White House Garden Tour

The White House was open today for a special garden and grounds tour. Angela, Meredith and I spent the afternoon on the White House grounds learning about the rich history of the South Lawn, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, and the Jaqueline Kennedy Garden (neither appeared to have roses in them.)

The White House Garden Tours have been a tradition since 1972 when Pat Nixon first opened the White House gardens to the public. Along with the excitement of being in at the President's house, the seat of the executive branch of our government, we experienced what the First Family experiences on their grounds. As a tourist looking onto the grounds from outside the gates, the majesty of looking at the people's house includes the glimmer of serene green lawns across to the pearly white walls, but you never expect the personal family experience. The South Lawn is the Obama family back yard, as it has been for first families since (back when President John Adams and his wife Abigail moved-in in 1800.) The South Lawn has a family feel, and somehow is free of the noise of the busy DC streets. The Children's Garden offers a serene escape with a pond and bronze hand and feet prints of the grandchildren of presidents (mostly Bush I and II), the kitchen garden provides organic vegetables for the first family, and the rushing fountain to the front provides the iconic back drop representing the White House, and the presidency.

Today's tour included the history of the many trees on the grounds. Each fist family has contributed a tree to the grounds, along with many renovations and style. The Obama's had a playground installed, and we found many basketball hoops for our president's favorite pastime.

The grounds are opened up twice a year for this garden tour, both offering unique views of the White House grounds. The event is open to the public (though you have to arrive early to receive a ticket). The event occurs yearly in April and October. If you work at a government agency or for a member of Congress, it is likely that they will receive tickets that might go to you!

Nuclear Summit

As always you can go to the group's flickr site to see more pictures.

Last week, 47 heads of states met two blocks from our apartment for two days as President Obama hosted the first Nuclear Security Summit. You could say that during those two days our apartment was on the safest block in the country in terms of muggers, but it was the most dangerous in terms of a terrorist threat. Our block was blocked off to vehicular traffic but was open to pedestrian traffic. On our corner was a military humvee along with police and concrete barriers.
The first morning was actually easier to get to work, the roads were closed to cars, but it was open to pedestrians, so essentially I didn't have to wait for any cars or traffic signals on my way to work. The walk back was a much different story. I tried to walk up the side of the street I had come up and usually walk up, but wasn't able to. After about two blocks the police had blocked it off, and there were protesters standing on the corner, making it a little difficult to cross. Right as I was about to, they stopped all traffic in all directions. Two minutes later, what appeared to be the South African motorcade came through the intersection. After that, we were cleared to cross.

Cherry Blossoms

As always, you can go to the group's flickr page for more photos.

The Congressional recess happened to coincide with the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is centered around the Tidal Basin which is just off of the mall, near the Washington Monument and where the Jefferson Memorial is located. I went to the Tidal Basin during the first week of the recess to try and see the cherry blossoms. I walked there from the Capitol, but it was a very long, hot walk and when I got there it was packed, I was barely able to walk down the sidewalk because there were so many people there. I decided to leave pretty quick.
Because of the recess, I was given off Wednesday because we tend to have more desks than interns and with me the only full time day they decided to have me take the day off. With a lot of time, I took the Metro to the Smithsonian stop and made the short walk over to the Tidal Basin. Most of the cherry blossoms were past their prime. There wasn't as much pink as I had hoped for. There were still some trees that were in their prime, but unfortunately not as many as I had hoped.


As you can see from the pictures, I was able to get some good shots with the cherry blossoms, including the Tidal Basin which was filled with paddle boats. Although there were still all the stands, signs, posters, gift shops and porta pottys were still there, it simple wasn't the same as if all the trees had been in their prime. Either way, it was still a relaxing afternoon with some beautiful views.

Recess Part 2

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

This past week was the second and final week of the Spring Congressional Recess. It was another week of a more laid back Capitol Hill. Not nearly as many lobbyists and interest groups visiting the office and many more constituents and tourists in town to see the second week of the cherry blossoms. With not as much to do in the office, one of the staffers took the other intern and myself around for a tour of the Capitol. I have walked around quite a bit so I've seen quite a lot, but I still hadn't had been able to walk to the Floor. You are required to go to the floor with a full-time staffer who has to be carrying a special card given to each congressional office. We go in through the Speaker's lobby. Even though the Capitol is decorated with tons of old statues, mirrors, columns, and marble floors, I was very impressed with how well decorated the Speaker's lobby was. It had what looked to be about 8 chandeliers, high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and is guarded by Capitol police. We had to give up all our electronics and photography is prohibited on the floor (although when I was in the gallery for the healthcare vote, there were several Democratic members taking pictures). The floor looks pretty large on TV, but when you're standing in the middle of it, it actually looks very small. It feels like it wouldn't even hold all the members. For the State of the Union they have to bring in extra seats to put in the aisles. We hung out for about 10 minutes, sat in the chairs in the first row, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to go onto the Speaker's Podium where the President speaks from during the State of the Union.


After we left the Floor, the staffer took us through a couple of tunnels and a set of stairs that led out to best view I've seen so far in Washington. It was a view of the mall directly below where the President is sworn in. It was a gorgeous spring day, and another reason why Recess is so enjoyable.

The Commute

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more details.

