fandomhigh | These United States [Wednesday, May 7, 2014]

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These United States [Wednesday, May 7, 2014]

Some people might view taking kids from a school in Maryland to the National Mall on the first day of a class about the United States a giant cop-out.

Josh prefered to think of it as "playing to his strengths."

"Hey guys," he said, adjusting his sunglasses. "Welcome to Washington, DC. This is the capital--with an 'a'--of the United States of America. The Capital--capital C, spelled with an 'o'--is that big domey thing down at the end of this, the National Mall. If you were expecting a shopping center, well, tough. We could easily spend seven weeks just exploring the buildings along this stretch of grass, but that would be super dull, even on Segways."

Which he'd totally provided from them. They were going to cover a lot of ground in the next class period.

"We're going to start here at the Lincoln Memorial," he said, "and do a ride by of everything. I encourage you to come back some time this summer to go into some of the museums: they could take an entire day by themselves and I just want to give you a flavor of the city."

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Patriotically!

Will West

Kathy Li

Paddra Nsu-Yeul

Vider Bearskin

Soren Bearstar

"This is the Lincoln Memorial (http://www.nps.gov/linc/index.htm), of course," Josh began, pointing at the giant memorial behind them. "It's the building pictured on pennies and five-dollar bills. Inside sits a larger-than-life sculpture by Daniel Chester French of the Great Emancipator, staring pensively toward the Capitol, probably wondering what the hell happened to the Republican Party. Built in 1922, the monument's 36 Doric columns represent the states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. Many demonstrators have spoken out from these steps, literally 'backed' by Lincoln as they faced enormous crowds gathered around the long Reflecting Pool below. In 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his 'I have a dream...' speech here. If you aren't familiar with it, see me after the tour and I'll hook you up."

He glanced at his watch. "You guys have fifteen minutes to go inside and look around. If you stroll around to the Potomac side of the monument, you'll see it faces Memorial Bridge with a long view up to Arlington House, once Robert E. Lee's home. The view is intentional, a symbolic reuniting of North and South. Lee's home is in the center of Arlington National Cemetery and the first graves were put right in his garden, which was less symbolic and more people at the time being really, really angry about the Civil War."

Poke around! Ask questions! Sneak off to see the Vietnam (http://www.nps.gov/vive/index.htm) and/or Korean (http://www.nps.gov/kowa/index.htm) War Memorials, which are really close.

Amazingly enough, Will had never visited Washington DC despite his parents constantly moving them around. He'd only seen pictures in textbooks and through movies but seeing the real thing was entirely different.

Will spent about ten minutes just staring up at the sculpture and marveling at it.

Kathy had her camera ready and was so taking pictures. Finally! A class she could talk to her parents about without lying repeatedly through her teeth. And the next time they complained about her tuition, she could point out that this was the kind of school that took them for tours around the capital .

And remind them that prestigious schools loved this kind of thing.

While she did take a few pictures of the Korean War Memorial, she also paused for a moment of contemplation. She wouldn't have family on this Memorial; her parents had moved to the States when they were in their twenties. But she wondered if there was another memorial In Seoul or somewhere that had her family's names on it.

Yeul's eyes as they stared at the Lincoln Memorial were thoughtful. She did not know the history behind it, aside from what the teacher had said, but it was undeniable that the history of this place had weight to it.

After a few moments, she slowly began wandering around the monument, to see the view.

Yeah, don't mind Soren, he was just gonna elbow Vider and mouth "Washington?" because none of this made any sense.

Vider shrugged at him and muttered, softly enough it shouldn't carry to the teacher, "I was hoping this would be more explanatory about these United States." As opposed to theirs, which made sense.

Edited 2014-05-07 18:05 (UTC)

"Like explaining why Washington is on the wrong side of the continent?" Soren whispered back ~~because I'm assuming a world where the Capitol is in Philadelphia would not have a Washington DC~~.

Edited 2014-05-07 18:08 (UTC)

"And which war is he talking about?" Most of their wars involved trolls, and could not be described as civil.

