Signing off from D.C. (for now)

My time in the District has come and gone, for now. I am writing this last Capitol Transmission from home, back in Maine, and the absolute silence, coldness, and darkness punctuated by stars is a sharp contrast to the last five months spent in the Washington D.C. area.
    
The time has come for retrospection. During my time in Washington, I fell in love with the city, the atmosphere, the type of people that move the town. Washington, unlike Maine or even most of New England, is more urban, more young, more professional and faster paced. While my drive back to Maine gave me a renewed appreciation for the natural beauty of my home state, I still miss the accessibility, the social atmosphere, the pace in Washington. Sure, most cities will share this, but Washington is home to the policy wonk, a Hollywood for political nerds.
       
In my last weekend or two, I am proud to report that I powered through a miniature bucket-list of to-do items. The first weekend in May saw me visit the National Building Museum (which I have long wanted to see, being a hopeless addict for infrastructure), the National Zoo (always a must-see), and King Street, down in Alexandria, VA.
   

A brief plug for the National Building Museum is in order. Sexy in name it is not, and its exhibits can seem as laughable as one on a Parking Garage. But, if you are anything like me, the history and information about buildings and infrastructure makes this a must-see. Housed in the gigantic and historic former Pension Office, the museum structure itself is worth checking out. Also: don’t miss an exhibit (as I did the first time) on the history of Washington, D.C. from the vantage of infrastructure and development. 

The National Zoo, of course, is always fascinating and fun for the whole family. I was accompanied on this particular adventure with my roommate Tom, who came along despite a general lack of interest in most animals. A side benefit for me, aside from the pandas and so forth, was getting to ride one of Northern America’s longest escalators up from the red line Metro station at Woodley Park (a 2 minute, 20 second ride). I never quite had the chance to use the Wheaton escalator, which I am told is even longer.

My time in Washington would not have been nearly as enjoyable if I weren’t so damn lucky with the people I met there. My biggest tip of the hat must go to my high school classmate Chelsea, who kicked my interlude in the city up several dozen notches. Further nods of my head go to my fellow interns at KSCW, who provided endless amusement, great conversation, and who also put up with my various eccentricities (such as my fascination with the Metro). Another nod must go to my employers at KSCW, who have created an intern program that is, without a doubt, among the best I have ever heard of. Final nods are in order for friends I met through The Washington Center: we had many laughs together.
       
While I’m on a roll: a special thank you to Sara, who is one of the most approachable, bright and simultaneously humble people at The Washington Center (no, she didn’t pay me to say this). Sara provided a great mentor for the bloggers, and she entertained a few harebrained ideas from this particular blogger. In doing so, she taught me a great deal and I will always remember her as a great mentor in that regard.
       
On a final note: a round of thanks are in order for my family and my girlfriend. Without their support and patience, Washington would not have been at all enjoyable for me. Now, even though I’m sad to have left D.C., I can look forward to a summer with them.
   
Before I start weeping and thanking the cleaning staff, the crazy guy who looks like Dr. Brown on the Metro, and that persistent cashier at Manchu Wok, I will sign off. Thank you, dear reader, for following this blog and I hope we can talk again in the future.

Wrapping It Up (and recycling it)

I’ve tried to stop the funereal marches playing in my head all week as I mentally count down the days left here in Washington. It feels like an unnatural force is about to suck me out of this place, and back into a world where people don’t read Politico, The Hill and The Washington Post on an hourly basis, a world where people who understand The Onion are as scattered and as rare as watchable Tom Cruise movies.
       
I will have to give up seeing my beloved Metro everyday. My food and drink choices will go from the healthy variety of locally-owned Washington restaurants, grills, steak houses, foreign food joints, and dive bars back down to TGI Friday’s and Ruby Tuesday’s. My social life with will go from a wide, cultured variety of people back down to hanging out with the dog and the goat. New England: you’ve been great and all, but let’s face it: you’re about as diverse as a Mayflower reunion and it’s so damn cold that everyone just ends up not talking to conserve body heat.

However, I promise I’m not being mopey. I’m trying to embrace every minute I have left. This past weekend, I headed on down to the National Mall for the Earth Day (really more like Earth Week, but whatever) Climate Rally. When I arrived, the rally was still in full super-liberal-and-patronizing-speakers-screaming-into-the-microphone-before-an-impassive-crowd mode. I browsed a few of the tents set back from the stage, with various environmentally friendly displays of green cars, green building products, etc… I also snagged a free Frisbee, which of course is made from plastic which uses oil…but hey, they’re fun to throw around.

