On Sunday I tried out a parish in Arlington. St. Agnes is connected with a school, and it being Catholic Schools week, they had a children's choir. The kids were phenomenal; the adult cantor...not so much! Overall, it seems like a great parish and I'll probably end up there for most weeks.
After church, I drove myself into the city to meet up with Caitlin, Laura and Tyler (fellow interns) for some sightseeing. It has been beautiful here, so we took advantage of the wonderful weather and visited most of the outdoor monuments. We walked up and down the Mall, visiting the Capitol (the outside), the Washington Monument, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial. We also walked up to the White House and took some pictures.
The monuments were impressive as always, but not nearly as impressive as my experience at my first BC Alumni event. The Senate Sergeant-At-Arms (the security detail for the US Senate), a BC alum himself, was generous enough to host us in his office at the Capitol. The night culminated with a private tour of the Senate side of the Capitol. We were able to see most of what is on a standard Capitol tour, as well as some VIP only places for the press, the Vice-President, or the President. We also were able to walk around on the Senate floor as part of the tour. Our host gave us a lot of history and procedures of the Senate. We were able to walk around and look at the desks each senator sits at; he even pulled open the drawer of the desk that all the Kennedy's had sat at and we were able to look at their signatures written on the bottom of the desk drawer.
I picked up quite a lot of trivia about the Senate from this tour, which I'll just bullet point for you:
- There's a candy drawer in the Senate that is kept filled by the most junior member of the minority party...seniority is a big thing in the Senate.
- Its a tradition for Senators to write their name on the drawer of their desk before they leave office. I'm pretty sure my students have tried that before.
- Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was a Senator prior to the Civil War. When he left to become president, someone took it upon himself to bayonet his desk. Though the desk has since been replaced, in honor of the historic event, the desk he would have sat at still bears the mark of the bayonet.
- There are very strict, but unwritten (and sometimes not agreed upon) rules in the Senate with the Sergeant at Arms is obliged to "enforce" or mediate, as is more usually the case. For example, there has been much discussion about whether open-toed shoes may be worn on the Senate floor by female Senators or staff. Neither side can agree on this, but both expect the Sergeant at Arms to enforce their side. And open-toed shoes are just the beginning. There have been quarrels about short-sleeved shirts, the length of skirts, etc. Overall, not a job I want.
- Finally, you can a take a tour into the Rotunda (the dome of the Capitol). You climb a bunch of stairs up to the different levels of artwork. I'm going to try to set up one of these tours while I'm here!
It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to another week at work. I have a lot planned this week, including a trip to the Library of Congress, a speech by Sen. DeMint (R-SC), and a dinner on networking on the Hill. I'll keep you posted!
