One Million Bones: Too Many Lives Lost

photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta/ AP

photo by Jonathan Ernst/ Reuters

When you come from a place like my rural South Jersey area, you really don't expect to grow up with a world-changer. But if you attended the crop-field-surrounded Cumberland Regional High School in the late 1990's that assumption would be wrong.  For the CRHS Class of 1999 produced Naomi Natale, co-founder of The Art of Revolution and founder and director of One Million Bones, the 2 groups which sponsored a 3-day campaign on the National Mall in DC this past weekend to serve as a call to end genocide and mass atrocities worldwide.

Under Natale's direction for a powerful collision of art and activism, volunteers from around the country created a poignant "mass grave" on the Mall that displayed more than 1 million handmade human bones constructed from clay, plaster, and other materials.

In an advocacy video for the project, Desmond Tutu, a South African social rights activist and retired Anglican   bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980's as an opponent of apartheid, pointed  out the significance of the bones. "The symbol of bone attests to the impermanence of life," Tutu said. "But I believe they embody so much more. Bones are evidence of a unique individual journey -- each moment of hope and happiness, each dream and passion, each struggle experienced in a lifetime. But also the evidence of a collective journey, the stories shared and the human experience."

Tutu also explained that the grave serves as a reminder of those whose stories have been lost in places such as Sudan, Germany and the former Yugoslavia and reminds people of the collective responsibility to be one another's keeper. “Each individual’s humanity is inextricably linked to one another’s. We must raise each other up or else we all sink down,” he said.

The Mall installation was the culmination of a project begun in 2010. Since then, Natale and her groups have been trying to raise awareness of genocide and mass killing in Sudan, Congo, Burma and Somalia by taking the provoking, grisly display from city to city. In each city, local artists, students and activists were recruited to add to the growing stock of handmade bones.

Throughout the weekend, the event included speakers, performances and a candlelight vigil from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, followed by an hour of quiet reflection. Today, volunteers took some of the bones to the Capitol to urge Senators and Congressmen to join the struggle against genocide.

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Naomi Natale (photo by Teru Kuwayma)

Even though she went to the same high school as my son Michael, I had never heard of Naomi Natale until my friend, fellow English teacher, and ex-Night School bandmate Bob Evans contacted me and said his former English student was now an activist artist who was bringing the installation One Million Bones to DC. "She really is an incredibly special person," Evans said. Yesterday, we caught up with Naomi at the installation site. I used my connections with Evans to get her called by walkie-talkie from whatever job she was doing. "Oh, Mr. Evans. He was just a great teacher ... my favorite. I hope he's not mad at me. He came to (the exhibition in) New Orleans but I haven't talked to him recently. I'm really bad at keeping in contact with people," she said. I assured her that Mr. Evans, as she called him, was still singing her praises. I also promised to relay the details of our brief talk to him. To read a comprehensive article about Natale and her projects, click here.

Out Is In: Have Pride 365

Conflicts are part of human life. Some are relatively common, affecting most of us. But what if a conflict is more specific to exactly who you are? For example, you are a young gay man who loves bowling, but is not  exactly sure how well you fit into the masculine, beer-swilling aspects of that sport. Or a lesbian woman who wants to travel  to China, where such a lifestyle is illegal? Or a person born as a female who is absolutely certain she should become a he and live life as a man?

Well, for these and hundreds of other such issues, solutions could be found today at the booths that lined the Pennsylvania Avenue Street Festival, one of the largest events in this year's Capital Pride week-long celebration..

While many of the thousands of visitors at the festival were here for a good time and to celebrate with fellow members of the DC-area's large and growing gay community, others used the opportunity to find help for  questions and issues.

Adam Boenning at his bowling booth

Our want-to-be bowler could head to the booth of the Capital Area Rainbowling Association, where Adam Boenning was offering small, colorful Grab-An-Ass donkeys for a buck as a fundraiser, as well as information for anyone who wanted to bowl in a same-sex league.

"We have 10 leagues that bowl 7 nights a week in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area," Boenning explained. He said there are about 1,400 bowlers currently in the association leagues. And, in the area of athletics at the Street Festival, Boenning wasn't the only one talking same-sex sports. You could visit the booths of DC Strokes (rowers; coxswains needed), the Washington Renegades (rugby) and several others.

Our would-be China traveler could seek out Linda Kemp, the DC regional sales consultant for Olivia, a San Francisco-based travel company for lesbian women. Kemp said Olivia has provided travel for more than 200,000 women all over the world.

"There's a common denominator for our travelers - they feel free to be themselves," Kemp said.

Kemp said that while travel was the main concern of the firm, there was another goal - spreading the idea that lesbianism is not something to be feared.  "We're always out. People are afraid of what they don't know and they get to know us," she said. Kemp laughed as she related a story of one of the travels to Turkey. The group encountered a community  that had been particularly hit hard by economic devastation. There, poor local women lined up with home-made rugs, imploring the visitors to buy them. Which they did.  The next day the local headlines in Turkish read: Lesbians Help the Economy of Turkey.

At the DCATS (the DC Area Transmasculine Soicety) booth, Eli Strong was one of a trio of volunteers available to answer queries and provide information.

"We work with people who are born or assigned to be female at birth and feel that it is an incomplete or inaccurate description of who they are," Strong said. "We get together for social stuff, but we deal with problems, too."

One of the biggest problems facing transmasculines is health care. Providers don't always recognize their condition and refuse to pay for operations, testosterone, and other needed medical help.

Strong, who was born a woman and now is a male and legally married to a woman, said he knows all too well the problems people like himself face on a daily basis. When his wife suggested that they relocate to another area, Strong convinced her to change her mind. "DC is one of the leaders in the country when it comes to human rights," he said. "I told her we're not leaving DC for somewhere where I'll lose my rights."

