My kids used to want to be epidemiologists. Now they want to be poets. Wow, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman was absolutely flawless and on point. “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, It can never be permanently defeated.”

+ “Day by day, Gorman chipped away at the poem. She was about halfway through, she says, when on Jan. 6, an angry mob of pro-Trump extremists staged an insurrection on the Capitol.” LA Poet Amanda Gorman Seeks Right Words For Inauguration. (Update: She found them.)

+ LA Times: How a 22-year-old L.A. native became Biden’s inauguration poet. “The first lady, Jill Biden, is a fan of her work and convinced the inaugural committee that Gorman would be a perfect fit.” (The new First Lady brought us Amanda Gorman. The last First Lady brought us Be Best.)

+ Some of know Amanda better as a board member at 826 National! I’m on the board of the great 826 Valencia, and all day we’ve been bragging about our various connections to Amanda. How’s this for a contrast between today and the past four years… WE ARE NAME DROPPING A POET!!!