Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the House! (well, the Senate)

That's right, I was in the same room as Will Smith this week! Congressional interns frequently get the opportunity to attend committee hearings, as I did a few days ago on the House side.  With the exception of some closed-door defense hearings, they are open to anyone willing to stand in line and cram into a big room for a couple of hours.

On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a full-committee hearing on human trafficking and the witnesses included Jada Pinkett-Smith (hence, the presence of Will and Willow).  An advocate for victims of human trafficking, Jada was also accompanied by two victims who were acknowledged by the Senate committee for their courage and recent work against the modern form of slavery.

This photo, unfortunately, was taken by a professional.  John Kerry, who chairs the committee and presided over the hearing, asked the photographer incessantly snapping photos of the famous Smiths to please stop all the clicking. "You must have taken like a million pictures of Will Smith in the last half hour," he said, exasperated.

These gems, however, were taken by me.

Despite arriving about a half hour early, I didn't make it in to the hearing right away.  After standing in the hall of the Hart Senate Office Building (picture below) for about 45 minutes, the security guard cleared a place at the press table to squeeze in a few more of us.

In addition to being more than a little star-struck, not only by the Smiths, but by John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, and Marco Rubio, I was absolutely fascinated by the hearing. The tone was much more peaceable than the last House hearing I attended, and senators from both sides of the political spectrum came together to advocate for better education for law enforcement, diplomatic tactics to encourage international accountability, and improvement in victim support.

According to the witnesses invited to testify for the Foreign Relations Committee, the human trafficking problem (whether the end result is forced labor or sexual exploitation) affects 21 million people, including 5.5 million children.  Prime industries for exploitation include the Indian welding industry, palm oil plantations, and the New Zealand fishing industry. Child marriages are also a target of anti-trafficking organizations that seek to influence societies around the world.

The pattern, especially in parts of the world with few economic opportunities, involves destitute men and women willingly crossing borders to find work, but being exploited by employers or effectively being sold by human "dealers" who were supposed to help them gain access to the foreign country.  In Southeast Asia, men aboard fishing boats were forced to work 30 hours straight, or sometimes 40 hours in two days after being shuttled across boarders by brokers working for organized crime.

Because this issue is less politicized than many others (with the exception of the debate over whether and how much to fund anti-trafficking programs at home and abroad), much of the hearing could be focused on moving toward solutions to effectively address the problem.  John Kerry asked the witnesses to explain what we as citizens can do. Here are their responses:

          1. Tell your elected officials that people in America care about modern human slavery
          2. Engage in starting movements (e.g. neighbors in Oakland watched a hotel that catered to traffickers and helped shut it down)
          3. Support resources for law enforcement and victims, even in this budget climate
          4. Demand more from companies (e.g. ask hotels if they've signed a code of conduct to make sure exploitation isn't happening under their noses)

From a government standpoint, action items included passing legislation to support victims and enhance reporting systems, normalizing the rating system used to grade countries on their compliance with human rights and trafficking laws, and upgrading the office that deals with human trafficking to a bureau. According to Senator Kerry, Mr. Smith really did come to Washington today!

Running to Georgetown

I started my Sunday with a run from George Washington University over to the other university named after our first president, Georgetown.  The neighborhood surrounding the university (with the same name) is a delightful pocket of shops and eateries in the northwest corner of D.C. In the relatively cool morning, people walked the sidewalks en masse and rode their bikes in the waterfront park.

 

 With a delightful view of the Potomac winding around the Kennedy Center and under the Teddy Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, the waterfront park in Georgetown is definitely somewhere I'd like to spend more time.  Kids (and their parents) cooled off in the sprinklers and people paddled lazily in kayaks on the river or tossed the remains of their breakfast to the ducks.

Directly across the river, Arlington, VA looms large without the height restrictions imposed on buildings in the District itself.  The Key Bridge can be seen in this photo leading to neighboring Virginia.  Apparently, the business environment in Virginia attracts companies who'd rather not pay for space in D.C. (judging by what my co-workers say about their rent here, that might be wise).

The Rock Creek Trail traverses Georgetown and weaves across canals, along the waterfront, and between neighborhoods. As I explored the area on my way back, I stumbled upon a canal lined by colorful row houses, a trail, and even filled with a long-idle vessel!

This was my fate for the remainder of the day... studying for boards with some coffee from a local shop!

Words to Live By...

I visited the brand-new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the 4th of July and am just getting around to posting some of my thoughts on the beautiful tribute.

In contrast to the tranquility of the Thomas Jefferson memorial or the somber retrospect exemplified by the war memorials on the Mall, the MLK memorial has a decidedly forward-thinking tone.  The huge stone effigy looks into the distance over the tidal basin as if he is reminding us how far we have yet to go in our pursuit of equality.