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My new lesbian lunch crew: Caring and confident

I know you can't (and indeed never should) stereotype. But I am going to break my own rule here. As a group, the dozens of gays, lesbians, and transgenders I met and talked to at the Street Festival were among the most friendly, sensitive, and socially conscious people I have ever encountered. And I know the small rainbow bracelet one of the festival goers gave me to wear on my wrist wasn't the reason for their warmth. Take the group of 6 lunching lesbians from Virginia who took me under their wing. I sat down on a low wall with them as they ate. One of the younger members (whom I'll call Angel for reasons that shall soon be obvious) immediately began asking me how I was enjoying myself. In a voice filled with genuine concern for my well-being, she asked "Are you here with anybody," her tone and body language indicating that I was welcome to hang with her group if I weren't.

My wife: A DC Roller girl?

I told her I was waiting for my wife, whom I later found was  engaged in a just-as-friendly conversation with a member of the DC Roller Girls, the district's popular roller derby queens. "Hey," Angel told the others. "He and his wife are here for our support." We then launched into a conversation about the day (a lot of fun), the life of a southern lesbian (she said she had it much easier than her gay brother) and some of the issues in an America that still simply isn't as tolerant as it should be about same-sex relationships. One of the older women, wearing a "Girls Will Do Girls" T-shirt joined in. Suddenly, the whole group burst into laughter as they discovered one of their members eating a corn dog on a stick in a particularly sexy, but decidedly not lesbian, fashion.  "Hey we're lesbians. Do you know what that looks like? You're giving us a bad name. People are going to think we like men."  I joined in their laughter. In fact, laughter seemed to be one of the biggest parts of this pride day. Homosexuals of all ages and types smiled when the food vendors would shout "give me a big one" or "give me a long one" as cooks pulled another sausage from the smoking grills. They smiled even brighter and longer as they roamed the Festival, greeting and hugging old and new friends. It seemed fitting that this most accepting version of America was happening between the National Archives, where the most sacred documents of our founding are kept, and the Capitol, where the laws that should govern and protect us all are made. As I left my 6 new friends, the younger man's T-shirt of a couple holding hands as they strolled by summed up the entire day. "Out Is In," it read. That may not yet be true everywhere in America 365 days a year. But it was definitely true on this sunny Sunday June afternoon on a packed Pennsylvania Avenue.  Out really was in.

These Synetic Theater troupe members prove we can all get along.

How many times have you needed this?

Parade Your Pride

With dozen-deep crowds enthusiastically cheering and shouting so loudly they could be heard blocks away, thousands of DC area residents demonstrated their Capital (Gay) Pride in the streets around Dupont Circle today. The event was part parade, part Mardi Gras, part message maker, and part political pandering.

The participants included gays and straights, young and old, men and women, women who dressed like men, and men who dressed like women. There were gay policemen, gay bikers, gay bands, and gay DJ's and divas on trucks. Same sex families pushed their strollers, while Mayor Vincent Gray and 2 City Council members who want his job strolled by the crowds, handing out goodies.

Many of the parade participants carried colorful Mardi Gras beads which they hurled into the outstretched hands of the waving, squealing watchers. Candy and stickers were popular with young parade observers. Those youngsters also appeared to enjoy the superhero costumes that many of the marchers wore. The theme of this years event was Unleash the Superhero in You. That made it appropriate for actress Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman on TV, to be the parade's Grand Marshall.

Despite the fun theme,- "Happy Pride Day" was the shouted street slogan of the day - there were moments of seriousness. Some marchers carried signs portraying activist messages. Some participants representing city health agencies handed out condoms.

One of the most appreciated groups of the day was the DC Water Department, whose marchers squirted the crowd with cooling streams of water from super soakers.

Parade organizers said 170 groups and organizations entered the 38th annual edition of the parade. The 1.5-mile event kicked off with the the roar of the Washington, DC chapter of Dykes on Bikes, followed by Homoto,  a gay male biker organization.  You can see a full list of participants by clicking here.

Here are a sample of photos to help you capture (or, for some, recapture) the spirit of the day.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
The Capital Pride Parade is one of the 2 biggest such events held in the DuPont Circle neighborhood annually. The other is the October Drag Race. To view a The Prices Do DC post about that festive pre-Halloween event, just click here.

Mr. Time

They called him Mr. Time. For 3 decades, from 1942 to 1970, whenever the editors of Time magazine needed a cover picture in a hurry, they would turn to Russian-born artist Boris Chaliapin.

In a time before photographs were used for Time covers, Chaliapin could execute a creative lifelike portrait in 12 hours, which was essential for breaking news. For more routine stories, he could produce art in 3 days, where other artists required a week or more.

During his career, Chaliapin produced 413 covers. While given the gender politics of the era, most of Chaliapin's subjects were males, he especially excelled in female cover portraits. The painter said beauty went hand-in-hand with his concept of creating "impressions of his cover subjects rather than to portray them in minute detail."

TV Western Heroes - March 30, 1957

New York World's Fair - June 5, 1964

Currently, 26 of Chaliapin's renditions are on display at the National Portrait Gallery . The displayed pieces are part of that institution's collection of more than 2,000 works of original cover art.

While circumstances necessitated his working mostly from photographs, Chaliapin preferred live sittings. He became the most popular of all of Time's stable of artists. However, not all of his work made the cover. Here are 2 examples of paintings that didn't.

1947 - Stan Musial

1970 - Crime in the Streets

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
If you want to see the 26 art works by Chaliapin, the exhibition will continue until January 5th.