What I had really come for (and I suspect everyone else was with me in this) was the concert/music side of things. Joss Stone quickly became a new favorite of mine. The Roots were alright. John Legend sounded…legendary, as I had hoped. By this time, an already lackluster crowd was thinning out even more: it was a work night, it was cold, windy and a bit drizzly on the Mall. Woodstock this was not.
 

However, we stuck it out for the appearance of Sting. And it was well worth it. Although he only performed about five songs, the sound was great and not as echoey as I had originally thought. It was rather amusing that people listened more attentively to whatever Sting said in passing about saving the environment over the dozens of professors, foundation heads, and even the odd few public officials who spoke. That being said, I can’t blame them. Superstar status aside, Sting seems like a pretty laid back guy, and that different tone, plus his music, was much healthier to listen to than the incessant screeching that had dominated the event earlier.

At work, we’re making a gradual shift from our daily email updates, instead summarizing top news stories on a Beltway News Portal which is a much easier-to-access, cleaner way of providing news updates and summaries. In addition, it gives us as interns a chance to learn our way around web content editing. The shift to the new process has caused some frustration, of course, but, as the outgoing interns it makes more sense to test the new procedure on us and get feedback before trying to teach the next round of interns.
       
An additional perk this week came as I had the opportunity to accompany a member of the firm and a client to a meeting in the Old Executive Office Building. The OEOB is adjacent to the White House, “on-campus” as some staff say, and has been a subject of fascination for me. Aside from the powerful men and women the building houses, the history in that place is palpable. The furnishings, walls, ceilings, doors, floors have been meticulously restored and brought to a blend of 21^st century functionality and 19^th century décor. I snuck a random picture of a hallway.
   

 

It’s this spirit, this attention to detail, intelligence, and understanding of history and politics that I will miss. This city, which attracts many types and only really retains some of the best and brightest minds in the country, is filled with treasures: from the people I’ve met, to the buildings that surround us, to the Metro beneath our feet. It’s a town of opportunity and challenge, and I will miss it.
   

With An Eye to the Future

Time is cruelly accelerating as May approaches. Like an improbable Metro train with no stops and no delays, I can feel the velocity of the end of my junior year tugging at me, and I don’t really like it.

But, I have determined that I will do what I always do: plan. I’ll plan out what I want to do in the ever diminishing time left here, I already know I’ll enjoy it, and then I’ll go home to plot my return.

This past week I’ve already taken some additional time to enjoy the simple pleasures: spending time with friends, making time to do what I want to do (this may require venturing outside of Washington Center events once in awhile. While TWC offers a lot of events and opportunities, it's important to remember that the wider city can also offer you a great deal), and relaxing in a few favorite spots around town.

Last week, I tagged along with a local and urban politics class out of George Washington University as they took a walking tour of the Foggy Bottom campus, with an eye to that campus’ future. As someone fascinated by urban planning and architecture, I was a bit intent to absorb what was said. The school is obviously worlds away from my own Saint Anselm College, especially in basic areas like student population, campus design, and layout. As is to be expected, there are pros and cons on each side.

The group was led to a roof overlooking GWU’s current biggest project: the joint development on an extremely valuable piece of land formerly occupied by the old GWU hospital, right on Washington Circle. On the old site, a gigantic “mixed use town center” has shot up. A simple pit less than two years ago, the site now holds a huge concrete shell, whose outer walls are just being installed.

While I personally have always been fascinated with and admired the idea of large, sustainable buildings supporting entire communities, the concept of this site, “Square 54,” still remained frustratingly outside of my comfort zone. I guess I am far too used to my quaint, isolated and tiny St. A’s campus to get my head around the idea of a “campus” actually sharing space with public residential units, commercial space and retail space.

At any rate: the weekend arrived and I had the great honor and fortune to spend it with two people I have known for a long time, and yet was barred from spending more time with in high school. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and tried to forget that soon I would be walking away from all of this. We wandered into town, around several monuments and over to Arlington Cemetery, as it was a beautiful day.

Someone very thoughtfully pointed out that the further back sections of that cemetery feel much more peaceful, more like a traditional American cemetery and less like a national tourist shrine. The more I’ve thought about this, the more I agree. In fact, that is the one thing I value above all else about cemeteries: the peacefulness.

In my time here, despite my newfound love for a fast-paced, high-powered environment, I have found a few quiet places, tucked away and carefully protected. My favorite would probably be the South Lawn of the White House. But, as that is off-limits for the most part, I’m quite content to sit in a nearby park and catch up on some pleasure reading.

         

As these weeks fly by, and as I count down the days left in which I can ride my beloved Metro system, I’m determined to balance two things: getting to each of the half-dozen items on my to-do-before-I-leave-list, and to keep finding those quiet places, sit back, and reflect on it all. For, after all, it’s in the quiet moments we have to ourselves after the excitement has receded where we can find the true significance in what has just happened.

