...everybody's got one.

While I was volunteering at the Library of Congress over the weekend there was a family of five (ma, pa, three kids between 5-11, or so) who stopped by the desk and inquired about directions to the Spy Museum in D.C. I immediately called upon my very helpful Todd and told them that walking north to Union Station and taking the Red Line to Gallery Place/Chinatown was the best option. Being that the Museum is just around the corner from the Metro stop – and there’s a nice selection of food in the area – I felt I’d fulfilled a very important tourist need. What I realized after spitting out this brilliant information, as if some autotron, was that the Spy Museum stinks. I took L. there during one of her visits and neither of us was impressed in the least. She’s perfectly happy to be a bit more restrained when reviewing places we visit but she didn’t think much of it and it was pretty high on her list of things to do. I passed along to mom that I thought the place was a waste of money (at $18 or so, per person) and that most kids probably wouldn’t find it terribly fun – there are some interview videos that talk about the usual FBI and CIA moles that were caught but it’s not something most kids would enjoy. The museum tries to make it fun – they certainly have external ads that make it seem like it would be fun – but the place is definitely not worth nearly $100 for a family of five. For the same price they’d be much better off doing the NewSeum in D.C. I haven’t been, but there’s an eleven-year-old in the house who raved about it for three days after his school took a field trip there. For about the same price, that’s a much better review. Of course, I told them that for free they could take the kids to the Air and Space Museum and would probably have a much more enjoyable time. As I was finishing my little ‘summary’ of the place I realized that maybe I was being a bit too judgmental (just like I am with movies, music, Celine Dion, and my friend Buzz’s movie ratings.) It was then that the patent attorney who always works the desk with me – and who’s lived in D.C. for thirty years – pipes up with “I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about the place.”

You want to know what brought this up? How about this. Someone at CNN is writing stories based on tour books.

Just put my good deeds on a Tiffany gift certificate.

advancement placement social studies

After the party on Saturday we all jumped the Metro and headed to the Corcoran Gallery for the Ansel Adams and Annie Liebowitz exhibits (it was a two-for-one ticket purchase.) I skipped the Adams exhibit due to time constraints and spent my time in the Liebowitz rooms. I’ve read varying reviews on the show, it’s been to a few galleries before D.C., and a good many of the lay folk focus almost exclusively on the rock n’ roll aspect of her photography. There’s no doubt that her time at Rolling Stone influenced her ability to snag the famous people but it’s not always the actor/actress/singer/rocker subject that end up catching my attention. It’s a bit unfair to justify her success simply to the subject – she does have a great ability to bring us shots that show something much deeper in the eyes of the subjects. Her travel and world event photography is stunning (Rwanda, the Balkans) and deserves as much attention as the portraiture. My favorites from the exhibit were the Cash family (Johnny, June Carter, grandson, and Roseanne) on the porch of Johnny’s house (I know it’s rock n’ roll!); and the formal portraits of the Queen. I’m sure about the falling out she had with Elizabeth II during the shoot but the photo of the Queen in full regalia under a rolling sky is amazing. Another portrait that's frightening to me is the shot in the Oval Office from December 2001: Bush, Rumsfield, Card, Rice, Powell, Cheney, and Tenet. There's no way she said "say cheese" for this shot. It was probably more like "look normal" or "give me your jerk look". They all played along.

After the museum we walked north towards the Orange Line and a hopeful dinner. When heading north up 17th St. from the Corcoran you pass the Old Executive Office Building – that’s a picture up top, if you’re wondering. After a few hundred meters X turned to me and said, “that guy behind us just asked someone if that Old Office Building thingy was Victorian architecture. Can you believe that? What a wacko.” I looked back towards the building over my right shoulder, the sun setting, and thought, I’ve got no idea what kind of architecture that might be. What I say to her is, “What kind of fool! It’s amazing he can put one foot in front of the other and walk without falling over. Geez.” She then let me know that it’s clearly a Georgian building. Georgian! On Sunday morning I readdressed the architecture issue while we stared at a Victorian/Georgian building near DuPont Circle. What I’ve learned from her is this: if it looks like this picture, and it’s eatable, it’s Victorian.


This will someday earn you college credit on some exam. Thank me later.

T.