DC Wrap-Up

Things quieted down while my seminar was in progress, but picked right back up afterwards.

My sightseeing covered some major DC-area sights that I had missed in my previous visits. They included Arlington National Cemetery, where I was able to revisit the various wars that the US had to fight, as well as Jefferson Memorial. I also re-visited the Korean War and Lincoln Memorials, the former as a recap of/follow-up to my visit to the United Nations Cemetery in Busan last year.

The major sight out of town I covered was Mt. Vernon, the estate of George Washington. It wasn't as grand a sight as I thought, but on-site museum exhibits on the life of George Washington, and how his decisions have become precedents for all US Presidents to follow, were very informative, to say the least.

Walking around all the historical sights of Washington, DC area is always a good reminder of the lofty ideals that the United States of America was founded on. Sure, the US often doesn't do a good job of actually upholding them, but as I have pointed out too many times elsewhere, those ideals will live on long after the US itself is just a historical footnote.

I did some karaoke at Freddie's in northern Virginia for two nights, and did okay. First night, after a rendition of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl," I ended up losing my voice and not doing well at all with the high notes. But the second night (my final hangout with Alexandra Beninda, my local friend) went much better. I look forward to more karaoke opportunities regardless of where I go - though I will not be able to just walk into a heterosexual bar and pull it off.

I also want to thank my longtime contacts, Karen Bradley and Richard Bell, for two nice dinner talks. Karen, who was extremely worn out from all the finals grading at University of Maryland, also reported that she is now Facebook friends with Gayle Brandeis. My two favorite CODEPINKers are friends, at last!

I will miss DC - in a few hours I'll need to start my journey back to Los Angeles. But I will be going home happy, and in less than a week, I'll be back in the air, heading for Toronto. That should be a great trip.

Photos will be uploaded whenever I can manage.

Travel developments

A quick recap of what I've been up to:

• I visited the Arlington Unitarian Universalist Church, and met with my contact there, Alexandra Beninda. We had a great time talking about various LGBT and other issues, including some of my insights from my Asian sojourn. We were also joined by other great LGBT activists of the church, and we ended up having the weekly lunch at Freddie's in Crystal City. Freddie's is northern Virginia's only LGBT hangout (partly because the great hangouts over at Dupont Circle in DC are so accessible), and I'll be returning there for its weekly karaoke night with Alexandra and the party.
• Did some shopping. More tunics to play with (though this time, most of my tunics are T-shirts).
• I spent Sunday afternoon driving up to central New Jersey to visit a relative and have dinner. Due to traffic, toll booths, and slower speed limits, my drive took four hours each way, rather than 3 1/2 hours I'd expect for a similar drive in California and Nevada. I did not start the return trip south until after midnight, and I made it back to Virginia barely in time to beat the Beltway rush hour. (I was so drowsy, I was even more of a road hazard than a drunk would've been.) At least I was glad that my rental car has a built-in E-ZPass, which allows me to breeze through toll plazas; I'll be billed when I return the car, and if I would rather pay cash, I can keep the E-ZPass inside its windshield metal box and therefore deactivate it.
  
• I am cancelling my planned trip to Philadelphia because of the traffic issues I encountered during the New Jersey drive. To make up for it, however, I did a museum tour within DC. It was nice to see some Kwan Yins stateside (even the fabled Eleven-Faced variety) and lots more fine art. I also visited the Air and Space Museum - for the third time - and ended up seeing some flight attendant exhibits that are of big relevance to my novel. (In fact, I ended up buying two pictorial books about flight attendants.)
  
• I met my Democracy Cell Project contacts, Karen Bradley and Richard Bell. It was nice to join them again - and talk about all the great people of our group (many of whom I met in previous travels). We had dinner at their favorite restaurant, Hawk & Dove, located just southeast of the Capitol. A Buddhist-themed meditation session followed. More opportunities to talk about current events and politics - and to share my findings from South Korea and Hong Kong. I may see them again before I leave the area.

Hoping for a good time for the rest of my stay. Photos will upload whenever I can find the time. I am hoping to carry the good spirits back to my everyday life in Los Angeles, into my Toronto long weekend, and well beyond. (My next travel project after Toronto, and San Francisco Pride, will most likely be a long drive to Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park.)

