I've started uploading our photos to Flickr here is anyone is interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dblackadder/c...57621908718093/
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Thanks alll around. Made Ben's as part of the walk of the U Street neighbourhood, but too hot and humid to get in what we would normally consider a full day.
Tomorrow our last completely free day (well, mine anyway). The Holocaust Museum and the Air and Space.
Monuments a little weird here: all to politicians, relatively few to events and such. A relatively small war memorial here and another there, a huge thing to Taft (who the heck was he?). And a huge difference between the biz/govt. districts and the residential areas. Most of the latter just recovering from the riots of the late 60's. Quite bizarre: a huge outdoor museum/office space on the one hand (with workers who commute from outside DC), and rather dismal but lively/fun areas (if that makes any sense) on the other.
Cold beer though, and really, on a day like today, when it's gotta be 35 and 110%, what else matters?
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As always I am uncertain whether anyone gets anything out of these, but as it doesn't take much time to post the text of the e-postcards we send family and friends, here's our/my stream-of-consciousness report of our trip to Washington. And, also as always, I seem to have lost one, the first:
Couldn’t resist the adolescent in me: small act against the blockade of Cuba:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dblackadder/3...57622033116940/
Had forgotten how overtly religious Americans are. Sometimes quite jarringly so. Safeway carries a nice selection of really loonie-tune books about everything from the evils of abortion and same-sex marriage through to the ‘end of days’ which apparently is due on the next bus. Some of it clearly qualifies as hate literature. Quite bizarre to see it all in a grocery store.
Trend continues: whites think Cdn. medical system is a crime against humanity and apparently know all they need to, African and Latina-Americans want to ask questions about it. Race/class convergence or is that too facile?.
Weather not hot-hot but warm mebbe 30 and incredibly humid. Food good so far but no raves. Room has a kitchenette, we’re dining-in this evening.
Hotel nice but rooms tiny. 20 minute walk from White House. Across the street from the offices of Equality, the US gay rights org. People with a hard row to hoe. The Beacon Hotel if anyone cares.
Catty comment: A lot of really obese people here. It kinda jumps out at you from the airport on. Then you eat in a restaurant and figure out why. I thought our portions were big, these are HUGE.
Bus tour to get oriented today. Hop-on, off type. Lots of monuments and stuff. Lots of police and many different services, plus security guards here carry guns, I think this is a bad thing, and I speak as a former security guard. Lots of dogs and gates and entertaining security barriers that pop up out of the pavement very quickly and with a bang.
Lots of cheesie stuff too, which I enjoyed. Photos will be uploaded and captioned tomorrow I hope.
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Did a walking tour of one of the predominantly African-American parts of the city today. Quite fun and informative. Area just now recovering from the riots that broke out after the assassination of Martin Luther King 40 years ago.
Riots not the only problem to overcome. Lots of historical racism talked about of course. Last big one was Regan getting elected and effectively cancelling a subway that was being built down the main street in the area. The cancellation left a huge trench where the street had been. For two years the whole shopping/business district was closed down.
Regan-made disaster. One of many.
Two others on the tour, both live in DC. Interesting to talk to them about the way the city works when it really isn’t a city, when the Congress can veto any bylaws passed by the city. Laws about carrying concealed weapons, access to abortion facilities, whole bunch of stuff vetoed by a Congress that is generally much more conservative than the city council.
But at least they have a city council. It’s apparently a recent innovation. Prior to, the city was run by a commission appointed by Congress.
Congress can also impose things on the city, and it is regularly used as place where various experiments are tried. Latest is charter schools, which is gutting the education system.
Monument to African-Americans in the US Civil War interesting too. An only recently-recovered bit of history. 200,000+ fought on the north side, not much acknowledged until recently.
Woman at the heritage centre nearby was quite moved as this year was the first time ever that a US president had sent a wreath to the monument on the day when all civil war dead remembered. Forever there has been one sent to the monument of those who fought to retain slavery, but never one to the black soldiers, many ex-slaves, who fought against it.
A very big deal for her, you could tell. Helps me with some of my cynicism about Obama, his policies.
That got me thinking about the other memorials we’ve seen. A majority are of/for individuals, usually politicians. Compared to other capitals there are relatively few about events or groups or collective achievements.
Fun one though: some goof named Taft who was responsible for a piece of anti-union legislation is right across the street from the Teamsters offices.
But that memorial demos my point: who the hell was Taft and why does he has a monument/memorial almost as big as the war memorial in Ottawa? And his is just one of a bunch. Very odd. Multiple cults of personalty(ies).
The other social institution here I have observed
is liquor stores. Beer’s noticeably (about 1.5 times plus exchange)
more expensive than at home, the selection is different of course,
they’re kinda grungy even in the better areas, but also kinda like
social centres. Fun to hang in for a bit I think. Course, it might just
be that people here are generally very outgoing and friendly, no matter
where you meet them. Wine about the same price. But prices vary as the shops are private. Some shops have a good selection but seem more expensive than home, others a narrow selection towards the bottom end of the price range but might be cheaper. All are big consumers of security equipment.
My experience limited to NYC, Conn., Boston and now Washington, but I am wondering if our assumption of cheaper booze in the US is a myth.
Hotel getting good reviews. Very reasonably-priced for the area and the area is very convenient. Access to the Y next door is free, the restaurant is good though we have only eaten there once, the rooftop bar is nice, if small and filled with 20’s types from area offices.
One of the latter, a woman, was a hoot to listen to last night up there. A long slightly drunken lecture on what men should look for in women’s breasts. Made it a little easier to bear the $27USD charge for two G&Ts.
Tomorrow I have a meeting at 1800, then the festivities begin. Prior to that we’re hitting the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the air and Space Museum and the Women in the Arts Museum.
All that after a workout at the Y. And in this heat…
In case you thought the stuff about loons with guns and such in yesterday’s e-postcard was a bit over the top:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08...of-firearms.php
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Might be the last one as the conference formally starts this morning.
Yesterday morning we spent 3 hours at the US Holocaust Museum. Very…something…Not technically impressive as a museum, but the subject matter…
Security very tight after the recent killing of a guard by a right-wing loon who was attacking the place. Guards (very tense and watchful) and metal detectors and such. In a sad way the security added to the impact of the museum.
Afternoon was to have been the Air and Space Museum, but apparently what I was expecting (a few huge buildings full of aircraft I could take photos of as with the Aviation Museum in Ottawa) is out in the sticks somewhere. What I got instead was several hordes (I counted to 8.7 hordes and then gave up) of kids, lots of interactive stuff and no room to move let alone take proper photos.
I gave up after 30 minutes and we waded through the line ups at the built-in McDonald’s and headed home. Too hot to make for the Women in the Arts Museum, so we beered for an hour and then napped. Geri might get there while I am conferencing as there are only bits she is attending. I was up in time, just barely, to beer and snack for three hours with the early arrivals for the LabourStart conference.
Photos of the touristy bit are mostly captioned or not in need of captions and can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dblackadder/c...57621908718093/
Photos of the Conference will appear at the following link, starting with a few from last night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dblackadder/c...57621938337525/
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