Today I had lunch with two future leaders of the free world; Wesley, who I learned wrote an article for the National Review last February, and Poulod, who wrote an article for the New Left Review last November. Both were classmates with me at a small, liberal high school. I feel hopelessly outpaced, although if I ever finish my Time article I assume some magazine out there would like to take it.
Our (private, thank you) conversation covered a large amount of ground, mostly about counter-terrorism because Wesley is going back to Iraq next fall in lieu of going to school. Would that I had such a great excuse to skip school... oh yeah, I am going to go live in a monastery... If I'm learning anything solid from this enlightening internship, I concluded, it should be something I ought to apply to my search for a career.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
In an Internet Cafe
I am typing in the only real Internet cafe in Washington. I shit you not. Free Wifi is all over the place, but computers for the computerless are nowhere to be found. I mean, they even have Internet cafes in Japan-- what's up with this? Yeah, there's another one somewhere near here, but it's $15 an hour to use their computers, which is clearly out of step with the hallowed traditions of thousands of Internet cafes around the world. Pic related.
I saw WALL-E yesterday with a friend and I thought it was superb. All of you should watch it. The only complaint I'd make is that the political commentary is a little heavy-handed. But a lot of people eat that up, especially here in DC. At the Smithsonian festival, the Bhutanese in the food traditions tent was explaining that if the churned milk does not produce butter, they attribute it to an evil spirit brought in by the guests. (The milk in the churn wasn't producing very much butter, because it wasn't raw milk, but pasteurized milk brought in by "Washington cows".) "So," he said, "I hope there are no spirits here from the White House..." A member of the audience broke out in a loud guffaw.
A few patterns I've noticed here in DC:
1. Rain in DC comes out of a blue sky, lasts for 10 minutes, and stops by the time you head inside. There is no way to predict the rain. I saw a forecast of thunderstorms and brought my umbrella around last Monday; there were no thunderstorms, even through 6PM. So I went to Trader Joe's without the umbrella, and then it started raining. I thought I had caught on; I carried an umbrella for the rest of the week, and it didn't rain once. Finally I decided the storm had passed and the umbrella was dead weight, so I left it in my room. Of course, then it started raining again. Since then my umbrella has never left my side. The best way to prevent it from raining, apparently, is to carry an umbrella in your backpack.
2. The have-nots in DC will often ask for change to ride the metro, and the haves never give it to them. There are panhandlers everywhere, but based on my completely objective and impartial sample, I have concluded I am the only person in DC who actually gives money to people who ask for it.
3. Maybe it's just a summer internship, but I've noticed a lot of people from Compassion over Killing handing out flyers about vegetarianism and veganism. Right at the Capitol Hill metro stop (!) they were handing out flyers. I like the fact that unlike PETA, who make all vegetarians look crazy, they promote veganism as a multilayered choice and not a question of religious purity. The booklet reminds you that it's okay to accept meat from friends every once in a while and you won't become unclean. On the National Mall at the entrance to the Folklife Festival, they were handing out free samples of orange veggie chicken and booklets with lists of vegetarian restaurants and grocery stories. I took them up on their offer and went to an Asian restaurant in Georgetown with my friends. You could replace all their dishes with mock meat, and it the kung pow mock-chicken delicious! A+++++++ would go vegetarian again.
I saw WALL-E yesterday with a friend and I thought it was superb. All of you should watch it. The only complaint I'd make is that the political commentary is a little heavy-handed. But a lot of people eat that up, especially here in DC. At the Smithsonian festival, the Bhutanese in the food traditions tent was explaining that if the churned milk does not produce butter, they attribute it to an evil spirit brought in by the guests. (The milk in the churn wasn't producing very much butter, because it wasn't raw milk, but pasteurized milk brought in by "Washington cows".) "So," he said, "I hope there are no spirits here from the White House..." A member of the audience broke out in a loud guffaw.
A few patterns I've noticed here in DC:
1. Rain in DC comes out of a blue sky, lasts for 10 minutes, and stops by the time you head inside. There is no way to predict the rain. I saw a forecast of thunderstorms and brought my umbrella around last Monday; there were no thunderstorms, even through 6PM. So I went to Trader Joe's without the umbrella, and then it started raining. I thought I had caught on; I carried an umbrella for the rest of the week, and it didn't rain once. Finally I decided the storm had passed and the umbrella was dead weight, so I left it in my room. Of course, then it started raining again. Since then my umbrella has never left my side. The best way to prevent it from raining, apparently, is to carry an umbrella in your backpack.
