Blogging on the Powwow

It was a pretty quiet morning in the office today. One of the higher-level staff in the Senate office where I work came into "my" end of the long office and said, "Voigt..." (speaking to a law fellow near me) "and Douglas... Want to go to the Senate floor?" The Senate floor?!  "Yes! Of course!" I turned around from my desk to look at him. He was putting on a suit jacket and had a tie, untied, draped around his neck. He seemed a little agitated; he was in a hurry. "Okay, then. The Senator is over there now getting ready to speak and he's going to give you floor privileges. Are you wearing a suit jacket?" He paused to look at me. "Yep, you are. Women  are required to wear a jacket on the Senate floor. You're all set. Let's go. I'll explain the rules on the way." Then we were off! We followed him, as he tied his tie, down to the basement of the Senate office building, onto the Senate train to the Capit

It's been over two weeks since my last blog post. I really should be prepping for the class that I am teaching that starts tomorrow, but like all academics I know, I can put class prep off indefinitely. Heck - if I can't improvise in the classroom after 13 years of teaching, then what am I doing there anyway, right? The fact that I have taught this class, or a class like it, three or four times means that I should  essentially be a pro by now. We'll see if I'm feeling like a pro when my class starts tomorrow at 9:00pm. Yes, that's right, a 9:00pm class. Thank goodness it's online. Did you hear about those classes that Bunker Hill Community College was offering at 11:45pm-2:30am ? I can't imagine. But, I digress. So much has happened since I last blogged on November 1. Little did we know about the upset that we would experience in the presidential election. I'm reluctant to say too much about that because of my current position. So, I'll tal

One of the things that has interested me most about being in Washington and working for Congress is that proximity really matters. Even in the world of technology and alternative forms of communication, people want to sit down, face-to-face, to discuss matters that are important -- and to try to convince staffers why it should matter to them as well. I have been surprised at how far people will travel to convey their messages to Congressional staffers in a room that is no bigger than 5x5 feet. The layout of Capitol Hill just reinforces this propensity. I am still astonished, daily, at how close together everything is in Washington. Look at the map below. In the center outlined in pink is the Capitol building. Below that in purple, are three House office buildings, (the map is only showing one, but there are three), where all of the Congresspersons have offices. Above, outlined in orange there are three Senate office buildings. Finally, on the right, in blue, is the Supreme Court. Wal