The Metro As Vision; The Metro as Reality

For all projects there is the vision, then there is the reality. And often, despite the best intentions, the starkness of the reality turns out to be much darker than the shine of the dream. Such is the case with the subway portion of the DC-area Metro transit system, which since opening in 1976 has grown to include five lines, 86 stations, and 106.3 miles.

The DC Metro is the 2nd busiest in the United States, ranking second only to the New York City subway. However DC numbers don't even allow it to be ranked in the 30 busiest subways in the world. Indeed, with its 1.6 billion annual riders New York is only 6th in the world, topped by Bejing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Moscow (each with more than 2 billion riders) and #1 Tokyo, with its 3.16 billion riders each year.

But that doesn't mean that often-disgruntled riders don't think that their local Metro is beset with world-class problems, Riders frequently complain, often with much justification, of what they call substandard service. Last month, local TV station WUSA Channel 9 examined the 10 biggest complaints of area riders. They are:

1. No accountability
2. Unreliable service
3. Weekend track work
4. Weekend Wait Times
5. Faulty Escalators
6. Malfunctioning doors
7. Doors Open for too short a time to get on/off
8. Too frequently out of service
9. Fare to service ratio
10. Redskins (yes, they creep into everything) 

As you might expect, in this age of social media, there are numerous Twitter sites where you can lodge your complaints about the Metro. There are even blogs like Fix WMTA or  Unsuck DC Metro, for that purpose.

But when the Metro 1st opened its doors in the year of America's 200th birthday, the hopes for the then new, fresh, clean, not-yet-used system were rosy. And local riders were reminded of that fact this week when The DCist urged its readers to watch the video Metro: Here and Now, a promotional video from the 1970's. In addition to embedding the video, The DCist had this to say:

The 13-minute film explains the history of Metro, how it operates and its benefits while very groovy music plays. Images of afro- and sideburn-sporting Washingtonians enjoying Metro trains and stations that look exactly the same today accompany the very positive narration.

"Everything about Metro has been designed with people in mind," the narrator says. "Its convenience, comfort, safety and beauty all were tailored for people." (Contain your laughter, please.)

The original film is housed at the Smithsonian Institution archives in a box of National Museum of American History Office of Public Affairs records, which includes "press releases, memoranda, tapes documenting Museum activities, newspaper clippings concerning the museum, correspondence, exhibition catalogs, exhibition scripts, invitations, guest lists and photographs."

You can take a trip back in time by clicking here to watch the video. And happy traveling.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
We have lived in Crystal City (served by both the Yellow and the Blue lines) for 2 years. There is no question that the Metro operations, especially on weekends when track work forces the trains to run less frequently, can be frustrating. But we still use the service almost daily. In fact, I have only driven our car 3 times in calendar year 2013 in the DC area. Of course, coming from rural South Jersey where mass transit consists of 2 horses, one cow, and a large wagon, we may not be the best judge of an urban system.

Dining in DC: ShopHouse Southeast Asian Grill

In 1993, former San Francisco line cook Steve Ells opened the 1st Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado. The restaurant became known for its large burritos, assembly-line production, and use of natural ingredients. Today, there are more than 1,400 Chipotles in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France.

And now, it appears that an experiment to expand the company has proven to be a success. Two years ago, Chipotle opened a trial Asian fast-food concept restaurant named ShopHouse Southeast Asian Grill in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of DC. The restaurant featured cuisine inspired by Thai, Vietnamese, and Malaysian cooking.

Today, it was reported that Chipotle is expanding its ShopHouse operation by opening 4 more restaurants in  the DC area including one in Chinatown and one in Georgetown.

We recently tried the Dupont Circle eatery. The concept is relatively simple. First, you choose to start your Asian bowl with one of 3 meats or tofu. That is then placed over jasmine rice, brown rice, chilled rice noodles, or salad. Next you select from 4 types of vegetables. Then your choice of one of  3 sauces is poured over the bowl contents. You complete your meal by choosing one of 3 garnishes and one of 3 toppings.

Judy chose grilled chicken satay over salad with tamarind vinaigrette topped with charred corn, green papaya slaw, and peanuts. I also picked the satay chicken, but opted for the chilled rice noodles, eggplant and Thai basil, green curry, pickles, and crushed peanuts.

We both agreed our meals were tasty and filling, especially considering the relatively low price. I was fairly certain Judy would like ShopHouse because Chipotle is one of her favorite chains. In fact, she likes it so much she choose it for her Mother's Day dinner. We will definitely be going back to try other combinations.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
What Others Say:

• Urban Spoon
• Yelp

The Prices Do DC Rating

• ***^ (3&1/2 bowls out of 5)

What Is the Grass?

And the words of the prophets (in this case Walt Whitman) are written on the Metro walls.

A few years ago, poet Mark Doty, who in 2008 won the National Book Award for Poetry, was in Nebraska to give a talk on American literary giant Walt Whitman. Arriving in town, Doty realized that he had forgotten  his copy of  Whitman's poetic masterpiece Leaves of Grass. So, he immediately went to the nearest used bookstore. "You can pretty much know that any used book store in America will have at least one copy of Leaves of Grass," Doty says

The particular copy he bought had been owned by a young college student. In the margins of Whitman's poem entitled "What Is the Grass?" she had written, in a long looping hand, "Isn't it grass?"

"It was a story of a mind at rest (the student's) and one that couldn't (Whitman's)," Doty says. "She believed words settled things. For him, (Whitman) the word settled nothing at all."

Walt Whitman

Doty, whose forthcoming book is entitled What is the Grass and will be a meditation on Whitman, was joined recently by DC poet Sally Keith at the Library of Congress to discuss the legacy of Whitman and his influence on their poetry.

"For a poet, he is our enormous, brilliant, and inescapable Uncle," Doty said. "He is the predecessor of us all. He asked the questions who are we and what does it mean to be part of the tribe, a part of the group? These have been with me my whole career."

