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...

Anyone who reads my blog or who knows me in person know that I am serving as a Congressional fellow this year, living and working in Washington, D.C. In my "real life," I am an academic - a profession that, when it is not killing me, I dearly love. I am also a community-level oboist who still practices giving a tuning pitch, just to make sure I've got it right before I head to rehearsal. And, of course I am many other things, too...spouse, step-mother, aunt, daughter, and so on. But, today? Today I was a social activist. It started with an email that I received last night that was sent to all of the current AAAS policy fellows . It contained a Facebook link to a protest today at the White House, in response to our new president's actions banning Muslims from seven different countries, from entering the United States . I opted not to attend the Women's March last weekend and I could see that I missed out. I didn't want to miss out again. So, even though I...

Over the past few weeks, I have been live-streaming many of the Senate confirmation hearings for the nominations for cabinet positions. In fact, most Senate committee staffers are running around saying, " 'Noms' all the time..."  They look exhausted! It's fun to live-stream the hearings at my desk, because everyone else is doing that, too. When a Senator or a nominee says something outrageous, there's a ripple of "Oh my gosh!"  that runs through the office, followed by almost as much processing as one could find at a social work faculty meeting. Almost. (If you want to see such a recent exchange, click here , but I will not comment.) Today, I attended a hearing in person. Now, I have never been described as a timid person. Let's face it, I'm a front-row-hand-in-the-air-let-me-speak-now kind of person. But, in the Senate, I have a tendency to hesitate. I've heard stories about fellows and staffers over-stepping their bounds and hav...

Today, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I decided to run to the MLK, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. It's a seven-mile round-trip run, which is a nice distance. I forgot that the mall is in a state of transition as the city prepares for the inauguration of our incoming president, Donald Trump. (I had to pause before I typed his name.) The transformations are beyond what I ever imagined. Here are pictures of what the mall looked liked this afternoon.  Here you have the Capitol. The inaugural stage is all set. The flags are hung. Yesterday they had a rehearsal for the inauguration. It sounds like it's a done deal. It's really going to happen. There was a tremendous police presence at the Capitol today. No one was smiling, either. Very serious business to guard the Capitol right now. (I did see a police officer get a hug, but otherwise , everyone was much more serious than I normally see in Washington.) There are tents everywhere, equipment and supplies. ...

Tomorrow is the big day! It is vote-a-rama . (In truth, I have seen this described as vote-o-rama , too. Not sure which spelling is accurate.) As you might have heard, the Senate is debating a budget resolution right now , where the goal is to "repeal" the Affordable Care Act. I use quotation marks around the word repeal,  because in fact, the Affordable Care Act cannot be taken off the books, but the funding to it can be shut down. In other words, it can be de-funded. The budget resolution that is being debated does not become law. Instead, it is a guide for what the will happen when the budget reconciliation is put forward in the spring time. That does  become law and the goal is for the budget resolution to send a strong message about what will happen with the springtime bill. The budget that is being examined right now is only about the Affordable Care Act and other health-related measures. The budget reconciliation will be the budget for the whole country. What does t...