DC Tourist, Part 1

I did some searching online last night, and ran across an announcement for the Jim Henson Exhibit at the International Gallery of the Smithsonian. No photography was allowed, but I did stop and read every placard which took about an hour and a half. Lots of Jim Henson's earlier work was displayed, and clips from some of his non-Muppet film shorts, as well as drawings, sketches and storyboards from Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, the Dark Crystal and others. Fantastic. The exhibit is traveling, and I already let my sister know it's coming to Orlando in February. I got teary walking through room after room of Jim Henson's vision of teaching children community, learning, and peace and thinking how much the world lost when he died.

No pictures were allowed inside the exhibit, so this was the only one I could get.



Due to some weird twist of fate, I walked over to the National Holocaust Memorial Museum around 3:30 pm. When the museum opened, tickets were needed to go through the permanent exhibit, and I wanted to see if tickets were still necessary and when they usually ran out. Lo and behold, active duty military and veterans get special tickets reserved for them every day, so I snagged one. Since I knew I could get a ticket any time, I wasn't in a huge rush to get through the exhibit in the two remaining hours the museum was open.

The elevator took me up to the fourth floor, and immediately the experience was the polar opposite from the Jim Henson Exhibit. There were about 30 people in the first room and hallway coming from the elevator, and not one person said a word. Other than the shuffling of feet, a dead, heavy silence filled the area. The ceiling and walls are black and the floor dark, so that the displays, pictures and videos starkly contrast in black and white. Having read up a lot about the Holocaust growing up, and reading fiction set in that time, I knew the horror of what I was getting into. But when I came across pictures of Polish school teachers and priests moments before they were executed in the woods and fields, I started to tear up again. Perhaps the Nazis being so organized and documenting everything wasn't such a bad thing, there is plenty of photos and videos giving evidence to their systematic approach for domination. One thing interested me: Along with exterminating the mentally and physically handicapped, acute alcoholism was considered a mental illness and acute alcoholics were sent to concentration camps or shot on sight. I got about halfway through the permanent exhibit; up until Auschwitz which is probably a depressing point to stop. I quickly cruised through the last half which encompassed the liberation of the concentration camps, heroes, children of holocaust survivors, and the memorial room. I plan on going back to spend more time listening to the tapes and watching the videos and seeing the last half of the exhibit.

I'm not sure why I happened to visit one exhibit full of light, love and happiness, and the next one filled with horror and despair. Sometimes life is like that.

Whew!

I'm two days back from ICYP in Oklahoma City. I spent most of yesterday dawdling in bed with the dogs and cats, and finally got up around 3:00 pm to run to the vet for flea medicine since I started accumulating flea bites. I splurged on the more expensive flea egg killing K9 Advantix since the biting had begun. I scarfed down some Mexican food and then, because I ate too much, fell back to sleep last night at 10:30 pm.

Spending the weekend with old friends and new ones had rejuvenated my program. I think the sense of community, purpose and "being a part of" is something I've been missing up here in Northern Virginia. Also, meeting up with the Louisiana, Florida, Texas folks showed me how much I had been isolating myself with the depression I've been going through for the last few years. Bu t things are turning around.

Sunday night I went to the National Memorial in OKC with some friends. The Memorial was beautiful, haunting, sad and hopeful at the same time. I got into photographer mode while I was walking around and taking pictures. Not until I walked over to the chain link fence that had mementos of items found in the rubble where I lost it. There were pictures, stuffed animals, wreaths with poems, and knick-knacks hanging in the fence. But the sheer number of key chains overwhelmed me. For every key chain I saw dangling in the (ever-present) wind, I thought there was someone who didn't get to go home that day. Someone who didn't spend the night in the safety of their house with their loved ones. I saw pictures of two adorable brothers who were 2 and 4, and couldn't imagine the loss of their parents from that terrible day.

I'll post my photos when I figure out where the cable is. I finished moving at the end of June, but I still have piles and boxes to sort through and organize.

That's about it for now. I'm avoiding rewriting my resume for the Army Corps of Engineers. As soon as I get the resume into construction terms, I can start working for them in about a month, so I have to get off my duff. I do enjoy having a significant chunk of time off though. If only I can figure out a way for someone to pay me for doing nothing productive ...