At the Pentagon, remembering 9/11

One thing I didn't mention when I wrote about my trip to Washington, D.C., is that a friend took me to see the very moving Sept. 11 memorial at the Pentagon.

This was my first time on the grounds of the Pentagon, so it was interesting just from that perspective. The memorial is a place for quiet reflection and honors each of the victims. It's a simple design, yet one that contains levels of meaning.

Completed in 2008, the memorial is adjacent to the side of the building where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed about a half-hour after takeoff from Dulles Airport. You can see that the Indiana limestone used in the repairs is a slightly different shade.

Designed by Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman, it consists of 184 benches, each cantilevered over a pool of water and illuminated at night, and inscribed with the name of a victim. They're arranged according to the age - the oldest was born in 1930 and the youngest in 1998.

For some reason I had thought the memorial was only for people who worked at the Pentagon, so I asked my friend whether there had been a daycare center. He said no, it was for all the victims, those on the plane as well.

That really touched me - civilians and military personnel, adults and children who were on the plane, all remembered together. And the memorial is open to all - 24 hours a day, no security checkpoint to go through to get on the Pentagon grounds.

Fifty-nine of the benches face one way and 125 the opposite way, depending on whether the person was on the plane or at the Pentagon that morning.

"When visiting a unit dedicated to a victim who was in the Pentagon, the visitor will see their engraved name and the Pentagon in the same view," Beckman told the Bryn Mawr alumnae magazine. "Conversely, one will see the engraved name of a victim on flight 77 with the sky."

In an interview with The Washington Post about building the memorial, Kaseman said that visitors won't find any brochures or interpretive material because the terror attacks were an attack on freedom of thought. (Although if my friend hadn't known the background, a lot of the deeper meaning would have escaped me.)

"We wanted to invite people to think but not tell them how to think or what to feel," Kaseman said. "The memorial gives you enough of a story to set you on your own process of discovery and interpretation."

Here's a CBS News segment on the memorial, including interviews with the designers:

Summer sightseeing in Washington

Washington, D.C., has been one of my favorite cities ever since my first visit, on a high school trip with Project Close Up.

Last weekend was my first time back in about six years. I saw some dear friends, attended a bar mitzvah and on Sunday, I had a chance to do some sightseeing.

My first stop was the Newseum, which I'd seen years ago in its old location, in Virginia.

The new six-story building on Pennsylvania Avenue is impressive and there's a great view from the rooftop terrace. Even from a distance and through the summer haze, the sight of the U.S. Capitol never fails to thrill me.

I liked the displays that focused on the history of newsgathering, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs, press freedom and challenges to the First Amendment.

You get a good overview of how covering the news has changed over the centuries, including the advent of online journalism, blogging and Twitter.

The headline flubs on the walls in the bathroom, taken from the Columbia Journalism Review, were funny - as long as you weren't the one who wrote them.

But I have to admit, the journalism theme park aspects of the museum left me feeling a bit cold.

I decided not to "shake rattle and roll through I-Witness! a 4-D film experience." I did walk through the "G-Men and Journalists: Top News Stories of the FBI's First Century" exhibit and some of it was a little lurid - the Unabomber's cabin and the electric chair that killed the kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby.

Also, I was a little put off by the video of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They're not journalists, they're comedians. Still, I realize it's 2010. You have to be fun and interactive while you're trying to inform and enlighten. And they do offer their own unique spin on the news.

The Newseum is worth a visit - use your AAA card for a discount on the admission. And it got me thinking - aren't we overdue for a Broadway revival of The Front Page?

My next stop, after a long, hot walk across the Mall, was the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History - hands down my favorite museum in the world.

I've always been a huge American history buff and I love the way the museum tells the story of the United States - not simply through the action of great men and women but through the lives of ordinary Americans and through popular culture.

There are examples of great courage - the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where four black students sat down in February 1960 and refused to leave until they were served. And there are items from our collective cultural memory - Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Show and Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

While I've been to the museum numerous times, I have never felt as moved as I did on this visit, when I saw Michelle Obama's inaugural gown.

At the bar mitzvah on Saturday, the rabbi reminded us that it was the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington and he urged us to recall Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech.

Admiring the gown a day later, in a crowd with many African-American museumgoers including elderly men and women, families with young children, was incredibly poignant.

It was a tangible example of how far we've come in realizing Dr. King's dream and in fulfilling the promise of this country - the promise of equality.

Here is the first lady presenting the gown to the Smithsonian in March:



Since it was on the way to the Metro, I stopped at the National Portrait Gallery before heading back to my hotel.

There's an interesting exhibit through Jan. 2 of Norman Rockwell paintings and drawings from the collection of directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. I learned how Rockwell had influenced their work as filmmakers, which I hadn't realized.

