Inauguration tchotchkes

Kalin came all the way from Vancouver to attend the Inauguration ceremony with Dory. They left Sunday afternoon and returned late last night after spending 7 hours slowly making their way from DC to New York. They then spent another hour or so recounting (in part due to my insistent questioning) their first-hand experience of the Inauguration ceremony. And while the stories of the million-person crowds struck terror in my heart, a small part of me felt regret for not participating in person.

These souvenirs, if they should choose to keep them — a nametag, a small paper American flag waved vigourously on the National Mall, an unused DC metrocard, pictures taken with frigid hands — will be worth the memory exercise and bragging rights in the future when they recount their participation in history to the next generation: "I was there when the first black president was inaugurated."

CONSUMED: my apartment; Brooklyn

Lincoln Memorial

That *other* politician from Illinois will be inaugurated today. Perhaps one day, he too will have his own memorial, being the first black president and all.

It's time to deliver on the hope.

CONSUMED: Lincoln Memorial; Washington, DC

Declaration of Independence

I was in DC with my parents for (American) Thanksgiving this year. And though I had been to the city several times before, I had never made it to a monument save that presidential phallus that sits between the National Mall and the Reflecting Pool. It was my mom's idea to take one of the tour buses that ran around to all the memorials at night.

One of the first stops was the monument dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, the president credited with the creation of the Declaration of Independence. I was standing there peering up at the text beside my mom and said without thinking, "It's funny, how this statement is still being discussed today."

"How so?" she asked. I realised it was too late to take those last words back. I knew that not long ago, my parents' church had a petition speaking against gay marriage. I didn't know whether they had signed it, but I did know my parents were firm believers in the faith.

"Well right now it's the discussion of gay marriage here in the States, you know, with Proposition 8," I admitted. I cringed inside.

A moment of silence. Then, co-opting a poignant quote from Animal Farm, she said, "I guess here, some men are considered more equal than others."

CONSUMED: Thomas Jefferson Memorial; Washington, DC

ye olde fixie

I think I knew that the Wright Brothers were bike makers. But maybe that knowledge was overshadowed by their other work. (We so often forget the history behind certain breakthroughs; they used bikes to test out methods of stability and control for their flyer.)

CONSUMED: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; National Mall, Washington DC

airport station

Taking the subway to the airport in less than 30 minutes from the city center is a dream. It's a pity more cities don't have the privilege of such an amenity. (One day, I will fly into the Toronto Island airport. One day.)

CONSUMED: Reagan National Airport metro station; Washington DC