 bones for six hours of work.

Sachs said that most of the Pedicabbers he’s talked to are travelers. They work full-time as professional pedalers and follow large crowds around the nation. Tourists, as you might guess, make up the majority of his clientele. “I’ve been collecting states. So far I’ve got Kentucky, Georgia, Hawaii, Florida.…The guy from Hawaii was definitely the most memorable. He had me take him 30 blocks and he was yelling ‘Aloha!’ to every person we passed.”

Some climbs are just too steep for these 3-wheeled, 21-speed wagons. Sachs found that out last week. “These people wanted to go to the Capitol to get their inauguration tickets. We got to Independence Street and Capitol Hill. I started up, but couldn’t make it. I had to drop them off at the bottom. But I ended up giving them a good rate in return.”

Sachs said he’ll be out in the wind chill till 2 this morning. “I think a lot of people are more into riding for the novelty of it. But there’s definitely a high level of practicality. I mean, it’s faster than walking."

“Joe Temp” chronicles the District’s inaugural working class.

Photos by Charlotte Kesl

Woe betide the D.C. street vendor who sets up shop on the sidewalk without a license. Competitors narc, and cops swarm. Pretty soon, the scofflaw vendor is packing his wares.

But this is the inauguration, and the authorities have real menaces to worry about.

So Ismail Jones and Jamar Muhammad are doing their business unimpeded by officialdom at 14th and V Streets NW, outside of Busboys and Poets. “We didn’t have a permit to set up. We just came down nine in the morning and got our spot. The Washington police haven’t harassed us, either. They actually came up and started talking to us. They support us,” Jones said.

What are these guys selling? What else--Obama mugs, Obama t-shirts, Obama hats, and Obama key chains. Almost all of the aforementioned are 2 for $5, a bargain by most standards. Both guys are from Philadelphia and make a living by selling apparel and accessories in Northern Philly.

Both guys said they’ve had trouble finding permanent work and credit Obama for helping them put bread on the table. Jones said, “Obama hasn’t signed anything yet, but he’s already given us income. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be here right now.”

Jones and Muhammad have been selling in D.C. for a week and making frequent trips between Busboys and a wholesale warehouse on Florida Avenue and 5th Street NW. “Yesterday we had to renew our supplies twice in one day. And actually, I have to go restock now,” said Muhammad.

They usually sell whatever is hot and in demand, calling themselves “full time hustlers.” However, they said they’ll be sticking with Obama merchandise well after inaugural festivities. “This is history, man. It’s history. Whoever thought they would say (picking up a deck of cards), who got those Obama cards? But people buy them. There will never be an Obama item that nobody will want,” Muhammad said.

Photos by Charlotte Kesl

The intersection at 18th Street and Florida Avenue NW is a classic L'Enfantian gaffe, a place that was not designed for a world of fast-moving automobiles. This is a modern infrastructural clusterfuck, and "18th and Florida" doesn't adequately convey the confusion of the crossroads. U Street and Vernon Street also feed into the intersection, making it a tough place to navigate---even when millions of people aren't flooding into town.

Good thing someone thought to call in Chris Lowery, a private contractor who lives in Northern Virginia. He has a pretty stable clientele, but capitalizes on side gigs whenever he can. His job this week is just that, a temp position he landed through a friend. “I did a job for a buddy of mine a few months ago. It was directing traffic for an event at the WWII memorial. When inaugural week rolled around, he asked me if I’d be interested in directing traffic again. I said sure.”

Lowery, who put in over thirteen hours Saturday night, is responsible for directing buses at 18th and Florida. Most of the buses are part of a nationwide youth leadership organization that flooded D.C. to mark history. Suited up in a florescent yellow vest, a well-insulated ski jacket, and holding a small yellow flashlight, Lowery points to the congestion across the street in front of 18th and U diner. “See, right now we’re trying to coordinate this mess. This has got to be one of the most confusing intersections in the city, and with all these people and increased security it just further obstructing things. It’s almost an accident waiting to happen. But that’s why I’m here.”

Although his job is primarily to coordinate with the bus dispatchers and to prevent gridlock in Adams Morgan, he has become a go-to guy for lost out-of-towners. “I don’t mind helping people out. But coordinating all these buses and being a tourist guide is just exhausting," says Lowery. "I’m hoping I can finish up Monday night because it’s just too grueling of work.”

Asked why he got stuck with one of the worst intersections in the city, Lowery said, “I guess they put me here because I’m taller and maybe a little more noticeable than most people. But I don’t always wear this vest. They gave it to me. I don't usually walk around the streets in bright yellow."

Photos by Charlotte Kesl

The Every Child Matters Education Fund is hosting an inaugural ball exclusively for youngsters. The Ball seeks to "raise the visibility of children’s issues and to win new investments in their well-being."

Eschewing dainty hors d'oeuvres and celebrated speakers, this Inaugural Ball will feature a Wii room, puppets, and "fun food."

