The Gum Tree for 2005 February 3 (entry 0)

(3) Thu Feb 03 10:54:44 MST Western Return:

Well, it was a long flight on a tiny airplane from Houston and a big hassle from Washington, but Louise and I are back home. Yesterday we had a special treat of taking a guided tour of the Capitol building provided by congressman Matheson and led by one of his staff. Part of the fun was not only looking at the beautiful artwork but also trying to recognize the people in the buildings. On the transport train to the Capitol, we saw Dennis Kusinich (sp?) of Ohio. In the capitol I saw Rick Santorum, and then we had the pleasure to be able to go to the House chambers and watch live house debate. There, Fred Barns of Massachusets was speaking on the Solomon Amendment and Discrimination against Sexual Orientation in the military.

It was neat to see the very room where the President would give his State of the Union Address hours later. The media were laying down their power and communication lines through the capitol building. We weren't able to go to statuary hall because of the preparations for the State of the Union. Funny thing about that hall is that people around would always mistakenly call it statutory hall. I guess that it is difficult differentiating between a statute and a statue.

The trip was an educational experience, and perhaps I will get my very own office in Washington someday as well. I could see Dave Matkin working in Government there and I would be sure to visit often if he did. (hint hint)

Comments:

Posted by Alyson at Thu Feb 03 12:50:17

It is easy to misunderstand Dave's field of study, Public Administration. He isn't studying how to be a politician. He is studying how governments function (or don't). So, he won't ever have an office on Capital Hill. He'll be researching away somewhere in the faculty office of some university. But you are welcome to visit us wherever we end up.

Posted by Joe Walch at Fri Feb 04 20:44:49

Oh, I know. I was just hoping that he would get some big research job in the public sector working for some government body. (The CIA would be cool, but I know that isn't what is going to happen).

I know somebody who got a degree in accounting from Harvard who was working in Nicaragua as a government corruption oversight for the funds that were comming from the U.S. to that country. Perhaps Dave could work as a commisioner of the HUD or Department of the Interior or something like that.

There is always the theoretical part of it working in the universities, but I wonder if Dave would like to do some practical stuff on the national level. He would have to deal with ineffective bearaucracies, though. Who knows where we will end up, but I am sure that we will visit.

Posted by Susie at Mon Feb 07 19:44:56

I remember Public Admin. I got an A!

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