It was in the name of cycling...

Alright, I have a confession to make. I missed the fireworks on the 4th of July. Yes, I am in the nation’s capital, one of the best places to be on the 4th, and I didn’t see a single fireworks display. But you must also understand that I am a huge cycling fan, and the Tour de France began on the 4th. I chose to watch the prologue time trial stage in Monaco instead of seeing fireworks (or Barry Manilow for that matter). However, I made up for it by going to Alexandria’s 260th Birthday Party at Oronoco Park near the Waterfront area in Old Town.

Earlier in the day, I was able to go to the National Museum of American History, the highlight being the pop culture section where the Museum had the infamous Stephen Colbert painting of a Stephen Colbert painting of Stephen Colbert standing next to his fireplace above which hangs a painting of himself, as well as Dorothy’s ruby shoes from “The Wizard of Oz”, Apollo Anton Ohno’s speed skates he wore when he won the Olympic gold medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Kermit the Frog, and most importantly, the puffy shirt worn by Jerry Seinfeld in the second episode of season five, titled “The Puffy Shirt”. The Museum also had a great section on Presidents, my favorite being about Presidents in the movies as they showed an episode of The West Wing in the short film about it.

I went back to Alexandria in the early evening just in time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Alexandria and to see the Mayor pass out cake to people. I wish my mayor gave out birthday cake. The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra was also there, and gave a great performance until they cut the “1812 Overture” in half at the end. As a percussionist and pianist who played in the Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra for six years, I was appalled that an orchestra as good as the ASO would cut the 1812 in half. That’s taking the easy way out. But the Marine cannon battalion present were fantastic and set off the cannons right in time with Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece.

Oscar the Grouch and the Puffy Shirt

NOTE TO ALL ORCHESTRAS: DON’T TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT. SOMEONE WILL ALWAYS KNOW YOU DIDN’T PLAY THE ENTIRE 1812.

It was really cool to see the entire City out celebrating and a bunch of kids had bought light sabers from the street vendors and were having an epic light saber battle in the middle of the field. If it hadn’t looked weird, I totally would have challenged some 12-year old to a light saber duel. I highly recommend the Alexandria birthday party, almost over the national 4th of July celebration, as it is less crowded and there is more of a community feeling to it, as opposed to being hot and crowded on the Mall for hours waiting for the real festivities to being.

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (NOT playing the entire 1812 Overture) and the fireworks display behind them

Get a front row seat at the 4th of July parade...

The 4th of July celebration in D.C. is one of the biggest events the city puts on every year. It attracts people from all over the country and world, with a parade down Constitution Avenue being one of the biggest attractions besides “A Capitol 4th” and the fireworks show that follows the show. Although, before we proceed, I must say that the parade is not my favorite part of the 4th on the Mall, but rather hearing the recitation of the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives is the highlight of the day for me.

Being a huge history nerd, I get really excited when three people acting as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Ben Franklin (the author and contributors of the Declaration) stand up and read the list of grievances we have against King George III. It’s like having Festivus in July - that’s for you Seinfeld kids out there. Wouldn’t that be great if one the Founding Fathers went to the Court of St. James on the eve of Revolution and stood up in the style of Frank Costanza and said, “I got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you’re going to hear about it.” But anyway, as TJ, John and Ben everyone boos the heinous actions of the King and how he has “obstructed the Administration of Justice … made Judges dependent on his Will alone …” and “for quartering large bodies of troops among us … for cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world”, and most of all “for imposing Taxes on us without our Consent …” We certainly didn’t vote for that. Make note: The actor who plays John Adams, in giving accurate representation of our 2nd President, is the most spirited of the three speakers, which is why everyone booed him the loudest. He made us REALLY angry with King George. Then at the end of the reading of the Declaration, everyone is supposed to yell “Huzzah!”, a word which I believe we should use more often. I don’t think everyone was as excited to say Huzzah as I was though, as I felt like the only one who was yelling it. Get excited about your history people!

The parade immediately follows the reading of the Declaration, and one of the other interns in my office, Heidi, and I carried “feather flags”, which are the largest and most difficult pieces in the parade to handle. They are these 20 feet tall flags that you carry down Constitution Avenue for 11 blocks, making you feel like you’re in an eternal wind tunnel. But it was really fun to be in the parade, and we got to see most of the floats pass by us as we waited to be waved into the parade. We were able to be in the parade through The Washington Center, and I really recommend taking advantage of it, despite the fact that carrying the flag was really difficult. It was really neat to be part of the National Parade, and seeing the reading of the Declaration, as well as seeing the Founding Father’s and Abraham Lincoln arrive at the parade grounds in a golf cart made the parade that much better.

Photo of Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin reading the Declaration, taken by Tom McQueeny.

Best museum in DC … ever.

I’ve been to a lot of the museums in DC, as my grandparents used to live in NOVA (Northern Virginia for those who don’t know) when I was young. I’ve been to the Air and Space Museum way too many times and with the exception of July 16, the 40th anniversary of when we landed on the moon, I have absolutely no intention of setting foot in it and many other Smithsonian museums for the duration of my stay here in DC. Therefore, I’m always on the lookout for places I haven’t been to, more off the map kind of places.

And while the Newseum isn’t off the map, it’s not a Smithsonian, which qualifies it as being more off the map. Plus, it used to be in Rosslyn and only recently moved to its new home on Pennsylvania Avenue with one of the most unobstructed views of the Capitol in the District.

The Newseum has some incredible artifacts in it. It has an original Gutenberg Bible, the door the Watergate criminals taped over to get into the building, headlines from the world’s most important events from various newspapers, a bullet-hole ridden truck that once carried journalists during the wars in the Balkans in the early 90s, and the telecommunications antenna that was once at the top of the north tower of the World Trade Center. All in all, it’s an incredible museum, especially for a history buff like myself.

Something else really cool about the Newseum is that they always have really cool speakers in the museum. Whether in the studio for NPR that is housed in the Newseum, or giving a speech in the basement, the museum has gotten some really great speakers (George Clooney once gave an NPR interview there).

I had the opportunity to meet Richard Wolffe, NBC contributor, who was signing copies of his new book, “Renegade” which is a compilation of his various interviews with the Barack Obama the candidate and Barack Obama the President. I told him I was a summer intern and he seemed very excited about that, saying that it’s a great place to be in the summer and that I could learn a lot. All in all, a really nice guy.

Also something to note: the PRIDE Festival was happening below the Newseum, and I went with a group of Middle Eastern political cartoonists (by the way, did I mention that I get to go to stuff with visitors because of my job? It's awesome). It was interesting to tell their interpreter what was going on and then to subsequently get their reaction.