I didn't go to sleep at all last night, the eve of my final class of the semester. I stayed up trying to perfect a slide show of photos for class. It turned out resembling a music video.
[This is the Columbia Road Discount Center where they claim, "The Best Prices in Town" and, "Los Mejores Precios De La Ciudad." This corner shop in Adams-Morgan reminds me of shops in the Mission District of San Francisco.]
This is a 25 ft statue, by J. Seward Johnson, Jr., that stands in front of the Corcoran Gallery on 17th and New York Ave NW. The steam grate and the street light really work nice. And it's a little gross to think back on, but the steam grate really smells better now that the homeless gentleman, Warren, doesn't live on it anymore.
[I have one more class! My favorite class! Then all I have to think about is Holiday stuff.]
A.J. Schneck of Deleware passes his lighter to Dan Payn from Warren, Vermont. Both are fine arts photography students at the Corcoran College and enjoy a precious moment of relaxation during a final week of classes.
[When I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh I took photos of student life like this. At the time I smoked cigarettes and remember trying to get as many lights off one flame as possible. Several years later in Jacksonville, N.C., I learned to never light the third cigarette. "It's bad luck," I remember this old Korean War vet, J.O., saying in the Cardinal Lounge. He said by the time the lighter got to the third smoker the enemy would have their sights on it's glow. Bang! It's really safer to quite.]
These are some ornaments I photographed on a walk back from one of my nightly trips to 7-eleven. I might not agree with the discusting acts of man, as far as the dirty-handed deeds of colonialism, but every once in a while the convenience of 7-eleven makes me second guess that. I mean it's cool to live in an age of Economic Imperialism when you can get a McFalafel at the Mickey-D's in Alexandria, Egypt (better than their hamburgers).
[Yesterday I decided to stay home and start writing a paper on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. So I ordered a pizza. In the morning, when I woke up I still hadn't written a word. I ate pizza and wrote all day until my class. Because it was the last class of the semester our professor, Bernard, ordered pizza. Of course I ate a couple slices, free pizza. It was going-away pizza, a ritual event I take part in. I can't wait to see my family all together at Christmas, something that is unfortunately not a ritual to me.]
This is the National Cathedral from Kilbourne Pl NW. All morning we had snow and all afternoon it rained lightly. My brother-in-law from England, Brian, would like this weather. He lived with my sister in Los Angeles for about a decade. They just recently moved to Eugene, Ore. He never liked the heat in L.A. I bet they're having similar weather to the District now, or better yet ... worst! There is something the English appreciate about being in an uncomfortable or harsh environment. The constant drizzling rain. I like rain. I like sun too.
[When I'm on the street and it's raining and the wind is blowing I can imagine myself on a ship in the middle of a dark and stormy ocean. Or I'm running down an unknown path in the middle of the night dodging lightning. I guess you could even include something like hiking 30-some miles through a gassy wetlands carrying everything you need to survive, and all the water tastes like cow crap ... and maybe there was a thunderstorm earlier too. Anyway, my point is how does the guy react when a drink spills on him at a party? It's the people who figure, "Already wet, may as well jump in the swimming pool," who make life. Like England and its gloomy fog, the Middle East and its arid land, Los Angeles and plastic surgery ... ]
I walked down to Adams-Morgan to get some food ... instead I found a religion. Santeria to be ambigous, because this is only one known name for this mixture of Catholicism and African tribal beliefs. I saw this giant statue of the Virgin in a dark complexion and a caucasian Christ and had to investigate. The Botanica, which is the general term for a store that sells Santeria religious articles, was a cultural treasure chest. The website Religious Tolerance notes that Santeria practitioners from South America and Mexico may focus more on the religion's Catholic background, whereas Cuban and other Carribean Islands focus more on the beliefs of the Yoruba and Bantu people in Southern Nigeria, Senegal and Guinea Coast.
[This semester I took a class that introduced me to the majority of my understanding of the African and Buddhist cultures. It seems like most groups believe that the true form of eternal life is keeping your ideas alive, or at least being part of a greater chain of productive ideas that hopfully grow every generation. And there is the physical form of eternal life, that a part of your fathers are with you and a part of you goes with your children.]
Several Terrorism Task Force FBI agents collect evidence in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
(below) Two officers with the FBI's Terrorism Task Force go through the contents of a Chevy Blazer parked in Mt Pleasant on Kenyon St NW. The owner of the vehicle is a suspect in an investigation involving suspicious packages found at a Metro stop in South East Washington earlier today.
[I walked out the door today around 2pm. A block from my house I noticed that the FBI had closed down a part of Kenyon St NW. I took some pictures of the FBI's Terrorism Task Force collecting evidence from a brown, two-toned Chevy Blazer. After a few minutes I kept walking towards downtown. I stopped in an African bar on 18th St NW and talked to a school teacher. He said that the Metropolitan Police had closed off a Metro transit hub by Benning Rd SE due to suspicious packages.]
Capitals center Brian Sutherby contorts his stick to slide the 4th of 6 goals scored by Washington in their 6-5 victory over the Boston Bruins. Sotherby, who is Canadian, will be turning 21 in March. Does it seem like the younger the drinking age a country has the better the hockey players it produces?
[I was invited to the hockey game by a good friend Jimmy, owner of the Xchange Saloon on 17th and G Sts NW. We had an awesome corporate suite compliments of Budweiser. Jimmy also awarded a golf bag to Capitals center Robert Lang before the game. This was an exciting, high-scoring game. And I thought it had quite a few brawls ... I was mistaken about the brawling according to the seasoned hockey fans. The strangest thing was probably these two Canadians that were drinking with us at the game. I mean we were cool with them and everything, but they just kept insisting they were from North Dakota.]
Class was much better than I expected. After class I hung out in the student lounge at H St as usual. I thought I'd try out the typewriter, but the only paper I could find had been xerox copied on. I also discovered that the typewriter only had a correction tape and no ink. So I used my pen to express Indiana Pacers star Ron Artest's pain while being squeezed through the media-press.
[I don't know much about Ron Artest but Corcoran College writing professor, Casey Smith does. No coincidence, Casey is from Indiana like the Pacers. "[Artest is] one of the best players on both ends of the floor," said Smith.]
This day has been one of many technical difficulties. I have two classes; one morning, one night. The hours aren't very agreeable, especially with an 8am class Wednesday morning. An 8am class Wednesday morning that has a final. An 8am class Wednesday morning that has a final that I could really use more time to study for.
[There was a student lunch at the Corcoran today. It was great. Of course, because it is getting toward the end of the semester no one really had time to hang out and mingle.]
Sealed packs of M. E. Swing Co, or MESCO coffee roll off the end of Walter Russell's conveyer belt and into boxes below. The MESCO roasting facility is located in Alexandria, Va. Russell worked at Swing's right out of high school. He worked for an area produce store for about 4 years, but he's been working at Swing's for the past 17 years.
[Russell has been with MESCO longer than anyone, except Patricia Swing.]
