I've always thought of D.C. as my home town (as much as a Navy brat can have a home town). Every other tour of duty for my dad was in D.C. We lived in suburban Virginia and suburban Maryland. I went to college in D.C. right down the street from Catholic University. My friends and I used to walk the mile or so to Brookland in northeast to shop, or we'd take the bus "downtown" to go to Woodies and Hechts. I student taught in the Shaw neighborhood at Shaw Junior High School.
After college I worked in D.C. for the Navy Department for about five years. Most of that time was on Constitution Ave. near the Lincoln Memorial until they tore down the buildings and moved to Crystal City in Arlington. My husband and I courted in D.C. We ate our brownbag lunches many days on a bench next to the reflecting pool. We climbed the Washington Monument together. (You can't do that any more.) One of our favorite restaurants, the 823, at 823 I street, was a German bistro just a few blocks from the White House and Lafayette Park. They served a fabulous German puff pancake spread with a boysenberry jam, rolled up, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It went great with German beer. I learned how to make it later and our kids were always happy when I did.
I loved going to the Smithsonian and all the historical sights with our children. A drive to see the cherry blossoms and ride the paddle boats was an annual Spring event. We went in the snow to Ronald Reagan's inauguration and enjoyed the fireworks. When I was home schooling, we planned "scavenger hunts" at the art museum. (Find a painting with angels. Find a painting with an insect. There was one of a cardinal with a fly on his cassock and another in the modern art wing with a real cockroach in the paint. One artist painted a portrait of his mom with thumb prints.)
We did a workshop at the National Cathedral doing tin tapping. We examined the Founders' original documents at the Archives. Years earlier my husband took my picture in front of the Department of Labor sign just weeks before delivering our first child. I used to go to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception almost every month and visited the Franciscan Monastery many times. The arboretum was a favorite spring spot to see the daffodils and the azaleas. The kids especially loved the Koi in the pool by the visitor center. If I remember correctly you could buy little bags of food to feed them. They were probably the best fed fish on the planet.
A friend who worked as a Navy videographer once got us passes and escorted us around the White House to places most tourists never see. I took the children often to the Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Botanical Gardens. They especially loved the Museum of History and Technology with the big trains, the giant dolls' house, the huge Fort McHenry flag, and the inaugural gowns of the first ladies. We once did a tour under the Lincoln Memorial to see all the graffiti left by the builders. It was at night and kind of spooky. We took visitors to tour the White House and see Congress in action. A highlight was taking them down in the basement to ride the trolley between the office buildings and the Capitol.
Washington, D.C. was my home town and I loved showing it off!
I was in college during the Charlie Curran dissent from Humanae Vitae and went over to the Catholic University campus with my roommate to see what was going on. I was a senior when the 1968 riots occurred after the assassination of Martin Luther King and never quite understood the logic of burning your own neighborhood to show your anger. Some of the buildings are boarded up to this day. It was a tense time and all of us students prayed to get home safely. We were warned not to go into town to the train and bus station. My parents came and picked me up.
D.C. is becoming a war zone, like other Democrat enclaves around the country, with the mob stirred up and spurred on by liberal leftists in politics and the media. I cringe whenever I see Nancy Pelosi or Maxine Waters or Don Lemon or Chris Cuomo try to pin this one on Trump. He didn't build it, Nancy. You did with your media allies who lie and distort and carry the water from your poisoned well!
If anyone wants to know what it must have been like when the fascists ruled Germany, all they have to do is watch what the Antifa and Black Lives Matter neo-fascists are doing today encouraged by the neo-fascist Democrat politicians telling them to confront supporters at restaurants, gas stations, movie theaters, etc.
That was Maxine two years ago. Where has her fomenting violence led? To the foul-mouthed neo-fascists invading a restaurant a few days ago in D.C. demanding that patrons make the Nazi salute raised fist Marxist salute while they scream obscenities in their faces. One woman had the courage not to cower and see how they treated her.
I commend the police officers shown in these videos for their restraint and I condemn the mayor Muriel Bowser for her incompetent rule in a city every American should love and be able to enjoy without harassment like I did for so many years. Pray for our poor country and for the upcoming election. No matter who wins it will be riots on parade. Let's face it fascists riot whether they win or lose. They will riot in defeat; they will riot in victory. Pray the rosary every day! It ain't gonna be pretty.
I'll close with two videos of police escorting and protecting black Democrat Vernon Jones, Georgia state delegate, back to his hotel after the Republican Convention. This isn't about color. Jones' black life doesn't matter to these fascists. What matters is whether he agrees with them. Join their group think or face the mob and take the consequences.
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