Schmap!

Haha! I mentioned a few days ago that my photo on the Washington DC National Shrine had been shortlisted for inclusion in an on-line travel website. Well, today I got an email saying that it had been selected. And, there are little Schmapplets which can be put on my webpage to a) show off my photo and b) help direct more traffic to the Schmap site. So I tried to get a Schmapplet. I followed all directions but for some reason I can't insert the little widget on my site. So I can only insert the link to the Schmap Washington DC guide (churches and temples section).

Dominicans and Constable

I managed to have mass with the Washington D.C. Dominican community on my last day in the US. I just wanted to go for a nice, quiet Saturday morning mass (considering that I would be missing Sunday mass due to time lags and such). So I went to St Dominic's down the road from our hotel where there was supposed to be an 8am daily mass. However, the church was locked and this lady I bumped into told me mass would be at 8.15am in the chapel. When I got there, it was completely empty except for one robed figure in a corner who I took to be the priest and so I sat half-way down the chapel. Then, these elderly white-robed men started entering the chapel. No other lay people in sight. I started feeling quite uneasy. Was I in the right place? I contemplated making a run for it. Then I decided that what the heck, I had every right as a Catholic to be present. Never mind that in a group of white-robed Dominican priests, I was clearly the odd woman out.

Anyway we started mass with the psalmody. I had no idea where to find this and the Dominican across the aisle had to assist. Mass proceeded as per normal after that. It was the feast day of St Martin of Tours so the sermon referred to the story of how he gave half his cloak to a beggar, etc and what "we as Dominicans" can learn from St Martin. Apparently the Dominicans don't take a vow of poverty and Martin of Tours was famous for his hermitlike existence. The liturgy of the Eucharist took place next and all the priests started moving up towards the altar and took turns saying their lines. At some points (eg the consecration of the bread and wine) it was a chorus. I stayed put. I do know my place. At communion, of course there was only one (lay) recipient. Was not sure whether to go but the main celebrant gave me a little nod and up I went. I can't say I enjoyed mass, but I did appreciate the experience.

I didn't take any photos of the little priory chapel but here is the crucifix in the main church of St Dominic's. (I'd gone there for All Saints' Day when this photo was taken. What I did not expect was that I would be taking the wine up at Offertory. Someone asked me to do so at Offertory itself! I was not quite prepared for this and forgot to wait for the bread to be passed to the priest before returning to my seat. Ah well, it seems that I am not destined to have "ordinary" masses at St Dominic's.)

The previous day, we'd gone to the National Gallery of Art and since I'd spent time looking at American artists in Mexico, I went to see the special exhibition of John Constable's Six-Foot Paintings in the US! Constable started painting six-footers to attract attention at exhibitions and such. (Artists must always know what's commercial.) Constable started off by painting full-scale sketches of his work and then doing a polished version after that. It thus provides an idea of his thinking as he worked. The Six-Footers were done throughout Constable's career and therefore also show how his style progressed over time. One point which struck me was how the style in the final product began to look more and more like the more fluid and less polished style of his sketches, over time.

The National Gallery of Art is actually quite amazing. It was started off as a donation by Andrew Mellon to the nation in the hope that others would follow his example. And they did. Today, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don't build museums/galleries. They look to improve public health around the world, and raise educational standards. Apparently the Gates Foundation is now one of the largest donors in the world, in the area of health, surpassing many countries' contributions. But they apply a private sector perspective on looking at effectiveness of aid, which perhaps state donors are less able to do. So income inequality in the US may be pretty stark but it is very difficult for anyone to resent Bill Gates' billions if he is helping to eradicate polio or whatever.

Cultural Learnings of America

On my last full day in the US, we went off to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. It was strongly recommended by one of my classmates as being completely hilarious. And it was very funny, but I must say that I agree with the review which said that any movie billed as such always finds it difficult to live up to expectations. And after watching the movie, I wasn't really surprised to find out that Sacha Baron Cohen (the actor who plays Borat) is a British comedian. Borat is like a hugely exaggerated Mr Bean with a fake accent and moustache, and with a politically incorrect factor of x10. Borat is a Jew-hating sexist journalist from Kazakhstan making a documentary about the US to show in his home country. But he watches an episode of Baywatch and then gets the hots for Pamela Anderson. For her sake, he drives across America interviewing people along the way.

And this is where Mr Bean meets Reality TV. Many of the people interviewed were ordinary folk who were not aware that Borat was an invented character. He went to a humour coach, an etiquette coach, met feminists, car salesmen and attended a dinner party in the Deep South of the USA (where he brought a black prostitute as his date). Half of these people are now sueing Cohen for tricking them. Its incredible that more people didn't see through his strange behaviour.

There were also incredibly funny scenes which were staged -my favourite is where Borat and his producer engage in a nude wrestling match and run all over the hotel in the nude.

I am trying to work out exactly what makes it such a popular movie and have concluded that it lies in the deliberate way Borat sets out to offend every single last sensibility of politically correct America. Somehow Borat makes it politically correct to enjoy a crude, vulgar movie which helps them laugh at themselves.

Was quite surprised to see that Borat is opening in Singapore, 28 Dec. Well worth watching and it will be interesting to see Singaporeans' reactions.

Washington, D.C. - The Nation's Capital

In DC, it's all government, museums and memorials. We stayed in the middle of all these federal departments which is not much fun after the sun has set (and also not too safe, according to my sources). Apparently its because Residence Inn is the only one with kitchens and dinner provided. Well, at least the dinner was better than that in Residence Inn Cambridge. But I'd rather be a little nearer the centre of action rather than next to the Trade Commission.