2. The have-nots in DC will often ask for change to ride the metro, and the haves never give it to them. There are panhandlers everywhere, but based on my completely objective and impartial sample, I have concluded I am the only person in DC who actually gives money to people who ask for it.
3. Maybe it's just a summer internship, but I've noticed a lot of people from Compassion over Killing handing out flyers about vegetarianism and veganism. Right at the Capitol Hill metro stop (!) they were handing out flyers. I like the fact that unlike PETA, who make all vegetarians look crazy, they promote veganism as a multilayered choice and not a question of religious purity. The booklet reminds you that it's okay to accept meat from friends every once in a while and you won't become unclean. On the National Mall at the entrance to the Folklife Festival, they were handing out free samples of orange veggie chicken and booklets with lists of vegetarian restaurants and grocery stories. I took them up on their offer and went to an Asian restaurant in Georgetown with my friends. You could replace all their dishes with mock meat, and it the kung pow mock-chicken delicious! A+++++++ would go vegetarian again.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Bhutan Pavilion
Update 8/21/08
My photos
Folklife Festival page
I am devoting this weekend to the Bhutan pavilion at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which runs through next week. Kunzang Choden said that Bhutanese people were formerly shy but now they are proud. I would argue that they are still shy. A yak herder at the pavilion was asked to do his traditional dance, and he sang very quietly (almost inaudible) while taking baby steps. I also got to see a traditional "black hat dance", a dancing meditation comparable to whirling dervishes-- but the monk was so shy at performing before a foreign audience he only danced for 10 seconds.
They also were unaccustomed to our expectations of entertainment which I found comfortingly realistic. For example, a little monastery was set up where monks chanted 10 hours a day. Inside, you could see the monks were pretty worn out by the heat and were fanning themselves and taking breaks from chanting by drinking lemonade. It was likely disillusioning to some tourists. But the paintings on the wall were fantastic! I asked a monk if they were handmade and he didn't seem to understand-- he said they were normal monastery decorations. Eventually he told me they were handmade, but insisted it was nothing special. I have pictures but I can't upload them right now.
There were some characters, who deserve shout outs. Mainly, an old grandpa playing the announcer for the yak herder, who was completely unfunny (he made jokes about shooting the President... golf clap) but had such confidence and extroversion that he made everyone laugh anyway just by making it sound like he was telling the world's best joke ("MAYBE... the FBI come question us! HA! 'WHO FIRE THAT GUN? WHO FIRE?'"). I'm sure he was an expert Bhutanese standup comedian.
A demonstration of Bhutanese food and hospitality was made. The former cultural minister of Bhutan came to the food pavilion and sat down in front of the bowls like one normally entering a house. They prepared food for him like they were sharing a meal with a visitor. Then a real visitor came-- a young man wearing a devil mask with a wool pigtail, who clearly was uninvited and was leaning on the woman making the food. It was very funny because the announcer had just explained that all guests in Bhutan are "uninvited" but they just drop by whenever. It seems the Bhutanese saw the fireplace and food and decided it would be only proper to drop by. Then the old grandpa came by too, completely interrupting the announcer with his loud voice and demanded he have some food as well. "Oh, these people do VERY GOOD! Give them a hand! [applause] First time in the world that people are given a hand for EATING! HA!" The grandpa was handed a microphone. "I don't need this! I am PLENTY LOUD! All you can hear me, right?" He was completely right, he was the only Bhutanese who did not need a microphone at all, even at the crowded pavilion. He then pointed out that there was no silverware or chopsticks in Bhutan, but soup and rice were eaten with your hands. He explained his tricky habit of drinking the soup from the bowl first. "That way, if your host finishes and sends you off... you wait for him to turn around, and dump your bowl in your robe, and you will hurry out the door with the food! But if you don't drink your soup first... you will dump your bowl in your robe... and spoil your robe!" (He told this much more engagingly than I relay it here, and many people were in tears from laughing even though it was very barely a joke.)
I also met a college friend and asked her to watch Wall-E with me. She wanted to see an Australian movie called Outback instead, which turned out to be a piece of crap. Well, there's always tomorrow.
My photos
Folklife Festival page
I am devoting this weekend to the Bhutan pavilion at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which runs through next week. Kunzang Choden said that Bhutanese people were formerly shy but now they are proud. I would argue that they are still shy. A yak herder at the pavilion was asked to do his traditional dance, and he sang very quietly (almost inaudible) while taking baby steps. I also got to see a traditional "black hat dance", a dancing meditation comparable to whirling dervishes-- but the monk was so shy at performing before a foreign audience he only danced for 10 seconds.
