Thoughts on Washington DC and the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

[ponygirl72]

Writing on the plane from Baltimore to our connection in Memphis, Tennessee, I am struck by several things about DC in general, and the rally in particular.

Comments

[neadods]

It was wonderful to see the two of you - I wish there had been more time and less sore feet!

Waldo = thefannishwaldo, who's put up a couple of fun posts about the rally, including a vid of signs to the Schoolhouse Rock song about the Constitution. (A nice touch, that!)

From the window of the train, there was the occasional unrestricted view of the highway, packed bumper to bumper and sitting at a near standstill.

There's a trick to that - live inside/near the DC beltway and commute *outwards.* People live outside the area and come in; if you go the other way, you can fly up the road... just as long as you're not using the Beltway itself to get anywhere.

it's an exceptionally beautiful city. It is, isn't it? We haven't bulldozed the beautiful old buildings to make room for Bauhaus blocks, and by law no building in the city can be taller than the Washington Monument. (I'm not making this up.) The only thing that comes close is the National Cathedral spire. Did you make it to the Cathedral? Even for the nonreligious it's stunning - Darth

[taffimai]

There's a trick to that - live inside/near the DC beltway and commute *outwards.*

Or across, but against traffic. Commuting from Silver Spring to College Park is pretty painless.

[taffimai]

The weird thing about DC is that the metro area has a very high income level, but the city itself has a relatively small tax base. The parts of the city that tourists see are beautiful, but if you go a few blocks in the other direction there are incredibly poor neighborhoods with some of the worst public school and other services in the country.

It's an interestingly representative, actually.

[nnwest]

ZOMG I'm sure I saw that sign in all the rally signs coverage! (It was possibly with the zombies under it.) But now I can't find it to see if it was attached to you guys. *pout*

I keep thinking the rally would have been fun, but I know myself. An hour in a crowd like that and I would have been ready to hurt someone. And it wouldn't have been fun after that. (I'm happy to experience it vicariously, thanks.) I'm glad you guys got in and got out without too much wear and tear. Thanks for the report back!