Travel Update

I haven't blogged lately, partly because most of my online activities had gravitated toward Facebook, and partly because I was running out of time. I spent the last week often working until 11PM.

I'm in a much better situation, however. I flew to northern Virginia, where I need to attend a seminar next week. I have a week in the area, and I'll be meeting a few people, starting with the people over at Arlington Unitarian Church tomorrow. Eventually, I should have some time with Democracy Cell Project too (I already spoke with Karen Bradley to let her know of my arrival).

I loved my journey from Los Angeles to northern Virginia today. My flight was on a United Airlines Boeing 777 - a plane that is something of an icon to me. The plane's registration was N773UA - the fourth 777 ever built. (I've also been on the third and fifth ones, and I had seen all of them in the final assembly stage back in 1994 during a visit to Seattle.) Sure, I was flying it on a rare domestic run rather than showing up in a faraway city across the oceans, but other than that, I loved the experience. I'm also glad to know that my Premier status results in modest service improvements, including 25% mileage bonus, free Economy Plus seating, and most importantly, no baggage fees. Once on the ground, I took a forced free "upgrade" from a Toyota Prius to a Toyota Camry for a rental car, and checked into a Hilton Garden Inn that's not even 4 months old.

Hoping for a good week (and some photos to upload here).

More Travel Plans

Even before I fly to Toronto, I'll be away for a week. I'll be finding myself in the Washington, DC area.

I have a week there, centering around a 3-day seminar in Reston. Everything is now confirmed, and I look forward to meeting some great people.

I'll be shooting for a dinner with Karen Bradley and Dick Bell of Democracy Cell Project; they had played gracious hosts back in 2005, and I'll be happy to hang out with them again. In the meantime, I'll spend a Sunday in Arlington, where the local Unitarian Universalist congregation's LGBT ministry is run by a very lovely lesbian transwoman, who had contacted and befriended me through Facebook late last year. Back then, there was a 7,000-mile gap, as I was in South Korea, but now I get to bridge that gap and strengthen the friendship (and explore the LGBT life in Arlington).

Also, between this trip, the Toronto trip, and a double Elite Qualifying Miles promotion at United Airlines, I'll have 18,000 EQMs toward the 25,000 required to retain my Premier status next year. The other 7,000 should easily be made up if I make a quick trip to Europe or the Far East later in the year. I'm finding the perks of elite status to be more rewarding than possible free trips, when it comes to frequent flier programs, so I'll play the game as well as I can.

Looking forward to the trip - and to adding to my social life.

Jerry Falwell dead

He used slush funds from the Unification Church to turn Liberty University into a potent force for the evangelical Christians.

He blamed 9/11 on gays, feminists, abortionists, and non-Christians.

He even denounced the Teletubbies because Tinky Winky was "gay."

He's Jerry Falwell, who died today aged 73.

Although he's gone, his brand of hateful Christianity will endure. For example, his Moonie backers in my area are still blabbering his line about 9/11 being the result of the secularization of America. And that will be something I will never forgive.

Now, I need to hear about Sun Myung Moon's passing. He's well into his 80s.

BBC

Two items

First, Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidential election. Although the French presidency is relatively weak compared to American-style presidency, French presidents are far from being nobody. I'll see how Sarko leads France, and if he starts chanting the praises of the W regime and its policies (much along the lines of Angela Merkel of Germany), maybe I should start considering my own boycott of France.

Second, Pat Buchanan is NOT grateful to the Korean immigrants (and many other immigrant demographics) who have supported his social conservatism. He uses the VT shooting tragedy to correlate immigration with mass murder (and loss of American identity). Given the special relationship that they have with the Korean community, the reactionary elements of American society are damned whether they defend the Koreans (as did Fox News), or blast them (as did Buchanan).

More coverage of VT tragedy

I'm reading through many articles today, expressing various opinions on this senseless tragedy. All the flags at half-staff are reminding me of the tragedy again and again.

