Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon
It took me about 5 minutes to get all those names right. Over the last week, my fellowship has provided tours to all of the Framer’s original homes in and around the D.C. area. Just to be clear: Jefferson = Monticello, Madison = Montpelier and Washington = Mount Vernon. During the house plantation tours themselves, I tend to find myself asking the same questions. Why does it matter what kind of china dishes George Washington used? And why should I be taking time to read about the type of paint Jefferson used on the barn gates? I’m not quite sure I’ll remember these tidbits of information, but I’m just now starting to appreciate the value of it all.
Getting a glimpse into the world of these men, their families and slaves might offer another dimension in which to consider their lives and contribution to our collective American history. For example, I could start asking some more weighty questions that can hold my interest. What did the slaves on Madison’s plantation do to supplement the meager rations he provided? What did Martha Washington do while George was away fighting two wars over the span of 8 years? What books did Jefferson have in his bedside library? And what might this tell me about his own philosophies? It’s these types of questions that will prove most fruitful, since I will likely just forget everything anyway. I might as well entertain myself with some inquiries of my own.
And if 
I’m feeling all that intellectually curious, I can still admire the stunning and innovative architecture. If these men were anything, they were damn fancy. My favorite thing so far: Jefferson designed his house based on principles of light, and wanted air to flow freely through the living spaces. In his bedroom, he carved an alcove in his wall to fit his bed between his office and bedroom. This design allowed for a cooler night’s sleep and let light into his room from the office windows. It makes for a nice effect. I just loved the idea of having a little bed cave and totally want one in my plantation house one day. Montassero? That actually king of works.
- Jeff
I’m not in Philadelphia anymore
In the past 48 hours, my life has undergone some major renovations. I ended school, packed my most basic belongings and moved to Washington, D.C. for the next month. From here, I will leave for California and then return to Philadelphia in time for school to start in September. For now, I’m just getting used to the idea of summer. This recent transition has been literally life-altering, as I adjust to a totally different set of expectations. Not only is my schedule drastically different (I can now imagine sleeping in until 8 o’clock!), but I no longer have a nagging need to prepare for the next school day. It is an enormous relief to wake up and have time to lay and look out the window. I haven’t done that in a long time. Today, I did, and I noticed a few things. It was a breezy day – the trees were whipping in the wind, back and forth, letting through wrinkles of light every now and then. It was an overcast day, too – the white window sill went in and out of the sunshine, from bright white to a pale gray. I could hear the planes flying overhead and heard the chatter of students below. I just stayed there a while, enjoying a new found awareness of my surroundings. I know it sounds ugly (and it was), but there were times during the year when I barely saw the outdoors – days would go by when I didn’t get to touch the sun or feel the weather. Oftentimes I arrived to school as the sun just rose and didn’t get out of school until dawn. Those winter days were hard, but are no longer. No…it is summer now, and I’m certainly not in Philadelphia anymore.
As part of my fellowship, I’m living in Georgetown until mid-July with the James Madison Foundation. I moved into the dorms here – fully equipped with a plastic-covered twin bed and a flip-flop-worthy shower. I don’t mind any of that, though, because I feel on top of the world. The next four weeks will involve a substantial amount of work (I have classes from 8:30-11:00 and 3 papers to write), but I’m sort of pretending to be on a vacation where learning happens. I’ve explored the streets of Georgetown so much now that I feel already all-to0-familiar with the area. It is an amazing little town, with adorable houses and clean streets, preppy people and and beautiful, manicured landscaping. If you’ve ever been before, you’ll know the types of people and the places I’m referring to. I’m not sure I could live here, but it sure is a nice place to pretend to live.
Tonight is the program’s opening banquet, where I’ll get to finally meet everyone else and get a better idea of what is about to happen. For the first time in a long time, though, I’m not so wrapped up in “what’s about to happen.” I’m perfectly content with what’s happening right now.
Out my window, I can see the wind has picked up, but the clouds are gone. It’s blue skies.
- Jeff
Oh, New Jersey
New Jersey borders Philadelphia – I’m just a hop, skip and jump away from the border. I rarely visit (mostly because…why?) but also because I haven’t had the motivation to venture to the beach side of the state. Now that the sun is out, I jumped in the car with my friends Jana and Dan and set our sights on Atlantic City for a day on the beach. Infamous for its reputation as the armpit state of the U.S., New Jersey lived up to its creedo during our visit. And I mean, literally the armpit.
