Friendship 7... Even Smaller than my Closet at the W.I.S.H. House!

The other day I had the chance to look around the National Air and Space Museum. Right when you walk into the museum you can see Friendship 7. It is the spacecraft in which Senator Glenn, then Colonel Glenn, orbited around the earth in as a part of Project Mercury Atlas-6 mission. This was the successful first attempt by NASA to place an astronaut into orbit. Senator John Glenn, Jr. was the first American to orbit the earth- pretty impressive!

It was amazing to see such an important part of aeronautical and American history. The size of the spacecraft amazed me. I feel claustrophobic in the small closet my roommate Allison and I share when I'm picking out my outfit each morning. I can only imagine how cramped Senator Glenn was in Friendship 7 while he was orbiting the earth. It's very small!

Seeing the spacecraft in person reminded me of a story I had learned in Ohio history class in grade school. While Senator Glenn was orbiting, the earth the people of Perth, Australia turned on all of their lights so that Senator Glenn could see them from space. This story really illustrates how the Senator's historic mission inspired not only Americans, but those all around the world as well.

~Clare

The Holocaust

The Holocaust Museum was amazing yesterday. As sad as it is, the museum is something I think everybody needs to see. The whole time I was there I kept thinking about the movie "La Vita e Bella" with Roberto Berninni about an Italian Jew who gets taken with his son to a concentration camp, one of my favorite movies. My favorite part was the first quote on the wall that you see when you walk off the elevator, Eisenhower pretty much predicted that one day people would say it was all propaganda and that this never happened. The quote said that he went to the concentration camps purposely so that if ever people questioned these events, he saw them with his own eyes. The hardest thing for me to do was walk through one of the train cars that carried all of the people off to the concentration camps. The sign next to it said that hundreds and hundreds of people were packed into the cars with many children and elderly dieing before reaching the camps. I had to walk around the train car, I stepped inside and couldnt imagine the amount of people who died in that exact car. The were videos playing of the different medical experiments the Germans put the Jews through to see how long a pilot could last without oxygen and other things like that. The other part that was hard for me was the area with the shoes. Once the people were stripped of all clothing and possessions, the women and children were sent to the gas chambers. The shoes of all of those individuals were piled into one room and it was so hard to look at the childrens' shoes and the high heels of the women. At the very end there is a place that explains what happened to the Jewish population in each country. The Danish smuggled people over the border in boats, Musselini refused to give up the Jews but then after so many years was forced to anyway, etc. The very last thing you see is a video of survivors and one quote I will never forget was from a woman speaking about this museum: "For all of those who come here remember, these items are prescious, even if it is just a small shoe, it is our prescious things."
This is something absolutely everyone needs to see!!!!
Joanna

Renewables

Today while walking around the Capitol I spotted one of the most beautiful sights in the world, a wind turbine. I ventured over and discovered it was in front of the United States Botanic Garden, which Andrea and Julie blogged about earlier. Inspired by their post I decided to go inside and warm up in the desert and take in the sights of the jungle. Most was really boring, although I would love to take my Grandma there someday. The picture on top is of an Orchid, which are amazing. I also liked the exhibit displaying the many plants we derive our medicines from.

--Mike

Not Your Midwestern Corn

"Seeds are extremely important. The act of seed selection is considered sacred." I wonder if the people at Monsanto and Cargill treat corn this way? This is one of the many photos I took while at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. The whole place is extremely inspiring. The ability of Native Americans to live with nature as one never ceases to amaze me. This particular picture highlights one of the most prized possessions in the native world. Corn was used as gold was in the Old World as a form of currency. I encourage everyone to visit this museum, as it has been one of my favorites so far. The title of this post refers to the monoculture intensive agriculture we now know in the Midwest. One strain of corn is predominantly grown in our home and surrounding states, Yellow Number 2. Ironically, this corn cannot even be eaten, it is grown for use in other applications such as the manufacture of corn syrup. Happy obesity and diabetes to all! Seriously though, the modern industrial food system is one that needs to be reviewed and revised. Book recommendation again: The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan. (I am going to recommend this book every chance I get so read it already!) One of the strong points of the museum is the way the modern Native American culture is highlighted in the way they have adapted to modern society. Another book recommendation: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

--Mike

"It's Winter Time in the City"

Today the city was blasted by a strong snowstorm, dumping nearly ten inches on "the hill". I decided to take a walk around the Capitol and take a few pictures to signify our time here, after all it is Winter quarter. If you are a kid living in the area guess where you go sledding? That's right, on the Capitol lawn which is known around here as Jenkins Hill. Kids, be sure to thank L'Enfant for being able to sled on the nations most prime real estate! I'm jealous, maybe tomorrow I will ask one of the kids if I can borrow their sled just once.

--Mike

never really appreciated having a car until Lilly, Lydia, and I walked to the national portrait gallery. having to walk in the snow and freezing wind was not something I had planned on doing today but it was something we all wanted to see so we made the trek anyways. the gallery had some really nice portraits, obviously, but also had a really interested exhibit on sports heros and events called champions. I was the only one who was really interested in it because it reminded of me the football half of fame, which i have been to countless times since its in my hometown. Lydia and Lilly liked the 20th century Americans exhibit best. Lilly thought the figures from the Vietnam era were interesting and Lydia liked the civil rights era the best. we didn't try to go anywhere else because it was too cold and snowy so we came back and made pancakes.

Jeff, Lilly, and Lydia

(dictated but not read)

HRF Response to Liz Cheney

So if you read my last post, I put the link the the Liz Cheney ad to keep GTMO Open....here is the response from my office...its quite entertaining please check it out!!
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/hrfblog/2010/01/keep-america-afraid.html
Joanna =)

Pic =)

yey I can finally upload picture too....here are the four militaty generals from my press conference last week

-Joanna

State of the Union/ Liz Cheney's AD

I'm sure everyone watch the State of the Union Address last night and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!! And if it were not for the annoying girl drinking wine hitting on strangers and the annoying Sig Ep complaining every second of the speech, Susan and I would have enjoyed it even more! But I was very impressed with some of his polices and his calls for actions by the senate. I was also entertained by how much he called out the republican side of the room for not applauding him while the rest of the room did. I am wondering how his education plan to award those school who are succeeding but not those who are failing. Personally being from Youngstown, I have seen the inner city schools that are failing and less funding is not the option. These kids are unmotivated to try in school and since they have no funding for resources, probably fin dit pointless to put effort into anything when the government isn't putting effort into helping them succeed. Also, I was very impressed with his fections about toture and his plans to end the war and remove out troops. Not everyone was so enthusiastic about this speech as I was, including Liz Cheney. She created an organization called "Keep American Safe" and will be running ads in retaliation to the State of the Union Address advocating for more weapons to defend ourselves from terrorists rather than closing Guatanamo Bay and trying the detainees. Here is a link to her ad, which I find completely incompetent and reinforces my terrible views of her father's administration (no offense to Bush supporters)
http://www.keepamericasafe.com/
Joanna

The Ghost of Glenn School Past

Dear Glenn School WI 10 -
For breakfast go to Pete's Diner on 2nd just south of Pennsylvania SE. Also go to good stuff if you haven't yet (on Pennsylvania SE). Also there's another good little breakfast type diner on Capitol East called Jimmy T's Place. And when you're going there, be sure to go to Eastern Market if you haven't yet. That's always a fun time.
Hope this helps.
Josh Kramer (Glenn School AU 09)