Thursday, July 6th
Washington, DC

I had a very relaxing day today for Pete. The students had classes that I did not have to teach this morning. The weather was a very overcast and cool 72 degrees. I went for about a three mile run, well not quite run, more like an amble, about 35 minutes, forget it, you find the right verb. After lunch the students heard from David Abshire who is Presidential Scholar. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, which is non-profit which does exactly as the name says. He was a quite affable guy. He poked fun at his age and lack of “with-itness”. Despite the age difference with the students he had quite a rapport with the students. They asked questions of each other. They pressed Mr. Abshire on his statements and answers and pressed them right back.

After lunch the students boarded the bus and headed to Baltimore, MD for the afternoon and evening. They were going to visit Kyu Rhee a doctor who runs the Upper Cardozo Community Health Center in Washington. The clinic is the largest community health center serving the underserved in DC. Besides being a St. Albans alum he has get this, a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale, a masters in Public Policy with a concentration in Health Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a MD from USC. This quite could be making bank at any hospital in the country and chooses to work with the poor and underserved in DC. He is opening a similar clinic in Baltimore and he took the students on a tour of the facility and the neighborhoods they serve. I did not go with the students on this trip because I had gone last year and other faculty members wanted to go. This guy is impressive and the clinic’s work is nothing short of miraculous.

I hung out at Politics and Prose bookstore and coffee house for the afternoon till the sun came out and then went for a swim at the outdoor pool on campus. After that I headed down to my softball game in Ancostia with the Ugly Mugs. There was joy in Mudville (literally because of all the recent rain) because the Mugs won 15 to 9 due to three moonshots of the Kais, steady defense, and efficient pitching of yours truly. The win puts us over the .500 mark for the summer. Many adults libations were consumed at the watering hole of the same team name. Numerous pepperoni rolls and mini-burger platters were consumed, the word gluttony comes to mind. Good times. Next week will be the last game of the summer for Pete, (sigh).

Bernanke holds court among the SPS students.

Are the bored in the Board room?

The federal reserve and the Post Office are the only government branches that make money, can you tell?

Mao's little red books replaced by the almighty Coca-Cola.

Chinese art in the lobby of the Federal Reserve.

The Fed chariman in the boardroom.

Dr. Ben Bernanke speaks with the students.

Woodrow Wilson

The seal of the Federal Reserve .

Wednesday, July 5th
Washington, DC

The first speakers that the student had this morning spoke to them about careers in the Sate Department. The husband and wife duo of Sharon and Kerry Wiener have worked in the Department of State for over twenty years. They both work at the US Embassy in France. He is the Counselor for Administrative Affairs and she is Counselor for Political Affairs. They spoke about getting started in their respective careers, the ups and downs, and what the state department is looking for in prospective employees. It was quite interesting and the students asked a LOT of questions.

The next speaker was a gentleman named Will Gunn; he is the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington. He is a 25 year veteran of the Air Force and has quite impressive resume. He is Air Force Academy and Harvard Law graduate. His most recent post was the Chief Defense Council for the Department of Defense. He spoke about leadership in general and specific terms. Mr. Gunn spoke of a commitment to the greater community. A person of his stature could have easily retired from the military and made fat cash working for a defense contractor but he instead took on a more principled role of working for the Boys and Girls club.

After lunch we went to visit the Federal Reserve for a tour and a Q and A with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. The tour was quite interesting. First of all the security at the fed seemed a great deal more extensive than the White House. I found it ironic that in the lobby of the Fed that there was art exhibition titled, “Masks”. I mean here is “Communist” country who owns a ton of our country’s bond debts. I put communist in quotation marks because they operate on some hybrid system of free enterprise and command economy. I guess they put the word command in Command Economy. They have repressive domestic policy and the Yuan (Chinese Currency) is severely undervalued. Oh well I just teach middle school, what do I know?