Here are some articles worth reading:

• New York Times - The likes of Rush Limbaugh are having a field day over this. The right wingers are making fools of themselves again, by vilifying their Korean buddies.
• Washington Post - A Korean-American community activist remarks on overreaction by first-generation Korean immigrants, comparing their collectivist mindsets with the more individualistic American ones. He says the Korean community is as responsible for Cho's rampage as the African-American community was for the DC area sniper attacks - not at all, in other words.
• AP - Cho's profile resembles that of other mass killers, and experts weigh in on his psychology.
  
• Xinhua News - China's Foreign Minister is furious that the media at first rushed to mis-identify the gunman as a Shanghai native, without confirming the details.

Angry Asian Man is collecting these links, and more, from his readers.

"Let It Be Some Other Asian"

It's a cowardly way of thinking, but it was a sad truth. Asian-Americans all wished that the VT shooter would be someone other than their own ethnicity, so that the blame wouldn't lie with them.

Most non-Koreans are breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't one of their own. Most Koreans are paranoid, after Cho Seung-Hui's nationality was revealed.

However, most Americans can't distinguish between Asian nationalities, so all Asian-Americans can expect some flak over Cho's rampage. The saddest part is that if Cho were, say, a white Briton, the British wouldn't have had to worry so much, as the backlash would simply not exist.

Andrew Lam, who has a Vietnamese background, wrote on this phenomenon.

New American Media

Fox News...

It's been mentioned that Fox News absolved the Korean culture from any role in the Virginia Tech shootings.

Such is the sweet reward when you are the most reactionary ethnic group in America, and the only non-refugee one to support the Republicans.

If Fox were truly fair, it would've done some sensitivity reporting on the Muslims, African-Americans, and/or liberals as well.

Liberals on Daily Kos are remarking that a Fox absolution will hurt the Korean community more than it helps.

Daily Kos

Virginia Tech shooting update

Word is trickling in from the tragedy. News reports have identified the shooter as Cho Seung-Hui, a Korean immigrant living in Virginia since 1992.

Now, don't tell me the Koreans are soaking up everything reactionary from America, from its Dominionist Christianity to homophobia to tax evasion/greed to, now, gun culture. It's bad enough that they have already contributed so much to the reactionary politics themselves, in the form of Reverend Moon and the Unification Church. Given that the Korean culture has been demonstrated, here in Los Angeles and elsewhere, to be a deadly one, in the form of the numerous family murder-suicides, perhaps we shouldn't be so surprised at what happened at Virginia Tech yesterday, sad and shocking as it may be.

South Korea will send some diplomats to the US in order to investigate and apologize. They better have apologies for the actions of the Unification Church and its destruction of American democracy, as well.

South Korea's government has also asked people not to "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation" over this. However, it is in no position to make such requests, given that the Koreans have advocated extermination of entire classes of law-abiding American citizens, and South Korea is one of the most racist societies in the world.

And the most sickening thing? While Republicans in Congress displayed a picture of 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammed Atta to make a case for tightening immigration, they will probably never use a picture of Cho to do the same, given how much help they get from the Korean community. Talk about double standards! Already, W and McCain are busy coddling the Korean gun owners.

Back to Virginia Tech, the names of the dead have not been released, though two are now known to be professors, one Asian Indian and one Romanian. This makeup is testament to the diversity of the population makeup on US college campuses, one that demonstrates American schools' quality and attraction to scholars worldwide. But if the W cabal keeps its anti-academic policies up, this will be history too.

MSNBC

Two newsworthy items

First, a tragedy at the Virginia Tech campus, where a gunman killed 32 plus himself. This was the worst school shooting in US history. The saddest tragedy: W was still pandering to NRA first, before offering his condolences. Reasonable safety regulations are needed for guns, and we need to watch what kinds of people get their hands on them.

May the victims rest in peace.

BBC

Second, a longtime (159 years to be exact, counting his ancestors) Republican in Northern California's Yolo County, Pete McCloskey, joined the Democrats, citing extremism by the likes of Gingrich, Robertson, and Falwell. I hope he finds the Democratic Party to be a better, more relevant home, than I, another Republican who switched to the Democrats (then left), did.

Daily Kos