Blogging on the Powwow

No, that's not a typo. It is  cr aa zy on "the hill." Actually, it might even be cr aaa zy! What an insanely busy time for everyone here. Even my workload has ramped up and I find myself rushing to carry out my tasks before the clock strikes 6:00pm, which is when I turn back into an academic for a round of evening work. This morning I took my usual route on my morning run, down North Capitol NE, straight into the U.S. Capitol. It's stunning, no? But, as soon as I arrived on the grounds I could see that things were different than usual. There was a significant police and Secret Service presence around the Capitol. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but then I remembered the president's first speech before the Joint Session of Congress tonight. As I ran around the National Mall I saw that fences, gates, and barricades had been put back in place, as they were for the inauguration. That's a lot of security to take care of in this one city. Stagge

I'm sitting at Logan airport as I write this, headed back to Washington. A combination of meetings near home and the long holiday weekend kept me away from Congress for about a week. Somewhere during this time I realized that this is half-time for me. In about six months, I'll have completed my fellowship and I'll be getting ready to add another 500 miles to our Toyota Camry as I transition back to life on the Powwow River. (Is this where I point out that our 2007 Camry has more than 315,000 miles on it or should this information come later in this unstructured post?) Half-time. How did I get here so quickly? And, what do I think I'm doing writing a post that is titled "Half-Time" anyway? Let's be clear, I'm not even sure what half-time is. I know that it is the halfway mark in a football game. It is also when entertainment is available for spectators. But, that's pretty much it. I don't think that other sports have half-times, do they? B

I think this past week in the Senate went by more quickly than any other week of my fellowship so far. There was a lot happening in the White House, in the Senate, and I was still trying to shake that chronic cough that had settled into my lungs. Let's face it - has there ever been this much excitement around a president? I'm sure there has, but not in my lifetime. That, I am sure. A week ago today we were learning about the ban on immigrants from seven Muslim majority nations. Lawsuits were being filed, protests at airports were taking place, and last Sunday I participated in a White House protest-turned-march to the Capitol over the ban. If I've said it once, I've said it one-hundred times. Richard Nixon never looked so good. I'm not even sure what happened on Monday; it's all a blur now. Tuesday morning I gave a video presentation for a colleague at the University of New Hampshire about fatal child maltreatment, so I got into the office late that morni