A Weekend in the Nation’s Capital

Mr. Man and I were invited to attend the ICF corporate holiday party Saturday night in D.C. Mr. Man flew up early on Friday morning to spend the day working in the Calverton office, and I flew up in the afternoon, arriving at my hotel around 3:30pm. We stayed at the Hotel Monaco (this is a very nice boutique hotel for those of you who don’t like staying at the major chains or just want something a little different) located in a great area walking distance to the National Mall and all the museums/monuments.

Located directly across the street is the American Museum of Art and National Portrait Gallery, and I decided to spend a couple hours there. Currently there is a special exhibit at the Museum of American Art showing the collection of Steven Spielberg’s and George Lucas’ Norman Rockwell drawings and paintings. Now, I’m not typically a Norman Rockwell fan, finding his content a little too idealistic—possibly due to my limited exposure to his works, which consists mostly of his Saturday Evening Post covers.  Regardless, I’m able to recognize and appreciate what tremendous talent he had. His drawings in particular were wonderful; well rendered with incredible tone and value. Being part of Spielberg’s and Lucas’ private collections, these are rarely seen pieces and I was glad to happen upon the exhibition.

My favorite piece was “The Connoisseur” (1962) which depicts the back of a gray-haired gentleman in gray suit, hands behind his back, clutching white gloves, white hat and black umbrella; he is standing in front of a very colorful and believable Jackson Pollock painting. The juxtaposition is excellent, black, white and gray tones against color, traditional against contemporary, realistic against abstract.

At the Portraiture Gallery, I happened upon a special exhibit of Elvis photos by Alfred Wertheimer taken when Elvis was 21 years old and still virtually unknown. Wertheimer was able to capture moments in time of the everyday Elvis: at a diner where he easily charms his waitress; at home, relaxed and shirtless; on stage with an adoring audience of crying, screaming females; reading fan mail in his hotel; and, my favorite, a clandestine moment in a darkened hallway where Elvis seduces a kiss from an unknown fan. At the time of the photo shoot, Wertheimer had never heard of Elvis. The photos are an astonishing glimpse into Elvis’ life before he becomes famous.

On Saturday, Mr. Man and I walked several blocks to the National Museum of the American Indian. The design of this building is great, all curves and flowing lines, not an angle anywhere. You begin on the fourth floor and work your way back down. On the second floor is a wonderful ethnic food court with fare from five different regions. It's a little overwhelming; trying to make a decision took a bit of time, but we finally chose to split a buffalo burger, lentils with chorizo, cabbage salad, and cucumber and grapefruit salad. Expensive but tasty.


Ginevra de' Benci c. 1474/1478 

After lunch we headed across the National Mall to the National Gallery of Art where spent a good amount of time perusing paintings from early centuries (favorites of Mr. Man)—including Ginevra de' Benci one of only three portraits painted by Leonardo da Vinci and the only one in the United States—as well as some more contemporary works by Matisse, Pollock, and Rothko (pictured below) among others. We really wanted to spend more time, but after a late night the night before, and a holiday party to attend in a few hours, we decided to head back to the hotel for a nap.

The ICF holiday party was held at the National Air and Space Museum. What a great backdrop to a party for 2400 people. The whole museum was open to us, but we didn’t get far off the main area as every ten feet Mr. Man would be stopped by someone from either the (Macro) Calverton office or ICF (ICF bought Macro about 18 months ago). We hardly ate any food, lines were long and food tables sparse, and we made it to the bar only twice, but it didn’t matter. It was obvious that Mr. Man is very well regarded and we spent the entire evening schmoozing. Then, at 11:00pm, they kicked us out into the cold night where we spent some time trying to hail a taxi. Tired and hungry, we ordered room service and then fell asleep.

A quick aside: On the way home Mr. Man was upgraded to first class and he offered the seat to me, he just rolls that way. While the plane was boarding, a soldier in uniform passed by and after people were settled in their seats, a gentleman in the row in front of me called the flight attendant over to request that she offer his seat to the soldier, who was returning to Afghanistan after two weeks leave—he gladly accepted. This act of respect and kindness has, however briefly, restored my faith in humanity.

A Visit to Nature's Harmony Farm

On Sunday morning Mr. Man and I drove to Elberton, Georgia to pick up our Narrangansett Heritage Turkey. You may remember that I wanted a heritage turkey last year and in September or October began looking for one only to find that you need to order much, much earlier. So, I put my name on a list and right after Thanksgiving last year, put down a deposit for this year’s bird. I’ve been wanting to visit Nature’s Harmony Farm for a while and was excited for the road trip (Elberton is approximately 2 1/2 hours east of Atlanta). We arrived around 10:30am after a couple of wrong turns here and there. We had, of course, brought Marley along (he loves a road trip too and since we were going to a farm it seemed like a no brainer) and no sooner had we approached the area where people were picking up their turkeys than Liz had to run out and ask us to please pick up our dog. I had forgotten that they raise Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD), a cross of Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherds. They are trained to not allow any animal on the farm that doesn’t belong there and as Liz explained, they don't just chase the intruder away, they kill it. No sooner has she told us this than Jethro made an appearance; he is huge, with the top of his head coming to my elbow, but as long as we held Marley he was calm and posed no threat.

