Capitol Steps

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Capitol Steps. The Capitol Steps is a group of actors/comedians (who are also Congressional staffers) who sing/perform skits that make fun of all of the big name DC politicians. Aunt Julie and Uncle Bruce came up for a conference, and the Capitol Steps were part of the entertainment for the conference. Aunt Julie and Uncle Bruce snuck me in (Thanks again guys!) and I'm glad they did. The Steps were hilarious. A must see for anyone familiar with U.S. national politics. My favorite line came from the guy playing George Bush. Without missing a beat the guy says "Uncertain times call for uncertain leadership." Here's to our next President being a little more certain. Although its kind of ironic that the ol' "Decider" himself comes across as such an uncertain leader. But hey at least he doesn't look like Frankenstein, he just has his brain. For those of you who don't know, I'm a Republican just not a Bush fan.

Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center

No there was no riot and I didn't commit a spelling error. "Shear Madness" is actually the name of a play we went to see at D.C.'s Kennedy Center. The play was pretty good. I had actually seen it before (my Senior Year in H.S. to be exact), but it was almost as funny as the first time. This is because they change the jokes in the Play's script to reflect current events in the news and other Inside Edition type stuff. For those of you looking to see a show in DC or elsewhere (apparently Shear Madness is performed in other Metropolitan areas as well) Shear Madness is a good one for laughs. The Kennedy Center itself is pretty neat too. It overlooks the Potomac and at night the view is pretty spectacular. Here's a picture of my friend Haley and I outside of the Kennedy Center and I may be wrong, but I believe that's the Watergate building over my left shoulder.

Thanks

Before I go any further, I should stop and thank my Uncle Mike for putting the word on the street or in his case an e-mail about my blog. And I would also like to thank all of you for reading. Comments are welcome and a courtesy "Go Pack" or "Go State" will score you extra points.

Monument Presentation

For one of our class assignments, each one of us were supposed to go out in the city and find a monument or memorial and tell the class a little bit about it. I discovered my monument by pure accident. I was wandering around the Mall by myself one day when I noticed a small monument in a grove of trees on one side of the mall. As you can see from the picture, it looks like the "Old Well" at Carolina except not as wussy. And yes that was a shot. We're coming for you next year Carowhina. Ok now back to the topic at hand. A little information about the monument:

Name of the Monument: DC World War I Memorial

Location: In West Potomac Park on the National Mall

It’s roughly bounded by the Capitol grounds on the East, Independence Avenue on the south, 15th Street on the West, and Constitution Avenue on the North.

Who was behind the movement to build this particular monument: Citizens of Washington DC, lead by Frank Noyes and the Noyes family.

Intent: The monument is intended to memorialize Washington DC’s citizens (alive and dead) who served their country during World War I.

It may be hard to tell from the picture, but the Monument is in pretty bad shape. This is because nobody has restored it for several decades. The cause: surprise, suprise, government bureaucracy. Both the local and federal governments claim the other is responsible for its upkeep. Wouldn't it be nice if they both wanted to help with the upkeep? I know, I know that's just the way things are and there's nothing I can do about it. I mean "I'm just a Bill up on Capitol Hill." Haha.

Library of Congress

We went to the Library of Congress today. Nothing of interest to report, with the exception that I got to see one of the original Guttenberg Bibles. Oh yeah, and I have a Library of Congress Library Card. Now if I could only find the time or will to use the thing.

School Work Alert, Casual reader beware: Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Reading and accompanying field trip

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, by Lawrence Weschler, takes a very unorthodox look at museums. The museum the author focuses on, "The Museum of Jurassic Technology", is a hodge podge of exhibits who's only common trait is the ability to inspire wonder among the museum's patrons. The book's focus on the exhibits' ability to invoke curiosity and wonder among the museum's patrons is an uncommon approach to museums in general, but it did cause me to re-evaluate why something is in a museum in the first place. I always thought of a museum as a collection of interesting visuals of important things in a particular subject field, so the idea of a museum with exhibits selected solely for their wonder producing abilities seemed a little far-fetched. But then we went to the National Museum of Health and Medicine on the Walter Reed medical center campus, and I found out these museums do actually exist. I saw skeletons of humans with all forms of rare deformities and abnormalities as well as a variety of other medical maladies. While the exhibits all pertained to the area of health or medicine, it's apparent that they were chosen for display for their head and in some cases stomach turning abilities. If you're tired of the same old mundane exhibits at today's conventional museums, I suggest you check out the National Museum of Health and Medicine. If nothing else you'll pass by the run-down outpatient building that led to the Secretary of the Army getting the boot.

Langston Hughes's The Ways of White Folks

This was another book I read for class up here. An excerpt taken from the paper I wrote pretty much sums up my thoughts about the book. "Langston Hughes uses his gift for story-telling to call attention to the injustices that he and other blacks suffered at the hands of whites during the Jim Crow era. The mere fact that Hughes, who is black and thus is supposed to be an inferior writer, is capable of writing such riveting and motivating stories helps disprove the myth that blacks are somehow less talented due to some inherent flaw stemming from their color. His book and others like it went a long way in showcasing the intellectual ability held by blacks, and in so doing, it helped in the eventual demise of the Jim Crow."

Catherine came up to visit a few weekends ago. I took her to Eastern Market and a nearby used bookstore called Capitol Hill Books. In that particular store there are 3 floors of books. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling. There were even piles of books in the bathroom. Needless to say, Catherine, who is an avid reader, thought she had died and gone to heaven. And when we went ice-skating later that day, I thought I had died and gone to a cold hell. Ice skating was actually pretty fun, mainly because there were several others guys falling all over themselves and their girlfriends. Solidarity guys!