I love the Portrait Gallery, with its collection of paintings and photographs of famous Americans from all walks of life. But after seven hours of walking around, I was getting a little tired. (In my mind, you haven't done enough sightseeing until you're ready to collapse.)

Hopefully I can return on my next visit - which won't take six years - and I can include a little theatergoing, too.

Happy birthday, America!

For months I was an avid follower of Fred and Hank as they made their way across America with their human companions, Jim and Joan Brady. Now, they're back home.

To mark the Fourth of July and help me deal with my beagle withdrawal, here are Fred and Hank in 2007, visiting some monuments and important buildings in Washington, D.C. Sadly, there's no audio. So you'll have to play your own patriotic music while you watch.

A win for the arts

The Senate passed the $787-billion economic stimulus bill a few minutes ago. The House approved it earlier in the day. And guess what - money for the arts is back!

In drawing up a compromise bill, House and Senate negotiators dropped an amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma that excluded assistance for museums, theatres and arts centers.

The bill includes $50 million to support projects in all 50 states that create and preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector. The money will be handed out via the National Endowment for the Arts. According to a story in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 40 percent will be distributed to state and regional organizations and 60 percent to projects selected by competition.

Apparently a grassroots lobbying campaign by Americans for the Arts is partly responsible for the turnaround. It urged people to call and e-mail their representatives and ran ads like the one above.

The group estimates that for every dollar the NEA distributes, another $7 is generated through local, state and private donations, which means $50 million could create $350 million worth of investment.

Abraham Lincoln - arts lover

"Michelle and I are so pleased to be here to renew and rededicate this hallowed space. We know that Ford's Theatre will remain a place where Lincoln's legacy thrives, where his love of the humanities and belief in the power of education have a home, and where his generosity of spirit are reflected in all the work that takes place.

It has been a fitting tribute to Abraham Lincoln that we've seen and heard from some of our most celebrated icons of stage and screen. Because Lincoln himself was a great admirer of the arts. It is said he could even quote portions of Hamlet and Macbeth by heart. And so, I somehow think this event captured an essential part of the man whose life we celebrate tonight."

From President Obama's remarks last night at the rededication of Ford's Theatre

America's most famous theatre

Ford's Theatre bills itself "as America's most famous theatre" and that's probably true, although certainly not in a way you'd want to be famous. I saw a show there in 1976, during my first visit to Washington, D.C., when I was in high school. It was the gospel-themed musical Your Arm's Too Short to Box With God.

While I don't remember anything about the musical, I do remember looking up at the presidential box more than once. The history buff in me wondered what it must have been like on that fateful night of April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth entered the box, shot President Lincoln, then leaped to the stage to make his getaway.

Tonight, a day before Lincoln's 200th birthday, Ford's Theatre officially reopens after a $25-million renovation. To mark the occasion, there's an invitation-only gala featuring a host of celebrities and the presentation of the Lincoln Medal to George Lucas and Sidney Poitier.

The theatre also plans a makeover of the type of work it presents, according to its director, Paul Tetreault. The emphasis will be on education and the American experience. "I think we're going to be focused on more important work. It might be funny, it might be serious."

A new play about Lincoln, The Heavens Are Hung in Black, by James Still, is playing there until March 8. Starring David Selby as Lincoln, it covers the five months between the death of the president's son Willie and the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. It'll be followed by the musical The Civil War from March 27 to May 24.

A little girl and a Christmas classic

Okay, I know I'm a bit early, but I don't like leaving things until the last minute. So to all of my readers who celebrate the holiday, my best wishes for a very merry Christmas. Thank-you so much for stopping by and giving me the gift of your time. And if you're going to be traveling over the next few days, have a safe journey.

Of course, I have to leave you with something performance-related. One of the things I love about the Broadway musical Billy Elliot is the way it celebrates the joy of dance. Here's another wonderful example that seems perfect to share this holiday season.

Every year the Joffrey Ballet chooses a child with disabilities to take part in a production of that Christmastime classic, The Nutcracker. This year an 8-year-old Maryland girl, Mary Cassell, who has cerebral palsy, got picked for the production at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Katherine Shaver of The Washington Post wrote a sweet story about her. There's also a video where you can see Mary at rehearsal and hear her talk about how she wasn't sure she wanted to do it at first. Cute doesn't even begin to describe this little girl. And what a trouper. You can see her on stage here.

There's still time to catch the Joffrey's Chicago production of The Nutcracker. It runs through Sunday.

A tireless champion

I was so saddened to read yesterday that Sen. Edward Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Elected to the Senate in 1962, the Massachusetts Democrat has been tireless champion on issues that all Americans should care about regardless of their political leanings - health care, the minimum wage, education, civil rights.

