Monday, November 29, 2004
More Holiday Snapshots
Somehow, I reached my mid-40s without ever having visited Washington, D.C. But we have family in the area now, so we made it there over Thanksgiving, and we'll be back. Here are some more impressions from along the way, in no particular order.
--My response to patriotic symbolism is rarely visceral, but not at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, where a lone sentinel stood guard in the rain, walking his post, 21 steps in front of the tomb, as if on parade. (Sentinels are on guard 24-7 and walk the post in the prescribed manner even when nobody's watching; they have done so since 1948.) I was surprised to find that JFK's gravesite had far less emotional punch, even on a rainy day close to the anniversary of his burial there.
--Our nephews, ages 11 and 8, accompanied us on our sightseeing trips. At JFK's gravesite, the boys were far more interested in just how the eternal flame stays lit all the time than they were in who JFK was. Nevertheless, as a history geek and erstwhile social studies teacher, I doggedly tried to catch teachable moments wherever possible, even when they weren't being pitched. At the Jefferson Memorial, I thought that the eight-year-old had asked me who Jefferson was, so I launched into a brief bio, only to have him interrupt me and say he only wanted to know which direction Jefferson's statue was facing.
--The originals of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are displayed at the National Archives, which was our first stop and a place I'd always wanted to visit. The documents now live in a display hall which, according to a security guard, has an even more sophisticated system for protecting the documents since the hall's renovation last year. Considering that the previous system dropped them below the building into a bomb-proof vault that would survive a nuclear attack, what they've got now (which the guard couldn't discuss) must be really something. Whatever it is, I am guessing Dick Cheney probably lives there, too.
--I have always heard how powerful the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is, the black granite wall inscribed with the names of every soldier killed or missing. Sorry, but I didn't get it. Maybe it was the throng of visitors or the sunny day, but I found myself understanding some of the criticisms leveled at the monument when it first opened in the early 80s. Not that I found it insulting to those who served, as some critics did, but that it doesn't fit with the other monuments on the National Mall, and that it leaves a visitor (this visitor, anyhow) with a sense not of the sacrifice of the soldiers living and dead, but of shame at the war's waste. The World War II Memorial, the busiest of the places we visited on the day after Thanksgiving, is the Vietnam Memorial's diametric opposite in that it's entirely about heroism. Its soaring columns and iron wreaths are as overblown as the black granite of the Vietnam Memorial is understated, and having one festooned column for each of the 50 states, DC, and various territories is overkill. As several historians have noted, public memorials say as much about the times in which they are erected as they do about the past events or people they commemorate. Even though the World War II Memorial was designed in the late 1990s, it's clearly an artifact of America's 21st Century empire.
--You can already buy 2005 inaugural souvenirs all over Washington, and the specter of Bush and the Republicans looms over the city like Godzilla. But Washington's permanent population is 60 percent African American, DC voted for John Kerry by a margin of 10 to 1, and its license plates read "Taxation Without Representation," a protest against the fact that DC citizens pay federal taxes but have only a non-voting delegate in Congress. Compared to other places, the District is foreign territory, particularly to the red-state Republicans atop the federal government.
Other quick observations:
--The funniest highway sign along the Capital Beltway is the one pointing toward the exit for the George Bush Center for Intelligence.
--On the tour bus through Georgetown, we saw five or six people carrying signs protesting the recent election in the Ukraine--which would be five or six more Americans than I've seen protesting the recent American election.
--The members of the family that I had suspected of being Republican are even more Republican than I had feared. "Tell me, Jim, why would a flat tax be a bad idea?"
--When I saw my two-year-old niece the last time, over Memorial Day weekend, I thought it was impossible for her to get any cuter or more adorable. I was wrong.
Somehow, I reached my mid-40s without ever having visited Washington, D.C. But we have family in the area now, so we made it there over Thanksgiving, and we'll be back. Here are some more impressions from along the way, in no particular order.
--My response to patriotic symbolism is rarely visceral, but not at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, where a lone sentinel stood guard in the rain, walking his post, 21 steps in front of the tomb, as if on parade. (Sentinels are on guard 24-7 and walk the post in the prescribed manner even when nobody's watching; they have done so since 1948.) I was surprised to find that JFK's gravesite had far less emotional punch, even on a rainy day close to the anniversary of his burial there.
--Our nephews, ages 11 and 8, accompanied us on our sightseeing trips. At JFK's gravesite, the boys were far more interested in just how the eternal flame stays lit all the time than they were in who JFK was. Nevertheless, as a history geek and erstwhile social studies teacher, I doggedly tried to catch teachable moments wherever possible, even when they weren't being pitched. At the Jefferson Memorial, I thought that the eight-year-old had asked me who Jefferson was, so I launched into a brief bio, only to have him interrupt me and say he only wanted to know which direction Jefferson's statue was facing.
--The originals of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are displayed at the National Archives, which was our first stop and a place I'd always wanted to visit. The documents now live in a display hall which, according to a security guard, has an even more sophisticated system for protecting the documents since the hall's renovation last year. Considering that the previous system dropped them below the building into a bomb-proof vault that would survive a nuclear attack, what they've got now (which the guard couldn't discuss) must be really something. Whatever it is, I am guessing Dick Cheney probably lives there, too.
--I have always heard how powerful the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is, the black granite wall inscribed with the names of every soldier killed or missing. Sorry, but I didn't get it. Maybe it was the throng of visitors or the sunny day, but I found myself understanding some of the criticisms leveled at the monument when it first opened in the early 80s. Not that I found it insulting to those who served, as some critics did, but that it doesn't fit with the other monuments on the National Mall, and that it leaves a visitor (this visitor, anyhow) with a sense not of the sacrifice of the soldiers living and dead, but of shame at the war's waste. The World War II Memorial, the busiest of the places we visited on the day after Thanksgiving, is the Vietnam Memorial's diametric opposite in that it's entirely about heroism. Its soaring columns and iron wreaths are as overblown as the black granite of the Vietnam Memorial is understated, and having one festooned column for each of the 50 states, DC, and various territories is overkill. As several historians have noted, public memorials say as much about the times in which they are erected as they do about the past events or people they commemorate. Even though the World War II Memorial was designed in the late 1990s, it's clearly an artifact of America's 21st Century empire.
--You can already buy 2005 inaugural souvenirs all over Washington, and the specter of Bush and the Republicans looms over the city like Godzilla. But Washington's permanent population is 60 percent African American, DC voted for John Kerry by a margin of 10 to 1, and its license plates read "Taxation Without Representation," a protest against the fact that DC citizens pay federal taxes but have only a non-voting delegate in Congress. Compared to other places, the District is foreign territory, particularly to the red-state Republicans atop the federal government.
Other quick observations:
--The funniest highway sign along the Capital Beltway is the one pointing toward the exit for the George Bush Center for Intelligence.
--On the tour bus through Georgetown, we saw five or six people carrying signs protesting the recent election in the Ukraine--which would be five or six more Americans than I've seen protesting the recent American election.
--The members of the family that I had suspected of being Republican are even more Republican than I had feared. "Tell me, Jim, why would a flat tax be a bad idea?"
--When I saw my two-year-old niece the last time, over Memorial Day weekend, I thought it was impossible for her to get any cuter or more adorable. I was wrong.
