July 5, 2007

Reflecting Freedom

Fireworks over the Washington Monument, reflected in the glass exterior of the Newseum, taken from the rooftop terrace of the Residences at the Newseum, which are extremely nice.

Update: Glenn Reynolds posted yesterday about severe storms causing the National Parks Service to clear the National Mall on July 4th and send people into nearby government buildings for shelter. I was touring the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum with my family and we were among those kept inside the building for more than 90 minutes until the severe storms passed. The Air and Space Museum faces the National Mall - the broad and long expanse of grass between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building - but the back side of the museum faces a parallel street that isn't governed by the National Park Service. So, while the Park Service was herding people off the mall and into the front doors of the museum, and preventing people from leaving through those doors, people were free to exit the back doors - which lead to the odd experience of sitting inside for shelter and safety and seeing hundreds of people passing by on the street outside.

Given that where we needed to go was on the other side of the National Mall, which was "closed" until the storms passed, we opted to stay until the all-clear.

It should be mentioned that the Park Police didn't do much to inform the crowds stuck in the Air and Space Museum about why they weren't be allowed to exit the building on to the National Mall. If you weaved your way to the front and asked, they'd tell you, but nobody used the public address system to make a general announcement - and it would've been easy as a unit from the the Air Force band had set up to play a small concert in the main atrium of the museum and, in fact, did play between 6 and 7 p.m.

Another thing: The Air and Space Museum atrium is not the safest place to be if there's a threat of a tornado. It's basically a glass box - walls and ceiling are all windows. And there are big airplanes hanging from the girders. And big rockets standing on the floor. If the tornadoes had come close, I'd have preferred taking my chances out in the open.

Canadian Embassy, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.

Update: I met Ben Sargent, editorial cartoonist for the Austin American-Statesman, briefly at a dinner at the Canadian Embassy on the evening of July 4th. Sargent is one of my all-time favorite editorial cartoonists. You can see his work here.

Sargent's son Sam, a university student and Congressional intern, was with him - and looked for all the world like he could be the twin brother of Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. I wish I had snapped a picture, but I didn't.