It’s been a really long time since I’ve had a chance to post. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, but I’ve just been extremely busy. First I was busy with work, then with quitting, and finally, with moving and starting over. It’s been pretty crazy year, where I’ve lived in Fargo, ND; Minneapolis, MN; Des Moines, IA; and now I have finally landed in a more permanent local: Washington, D.C. (I suppose to be entirely accurate, I live across the Potomac from Downtown D.C. in Crystal City [Arlington], VA). That’s mostly an excuse I guess; anyone can just claim they were busy when they don’t get their things done, and I guess I’m only one of many. I probably had hundreds of opportunities to write; those lost opportunities are something I’ll have to improve.
Now For something that isn’t an excuse:
Living in the Washington D.C. is a very unique experience (at least in my opinion). I’ve been here for almost a month now, and I’ve noticed a few things.
There are a lot of Mr. Smith’s here. If you’ve seen the classic movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, you’ll know what I mean (if you haven’t seen it rent it: its a classic). Basically James Stewart plays Jefferson Smith a great person from a small town, is picked by the Governor to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. The naive Mr. Smith tries to do good from his position, but is met with the harsh reality of how the political system in America actually works. In the end Mr. Smith, rises above the fray to get his goals in the Senate done, and he does it without compromising his morals. Now when I say that there are a lot of Mr. Smith’s here, I mean there are many people here who are new to the area, and that they tend to be motivated and idealistic. Which in my opinion is great; it’s always nice to have optimists around. Idealism is what drives society’s advancement (or is that money…) People like this are crawling up and down the streets of DC.
But there is a stark difference between people who have been here a while and those Mr. Smith’s out there. They are realists, who work hard in the metro, where it is impossible to escape the realities of how our government works. Pork Barreling, Corrupt Politicians, and Scandals are not just something on the news here; they happen here. They also have seen the state that our Nation’s capital is in: shambles. Not to say that the local government isn’t working hard to fix these problems, but every night on the news there are stories that are very troubling. For example, in a period of around 24 hours there were at least three murders; three bystanders in an unrelated event (including one girl toddler) were shot in their car when they got between two cars shooting at one another. Add to the deaths the state of the schools systems in the area. School started this week in most of the area and the news was full of stories about schools with no teachers, schools with no air conditioning, and even more astonishing: Last year some of the DC Public Schools were shut down for days at a time last year because they didn’t have heat in the winter. Some of these schools still don’t have heat, unbelievable. After a while, the glossy exterior of DC tends to wear down, which people who have been here for a while tend to reflect. (And I don’t even want to get into that particular Senator from Idaho…)
Anyway there definitely seem to be two different groups here, and it’ll be interesting to see how their alternate points of view intermingle. How that intermingling effects my perception of DC and our system of government is also something about which I am very curious. From this point on I’ll try to post at least once a week. Look for posts on Anderson Cooper’s Last book, coming up soon.