Mr. Wolverine Goes to Washington, Part 2

Part 2: "The ground has shifted beneath them"

Monday, January 19, 2009

Two panels Monday morning. A lot of our group skipped both of them, but the foreign policy one sounded interesting to me, and I wanted to get my money's worth.

"If I knew there was going to be a podium, I wouldn't have worn pants."   ~Jonah Goldberg

I knew Peter Beinart and Jonah Goldberg from Bloggingheads. It was odd because Goldberg was the conservative but a much better and funnier speaker. In his opening, Beinart droned on and on and talked about whatever popped into his mind. He was much better in the Q & A. The Q & A did a fairly good job of covering the hot spots: Iran, China, Russia.

Then, Mike wanted to go to the poetry panel with former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. He gave a very Ralph Williams-esque lecture, and it was interesting because it was not about politics.

"'If you dyed your hair black, you'd look just like Al Gore.'"   ~Al Gore

We grabbed our box lunches, ate at the Marriott, then headed back to U-Maryland to hear Al Gore. He gave the expected become-involved and global-warming shticks. They only allowed two questions. I wish, like the guy behind me, that someone had asked him about nuclear power, but no.

As the director of UPIC came onstage to brief us about tomorrow, the audience booed and yelled. The conference, evident from day 1, had been horribly disorganized. The faculty advisors didn't know what was going on, and it seemed like they were making it up as they went along. I guess they were unprepared for the enthusiasm for Obama.

Some of the students were circulating a letter expressing their dissatisfaction. I guess some had been promised a smaller conference or reserved seats on the Mall. I was under no such illusions and tried to enjoy it as well as I could.

The group dynamic was interesting from a political/philosophical perspective. You sacrifice some of your freedom for the security and sociability of the group. I think everyone was frustrated with this at some time or another and the group started to splinter that night.

The first breakaway republic was Teddy. We were heading to this Italian restaurant (Again, a chain. I don't understand it. If you're visiting a city, why not go to a place they don't have anywhere else? We actually ate at a local chain but only because it was much closer to the Metro stop.) when Tedward got a call from one of the girls we had met on the bus ride after Gore. He went to have dinner with them.

Then, Christine, Mike and I left early and headed back to the hotel. I particularly did not want to keep window shopping. We explored the lower floors of the hotel, pretending that we were going where we shouldn't. We went back to my room to play cards. I called Mrs. Wolverine, they left, I went to bed.

Smooth, Grand Hyatt. Really smooth. Stay tuned for the third and final installment.