I was struck by the relevance of Dr. King's words engraved in the walls surrounding him.  Three years from becoming a full-time servant to hundreds of patients and perhaps thousands of teeth, I often think about the impact I may have on a community.  Perhaps equal rights through oral health should be my mantra, the way I make a career of humanity.  Being in D.C., it's hard not to constantly be thinking of solutions to the big problems facing our country; people who think their neighbors don't deserve the same basic rights they do are evident on a daily basis.  Perhaps the way to make a greater nation of our country is to help the least among us (as someone famous, a man Dr. King admired, advised). I hope to.

Ringed by flowers, the memorial is a beautiful end to an epic life and a profound testament to its legacy. I'm so thankful to have had a reminder of the terrific quotes and to witness the newest Mall addition.

A Week of Coincidences

Look who I found at the capitol this week!

Kate and Martin Eifrig! I saw the name Eifrig on my tour schedule and didn't even think to expect it to be them!  It was so wonderful to see a slice of Bellingham when they walked into the office!  I had a great time showing them around the Capitol, talking about important issues like healthcare, and watching the proceedings on the House floor.

The very next day, I spotted a Linfield acquaintance across the cafeteria in Longworth (another House office building that adjoins Cannon) and made arrangements to get together, and on Friday one of the kids in my tour group played baseball against Hunter's team! I love that 3,000 miles away there are still familiar faces!

On Friday night, Caroline and I had resolved to grab dinner and a movie, so we took the metro into Chinatown to an awesome Portuguese place called Nando's. Our group split two whole chickens, rubbed with a fiery peri peri pepper sauce, and delicious sangria, saffron rice, mashed potatoes, and corn. The atmosphere was awesome - lively food-sharing going on all around us - and the exposed brick and lots of wood decor was reminiscent of something you'd find in Seattle.

Though the restaurant was in an area known as Chinatown, the influence of the Chinese didn't seem to extend beyond the massive Friendship Arch and Chinese characters on all of the signs.  Our next stop was Clyde's, a Georgetown establishment with upscale decor that screamed "East Coast. " Chandeliers, wood paneling, and snappily dressed waiters who delivered local beers to our table.

Afterwards, Caroline and I headed to see Moonrise Kingdom, the newest Wes Anderson film, which we found to be spectacularly sweet. Cleverly shot with endearingly quirky characters, it chronicles the runaway attempts of Sam, an outcast foster child, and Suzy, the disgruntled daughter of two dysfunctional lawyers.  Bill Murray and Bruce Willis are awesome in the film and we had many a laugh during the late-night showing.

We also passed by Ford Theater on our way to the movie!  I can't believe that 150 years ago, people would have flooded out of the theater after their president was shot and stood on the same sidewalk.

Back in Session

It's back to work this week with Congress in session, and I'm finding out just how much work is done in the Capitol.

Last Friday I got trained to give tours of the Capitol and gave my first one yesterday. We walk through the Cannon House Office building, into the Capitol Visitors' Center to Emancipation Hall, past the plaster cast of the Statue of Freedom (its bronze cast sits atop the dome), up to the Crypt, to the Senate Vestibule and old Supreme Court chambers, into the Rotunda, the old Senate, National Statuary Hall (the old House), and to the House Gallery. I will post a virtual tour once I've taken pictures of the important sites. I'm not exactly an expert, but it's pretty amazing to walk beneath The Apotheosis of Washington nearly every day.

Yesterday I also attended my first Congressional summer intern lecture series event across the Capitol from Cannon in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Brian Deese from the National Economic Council, which advises the White House on economic issues, spoke to a packed room of eager interns. He was part of manufacturing the auto industry bailout and characterized the team that worked on that issue as being full of dedicated people humbly examining every possible outcome of their economic policy. Afterwards, he was asked questions by some of the interns, paraphrased below.

Q: Do you feel hampered by partisanship? Do you ever think you could get more done but your hands are tied?

        A: Mr. Deese told us that everything he proposes, regardless of the strength of the economic policy or how well it has been vetted/proven/argued for, must also pass a cross-examination through the lens of public opinion and what can realistically get done given the nature of the rest of the government. He expressed a sense of resignation about this aspect of his job, but seemed enthusiastic about the fact that he isn't just spitting out dense economic theory, but that his theory must also be actively applied to current policies.

Q: If you could take action to help the economy without being restrained by what would pass Congress or would be accepted by the public, what would it be?

        A: To this Mr. Deese hedged a bit. He said what America needs is really quite simple: private sector job growth and incentives to get Americans able to spend spending. Did he mention how exactly that might come about? (quantitative easing? simpler tax code?)  Not really.

Q: How much of what is happening in Europe really affecting our economy?

        A: A lot. As our largest trading partner and closest political ally, Europe unfortunately matters.

Q: What is it like to be in the White House?

