Having watched the entirety of The West Wing on DVD, it was pretty surreal to walk around the actual White House.
the Mark Pike
Posts tagged “DC”
Under Eighteen to Life
The Supreme Court takes up the question of whether life sentences for juvenile offenders are cruel and unusual.
Here’s a piece I wrote for The American Prospect after sleeping by the steps of the Supreme Court yesterday so that I could attend oral arguments for two big cases.
I took a stroll around the National Mall today and saw teams dismantling their entries from this year’s competition. It always amazes me how quickly these homes are built and torn down, transforming the Mall from a futuristic neighborhood back to the Capitol’s front yard.
I snapped this Polaroid circa 2005. The guy was singing a song about Star Trek to entice people to bid on the painting of Uhura. He wanted $100. A totally logical business strategy.
Having just seen the new Star Trek film, I wish I would’ve bought that painting.
Is it possible I am related to Captain Christopher Pike? Probably not, considering he is a fictional character from the future. But, what if I named a son Christopher? Nah, that’s just what J.J. Abrams would expect me to do. I’m not your deus ex machina, J.J.
Inauguration
“They said… this day… would never come.”
It happened. Barack Obama is our President. I saw it happen with my own eyes. I watched the coming out party on TV, with so many others, when he instilled a sense of Hope from the Boston podium in 2004. I was there in DC, whispers all around about a change coming to town, a new man in the Senate chambers with an honest voice. I was there in Iowa; saw the people he brought into the political process. I was there in Virginia; saw the largest crowd ever assembled for a Democrat in town. I was there on election day; saw the turnout, the optimism, the understanding.
And, I was there when he took the oath. It was beautiful.
We could see the Presidential podium and people in the crowd, but they were in the distance, dwarfed by the magnitude of history. For a better view, we watched a television from the roof of a building just Northwest of the Capitol. It was somewhat surreal to watch the TV and hear the chants and cheers, somewhat ethereal to observe from above and yet feel completely within the moment.
Afterwards, Bush’s helicopter flew overhead. Just like that, he was gone.
While leaving the building we saw New York Gov. Patterson and I gave a head-nod and then said “hello”. In fact, for the entirety of the trip, I kept seeing celebrities and politicians all around town. For once, DC was actually a place where people wanted to be and be seen. On my first night in town, we saw Sen. John Kerry (who did not recognize me from that time we high-fived at a rally in Norfolk, VA in 2004), Marisa Tomei, Spike Lee, Matthew Modine, Star Jones, Tim Daly, and many others as we had coincidentally made dinner reservations at the same exact spot as the Creative Coalition’s pre-Inaugural party.
Throughout the celebration, everybody took to the streets. Large crowds and security checkpoints are an equalizing force. It was such a pleasure to strike up conversations with strangers and to bump into friends knowing that you were sharing a little slice of history. Vendors everywhere were hawking goods to commemorate the occasion, some tacky and some powerful.
After dancing in the streets for the parade, I took a quick nap to prepare for the Inaugural Balls. Ticket in hand, I headed to the Youth Ball only to be stuck in line for a long time. It was such a big ticket that everybody wanted to be there, but the fire marshall wouldn’t allow that to happen. Because of this, I missed Kanye West’s performance and the Obamas cameo. However, it was still fun to mingle with more celebs (Usher, Kanye, Fall Out Boy, Ashton and Demi, etc.). Next, I took a taxi with a friend to Google’s party and got acquainted with the dancefloor. Many more celebs were in the building rubbing elbows with Silicon Valleys brightest minds and DC’s new policy-makers. A collective sense of optimism all-around.
Another world is possible. We made it.