And like the panoply of other high-profile parties going on next week, spots are coveted and going fast. The event is invite-only, and there's currently a waiting list. Sign up here.

This isn't a black tie party, but the dress code does stipulates you dress "warm and in layers."

Much to the chagrin of children who thought they'd have a grown up-free day to start their Webkinz lobby, adults gotta be there, too. As the FAQ tells us:

I can't make it, can I drop my child off?

No - All children and teens must be accompanied by an adult.

Gawker published an e-mail conversation I had recently with a cordial Atlantic staffer. I forwarded the e-mail and my brusque commentary to vent about the the shittiness of unpaid internships. Sure, there are plenty of publications that staff armies of unpaid coffee-getters and google taskers, but this one struck a particular chord of indignation: The Digital Media Internship.

An unpaid position, Atlantic Media Company's spring 2009 Digital Media Internships offer high achieving college juniors, seniors, and recent graduates of all ages a unique opportunity to be involved in the creation and launch of new digital media products leveraging the power of The Atlantic magazine brand.

"High achieving"? Hmm...I guess they'll need some incentive to keep coming back. Achievement is key!

Oops! Looks like this page is outdated:

Interns are paid at a rate of $10.00/hour. Although we are flexible regarding school and other part-time work requirements, interns are expected to commit to 32-40 hoursweek on a consistent schedule. College credit will be awarded if desired.

The original description continues:

Digital Media Internships are unpaid. We are flexible regarding school and other part-time work requirements, but we expect interns to work at least 40 hours a week, on a consistent schedule. In addition, should your university allow it, we would be pleased to have students use the internship for college credit.

"Flexible"? My google calendar tells me that full semester course load + 40 hours = not flexible at all.

I know that newsrooms are crunching, staffers are getting laid off, and that it's just a dreadful moment to be pursuing journalism, but at what point do internships with august publications become, frankly, exploitative?

Side note: Several publications have separate internship programs for minority representation---fair enough. But how about separate programs for college students who aren't endowed with parental checkbooks and who, gasp, pay for their own rent? Please, pay me for my services!

(Full disclosure: This internship is unpaid.)

Two hundred and ten billion e-mails are sent each day.

There are more than 70 million blogs and 150 million Web sites today, expanding at a rate of approximately ten thousand an hour.

But are we really more informed? Are we getting a wider range of news?

CJR's Bree Nordenson has a great piece that unpacks these questions and looks into how the new journalism paradigm has to change to stay relevant (hint: less generating, more filtrating).

Studies show that the massive inflow of information is making readers repel news for its uncomfortable ubiquity - it's fatiguing (click "mark all as read" in Google reader, anyone?).

I have to admit, there's something really gratifying about reading a newspaper. Its space and information are finite. There are no links to other blogs that link to other blogs that link to New York Times stories. It feels complete. I can read multiple paragraphs without my attention drifting off to a gchat ring. But, c'mon, I want up-to-the-minute updates!

The tweets, blog updates, RSS rolls, and ceaseless e-mail alerts lead to what Nordenson calls "self-asphyxiation."

"In order to garner audience attention and maintain financial viability, media outlets are increasingly concerned with the 'stickiness' of their content."

Another symptom of this straining media environment is "nichification."

"As information proliferates, meanwhile, people inevitably become more specialized both in their careers and their interests ... shared public knowledge is receding, as is the likelihood that we come in contact with beliefs that contradict our own."

OK, you get it, the Internet is cutting our collective attention spans and making our news consumption more Huffington Postian and less expansive. But what hasn't the Internet changed? Our insatiable information craving. Nordenson reports:

“'Oddly enough, information is one of the things that in the end needs brands almost more than anything else,” explains Paul Duguid. 'It needs a recommendation, a seal of approval, something that says this is reliable or true or whatever. And so journalists, but also the institutions of journalism as one aspect of this, become very important.'”'

My job in a few years? To totally assure you that information is, like, true.

For instance, organizations like The American Cancer Society, AARP, and The National Federation of Independent Business (to mention a few) all have robust lobbying outfits in Washington.

In a column today at HuffPo, Lanny Davis tried to redirect lobbyist discourse, hitting the issue on its head.

"What is negative about lobbying is the absence of transparency -- when the powerful and the wealthy have secret influence on members of Congress or the executive branch."

Davis continues:

"With total transparency, lobbyists and the officials they try to influence will have to ask themselves the question "would I mind if this lobbying meeting is fully reported in all respects in tomorrow's newspaper?"

The Jack Abramoffs of lobbying will continue to sprinkle their corruption and egregious fraud in big DC firms, but if Obama puts a few former lobbyists in his administration, don't be so fast to make the jump to corporate corruption.

Audio from live CNN election coverage filled a student dining center as students clad in Obama and McCain gear worked behind their laptops and discussed the latest poll numbers.

AU freshman Katie Horvath wondered just how classes would feel during the interregnum.

"Every single class I'm in, literally every class, talks about the election every day. I'm really excited for tomorrow, but I'm not sure what we're gonna talk about in class with the election over."

