By Malia Allison With the government still shutdown for the majority of my third week, I became a dedicated tourist to Washington D.C. Sightseeing has become my new internship. Luckily, I came during a good time for events with MLK weekend filled with multiple marches including the Women’s March. There were large numbers of people in the city for all these events which made the few locations that were open, like the Holocaust Museum, very busy. Thankfully, for me and our lawmakers, Washington is easy to get around. I would personally thank Pierre L’Enfant for his grid system if I could because I have not yet been lost. The grid system of D.C. is one of the best things I have encountered in my travels because no matter where I am, I can look up to the Washington Monument to see what quadrant of the city I am in. Many streets were blocked off by large Army trucks, but everything is for the most part walking distance from my apartment. I am a block away from the Library of Congress and the Metro. Often, I walk to the National Mall rather than take the Metro because it is a nice 3 mile walk to the Lincoln Memorial. From the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial there are endless monuments and usually open museums to stop at. The walk back to the apartment is not as nice, leisurely, and educational so I have opted for a Lim scooter on the way back East. I recommend using any scooter aps like Bird, Lime, or Lyft because its cheaper than taking an Uber but just as fast.
For my third paper which is on monuments and memorials, I decided to see Washington D.C. like a true tourist. I rode one of the Hop On Hop Off buses to see as many monuments in one day and listen to some helpful commentary. All the tour guides I interacted with were incredibly knowledgeable about the history of landmarks and the city that I could not have gotten simply walking around on my own. You would think after sitting on the Lincoln Memorial for the third time in a week and reading an entire book about the National Mall, I would be, first, bored of seeing the Lincoln Memorial but also know what the tour guides would tell me. That was not the case at all. Although I am primarily alone on my adventures throughout the city, it’s been fun having no agenda or other people preventing me from seeing what I want. My only mistake so far has been going to the Holocaust Museum and Arlington Cemetery by myself on consecutive days. The Holocaust Museum, however, was one of the most powerful and impactful museums I have had the privilege of visiting. And since today, as I am finishing writing this, is Holocaust Memorial Day I thought I would write more about it. I have never walked out of a museum feeling heavy before like at some point throughout the museum, weights were placed on my shoulders. I think that is why I like the museum so much. In my research of museums and memorials, authors highlight how exhibits should teach visitors about the topic, but productive exhibits empower visitors to do something. USHMM did not do that in an overtly verbal way, but by stating the facts artistically and plainly. After walking through a freight train that used to carry hundreds of prisoners to death camps and a recreated Auschwitz barrack, I thought I had reached the climax of secondary emotional trauma, but then I walked into the shoe room. I ended up writing about the shoe exhibit in the USHMM for one of my papers because it was my favorite exhibits I have seen in D.C. so far. It is a simple room covered in heaps of shoes from Jewish prisoners who were stripped of their belongings before being sent to gas chambers. The simplicity of the room highlights the sheer number of shoes and let the visitors realize the significance of the shoes on their own without much context. After writing my paper this week on memorials, I recognized the parallels between USHMM and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Both are simple but inventive spaces for reflection and restitution. However, USHMM goes beyond educating and commemorating to empower action to all its visitors.
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by Malia Allison On Tuesday, January 15th, my internship mentor-to-be invited me to attend an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) reception with members of Congress. She gave me very little information about the event, but I was eager to meet her for the first time and hopefully rub elbows with Congresspeople. Located at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC, I quickly discovered the event was to celebrate the newly elected Asian American and Pacific Islander members of the 116th Congress. Before attending, I did not even know what a reception was (which made dressing for it quite difficult), and had not even met Noriko Sanefuji, a co-curator of Righting A Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II. However, after personal introductions on my schooling and historical interests, Noriko introduced me to some of her AAPI contacts and talked about her research.
The event was to honor the record breaking 20 AAPI members of Congress in the 116th Congress, many of whom spoke at the reception. It was a great experience to hear from Congresspeople who represent the AAPI community, who look like me, and who want to have our government reflect the demographics of the United States population. I even got a picture with Judy Chu, the representative of the 27th district of California and the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Noriko informed me that past AAPI events have not been as large as this one, but the largest number of AAPI Congress people was an occasion to be celebrated. Most events, such as this one, are about networking and building connections with other groups – a necessity for anyone working in Washington, DC. People continued to come up to me and ask what I do and what my background is. Almost all my conversations revolved around the government shutdown impacting work in Washington such as the Smithsonian and other departments. However, somehow at the end of every conversation I got someone’s card. Now, if I ever need to contact a DC attorney or a Law Enforcement recruiter I know exactly where to go. After quite a lot of schmoozing from many different private interest groups, Noriko and I seemed to be on the same page that these events were not our forte, but she says she attends them often, especially if there’s free food. by Malia Allison Walking down the National Mall Thursday morning, I was jetlagged and frustrated. I passed small tour groups and people speeding by the reflecting pool on Lyft scooters, but not the usual crowds of people that always occupy the Capitol. As I approached the Smithsonian Castle, I looked back towards the Capitol Building – only minutes from my cozy Capitol Hill neighborhood apartment. The building on the Hill watches over the museums in its shadow and with the help of the White House, closed those museum doors to everyone. I looked into the black doors of the National Museum of American History with signs apologizing for the inconvenience. Initially, I had not even thought about the impacts our current political state would have on my internship at the National Museum of American History. With my unlucky timing, the shutdown has impacted a January 7th start date for my internship. When the government will reopen, and my internship may start cannot be predicted. Furthermore, the top priorities for resolving the shutdown are not museums and national parks. Support for the shutdown remains, but it is hard to imagine that anyone looks upon the closure of our country’s most prized tourist attractions, research facilities, and parks as necessary to the issues being debated in the Capitol.
In our current political state, the shutdown has had broad reaching impacts across the country from national parks and museums to over 800,000 workers furloughed or working without pay.[1] I find it hard to complain about my current situation when hundreds of thousands are going without pay or any other governmental aid. However, as my roommates, both senator’s interns, walk to work in the morning, while I stay in our apartment, it is difficult not to get a little frustrated. It is problematic to find things to do in a city built around a government when that government is shutdown, but I’m figuring it out as I go. I am grateful to have this opportunity even without the internship and hope to make the most of my experience no matter what happens in the government. If anyone has suggestions on things to do in DC, feel free to email me ([email protected]) or Professor Songster. [1] Veronica Rocha, Meg Wagner, Brian Ries, and Amanda Wills, “The Government is STILL Shutdown,” CNN, January 11, 2019. |
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