There are days when I love living in DC.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I’ve been reading an interesting book called The Race Beat about the reporters in the South who covered the Civil Rights movement.  It is hardly an uplifting book, I have such a hard time reading about the Civil Rights movement, but it does highlight so much of what made America in the1960s a deeply troubled nation.  Anyway, I’m actually not writing a review of this book (although it is great and I’d recommend it)– I wanted to mention that DC is a great place to  be nerdy because there are always museums/lectures/walking tours etc. to do and they will often tie into whatever subject you’re interested in.

I went to the Newseum yesterday for a screening of “War Room” and a panel discussion with Clinton staffers George Stephanopoulos, Paul Begala and Dee Dee Myers.  Before the showing, however, I trotted through the museum and watched the film on the press and Civil Rights.  Although the Newseum’s interpretation was a little simplistic it was great to see the TV footage and photographs only written about in The Race Beat.  Yes, I probably could have found them on GoogleVideo or via the library of Congress online archives but… frankly I didn’t.

Plus, the Newseum has a small exhibit of Lincolnalia up… looks like I made it less than 72 hours without getting excited about Civil War history.

Anyway, suddenly unemployment in this city isn’t looking so bad.  I wonder what kind of programs the American History museum has…  sadly, the Newseum is not free ($20!!) so I’m not sure I’ll be back there until I get a job.  The Smithsonians are free, however, and the upcoming Temperance Walking Tour is too.  Let the learning begin (and please let that keep me distracted from my current unemployment).