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.”