Keith, who is also a professor in the creative writing program at George Mason, talked at length about Whitman's ties to Washington. Whitman, who spent most of his years in New York and New Jersey, arrived in Washington to look for his brother, George, who had been wounded during the Civil War. He stayed for 10 years taking care of wounded war veterans.

"I think of Whitman, sitting in the window of the hospital (which is now the Smithsonian Portrait Galley), looking out at the city," Keith said. She said you can take a walking Whitman literary tour in DC "which even, for some reason, has you have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe." One of the highlights of that tour is the inscription of lines from Whitman's poetry that you encounter after a long escalator ride up to the exit of the Dupont Circle Metro station.

Thus in silence in dreams' projections,

Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals;

The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,

I sit by the restless all dark night - some are so young;

Some suffer so much - I recall the experience sweet and sad...

Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass, 1876

"Whitman, while in Washington, hoped for a national union. He wrote about the ebb and flow of human existence and the world of contradictions," Keith said.

Whitman, in 1855, became famous after self-publishing the 1st edition of Leaves of Grass, his major work which he continually revised and enlarged during the rest of his life. At the time, the book garnered much controversy for its free-verse style and frank treatment of sexuality. However, it is now heralded as one of the foundational texts in American literature and is celebrated for its patriotism and visionary humanism. Fellow American literary giant Ralph Waldo Emerson called the book of poetry "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
The special program took place on May 31st, the date of what would have been Whitman's 194th birthday. The event was the next to last in the Library of Congress' special celebrations of the birthdays of noted American writers. The final event for this season, devoted to the life and writings of African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, will be held on June 27th.

Making It to the Museums on Foot

A Santero sculpture greets musuem walk visitors at Fonda del Sol

For 30 years, the Dupont-Kalorama Museum Consortium here in DC has been offering its Museum Walk Weekend. Today, we made it to 4 of the 9 featured free-for-the-day museums. Some nice revisits and one great new find.

The Heurich House Museum
Completed in 1894, the iconic Victorian house was once home to Christian Heurich, a brewery owner (who at one time was DC's largest non-government employer) and landowner. Heurich, who immigrated to the United States from Germany  in 1866, lived in the house until he died at the age of 102. At the time it was built, the home cost $60,000. Today, with its marble floors, ornate carved fireplaces and shelving, and gilded decorative walls, it is impossible to recreate, thus making the home truly priceless. However, just the land it now sits on is valued at $1.6 million. Eleven of the home's rooms are now open to the public. Before she died in 1956, Heurich's 3rd wife deeded the house to the Columbia Historical Society, of which her husband was a founding member. When the society, now renamed The Historical Society of Washington, DC, moved to new quarters, a non-profit organization was created to operate the home as a museum. One other interesting historical sidelight. When Heurich closed his brewery, the location became the home of the John F. Kennedy Center for the performing arts.

The unique exterior of the Heurich House

The front room of the home with balcony for musicians

The Phillips Collection

Opened to the public in 1921 in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, the Phillips Gallery contains modern paintings on permanent display by Renoir, Rothko, O'Keeffe, Van Gogh and Diebenkorn. To me, the highlight of the collection is The Migration Series by black artist Jacob Lawrence, a masterpiece of narrative paintings portraying the movement of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North beginning in World War I. The most intriguing current exhibition is Vanitas by Jeanne Silverthorne. Silverthorne uses rubber to create floral reliefs and familiar objects typically found in an artist’s studio. Her sculptures are vanitas — meditations on the brevity of life. 

by Jeanne Silverthorne

Rubber silicone chair

Fondo del Sol

A new discovery and definitely my favorite stop on the museum walk. Founded in 1973, Fondo del Sol contains a collection of pre-Columbian, Santero, and 20th Century Latin-American art, as well as selected Afro-American works. It is billed as the 2nd oldest Latino museum in America behind only the Museo de Barrio in New York City. With its folk and ethnic works, the museum says its mission is to represent and foster the diverse cultures of the Americas and the Caribbean. One intriguing exhibition now on display is the sculpture of Michael Auld.

Michael Auld sculpture based on a birdman carving found in a Jamaica cave in  the 1700s

"Dona Sebastian Carreda" by Gloria Cordova

The Woodrow Wilson House
This restored home of former President Woodrow Wilson is the only presidential museum in DC. Wilson, who moved to this house directly from the White House after the end of his 2 terms, lived in the house from 1921 until he died in 1924. His wife, however, lived here until her death in 1961. Wilson's public career and his life as an educator and private citizen are traced in a collection of White House objects, gifts of state from around the world, family items, and personal mementos.

President Wilson throws out the ceremonial 1st pitch in DC

The actual radio microphone that Wilson used to broadcast  his Armistace Day 

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Ebony Rose performs the Phillips Collection

Our 3-hour museum walk/visit also featured a surprise musical sub-theme. At the Heurich House, we discovered an open 2nd floor balcony that was designed for live musical performances that could be heard in the entire downstairs portion of the home. At the Phillips, in preparation for the annual DC Jazz Festival (June 5 to 16) we heard the jazz stylings of  Ebony Rose. At the Fondo del Sol, we were treated to recorded Afro-Caribbean songs, including the strangest most-Voodoo like version of Guantanamera I've ever heard. Finally, to set a period mood, songs from the 1920's were playing at the Woodrow Wilson House.

Sheet music songs about Woodrow Wilson

Changes in the Aftermath of Assassination

Since the beginning of journalism, news reporters have had to bury personal feelings while covering a story. Later, however, in the quiet after the filing of their stories, the feelings often surface with extreme intensity. Such was the case for Robert MacNeil, who as a young NBC correspondent, covered the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

"It had a tremendous emotional impact on me. I fell into a real depression and I'm not a depressive person," MacNeil says. "When I heard the sound of the bagpipes (at the funeral) I just began crying. The salt in my tears actually hurt."