The room for the Board of Governors is quite impressive in that is quite palatial and ornate. We spoke to a policy analyst for about an hour and then watched a video about the Fed narrated by Charles Osgood that was nearly a decade old. Imagine School House Rock without the rock being shown on CBS Sunday Morning. It was hokey but none the less informative.

Mr. Bernanke spoke for about a half an hour then did Q and A for 45 minutes. He is a former professor and seemed quite at home in this classroom setting. Once he realized the students knew what they were talking about the intellectual level of the answers was aped up quite a few notches. He seemed pleasant and was great to meet the person controls the valves on our economy. I still would have loved to meet the legend, Alan Greenspan.

After the day’s content filled curriculum the students watched the movie “Usual Suspects” and prepped for the next day’s class. After that movie I took off and grabbed a couple of beers and saw the new movie, “Superman Returns”. No matter how old I get, whenever I here the theme for Superman I want to put a towel around my neck and run around like I did when I was kid.

Tuesday, July 4th
Washington, DC

Happy Birthday America! I know total cheese ball. The student had classes this morning until about noon. After lunch we conducted the first ever SPS Olympics. The events were Ping Pong, Billiards, Knock Out (Basketball), quizology, and the relay race. Everyone had fun and no one really took the whole thing to seriously. They needed the break from academic grind.

After getting cleaned up we piled on the bus and headed to see some the Bowie Bay Sox for some baseball. The Bay Sox are the AA farm team for the Baltimore Orioles. Unfortunately the second we began our journey the skies opened up and a deluge began. By the time we arrived in Bowie, MD (about an hour away) the power was out in the city and there was obviously no hope for the game to be played. So we punted and headed back to the dorms. We ordered some pizzas and rented some movies and just hung out.

The movie of choice was High Fidelity starring John Cusack and co starring a hilarious Jack Black. The basic premise of the movie was this record store owners various successes and failures in relationship over the course of his life. The movie was hilarious. However I did not recall the amount of F-Bombs that the movie had. Oh well, it is not the kids have not heard it before. They seemed to like the movie. At 9pm we went onto the grounds to watch the DC fireworks. Even at our distance they were still quite spectacular. The Cathedral grounds are one of the highest elevations in DC so there was quite a crowd to watch them. Luckily for us that not only did the rain end but it cooled the night by about 10 degrees (The baseball game was still cancelled). After some hanging out the kids went to sleep, it was a school night you know. It was a very relaxing day. A good 4th to recharge the batteries.

WWII fountain

WWII Memorial

Lincoln Memorial at night.

The view from the Jefferson Memorial at sunset.

The Jefferson Memorial at sunset.

Monday, July 3rd
Erie, PA to Washington, DC

Woke up this morning, crawled out of bed, and headed back to DC. Of course I had to caffeine up for the ride. The trip went smoothly; I made it back to DC in right at 6 hours including a few breaks. While I was on the road the students heard from Dr. Stephen Wrage
A professor of military ethics at the US Naval Academy. He spoke about “surgical air strikes in Afghanistan” that killed numerous civilians. I heard him speak last year at the Naval Academy about the Captain Rockwood case in Haiti. He is quite good and he was brought in to teach at the academy specifically to deal with ethics issues. His class is now a required course there. The students had favorable things to say about his presentation. I know it struck a cord because his class was the main topic of conversation later that evening.

When I got back to dorm at Albans the students were getting back from a viewing of Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”. They all seemed to accept what the movie was saying but thought it was a bit to self promotional on Gore’s part. They felt that the message would have resonated more if he had left info about himself out a bit more.

After diner the whole crew went down to the mall for a two hour walking monument tour. Let me tell you that there is no place quite like the all at twilight. I suggest that the Jefferson Memorial has the most inspiring view at dusk. It was an enjoyable walk around our nation’s capital. It really is the best way to see the monuments.

I was able to see the World War II Memorial for the first time also. It was quite magnificent. I had heard criticisms that it did not fit in or detracted from the layout of the mall. I felt this was untrue.

