This will just be a short update. I’ll write much more about my Washington, D.C., adventure when I return home.
OK, I think that I mentioned the close call that I had with the cops in front of the White House on Tuesday. After that fun experience, I went to the Luce Foundation Center (upstairs from the National Portrait Gallery) and took a free art class. The topic of the class was how to draw faces. I had a great deal of fun drawing. When time was up, I was surprised because it didn’t seem as if an hour and a half had elapsed. I used a painting from the mid-19th century as my model and I drew a young lady in my small sketchbook and then again on larger paper.
When we presented out pictures to the group, the teacher, Mary, said that my picture was “fantastic.” She then asked, “Are you happy?”
“Yes, I am very happy.”
I need color and form and beauty in my world.
The next day, I went to the Hirschhorn museum. I thought that I might experiment with modern art. I drew a Willem de Kooning painting. It was fun. Not really my style but fun. It’s good practice for me to practice with a variety of styles.
Today, I went with a group to the White House. We tried to deliver a letter at the guard station, where the media enter. We had no luck whatsoever. The secret service cop would not accept our letter. He told us to go visit our Congressional offices. So that’s what we did. We went to visit a representative from Wisconsin and a senator from Maryland. Well, we didn’t speak to the representative or the senator. We talked to their staff people. These were good conversations. When we were in the Rayburn House Office Building, we visited Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s office. We signed his guest book and we chatted with some of his staff in the reception area. All of a sudden, out came Dennis Kucinich. We had a nice talk with him. It was a delight to meet him. He gave us his business card.
Meeting Dennis Kucinich was definitely the high point of my day. He is one of the few persons in Congress who has consistently opposed all of these wars. I am grateful that he speaks out and that he doesn’t compromise on issues of war and torture.
More later.