MacNeil even questioned his decision to leave Canada with his family to become an American TV reporter. "I thought - have I brought my children to a country that's not good for them?"

MacNeil appeared at the Newseum recently to discuss the Kennedy assassination and its aftermath. He was joined by his long-time PBS News Hour co-anchor Jim Lehrer, who also covered the killing 50 years ago as a reporter for a local Dallas newspaper.

Lehrer said his most vivid memory of the funeral was the extraordinary silence in the Dallas newsroom as reporters joined the rest of America to view the ceremony on television. "Everything went absolutely quiet. Everybody just sat there," Lehrer said.

Of course, since they reported the story on the scene, both said they are often asked the question - so who really killed President Kennedy? Both said they agreed with the Warren Commission Report that Lee Harvey Oswald was the only one who fired the 3 fatal shots.

"I spent 6 months covering every angle of the story," Lehrer said. "I knew there were no Pulitzer Prizes to be won proving that Oswald acted alone." However, he turned up no credible evidence that there were other shooters.

Both reporters said that the impact of the tragedy has kept the issue alive for 5 decades. In fact, a recent survey showed that 81% of all Americans believe in a Kennedy killing conspiracy.

"Large majorities believe in a conspiracy and it's easy to understand why. It was inconceivable to me that Kennedy had been shot until I found out he had. People find it hard to believe that one man could do that alone," MacNeil said.

Lehrer was asked what he believed was the motive behind the killing. "My theory is no more valid that anyone else's," he said. "I think he (Oswald) was about 2/3 crazy. Who else but a nutty person driven by a bizarre reason would take a rifle and shoot the president? He was just hell bent on doing something terrible."

Both veteran newsmen agreed that the assassination changed the American outlook. "My view is very simple," Lehrer said. "Now everyone knew we lived in a threatening world. Every day since, when I've gone to work, I've always been prepared for something to happen. Even while we're sitting here talking in the Newseum, we all know something awful could be happening."

Tales,Tidbits, and Tips
This is the 2nd post dealing with the MacNeil/Lehrer Newseum appearance. To read a riveting account of what both reporters remember about the assassination and their coverage, read the previous post entitled "The Day The President (And Our Innocence) Died."

The Day The President (And Our Innocence) Died

It is said that everyone who was alive in 1963 remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. And while all may have memories, some memories are more dramatic than others. Take those of former PBS news anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer. At the time, MacNeil was a young NBC TV reporter covering the presidential trip to Dallas. Lehrer was a young staffer for one of Dallas' local newspapers. Last night the former long-time hosts of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour appeared at a special Newseum program to recount their memories of the JFK assassination they both covered. Here is what they remember about that fateful Dallas day 50 years ago that changed their lives and all of America forever.

Jim Lehrer (on left) and Robert MacNeil at their anchor desk

Lehrer
At the time, Texas Democrats were politically divided. Republicans didn't exist. It was very much a mixed blessing that the president was coming to Texas. There was concern that there would be some right wing event that would mar the visit. Earlier, someone had spit on Lady Bird Johnson when she and her husband Lyndon had visited Dallas. Now, Dallas officials wanted to put their best front on for the country and the Kennedys. There was excitement, but there was also a lot of anxiety about the visit.

MacNeil
The Kennedys were looking forward to the 1964 campaign. This was a campaign trip. Kennedy was going to give a speech (an advance copy of which we in the press saw) that was going to blast his expected GOP opponent Barry Goldwater for the attitudes he was espousing. It was also a trip to mend political fences in Texas. But there was that anxiety. We were told that the Dallas police force was so nervous about the visit that they had authorized a kind of citizens arrest process ...

Lehrer
That's not true. I was writing about security for the Kennedy visit and the police were anxious but they didn't make any special provisions like that.

MacNeil
Well, that's what we were told.

Lehrer
I was to cover the arrival and the departure from Love Field airport. My newspaper was cheap, but they had sprung for an open line so I could call to rewrite. They even had a table for me to put the phone on. I got a call from rewrite and they wanted me to check to see if they were going to put the bubble top on the president's car since it had been raining. It wasn't bullet proof. It was 3/4 inch plexi-glass. I saw the car and it had the bubble top on. So I asked an agent in charge if they were going to keep it that way. He made some calls to agents downtown. They said it wasn't raining there. The agent said "lose the bubble top." I often wonder what would have happened if the bubble top stayed up. It might have deflected the bullets. Or it could have shattered the window and made shards of glass that could have killed Mrs. Kennedy and the Connollys (then Texas Gov. John Connolly and his wife, who were riding in the car with the Kennedys). What if? What if? The Kennedy assassination is filled with what-ifs.

