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Saturday, March 21st, 2009
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1:12a - Inauguration Part I: The Lead-Up
For me, President Obama’s inauguration practically started on Election Day. It was so thrilling to see that what I did actually made a difference that I was eager with anticipation. In addition, since I was way too tired on Election Day to celebrate in DC, I was looking forward to a good party on Inauguration Day.
And I knew we were going to have people to celebrate it with. Mama Shea and Melissa had planned on coming to the inauguration way before Election Day – pretty much since we moved here. Melissa said that she would refuse to come if McCain won, but clearly, that ended up not being a problem.
Friday
On the Friday before the inauguration, we met them at the airport, first Melissa and then Mama Shea. As Mama Shea’s flight was delayed by weather, we ended up going straight home, instead of into Baltimore or Bethesda. We made up mixed drinks (of course) and hung out until it was time to go to bed. Melissa had seen the apartment before, but Mama Shea was quite impressed by our setup. It’s always nice when someone confirms your domestic abilities, especially because I always feel deficient in that area.
Hearing of the hoards of people descending on DC for the inauguration, I determined that we would not be frequenting any of the traditional tourist stops. And sadly, the weather was too cold to wander around in any of the fun shopping areas. So I picked a couple of art museums, and hoped for the best. Our first stop was the Phillips Collection, which pleasantly surprised us. For one, the museum was half-price for the inauguration. But more importantly, it happens to feature Melissa’s favorite painting of all time – Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party. I knew the collection included Impressionist Art, but I was actually surprised at how prestigious it was for a rather small museum. Besides the Boating Party, it also included a painting I recognized by Picasso ( The Blue Room), works by Degas and Matisse, and several Van Goghs that I didn’t recognize, but I really enjoyed. One, The Road Menders, featuring a beautiful tree-lined street, evoked my memory of St. Giles St. in Oxford so strongly. The sturdy, yet ever-moving trees in front of the traditional Dutch houses, reminded me of walking to church along the street under the trees’ shade. Beyond those, the museum had some other fascinating exhibits: one on painters who engaged in social commentary, a searing series of paintings on the African-American migration from the south to the north and a temporary one on Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s (the crazy artists who put all of those flags up in Central Park) efforts to cover part of the Arkansas River in filmy cloth. Adding to the atmosphere of all of this art was the fact that it was housed in a beautiful old mansion but still organized in some sensible manner (unlike the “don’t touch my stuff or I’ll take away your money!” museums).
After standing around and staring at art for a couple of hours, we moved on to the National Portrait Gallery to stand around and look at more art for a couple more hours. But before we left Dupont Circle (one of the few beautiful historic districts in DC), we stopped at the Firehook Bakery. Grabbing one of the four tables in the little quaint-looking cafe, we noshed on sandwiches, fruit tarts, and hot soup before venturing back to the Metro. Once we were at the National Portrait Gallery, we decided to start with the portrait photography exhibit. I think Portrait photography, whether of famous or ordinary people, is fascinating. This exhibit mixed them both, from “normal” people staring the camera straight-on with dead honesty to Morrissey in concert hopping around the stage like a madman. I found myself staring at them, hoping to draw some kind of lesson or learn something concrete about humanity. From there, we wandered around, and happened upon what was then the newest addition to the collection – the iconic Shepard Farey painting of Obama. Honestly, I had no idea it was so big – it was far, far taller than us. The painting was so popular that there was a line to have people take their pictures with it! Being in Obama-mode the entire weekend, we patiently waited so that the curator could take our photo, even if it was just on Melissa’s cell phone. We sent the photo to Chris’s Aunt Pat and to Papa Shea. Aunt Pat was amused; Papa Shea was at best, apathetic.
From there, we moved on to an exhibition about Lincoln (random facts: he was enigmatic; he probably grew his beard to look older) and then the Presidential portrait gallery. The gallery has portraits of every President, which are made according to his wishes at the end of his term. Most are fairly realistic, except for Kennedy’s, which was almost impressionistic. The wide lines were blurred together, an apt representation of both Kennedy’s dynamic presence and our country’s vivid but conflicted vision of him. It really captured his character and legacy in a way that most of the other Presidential portraits didn’t. Although Norman Rockwell apparently painted Nixon as more attractive than he was in real life, the most controversial portrait they had was the most recent: George W. Bush. We spoke to one of the curator/guides about it, and she looked thrilled that someone cared. She told us that Bush actually had a talented friend from Yale paint the portrait for him. He’s leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, with that famous half-smile that says, “Sit down and have a beer with me.” Apparently, some people were slightly offended by the friendly tone of the painting, but more were disconcerted by the plaque hanging next to it. It downplayed America’s violent adventures in foreign affairs, and mentioned the economic downturn but didn’t pin blame at all on Bush’s decisions. Despite the current view of Bush, I can understand the writer’s hesitation to have a judgmental commentary. This was going to be a document accompanying the painting pretty much forever. And the others certainly highlighted their subjects’ high points and ignored the low points – Nixon’s barely mentioned Watergate and scandals of others were largely glossed over.