They also were unaccustomed to our expectations of entertainment which I found comfortingly realistic. For example, a little monastery was set up where monks chanted 10 hours a day. Inside, you could see the monks were pretty worn out by the heat and were fanning themselves and taking breaks from chanting by drinking lemonade. It was likely disillusioning to some tourists. But the paintings on the wall were fantastic! I asked a monk if they were handmade and he didn't seem to understand-- he said they were normal monastery decorations. Eventually he told me they were handmade, but insisted it was nothing special. I have pictures but I can't upload them right now.
There were some characters, who deserve shout outs. Mainly, an old grandpa playing the announcer for the yak herder, who was completely unfunny (he made jokes about shooting the President... golf clap) but had such confidence and extroversion that he made everyone laugh anyway just by making it sound like he was telling the world's best joke ("MAYBE... the FBI come question us! HA! 'WHO FIRE THAT GUN? WHO FIRE?'"). I'm sure he was an expert Bhutanese standup comedian.
A demonstration of Bhutanese food and hospitality was made. The former cultural minister of Bhutan came to the food pavilion and sat down in front of the bowls like one normally entering a house. They prepared food for him like they were sharing a meal with a visitor. Then a real visitor came-- a young man wearing a devil mask with a wool pigtail, who clearly was uninvited and was leaning on the woman making the food. It was very funny because the announcer had just explained that all guests in Bhutan are "uninvited" but they just drop by whenever. It seems the Bhutanese saw the fireplace and food and decided it would be only proper to drop by. Then the old grandpa came by too, completely interrupting the announcer with his loud voice and demanded he have some food as well. "Oh, these people do VERY GOOD! Give them a hand! [applause] First time in the world that people are given a hand for EATING! HA!" The grandpa was handed a microphone. "I don't need this! I am PLENTY LOUD! All you can hear me, right?" He was completely right, he was the only Bhutanese who did not need a microphone at all, even at the crowded pavilion. He then pointed out that there was no silverware or chopsticks in Bhutan, but soup and rice were eaten with your hands. He explained his tricky habit of drinking the soup from the bowl first. "That way, if your host finishes and sends you off... you wait for him to turn around, and dump your bowl in your robe, and you will hurry out the door with the food! But if you don't drink your soup first... you will dump your bowl in your robe... and spoil your robe!" (He told this much more engagingly than I relay it here, and many people were in tears from laughing even though it was very barely a joke.)
I also met a college friend and asked her to watch Wall-E with me. She wanted to see an Australian movie called Outback instead, which turned out to be a piece of crap. Well, there's always tomorrow.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Kunzang Choden
My congressman on transgender issues: The phrase "having something trapped in the wrong body" is how we often feel when our bill goes to the Senate.
Yesterday I volunteered to help revamp his website. It's currently a total mess with incomprehensible navigation. When I looked it up last fall, I was unable to find the internship link; only my mom could find it, after a dedicated search. We'll see how this goes. The last intern to revamp the website made a mess of it and added an <iframe>.
Last night I went to a Smithsonian event by Kunzang Choden, the first Bhutanese woman to write a novel in English. She gave us a description of her life and conditions in the country. I have a picture of her with me (it's a really funny picture-- I didn't realize I had undone the top button on my shirt and my tie was falling off) but I can't upload it right now. Apparently one of the other interns came as well, but I didn't see her. She only told me this morning! The Smithsonian's Bhutan event is the largest exhibition the country has ever held outside its borders. I'll try to take the day off tomorrow and see the excitement for myself without the crowds. Bhutan is the most sincerely Buddhist country.
Then I headed into Georgetown, which people told me was like Cambridge. That is a pack of lies. It is like Wellesley. They do have an independent bookstore, though.
Yesterday I volunteered to help revamp his website. It's currently a total mess with incomprehensible navigation. When I looked it up last fall, I was unable to find the internship link; only my mom could find it, after a dedicated search. We'll see how this goes. The last intern to revamp the website made a mess of it and added an <iframe>.
Last night I went to a Smithsonian event by Kunzang Choden, the first Bhutanese woman to write a novel in English. She gave us a description of her life and conditions in the country. I have a picture of her with me (it's a really funny picture-- I didn't realize I had undone the top button on my shirt and my tie was falling off) but I can't upload it right now. Apparently one of the other interns came as well, but I didn't see her. She only told me this morning! The Smithsonian's Bhutan event is the largest exhibition the country has ever held outside its borders. I'll try to take the day off tomorrow and see the excitement for myself without the crowds. Bhutan is the most sincerely Buddhist country.