MacNeil
Mrs. Kennedy had become politically engaged on this trip. She was wearing a bright strawberry ice cream colored dress. At the Dallas airport, someone gave her a bouquet of blood red roses. The sight of her   carrying that against that pink dress was incredible. At the airport, I boarded the 1st press bus, which was about 7 cars behind the president's. On the trip into the city, I kept looking at my watch to see how much time I had to file a story and deciding which quote from that morning's speech I would use. When we got to Dealey Plaza I heard a bang. Was that a shot I thought? Then I head bang, bang in quick succession. I was sitting in the front of the bus and I shouted at the bus driver to stop.  He opened the door and I ran out of the bus. There was all this incredible screaming. I saw parents lying down covering their children with their bodies. I saw police officers running across a grassy knoll. I ran after them. All we found (behind the knoll) was empty train tracks. I ran back and dashed into a building. (It was the Texas Book Depository). I saw a young blonde-haired man who was leaving and and asked him where's a phone. He said he didn't know, but another person directed me. I phoned NBC in New York. I said "There were shots fired, but it is not known if the shots were fired at the president." I went back outside. A small black boy was pointing to the building I had exited and telling officers "I saw a man in the window with a gun." I discovered the president had been shot and had been taken to Parkland Hospital. I thought "I'm supposed to be covering the president and here I am miles away." I raced down the street and flagged down a car. I offered the driver $5 bucks to take me to the hospital. Five bucks was five bucks in 1963. I remember I kept hitting him in the arm and telling him to go faster and disregard the red lights. I told him NBC will pay the fines. When I arrived at the hospital, the pool reporters filled me in. Inside, I saw Merriman Smith, who would win a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting, phoning parts of a story in while the nurses kept saying "Sir, you can't use this phone". I found a room with a pay phone. Bob Pierpoint of CBS was on the phone next to me. I began telling my story to Frank Magee and Chet Huntley in New York. Communications weren't working properly, so they couldn't get me live on the air. Magee came up with a plan. I would say a sentence to him on the phone and he would repeat it on air for the audience.

Lehrer
I was eating breakfast at the airport. Suddenly, a waitress came in screaming "they've shot the president." I rushed to the phone and called my office. "We think he's dead. Get to Parkland (hospital)," they told me. I jumped in my car and drove to the hospital. When I got there, it was chaos. Nobody was in charge. Everybody was in charge.

MacNeil
The Secret Service and authorities cleared the hospital, but they didn't look in the room where Bob and I were. I went outside and I saw a white-faced Lyndon Johnson. I asked him "Mr. Vice President, is the President dead?" He walked right through me. Back on the phone, I heard Bob say "Walter, Walter (Cronkite), you can't say the president is dead before they announce it." Today, the whole world thinks Walter Cronkite announced Kennedy had been killed (because of the famous video footage of him removing his glasses and brushing away a tear), but he had time to prepare.

Lehrer
When I heard they had arrested the suspect, I rushed to the police station. I got there as they were bringing the suspect Lee Harvey Oswald in. I still have my notebook. Initially, I misspelled his last name in my notes. We were right there. I asked him if he had killed the president. Reporters were all asking him questions. The chaos was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. Everyone was wanting to know what had happened, but no one wanted to believe that it had really happened. We got a report that a Secret Service agent had also been killed. (That turned out to be false - it was actually agent Clint Hill who threw his body over the president and Mrs. Kennedy and was smeared with blood). Of course, we did find out that a Dallas police officer (J.D. Trippett) had been killed. We all stayed at the station all night trying to get any details we could.
People today can't believe the way things happened. But security just didn't exist at all like we have come to know it now.

MacNeil
As we waited, I began to think about a time sequence. I came to realize that Oswald, if he was indeed in the Book Depository, would have been exiting just as I came in looking for a phone. Years later, author William Manchester, who wrote the 1st comprehensive book on the assassination told me "I'm 95 percent convinced that the person you asked to use the phone was Lee Harvey Oswald".

Postscript
MacNeil and Lehrer kept filing stories on the assassination, but neither was present when Jack Ruby calmly walked forward in the police station and shot and killed Oswald, forever silencing the suspect and beginning what has been an ongoing debate on exactly who killed JFK. MacNeil was in Washington and Lehrer was in church in Dallas when Ruby pulled the trigger. It would be a decade before the 2 men would meet and form a news partnership that would last 20 years. Ironically, they discovered they had both been standing by the same fence at Love Field, just a few steps from each other, on that Dallas day, so long ago but still so dramatically remembered.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Last night's engaging Newseum discussion was moderated by current PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff, who now reports for the renamed PBS NewsHour. Woodruff  told the 500 Newseum members and their guests that being the moderator had special meaning for her. Twenty years ago this summer, MacNeil, who she calls Robin instead of Robert, had hired her as a reporter for the 1st ever hour-long news broadcast in America. "That made a huge difference in my life and my professional career and I thank you," she said.

Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted

Ever since the advent of television, 5-year-olds have been influenced by what they see there. In fact, their TV friends often become as important as their real-life playmates next door. Elmo. Barney. Dora. It was no different for Jennifer Armstrong in her 1970's childhood. But what was unusual was her choice of TV friends. One was named Mary. The other was named Rhoda. And they were both characters on one of the biggest hit comedies of the decade, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

"I was obsessed with Mary and Rhoda," says Armstrong, now an author and former writer for Entertainment Weekly. "I watched everything they did and tried to imitate them. I was Mary sharpening pencils. Or I was Rhoda with a scarf wrapped around my head."

When Armstrong revisited the show in re-runs, she came to more deeply understand the real impact it had on her. "I realized I was really inspired by the show when I was growing up," she said of the sitcom, which instantly became a guiding light for women in the gender-changing era of the 1970's and is credited with helping  increase involvement, responsibility, and visibility of women in television.

As she began to reflect on her own life in her 30's, Armstrong discovered a subconscious patterning. Like Mary, Armstrong had left a relationship, came to the big city (although in this case it was New York, not Minneapolis), and taken a job in media. "It was a little creepy," she says with a laugh. And what about the show itself. "As a 30-something woman, I was responding on a nostalgia level, but I was amazed how it (the show) still really worked," she noted.

So, with all that Mary and Rhoda influence, it's not surprising that Armstrong eventually chose the subject for her latest book entitled Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted and All the Brilliant Minds Who Made the Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic. 

A scene from the series final episode.

