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A blog by someone who doesn't like or understand blogs.
A major theme of this blog is the love affair between the blogger and the city of New York.
Email me at david [at] danzig [dot] com.
Bloggers with whom I am personally acquainted, in real life, in alphebetical order by first name:
Caren L.
Dav C.
David D.
Eva J.
Jessica D.
Joclyn G.
Lauren P.
Sean S.
Steph T.
If you know me in person, and I forgot to put you here, definitely, please email me, and also please accept my apology!
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Monday, March 17, 2003
OUR NATION'S CAPTIAL.
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I spent the weekend in Washington, D.C. visiting my friend David D. and protesting the imminent war with Iraq. There were some very clever placards, like "Bush & Dick: Make Love Not War" and "We need regime change in Washington" It seemed more light-hearted than angry or passionate, but it did get very venomous when the tens of thousands of us passed by a counter-protest set up by a few dozen pro-war demonstrators. Their chant, "War freed the slaves" proved too much, I think. Are they saying they're just pro-war, in general, without regard to this particular conflict? After all, one side was waging war to keep slaves. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that war is always wrong no matter what; I just think this war is wrong right now. But talking about how a different war freed the slaves sounds like they think that war is always right no matter what. But, of course, that would be completely insane.
Walking the circumlocutious route from the Washington Monument to the White House, I was struck by how many amazing institutions are headquartered in D.C. Of course, there's the White House and the Capitol Building. But there's also the F.B.I., the Department of the Treasury, the American Red Cross, The Daughters of the American Revolution, The Department of Justice, and The Smithsonian Institution. And these are just the places that we happened to pass on our march, and that I happened to notice, and that I happen to remember. If any of these places were in any other town it would be a huge deal. For example, Steph T. countered my assertion that her home town of Memphis, Tennessee was the middle of nowhere, by countering that it happens to be Federal Express's central processing location, where all their mail passes through. Suppose that the F.B.I. were headquartered in Houston or that the Department of the Treasury were headquartered in Phoenix or that the Smithsonian were based in Miami. Just that one thing in each city would be such a huge big deal in those places. But in D.C., except for the White House and the Capitol, all those places seem to be lost in the mix of dozens of other places that are equally or more famous.
That night I got to go David D.'s lady-friend, Steph T.'s birthday party. By a bizarre coincidence, I met Steph about 16 years ago or so when we were both enrolled in Duke University's Talent Identification Program for Precocious Youths.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/03/our-nations-captial.html
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