Washington D.C.

Well hey. So I'm back. I've been in Washington D.C. for the last several days. Going into my adventure on the east coast I intended to write while actually there. Well that didn't happen. So, I think the best way to recapture the events of the last several days is to break this entry into days kind of like a diary, minus all the sappy sentimental snivilings that are so often found in my real diary. (yup i have a diary)

Saturday:
So, woke up Saturday morning at 6 a.m. I believe. I went to bed at 3 a.m. Now this late to bed early to rise thing was completely necessary. The reason I say this is because the night before I was descended upon by my friends who were quite unexpectedly in town. Actually being so tired was pretty interesting. I was forced to interact/navigate the craziness of the airport on almost no sleep. I did ok. I think this will serve me well in India/Europe. Anyways slept on the plane and kind of caught up. We got to D.C. at 7 p.m. there time, which is 5 p.m. our time. Oh this whole time I'm/I was traveling with my dad. Anyways arrived in D.C. My sisters brother, which would be my brother in law picked us up. His name is Mathew. Got to their house, Gabriel, my five month old nephew was asleep so I didn't get to see him that night. Ate a great dinner with Allison (my sister), Mathew and my dad (Chris). After dinner I was exhausted but Mathew had tickets to a punk band that was performing in their neighborhood. So we went to that.
I like punk music, well some punk music. This punk music fell into the category of punk music that I don't like. It was too loud, too incoherent and the musicians had almost no energy. THey were kind of old. But going to the show was completely worth it. Seeing the crowd in particular was like looking at a history book. While in the bathroom I saw this guy who was probably 35. He walked with a cane, had punkish sunglasses on, was covered in tatoos and wore a punk like hat. He looked completely burned out and I bet his hearing isn't so hot either. It was pretty amazing just seeing the effects of a certain lifestyle.
Wow, long day, went to bed.

Monday
Didn't do much on Monday. Walked around with Allison, Gabriel and Mathew. They didn't work because it was Columbus day, which is a day off in our nation's capital. Gabriel is a great kid. So open and awake to everything going on around him. Glad to know him. I'll be 40 when he's 20. Pretty amazing. Hard to believe. Throughout the whole week I ate very well. It's really nice traveling with your father because everything is free, or heavily subsidized. Went on a night bike ride with Mathew. Oh yeah biked with my dad. I love biking in the city, so fun and exhilarating.

Tuesday
Did the monument thing, kind of. Went to the National Portrait gallery, which was interesting. And then went to the Holocaust museum. We spent three to four hours in there. It was mind blowing. It's hard to believe that humans can be so cruel to each other. Yet we are and we continue to be. People need to go the that museum. It's so important never to forget what can be done in the name of ideology. I wish that every politician had to visit that museum at least once a year. Being there was scary. Knowing that something like that could happen in our country. In fact has happened (Native Americans, easy to forget isn't it?). I hope that if that ever does I have the balls to stand up for what is right.

Wednesday
Well i have a confession. There has been about a two week break between Tuesday and Wednesday. So sorry. However, an interesting study of time, I mean who's to say that its been several weeks? Huh? My memory that's who. So lets go back and remember what Wednesday was like.
We went to Baltimore on Wed. This was probably the most profound day for me. We went to Baltimore to meet with a friend of my dad who works at Catholic Relief Services(CRS). It's the 30th biggest non-profit aid organization in the world. CRS is located in a part of Baltimore that is seriously depressed. My dad and I had about an hour to kill when we got there, so we walked around. The majority of the buildings were boarded up. My dad and I, who are both white, were the minority. In fact I don't think I saw another white person the whole time.
You could feel the poverty in the air. It was amazing. I've never been around that kind of condensed poverty. However, intermixed with all that poverty was this profound amazing sense of community. Not my community. Not my dads community. We were total outsiders. But there was a community there. Men and women haning out on the street corners. Greeting each other, hugging each other.
I don't want to paint some dumb, rosy bullshit fake picture of it all. I don't know and I don't want to characterize or anything like that. But what I observed, what I saw, was depressing and hopeful. These men and women have been forgotten by the elites of society. They are the ones who will be kickced out when Baltimore is 'gentrified'. They are the ones who fill our jails. They're the ones who die in our wars. But they also are the some of the only ones in American society that have any type of community. It's not a nice community, perhaps, it's not even necessarily a safe community, but it's a community. Thats more than I can say. Living in my middle class, safe, warm compartamentalized life. I don't talk to my neighbors. Hardly even see 'em. My family could move tomorrow and no one on our block would think twice.
Again I've never lived in urban Baltimore, so my description of their life could be totally crazy, just the romantic ramblings of a bored middle class white kid.
Going into CRS was such a huge contrast. The building they are in is beatiful. It's probably 15 stories tall. We spent the whole day meeting different people in the organization. I learned so much about what aid organizations do. It was very hopeful. Aid organizations also have a huge need for journalists, so perhaps thats what I will do someday. Go from one disaster to another and try to make sense of it. Sounds instense.

Conclusion
Well, I think there was another day or something, however, I'm not going to even try and attempt to dredge that out of my mind. My trip to D.C., in many ways didn't prepare me for India/Europe, however, in many ways it did. It was just reinforced into my mind the importance of expereincing where you travel as 'really' as you can. Whether that be spending a day in the slums or whatever. It also reminded me that I can't be a dumbass and overpack. I took three pairs of shoes to D.C. Stupid.
Oh, yes! Speaking of traveling. We bought our tickets last week. We leave Dec. 29. My mom flys back to the U.S. on Feb. 28 and I fly out of Amsterdam on May 18. I'm so excited. Can't wait.
Oh yeah, while in D.C. my dad and I were interviewed by FSN (Feature Story News). They asked us how we felt about the economy etc. I guess it's going to air somewhere in Asia, pretty neat. Perhaps when I go to Asia they will all know me for my witty comments and insightful observations about the world economy.
Well, tell the next trio, which starts Wednesday, I'm going to Kansas City, Missouri for a Journalism conference, should be pretty fun.