Washington, D.C. Part THREE

June 29-August 5 2007

The second week of our summer fling had us covering the Congress and we had the privilege of a tour of the US Capitol. How awesome was that. First up was a general tour of the public areas of the Capitol that anyone who queues up can participate in. The more exciting part of our day was going on a guided tour  by the staff of Rep. Hinchey, who is Ithaca’s representative in the House. We made our way to Rep. Hinchey’s office to meet the two staff members for a little chat and collect a sticker saying “US Capitol Staff-Led Tour” with the Congressman’s signature on it. We didn’t get to meet him though because he was not in Washington at the time.

It was really cool to see the rotunda dome of the US Capitol. From the exterior of the Capitol building, the dome is the defining structure that makes the Capitol so recognizable and it was awe-inspiring to see upclose the little details and artwork that makes the interior so magnificent. Bearing in mind that during our tour, we also ran into Senators and Representatives – them nonchalantly walking past us as they went about their normal activities – that this was their office/workplace and what a workplace to be at everyday.

Little intricate figurines

Another rotunda with a beautiful chandelier

The above pic shows us in the room with the secret hearing passageway. If you stand at a particular spot in this room, you can hear whatever is being said at another particular spot across the room, which used to be an office famed for the leak of secrets. We look interested here but we were quite bored really, and trying very hard to listen to our creepy tour guide. I see a trend here, with creepy tour guides. The staff-led tour we had later on was so much better.

An underground transportation system that services the Capitol

Lindsey, me and Scully on the tram

Our guides then brought us to the press room, where Congressmen make their media reports from. It was cool and we snapped like crazy, feeling important, if only for a few seconds. We also got to see the media room where journalists work on their reports. There was a row of telephone booths where they would call their editors from to file their reports. The booths were in such close proximity to each other that journalists could actually eavesdrop on each other and sort of steal a rival’s stories. Too bad we didn’t have the chance to see it live in action – it would have been an eye-opener into the real world of cut-throat journalism. We were told however, that blackberrys and mobile phones now meant that journalists didn’t rely on these telephone booths anymore since they could do so anytime and anywhere they wanted. I think the telephones also connect to the congressional offices so that journalists can call to conduct interviews, research or background checks.

Telephone booths

Senator Jeremy.

The class was then split up – our guides were going to let us sit in for a short while because the House was in session. How cool was that! To see the congressmen live, discussing bills and voting on them! I was in the second group but when it came to our turn, we were told that we couldn’t go in anymore and that we’ll have to come again another day. Bummer. Felt a bit sorry for the few of us because we came so close to sitting in a House of Reps session. Somehow we weren’t too convinced that coming back again would guarantee us a sitting.

Group pic in Rep. Hinchey’s office with his staff members

So anyway, the topic for this week’s assignment was to be anything regarded to the US Capitol or Congress. In other words, we could write our article on anything related to the legislative branch of the US government – bills and such.

It was quite a challenge – finding a topic takes quite a bit of research and reading just to settle on one. I randomly came across a story about the Statue of Liberty and it just popped out at me from nowhere so I decided on that story. Working on this story was so fun though. Phone calls made to congressional offices went unanswered or were redirected. I had to make so many phone calls to congressional aides who were not willing to talk or comment; they either directed me to other offices or they claimed that the press secretary/communications director was not around so they were not in a position to comment. I had to assure them that this was an academic assignment and would not be print-published – and on condition of anonymity – before they agreed (very reluctantly) to speak. It is not easy to be a journalist on the Hill, fore sure. I very nearly missed my assignment deadline.

Here it is:

She Deserves Liberty

By JEREMY HOU; 14 July 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The copper-clad statue sits silently atop an island at the entrance to New York Harbor, and keeps a watchful eye over the New Jersey coastline and Manhattan cityscape. A gift from the French to celebrate the centennial independence of the United States from the British, it welcomes all visitors, immigrants and Americans who have passed through the harbor since 1886. It is a symbol of freedom, of hope. It is the Statue of Liberty.

Following the September 11th terror attacks on the World Trade Center, the National Park Service immediately closed Liberty Island, denying tourists access to the grand statue. The National Park Service announced early 2004 that the Statue of Liberty would only reopen after $5 million was raised to add safety enhancements to the Statue. President George W. Bush did not include the Statue of Liberty in his 2004 federal budget, despite setting aside $8 million for the upgrading of a cafeteria and a car park at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

“The Statue of Liberty is the defining symbol of New York City and the United States,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens & Brooklyn) on February 16. “We all took a terrible blow from 9/11, but now it’s time for Lady Liberty to get up off the mat, just like the rest of the City has.  Instead, the Bush budget slaps her in the face.”