We spent some time talking with Liz about how to cook a heritage turkey—very different from how you cook a supermarket turkey. Since the balance between white and dark meat is more balanced, you cook at a high degree for much less time. Our 14.5 lb. turkey should cook in under 2 hours. I promise to write and let you know how that goes. To my delight, Liz invited us to tour the farm and to check out the evisceration lessons that were going on in a nearby processing building. Now this may not be for most people, but Mr. Man and I were not going to let this opportunity slip by. We put the turkey in a cooler in the back of the car and headed over to the processing building. Unfortunately the birds had already been killed and feathers removed, but we were in time to observe both a beginning evisceration as well as one that was already in process.

Narrangansett Heritage Turkeys

Next we headed out across the field (where we were able to put Marley down and allow him to take in all the sights and smells of a farm) to check out those Narragansetts still out on the pasture and the Large Black Pigs. We had seen some along the driveway on our way in and I was curious to get a closer look. They were as curious about us as we were them and came over to give us a closer look. I tried to put my hand out to them, but they briefly smelled me and backed away. Seems the mud was calling to them. I touched the fence and got a little shock, afterwards noting the large batteries connected to them.

Large Black Pigs

After this we went to visit the cows, who were not interested in us, but the two donkeys crazing with them were. After standing for a while and talking to them softly one actually let me scratch him for a little while and then followed me for a short ways when I moved further down the fence line to get a picture of a cow and her calf. Cutting back through the fields we noted the large flock of chickens outside, inside, on top of, and under their moveable tractors. Even though they are free to roam near and far, only a few chickens are adventurous enough to wander far from the rest of the flock.

This is small farm is so inspiring, and Tim and Liz go beyond what is considered organic and humane. According to their website, they use “no artificial fertilizers, no growth hormones, no vaccines, no antibiotics and don't keep animals penned up (which was obvious on our visit). [Their] cattle forage on grass with sheep browsing what the cows don't eat. Chickens follow the grazers, spreading fertilizer naturally, and follow their instincts by foraging for insects and scratching on the ground.” This is real farming, not industrial farming which is cruel and unhealthy, to both animals and people. Check them out, you won’t be disappointed.

Why I am Boycotting Discovery Network

Today is a sad day for me. I’ve decided to put my money where my mouth is and boycott Discovery Network and all its channels. This is hard for me; I love Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC. This means saying goodbye to some of my favorite shows—shows like Planet Earth, Cash Cab, and Myth Busters on Discovery; Pit Bulls and Parolees (I know, I know, but I love seeing Bullys gets a break and find good homes) on Animal Planet; and What Not to Wear on TLC. Why am I boycotting these channels? Because Discovery has decided to pay Sarah Palin $1.2 million per episode for “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” To me, this is a grotesque attempt to put a favorable face on a woman who is no friend to Alaska’s environment or wildlife. Why would Discovery give Sarah Palin a show? It boggles the mind, after all they have great programming. Could it have anything to do with COO, Peter Ligouri’s history with—drum roll please—you guessed it, Fox Broadcast Co.

Shame on you Discovery! Shame on you, shame on you, shame on you. As Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin accelerated the cruel aerial wolf-hunting program, wanting to pay a bounty of $150 for each wolf’s forelimb. I’m sure that won’t be part of the show, but it should be, for that is Sarah Palin’s Alaska! Maybe that can be Episode One. Imagine it, up we go in a small plane with Sarah Palin as our guide, over beautiful snow covered mountains. Wait, what’s that? It’s a beautiful gray wolf, and oh, how precious, her cubs.

BLAM!   BLAM!   BLAM!

What the fuck was that? As the plane turns to make another pass we see the red-stained snow and the young wolf cubs running for cover, but hesitantly, not wanting to leave their downed mother. Pan back into the plane, to Sarah with her smoking rifle and “you betcha” smile. Maybe we can even land and watch while Sarah takes the forelimb as a souvenir of her kill.

In Episode Two, maybe we can go with Sarah to Pebble Mine while they dump cyanide and mining waste into streams that empty into Bristol Bay, home to the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. After all, Discovery, you have to know that Sarah made a personal appeal to Alaskan voters to oppose a ballot measure to stop the dumping. Oh and wait, the show gets even better, perhaps in Episode Three we can follow Sarah to polar bear habitats, those that remain, while she explains why the polar bear should NOT be listed on the threatened species list.  You know of course, Discovery, that she actually sued to challenge this listing.

