Day Two

It's Thursday. Day Two. Oh, the joys that are sleeping on a dorm room mattress!

It was nice to finally close my eyes last night after a night time walking tour of some of Washington's more prolific monuments. With twelve students and a blogger in tow, Norman led us to the Vietnam Wall, Korean War Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and others. The monuments are cool during the day, but take on an entirely different persona when the lights go out and the focus is on them and only them. Seeing folks rubbing the names of lost loved ones off the Vietnam Wall is quite moving. More than once last night, I heard students talking highly of the experience. It seems like the perfect way to begin.

It rained on and off yesterday--varying between subtle spitting to heavy hurricane type moisture. We managed to dodge most of the drops on our tour, but it is nearly impossible to miss the moist, humid air that resonates throughout D.C.'s inner workings.

Today, we are off to do a little ... okay, a lot ... of walking near the White House before heading in to 1600 Pennsylvania for the morning press briefing and a visit with Press Secretary Dana Perino. Like Norm said last night, "the best way to learn about a city is on foot." I think the students are getting pretty excited for their two-week stay in "The District." Should be interesting.

I am optimistic that the wifi access issues are going to work themselves out. Look for more intensive, thoughtful ramblings--compliments of some student and Provizer sound bytes--coming in the next day or so. And, also a discussion of some more technical and logistical angles on the tools I'm using and why.

Until then, enough of my rambling ... here are a few pictures.

Getting Going

So, wifi access has proven a little spotty so far. Have just been
hanging out with the students and getting settled. Headed out in a bit
for a night tour of the monuments. More, including pictures in the
a.m. or sooner if I can tap some Internet love.

Sent from my iPod

Is this thing on?

In a little more than 24 hours, I will check my black Samsonite at the ticket counter, navigate the airport security march and park my rear end at the gate where the airplane is headed for Washington, D.C.

Honestly, I'm getting kind of excited just typing about it. You see this isn't just another opportunity to earn frequent flier miles and pay $5 for a bag of pretzels. This is going to be different. Much different.

Cathy Lucas, the College's communications ace, approached me six weeks ago about taking on this project. The goal was to have me spend a few days walking, walking, walking and documenting, documenting, documenting the 17th edition of a two-week summer session in the nation's capital with Political Science Professor Norm Provizer and a handful of adventurous college students.

Sounded like fun to me.

I'll be staying in the same dorms. I'll be eating the same food. I'll be wearing the soles off my sneakers just the same. I'll be seeing, hearing and experiencing the same grand history. And, I'll be loving every minute of it.

You might be wondering who "I" is? I'm Chris Lawson and I spend my days (and occasional sleepless nights) working with a talented and creative team in the Office of College Communications. I am a 2002 graduate of the College. Photojournalism and Technical Communications is what it says on my transcripts. After graduation, I spent a few years telling stories with pictures as a community journalist for a group of weekly newspapers. I am definitely thankful for the many experiences I was blessed enough to witness as a full-time photojournalist. I left the newspaper world last May. And, somehow, all these years later, I find myself back at Metro State. Still telling stories. Still really blessed. Life's great like that.

I look forward to helping tell the story of D.C. Experience 2008. Thanks for being the audience--one of the most important aspects of any story.