At Ford's Theater

I've been at Ford's several times and so have been excited but a little worried I would be "seen it". Not at all. Jake is a great guide and I'm learning more. The conversations amongst teachers has been invigorating as well.

A little walkabout

We were given a tour of Civil War Washington last night by a park ranger stationed at Ford's Theater. Cool factoid: everything between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial would have been in the Potomac. That area was dredged for land after the war.

As I write the we are walking to Ford's Theater. I'm like a kid waiting for his parents to wake up in Christmas Day. More to come...

Furnished with ideas, not objects

The Lincoln Cottage at the Old Soldiers Home was our stop for today. Callie, the head of education, explained that this was not your normal house. It was a house on the grounds of a convalescence facility even before the Civil War. Three miles from the Capitol, it was the residence for the Lincoln's for 18 of the 51 months they were in DC.
The restoration was only completed in 2008 and it's interpretation looked to not replicate the furnishings but emphasize the impact of the man. Hence the title.
The starkness helps you focus in Mr. Lincoln. At the end they asked us to reflect on "liberty." They asked us to complete postcards with what we though liberty was. The cards will be held for a week or two, then sent back to us as are minder of our time at Mr. Lincoln's cottage.

This is the diary of one of Lincoln's guards donated by a descendant of his from Wichita.

Three of our four hosts. Talia (Tudor Place), Callie (Lincoln's Cottage) and Jake (Ford's Theater). Sad that Braden from Douglass' home wasn't able to be there that day.

A tragic Wichita Connection

It's an unlikely collaboration until you think about it. Lincoln emancipated slave but not all escaped bondage. It's not Jim Crow or peonage or Bull Conner but, human trafficking is slavery. The Old Soldier's Home is sponsoring an exhibit on human trafficking and part of the exhibit is a set of clips of young people talking about their experience. This young lady, Angie, is a Wichitan. She attended a Wichita private school for a time. She could have been one of my students.

Callie said that Angie, who she has had a chance to hear and meet, is 19 and doing okay, but still struggles with her experience.

I'm still wrestling with this.

For more information about human trafficking, Polaris Project is at the forefront the issue: Polaris Project

Wichita connection #2

Last night, the tour guide was raised in Wichita. Today another Wichita connection. Callie brought out a diary from a soldier stationed at the Cottage. It was donate by a descendant from .... Wichita, Kansas.

Hanging with Michelle Bachmann (sort of) ...

Last night was the tour of the US Capitol. And a huge thundestorm. Okay. for the wierd coincidence. The tour guide, Steve, graduated from Harry Street Elementary and Hamilton Middle School and Wellington (KS) High School. He has lived most of his adult life in DC and Atlanta but we had a nice chat.

We were the only ones in the Capitol last night-wait, scratch that. The House was in session. But we were the only visitors. Steve and a former House member were our hosts and we did the normal tour on steriods since we were the only ones in each of the rooms we went into. Normally there are hundreds of people, cameras and voices competing for your attention.

The last portion of the evening was spent in the gallery of the House of Representatives, listening to speeches given in support or defense of 'Obamacare'. The full House wasn't in attendance and the host explained that it may seem like a waste of time but it serves an inportant purpose. The leadership is there and, even though the vote is a foregone conclusion, the speeches allow the listener, via CSPAN, to know their point of view is being heard. That's why you'll hear alot of personal anecdotes from the floor.

The highpoint of our short time in the chamber was listening to Rep. Michelle Bachmann. I won't tell you what her position on the Affordable Care Act is but she used the word 'socialist'. I hate it when pols use it because I'm not sure they really know what it means and they use it to frighten people who don't know what it means but ... Watching the legislative process is always facinating.

How sleep the brave

These are from our first national cemetery. Lincoln could have seen these from the cottage.

The poem is one a visitor to the cemetery heard Lincoln recite to himself on one of his visits to the graves. I can't begin to match its eloquence so I won't even try.

How Sleep the Brave
William Collins. 1721–1759

HOW sleep the brave, who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow'd mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.

By fairy hands their knell is rung;
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall awhile repair
To dwell, a weeping hermit, there!