Celebrations & Entertaining: The Kennedys

I’ve resisted writing about the Kennedys, because it puts one more layer of pressure on Team Obama. Our President Elect and terrific First Lady must be allowed to craft their own magic in Washington.

Reading the news stories one by one … especially the statements about bring arts of all kinds back to the White House … I don’t apologize for being hopeful and excited about our future.

We have much to celebrate this year.

On the day when Obama’s true believer Caroline Kennedy decides to step out of the shadows, asking to become the next senator from New York — my senator — I cannot help but think about the Kennedys: their style and grace, the strong family ties that have kept them centered in great triumps and monstrous tragedies, their unyielding commitment to a better America for all.

This is essence of Celebrations, a living for the moment, as well as history. Most of us are not Kennedys, but we can ask ourselves what we are contributing to history, to the future. Family is core, but there are so many ways to create meaning and joy in people’s lives beyond having children.

I’m advising clients that the concept of legacy will hit the boomer women hard in the coming years. But that’s serious talk that belongs in Cultural Creatives.

I spent way too much time today, trying to find photos to support the Kennedy symbolism within this Celebrations spot.

The first and easiest was this photo of Caroline Kennedy Scholssberg and her husband Edward at a New York charity dinner. They’re photographed in the New York Social Diary. We all have a bit of the voyeur in us, and I think you might like a look at this website with major photos of the comings and goings in my city.

I kept thinking about celebrations being both public and private, intimate and grandiose. And, of course, I thought about Caroline Kennedy stepping up to the plate, because she believes in President Elect Obama. I’m sure there is also some family pressure over the idea of not having a Kennedy in the Senate in the coming months.

Striking out badly on websites for high-quality, relevant photos, I turned to YouTube and found this compilation of private photos of Caroline with her father, President Kennedy. That’s the intimate, private side of Celebrations.

Next I found this two-part video set on Jacqueline Kennedy and her philosophy of entertaining in the White House. The videos remind us not just of the elegance and emphasis on the arts during the Kennedy Years, but the emphasis on learning, science, and intellectual betterment.

Part 1 - Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House

I remember being thrilled with that magical time, even though I wasn’t that far gone from making mudpies for lunch and decorating them with dandelions. My mud desserts had style, I assure you and served as the foundation of my considerable culinary skills.

These videos were produced by the JF Kennedy Library. In the first one, we see footage of a young New York roving reporter … looking like one of our Elan girls. The footage is about far more than entertaining at the White House. The videos remind us of a glorious time when the arts of every kind, from jazz to Blue Grass, were celebrated in America.

Part 2 - Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House

We can never go back in history … and so much of the Kennedy legacy is about tragedy and suffering. Yet, I cannot help but be hopeful, given the poise and quiet stature of Team Obama.

Let the music begin … and we will sing as long as we are allowed.

If we grew up in the Black Churches of the American South, we will keep singing, no matter what.

Love, Anne