Dan and I went to Washington DC a while back. Here are the highlights:
Lady with a stroller
A couple with a strollered toddler were walking in front of us approaching an escalator which was broken. They stopped to let us climb on first. As I looked back at them I realized these things 1) the mom is rather pregnant 2) they aren’t following us up the steps 3) they have no idea how to get the large stroller up the steps. I walked back down the broken escalator and asked them if they needed help. They said yes. So I took the front end of the stroller while the dad took the back. The mom apologized for not carrying anything herself. (but she is carrying something heavy already, and has no way of putting it down, so it’s not like I’d want her lifting anything!) At the top they both said thank you and Dan and I left.
A “White” House
I noticed that for a white house, the White House is awfully white. I mean most houses get dingy pretty quick. I wonder how often they paint/replace the siding.
Lincoln a God?
It was striking that the Lincoln Memorial was built like a Greek temple with an enormous god statue inside, only the statue is a modern (for his time) Lincoln. His words are actually carved on the walls in stone, the most poetically immortalizing way to be recorded. Lincoln is huge. You are forced to stare up at him; your mouth almost naturally drops open from the tilt of your head. In all our US history Lincoln is the only one we treat this way. He is less a man and more a legend. No one will ever be thought of as a greater president for the simple fact that we raise him to such heights and keep him there. It is interesting.
The “Oh” baby
One of the art galleries had a little wing was all nature photographs in sepia. A dad entered with a baby whose only phrase was, “Oh!” She seemed sooo happy with her phrase and possibly how it sounded in the slightly echoey chamber, that she continued saying, “Oh” in various intonations every couple seconds. Without stopping. For several minutes. Annoying for some perhaps, this just made me want to laugh. I decided she was enjoying the art. Dan thinks she was just enjoying her voice.
Next Floor
There are several art buildings and galleries. Dan and I looked at a ton of art in different forms. One piece was a 12 minute film called “Next Floor”. I was pleased with the amount of attention to detail and production value that went into it. It seemed to be an extended metaphor that could be taken several ways. I will just describe it and leave it abstract for you since we never made up our minds what it meant:
The piece begins with a butler staring straight at the camera. The view pulls back and we see that he and a fleet of waitstaff are serving a group of rich, stiff looking men and one woman sitting around a table. Everyone is wearing dusty looking black suits. They sit stiffly, but are ravenously eating what is before them. The plates being loaded onto the table are all extremely decadent and greasy meats; no veggies, no pasta, ect. The only non-meat items are some fruits which are obviously meant as garnishes. The only person not eating is the woman who looks detachedly at those around her. She seems uncomfortable with the entire situation but unsure what to do about it. As the waitstaff continue to load plates onto the table we hear the floor begin to groan. A moment later the entire table and seated guests plunge through the floor landing one floor below. The butler goes to a wall intercom and says into it, “Next floor.” The waitstaff all begin to bring the new dishes of meat down one floor to the new dining area. The guests wait patiently until the servers arrive before plunging back into their wanton consumption. This happens several more times; each new floor is hit and the diners wait to begin again. Finally they hit a floor which immediately begins to creak as if it is already in danger of breaking. The butler stops the waitstaff from serving and they move down a floor in anticipation. Everyone holds their breath; not wanting to move. Finally an old guy seated at the table decides to go ahead and eat. The others soon follow suit. It looks like the floor is holding. Everyone is eating as if they are starving to death- except the woman. She gets a faraway look in her eyes. Then suddenly she too dives into the food with determination. We see her struggling to eat, stuffing her mouth. A tear rolls down her cheek. Then the floor gives way. The diners hurtle past the waitstaff who are just a floor below. They keep going, falling floor after floor. We see them clinging to the table and shrieking. The waitstaff look at them vanishing into nothing as they fall and fall. Then we see the butler staring at the camera. The piece is over.