Commuting every morning is one of the very different aspects from life at CMC. While I was able to wake up at 10:50 for an 11 o'clock class on campus, everyday here in DC I have to wake up at about 7:15. I'm supposed to be at work everyday at 9 (although with Congress in recess these past two weeks, I don't have to be in until 10) and that means I have to wake up much earlier to shower, put on a suit, and ride the metro to work.


Overall, from when I leave my apartment door until I step into Congresswoman Schakowsky's office, it takes approximately a half hour. I take about a 7 or 8 minute walk to the Metro Center Station. There I get on either the orange or blue line to ride to Capitol South. You can see the DC Metro map here. One of the key things to keep in mind is that on all the escalators at the station is that you should stand on the right and walk on the left. With so many tourists here lately for the cherry blossoms, this has been a little bit of an issue and has actually resulted in some heckling of the tourists who stand two wide on the Metro escalators, so keep this in mind when you're going to work. You can also check how much your commute is on the Metro website. There is also a Metrorail card that you can pick up. This means that if you lose your card, you can get a new card with your old balance on it. So if there were $50 on your card, and you then lose it, you can get a new card with $50 already on it. It also allows you to go quickly through the turnstile, you can simply scan your card instead of waiting for the paper card to slowly feed through the machine. It also makes you look less like a tourist.

Opening Day

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

Today, Ben H., Jake and I went to Nationals Park for Opening day. The Nationals were playing the Philadelphia Phillies. We heard a couple of days ago that the Nationals were going to be releasing 400 five dollar tickets on the day of the game. In addition, President Obama would be throwing out the first pitch. The tickets were first come, first served. Although five of us got cleared to leave work on Friday, it eventually turned out only three of us could make it. I got there at about 7:15 to wait in line. At the time there were only about 70 people ahead of me, but the line quickly got very long. At 10:35, they opened the gates to let us in. During batting practice you're allowed to go to any section in the park, so we took in BP from the bleachers. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and green grass. One of the players even threw Jake a ball during batting practice.
After that, we tried to get the best view to see the President throw out the first pitch. As you can see from the picture below, we didn't get all that close, but it was still much better than the view we would have had from our seats.
Although the game was a blow out (Phillies won 11-1) it was still a great experience. It was my first time going to Opening Day, and I loved it. After the game we had to go straight to class, but not before we all got heckled by a couple of Phillies fans for being Dodger/Cubs fans.

Justice Sotomayor

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

A while back, I think it was my second or third week on the job, I got the chance to meet and get my picture taken with Justice Sotomayor. She was on the Hill to meet with some members.

The overall day was pretty exciting. After doing the normal intern duties during the morning, I was told that there was a press conference that Congresswoman Schakowsky was going to speak at on the Senate side and that I should head over. It turned out to include Senators Kerry and Boxer in addition to some other Representatives. It was a press conference to re-introduce the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). If you're bored, see if you can spot me in this video (Hint: It's right at the end on the right side of the screen). After that, the communications director, who had come to the press conference asked me if I wanted to go try and catch a glimpse of Sotomayor. I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about, but I figured my lunch could wait for a Supreme Court Justice. It turned out we were going to the Speaker's office where about 12-14 members were meeting the Justice. The Justice actually took me by surprise as she walked right past me off the elevator. Unfortunately, they were not letting staff into the meeting. So myself, the communications director and about 4 other staffers had to wait out in the hallway. After about 2o minutes, it turned out that the House was voting on PAYGO and the vote was getting a little close so all the members had to go vote. As they were filing out one of the members said that we were free to go in. In one of those things where you didn't have to tell me twice, I gladly went in.


Once we were in, it was only 4 other staffers, the communications director, the Justice, her security detail and myself. We weren't really sure what to do, and were just standing around for a little while. Justice Sotomayor was just sitting at the table, waiting for all the members to come back. I asked the communications director if it would be okay to go ask her for a picture. He liked the idea and started pushing me pretty hard, even after I started having second thoughts. I went to go ask, and a member from her security detail told me to wait until the end of the meeting. The communications director knew that this meant I probably wouldn't get a picture. So he told me to try again, so this time I just walked around the other end of the table and with nobody from her security detail on that side of the table, I was able to ask her for a picture.

I had a little talk with her, as she told me about how great an opportunity it was to be able to intern on the hill, and how she hopes her niece will one day get the opportunity.

After that we headed back to the office and the Congresswoman had to go to the floor for some more votes.

Recess

This past week and next week has been "District Work Period" for Congress. This is also known as a "Congressional Recess." To me, it kind of seems like Spring Break on the Hill. The House Office Buildings are quiet, there are no hearings and much fewer lobbyists making the rounds. The cherry blossoms are also in full bloom which has brought in a lot more tourists on both the metro and at the Capitol Visitors Center.

There has been a lot less to do in the office this past week, a couple of times they even sent me home early. Most of the staffers use this opportunity to take some of their vacation days. After the push for healthcare, which included a weekend of being in the office, this has been a welcome break.

Most of the members are back home. Congresswoman Schakowsky came in for the bill signing on Tuesday, but has been back home ever since. The only other member I have seen so far is Henry Waxman. He was in the Rayburn cafeteria taking some pictures with one of the high school groups that is in town this week.

Next week should be a little more hectic though Speaker Pelosi named Rep. Schakowsky to the President's debt commission which will be meeting soon.

Here's a good article by Politico on the recess.