Harpers Ferry

Post by J

Last Saturday, I thought I'd drive to West Virginia to see Harpers Ferry - I was looking for fall colors and wanted to get out of the city. I picked up my keys, grabbed my camera and headed for the door. I checked my text messages as I was turning the handle, and found a message from a friend I hadn't seen in over 15 years. It read, "I'm thinking of going to Harpers Ferry today; want to go along?" I love me some coincidence.  :)

So we drove up and had a really nice day, including a yummy lunch and a couple of beers.

I remember a little of the history of the area from high school - about the abolitionist, John Brown, and his raid on Harpers Ferry, and his subsequent hanging.  Mostly, though, I was thinking of Stephen Vincent Benet's epic poem about the Civil War, John Brown's Body. When I was in high school, I competed in speech meets with excerpts from this poem and I still remember quite a bit of it.

But I especially loved being in a rural area taking photos:

Area Studies

Post by J

This may be proof that I was sleeping during Geography and/or History in high school, but the following information was brand new to me during the first week of Western Hemisphere Area Studies:

• Haiti was once the richest and most prosperous colony in the Americas (even richer than the United States), and was known as "The Pearl of the Antilles."
• Haiti was so desirable that Britain offered to trade all of Canada for it (France's response at the time was essentially, "In your dreams").
• After the Haitian slave revolt in the late 18th century, Napoleon sent over 20,000 troops to contain the insurrection, but was unsuccessful. This impacted the U.S. because Napoleon decided if he couldn't have Haiti he didn't need Louisiana (besides, he needed money to fund an ongoing struggle with the British Empire) and, rather than agree to the original treaty that Thomas Jefferson was proposing regarding allowing a passageway for American goods via the Mississippi River, he offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory. Jefferson, of course, jumped at the opportunity, doubling the size of the United States in one fell swoop.
• Paraguay is the only country in the Americas where an indigenous language (Guarani) is one of its nation's official languages.
• In fact, although only 5% of Paraguay's population is indigenous, over 90% speak Guarani.
• In an effort to combat illegal wildlife poaching, the U.S. government symbolically crushed six tons of ivory in 2013.
• Argentina declared war with Japan one week after the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, so that they would be considered an ally and be eligible for membership in the United Nations.
• The reason that some areas in South America speak Spanish while others speak Portuguese is that in order to keep Catholic nations from fighting each other Pope Alexander VI established a line of demarcation (which stretched around the entire globe), with those areas falling west of the line belonging to Spain and those east of the line belonging to Portugal. The line was revised a few years later in a treaty at Tordesillas, Spain, and the line became known as the Tordesillas Line. 

What gems will next week hold?

Sunday in the Museum with J

Post by J

It makes me proud that all the Smithsonian museums are open 363 days a year and admission is always free. I know I'll be making multiple visits during my time in DC; the museums are so big and comprehensive I can only absorb about 2 hours' worth at a time.

On Sunday I took the Metro to the National Mall and walked the five blocks to the National Gallery of Art. Along the way, I enjoyed the crisp fall air, and under the looming edifice of the National Archives building, I stopped a moment to listen to an elderly black gentleman playing Amazing Grace on his trumpet.

I was too shy to take a photo of the trumpet player, but a squirrel posed for a portrait.

When I got the gallery, I checked my backpack and plotted my course through the West Building, Main Floor. I had come primarily to see the Andrew Wyeth exhibit, but there were many other works that captivated me along the way. Surprisingly, photos are allowed in the gallery, even with a flash.

Ginevra de' Benci, by Leonardo da Vinci

Green River Cliffs, Wyoming, by Thomas Moran

Still Life of Flowers, by Adelheid Dietrich

I loved the still life, even if it was painted by an artist who is completely new to me. Gorgeous. And of course the Moran is of my home state, so I love it by default.

I enjoyed the work of Monet, Manet, Pissarro, Cassatt, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Seurat, and countless other talented artists whose names I did not recognize. All for the price of making the effort to walk through the door. Amazing.

Although you can take photos at will throughout most of the gallery, you are not allowed to photograph the special exhibit. Thank goodness for the Internet, where you can find nearly anything.

Seed Corn, by Andrew Wyeth

Wyeth's art seems so austere. It's lonely and sad and evokes such a feeling of isolation. I admire it and think most of his work is beautiful (although perhaps his most famous work, Christina's World, has never been a favorite). I walked slowly through the multiple rooms of monotonal, simple renderings of everyday life. I thought of how the world can be so frenetic and glittery, and appreciated the small respite these paintings offered.

I made my way to the exit, stepped outside into the sunshine and took a deep breath of autumn air, for while I enjoy lonely and sad images, I also enjoy being out in the world. I bought a hot dog from a nearby street vendor and ate it sitting on the low wall outside the gallery, watching the people walking by.

And as I walked back to the metro, I took my own version of a still life:

Flowers with Bench, by J

By the Numbers

Post by J

The first post-A-100 week by the numbers:


2          days of security briefings

3          online courses completed

2          Houses of Congress visited (they weren't in session, but it was still cool)

1          small Leatherman surreptitiously buried in a flower bed in order to visit Houses of Congress

1          small Leatherman subsequently retrieved from temporary burial plot

1          trips to the Medical Claims office at Main State to deliver the 3rd set of duplicate documents in an attempt to resolve my medical claim first submitted back in July

0          medical claims successfully resolved

1          international potlucks attended with my class (I contributed Caribbean rum)

4          movies watched (including two of my favorites: Forget Paris and Return to Me)

3          cups of Earl Grey tea consumed while reading America's Other Army (thanks, L!)

29        See's orange cream chocolates consumed (thanks, H!)

1          birthdays celebrated (!)

Swearing In

Post by J

Yesterday was the last day of A-100, and the culminating event was the swearing in ceremony. Secretary of State John Kerry did the honors in the Dean Acheson auditorium at the Main State building in Washington, D.C.

Secretary Kerry addressing the class.

The Groundbreaking 179th A-100 class.

Wyoming Senators Enzi and Barrasso couldn't attend, but sent representatives (Coy Knobel from Enzi's office and Amber Bland from Barrasso's) to the ceremony to witness the swearing in. It was really nice to have fellow Wyomingites in the crowd cheering me on.

I learned a lot in the last six weeks, and I'm sure there are things I won't even realize that I learned until later. We had terrific instructors and, although some of the sessions were long and/or dense, I know I got at least a little out of each one.

Before the swearing in ceremony, our class decided on its motto: Laying the foundation for a life of service. I love this motto! After all, service is the reason I joined the State Department.

I'll be in training for quite some time; I start on Spanish at the end of October. Language training is the bulk of the months ahead for me and I'm excited to get started!  I'm really looking forward to learning to speak and read a new language that's so useful. Plus, R will join me in Washington to start the abbreviated Spanish course the same time I start the full course.

It's official: I'm a Foreign Service Officer.

Links to the State Department's photos of the event on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15244209408/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15427615781/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15407738346/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15430797915/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/15430796465/