That "other" Washington

Although I’ve been nearly everywhere in the United States, I’d never actually spent time in Washington DC-at least not inside “the beltway” until last week. Arriving in DC at 10 pm on a Saturday evening, my supervisor with the regional health district, aka-“Susan” and I were relieved when my friend Rob greeted us at the airport. He’d brought his truck to pick us up, expecting our luggage and presentation materials to be more than would easily fit into his Honda. But alas-courtesy of NW Airlines, we had no luggage. We would not have our bags until, at the earliest, sometime late on Sunday.

Yes that's right, all the supplies enabling our successful creation of an amazing presentation did not make the trip. And this was just the start of an interesting evening that only seemed to get better as time went on. After receiving our complementary “hospitality kits” and “$25 bucks off your next flight on NW Airlines” vouchers (fat chance), Rob tried to distract us from our worries and escorted us around the monuments.

I’d like to interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to relay a few thoughts on DC After Dark:

First, it’s pretty amazing. The way the light plays on the Lincoln, Korean War and Viet Nam Memorials is the stuff of a good haunting. Walking among all those still life war hero figures, then the feel of a piercing Lincoln gazing down on us felt a bit too life like. I also noticed that all the monuments seem to celebrate war, bloodshed and struggle. Our nation’s capital lingers in a prolonged history of violence.

Second, with the way everything is so trampled around the Whitehouse, it really is starting to look like Crawford, Texas. Go figure.

Back to the blog.

After our tour, Rob dropped us off at our hotel. As Rob’s taillights faded into traffic, we discovered that the Hotel had lost our reservations. All of our confirmation receipts were packed in our luggage, which was somewhere between Spokane, Minneapolis and DC. Finally the hotel found “something” and Susan landed on the second floor and I wound up on the 4th floor.

The hotels elevators weren’t working. That should have been a clue as to what we would discover next.

But first let me say, I have spent some serious time in some fairly disgusting hotels. Truckers often have to put up with the most pathetic lodging choices on the road-especially when your broke down and the company only allows $25 a night for a room. In the past, out of necessity I’ve slept in places where you actually add clothing prior to going to bed and you lay on your sweats for extra protection. Yet those places, bad as they were, had nothing on this joint. I am fairly certain our hotel had not been vacuumed in my lifetime, if ever.

Opening the door to my room was, well, eye opening. And not in a good way, either. My desk had the remains of a couple joints and burnt out matches on the table, and the bathroom appeared to have been a dedicated to some sort of major Watersports Festival. Never mind that for $140 a night, the room was smaller than most bathrooms. After calling Susan up to the room and watching her face go through a series of contortions that I do not believe is healthy prior to menopause, we agreed that the room was a definite health hazard.

Hotel management “upgraded” me to a kingsize room down the hall, still on the fourth floor, that was slightly better. It appeared that at least the sheets had been cleaned, it had fresh paint, and was a bit more spacious. Still, the room displayed an obvious lack of vacuum action. Oh yeah and the bathroom floor drained conveniently right onto the bedroom carpeting. I decided it was best not to think about the biological ramifications of that feature.

How does one embrace accommodations like this?

One adds an additional layer of clothing before bed time, grabs towels to pull back the comforter, and never ever, not even once, does one take off their socks. And this by the way was in a “good” neighborhood.

As I wrapped myself in my coat and lay on the bed, I remembered Susan telling me on the flight in how these funky, older, non-chain hotels have a certain mystique and romance about them. Indeed according to Susan she rarely stays in the more corporate places. I fell asleep embracing the power of romance and mystique while visions of Ramada danced deep in my sub conscience.

So there we were, two wide eyed folks from Spokane arriving in DC for the American Public Health Association convention. At the APHA, all the big shots in public health get together and talk, present, network, and talk some more. This year’s theme was “Politics, Policy, and Public Health.” It was a very impressive title. Impressive enough that between 14,000 and 15,000 people attended. Doing the math on that figure equals more attendees than live in this county.

Susan and I met health officials from all over the world. Over and over again we were told that our project was needed, innovative, and that prior to listening to our presentation, many in the audience said that they’d not considered the ramifications of ignoring the pressing health needs of mobile populations. We handed out 1,000’s of “Health To Go-On the Road, Off the Record” condoms. We presented information and listened as others from all over the world shared their experiences in dealing with the health issues they face among mobile populations. Everyone loved us. We are pretty sure that if there was a people’s choice award, we’d have won it.

