While in the Virginia area, accompanied by my daughter Diana, we visited Washington, DC. We moved our RV up to a campground near Fredericksburg, and then took the car to the Metro Station (about a 1-hour drive) and then took the Metro into the City. We got off within walking distance of the Mall and the Smithsonian museums.
The Smithsonian Museum of American History has been redone. I think this used to be the Museum of Science and Industry. However there is to be a Museum of Industry that is being refurbished and is now closed. It is nearly impossible to go through even one of the Smithsonian Museums, in one day, and absorb everything. We spent several hours reviewing history of transportation, or at least most of it -- canals and railroads. One of the exhibits was named something like the "GM Hall of Fame" -- a somewhat sad thing after all the terrible times people of GM are encountering.
This is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. In recognition of this, there was a special exhibit on Lincoln's life, with a lot of memorabilia from his presidency and also from his early years in Springfield, ILL. It is amazing how a man with so little formal education, and a reputation at the time of just a politician, became one of our greatest presidents. I suppose the lesson is that when the times demand it, people can rise to accomplish what has to be done.
Later we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Again, it is impossible to view all the exhibits in a day, let alone in an afternoon. I did go through an exhibit explaining the use of forensic analysis on the archaeological examination of burials. There was a lot of attention to ancient graves found in Jamestown, yielding information on the hardships these early settlers experienced.
On another day, we returned to Washington. We walked by the White House, where there were demonstrators asking that Obama intervene in favor of the recently deposed "Tiger"regeime in Ceylon (Ceylon has a modern name, that I cant recall.) They were not getting a very sympathetic reception. The area on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the white House, as most of you probably know, is now closed to traffic, so it is now filled with tourists and demonstrators. The wide street between the White House and Lafayette Park is noisey, and not particularly attractive. I guess the tawdry nature is the price we pay for free expression, as well as enhanced security, needed now. I recall how dignified and peaceful the same area seemed fifty years or so ago, I visited the area as a teenager, when I came to Washington with my brother.
We spent an afternoon at the National Portrait Gallery. Again, it is impossible to go through the whole museum in just an hour or two. We did look at the portraits of all the presidents. This also gave us a chance to review a little presidential history, as there was a brief review of the accomplishments of each president. Buchanan and Pierce did not accomplish much, so there was a little difficulty saying anything nice about either of them. (My mother always used to complain about Franklin Pierce, the only president from New Hampshire.)
There was an interesting exhibit of art by Jean Shin.This is modern art, that some might not think is art at all. For example, one presentation, titled Untied consisted of hundreds of neckties hanging over a twenty-foot length of chain link fence. ( The exhibit has an interesting history. At one time it was on a street in new Haven, Connecut. At that time it was named, Fringe. It was supposed to show the divide between wealth and poverty in the city. Over time, pedestrians from a near-by bus stop would take and exchange neckties,. Also people would pull the ties through the mesh to face the street rather than the vacant lot. So now the piece of art has changed from being a barrier to -- in the museum --- so we are told, as giving us a chance to see life on both sides of the fence. Hmmm.
Another interesting piece, titled TEXTile , consisted of thousands of keys from discarded computers arranged on piece of fabric about six feet wide and perhaps twenty feet long draped over the floor, although elevated on each end. The keys are arranged to spells out Email messages between the artist, Shinn and her project staff. A large presentation ---- not something you would put in your living room. Is it art? one wonders, but still it is a presentation depicting emotions and ideas, so I suppose it is. There were other interesting presentations, involving thousands of discarded lottery tickets made into huge houses of cards, and one of towers made from discarded pill bottles.
For a look at the Shinn exhibit, see:
Diana and I also went out to visit Mount Vernon one day. Again there is much to see, and there is a new exhibit (new to me anyway) depicting the life of George Washington. There is is also a nearby grist mill and distillery that Washington operated with his plantation. For anyone visiting Washington, I would recommend spending a day at Mount Vernon. it is set up well for tourist, and has a lot that would be of interest to school-age children as well as adults.
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