Ted Meinhover

I love the Olympics because it is such a great excuse for commentary to indulge in metaphor.

He rippled over the hurdles. Etc.

If Washington DC is anything, it is a city of immigrants. I myself walk these streets (bike these streets), a foreigner in a foreign land, navigating illogical institutions a diversity of subcultures.

An Ethiopian man, now a resident of DC for more than two decades, manifests his passion for coffee and his homeland in the care with which he personally roasts the beans at his small cafe, Sidamo, on the rapidly gentrifying stretch of H Street NE, just east of the Capitol. Sidamo, a small region of his home country Ethiopia, is recognized as the origin of some of the finest coffee in the world, a claim that I can attest to.

Perhaps on a different level, the physical space within which I do my Good Work is far from a great many of my previous experiences.

Though as different from a St. Paul editor’s office or a student’s apartment in Indonesia, the claimed space nonetheless begins to take take on a bit of its occupiers persona.

Thanks to the NY Times, I can now explain - and relish in - the occasional state of boredom. According to a Health article on Tuesday, August 5th, I may be bored because my brain has “concluded there is nothing new or useful it can learn from an environment, a person, an event, a paragraph.” So if I seem bored during out conversation, no offense…

Also, the Times has doubly blessed me today, as Jane Brody’s article in the Health pages talks about the false dangers, and even the possible benefits, of that wonderful beverage coffee.

Not that I was going to stop drinking it anyway…

Not Apathy, but Ambiguity

“Washington DC: Taxation Without Representation” (the DC license plate), “Someone Else For President” and The American Flag (the bumber stickers).

Americans have been charged, in recent times, with apathy. Someone else will solve health care, a loss of interest in the wars being fought in the Middle East, an outright ignoring of the constant punditry coming from the presidential campaigns.

However, take a look around, and you’ll see the popular culture of America is chalk full of opportunities to express yourself politically. Car bumpers, t-shirts, a bicycle, “I’m carrying a re-usable Whole Foods shopping bag, you plastic bag toting earth killer.”

However, what seems to characterize a lot of what is being proclaimed in logos and statements is not so much apathy, but ambiguity. Mnay people are fine making a statement - though they may be reluctant to take a stand.

The exotic streets of Washington DC become slightly less mysterious with the advent of user-friendly digital tools, such as the blessed Google Map. Follow Ted around the city as he careens between some of his favorite places in town.
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A trip down Massachusetts Avenue, “Embassy Row” as it is sometimes called, is always beautiful, following green Rock Creek, past the many Embassies and Consulates built to convey the grandeur of whatever country is housed within. Sometimes, this trip is even exciting.

In front of the Turkish Embassy, up the hill a bit on Mass Ave, a group of protesters and their friendly counter-protesters gathered, shouting at each other from opposite sides of the street. On the right side (East side of the Avenue), the group held signs proclaiming “Free Cyprus” and “Cyprus Independence.” Across the street, the group shouted and held signs as well, countering the pro-Cyprus crowd with slogans of “Turkey - One Nation” and “Save Our Turkey.” One might wonder whether English is their first language…

Another wonderful art gallery in Washington, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, next to the Red Cross Building, between the White House and the National Mall. An impressive exhibit of politically inspired art, showing a chronological view of some of the impacts that artists have had in American culture and politics.

My bike seat was still full of rain water from last night, though morning sun was beginning to break through the now white and fluffy clouds as I left Glover Park, bound for 1401 New York Ave, early this morning. Needless to say, my butt is still wet.

Obviously, my emails can become pretty… honest, stream of conciouss, at the end of a late night, with a tired body and mind. Hopefully not overly so.

Despite the fast paced excitement of the office, we still make frequent trips to McPhearson Park, a few blocks away from 1401 New York Avenue, to eat lunch in front of the White House. It is usually more interesting to watch the tourists, however, and to be a part of their pictures where we sit at the base of one of the grand statues in the park, than it is to gaze at the marvelous architecture.

One of the most spectacular museums, though hardly known, is the National Building Museum.

The National Cathedral is up the hill from Calvert Street, in the North West of the District, in the green part of town. Towers over everything, glaring down at the nonbelievers.

The ride to downtown each day brings me past the Oak Hill Cemetery, evoking scenes out of Harry Potter as I pass it in the twilight. I have yet to Venture inside, but I’m sure there are some famous people laying under those amazing mausoleums.

Finally, there are some pretty cool bikes in this town. I’m convinced it is someone’s compensation for settling for a bureaucratic job in DC, as opposed to the world of espionage that they had always envisioned.

The architecture of Washington DC has a sort of comforting consistency, certainly not the wonderful chaos of a city like New York or Chicago, though it still manages to make me smile quite often.

This is one of the many row houses, in the Dupont Circle neighborhoods, an area that I find myself frequenting. They’re all there, the same height, indeed, in a row, yet personality the do have.

The Beast has finally donned its new handlebars, as well, after much fiddling. The Profile Airwing bars. Now all we need is some new brakes and some bar tape, and we’re ready to go.