Monday, November 01, 2010
Stewart Saves His Country
Got home late Sunday night after a memorable weekend in Washington, where Michael and I attended the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and had the chance to spend some time with a few close friends and family. Although I'm not originally from Washington, my time there -- as a child visiting relatives, in college, and again as a young adult after college, where I had my first apartment living alone -- was so significant that it will always feel like "home," even if feeling like I'd outgrown it the minute I got there was the "homiest" thing about it. The rally was every bit the spectacle that I imagined it would be, with Sheryl Crow, Kid "Poseur Douche-Bag" Rock, Cat Stevens, The Roots, John Legend and Tony Bennett taking the stage at various points. Although the PA system failed to properly reach all of us who were standing toward the middle -- I can only imagine how little people in the back heard (it was REALLY crowded, which makes me think more so than they expected) -- Jon Stewart's final message railing on the media was received loud and clear. “The country’s 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder.” While some have argued that his attack on the messenger -- rather than the messages -- is misguided given the fact that less than 2 percent of "watch or pay attention to cable television," I find this laughable. The reason he's railing on the messengers is BECAUSE of their ill-reported "message" -- unchecked "reporting" on politicians and pundits who most people don't pay attention to -- and the idea that you can measure the damage spewing false information, innuendo, fear and stupidity in Nielsen numbers only bolsters Stewart's message. The event didn't change my life in the way I'd imagine, say, being at MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech would have. But I felt a patriotic duty to stand up and be counted as someone who doesn't believe wingnuts speak for all Americans, and it was nice to see that so many level-headed individuals did, too. Here are some of my favorite signs from the rally, as well as a few highlights of friends and family. Would love to hear from others who attended, too.
Pretty Women: Jean and Kandy
With my girls at Kandy's hubby's fun wine bar, Room 11, in Columbia Heights (the food is GREAT!)
Kandy and me with our main men, Ben and Michael
Dinner at Lauriol Plaza with the Obamas
Walked past the infamous house on Swann Street, where Robert Wone was murdered (such a heinous crime on such a beautiful block)
Capped the weekend with lunch with my older brothers, Terence and Bill, at the Hotel George near Union Station
Music Box: Redbone
The one upside to having my iPod inexplicably die on the way to Washington is that it led to my sharing Michael's -- the 21st century equivalent of a malt with two straws? -- which led me to a whole new set of songs. Sure, we overlap on a lot of pop and New Wave stuff. But Michael's got a thing for R&B, soul and eclectic '70s music that extends far beyond my knowledge, and it was Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love" -- a Michael's iPod exclusive -- that was the runaway highlight of the ride. Don't think there's ever been a happier song, which is probably why I'm willing to cut Cyndi Lauper some slack for rearranging her classic "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" to sample it, a practice I generally frown upon.
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