Hospitality and Tourism

These past two weeks have moved by with increasing speed, making me nervously eye the early May departure date set by The Washington Center for spring interns. I’ve warned friends back on campus ahead of time that yes, I will be miserable to go back and be stuck in New Hampshire after tasting what the wider world has to offer.
     
Last week culminated with an Easter weekend visit to relatives in southern Virginia. I’ve included several photos from the visit, which included a trip to historic Jamestown and Yorktown as well. I was also lucky enough to go on a miniature cruise into the Chesapeake Bay, with narration of the major sights by my uncle, a retired U.S. Navy captain. 

       
Jamestown in particular was fascinating, as a rediscovery project begun around the 400 year birthday of the settlement is continuing to unearth new clues and concepts about where European America began. The settlement feels very much alive, very close and very accessible.
       
After returning to D.C., the city of Northern hospitality and Southern efficiency, it took me a day or so to readjust. The culture I found several hours south of the nation's capital was a night and day contrast to anything I’m used to back home.
       
The pace of work in the city is still relatively slow, compared to when Congress is in session. The city is heading into an awkward and frustrating week, with a Nuclear Security Summit wreaking havoc downtown, on top of the usual scourge of lost, oblivious tourists, school groups, and oversized tour buses.
       
This immediate past weekend included a Sunday brunch with my darling fellow interns (some of whom almost slept through the entire event) at the Old Ebbitt Grill. We were joined by John Weinfurter, President of KSCW, and Rebecca Taylor, whose organization is a subtenant, sharing KSCW office space. The latter had generously arranged for a West Wing of the White House tour after brunch, which we were all greatly excited about.
  

Our host, Rebecca’s friend, works for the National Security Council, and has an office next door in the Old Executive Office Building. He gave us an expert tour of the White House campus and the interior of the West Wing. I greatly appreciated this, being a historical trivia buff/snob.

The West Wing is fairly cramped. Nowhere near as spacious or as elaborate as the television show mockup of the same name (fantastic show, don’t get me wrong), the real West Wing was quiet on that Sunday afternoon. As we wound our way up from the basement to the ground floor, we had hoped to walk by the Oval Office. The presence of the President in that office dashed any such hopes. We toyed with the idea of knocking on the door, and informing him that we were interns, and thus would be needing the room. The presence of armed Secret Service deterred this.
       
However, we did spot Rahm Emmanuel. As we stood, staring lustfully down to the closed Oval Office door, flanked by Secret Service, the short figure of one of Washington’s most high-powered and short-tempered power centers walked right by. It was quite a sight. We later spotted Emmanuel outside, literally inhaling a muffin between talking to various staff.

     
Later on, as we stood in the visitor’s lobby, the President’s National Security Advisor, former Marine General Jim Jones walked on by. He greeted us with a smile and a quiet: “Hi, how are you?” before vanishing into a doorway marked: “No Tours Beyond This Point.”
     
Sadly, photographs were not allowed once inside the West Wing, aside from the James Brady press room. I’ve included some of the better shots taken.

I did pick up a fresh new batch of historical and political trivia while at the White House. The West Wing feels much more like a cramped but high-powered and comfortable office space than the Mansion, which feels like a museum. I was interested that, in the narrative provided by our host, several Presidents stood out most prominently in the construction, re-design and re-furbishing of the West Wing: Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. This last, I was surprised to learn, actually personally bought and donated the current Cabinet Room table. This is unusual for Nixon, ever the penny pincher. My only conclusion is that he wanted to replace the more famous, previous table, which President Kennedy had sat at and resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis.
       
Each president since Teddy Roosevelt has had an office in this cramped building, first built as a temporary office space so Roosevelt could find quiet away from his six children. Decisions have been made in that small office space that have changed the course of world history. While there, I heard stories of busy days where junior staffers will pass political giants in the hallway, sometimes unescorted and between meetings. Looking at the close quarters of the whole setup, I can almost imagine the scenes.

Promising Blossoming of Spring Edition

While it is still a weekend ahead of the National Park Services’ already bumped-up peak bloom date, this weekend past was still a marvelous opportunity to stroll through Downtown DC and over to the Tidal Basin in order to see the famous Cherry Blossom Festival.
     

After meeting two friends from work and combating unusually heavy weekend Metro crowds, I found myself in Downtown DC. After grabbing lunch from the delicious Five Guys, we headed over the National Mall to the Tidal Basin. There we found about a quarter of the trees were already in full bloom, with the rest of the blossoms just shy of coming fully into the spring air.