After Segway-ing halfway down the Mall, Josh stopped the class in front of the Washington Monument.

"Go ahead and make your penis jokes now," Josh said. "God knows that everyone else has. This monument was started in 1833 through a privately funded committee that then solicited aid from states, aid that eventually took the form of granite blocks for the interior, engraved with appropriately respectful inscriptions. When Pope Pius IX contributed a block from a Roman temple, it was stolen by the radical, anti-Catholic 'Know-Nothings' of the American Party, proving that even back then there were assholes." He pointed to the change in marble color about 150 feet up. "Construction stopped during the Civil War and by the time they got back to building, the quarry they'd been using was out of rock. Don't let any of the locals lie to you about that being the high water mark of a flood. You've got twenty minutes to go up to the top or explore the World War II Memorial (http://www.nps.gov/nwwm/index.htm) across the street."

Will made it to the top in about five minutes. Amazing was his speed and stamina could do. Once there, he was going to spend the rest of the period just hanging out and enjoying the view.

Kathy remembered him from Professor Alenko's class last semester, so didn't think he'd mind if she joined him in a dash that got them both to the top faster than most normal humans could go.

"This is fabulous!" she said, looking out and grinning.

"Yeah, this is pretty much one of the best views I've ever had," he agreed, taking out his phone to snap a few pictures. "Can't say I'd hate to wake up to something like this each morning."

"It would be a struggle, but I'd somehow get used to it," Kathy agreed with a grin. "And the tourists here can't be any worse than the ones flocking to see the Hollywood sign back home."

"Can you actually even get close to that sign on foot?" Will wondered since he'd never been. "Seems pretty inaccessible."

Yeul did not even try to go up to the top after watching two of her classmates dart up it very, very quickly indeed.

Instead, she crossed the street and spent her time walking through the war memorial, quietly contemplative of the pain that wars wrought.

"Race you to the top," Vider said to Soren.

"You're on," Soren said with a grin. "On three?"

"Three!" Vider exclaimed, and took off, because come on, she'd been raised Lokiskin.

"You're just in time for the last part of the cherry blossoms," Josh said as they rode through the cherry trees on the way to the Jefferson Memorial (http://www.nps.gov/thje/index.htm).

"Modeled on the Roman Pantheon, it stands at the edge of the Tidal Basin, its domed Ionic colonnade an honor to the third President's love of classical architecture. Like so many neoclassic Washington buildings of the 1930s, this memorial was designed by John Russell Pope. In the center of the open-air monument, a bronze Jefferson stands holding a rolled parchment, a symbol of his Declaration of Independence and stares straight into the back of the head of the President all the way over there in the Oval Office. More of Jefferson's memorable writings are inscribed on the encircling walls. But let's be real--you're more interested in either taking pictures of the flowers or paddleboating in the Tidal Basin. And just FYI: this is the number one site for proposals in the whole city. We'll finish the class here, then head back to the Metro."

Paddleboat and photograph away!

Yeah, Will went for the paddleboating. For some reason, it attracted him more than taking photographs and maybe he'd need some boating expertise in the future.

It was still cooler than Kathy liked, so she eschewed the paddleboats for taking pictures of the Memorial. There were a few nice pictures of the cherry blossoms for good measure, but mostly she kept her eye out for any proposals in the vicinity.

It made Yeul smile to think of the proposals. It was certainly a lovely place for it.

She did not take pictures of the flowers--she hadn't taken a single picture all class--but she spent her just enjoying the beauty of them.

If they don't know the answer, they'll make one up!

Mercy was pretty happy to get to see all these places. And she had a handy little guidebook, so she might actually be able to answer questions.

Josh was still your best bet, though!

And now I'm homesick. Blerg.

Pssssssst... You spelled "Capitol" wrong, while you were explaining the right way to spell it. Irony!

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These United States [Wednesday, May 7, 2014]

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Lincoln Memorial

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Washington Monument

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Jefferson Memorial

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Talk to Josh or Mercy!

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OOC

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