Episode Four would have to be in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Cook Inlet, home to beluga whales. Sarah can hike us in, in her brand new parka and snow shoes, all the while expanding upon how this beautiful setting would make a great backdrop for oil and gas drilling. Can’t you just see the rigs standing out starkly against the pristine snow?  Maybe she’ll even treat us to her infamous catchphrase, “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

It is irreprehensible that Discovery is making Sarah Palin the face of Alaska, in all her glory (Alaska’s, not Sarah’s) and bounty she provides to the people, animals, and eco-systems that make their lives there.  So, instead of just spouting off at the mouth, which I know I can tend to do, I’m putting my money where my mouth is. I will no longer support Discovery Network or any of its channels by watching its programs. And I hope that you will join me.

A Veteran's Day Tribute

Thursday being Veteran's Day, I sat down to write about two veterans: my uncle, Guy Otto, and my father-in-law, Arnold Cotton, when I realized that I didn’t really know anything about my uncle’s time in the service other than that he was a fighter pilot in the Air Force during WWII. So I did what any sensible person would do, I googled him, and there he was on a website for the 82nd Fighter Group, 97th Fighter Squadron. I thought I’d share a some of his story and wait to write about Arnold another day.

First Lt. Guy Otto joined the Air Force in August 1944 when he was 21 years old.  He flew 50 missions over Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, Czech, and Italy between October 1944 and April 1945. That’s a lot of flight time; just over 244 hours. He took his first flight on his 22nd birthday on October 8, 1944. After an hour-and-a-half in the air he lost an engine in the P-38, but managed to land the plane without incident. Just eight days later he was escorting B-24’s over Austria when he had his first experience with FLAK (anti air-craft gunfire); he later wrote “scary” beside this entry in his flight log, and a couple weeks later he wrote that he “finally got to fire the guns and cannon.”

Some of his missions were to drop chaff (small fibers that reflect radar signals) or escort bombers. In November 1944 he flew his first dive bombing mission where he successfully bombed highways to disrupt troop movement in Yugoslavia. The next day found him on his first Droop Snoot mission to bomb a depot in Oseppo, Italy, and then back to Yugoslavia the following day on another dive bombing mission, which he wrote about in his log as “very harrowing, having to fly down river valleys on the approach to the bridge actually below some of the hilltops where the enemy could fire down on us. This is the worst for the tail end fighter whose job it [is] to take gun camera film of the damage to the target.”


P-38

In March 1945 he was assigned his first squadron lead in a fighter sweep over Zagreb, Yugoslavia. He wrote home that this will “give you gray hairs quickly.” The following day, he was escorting an unarmed photo reconnaissance aircraft in Munich when he was attacked near the target area by a ME-262, a German jet-powered fighter aircraft (the world’s first) considered to have been the most advanced German aviation design during World War II. He wrote that the ME-262 pilot “almost got close enough to be part of the formation, but left when we dropped our spare tanks and turned into him.”

His next bombing mission wasn’t until April 1945 when he spent several days bombing railroad bridges in Germany. On April 8th after bombing a bridge he made a “fighter sweep over some marshalling railroad yards [and] was credited with 2 1/3 locomotives.” He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this mission. Several days later he was again bombing railroad bridges, this time in Austria. When he returned he found that several holes had been blown into the bottom of his plane by the rocks that are thrown up from the bombs, evidence of the dangers involved with dive bombing. He also received the Air Medal and 4 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters—the bronze oak leaf cluster represents second and subsequent awards of the Air Medal (2nd awarded on March 13, 1944; 3rd on April 16, 1994; and 4th on June 4, 1945. I couldn’t find records for the award of the Air Medal and 1st Oak Leaf Cluster).

The Distinguished Flying Cross

Awarded to aviators and aircrew for heroism and/or extraordinary achievement during aerial flight, the Distinguished Flying Cross is the only medal conferred by all five military services, in all wars and campaigns from World War I to the present.

On April 22nd, during an armed recon mission in Italy, Guy’s wingman, Lt. Hollingsworth was shot down after they encountered heavy machinegun fire. They were flying at low altitude over what appeared to be an abandoned government building. Lt. Hollingsworth was captured as a POW and was liberated on Victory in Europe Day.

The Air Medal

Awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the armed forces of the United States, shall have distinguished himself by meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Awards may be made to recognize single acts of merit or heroism or for meritorious service. Award of the Air Medal is primarily intended to recognize those personnel who are on current crew member or non-crew member flying status which requires them to participate in aerial flight on a regular and frequent basis in the performance of their primary duties. However, it may also be awarded to certain other individuals whose combat duties require regular and frequent flying in other than a passenger status or individuals who perform a particularly noteworthy act while performing the function of a crew member but who are not on flying status. These individuals must make a discernible contribution to the operational land combat mission or to the mission of the aircraft in flight.

Guy flew his last mission on April 26, 1945 and was awaiting transportation to the United States when the war ended.