Ah but there is always one in a crowd that just doesn’t get it, isn’t there?

The only officials who were not so excited about the project were those at the federal level, especially at the Center for Disease Control (CDC). That’s probably because HIV mobility among mobile populations is pretty much a FEDERAL ISSUE and the CDC knows nothing next to nothing about this population, a population that represents roughly 6 million people in North America.

Yet everyone, even the good folks at the CDC, know full well what is happening among truckers throughout the rest of the world, the tragic situations in Africa, India, and now China. CDC officials can site these statistics and one would think North America isn’t all that different from the rest of the world. That is unless you work at the CDC.

Yet under the Bushwhacked Administration, it seems the CDC is best equipped to pursue failed abstinence strategies-ones that while they’re wholly embraced by southern evangelical conservatives, now seem to result in half of all new HIV infections coming right out of the rural south.

It is discouraging to confront the outright apathy and lack of curiosity that many individuals in this agency display. But the CDC isn’t exactly rolling in respect this year after they were forced to announce that up to 19,000 Americans a year have been dying from MRSA. The mortality rate from this infection now mirrors HIV/AIDS. How good can we feel about the competency of a federal agency that can lose 19,000 citizens a year, all from the same infection, and they don’t clue in until the press forces the issue?

Oh yeah and remember the guy with drug resistant TB? The chap who was told by CDC officials that it was ok to fly? Across the Atlantic? And remember the cover up that occurred after all that came to light?

To be in the nation’s capital, in the center of politics as usual was eye opening far beyond the public health front. On almost every level, one has to wonder exactly what IS going on. As much talk as we’ve endured about the strength of the nation under the Bushwhacked Administration, our nation is weaker on nearly every front. The dollar is plunging. The financial markets along with all the rest of middle earth/middle American housing prospects are stunning in their fragility. Oil continues to sky rocket and after billions of dollars spent supporting the war effort, of which it is estimated costs each American family $20,000 a year to fulfill, the prospects in Iraq, Afghanistan, and soon Iran, are hardly secure. The administration has undermined the constitution on so many fronts that it will take decades of legislative activism to once again restore what our nation has always stood for.

And what of Homeland Security?

It sure didn’t seem like there was much in the way of security in place (if any) at least when it came to the Metro or any of dozens of other public spaces in DC.

God only knows what lies ahead but as I watch nearly all of the Republicans, and most of the Democrats fight for the cherished ability to keep their favorite version of DC corruption firmly in place, and as they sell us out with sound bite after sound bite, I like Ron Paul more and more. Especially in the world of Mitt Happens, Shrillary, and tip toe through the debates Thompson.

So as I walked around DC, rode the Metro, experienced the smallworld of Dupont Circle, it was a very educational journey. I was growing increasingly disillusioned with the place until later in the week, Susan and I explored one of the Smithsonian offerings. Then we tackled the Native American Museum. Here I finally saw the power of a free education. If no where else, our Nation’s Capital truly shines in these amazing collections. We caught a performance of Native American Classical music, the Natural History Museum, and walked down the mall, toward the Washington Monument. I was asked to comment for some project on what I think the 44th President should put forth as their first major international priority.

I had a hard time with that one. As if enough of our treasury isn’t already going overseas.

I couldn’t help but get this sense, that at least in the scope of world historical time, America is barely a footnote. We are but a short eye blink in comparison to other civilizations, governments, and movements. Many cultures have lasted thousands of years longer. Yet Americans always see the United States as the center of the universe. We seem to believe that our system is uniquely blessed to last forever. We seem to believe we can support the rest of the planet while neglecting our own citizens and our precious backyard.

How troubling it is then to consider what one loser frat boy from Texas can do to our national heritage, the hope of future generations of Americans, and our standing in the world. How sad that our great fall from prominence was done in just under 7 years.

This I suppose remains the greatest education I receieved. As much as little George W Bush II would like to make his mark, DC is hardly the center of the universe. His legacy will not be that of a great leader, but the leader that singlehandedly took a great nation into the history books of mediocrity. The world is moving very fast, and as APHA seemed to signify, the power of Washington DC to affect the course of the planet is quickly nearing irrelevance.