a day of strange learnings...

on tuesday the staff took me out for my birthday lunch. after we got back there were some visitors to the church office.

those visitors were the family of the founder of the congressional black caucus.
the founder, Augustus Hawkins, passed away last week and the family wanted a memorial for congress before the session adjourned...reformation was the location picked...

so. we were checked out by the cops for congress. then...rumours of nancy pelosi, speaker of the house started coming...which meant...secret service.

it was a little crazy. it was an unofficial state funeral. about as close to being a state funeral without actually being one.

speaker pelosi came. the majority leader of the house came. barney frank and maxine waters came. the chaplain for congress was there. the first roman catholic to be the chaplain for congress. a very nice man.

i had never heard of gus hawkins. i learned that he was an incredible man. he sponsored a bill with hubert humphrey (one of my personal favorites). the bill was called the humphrey-hawkins bill, but in california where mr. hawkins was from they called it the hawkins-humphrey bill. he believed that people should have:work, education, housing, healthcare, and justice. my kind of guy.

he was a new deal democrat...sigh, i have fantasies of being that kind of democrat. when being a dfl-er really meant something. when minnesota was still the land of humphrey, mccarthy, mondale, and later wellstone.

i feel like i had a good education today in american history. i learned a little something about people that worked hard to make the world a little better. i learned about a man that lived with integrity.

i also learned about...
secret service...
they really do have those little ear pieces. they really do talk into their hands! i saw one do it. anneka was really excited. she hadn't seen it happen in the four years she had lived here. she feels her dc experience is complete now! :) the secret service guys definitely scan the crowd. it is weird talking to them while they are scanning. it is also weird to know they are looking at you trying to figure out what you profile as. anneka said i didn't fit into any of their profiles...go figure (nose rings and clerical collar). but, they were very nice. especially when we had a potential issue with code pink protestors. don't get me wrong, i like a good protest, but a funeral is NOT the place. just because you are in pink does not make it okay. it really doesn't make you any different than fred phelps. it is just disrespectful.

so. that was my adventure in dc today. i stood less than 10 feet from nancy pelosi. i heard barney frank speak. pretty crazy. not bad for a girl from pinewood.