A Pilgrimage to Politics and Prose (and Pearl Jam too!)

Hey folks!

It's late Friday night/early Saturday morning and I'd figure that I would take this time to tell you about the last week. This week flew by, huh? I cannot believe that very soon we're going to be heading into October! You mean to tell me I've already been here a month?

Well, let's start from the top: I think I found a new favorite place in Washington D.C.: Politics and Prose. It's a "storied" bookstore on Connecticut Avenue. While not having the size or selection of a Borders or Barnes and Noble, they make up for it by attracting authors and celebrities who want to promote their book. Anyone who's anyone in the nation's capital pays a visit to Politics and Prose if they have a book to sell. I had heard much about it and spent the entire afternoon there on Saturday. I bought a book signed by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as well as Ted Kennedy's new memoir. They have a great cafe downstairs, so I then sat down, ate a reuben, and starting reading!

Saturday night, I hung out with some fellow Stonehillers who are studying at American University. I slept over there and in the morning, we woke up early and watched President Obama make the rounds on 5 Sunday political talk shows. (I swear we have friends...)

Once the work week started things really started taking off! On Tuesday, Congressman Camp introduced a resolution in the House. Therefore, I was sent to the Republican Cloak Room (which is a room right off the House floor that members gather in) to get a bill number. Unfortunately for me, the door is not marked. So after a bit of searching, I finally found the place. However, I also found this right next to the door! A statue of good ol' Joe Martin, namesake of Stonehill's Martin Institute!

I kept seeing congressmen and women walk by me in the hallway, so I figured it would be a good idea to turn off my ringer (a Bruce Springsteen ringtone would probably not be welcome in this type of environment). So I adjust my phone and am now confident in it's silence. About 45 seconds later, I spot another member of Congress and an aide walking by. Just as they walk by, I hear a ringtone; basically just a cacophony of drums, guitars, and what sounded like a man screaming. I laughed to myself inside, thinking how embarassed the staffer must be that his ringtone went off. However, it kept going and after getting a weird look for the congressional party, I look down to my pocket to see that it was me! Apparently, when putting my iPhone on silent, I had accidentily opened up iTunes and was currently previewing Pearl Jam's new album! Welcome to my life...

Later that day, I had to run something over to the Rayburn House Office Building. It was a pretty neat experience. On my way over, I see a pretty strange site: a man in the hallway with two dogs running about. The man was throwing them treats and they even rode the escalator with him! I snuck a picture of the two dogs.

Upon exiting the staircase in Rayburn, I peeked into Rep. Don Young's office. On the wall was a full bear-skin rug. It was really cool. I had to take a picture. I then went over to Rep. Dale Kildee's office to finish my errand. As I'm in there waiting, out walks the Congressman. I chatted with him for a bit about my internship and some Massachusetts ties we share. He incredibly nice and engaging man. He is also currently one of the longest serving members in the House.

On Thursday, I had the privilege to have breakfast with former Senator Bob Dole. Dole was Senate Majority Leader for many years, a distinguished war hero who spent 39 months in the hospital after being shot in World War II, and also ran for President against Bill Clinton in 1996. He also was in a Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears about 10 years ago...check Youtube!

It was another breakfast organized for members of Congress, staffers, and interns. Sen. Dole is certainly not young anymore but he still is quite active and looks good for his age. He was also an incredibly nice man. He really took note of and was very inclusive to all the interns in attendance. You can't always say that for people around Capitol Hill. I made sure to get a picture with him afterwards.

Later that day, I gave another Capitol tour. Meeting J. Lo and Arlen Specter on the first one certainly set a high bar, however this one came close. I was doing my usual tour schtick...when we set foot into Statuary Hall. All of a sudden down the middle of the room comes Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi! This was a large group of people in the room at that time (it is a popular tourist spot) so she smiled briefly before her and her entourage proceeded to politely ignore us.

Now for the new feature I am sure you are all dying to see: my virtual tour of the Capitol. We're starting small here today folks. I'll be showing the in's and out's of the House Office Buildings. I work in Cannon. It is the oldest House office building. It was completed in 1908. It was built after members complained that there was not enough room to house all of their offices in the Capitol. Some of them resorted to using committee rooms and other Capitol hideaways as their makeshift offices. It was named after former Speaker of the House Joe Cannon in 1962.

And this is the office where I work...Cannon 341. We occupy three rooms. One is solely the congressman's office, the other is the reception area and the chief of staff's office, and the third is a bullpen-type area where me and the rest of the staff are.

A few feet outside our room is the Cannon Rotunda. Between the Capitol and the Cannon, we're pretty big fans of rotundas here in the Capitol. There are 18 Doric columns in the center. You may recognize the setting as the backdrop to live reports from Capitol Hill on cable news stations. Oftentimes, when you see a reporter standing in front of columns and talking about Congress, thery're located right here.

Heading downstairs into the basement of Cannon, you can head in a couple different directions. There's a direct tunnel to the Capitol. This is often used by members of Congress who are heading over to vote and their staffs. But there are also tunnels that connect over to the other two House office buildings: Rayburn and Longworth.

The basement of Longworth is the de-facto mall for House staff. We have a large cafeteria -with a pretty good menu-and plenty of seating so you can enjoy your lunch. There is also a little convenience store and even an ice cream shop called The Creamery. I haven't tried the ice cream yet, but I hear they have pretty good shakes.

There is also a barber shop and dry cleaners located in the basement. I haven't tried either of those yet, but I hear the barber shop has cut some pretty famous hair.

There is a short tour of all that the House Office Buildings have to offer. Next we'll head into the Capitol to give you a glimpse into the new Capitol Visitors Center.

That's all for me. Take care everybody!