$7. Seven dollars. Seven dollars!! To one of the greatest music festivals of our time. Just for comparison's sake, tickets to this summer's Bonnaroo festival cost nearly $275.00. Somewhere in the past 40 years, I get the sense that musicians' priorities shifted somewhat. How strange to consider that this summer will be the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock. How strange, also, to consider just how much society has changed in those years. I went to the National Museum of American History this afternoon, which is where this photo was taken. This was part of a "Science in America" exhibit, in the section on "the pill." I'm not really sure how the Woodstock ticket fits in with an explanation of the history surrounding birth control, but my guess is the museum had the ticket, wanted to stick it somewhere, and figured there was probably a good enough connection between the values and ideals espoused by attendees of the festival and women who used the pill. Sure, why not.
Anyway, I thought it was exciting. It still boggles my mind that I am working in this city. There is so much history here, especially from the past 50 years. Some of the most important social changes of our time began on these streets. The various marches and protests, assassinations, government neuroses, trials, impeachments. Sometimes I wish I had been me forty-ish years ago. Everything that happened in DC at that time seems so important, in retrospect. At the time, I'm sure it was frightening and exciting, but I don't know if people knew they were in the process of changing the world. I guess it is a little bit of the same thing going on now, with the war and Obama and the economy... It will be interesting to see where we end up forty years from now.
It is currently acting like actual winter here in Washington, DC. There is snow sticking to the ground, accumulating even. Schools have closed for the day; offices have closed; even some federal employees have been granted a "liberal leave," whatever that means. It is funny to see people's reaction to snow here. A few weeks ago it hit nearly 70 degrees, and this coming Saturday the temperature is supposed to bound back up again. I get the sense that "real" winter is a bit of an anomaly here. Coming from Chicago, northern Indiana and Boston, this milder climate has been fantastic, but I will admit I have missed the snow. Well, grin and bear the 60 degree days, I guess.
In photo news, I finally finished, after many failed attempts at different gallery formats, my story on Senator Jeanne Shaheen. I won't post all of the pictures here, but I will direct you HERE, to my website where I have uploaded the photos. There have been some recent technical difficulties with my site, but hopefully those should have disappeared. So, browse away and enjoy! I think they turned out fairly well. Tuesday was an absolutely insane day, between following around the Senator and then Obama's speech that evening. I did not actually get to see the speech because I was standing in Statuary Hall, which is just down from the House Chamber, taking pictures of the important Congressmen, judges and guests who processed into the Chamber. Unfortunately, Obama didn't walk through our hall, but I did manage to get a shot of the back of his head as he walked into the Chamber. Awesome.
Why yes, that is the back of our President's head.
The ever-popular Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank in Statuary Hall.