In April, Rep. Weiner called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch an investigation into the fund-raising activities of a nonprofit organization, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.
“There are no records of any investigation on the Foundation. The only reports of the Statue of Liberty is from a study done way back in 1986,” said Elizabeth Johnston, GAO’s Legislative Advisor for Congressional Relations. “What’s even stranger is that Rep. Weiner’s name does not appear in my database.”

However, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation insists that an investigation by GAO was carried out in 2004, though there was “nothing found to be out of the ordinary”. The Foundation raised money to assist the National Park Service to enhance Liberty Island as a whole, and not just the Statue. The Statue of Liberty was reopened on August 5, 2006, but visitors can only ascend as high as the Statue’s feet, while going up to the Statue’s crown remains a no-go.

“There are health and safety concerns that we have to deal with regarding the interior of the Statue,” said Darren Boch, Spokesman, National Park Service (New York Harbor). “Even before 9/11 occurred, we were thinking of closing access to the crown.”

The interior of the Statue does not conform to New York City’s building code. According to Boch, when the Statue was first designed, it allowed only for maintenance workers to enter the interior, and not for “thousands of visitors to climb up the narrow staircase.”

Rep. Weiner announced Congressional hearings into the reopening of the Statue on July 4. According to an aide from Rep. Weiner’s Congressional office, the National Park Service has not released a statement to them.

“Hearings will take place in the summer,” said the Congressional aide. “The Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands will review management of the Statue and the decision by the National Park Service to keep the crown closed.”

Visitors might be able to see the Manhattan cityscape once again from the crown of the Statue, and not just from her toes. As Rep. Weiner said in a press release, “It’s time to reopen the Statue of Liberty fully. To the crown.”

Washington, D.C. Part TWO

June 29–August 5 2007

I really liked the bedroom I had sublet from the family. It was very comfy and overlooked the back porch of the house. The landlady was nice and I enjoyed chatting with her about stuff – Singapore and just general random topics – it was going to be an interesting five weeks in DC.

The house was in the Adam’s Morgan neighborhood, which I grew to love quite a lot. Self-contained, with a Safeway supermarket and CVS pharmacy, Popeye’s, and a Chinese diner, which I relied on quite a bit, a Starbucks four minutes from my house (absolute bliss), the metro was just a 10-minute walk away and it was close to the Boston Uni Center, where my political journ class was going to be held.

The rent included use of the kitchen, wireless internet and laundry facilities, which is essential. I loved doing laundry in the US, especially in Ithaca. I always looked forward to using the washers and dryers at the basement of the Garden Apartments back at IC. The best part was retrieving warm and fresh clothes (which were truly crisp and nice-smelling). That’s something hard to achieve in humid and hot Singapore, unless you have a dryer and do not have to depend on the sun. I digress.

The weekend before the summer class was to start, Scully (my news writing prof from Ithaca) had us meet up at the BU Center for a pre-class meeting – basically to explain the proceedings of the class and what we’ll be learning. First week would be an intro to Wash DC: finding more about what makes the city tick as a tourist destination, and so our first assignment would be an exposé about a touristy attraction.

That first Monday, Scully gave the class a lowdown about past US presidents and about the Constitution, about Wash DC, about the Civil War, about Republicans vs. Democrats, about how Krispy Kreme is allegedly related to the KKK and the state of Tennessee, about MLK’s speech at the Mall, and the Washington Post and the Watergate Scandal. A lot of history and I was glad we got it out of the way at the first class. Of course, Scully peppered the history lesson with personal anecdotes that made it a lot more fun.

We were given our first assignment (YAY) and told that we had to finish it by Friday. The tourist attraction I chose was the National Postal Museum. Not that I was a stamp lover by any means, but that the more exciting ones were taken and I felt I could give the postal museum an interesting angle.

That first week also saw us visiting the state of Virginia. And some sites steeped in rich history.

George Washington statue at the creepy Masonic Memorial

Mural of George Washington

Scene from an apothecary that the Washingtons (George and Martha) used to visit

So old school!

The apothecary was owned by Leadbeater and Sons.

