What's Needham doing for the inauguration?

By Kathryn Eident, Globe Correspondent

Some will take Inauguration Day off. Others will road-trip to the nation's capital on a bus. And still others will party.

Across the region, people are planning all kinds of ways to celebrate the official swearing in of the nation's first African-American president Tuesday.

We asked a few local Obama supporters to write about their Inauguration Day experiences.

They will be submitting their thoughts, impressions and photos in the days to come.

Lee Hope Bletcher, a Needham resident and fiction writer, will be hosting an evening event for local Obama supporters at her home. Bletcher is a co-founder of Yes We Can Needham, a group that organized phone banks, canvassing trips to New Hampshire and fundraisers throughout the election campaign. She will be posting her thoughts and photos from her gathering.

Molly Crowther, a fourth-year engineering student at the Franklin W. Olin College of engineering, will be writing from Washington D.C. She traveled to the capitol over the weekend and with the hope that she could get a spot on the Mall Tuesday morning to watch the Inauguration Day parade.

"I'm going to attempt to get as close as possible to the ceremony (without tickets, of course) and attend the parade," she wrote in an email. "I'm especially excited for this historic inauguration because this was the first presidential election I could vote in and I canvassed for Obama in the fall."

Dr. Peter Smulowitz will be staying local, attending two Needham-based inauguration parties. He will also post photos and report back on the day's events.

"I saw with Barack Obama an opportunity to deal with the real problems at home and abroad that America faces in the 21st century, and the style of politics practiced during the last 8 years just wouldn't do," the emergency room doctor wrote in an email.

"Obama gave me hope that issues like the environment, health care, international cooperation, and transparency in politics would be at the forefront where they belong."

What will you be doing on inauguration day? What do you expect from an Obama presidency? Write us with your thoughts and opinions.