The Capitol Tour

One of the participants in the UNC in DC program, Daniel, and the graduate assistant to the program, Bradley, showed us around the United States Capitol. There weren't any particularly interesting things to see/occurences with but one exception. When we were exiting the Capitol, we did so through one of the Senate Office Buildings. Because it was a Federal Holiday, Daniel was having a hard time finding a door than was manned so we could get out without setting off an alarm. Eventually we tried to go through an emergency exit, and lo and behold we set off an alarm. Our group proceeded to walk out the Emergency Door as if nothing had happened, and we got maybe 20 yards before a cop car came around the corner and headed towards us with his lights on. Probably not one of the UNC program's finer moments in DC. After the cops ran our names through interpol, strip searched us, and checked our clothes for radiation, we were free to go. Ok, so maybe they just asked us a few questions to make sure everything was on the up and up, but I'm just practicing my story for the Capitol Hill gang I'm trying to join. They call themselves the Lunch-Getters. But enough about that. Hopefully we won't be having any more run-ins w/ the police.

The Lincoln Memorial and accompanying readings

We read Lincoln's biography by William E. Gienapp. I felt the book was very insightful, not to mention interesting. I already knew that Lincoln came from humble beginnings, but I had no idea just how humble they were. Not only was he an extremely intelligent individual, but he knew the meaning of a hard day's work. This is more than can be said for most politicians of his day. I think the hard labor he did as a child may have influenced his negative opinion of slavery as an adult. I mean enduring back-breaking labor to help your family is hard enough, but imagine working all day for someone else's benefit.

Lincoln's military strategies, while elementary, were also impressive considering he never had any formal military training or instruction. His realization that limited war was not going to be enough to defeat the Confederacy probably saved the Union. His decision to place Grant at the head of the Union Army also served the country well. He once answered criticism about General Ulysses S. Grant's drinking habits with the reply "I can't spare this man, he fights." And according to Lincoln's biography, Grant and his second in command, William Tecumseh Sherman, were two of the few Union Generals willing to take the fight to the Confederacy. And thank goodness they did!

But I won't bore you with too many more details about Lincoln's military mind. Back to the Memorial. Our class went to the Lincoln Memorial on Lincoln's birthday. This should explain the flowers in the picture. That's my friend Kareka in the picture with me.

Supreme Court Trip

All in all a good trip, especially since the Supreme Court is literally right around the corner from where we live. Lace, one of the girls in the UNC in Washington program, works at the Supreme Court and she gave us an awesome tour.

Interesting fact: You don't have to be a U.S. Citizen or have a law degree to be a Supreme Court Justice. You merely have to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate (ok, so maybe merely was a poor choice of words, but you get the point).

On our second trip we went to the Washington Monument. We actually got to go to the top of the monument. On that particular day our guides said that we could see upwards of 30 miles in any direction. Here is a picture taken from one of the windows in the top of the monument. The Mall is front and center and you should be able to see the Capitol in the distance as well as the Smithsonians on either side of the mall.

Eastern Market

Our first outing as a class was a Saturday morning trip to Eastern Market. I bought some apples and cinnamon covered pecans that were very good (Pronounced pee-can for you northerners). Later my friends and I ate at the famous Market Lunch. Market Lunch is little more than a lunch counter in one corner of the Eastern Market building with a long table out in front for its patrons to sit and eat and then leave. As soon as your done eating, you're expected to clear out to make way for other people to sit and eat. This is enforced by a man patrolling the tables and watching for people who have finished their food and are lingering. The Market Lunch people take this eat and run policy seriously. Think the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Market Lunch is famous for its pancakes in the morning and burgers and crab-cakes at lunch. Of course my friend Robert and I went for the double cheese-burger, and we were not disappointed. Below you can see our Market Lunch experience (picture borrowed from Robert's facebook profile).

Cool People I've seen so far

A four-star general, whom I won't name

General Petraeus, who has recently been given command of the Multi-national force in Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld's former speech writer-->actually had a conversation with him in the gym. Coincidentally he's been to New Bern before and spoke of moving there when he retires.

Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon England

First Impressions

Washington D.C. is very expensive and "the customer is always right" (or even cared about) is definitely not reality here. I miss Southern food and hospitality, and don't even get me started on the prices.

The phrase "it's not what you know, it's who you know," still holds water here. The only problem is it seems like no matter who you know, there is always someone who knows somebody higher.

Another lesson: It's really hard to gain power in Washington, and it's really easy to lose it.

Where I Work and what I do

I work in the office of a high-ranking government official at the Pentagon. Because I'm not sure what the protocol is for discussing Pentagon officials, I won't give his name, but I have been told that he is the civilian equivalent of a four-star general. This is cool, but at the same time it means I don't deal with him directly. I do help his special assistants with whatever projects/briefs they are working on for him; however my main responsibility is to answer the phones and scan in and out any paper work that comes through our office for the boss to scan and sign. I also press the button to unlock the main office door to allow people to come in for meetings and such. And because the boss is so high up in the Pentagon this happens quite frequently, and there's no telling who is going to come through the door next (more on that later). Oh yeah, coincidentally the button I push to open the door is red, so I tell people that I push the red button at the Pentagon.

So this is the view from one end of my block. I know it isn't the best picture, but keep in mind this was taken without zooming in at all, which I probably should have done since the Dome looks much closer in person. For those of you that are having trouble figuring out what you are looking at, you can see the Capitol Dome in the distance towards the center of the photograph. It takes only about 7 or 8 minutes to walk to the Capitol from where I live.

This is where I live. It's called the Congressional. It's the oldest building in Washington. Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but sometimes it feels like it. In this case "Location, Location, Location" is a better advertisement than showing you the inside of the building.

On our second day in Washington, Dr. Clark took us on a bus tour of the city. Our one stop was at the Jefferson Memorial. This picture was taken there.