But despite the controversy, George W. was not the star of the exhibit that day. While I was talking to the curator, I saw a bunch of people whispering and pointing at a crazy-haired gentleman with his back to us on the other side of the rather small room. I leaned over to the curator, and said, “Who is that?” She said, rather excitedly, “It’s Bon Jovi – he has a private tour arranged!” To which I looked over, and stared and gaped for a moment. And then nudged Chris, who was standing next to me, and whispered “It's Bon Jovi!” As if he didn't hear the curator himself. And wasn't already looking at him. After tracking down Melissa, I found out that she had already seen him, and had actually been sort of following him around for the past few minutes. Apparently, she got close enough to touch him – although she didn't actually touch him, of course. Needless to say, it was very weird. The closest I've randomly gotten to a celebrity before this was that I once saw Ricki Lake in the Times Square Toys R Us. But she wasn't that popular by then, and she was always sort of ridiculous anyway. No one ever worshiped her. But there are people who totally worship Bon Jovi. I don't – I really dislike most of his songs – but that aura surrounds him. The “It's Bon Jovi! Wow...” aura. It pretty much made the entire room stop and stare, and then pretend like they didn't just stare. Because that would be rude. It was such a D.C. reaction in its celebrity-gawking reaction but complete denial of that reaction. Not that Bon Jovi seemed all that exciting in person. In fact, nothing particularly screamed rock star except for his hair. Which is, actually, even outside of concerts, completely ridiculous. I have no idea how he manages to look like he's just walked in front of a giant fan at all times.
We saw a few more exhibits in the museum, including an incredible painting of an imagined, untouched West, and moved along. We had dinner reservations at Aria (a restaurant), followed by tickets to see the Capital Steps. As we knew Melissa and Mama Shea were coming for the Inauguration, we bought them tickets as soon as they went on sale, figuring the political parody group would be perfect to see that weekend. We picked Aria to eat at because when we went there with my parents, the food was pretty good, and more importantly, it was right next to the theater. Unfortunately, the theater menu was the only thing available this night, and the choices were far less interesting than on the regular menu. My dish was pretty good, but everyone else was rather disappointed with theirs. To make up for it, we drank a lot of wine, leaving me rather tipsy. Wine really affects my balance, so when they decided they wanted to kill time by hanging out in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, I wasn't all that keen on it. Not wanting to be a drag, I went anyway. The Avenue was shut down for security reasons, to prepare for Tuesday, so we could actually see all the way down to the Capital and up to the White House without any traffic. We sat on the bleachers that were going to be prime seats just a few days from now, and chatted with tourists and DC residents alike. The entire weekend, everyone was so congenial and light-hearted that you couldn't help but smile despite the cold.
Capitol Steps was great though - almost as funny as when we saw them the first time. I say almost because about a third to half of the songs and sketches were the same as ones we saw when we went with my parents. However, considering that we saw them less than four months earlier, replacing about half of their material was pretty damn good. The new ones addressed current day issues, of course, including my favorite, "Help Us, Honda." Done to the tune of "Help Me, Rhonda" by the Beach Boys, it featured the Big Three Auto executives dancing around, singing for financial assistance from Honda, Congress or anyone else who could possibly give it to them. As my e-mail box for the past several weeks had been filled with news about the issue, I thought it was hilarious. It's actually up on the Capitol Steps' homepage, under February 9th: http://www.capsteps.com/.
After the show, we wandered back up Pennsylvania Ave. to check out the parade route some more. We walked behind the White House, where the special glassed-in viewing area for the President and the bleachers for the media were set up. The whole thing was a little surreal, as if we were getting behind the scenes at the Oscars. Although the weather didn't seem too bad at first, it felt increasingly worse the longer we were outside. Eventually, we were really hustling to get to the Metro stop because Mama Shea was extremely cold. Afraid that Chris and I didn't know where we were going, she started freaking out, in fact. It was awkward. And then once we reached the Metro stop, she refused to walk down the escalator. I honestly don't know how she survived a childhood in New York City. Maybe Clifton Park has crept into her bones.
But despite the weather, it was a very good day. I had managed to pick attractions wisely, and everyone enjoyed them, for which I was very grateful. I like knowing I've been a good host.
