I am living in Washington DC. I am not political. Washington DC is the political center of the US. People that LOVE politics, policy, foreign relations, ISSUES of all kinds...they come here.
At a party I attended Saturday evening I was literally, at one point, the only person in the room that was not a fellow. And I am not talking about fellow as in gentleman, or beau. I mean a fellow for a trust, a position that they likely attained because of a masters degree that specialized in an issue that would, somehow, complement the trust that brought them on board.
In the other room was a young lady that had received some kind of award (they usually offer two per state), and she works in the office of DC education chancellor. A little political trivia for you, in case you are blind to the political workings of the district, like I was before arriving: The Chancellor has done, some would say, some astonishing things for the school district, and along the way, has upset many...I think she may have gotten rid of some teachers or something...an act that may have been seen as necessary in the long run but disrupted the immediate lives of some. Anyway, DC is an incredibly democratic district. Here, the primary vote is the vote because there aren't even enough republican votes to nominate a republican primary for mayor. The mayor appoints the chancellor, and said mayor that appointed the current chancellor just got voted out of office. Apparently, he was arrogant and somewhat full of himself. That's what I've heard anyway. This means the chancellor may be out too. The incoming mayor has blatantly not been a fan of her actions. Her future is a little up in the air.
Some of the other party goers, they speak other languages. Mandarin and Arabic, specifically. I caught a ride home from an environmental engineer that works for the EPA. Her husband works for the Navy as an engineer and can't actually tell her what he does. When asked, the most she gets out of him is, "If you only knew".
My arrival here in this governmental-political-environmental-energy-not-for-profit-fellowship-appointed-mecca was a little less informed, more experimental, and open ended. I find all of this fascinating, to a point. It's interesting in theory, and I feel privileged to be getting such an education, one that wouldn't be attained so thoroughly simply through residing in the place, I presume, anywhere else in the country.
The "to a point" part of the interest indicates that I will make an exit. The first few months here were, honestly, quite difficult. Frustration came from throwing this active creative into a sauna of a place where waywardness is frowned upon, the account of just where you went to school is important, and the the humidity is so thick that leaving the house is hard enough and running in it is more like a fable, which goes something like, "in the heat and humidity, the dear runner left the house daily to run in the caustic temperature and moisture and it was joyous and grand and she felt like it's right where she should be, and then she lived happily ever after, running along into the sun, the end".
But the first few months are over, adjustments have been made, and the second half will be much, much more enjoyable, filled with autumn runs, dinners with new friends, wine education, consumption, and the appreciation of growth through change. This is not a fable.
Nor is the fact that our vice president is driven to work each morning that he's here in a motorcade, with sirens and lights and fake psych you out black vehicles featuring black tinted windows.
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