Matt, #1 draft pick, sporting his new jersey from Team Cheryl. It looks to be a promising year, for Mike at least, more team members translates into less duties for him.

The family posing where else? Near the bar.

Lex and Buffy sporting their brother's Prep jerseys.

The godparents and Matt.

Hanging in the back of the family catering place.

The clan hanging with G-Ma on the Porch.

Sunday, July 2nd
Erie, PA

Back in Erie! That phrase will annoy some more than others. Keri and I stayed with our family friends the Bestwicks. They have been friends to our family as long as I can remember. They often put up the whole crew; Mike, Cheryl, John and Keri. That is task unto itself. I guess the best way to some them up is this. I am blessed that there are many places around this country that I feel welcome, with them I feel at home. Thanks again Jack and Judy.

Keri and I rolled to Blessed Sacrament for 11am mass. This was our home parish (church) for our family for over 15 years. We went to school there from 1st to 8th grade. It’s an upper middle class blue collar church. What really helped was that we were a Bingo Parish. If you didn’t grow up Catholic or a really Catholic area this means that our church, school, and facilities were top notch. Let’s put it this way. We had two gyms, our own football field that hosted all the grade school games in the city and is nicer and better maintained than over 75% of the high school football fields in Memphis. At church Keri ran into an old friend and we then met Bill, Amanda, and Bill’s Mom for lunch at the Oakwood Café for lunch. We had great conversation and I got caught up with Bill’s Mom. She is a retired math teacher and she is more active in her retirement than I am in my career.

From there I went and helped my uncle Dave get the adult libations set up for Matt’s graduation party. For those wondering why a graduation party so late in summer, obviously you are not from Erie. Although you graduate from high school in early June the parties are spread throughout the summer so that everyone can attend every one else’s party. In Erie you never miss and opportunity to have a party.

The party was great. I ran into teachers of mine form high school who also taught Matt. It as odd to have a beer with them but it is was still great to catch up with them and the goings on of Prep. The family was insane. We came from all over. We yelled, screamed, danced, and generally had a great time. My 89 year grandmother hung for the bulk of the party. She has tons of energy and is always the life of the party. One of the best gifts that Matt received was from my cousin Julie. Julie is the oldest grandchild and is the godmother of Matt while I, the second oldest, is the godfather. As I wrote earlier matt is headed to CBU in Memphis for college. Therefore Julie gave Matt a T-Shirt that stated he was the #1 Draft Pick of Team Cheryl. For the uninitiated, Team Cheryl is not only a state of mind but a real thing. Anyone who knows my Mom wells enough has done a favor for her, much like she has probably done for you. When you are at the house you pick things up run errands, most of these come in the form of “Question/Favors”. We ride her about it but it the fact that so many people of different ages and backgrounds are friends of hers so much about her. So be sure to check the pic that has the T-Shirt.

Saturday, July 1st
Washington, DC to Erie, PA

The students spent their morning doing community service in the DC area. What I like about his program is that it makes every effort to try and take the students from the theoretical and academic to experiential as quickly and legitimately as possible. Obviously when you are working with some of the people we are talking about you seek out their schedule and adjust yours accordingly. As I mentioned yesterday the students studied hunger and the governments historical and current role working against it. Today was a classic experience. The group was broken into two different groups of 15. One group went to an organization called Bread in the City. The students completed all the work the volunteer coordinator had planned and took on two additional tasks. The organization operates as a food bank, clothing, and house supply store for those in need. The students made lunches, organized donations, and created a children’s section in the store. I mean they wanted to make a child friendly section that would not intimidate young kids. They asked the coordinator she said yes and within an hour and half created a children’s section of clothing, books, toys, and school resources that a store display designer jealous. They ALL had fun and learned a great deal.