Adi Stein, who studies theater at AU, said there was a mock polling booth set up in his dorm where students could vote and then compare their results with the nation's. He echoed the election's prominence in all of his classes - even in theater.

"My theater professor started class today by announcing if anyone is registered to vote and hasn't already, then please leave class now and cast your ballot.

Amid the anticipation lingering on campus, there's a minority sentiment eager for the ubiquitous election coverage to finally dissipate.

"I just can't escape it. No matter what I do," said senior Justin Wolfe. "Yeah, it felt great to vote, but I'm ready to start checking some different sites on my phone. I'll be happy to stop getting campaign e-mail updates."

With election day less than a day away, I thought City Desk should step into the news time machine (i.e. Lexis Nexis) and take a look at what McCain was up to a year ago this week:

The Post reported on Nov. 5, 2007:

"For the first time in nearly 30 years, there is no breakaway front-runner for the Republican nomination as the first votes of Campaign 2008 loom ... In the new poll, a third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they would vote for Giuliani if their state's primary or caucus were held today. That puts him 14 percentage points ahead of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.)"

A year later, Republican  voters seem to have the same disparate support. A Pew study last month found:

"The vast majority of Republican voters (74%) say McCain would take the country in a different direction, while nearly as many Democratic voters (69%) say he would continue Bush’s policies."

From the AP on Nov. 4 2007:

"John McCain spent months earlier this year arguing that the United States must combine border security efforts with a temporary worker program and an eventual path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants.

Now, the Republican presidential candidate emphasizes securing the borders first. The rest, he says, is still needed but will have to come later."

His immigration platform has sounded the same Lou Dobbsian shrill tone ever since. He told a crowd in New Hampshire yesterday:

"[There are not] twelve million handcuffs" to slap on everyone who's already here in violation of federal law. "I will make my highest priority getting immigration reform done, and that begins with securing our borders," he said. "But I've also got to tell you, these are God's children."

Remember his old call for sweeping immigration reform, championing a path for universal legal status? What happened?

A Nov. 8 2007 press release from the McCain Campaign said:

"I am proud to work with each member of this team as we continue to build our growing grassroots organization in the state. Michigan's community leaders know the challenges our nation is facing. I look forward to working closely with them to address the issues critical to voters in Michigan and across the country."

Well, shit.

Most District voters know that DC doesn't typically carry the "decisive," or "battleground" moniker. But here it is visually. Nate Silver (the brilliant electoral scientist behind FiveThirtyEight) and Aaron Edlin put together a chart that "estimated the probability that a single vote in any state will be decisive in the presidential election."

Looks like DC is buried somewhere in the 0 range.  Sorry, folks.

The media have been making causal jumps between the economic downturn and the rise in luxury commodities, essentially asserting that these industries are "recession-proof": Amazon sales are up. Consignment sales are up. Cosmetic sales are up.  English coffee sales are up. McDonald's sales are up.

Seems to make sense: during rough economic periods people seek solace in indulgent spending, a type of economic escapism.

But linking rising sales in luxury goods to economic hardship is complete bullshit.

"The whole idea of recession-proof is a bit of an oxymoron," said Martin Evans, professor of economics at Georgetown University. "The idea behind it is that income affects price [price elasticity of demand] as everything else stays the same [certis paribus], so if everything remains equal, nothing changes [equilibrium]. This is not a sufficient explanation because everything else is not equal: consumption changes, relative prices changes, and the economy hits every individual differently."

But, wait! McClatchy insists that, "Despite the spooky state of the economy, shoppers are still shelling out money for Halloween candy."

What do you think, professor Evans?

"A rise in candy sales does not mean everyone is buying because the economy is bad. You might as well say that candy sales are up because there hasn't been much rain this season."

It's easier to cast a simple narrative when reporting on something as complicated and jargon-filled as macroeconomics. But is the media's over-simplification also a fabrication?

"Attributing something to a causal mechanism is almost inevitably wrong; it's over-simplifying and presents a false representation of economic links. I'm not saying there is no casual relationship to describe, but to describe trends in terms of the whole explanation is simply misleading."

I guess the recent rise in Russian art is just a coincidence.

"It's a bit odd that we give the Undecided Voter such a privileged place in American elections. Because from a civic standpoint, few creatures are as contemptible. ... Many of those who claim to be undecided are not. Some don't want to admit their preference."

The media seems to think the opposite is true.

Science did a study a few months ago that examined the psychology of a undecided voter. They found that:

"People who think they are undecided about an issue often have made up their mind at an unconscious level ... " "It's not that people are lying to the pollsters," social psychologist Bertram Gawronskitells said. "It's that they may not consciously recognize the automatic associations that influence their decisions."

I think saying you're "undecided" sounds somehow more sophisticated and thoughtful, but, most of the time, it's not true. So stop pretending like you don't know who you're voting for, "undecided" voters. Because, whether you admit it or not, you know exactly who you're voting for.