Old Town, Alexandria – home to George Washington

Political Journ class with Scully

The Potomac River

That same week, the class met to celebrate Independence Day (July 4th) by camping out at the Iwo Jima Memorial (USMC War Memorial) to watch the fireworks over the Washington Monument. The memorial is in neighbouring Virginia, beside the Airlington National Cemetery, and is popular among locals who go to catch the fireworks. Before we entered the memorial grounds though, we were thoroughly searched by police stationed there, presumably to prevent people from bringing alcohol and stuff.

Iwo Jima Memorial

The crowds gathered somewhat comfortably awaiting dusk and fireworks

Lindsey, Jane and me

Group pic!

The memorial is one of few sites in the United States where the flag is permitted to be raised all day and night. I had no idea.

I can’t remember if this was taken before or after the fireworks but I suppose it’s post-fireworks because I think everyone started packing up the moment the fireworks ended

Some quirky light display I spotted as we were walking back to Rosslyn metro station

Jane and I were asked to make all kinds of funny faces the whole night by our camera-totting classmates. But I forget now what face this was. Evidently it involved some stunned or open-jaw-inducing emotion.

Washington, D.C.’s metro stations are deep, like five floors into the ground. So those with a fear of heights should stick to the elevator.

I chose to write my first story of the class on the National Postal Museum, even though with my preconceptions, I didn’t think there would be any interesting facet to highlight. I decided to go anyway, with an open mind and see if I could dig a story out of a seemingly mundane place. Little did I know how narrow-minded I could be, after I realized how significant postal history could be, being tied to so many aspects such as communications, transport, economic progress, politics and even international relations.

I interviewed a few employees of the museum and then ambled around the museum a little bit, even talking to a Japanese girl who was a volunteer at the museum. Just as I was about to leave the museum, I came across a fairly new exhibit – a damaged piece of plastic that was used to hold postal packages and it was recovered from among the debris of… the plane that crashed into Shankville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. That plane was headed to Washington, D.C. that fateful morning before passengers and flight crew thwarted the attempt, although there were no survivors from the crash. Wow. That later resulted in a ban of postal delivery on commercial flight, also in part to the fact that these postal packages cannot be scanned.

I left the museum realizing that as insignificant as the postal museum might have seemed at first, its quirky exhibits left a lingering aftertaste in me, especially also after iewing an exhibit about the anthrax scare in postal deliveries, and how the impact of terrorism has seeped into the postal system – worldwide, and how we can’t really escape from it, can we.

The museum had a collection of Singapore stamps from the 1960s.

Mail used to be delivered with horse-drawn carriages

D.C.’s Hidden Gem

By JEREMY HOU; 7 July 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a time when the prevalence of technology over modern society seems commonplace, Daniel Falk admits that it is hard for one to imagine the workings of a postal system in past centuries. As the Exhibitions Specialist of the National Postal Museum, the 28-year-old Falk says his job involves taking visitors on a journey through three centuries of postal history to better understand today’s postal system.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Falk graduated with a degree in Classical History from Rutgers University in 2001. His parents were both employed by the Smithsonian Institution. He has been working at the National Postal Museum for the last four years and imagines himself to be there for quite a while. Dressed in a blue polo T-shirt and khaki pants on a casual Friday, Falk walks around the museum with a walkie-talkie in his hand. He speaks quickly, but retains a sincere tone and a warm smile – one gets the impression that he is proud of the museum’s exhibits.

“Some of our popular exhibits include Binding the Nation and Moving the Mail,” said Falk. “Both of them are very educational in terms of illustrating how mail used to be delivered, from horse-drawn carriages, to rail, to airmail.”

Allison Wickens, Director of Education at the National Postal Museum, agreed with Falk. She works closely with Falk to monitor visitor response. According to the most recent survey she conducted in July 2005, the National Postal Museum receives about 400,000 visitors annually and a majority of them are families who come in spring and summer. About 10 percent of their visitors are foreigners. Wickens added that the National Postal Museum is the definitive authority on postal history in the United States.

Set up by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990, the National Postal Museum opened to the public on July 30, 1993. It is housed on the lower level of the old City Post Office Building, which was constructed in 1914 and served as the main post office of Washington, D.C. till 1986.

One artifact that stands out is a U.S. mail carton that was retrieved from the debris of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. It may not belong to the rich history of the U.S. postal system, but it marks a move away from mail delivery via commercial flights. According to Lynn Heidelbaugh, Assistant Curator at the National Postal Museum, the United States Postal System no longer delivers its mail packages via commercial flights because of the inability to scan the contents of the packages.