The group that I was responsible for went to a place called Martha’s Table. This place has been in the Shaw District for 25 years. The neighborhood has seen growth, decline, and frenetic growth in those years but Martha’s Table and its counterpart Martha’s Closest has been around for all of them. Our task was to make sandwiches and meals for their lunch program which serves people n need right there as well as two food vans which go to other areas of need in the city. The kids knocked out so many sandwiches and meals that they literally ran out of supplies. So the students were then transferred to serving the people. This was a great experience for the kids because they saw the faces of the people they were feeding. They were white, black, and Hispanic. They were young, old, and middle aged. The rude, thankful, and on a couple of occasions those moved to tears. The girls from Bosnia could not believe that there so many people who needed food in America. “This is not the America that we heard about!” one related incredulously. Most of the kids were shocked at the not only the volume of the people but their ages and experiences. Unfortunately they a couple of the people be rude to them and the kitchen coordinator. This made one of the boys very upset because he saw how hard this lady worked and quite frankly told the older guy he rude. She told him not to worry about it. She added, “Sure there are a handful that use us, but we help so many more. What can you do? She said to look at each person and search for the face of god or a loved one, then just smile. It was both heart wrenching and touching to see 8 and 10 year olds getting food for their families. There was one little girl who was quite intimidated by the crowd of people there. She said something to her mother in Spanish and one could tell that neither was comfortable with English. So the one of the girls from Sarajevo started speaking Spanish to the Mom and walked her through the store and helped her pick up some groceries and convinced her to go with her right next door to get clothes. While this was going a couple of the boys, speaking Spanish also, helped the little girl pick out a sandwich and salad. I don’t speak Spanish at all but I could definitively tell when they told the girl she could take some apple pie. The site of her gritty face emerging to a smile moved the whole group. The little girl then spoke with one of the better Spanish speaking boys for about a minute and he got her a whole pie and she gave him a big hug and ran to her mom. I asked him about the conversation later and he basically said that she thought the group was angels and she wanted her Mom and Dad to taste the Apple pie because it tasted so good. My description does no justice to the morning. One of the girls sat with an 83 year old man who was retired and owned his home but could not afford food for him and his wife. Medical bills had really put him into debt and he was afraid he was going to lose his house. He asked if he could have 2 small cartons of milk for him and his wife. “The two will last us all week, we don’t waste anything.” He told me that I should be proud of “my” kids because they were nice to him and treated him with dignity. I can’t imagine the amount of pride he must have swallowed to come and get a hand out for his week’s groceries. Once we finished the there was lots of hugging and some tears shed. At lunch you could see the effect the day had on the kids. They asked questions about housing, healthcare, and the like. The morning’s activities coupled with the previous days lecture truly hit home with the students.

I hastily packed a bag and began my trek to Erie for my Cousin Matt’s graduation party. It was about a 6 hour ride and once I left the DC traffic went rather quickly. I went straight to my Uncle Ron and Aunt Kitty’s house for another party. Their oldest son, Brian is getting married in August and they were having a party for the couple. It was great to see family and hand out. My family is quite crazy, in all the good ways. We have a great time every time we get together.

Students filling out forms in the hunger simulation.

Eddie Avila speaking with the students about the hitery of government involvement in poverty.

Lorie Schmidt speaking with the students about the Environmental Protection Agency.

Friday, June 30th
Washington, DC

This morning was tough on the kids and easy on the staff. We had the Scientific Applications International Corp or as all things in DC, acronymed, SAIC. They business is consulting in all security areas both foreign and domestic. They also run simulations of different security situations. They ran a bio-terrorism simulation for our students. The situation was a small-pox virus let loose by terrorists. They give students a briefing of the salient details and they make the decisions based on the plan. The simulations changes and they throw different curveballs are thrown at them. The students really got into the simulation; they said that they felt like they were in the “Situation Room” in some action movie.

