Barb’s Burblings

I was in downtown DC on Monday and Tuesday for a class, and since it was so nice, a coworker and I went for a walk during lunch both days. The classes were only a couple of blocks from the White House, so we walked over to Lafayette Park, where I bored her with descriptions of the history of Washington and the presidency. On the second day, we were talking about cities that we liked, and I was talking about how much I like DC and why–not intimidating, good theater scene, free museums. “Plus,” I said, “you never know what you’re going to run into when you’re downtown.”

We arrived at Lafayette Park and found a policeman moving people away from Pennsylvania Avenue into the park proper. There was a mob of cameramen and sound guys, and we saw a reporter talking intently to the police officer. We tried to figure out what was going on; there was a line of people in military uniforms right at the fence, and a truck by them. Our initial thought–before we really noticed the service members–was that maybe President Obama would be driving up or something. (The last time I had a class at that location, I ran into his motorcade.) After asking around, though, it turned out that the service members had chained themselves to the fence to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. We hung around for a bit, then went back to class.

Like I said, it’s always something when you’re downtown. And then I found a mention of it on Politico; apparently the whole “pushing the media away from the protestors” thing wasn’t supposed to happen. You can actually see me at the end of the video, if you know what I’m wearing. And recognize me from the back. Whee!