  
We wandered around the Tidal Basin, taking pictures like mad the whole way. We found ourselves first at that far-flung Greek temple to our third president, the Jefferson Memorial. After spending some time there, reading his rather radical political beliefs, now immortalized in stately carvings, we headed to the FDR Memorial. I was happy to note that the Park Service had turned on the water, which is critical in feeling the memorial’s intended effect, reflecting Roosevelt’s lifelong love of the sea.

I was also interested and pleased to see that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial is under construction. We peeked through the high construction fences surrounding the sight, only to see very minimal work has been done to date. However, the location is a quiet and beautiful one and it seems we are moving towards the final arrival of a long awaited memorial.
       

The day, in short, was a happy and relaxing change of pace from my rather tiring week. It is rare that I am in a place where I simultaneously have interesting people to spend time with, easy access to them, time to spend in leisurely moments, and a chance for some easy, relaxed conversation.
       
All in all, I must say it has been a week of delightful little surprises. From the chance to listen to Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on Monday, to Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day on Tuesday, to my chance to attend two political fundraisers, my opportunity to cover a fascinating event on U.S. infrastructure and energy use, and finally to the chance to just wander around and enjoy the cherry blossoms, I’m constantly reminded of how lucky I am.
       
Now, as Easter approaches, Congress is in recess. Members head home to shore themselves up for re-elections, to explain their votes on health care reform, student loan reform, and financial regulatory reform. Watching these Members rush home to their districts, and listening personally to one or two pleas for campaign cash at fundraisers, I wonder how the country might benefit if we could limit the constant, 24/7 election mode for Members of Congress.
       
Unlike slower times, when Members were elected and sent to the District, where they focused on governing before having to make the long trip home to campaign for re-election, a great many of today’s elected officials seem to be engaged in constant campaigning. Forced to deal with a news cycle that never sleeps and partisan electorates hungry for answers and quick action, Members seem to spend less time here governing and far more time running for re-election.
       
Washington is a unique city, with a great many movers and shakers doing business within it’s boundaries on a daily basis. The city has so much to offer, and yet perhaps it’s most valuable offering is the fact that it often hosts 535 men and women representing every corner of the country. The city pulls together some of the most educated, most interesting people in the world. The city functions as a gigantic power center, and as a living museum, a monument to the American will. For any intelligent leader with a will to effect change, all these things should amount to more of a reason not to leave.

Of Man dates and Mandates

This past week commenced with a thrilling man date with my friend and roommate, Tom. The weekend weather was Washington’s willing first flirtation with spring time, and we headed over to Georgetown for a stroll.

One of the main objectives for our visit to the area’s oldest neighborhood was the Georgetown Barnes & Noble, which sets a new, high standard for chain booksellers in my life. Several sprawling floors with a massive and well-picked selection led to a solid few hours of reading and shopping. As usual, I began making a gigantic pile of the books which I absolutely needed to take with me. Also as usual, I had to then sit down and figure out how to boil a $100+ bill down to considerably less.

I personally was interested to discover that I was living out the quote by the famous Catholic Dutch theologian Erasmus: “When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.” I’ve concluded that living this way is worthwhile. Sure, I went without lunch that day and I bought considerably less groceries, but the works of H.L. Mencken, Edgar Rice Burroughs and D.H. Lawrence are some of the few things in life which can distract me from food.
    
And one way or another, things tend to work out. I received a gigantic care package from my girlfriend that actually qualifies more as a United Nations humanitarian aid program. 

  
Furthermore, I had twin, back-to-back opportunities to attend Congressional fundraisers this week. And fundraisers usually involve food: free for interns, and upwards of $1,000 for everyone else.
       
Fundraisers are interesting times. They’re essentially miniature parties, with varying levels of social comfort (usually dependent on the host and organizers), whose guests of honor are always Members of Congress. They are organized on a partisan basis, for obvious reasons. The attendees are relevant company and association representatives, people who represent an industry from the home state or an advocacy group allied with the Member over a particular issue. Sometimes, Washington feels like a very small town and cores of people recognize each other at fundraisers and clump together in a very familial circle that is hard to penetrate. Other times, nobody knows anyone in the room, which hardly limits these networking powerhouses.
    
As an intern, we are encouraged by our superiors to mingle, to make conversation and contacts. I have found this advice to be helpful, but in need of an addendum. The reality is, while you may be lucky enough to get a front row seat on some of the action on the Hill, you are in no way part of the action. This may sound harsh, but it’s a reality: these pleasant fundraisers, full of laughter, cheery drinks and delicious food are simply a slightly more relaxed version of a high stakes, high powered business meeting. In fact, I would say I’ve seen just as many important conversations, judgments and decisions made at semi-formal events such as fundraisers as I have in a formal, office setting.
       