Nancy Pope has been working for the Smithsonian Institution since 1984. As Historian and Curator at the National Postal Museum, she explains that the National Postal Museum has a greater significance than one would imagine. Other than its philatelic section that appeals to stamp experts, its exhibits and information on postal history “deals with transport and communications methodology for the past 200 years.”

“The postal system is universal. It is a service to and from all,” said Pope. “I have visitors who come and remark that their experience went better than they expected.”

Dan Falk feels satisfied that he fulfilled his goal of educating visitors through the exhibits, but adds that the museum could do better.

“The Postal Museum is a hard sell. How do you promote it to tourists unless they have a specific interest in stamps?” he said. “This is Washington’s hidden gem, an oasis outside the crowds of the National Mall.”

Washington, D.C. Part ONE

June 29-August 5 2007

My arrival in the capital of the United States was one filled with drama.

The flight from Los Angeles to Washington had a quick connection at Atlanta, Georgia. But the first flight landed very late, and that resulted in most of the connecting flights out of Atlanta to be delayed. By the time I was walking to the gate, the plane bound for Washington was to have left already but they were waiting for delayed passengers.

So I landed at the Regan International Airport an hour later than scheduled, only to find that my bags hadn’t arrived and this happened to a few other passengers too. I filled out the forms, and was informed that my bags were probably still in Atlanta and they wouldn’t come till the next day. This was about 11pm and I still had to make my way to the hostel, where I had booked a bed for the night. Dismayed, I caught the metro to the city. Mind you, this was my first time in DC; I was alone, tired, without my bags, and it was late.

I found the hostel, which was part of the Hostelling International group and located in downtown DC, near Chinatown. The other people in the room were asleep already but I was starving and decided to find a McD’s for a quick bite. I also called Gladys to lament about the horrible day – the delayed flight, my lost luggage and not having any clothes to change into. It was truly tragic, that day.

The next day, other than having to retrieve my bags, I also had to find an apartment for the next five weeks while I was in town for my summer class. I shortlisted a few potential rentals and e-mailed them, hoping to meet up with them. I also put up an ad on craigs, hoping that a potential landlord would get back to me. Now, the bags. It was yet another tragic day. I was last informed that they would deliver the bags to me when they arrived. They had arrived at the airport but they would only deliver them to me later that day or the following day. And I couldn’t wait that long! So I decided to collect the bags myself from the airport. (Reagan International is about 20-30 mins away via metro, and it was quite a pain to be lugging my bags in the daytime, with the day crowds and all.)

Long story short, my bags and I were reunited once more. Maybe budget airlines don’t appeal to me anymore. The inconveniences and lack of reasonable service from their staff were definitely not worth the (slightly lesser) airfare at all.

On the accommodation front, I wasn’t having it good either. I had arranged to meet a potential landlord earlier but she didn’t show. Relying on free wireless isn’t such a good idea at all, especially since I couldn’t connect at some places I should have been able to, i.e. Starbucks or Cosi cafe. Anyway, I got in touch with a lady who was subletting her apartment for a pretty reasonable rate and I was quite desperate by then. I took a taxi to the address she had given me and I was quite disappointed by the neighborhood. It was predominantly a non-White neighborhood and although there’s nothing wrong with that, I didn’t feel safe because the area looked quite dodgy and I later realized that it was quite far from where my classes were held. She was a no-show too, because she didn’t respond when I knocked on her door. Anyway. So I was left with no options at all and that night was to be my last night at the hostel. There were no more vacancies left.

Truly truly desperate and without a clue of what to do next, I decided there was not much I could do anyway since it was late already, so I went walking around to explore a little of the city. The next morning, however, proved to be the turning point. A lady had responded to my ad on craigs and although the price was steep, it was within my budget and it was almost perfect because it was where I was looking for – Adam’s Morgan. Fantastic.

After speaking to her on the phone, I immediately knew I had found the right place without even checking it out. I checked out of the hostel, grabbed my bags and took a taxi to the house. She must have been surprised that I brought my bags along since I hadn’t even saw the house yet. But it was do-or-die – I would have no roof over my head that night.

It was a really nice and cozy three-storey townhouse. The owners were a Jewish American and an Indian American. They recently had a baby, but I didn’t mind that. The price was steep but worth it. After looking at the house, I knew this was the one, and after discussing a little, I moved in and paid for the next five weeks in cash, plus a safety deposit in check. The rent included wireless Internet, utilities and I was free to use the kitchen and laundry facilities as and when I wanted. My landlord had visited Singapore before and had friends there too, so that was a bonus. My week was finally starting to get better.