Our programme in DC focused on visits largely to various federal departments, one aide to a Senator and visits to the World Bank and an NGO (with links to KSG). We also had dinner with Amb Chan and met Derwin Pereira of ST (I learnt that he had studied at the LSE and graduated one year after me). But the meetings were not particularly memorable. The folks we met were relatively senior (at the Asst Secretary level) but some didn't spout anything but the party line, particularly the political appointees. The professional diplomats at the State Department were more willing to be open and frank by comparison and didn't treat us as though we were schoolchildren. It was interesting to get a sense of the type of people there and to see how they perceived us as a group (clearly not that important).

But there were plus points too. One memorable moment was our visit to the Pentagon. The official hosting our visit told us that he had been sitting in the very room we were in when the airplane hit. No one knew what had happened but they evacuated the room and left the building. Only then did his group realise what had happened. We also visited the memorial at the portion of the Pentagon which was hit. It is a small quiet room with panels listing the victims and a book with a page for each victim - both in the Pentagon and in the plane which hit the building. There is a small chapel next to it as well. The Pentagon itself is a huge complex. There is a courtyard in the centre of the complex and a building right in the centre of the courtyard. The rumour (so our guide told us) was that in the midst of the Cold War, the Soviets were very suspicious as to why there were so many people entering and leaving the building and so trained one of their missiles to hit the structure - which was, of course, the hotdog stand.

We also met one of John Kerry's aides. It was a good session - I thought he handled our questions well eg he threw back questions for us to respond to besides just answering what we asked him. But later that day Kerry made a rather tactless statement to some schoolchildren that if they didn't learn their lessons well they would end up in Iraq. Kerry had to apologise and say he didn't mean to insult US troops in Iraq, and that the original script had a line saying, "just ask President Bush", which he had omitted. But why? Hmm. After making such a statement apparently some candidates told Kerry not to campaign with them any more. Not that they had to worry too much, the Democrats were hot this time round. Other than this chap, we didn't meet anyone else from the legislative side of the US government. Apparently it was because of the elections - everyone is campaigning. I am not sure what alternatives there could have been - perhaps we could have met journalists, and people from other think tanks? Anyway, I didn't really mind too much that we didn't have a packed program. I spent the first three days spending my spare time finishing my last assignment (rather disappointed with it even so) so any extra time was beneficial to me.

But DC in general is really the US in glorified, institutional terms. We visited the executive, legislature and (for some of us) even the judiciary (saw all 9 Supreme Court Judges in action!). Also the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are kept. Their state buildings are pretty grand and imposing (all that marble!), in very classical architectural styles. It reflects the great pride Americans have in their institutions, and the famous check-and-balance system of government. I frankly think that there could be a few less checks to achieve the same level of balance but well, apparently the Americans like it that way.

We also got a chance to observe the US in the run-up to the congressional elections (held on Nov 6, the week after we were in DC). Massachussets is such a Democrat stronghold that most of the Republican campaigning is perfunctory in nature - there was only a rather vicious and nasty campaign over the Governor job. In DC, on the other hand, numerous TV ads, for Senator/Governor in both Virginia and Maryland flooded our TV screens. And instead of reading the rather parochial Boston Globe, we got the Washington Post which has far more analysis and reported more broadly on the elections as a whole rather than on a single race.

The DC field trip marked the end of our official stay in the US. In a sense it has been interesting living in closer proximity to my classmates and I certainly know a few of them a little better than before.

Just another Sunday mass

Yesterday evening we went for mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I rather enjoyed the sermon which talked about how we all like keeping things private - including our faith. Why do Catholics do that? Is it because we don't know enough about our faith, or we do not exactly what we believe or whether we believe it? Or do we lack courage? Courage needs to be practiced. If we say something once, it is easier to say it again and again later on. If we believe in our faith, we will want to shout it out for all to hear.

Some of my Indian classmates went to mass. Now one of them is a dapper Indian gentleman who is slightly dimensionally challenged (read a little short and plump). He sat in between the two Filipino ladies and was very happy when they hugged him at the sign of peace. I had to restrain him from going to communion though.

After mass, we visited the shrine itself under the basilica, and the crypt church. The crypt church is a massive underground complex in itself. It is heavily vaulted (supposed to be reminiscent of the catacombs of the early church) and around the edges are many individual chapels and shrines to Mary as she has manifested herself around the world, eg Our Lady of Health, Mary at Lavang, Vietnam, and so on. Each shrine is decorated and presented in different styles. Here is the Mary of Lavang, which I took to show my Vietnamese classmate:

Following mass, we went for dinner at my Filipina classmate's colleague's home. It was nice to be in someone's home after so long in an impersonal hotel room. When we left, our hostess gave us each a hug - which made it 3 in one day for my dear classmate :-)

Lincoln Memorial

We just spent our first full day in Washington, District of Columbia. The Nation’s Capital. And it has been quite interesting. We visited the US Trade Representative’s Office, and the State Department.

But the highlight of the day was our visit to the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the day. It was a solemn and awe-inspiring experience. We got there just before sunset (daylight savings is over so it gets dark at about 5.30pm or so now). The Memorial is a simple Grecian building. The huge statue of Lincoln looks out down a long reflecting pool to the Washington Monument, which is reflected in the waters. The statue shows Lincoln’s great height – his legs look rather lanky. The face is sad, but shows Lincoln’s determination to persevere despite the odds. On each side of the statue are two of his famous speeches – the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address – which highlight his moral vision and purpose. Here’s the Gettysburg address and extract of the Second Inaugural address:

Gettysburg:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Second Inaugural Address:

"...Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether".

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."