Sunday
Unfortunately, Chris had to work on Sunday, so we went into Baltimore. Melissa's good friend from college, Jackie, lives there, and we planned on going to the Aquarium and then meeting Jackie for lunch. The Aquarium was a perfect place to visit because Chris had already been there with Drew, and despite my love of marine animals, I hadn't visited there yet. After some amount of frustration involving parking that involved me driving around in circles near the Inner Harbor and swearing to myself a bit, we finally made it to the Aquarium. My very first reaction was "Yikes, it's really expensive!" Which it is - $30 a person! And Mama Shea said that she wasn't paying for anything on this trip for us except for dinner the night before. But because we were going to be there a while, and wanted to see the whole thing (including the dolphin show and "4D immersion theater"), I paid up. Also, I wanted to get inside as soon as possible - the ticket booths are outside for some bizarre reason and it was pretty chilly out.
Fortunately, I knew as soon as I stepped inside that it was going to be worth it. As you walk through the doors, a huge waterfall is right in front of you, falling down into a pool with fish native to the Baltimore area. The waterfall splashes down realistic-looking (albeit fake) rocks, that surround native trees. From there, we turned right and entered the dreaded Tourist Zone. The Aquarium provided a coat check and lockers, but required you to buy tokens for them, which required cash in small bills. Thankfully, we had the small bills, but it was still a mess of confused visitors, most armed with strollers and/or small children in tow. The second floor was set up much more intuitively, thankfully. A huge set of teeth from an ancient shark welcomed us at the top of the stairs, and it seemed wrong not to get a picture posing inside of it. Luckily, it was set-up for just that, and the photographer was kind enough to take multiple photos with my camera, as well as the official Aquarium tourist camera.
As it was close to the time for the dolphin show, we headed straight over there. Chris had said he was unimpressed with it, but I thought it was fun. However, I did notice that they don't have the dolphins do some of the more "showy" tricks. I know places like Sea World have dolphins do them, but as some of them are pretty unnatural, I was glad the Aquarium refrained from that. I would have liked to see more of the dolphins actually doing things though, and fewer overdone video clips. I also missed a couple of impressive things because I was trying to take photos, which was disappointing. After the show, I went down to the tank with the little kids and their parents. I've always been fascinated by watching dolphins swim, observing their combination of strength and fluidity. While the little kids were placing their hands against the glass, I watched, smiling at the dolphins and the children who are so fascinated by them. I hope that some of them maintain that fascination after they grow up. I know I have. Part of it is knowing that they are so intelligent, and yet so very, very different from humans. Monkeys are smart, but we are very similar to them. But dolphins have evolved almost as much, if not past monkeys, but their entire way of seeing the world, from habitat to communication, is so vastly different. Yet they too are able to communicate with us, despite their divergent evolution. I think they are as close to intelligent aliens as we will make contact with, at least in my lifetime. And of course, they are simply inherently beautiful. As a child, I wanted to keep a dolphin when I grew up. My plan involved having a house on the cliffs of Cape Cod (yeah…my geography was a little off), where the dolphin could swim back and forth between the pool in the house and the ocean. Having that ability for the dolphin to be able to leave, if he or she wished to, was always key. I think I always understood that a dolphin could not be kept as a pet - they were just too smart and freedom-loving for that. But they could perhaps, be a companion, if they so chose to be. Deep down in my heart, I still want that, and that connection resonated through me while I stood at the glass, watching them swim.
But I did leave eventually, as Melissa and Mama Shea wanted to see something else besides dolphins. We went to the Immersive 4D Experience next, which was basically an "interactive" version of a section of David Attenborough's Planet Earth. I found the sprays of water and "scampering" insects a little distracting, and thought I would have much rather watched it normally. 4D just doesn't work for documentaries - it's too gimmicky. We then moved up to the main part of the Aquarium, which has the giant water tube running through the middle. In the opening section, we looked down on manta rays, serenely gliding through the water. Dolphins may be the closest we get to meeting intelligent aliens, but there are plenty of other ocean creatures that may not be very smart, but are certainly alien. Winding up a wide spiraling staircase, we came to a section on Maryland's own ocean and bay ecology. Considering that I always love knowing about the ecology of the area I live in, and yet know little about Maryland's land and seascape, I was glad for the insight. Next up was an exhibit on adaptation, which I think was mainly an excuse to show a lot of neat, brightly-colored or oddly-camouflaged animals. Charismatic minor-fauna. I spent a lot of time trying to photograph a couple of specific fish, but animals that never stop moving are really hard to get good photos of. Especially when they're behind glass. But probably the coolest animal was the giant octopus, who was curled up against the window, looking like it was sleeping in preparation for world domination. We saw one at the National Zoo during her feeding time, but because she was pregnant, she was as squished into the corner of her tank as far as possible from the window. This one was being much more photogenic, with his tentacles splayed out against the glass. Some of my favorite birds - the puffins - were also kept at the Aquarium, cavorting about and swimming.
