http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2013/01/21/david-koon-at-the-obama-inaugural Comments On: David Koon: At the Obama inaugural by David Koon en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Sat, 18 May 2013 01:15:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss changing of the guards, Arlington cemetery, etc. for a little girl it made a lasting impression. And I'm so glad now I never complained. Maybe because we had to get all dressed up back then, but still. It was great.
Posted by Phyllis Britton]]> Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:05:08 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by paralegalgal]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:54:59 -0600 Arkansas Times
Lots of visits to the Smithsonian Institution and other assorted cultural spots like the P.E.I. Museum, Ford's Theater, etc. Opening day of baseball when the President threw out the first ball at a Washington Senators game.

I was living there when JFK was assassinated (he's actually buried in Arlington, Virginia, not the District) and also when Martin Luther King was murdered.

Medicare and Medicaid. The Civil Rights Act. Vietnam War (police action?).

Invigorating, but also sad and sobering times.
Posted by Sound Policy]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:12:39 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by CatMan Did]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:14:01 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Lakeshore]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:31:00 -0600 Arkansas Times
I can relate to the feelings you are describing. In the wee hours of 10/1/10 when my friend Beth and I boarded a plane in Little Rock for the One Nation March in Washington DC, we had no idea what to expect, only that something was drawing us to that place at that time. Both of us had traveled throughout the world, but neither of us had been to our nation’s capital. Later that afternoon when we finally checked into our hotel on Pennsylvania Ave., we couldn’t wait to go out and see what we had only read about or seen on television and in movies. We had no idea what we were about to experience would affect us so deeply.

We stayed out late that night, few words spoken but many tears shed, as we walked on hallowed ground through the monuments and around the capitol following the footsteps of our leaders and ordinary people just like us. It was by far, the most beautiful and emotional place I had ever seen and the dramatic lighting on that dark night brought the sculptures and monuments to life in a way that didn’t happen in the daylight. We were engulfed by the spirits of these people and their history. I knew their stories, but I have never felt their stories like I did on that cold night.

The next morning we joined thousands of people from every walk of life and every state in the nation, as we waked together to the Lincoln Memorial to join in solidarity and profess we were indeed ONE NATION. We were two average girls from Arkansas who suddenly felt like we were part of something so much bigger than our ordinary lives in rural America.

Something about that city that seems to do that for everyone. So David, I do understand your choice of adjectives, and that sometimes, no ordinary words suffice.

http://www.onenationforpeace.org/
Posted by mountaingirl]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:21:20 -0600 Arkansas Times I also loved the Roosevelt and Lincoln Memorials, so moving, what important, outstanding Americans they were....
Posted by Nanc]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:07:31 -0600 Arkansas Times
I've been back several times in the past eight years, but each time a name or two will draw my eye, a name I associate with a friend, and each time grief comes over me in waves. The weight of it does not diminish with the years and I'm really surprised by that. It's been so long ago but seems like yesterday. So many fine young men; so many friends gone well before their time.
Posted by HolyGuano]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:54:19 -0600 Arkansas Times It was just Two years ago that I visited D.C. for the first time, in my forties. I concur with the author and many comments on the sheer awe of all that I saw; history laid out before me. Decades of reading about these things, to see it now in person was, at times, overwhelming. At that moment, it was no longer about money, waste, political fights, etc. It was about all that we once were, are and could be.
Everyone should visit our Capitol, walk around to witness its presence.
Posted by yapperjohn]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:50:54 -0600 Arkansas Times
For pure aesthetic beauty, I like the Jefferson.

Korea was my oldest brother's war and I see his ghost in the wall that reflects those soldiers moving across the lawn---they look cold even on a hot summer day.

I'm not too keen on the WWII memorial, but if those old guys like it, it's good enough for me.

The one that always brings me to tears is "The Wall". After all these years, it still seems like a gaping, black granite wound. Will it ever heal? When I go there, I want to read every name, but settle for reading just a few from every panel. It amazes me that so many names like Billy Joe and Willie Lee and Jaramillo and Mondragon jump out at me. In spite of the draft, it was a war fought in large part by poor southern boys and minorities. Many of the "elites" with names like Spencer and Jeffrey found a way to weasel out of it.

But this is a happy day! I am not going to let thoughts of a stupid war and injustice mar it for me. We are making progress toward that more perfect union.
Posted by the outlier]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:36:46 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by plainjim]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:27:37 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by woopigsusie]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:25:19 -0600 Arkansas Times
And I agree with Big Fun, Dave is a great writer.
Posted by couldn't be better]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:02:09 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by cecil]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:47:37 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Verla Sweere]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:16:41 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by BeachHog]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:14:15 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Pscyclepath]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:59:39 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Big Fun]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:55:51 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by TuckerMax]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:42:00 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by louie]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:28:43 -0600 Arkansas Times