Armstrong appeared recently at the National Archives to discuss the book with many devout fans of the show.  "It doesn't seem mind blowing now, but I think this show really did pave the way," Armstrong said.  She noted that during interviews she had conducted with prominent stars Tina Fey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, both had acknowledged the great influence the program had on their own comedy work..  The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the 1st comedy show in television history to employ multiple female writers. At the time, there was a belief that women couldn't write humor.  But the show's creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns wanted to capture the real essence of a single working woman. "The men writers didn't know what it was like to be a single woman in the 70's because they were all married men in the 70's," Armstrong said. She cited one example of where gender played a role in a small, but significant shift change. One of the male writers had Mary say she was going to the bathroom "to get cleaned up." But one of the female writer's immediately kaboshed that line. "A woman wouldn't go get cleaned up - that's a dude thing," she said.

Armstrong alternated between reading snippets from her book and then offering additional insider information on the passages. One such example dealt with Cloris Leachman, the actress who played Mary's snobbish neighbor Phyllis, who also served as a foil for Valarie Harper's character, Rhoda. "She (Leachman) was a genius. She was brilliant on the show and she is still brilliant.  I say I didn't interview Cloris Leachman; I experienced Cloris Leachman," Armstrong told the audience.

In many ways, Leachman was a living embodiment of the dilemma of the new 1970's woman who found herself trying to juggle a marriage, a family, and a career. Trained as an actress, Leachman had left the business for 17 years to raise a family. At the time of her audition, she was 43 years old and had 5 children between the ages of 3 and 16. But, to employ a show business cliche, she immediately demonstrated that she was born to play the role of Phyllis. Arriving 1/2 hour late, she blurted out, "Who makes the decisions here?" She was pointed in the direction of Brooks, Burns, and Mary Tyler Moore's producer husband Grant Tinker. "Well, she jumped in Brooks and Burns' laps and began  messing up Tinker's hair. And Tinker had the kind of hair you didn't mess up," Armstrong said.

After gaining the role, Leachman would often frustrate directors by going off script placement. When questioned about her movements, she would just smile and say, "I just realized that was what Phyllis would do," Leachman would respond. While some associated with the show were disturbed by Leachman's behavior, fellow co-star Harper gave her support. "Just go with your instincts," Harper told Leachman. And that formula must have worked because not only did The Mary Tyler Moore Show win 29 Emmys during its 7 seasons, but both Harper and Leachman were awarded spinoff shows named appropriately Rhoda and Phyllis.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
While the Mary Tyler Moore fans enjoyed Armstrong's presentation, they learned that if it weren't for the current cuts prompted by the Sequestration, they would have had an even better program. Archives event coordinator Doug Swanson told the audience that originally Armstrong was scheduled to moderate a panel discussion on the show, which would, like her own book presentation, be part of a series on 1970's culture being held in conjunction with Archives current exhibition Searching for the Seventies. Three of the original stars of the show had agreed to participate. However, when the Sequestration budget cuts kicked in, the Archives lost its money for travel expenses for program participants. So, once again in DC, it was Bad, Congress, Bad. I bet Lou and Mary could have figured out a way to avoid the completely idiotic Sequestration created by those bickering, partisan denizens of Capitol Hill. Why even Ted Baxter wouldn't have come up with such a doofy, doltish idea.

The Great White Jail at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Harry Truman called it "the great white jail." Bill Clinton referred to it as "the crown jewel in the federal penitentiary system." President Barack Obama simply calls it "the bubble." But no matter what the name, the terms all point to a major problem for any modern American president - how can he (or someday she) be a man of the people when he is so isolated as president from the realities of everyday life?

"It always strikes me how abnormal the president's life is," says U.S. News reporter Kenneth Walsh, who has covered 5 presidents as a chief White House correspondent - Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. "How do you have normal everyday reactions with people? How do you keep in contact with the flow of everyday life?"

Walsh tackles that subject in his new book Prisoners of the White House: The Isolation of America's Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership. Recently, he appeared at an Inside Media edition at the Newseum to discuss his book and his observations from his White House work.

Even in the earliest days of America, there were problems with the tug between an imperial presidency and a president of the people. Initially, there was sentiment to call George Washington His High Majesty or some  other such elevated term. "Mr. President will be fine," Washington said.

In Abraham Lincoln's years,  any person could walk into the White House and grab the ear of the president, a fact accurately portrayed in Stephen Spielberg's recent movie on Lincoln.

However, by the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the modern world was forcing the president more into seclusion. "Presidents have been trying to break out ever since," Walsh said. For his part, Roosevelt, also inhibited from traveling by his polio disability, had his wife Eleanor tour the country to get a feel for what was going on outside of Washington. "She would travel for him and she spent many hours briefing him over dinner," Walsh said.

Walsh said both Reagan and Obama, although quite different in makeup and political beliefs, did share a common way to keep in touch - both were avid letter readers and writers. In fact, Reagan actually had a young black pen pal in DC that he would secretly visit. Obama tries each evening to read and respond to 10 of the 40,000 emails and letters the White House currently receives daily.

But the physical isolation is only part of the problem, Walsh said. "Every moment (as president) you are focused on as the center of the universe. That's got to change your focus. Maybe you even begin to believe it," he said.

Another drawback to openness is security and protection, which began in 1963 with the assassination of John Kennedy and really ramped up after 9/11. "Right now, it is as intensive as I have ever seen it," Walsh said.

