Washington, DC
Thursday, July 12th

It was an early wake up call in order to be on time. Today was Capital Hill Day. Over the last three weeks the students have been calling and e-mailing their Representatives and Senators in Congress to schedule appointments for this day. The goal is get a meeting that amounts to more than a simple photo opportunity. They usually discuss an upcoming bill, an issue in their district/state, or to advocate for a cause of their own. You should see these seasoned, for at least four weeks, young people work their magic.

The whole group was meeting with Senator Evan Bayh (D) – IN around mid morning. Most of the student’s individual meetings were later in the day. Three of the students had meetings first thing in the morning. I took these three on the Metro down to the Hill. The kids got a kick out of being recognized by someone they had met earlier in the program when we were switching lines on the Metro. A young Dub, Niamh O’Keefe from Dublin, of the Washington in Ireland program, recognized the students. We ended commuting with her because she was also heading to the same place one of the kids for her internship, the Cannon Office building on the Hill. They thought being recognized was “cool”.

Capital Building on a sunny day

I went with the two Houston girls from YES Prep to their morning coffee with Kay Bailey Hutchinson R – TX. I’m not a big fan of hers but they did say coffee and I needed a fix. There were many other constitutes there so we figured it was a photo op cattle call. The girls were a bit disappointed but they were good sports and waited in line for their photo with the Senator. There sweet smiles belied their confidence though. After the photo one of the girls held the Senators hand after the hand shake with both of her hands and asked about the immigration bill that Hutchinson recently voted down. She stated in a quick as 30 second sound bit that she and her mom are citizens of the US but they both learned about how the US government works from her legal but on citizen father. Hutchinson was clearly not pleased with the question. She smiled and began to move on but the girl said again, politely but definitively, “What should tell I my father?” She had no response. This is what it’s all about. I was not proud, I was inspired.

The Yes Prep girls before the handshake.

After I got the students oriented to the different Senate and House Office buildings I headed over to the Rayburn Office Building on the House side of the Capital for some coffee and the Washington Post. The rest of the SPS students were coming around this time and I would hang out there for anyone who needed directions. As young can probably guess from the above story, the students did not any help from me.

I left around 1pm to meet Norm for lunch. We went to this little carry out taco place about a block from the Capital Building called Taqueria Nacionale (Review). It was awesome and cheap, by DC standards. We took the food and ate under some trees on the grounds of the Capital Building. It was a beautifully moderate day, even a bit chilly in the early morning, so the scene was quite relaxing. I took the metro back to school and took a nap. Yes I know that coffee and lunch do not seem nap worthy but remember the euchre from the previous night and it might make sense. Ok, I am lazy and wanted to nap. It was a good one also. I woke in a pool of drool and did not know where I was for what seemed like a five minutes.

View of National Mall from the Capital Building

After my nap it was time for my last game for the Ugly Mugs of the season over in Anacostia. We played quite uninspired softball. The Mugs managed to pull out an 8 to 7 victory over a very bad team. Oh well, the mini burgers and pizza rolls more the made up for the largesse on the softball diamond