By Rachel Podber
We woke up later today which was a nice relief after our jam packed days in Washington DC. We started the day off with a meeting at the National Coalition for the Homeless. They had three people tell us their struggles with homelessness. I found their stories inspiring and eye opening. They told us how they became homeless in the first place and how they have overcome it. We had lunch with them too which gave us more time to ask questions.
After lunch we went to the National Archives. We saw the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. It was really cool to see all the documents that our country STILL refers to for every decision. They were a little faded, which made it hard to read, but it was still awesome to see the big fancy “We The People” that everyone knows.
From there we went to the Newseum. This was one of my favorite parts of Washington DC. It is a brand new museum about the news but it ranks as one of my favorite museums. The video they have about 9/11 was extremely moving and took me back to that day when I watched the news in shock with my family. They also have the blood splattered notebook and ID of Daniel Pearl, the Jewish reporter who was murdered by terrorists.
on the roof of the Newseum with a great view of the Capitol
with the Newseum’s “mascot”
After the Newseum we ate dinner at Ben’s Chili Bowl which is a famous dining landmark in Washington. The walls are lined with pictures of all the celebrities eating there. The chili was amazing.
Once we were full we went to see the comedy musical group The Capitol Steps. The actors take known songs and put funny political lyrics to them. They poked fun at everyone from President Bush (Georgie on my mind) to Barack Obama (Barack around the clock) to the war (Papa’s got a brand new Baghdad). It was definitely the hardest I have laughed in a while.
The last thing we did was see the famous monuments and memorials on the Mall at night. I enjoyed seeing the ways they chose to remember and celebrate different people and events. It was interesting to see the Korean and Vietnam Memorials and how different they are and, yet, they both are in memory of people not much older than us who gave their lives for this country.
at the World War II Memorial
Vietnam Wall
with the Albert Einstein statue
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