Then I headed into Georgetown, which people told me was like Cambridge. That is a pack of lies. It is like Wellesley. They do have an independent bookstore, though.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Subway and Flag Room
I didn't realize the Capitol had its own subway! I rode on the House "tram" line and there's also a covered subway for Senate members. The subway walls were lined with state flags, statues, and busts of various lawmakers including Hammurabi and... Colbert.
At the other end of the subway we went to a place which looked a lot like a post office. It had a window, drop boxes, and piles of outgoing mail. But wherever I would expect to see the words "post" or "mail", it said "flag" instead. And all the outgoing mail took the form of flags! It was, apparently, the Flag Office. So many people in the United States want flags shipped to them from Congress that they needed an entire office for sending them out. We dropped off our flag and headed back to the subway.
Calls are continuing to come in on the "Iran naval blockade" thing. It's troublesome because I don't yet know why my congressman supported this bill.
A Congressman's Office
I have learned that it is definitely not a good idea to reveal the name of my congressman on a public blog, so if you don't know his name please ask me or a friend privately. People are always telling me what an awesome guy he is and usually calls begin with a thank-you. Unfortunately today is not so great. People are calling in about the "Iran naval blockade" resolution he cosponsored along with 200 other representatives. Yesterday it was just the angry pacifist; today it is a half-dozen people in the first two hours of work.
The phone is not constantly ringing off the hook here. We get hundreds of "robos" in big packages but normal people calling in with their concerns happens only three or four times an hour. Yesterday it was Medicare; today it's the grassroots "Iran naval blockade" thing. Believe it or not, responding to stuff on the Internet does make a difference.
I came into work today and there were some Old Order Amish guys being patted down at the door. I decided to interview them, in the name of real Internet journalism. Also, I was curious.
- What are you guys here for today?
- We're meeting with the department of Homeland Security.
- Why?
- Border crossing (he whispered).
- Oh, do you live near the Canadian border?
- No, but our people live all around the country and there's been some issues with... border crossing (whispering again).
- Well, good luck...
Old Order Amish, keep fighting the good fight!
Yesterday I went to Buddhist meditation at the Shambala center in Cleveland Park. It was a lot different than the meditation I'm used to. You keep your eyes open, and at the end of the session you invoke a Tibetan deity with an English chant. With my eyes open, I felt like I was being tortured awake. I guess that's good, though, because I usually fall asleep in meditation. Afterwards, I spent an hour talking to a girl, and rode the metro home with her. I think she liked me. I almost asked her out to dinner but I was too nervous.
Oh well.
The phone is not constantly ringing off the hook here. We get hundreds of "robos" in big packages but normal people calling in with their concerns happens only three or four times an hour. Yesterday it was Medicare; today it's the grassroots "Iran naval blockade" thing. Believe it or not, responding to stuff on the Internet does make a difference.
I came into work today and there were some Old Order Amish guys being patted down at the door. I decided to interview them, in the name of real Internet journalism. Also, I was curious.
- What are you guys here for today?
- We're meeting with the department of Homeland Security.
- Why?
- Border crossing (he whispered).
- Oh, do you live near the Canadian border?
- No, but our people live all around the country and there's been some issues with... border crossing (whispering again).
- Well, good luck...
Old Order Amish, keep fighting the good fight!
Yesterday I went to Buddhist meditation at the Shambala center in Cleveland Park. It was a lot different than the meditation I'm used to. You keep your eyes open, and at the end of the session you invoke a Tibetan deity with an English chant. With my eyes open, I felt like I was being tortured awake. I guess that's good, though, because I usually fall asleep in meditation. Afterwards, I spent an hour talking to a girl, and rode the metro home with her. I think she liked me. I almost asked her out to dinner but I was too nervous.
Oh well.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
In a Congressional Building (Updated)
Right now I'm halfway through my first day interning with my congressman. I still haven't asked whether I can use his name blogging. In any case, I'm free right now so I'm writing. An intern's job is ad-hoc. There is very little instruction and mostly I'm just sitting and watching the other guys do their work. When nobody's given us a job, we do data entry and answer the phones; there are many other tasks but none of them are happening today.
