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Attacked by Squirrels and Neoclassicism: Thoughts from Places, Washington D.C.

2012-10-09 · documentary visit · John, Sarah Urist Green · 3:44 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: recurring series, on location, guest or collab

In a Thoughts from Places visit to Washington, D.C., John tours the Ai Weiwei opening, the National Mall's neoclassical monuments and free museums, and concludes that, whatever one's mixed feelings about US history, the United States is just getting started.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting (Good morning, Hank, it's Tuesday)

00:00:04 — Back in D.C.: Sarah's Ai Weiwei 'According to What?' opening, sculpture park, the squirrel attack

  • ★★ John says a couple of weeks earlier he met 1,800 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and returned on Sunday for a quieter day. — 00:00:04
  • ★★ John says Sarah is organizing a stop on the tour of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's show 'According to What?', and they came to its American opening. — 00:00:12 · Sarah Urist Green, United States
  • ★★ John says Ai Weiwei could not attend the opening because the Chinese government refused to give him a passport. — 00:00:19
  • ★★ John says a squirrel 'inadequately afraid of humans' approached him on a park bench while Sarah fed him popcorn, and that they briefly went back to the hotel so he could recover. (playful) — 00:00:37 · Sarah Urist Green

00:00:59 — Neoclassical architecture of the capital: church-forts, the Department of Agriculture and its lone bird

  • ★★★ John says the capital's neoclassical buildings look like something between a church and a fort, which he guesses is what governments are. (hedged) — 00:01:07

00:01:38 — Washington Monument staring at the Capitol; World War II Memorial; Lincoln born ten years after Washington died; the tour bus

  • ★★ John notes the Capitol and the Washington Monument stare at each other, the monument's red aircraft lights making Washington look disapproving of Congress. (playful) — 00:01:38 · United States Congress
  • ★★ John says that although Washington and Lincoln seem to belong to different epochs, Lincoln was born just ten years after Washington died. — 00:02:10

00:02:23 — The boat-car and its inventor Oliver Evans

  • ★★ John says the inventor of the boat-car was the American Oliver Evans, who designed the first steam-powered amphibious vehicle in 1805. — 00:02:25 · United States

00:02:38 — National Museum of American History: near-constant war for 250 years; Sarah's mixed feelings

  • ★★ Sarah Urist Green: Asked before and after the museum, Sarah says her feelings about American history and the United States are mixed. — 00:02:43 · United States, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John reports an exhibit at the National Museum of American History explaining that the US has been at war to some degree pretty much constantly for 250 years. — 00:02:47 · United States

00:03:04 — National Gallery of Art; free access as the living American ideal; the US is just getting started; sign-off

  • ★★★ John notes everything they did that day was free to all, and argues that inside the neoclassical 'temple-fortresses' the American ideas of equal opportunity and equal access still live. — 00:03:12 · United States
  • ★★★ John says he shares Sarah's mixed feelings about US history but feels it is too soon to say: for better or worse, the United States is just getting started. (hedged) — 00:03:27 · United States, Sarah Urist Green

Humor (significant)

  • A squirrel approaches John on a park bench while Sarah feeds him popcorn. — 00:00:47

    “Squirrel... I am a threat to you!”

  • John imagines the triangular-faced Washington Monument glaring at Congress with blinking red eyes. — 00:01:58

    “YOU ARE NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND.”

  • John tries to contemplate that Lincoln was born ten years after Washington died, and a tour bus drives through the shot. — 00:02:19

    “TOUR BUS, I AM TRYING TO CONSIDER THE RELATIVE YOUTH OF OUR NATION,”

  • Having asked Sarah her feelings on American history ('mixed') before the museum, John asks again after leaving. — 00:03:03

    “Still mixed.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: neoclassical architecture · United States · Washington, DC

Also: People: Abraham Lincoln · Ai Weiwei · Alexander Calder · Chuck Close · George Washington · Jackson Pollock · Oliver Evans · Roxy Paine · Sarah Urist Green

Works: According to What? · Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn

Organizations: Government of China · National Gallery of Art · National Museum of American History · United States Congress · United States Department of Agriculture

Concepts: American Dream

Places: National Mall · United States Capitol · Washington Monument · World War II Memorial

Characters: Dumbo

Only in the description or credits: Lincoln Memorial · Thoughts from Places

Also centred on Washington, DC: Brotherhood 2.0: June 22: The Senator · Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC

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