For an intern, however, such events can be excellent learning opportunities. Aside from finding a guest or staffer who might be willing to talk to you, the opportunity may also arise to listen to off-the-record war stories from Members of Congress present. I was enthralled during one fundraiser this week to meet and listen to, personally,  a Member of Congress who held the presiders chair during the health care reform debate, which I (and the rest of the world) had followed so eagerly earlier in the week. 
       
It’s been an extremely long and tiring week, but I’ve enjoyed myself thoroughly (as usual). In addition, I’ve been buoyed by several victories which our President has engineered and which the American people now stand to benefit from: health care reform and the creation of a new, long sought nuclear arms control treaty with the Russian Federation. Across the world, Iraq appears to have held a successful election, giving everyone hope that perhaps something has been accomplished there. 
       
The takeaway lesson learned here at Capitol Transmissions: no matter how long, exhausting, and grueling your week is, if you work hard in Washington, chances are there is someone who is working harder than you can even imagine. And a great deal of the time, such people are subject to derision and outright threats. I think that’s a fact that many cynical people outside the Beltway either don’t understand or choose to ignore, but would do well to remember.
       
Most leaders, especially those in public office here, understand the mandate they have been given, and they know what needs to be done. Our job, the job of the voters, remains the same: to learn what we can from serious, minimal bias sources and to make informed decisions about which leaders we send to the world’s most powerful city as our representative.

“Oh the weather outside is…actually, quite delightful.”

This past week has been more of a routine week at the office. I haven’t attended any hearings, and everyone left Friday with baited breath, wondering how the Reconciliation Act of 2010 and it’s enclosed health care and student loan reform would fare in Sunday’s House vote.
     
In a different sense, my fellow interns and I are a bit distracted by Washington’s pleasantly balmy weather. As a Mainer, I am shocked that a scant few weeks after snow drifts were still piled high around the area, there is not a single trace of it left, and the temperature has flirted with the low-70’s range all week long. The major downside to this during the work week is, of course, that instead of enjoying the loveliness of nature, you’re inside an office under the blinding heat of fluorescent lights.
     
This past Monday, The Washington Center’s Political Leadership Program took us on a tour of the U.S. Capitol, which included a special perk: a chance to walk on to the floor of the House of Representatives. I had been to the Capitol a few times before, and the closest members of the public are usually allowed are the Senate and House galleries, which ring the upper level of each chamber. This time, with the help of a Washington Center alum, we were able to walk onto the floor.

A few notes on that excursion: first and foremost, pictures were strictly prohibited, and so I apologize for not having cool photos to share. Second: the chamber is far, far smaller than television makes it look. I had noticed this effect in the White House, and found it true on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue as well. The chamber felt small enough that for a brief, confused moment, I thought we were in the Senate and not the House.
       
On another note: the chairs that are in place  (should Representatives ever quit the constant campaigning back home and come to Washington to actually use their chairs outside of events like the State of the Union) are quite comfortable. Little details such as that fascinate me, because it’s something you can never really find out unless you’ve been there, there is no information out there that I’m aware of on chair comfort in high-up places.
       
Of course, by the time you read this, a historic vote will already have taken place in that chamber, a vote that will extend health care to millions of uninsured Americans, prohibit the “pre existing conditions” excuse popular among insurers, switch student lending back to a more efficient system (away from the banks), and reduce the deficit by about $138 billion over the next ten years.
     
It’s interesting to me that these stand as the basic facts, reported through various established print (online and paper) media sources, and yet when I talk to people outside of Washington, all I hear is a wash of partisan, misinformed rants which seem lifted directly from cable news. If my time at KSCW and in this city has confirmed anything for me, it’s that cable news has gotten so deeply into entertaining people that it should never be trusted for nuanced, in-depth coverage.
       
A final, unrelated note: in a previous entry, I related my adventure over in DC’s SE district, near the Anacostia River and the now defunct DC General Hospital, which for years was the city's only public health facility. Well, it turns out that portions of DC General are actually used for a gigantic homeless shelter, the integrity of which has been questioned recently.
       
Now, it seems to me that the DC General problem would be an easy fix. The city could invest in making necessary renovations and upgrades at the facility for a relatively minimal cost, in order to continue providing a place for the homeless to go. I don’t know if this is the case at DC General, but I would also think it would be worthwhile to establish vocational/training resources at the facility for people to make use of, in the hope of moving them on.
       
But, I am a stranger here myself, and sadly my tenure in the city is already past the halfway mark.