The Welcome Ceremony for Prime Minister Koizumi
Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:00 AM to go to the White House for President Koizumi's welcome ceremony at the White House South Lawn. Although I could escort up to 3 guests, the only person that I ended up taking was Jordan Young, my brother's friend from High School who is apparently obsessed with all thing Japanese. I didn't really want to take him but my mom called and said that we owed him a favor since his dad got my brother an internship, so I said what the hell.
Anyways, so I met Jordan outside my dorm room at 6:40 and we walked to the Northwest gate of the White House, because that's where the big security tent was and that's where this woman told me to go after I waved my pass. After waiting with a bunch of Japanese men with cameras and not finding anyone from my office, we decided to head over to the Southeast side. After a long walk and more waiting, we discovered that we were actually supposed to enter from the Southwest side. Realizing that we're now about 20 minutes late to meet the rest of my office, Jordan and I start running the lenght of the White House to get to the right security entrace. Halfway around, a police man stops me and starts yelling at me about how "No one is allowed to pass through here and I will simply have to turn all the way around!"
"This is ridiculous...I'm an INVITED GUEST, I say, showing him my badge."
"Mam, I don't think you understand me" he continued. After a few more minutes of bickering, the man finally conceded, "Fine, why don't you take it up with the Secret Service?" he says in a threatening tone of voice.
So, I put on my damsel-in-distress look and try to flag down a handsome Secret Service guard from across the barrier. I try explaining that I'm an invited guest and that my office is waiting for me, but without even listening to me or asking for Jordan's ID, he looks at my badge and says, "Oh, sorry about that, ma'am" as he opens the gate to let me through, directing me to the correct entrace. A few minutes later, we're at the security gate and all I have to do is once again, wave my badge and I'm through!! And then I walk through a metal detector and before I know it I'm stepping on the grass of the WHITE HOUSE!! It was SO COOL!! And from a distance, you could see the gate where all the regular visitors walk by and it seemed SO FAR AWAY! And we were literally about 100 feet away from the President. And yeah, there were a bunch of people from my office there. I met some racist family from Alabama who didn't shake mine or my black co-workers hand but who did reach out to shake Jordan's hand. The more I heard them talk, the less I liked them. They're extremely white and rich and conservative and elitist and you know that the only reason they've gotten anywhere in life is because of their connections. It's funny--Linda (my black co-worker) and I were talking about that yesterday...about how no matter how hard we try, we'll never be "good enough" for the white southern aristocrats. It's kind of weird because this summer, both socially and through work, I've seen a lot of instances of America as an aristocracy rather than the meritocracy I've always imagined/hoped it to be. I wish I were doing a better job of articulating how frustrating it is to be a minority at these events...but I'm clearly not. Anyways, it was still really cool to be there!!
So yeah, I was reading articles from the New York Times about the event and they were like, "there was a 19 gun salute...ect" and it was really cool because I thought, "I know! I was there!!!"
You know it's weird, when I accepted this internship, I thought I would be helping to create budgetary policies...but this internship has ended up being much cooler than I had anticipated. I've learned a LOT this summer, both about how the government works technically and socially. It's really opened my eyes and helped me see barriers more clearly than I ever had before.
Ok, I'm at work right now and I feel like I should probably do something legit, but I'll update more with PICTURES!
My cousin's wedding is T O M O R R O W!! I can't wait!
Anyways, so I met Jordan outside my dorm room at 6:40 and we walked to the Northwest gate of the White House, because that's where the big security tent was and that's where this woman told me to go after I waved my pass. After waiting with a bunch of Japanese men with cameras and not finding anyone from my office, we decided to head over to the Southeast side. After a long walk and more waiting, we discovered that we were actually supposed to enter from the Southwest side. Realizing that we're now about 20 minutes late to meet the rest of my office, Jordan and I start running the lenght of the White House to get to the right security entrace. Halfway around, a police man stops me and starts yelling at me about how "No one is allowed to pass through here and I will simply have to turn all the way around!"
"This is ridiculous...I'm an INVITED GUEST, I say, showing him my badge."
"Mam, I don't think you understand me" he continued. After a few more minutes of bickering, the man finally conceded, "Fine, why don't you take it up with the Secret Service?" he says in a threatening tone of voice.
So, I put on my damsel-in-distress look and try to flag down a handsome Secret Service guard from across the barrier. I try explaining that I'm an invited guest and that my office is waiting for me, but without even listening to me or asking for Jordan's ID, he looks at my badge and says, "Oh, sorry about that, ma'am" as he opens the gate to let me through, directing me to the correct entrace. A few minutes later, we're at the security gate and all I have to do is once again, wave my badge and I'm through!! And then I walk through a metal detector and before I know it I'm stepping on the grass of the WHITE HOUSE!! It was SO COOL!! And from a distance, you could see the gate where all the regular visitors walk by and it seemed SO FAR AWAY! And we were literally about 100 feet away from the President. And yeah, there were a bunch of people from my office there. I met some racist family from Alabama who didn't shake mine or my black co-workers hand but who did reach out to shake Jordan's hand. The more I heard them talk, the less I liked them. They're extremely white and rich and conservative and elitist and you know that the only reason they've gotten anywhere in life is because of their connections. It's funny--Linda (my black co-worker) and I were talking about that yesterday...about how no matter how hard we try, we'll never be "good enough" for the white southern aristocrats. It's kind of weird because this summer, both socially and through work, I've seen a lot of instances of America as an aristocracy rather than the meritocracy I've always imagined/hoped it to be. I wish I were doing a better job of articulating how frustrating it is to be a minority at these events...but I'm clearly not. Anyways, it was still really cool to be there!!
So yeah, I was reading articles from the New York Times about the event and they were like, "there was a 19 gun salute...ect" and it was really cool because I thought, "I know! I was there!!!"
You know it's weird, when I accepted this internship, I thought I would be helping to create budgetary policies...but this internship has ended up being much cooler than I had anticipated. I've learned a LOT this summer, both about how the government works technically and socially. It's really opened my eyes and helped me see barriers more clearly than I ever had before.
Ok, I'm at work right now and I feel like I should probably do something legit, but I'll update more with PICTURES!
My cousin's wedding is T O M O R R O W!! I can't wait!