red tape.

On the day The Washington Post called “the snowpocalypse,” DC parking police flex their iron fists. We couldn’t resist looking at the cost: $250. Way to make yourself a couple thousand dollars off of other people’s misfortune.

grand rapids?

Part of this post is probably the result of our being stranded in DC after our flight to Chicago being cancelled. But DC does not understand snow. Thankfully, radio DJs have spent the last few days instructing people how they should drive (“It’s best if you just don’t stop all the way. At stoplights, slow down and, if at all possible, don’t stop. It’s very difficult to start again in the snow if you’ve stopped.”)

But spending the afternoon watching people respond to a light snow* was a wonderful way to spend a snowed-in afternoon. Watching people shovel their cars out of snowbanks brought back a loving nostalgia from Michigan days past.

Though to be honest, I’ve never seen people taking pictures of themselves next to piles of snow before.

[Note: Some hyperbole here, I suppose, since a few hours later, it looks like they're estimating total accumulation at 18" in my neighborhood; though for the record, my flight was cancelled before 4 inches had fallen, so I stand by my statement. Besides, the snow was falling quite light and peacefully.]

more festivity.

I know…lots of Christmas recently. But in the vein of our year of firsts––thanks to Eileen and Mike for our first Christmas ornaments (the $2/10 ornaments box from Target doesn’t count).

otr.

In terms of concerts, I can’t imagine much better than watching Over the Rhine (my favorite of all time) perform in Chinatown in a restored Jewish synagogue that once also doubled at a church.

Check out The Synagogue at 6th & I NW.

my favorite.

Nothing else I’d rather do on a snowy afternoon.

year of firsts.

Moved to a new city where I didn’t know a single person. Took an internship in a field I knew nothing about (government? what?). Started a real job. Moved into my own apartment. Got married.

A year of firsts. So this might seem insignificant or unimportant:

Our first Christmas tree.

Oh, and of course, matching stockings.

And it wouldn’t be Christmas-decorating night without….

DC’s first snow. All in all, great weekend.

best of dc #3: arlington cemetery

[I kind of forgot about this series that I had started, so I've decided to take it up again. Because there are just so many great places here.]

Arlington Cemetery is, I think, one of the most beautiful places in Washington. It is astounding by virtue of its sheer size. Acres of rolling hills covered in identical marble headstones, it is at once sobering and, in some odd way, inspiring. I feel no more patriotic anywhere in Washington than I do here.

But while the grounds are beautiful and awe-inspiring, what I love most about Arlington Cemetery are the engravings (my three favorites below). DC is a city of marble, and nowhere is that better used than here.

At the John F. Kennedy Gravesite: “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking for his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” -JFK

Robert Kennedy, 1966, South Africa: “It is from numberless acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripply of hope, and crossing each other from a million centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Aeschylus: “In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our despair against our will comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.

twenty years later.

In honor of the twenty year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, I am revisiting a recent post on the matter: http://talithacum.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/ich-bin-ein-berliner/

Also, in two weeks, I will have health insurance for the first time in just 2 weeks shy of a year. More on that soon. For now, reminisce about history and appreciate the fact that you are free.

rebel.

I love running into things like this, love seeing people speak out. But I feel like most of the “speaking out” that’s done in the media, etc. is always so overbearing and obnoxious. Inflated opinions that unfortunately seem to lack much thorough thought.

But this…regardless of where one stands on the sentiment, the method is refreshing. Like someone’s exasperated outburst, but so subtlely conveyed. Like someone just had to get this out of them, quickly, and then walked on.

this is a test.

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