After lunch they met with Lorie Schmidt, one of the lead attorneys for the EPA. She spoke about the legal side of what the EPA does. The kids did not really get into her as much. The students are very environmentally conscious but I think the legal side of the fight bored them. Just my take, for what its worth. From there the students listened and participated in simulation about hunger. How do you simulate hunger you ask? Well the person who gave the presentation spoke about the history of government involvement in feeding people through government assistance. When the government became involved, how they are involved, and the consequences there of. There were real stories and statistics. Census records, department of Agriculture, stuff like that. Mr. Avila then ran through a demonstration were kids had to fill out forms, get loans from the bank, and shop for food using the resources they had been given. It was short but effective.

The students then went to see the performing group the Capital Steps. I did not go with them but most of the mentioned to me that they enjoyed it. I went to Alexandria to visit with Ryser and Micah to watch some World Cup. We grilled some hamburgers and watched the games that had been Tivoed (sp?). We had a good time hanging out.

Mr. Anderson speaks with some students after the class.

The class listens attentively to Mr. Albirght.

Mr. David Albirght on the left. Mr. John Anderson on the right.

Thursday, June 29th
Washington, DC

The students spent the bulk of their day in class. They finished up the study of the Executive branch of government this morning. They then studied the case of Ahmed Ressam or the “The Millennium Bomber”. He was convicted and given a prison sentence of 22 years for his attempt to blow up Los Angelus International Airport on New Year’s Eve 1999. The Seattle Times did a great extended piece write up of this situation. Here is the LINK. The students had to read the case study the previous night. They were then briefed this morning by Mr. Waikart the senior advisor on terrorism financing for the FBI. He talked the students through the details and then asked them to go over their recommendations for what to do. It was great exercise and everyone learned a great deal, me included.

After lunch the students had two different speakers. The first was David Albright.
Mr. Albright is a physicist who is an expert on nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons programs. He spoke with the students about Iran, their nuclear program, threats they pose and do not pose, etc. This was an excellent resource for the task forces that the students are working on.

The next speaker was John Anderson, longtime Republican congressman from Illinois and former third party candidate for president in 1980. He spoke to them about the history of the Electoral College. Mr. Anderson called for reform of the present system. Even at the age of 84 he is quite sharp. He helps run a non profit called Fair Vote that promotes electoral reform, voting, and democracy in general.

After Mr. Anderson was finished I took off for the my softball game with the “Ugly Mugs”, see earlier entry. We took one on the chin when we lost 16 to 15. It was a tough loss. So my record as pitcher falls to 1 and 1. A good time was had by all and we met after the game for some libations to console ourselves with.

Wednesday, June 28th
Washington, DC

The wakeup call came early this morning. We were up and running at 6:30am. It is Capital Hill day. I went with SPS on this trip last year. It was enjoyable but exhausting. After getting dropped off at the Capital by the BYB (big yellow bus) we began the day’s activities. After going through security we assembled in the office of Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist (R) of Tennessee. Mr. Frist spent about 40 minutes with the kids. He spoke about how he came to be a Senator. How he left his job as a surgeon, assembled his team to run for office, how he came to be Senate Majority leader, etc. We then met with Senator Evan Bayh. He discussed how he came to run for office. The Senator also answered the questions from the students relating to campaign finance reform, the 95% success rate of incumbents running for reelection, and the every widening gap between Republicans and Democrats in Washington and how that affects the work of the Senate. The students then met with the individual representatives in the Congress and the Senate. They had to schedule these meeting themselves and 90% of them got time with their elected official beyond merely a photo shoot. They were all over the Capital area in the different office buildings of the Senate and House of Representatives. We easily walked over three miles today, in business attire. After the meetings we took a tour of the Library of Congress.

At dinner that evening the students dined with about six different young Capital Hill staffers and law clerks. They were nice enough to come and eat with the kids. All of them were in the middle twenties and had worked on a campaign or two and were no working their way up the political ladder in different offices of the our elected officials. Some of them were clerking for different levels of our court system. The students enjoyed their time with these people. I really believe that they got more applicable career and life advice form this activity than they did with the elected officials. They people were younger and much like the students themselves and their advice was more applicable.