Then, there was the rainforest. I hope that one day, I can visit a real Amazonian rainforest (or even an Indonesian one....or Madagascarian...), but for now, I'll have to settle for constructed, indoor ones. Still, the ones that I've been to so far – in the National Botanic Garden (all plants), the National Zoo and now the National Aquarium – have all been exciting and awe-inspiring. In the National Zoo, we saw monkeys and in this one, I saw beautiful parrots up fantastically close. And a couple of nifty bats, albeit further away.
Thankfully, Mama Shea and Melissa were very patient with me. As I knew that we had a 2 o'clock lunch date, and I had seen all there was to see, I wrapped it up. Of course, we met Jackie at a seafood restaurant. Why do we always want to eat fish after seeing them? But as I chose lobster mac and cheese, I didn't feel bad. Lobsters will eat each other if they are allowed to; they're basically giant water cockroaches. Melissa got the same thing, and we were both disappointed, although Melissa far more than I was. Melissa doesn't like seafood, and we could tell she was trying so hard to find something she would like. But it just wasn't a good payoff. And honestly, I can say as a lover of both lobster and mac-and-cheese, it didn't do either particularly well. The lobster was rather fishy, and the mac-and-cheese was just off.
After lunch, we walked around the pier just a bit, and then drove back home to meet Chris. That night, he prepared a lovely dinner for us of lamb, as Melissa loves lamb. I don't even like lamb, and I thought it was great. It was just simply delicious. That is the sign of a true chef – the ability to make you love dishes with ingredients you don't like. And Chris has made meals for me that have done this several times.
Monday
Monday was my atonement for forgetting my camera on Saturday night.
We went into DC in the late morning, with the purpose of taking lots of photos of the pre-inauguration excitement and preparations. Melissa was so disappointed that we couldn't take any photos on Saturday that we promised her we'd take photos on Monday. But when I tried to take some photos, my camera wasn't working. I soon realized that when I changed out my memory card, I never put a new one back in. This resulted in a mad search throughout the city for a store that would sell camera memory cards. As we were along Pennsylvania Avenue, which has very few stores, this was both aimless and extremely frustrating for me (especially because I had to go to the bathroom). We would start in one direction, then go in another, and all the while, having my suggestions going completely ignored. Finally, we managed to find a CVS, where I could purchase a new card for about 30 dollars. We also stopped by the National Portrait Gallery for the restrooms. Everyone was happy.
With that emergency resolved, we set off to be tourists. Tourists on the level of being nearly Japanese in our love for the camera. Melissa really, really loves having and being in and taking photos. As a slightly more conservative photo-taker – a hold-over from when my camera could only store 70 photos, not 700 – it was tough for me to adjust. Plus, posing for photos has always been really hard for me. I'm a lot, lot better at it now than I ever used to be – I actually smile now! - but it's still not my default mode. But Melissa forced me to be. If I didn't take a lot of photos, she was going to take possession of my camera to take the photos herself. So along with my artistic photos of the Capitol and architecture, we also ended up with a lot of “Hey, look at us, we're in Washington DC!” photos. They actually ended up being really cute. We walked from Chinatown, towards the Mall, through a square with a zillion port-a-potties, past the National Archives, up Pennsylvania Avenue, and to the Capital. Along the way, we bought Obama gear – including two different pins that I managed to lose, one that day and one on inauguration day – and gawked at everything. It was nice to get photographs of us in front of the Capital with it all decorated, because there was no way we were getting anywhere that close the next day.
The general goodwill and enthusiasm continued, and was even stronger this day than it was during the days before. Everyone seemed so excited about the event, in a rather non-political way. The city – the country – knew the inauguration was historical in a good, important way, and was proud of it. Despite everything going on with the economy, people were hopeful. For a city known for cynicism and manipulation, kindness and friendliness were the currency of the day.
After wandering around in the cold for long enough, we hopped back on the Metro and went home. We could have attended the “Concert of a Lifetime” down on the other end of the Mall, but we decided one day sitting in the cold for hours on end was enough for one weekend. So we watched it on HBO instead. Much warmer, and it's not like the Lincoln Memorial has great acoustics anyway. And watching Malia Obama take five million photos like any normal 10 year old was both funny and very cute.
As we were getting up at 3:45 in the morning, we went to bed very early, about 9 PM. But before I did so, I made sure everything was in place for the next day, especially my camera memory card.
current mood:  content
current music: Fox News in the background...ugh (comment on this)
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