Walsh said that despite the restrictions, Obama attempts to keep himself grounded by trying to have dinner with his wife and their 2 children at 6:30 every night he is in DC. "They talk about the most basic kind of family stuff. But how normal could it be for Melia and Sasha?. They're not everyday people. They're in the bubble, too," Walsh noted.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
As you might expect with President Obama facing 3 scandal situations - the fatal attack on the American embassy in Benghazi, the IRS targeting of tea party and conservative groups for special scrutiny, and the Justice Department's seizure of AP reporters' phone logs - Walsh was asked which one he thought posed the most damage to the president. "We don't know how they're going to play out, but I think the most dangerous politically is the IRS issue. It connects to people's idea that there is too much government, that government is running amok and abusing its power." Walsh said that Obama is facing what some historians have called "the 2nd term curse." During many presidencies, "things go wrong in a very big way" for a re-elected president, Walsh said, noting Reagan's Iran/Contra scandal, Clinton's impeachment, and Bush's handling of the Iraq War and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Dining in DC: The G Sandwich Shop Pop-up

The chicken parm wasn't on the menu

Pop is a popular word in food circles. There is the pop in Rice Krispies, as in snap, crackle, pop. There is the pop in that morning quick food staple the pop tart. And there is the pop of the pop-up restaurants, which have been becoming more of a mainstay in the DC eating scene in the last year or so.

A pop-up eatery is a temporary restaurant. Some operate from a private home, former factory or similar building, or during fixed-time events like festivals. Many of these are set up by young professionals wanting to gain experience and exposure. Others operate in an already established eatery where a recognized chef can test out new dishes or concepts.

The G Sandwich Shop pop-up is a classic case of the 2nd group. Jersey-bred restaurateur and Top Chef star Mike Isabella is using the 1st floor of his popular Penn Quarter/Chinatown restaurant Graffiato as a lunch-time eatery for a few weeks to test out sandwiches and salads that he will offer at G when he opens that new place on 14th Street some time this summer.

We checked out the pop-up G last week. That day the menu featured 3 sandwiches. Judy chose the meatball sub on garlic bread w/ provolone and thai basil. I opted for the Cubano panino, roasted pork w/prosciutto cotta, mustard, pickles, and Swiss cheese. The 3rd offering was a roasted cauliflower hero w/romesco, torn herbs, and pickled vegetables. Although the meatball was good, Judy and I agreed that the Cubano was the superior sandwich. Interestingly enough, we also got an on-the-spot review from a diner sitting next to us, who was with a group who tried all 3 specialties. He said the cauliflower was by far the best of the trio even though he doesn't like vegetable sandwiches. . Actually, that didn't surprise me because the roasted cauliflower I had tried at a previous visit to Grafiatto was the best such small plate I had  ever eaten.

G was also offering 4 house-made sodas. I let our waitress choose for me and she brought the blood orange and lemongrass. Noticing my empty glass, she remarked "I guess you liked my choice." I did.

We finished our lunch by sharing an order of carnival-style zeppole, an Italian dough ball similar to New Orleans famed beignets. The zeppole came in a small brown paper bag which you could shake to redistribute the powdered sugar.

Of course, when it opens, G will be a noontime sandwich shop. However, plans call for a fixed price tasting menu featuring seasonal ingredients to be offered at dinnertime.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Normally here would would offer reviews from Yelp and Urban Spoon, as well as our own The Prices Do DC rating. However, reviewing a pop-up would be like reviewing a Broadway show during previews. You should wait until opening night. So, instead, if you want learn about pop-ups, just click here to access a website dedicated to that subject.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

I

While the White House and Capitol Hill continue to be awash in escalating division and discord, a 4-member panel of ex-Congress and Senate members easily reached a consensus concerning the best way to alleviate the DC political fighting that has led to gridlock, dysfunction, and a record low opinion of national government.

The key is to form better personal relationships which, in turn, would go a long way to returning proper political function to Washington, the former legislators agreed at a recent program at the National Archives entitled Congress and the White House: Partners or Foes?

"I'm a believer that everything is relationships," said Steve LaTourette (R-OH), who became a Congressman in 1995. "Then we did have the ability to talk with one another. A lot of those relationships I don't see today. When I left, everybody was afraid to leave their foxhole and give an inch. They are true believers. You're not able to buy them off. You're not able to reason them off."

Former Democratic Congressman Vic Fazio (D-CA) agreed. Fazio who first came to Washington as a staffer in the 1960's said he had witnessed steadily deteriorating relationships over the ensuing years. "In the 1960's, the divisions were around whether you were a Rotarian, a Kiwanian, a Lion or a Soroptimist, and there were very few of them," Fazio said with a laugh.

Now the situation is much different. "A lot of people don't reach out - they just don't do it," Fazio said. "When have we ever seen a point when we have so little respect for those we disagree with. If you are in the other party, you embarrass the administration and keep it up. If you don't, you're setting yourself up for fragging in your primary."

The belief was much the same for the 2 former Senators on the panel - Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Larry Pressler (R-SD).

Lincoln, who first came to Capitol Hill as a staffer in 1982, said at that time there was "more collegiality, but you could see the things that were being frayed."

Lincoln said better personal relationships must be established.  "It's much harder to be ugly or rude to someone when they are a friend," she maintained. "Leadership is not about control, but about creating an environment where people can come together."

Pressler, who served in the Senate from 1979 until 1997 after 4 years in the House of Representatives, cited several changes that have led to a worsening of relations, both between the Republicans and the Democrats and between the President and Congress.

"The Presidential leadership style has changed. They don't go to Congress anymore and fight it out," Pressler said. "The president must go to Congress."

The high cost of campaigning and public apathy also play a role, Pressler said "The American public has grown more apathetic and special interests have developed," he said.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
The special program was presented with the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress. This was the 4th such program we have attended at the Archives. During those events, it has become abundantly clear that it was much easier for former Congressman to make sense when they no longer had an obligation to their party nor faced an election fight. Pressler gave yet another example of that behavior. "I wouldn't have said this when I was in office, but everybody's taxes will have to be raised to get us out of this (the current financial and budget crises facing America)." OK, maybe we should try this. We should throw the current representatives out and replace them with their retired counterparts. It appears they have learned much since they left Capitol Hill.