I've only seen Ted Kennedy in person twice. In 1980, he spoke at Northeastern University in Boston when I was a student there. But four years earlier, during my first trip to Washington, D.C., I saw him on the floor of the Senate. I'll always remember it, because he was sporting a bright green tie in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

I went to Washington in 1976, when I was a junior in high school, under a Close Up Foundation program. Close-Up is a terrific nonprofit organization that promotes civic education. Under its auspices, thousands of students come to Washington every year for a week of sightseeing, a sense of how government works, and the role that they can play in it.

From my first view of the Capitol dome in the distance as our bus pulled into the city, I was hooked. This was before I went to college in Boston, before I'd done any traveling, and it was the first city I ever loved. I always wanted to live in Washington, but I never had the chance. I guess it'll always be one of my great unfulfilled ambitions. At least as an adult, I've had plenty of friends to visit there.

Washington is the best place in the world for someone who loves politics and history. I remember we met our congressmen and various government officials, toured the monuments and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (the beginning of my lifelong love affair with that museum). We even saw a show at Ford's Theatre, the gospel-themed musical Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God. (I don't recall anything else about it except the title).

At our hotel one morning, I saw a very tall, imposing-looking Muhammad Ali. One night, I peeked inside a banquet room where a dinner was taking place for Congress' Joint Economic Committee and had a chance to meet, among others, Alan Greenspan, (before he was Federal Reserve chairman) Coretta Scott King and Minnesota Sen. Hubert Humphrey. The former vice president was so gracious. He must have spotted my nametag because he called me by my first name, and introduced me to his wife, Muriel, who was standing next to him.

It was memorable week in many ways, including that glimpse of Senator Kennedy. While the outlook is grim, he's still with us, and I wish him the best.

Sammy's Hill

Since the presidential campaign season's been in full swing for about a year and we have another year to go, I figured I'd catch up on some political books I'd been meaning to read.

"Sammy's Hill" was near the top of the list. The Wasington Post describe's Kristin Gore's 2004 debut novel as "A chick-lit romp with a Capitol Hill twist" and that pretty well sums it up. It's a light, fun read with a likable heroine and some keen insight into what life is like in the Washington fishbowl. (Gore has also written a sequel, "Sammy's House," that came out in June.)

I like chick lit and I'm not ashamed to admit it. (I wish I could say I spend my reading time lost in literary classics, but that would be wrong). Still, I'm usually more interested in the world our heroine inhabits than in the ups and downs of her love life. (Have you noticed how these books always end on an up?) Plus, I like reading about politics, so the combination sounded great. I figured that Gore, being Al's daughter, would have some special insight.

Her heroine, Samantha "Sammy" Joyce, is a twentysomething staffer for Ohio senator Robert Gary. Sammy's specialty is health-care policy. She's hard-working, has a boss she truly admires, and, in a hallmark of chick lit, has her share of quirky personality traits.

For one thing, Sammy loves talking to telemarketers: "Over time, I had definitely developed favorites. Zelda from the phone company was one of the stars. I had her personal extension on speed dial and called her up periodically just to check on things."

She's also been a hypochondriac ever since taking a seminar on communicable diseases during her freshman year in college. "Since then, I had dedicated myself to doing the little I could to prepare for the disasters that were sure to befall my relatively defenseless body."

Gore has plenty to say about politicians, the legislative process, the media and the voting public, some of it serious and some of it brimming with satire.

To increase the chances of getting a health-care bill passed, Sammy's boss allies with a colleague whom Sammy considers "arrogant and slimy." (Her love interest is the arrogant, slimy senator's speechwriter). The legislation that she's labored so hard over is changed so dramatically that it ends up doing the opposite of what it was intended to do. "The bill was supposed to be about changing the system for the better, not compromising to the point of irrelevance."

This scene probably came right from conversation around the Gore family dinner table. At one of Senator Gary's town hall meetings back in Ohio, a farmer asks the senator about subsidies, a mother is concerned about overcrowded classrooms. Then, there's an older woman who "talked about how annoying it was that her neighbor had put the mulch pile right up against her fence and could RG call him and ask him to move it."

Gore takes a dig at the television networks' post-debate coverage and the focus on focus groups of ordinary voters. "I found the undecideds' ability to make up their minds incredibly annoying. And I suspected that their prolonged indecision was just a ploy for further attention, since they were such a wanted demographic."

My major criticism, and this seems par for the course in the chick-lit genre, is that for a smart, accomplished young woman, Sammy has a few too many damsel-in-distress moments, a few too many moments that make her appear somewhat flighty.

For me, the best parts of "Sammy's Hill" aren't the "chick" parts that chronicle Sammy's love interests, but Gore's description of the political process, how legislation gets passed, and the compromises that occur along the way.

"Sammy's Hill" is being made into a movie, and in March, producer Doug Wick said "It will do for Washington, D.C., what 'Talladega Nights' did for race car driving. We are going for a bold, subversive comedy."