We started our day on the beach. Dan dropped us off and we were on our own for a while while he met up with his family on the other side of town. Wide-eyed and ready for some fun in the sun, we had arrived. The beach was big and long, and although it was smattered with too many advertisements, both on land, foot and sky (I saw about a dozen airplanes go by with ads on their tails), it was an okay place to be. We found our spot, but before long started to notice a strange mist rising from the shore. It looked like the sand was steaming, but we found it just too weird to ignore. After posing our inquiry to a lifeguard, we were left with no new infomration, except he gave some blame to what he called the ‘muck’ on the beach – this black, grainy stuff that floated around the shoreline. Regardless, we were freaked out but decided not to let it ruin our day. We accepted it as part of the deal when you visit the armpit of anything.
The rest of our day brought many more moments of confusion and dismay. We decided to just point to things that were out of place and declare “New Jersey,” it was fun and helped explain the crazy things we saw. Turns out, the mist was nothing.
We went on a walk down the beach, talking and laughing and enjoying the sand on our bare feet. In a moment, I heard Jana screech and quickly saw the source of her reaction – a dead crow had washed ashore just in front of us. It was disgusting, and pretty hysterical. As usual, we decided to tell the lifeguards, to which their reply was, “Yeeeaaahhh….we saw that earlier,” to which our reply was, “Well do you guys clean those up?” He said, in New Jersey fashion, “Not really, it happens all the time.” So the dead crow just laid there, and we may or may not have stayed to watch a few couples’ reactions as they encountered the body.
Next, as we continued to make our way down the beach, we noticed an older woman belly down in a sand hole. Her friends (all probably in their 50′s or 60′s) were burying her in the sand. It was so strange New Jersey.
Then, once we found a new spot, we looked to our left and saw another memorable sight. A couple was entangled on their beach towels, belly down, and the women was stroking her husbands speedo covered butt. And yes, we watched…for 20 minutes. She just didn’t stop! I can’t get it out of my head – the rhythmic motions were just pain mesmerizing.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won’t. You get the idea. Regardless of the weird-ness we met and saw, it was a fantastic day away from my life in Philadelphia. Definitely an escape I needed and never thought to take advantage of. And no doubt, as much as I slam it, I loved Atlantic City for what it was – a mysteriously misty place with drift bird, people who bury old people, and people who take public displays of affection to a new level. It is, after all, New Jersey.
- Jeff
Best Weekend Ever
Spring Break is here, and I am basking in all its glory. Now, this isn’t the same spring break MTV usually sells people on, but it is definitely a contender for the best weekend ever. After a brief spout of sickness on Thursday, I headed off to meet up with best of friends Diana Hawk, who is visiting from England with her boyfriend Harry and her old roommate Kate. Their first stop was New York, so I naturally made my way to Andrew’s and spent the last three days enjoying the city and the company of good friends. The result is a fantastic adventure through New York, one that can best be depicted by a long line of photos with captions. Enjoy!
We started our day at Central Park with deli lunch in hand
The park is probably my favorite part of NYC, and the blue skies just made our visit all the better. I had a BLT, and then took a cat nap on a grassy knoll.
Then, as we walked back into the city, we spotted this man
And thanks to Kate’s face recognition skills, we realized it was none other than Anderson Cooper.
As the anchor of AC360 on CNN, Cooper is well known for his smarts and good looks – definitely someone I admire for both. It was a thrill, and thankfully Diana had the guts to make this happen:
I will, however, be framing this picture for my Anderson fantasy:
The best weekend ever continued to get better when we made our way over to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Diana, the queen of getting tickets to shows, managed to reserve 4 seats to the taping.
I love to watch the show, so it was great to see it happen live. Jon Stewart is amazing in person and the episode was pretty hilarious, too.
The next day, we headed over to Coney Island to see what remains of what I thought was an American icon. Really, I was just making comparisons to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. And really, there is no comparison.
Dump. Wasteland. Post-apocalyptic amusement park. Any of these adjectives would suffice when describing Coney Island. Kind of a disappointment, but still cool to walk around…and a little creepy.
We ended up riding the Wonder Wheel
Ferris wheels are actually one of my bigger fears, but I was a trooper
After a long afternoon on the “boardwalk,” we wanted to stroll acorss the Brooklyn Bridge
It was a bit too cold, but the view was great, and the bridge led us to Brooklyn’s finest pizza: Grimaldi’s
We had to wait in line for 45 minutes, but it was well worth it – three pizzas from heaven.
Our last stop last night was at a comedy club downtown, starring 30 Rock writer Scott Adsit
The show was terrific improv, but a big short at 45 minutes. I’d go back.
So that’s it – and Spring Break has just started. This week, Diana & Co. come to Philly for a few days of sightseeing, and then my family arrives for a week visit, as well. I’ve gone from teacher to tour guide in no time.
- Jeff
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