The World of Stuff .com

A capital weekend

In my last post, I talked about how I went to Washington, DC last Friday. It was a big day. I rode in a limo, an airplane, and a train; I saw snow for the first time; and I almost literally rubbed elbows with a presidential appointee. You’ll have to go back and read about it if you want the deets. At this point in the story, it’s Saturday morning, and we’re getting ready to go to Free Culture Conference 2010, which is what we went to Washington for.

The four of us set out with Gavin to George Washington University, which was only a few stops away on the subway. Unlike the University of Florida, GWU is an urban university with its city’s street grid running right through it. We walked quite a few snow-covered blocks to get to the right building, which was at the edge of the campus. We got our first glimpse of the Washington Monument as we approached the building.

We arrived late. We checked in and got the t-shirts we had each bought upon registering for the conference. There were two designs to choose from. Mark, Kris, and Jennifer all chose one with a drawing with a pile of electronics and stuff, and I chose the other, which had the copyleft symbol.

All of the day’s events were held in a particular lecture hall. First, some panelists were discussing net neutrality and similar issues. One of them was a guy from the FCC, which I thought was pretty interesting. I was still tired, and I was trying to warm up due to it having been extremely cold outside, but I tried to pay as much attention as I could. Next, there was a speaker who talked about fair use, an important but increasingly ignored part of copyright law. After that, there was another panel with speakers talking about open access, which I thought was especially interesting because I don’t know as much about it as I do about other aspects of the free culture movement.

For lunch, the four of us followed Gavin and some other people to Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which is apparently a chain. This particular location was off Pennsylvania Avenue, just a block away from the White House. We were so close that I could get a glimpse of it. I wanted to steal away from the group for a little while to check it out, but I figured I wouldn’t have time. I got a large sandwich and a cookie, which ended up being too much food. I ate it anyway, figuring I wouldn’t have to eat as much for dinner.

Back at the conference, there was a keynote speaker, a panel about open educational resources, and then another keynote by Jonathan Zittrain, perhaps best known as the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. (If that still doesn’t ring a bell, he appeared on The Colbert Report to promote the book.) Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to make it to the conference, so he delivered his address via a video conference. I expected it to be boring since he wasn’t actually there, but his presentation was easily the most entertaining. One of his main themes was to explore the different ways people have used the Internet to obtain information. At different times he brought up examples such as an old newsgroup posting, a Yahoo Answers question, and an Amazon Mechanical Turk task (all of which asked, “What’s the difference between vanilla and French vanilla ice cream?”). And, like any good speaker, he answered questions at the end. It was as if he were actually in the room.

With that, the official events for the day ended, and we had some time to kill before the evening festivities. So the four of us decided to walk toward the Mall and see what we could see. It was really cold, and I didn’t bring my gloves because they made it hard for me to use the camera that I borrowed from my dad.

It got dark by the time we reached the Washington Monument. After posing for some pictures there, we walked to the World War II Memorial, where we got a picture with Florida’s pillar (which still had a bit of snow on it). It was very cold, and my hands were so cold that I felt like my thumbnails were going to pop off, but we continued toward the Lincoln Memorial, walking alongside the reflecting pool and trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) not to slip on the ice. The walk seemed to take forever. I actually saw some people walking on the pool, which had frozen over, and wondered if they had an easier time.

Finally, we made it to the Lincoln Memorial. It was lit up and still had a ton of snow on it. We made our way up the small section of the steps that had actually been shoveled.

You know how, in the movies, someone goes to the Lincoln Memorial and it’s all quiet and there’s no one around except for them and the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln, which somehow inspires them or gives them a chance to reflect on whatever they want to do? It’s not like that in real life. I mean, there are other people there, so it kind of ruins any moment you might have. But it is pretty quiet. There are signs asking you to be quiet, and it really feels like a religious shrine to Abraham Lincoln, as if he were some sort of god or something. The place looks like a Greek temple, after all.

We wandered around a bit. I read the text of the Gettysburg Address, which was engraved on one wall. We also went to the gift shop. We wanted to have our picture taken in front of the statue of Lincoln, so we got someone to do it for us.

By then, everyone was really cold, so we decided to head toward George Washington University’s student union, where the after-conference festivities would be held. Fortunately, we weren’t too far away, and we were even early. The plan was that everyone would meet to go bowling, but no one was really there yet, so we went to the restaurant next to the bowling alley. There were a lot of TVs there, and there happened to be a Gator basketball game on. We got to cheer on our school for a few minutes and then watch them lose. Then we got some food. I got some chicken strips and fries, which also ended up being too much food.

After that, we made our way over to the bowling alley, where Gavin and some other people from the conference were bowling. I didn’t feel like joining them, so I just hung out until everyone was done. Then we went back to Gavin’s apartment with him.

On Sunday morning, the four of us left Gavin’s apartment and set out back into Washington. We had considered attending the second day of the conference, but we would only have a few hours there, so we decided to do a little more sightseeing instead. It wasn’t at all cloudy that day, so it was warmer and more pleasant.

We started by going to the White House, which, it turns out, is next to the Treasury. The Treasury is much larger and more imposing, but it’s the White House that always has tourists in front of it. We were at the front of the building, which doesn’t seem to be the side where most people have their pictures taken. It’s a lot closer to the street, though, so we got some good pictures. Then we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, passing by all the three-letter-acronym buildings (DoJ, FBI, EPA, FTC, IRS…). After what seemed like forever, we made it to the Capitol.

Before that, we were going through a parking lot in front of the capital. Since it was Sunday, there weren’t many cars parked there. A Capitol police officer was hanging around in his car, waiting for us to jaywalk. We stuck to the crosswalk, though, so he went away. I guess they have nothing better to do when Congress isn’t in session.

We got as close as we could get to the building, which wasn’t very close since they had the staircases roped off. There was a police car up there too, right by that fountain. So we weren’t very high up, but we had a great view of the field out in front and the Mall, which were still covered in snow. So, after taking a few pictures of ourselves there and seeing all that there was to see, we went around to the other side of the Capitol. On the way, I saw some people (kids, probably) sledding down Capitol Hill. I didn’t think they would let you do that, but no one seemed to be stopping them.

We checked out the other side of the Capitol, and then made our way toward the Library of Congress, which the others wanted to check out. We had found out that it was closed on Sunday, so we couldn’t go in, but we walked by it. From there, we went to the nearest subway stop and took the subway out to Greenbelt, Maryland, where we connected to a bus that took us to the Baltimore airport, where we arrived early for our pleasantly brief flight to the Orlando airport, where Kris had parked his car, in which we rode back to Gainesville, where Kris dropped me off at my apartment.

I wish I could have seen more stuff in Washington, but we were really there for the conference. I did get to see all the main touristy places and, for the first time in my life, snow. (It’s wetter, colder, and icier than I imagined, but I like it.) The best part was that we’ll be compensated for most of our expenses by UF’s Student Government and by Students for Free Culture. Hopefully we’ll be able to go on other trips in the future.

Check out my photos from the trip! They’re posted on Facebook, but you don’t need a Facebook account to view them. I was too lazy to include any of them here, although I know it would have gone a long way in breaking up the sea of text that is this post.

(Those of you with an eerily good memory may notice that this post’s title is similar to one I used for another post about Washington, DC in January 2005. I think after five years I’m entitled to use it again.)

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