        A: Mr. Deese said that President Obama doesn't mind having active debates play out in front of him, and welcomes hearing all sides of a proposal.  He also said the President says if a decision was easy it wouldn't be in front of him.

I started today with an awesome introduction to the ins and outs of Congress (everything you never learned in Social Studies). The Congressional Research Service puts on an awesome series of lectures on a range of topics, and today they presented about a dozen staffers and interns with information on everything from privileged business to the motion to recommit and all the documents, committees, and procedures in between.

The most fascinating part of the week, so far, was attending a full committee hearing on the Affordable Care Act's impact on job creators and the economy in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  Each committee has a ratio of Democrats to Republicans that reflects the overall makeup of the House. During this hearing, in preparation for tomorrow's vote to repeal the ACA, included five witnesses, all business owners with varying perspectives on their responsibility to provide health insurance for employees and divergent opinions on the projected impact of the requirement to buy health insurance.  (Side note: Former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich sits on the committee and offered a cogent argument in favor of healthcare for all.)  How exciting!

What a Wonderful Weekend!

I had one goal going in to last weekend: to spend some time at the National Gallery of Art.  As you undoubtedly know, I love to admire art and even dabble in some painting of my own, but nothing I've seen has ever rivaled the National Gallery.  A bit more on that in a moment.  The first act of the weekend, however, was to enjoy brunch at a U St. coffee shop/poetry cafe/bookstore called Busboys and Poets.  My co-worker and instant East Coast friend, Caroline, invited me to brunch with her, her husband, and a couple of their visiting friends.  A little like a cross between The Little Cheerful and Portage Bay Cafe, B&P pays homage to Langston Hughes, who apparently slipped some of his poetry to Vachel Lindsay when he was working as a busboy.

 
The bookstore inside the restaurant featured poetry, lots of memoirs, more than the usual selection about social change, and benefits Teaching for Change, a local social justice/education alliance. The restaurant itself, a mixture of armchairs with students lounging across them and circular booths beneath art-filled walls, offered up a simple yet distinctly East Coast version of brunch, including crab cake eggs Benedict and perfect french toast.



Heading back to the Metro after brunch, Caroline's group decided to tag along to my trip to the National Gallery of Art.  I'll save the majority of my commentary on the gallery until after I've been able to explore more than the 1/30 or so I got around to on Saturday.  I didn't even make it all the way through the incredible George Bellows visit currently on display, let alone the entire American wing.

Some of the most spectacular that I did manage to see, however, included Winslow Homer's Breezing Up, John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark (which also features a hilarious description of the events and subject of the painting, including a describing Brook Watson as having "manifested a predilection for the sea," which Caroline and I both laughed at), and Gilbert Stuart's portraits of the early presidents. Hopefully there will be many more descriptions to come after I find time to return!


My plan to wander aimlessly through the gallery came to an abrupt end when Caroline invited me to join them to go wine tasting and to a polo match in Virginia! How could I pass that up? We drove a little over an hour outside the city and into northern Virginia, nearly to West Virginia. After passing through the suburbs of DC, rolling pastures dotted with mansions, and finally to rural hay fields, we turned on to a dirt road to reach the most beautiful little winery on top of a "mountain."

We enjoyed a tasting of some fantastic Willowcroft whites, including some I've never heard of and can't remember, which were delicious and refreshing.  

Our next stop down the rural highway was for dinner.  All of us were hungry and we entered the first place we saw as we drove through the tiny, picturesque town of Middleburg, VA (pop. 600). Julien's Cafe was decorated with a certain brand of outdated pretentiousness that one might imagine accompanying a wannabe bistro in a town filled with roman numeral names and people who might not visit a city all too often. Nonetheless, Julien's bowtied waiters offered us locally raised beef, more affordable wine, and a salmon and Swiss cheese quiche (that I gobbled up). When pressed, our waiter also divulged that in Middleburg, all people did was watch polo and party.

That description made more and more sense as we continued south and the scenery began to shift toward larger homes and horse stables demarcated from one another by placards and short stone walls. Upon arriving in an area called Old Tavern, VA, we begrudgingly got out of the car (Did I mention it was 106 that day? Here's the iPhone weather report to prove it:

                                                                  ) and headed toward the polo arena.

The junior polo match was already under way when we arrived, but with two matches headlining the twilight festivities, many of the fans were just setting up.  Around a dirt arena were about a dozen groups of box seats, where people had brought their families, food, and alcohol to party the night away.  Decked out in polo shirts, bermuda shorts, and sockless loafers were the young and old upper crust of the greater DC area (even the port-a-potties were fancy... carpeted, flush toilets, sinks, and lights!).  People also relaxed on blankets and in picnic chairs in the grass behind the box seating, pickups backed in to provide easy tailgating access, and families set up long buffet tables of drinks and picnic food.

 All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Virginia for my first weekend back east!