My congressman has about 60 staff members, most of whom are on a committee he runs. I introduced myself to him briefly but he doesn't like to be interrupted at work, as I soon learned. Then I sat down at a desk I share with another intern and immediately started taking calls from crazy people. It seems today is a very special day: the AARP called all their members, gave them a rapid-fire political message, and told them to press 1 to "speak to a real person," which forwarded them to us. Most of them didn't know what was going on and thought we had called them. Some of the callers simply said "don't cut Medicare!" I dutifully recorded all their names. Then I went through over 200 form letters sent to us (called "robos" in the office) and manually entered each of their names into our database to send a response. I always suspected this is what happens to the letters you send on political website. That didn't lessen the drudgery though. And for the finishing touch, the letters were addressed to my senators and not my representative, and dealt with a Senate bill, not a House bill. We had been CC:ed.
One tip for writing your Congressman: don't ask him to vote one way or another on a bill on the day it goes to the floor. I pass on all the calls I get but they go to a separate staff member who reads them in bulk later in the day. It'll probably be too late by the time he forwards them.
I watched one of the staff print out a "Dear Colleague" letter about the Protecting Americans from Unsafe Foreign Products Act. On top of the letter he wrote, "[Rep name]-- Cosponsor this? M." There's the big secret, folks. I am here in the office of the secret elites who control the country, and that's how they get it done.
Yesterday I went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I remembered it from when I was little. Not much had changed except now there were updates pasted on some of the handrails explaining that the descriptions on the back walls were wrong. Phrases were used like, "So, this diagram is wrong." Why don't they just update the descriptions, then? They must have serious budget problems... in any case, most of the museum is under construction this summer, so maybe some of it will be better soon. There were also some bigass turtles, sloths, and arthropods. Some kids go for dinosaurs but I was fascinated by the big turtle.
Update: An intensely angry pacifist is on the phone. He wants to know why my congressman is cosponsoring a naval blockade of Iran. I agree completely-- Iran has done nothing to deserve a naval blockade. Unfortunately this guy lives nowhere near my home state and I tell him, in a dull bureaucratic tone, that my congressman doesn't want opinions from outside his district, but I'll try to bring it up with him personally if I get to talk to him. "Warmongering son of a bitch!" he yells as I hang up the phone.
My congressman has about 60 staff members, most of whom are on a committee he runs. I introduced myself to him briefly but he doesn't like to be interrupted at work, as I soon learned. Then I sat down at a desk I share with another intern and immediately started taking calls from crazy people. It seems today is a very special day: the AARP called all their members, gave them a rapid-fire political message, and told them to press 1 to "speak to a real person," which forwarded them to us. Most of them didn't know what was going on and thought we had called them. Some of the callers simply said "don't cut Medicare!" I dutifully recorded all their names. Then I went through over 200 form letters sent to us (called "robos" in the office) and manually entered each of their names into our database to send a response. I always suspected this is what happens to the letters you send on political website. That didn't lessen the drudgery though. And for the finishing touch, the letters were addressed to my senators and not my representative, and dealt with a Senate bill, not a House bill. We had been CC:ed.
One tip for writing your Congressman: don't ask him to vote one way or another on a bill on the day it goes to the floor. I pass on all the calls I get but they go to a separate staff member who reads them in bulk later in the day. It'll probably be too late by the time he forwards them.
I watched one of the staff print out a "Dear Colleague" letter about the Protecting Americans from Unsafe Foreign Products Act. On top of the letter he wrote, "[Rep name]-- Cosponsor this? M." There's the big secret, folks. I am here in the office of the secret elites who control the country, and that's how they get it done.
Yesterday I went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I remembered it from when I was little. Not much had changed except now there were updates pasted on some of the handrails explaining that the descriptions on the back walls were wrong. Phrases were used like, "So, this diagram is wrong." Why don't they just update the descriptions, then? They must have serious budget problems... in any case, most of the museum is under construction this summer, so maybe some of it will be better soon. There were also some bigass turtles, sloths, and arthropods. Some kids go for dinosaurs but I was fascinated by the big turtle.
Update: An intensely angry pacifist is on the phone. He wants to know why my congressman is cosponsoring a naval blockade of Iran. I agree completely-- Iran has done nothing to deserve a naval blockade. Unfortunately this guy lives nowhere near my home state and I tell him, in a dull bureaucratic tone, that my congressman doesn't want opinions from outside his district, but I'll try to bring it up with him personally if I get to talk to him. "Warmongering son of a bitch!" he yells as I hang up the phone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
