Friday, December 18, 2015

Shopping

There’s a very cool looking shop in Washington D.C. called the Indian Craft shop. Which sells

very interesting Native American crafts, such as Alaskan Native art, basketry, beadwork etc. All

of the stuff in the shop is handmade, and the stores been around since 1938, and still going

strong. All of these crafts, come from all around the world. The shop is located in the U.S

department of the interior. This craft shop is considered historical, because it holds original

murals, they say if you go inside the shop not only will you get to see neat and beautiful artwork,

but you will also be in a learning environment, and will learn a lot about all the different tribes and

what they did and why these certain art pieces were made and for what reasons, because

there’s always a backstory behind art, especially hand made art. This shop holds items from 45

different tribes, I didn’t even know there were that many different tribes, you will learn through the

artwork, what tribes did what because different tribes believed in different styles of art. After you

do your shopping, why not stop and have a nice relaxing dinner at the one and only komi. It’s

greek food, you start off with a small appetizer, and the meal just gets bigger and bigger from

there. Komi mostly consist of seafood such as trout, caviar, etc.But it’s not all seafood, they

have roasted lamb neck. The restaurant has been booming with customers since it first opened

in 2003, and the number of people increases every day. As I was looking up reviews on the

restaurant komi I realized that critics were giving it 4 stars so it must be pretty great, it’s a very

comfortable environment, and it makes you feel at home. I strongly recommend you to stop by if

you’re in the area, because you will not have good traditional greek food like this, this food makes

you feel like you are in greece, it’s very filling, and the workers make sure to treat the customers

like they’re kings and queens they serve the food fast and satisfy everyone's needs, if someone

has an allergy they substitute the thing out for something else. It’s really great.

Secretary of state and district

You would tell us to be prepared for a lot of walking, because there’s a lot of stuff and it’s not all

in the same area, so if we wanted to go around a see everything we would have to walk around

washington a lot to get to our destination, also the buildings are very large and have a lot of stuff

to show, so it’d probably take an hour to stop and look at everything in each building. You would

tell us to not wear a belt or shoes with large buckles because there’s medal detectors there, and

they don’t want us being stopped, thinking we have a weapon on us. You’d probably don’t want

us bringing a lunch because they don’t allow food in the buildings in case of a spill or anything

like that, it’s a hassle to clean up. Dianne feinstein is the senator of the state of california. Barbra 

boxer is the representative of our district. If I wanted to meet up with them and discuss a

topic with them I’d meet them in the town hall, but it would probably take a long time to set up an

appointment with them because a lot of people have a lot to say about california. The security is

going to be inspecting us a lot just to make sure we don’t have weapons on us, and they’ll

probably be standing right behind us while we talk to them in case something gets out of hand

they have to protect the secretary of state and district. If I were to talk to them, i’d just ask them

what they do in their free time. What important decisions do they make, what makes them stress

out the most, do they talk to a lot of people, how many annoying people do they have to deal with,

what’s the most observed thing someone has talked to you about. How long do you have to

serve until they re elect someone else, what is a voter nominated office, how are primary

elections conducted in california. I would have a lot of questions to ask her, because there’s a lot

I don't know about California even though I live there, I didn’t learn that much about the stuff that

goes on in california today, because in history people decide to teach the old stuff and not the

new stuff, the stuff that will actually benefit us for the future.

Reliefs

The relief portraits are located on the walls in the rayburn house office building subways terminal.

I think these images were chosen because all of these men that are on the replies plaques

represent a special part of the government, they’re not just any random guys, each of these men

have done something very important in the government. They were chosen very carefully by

college students who got together, and talked about who they thought deserved to be hanging up

on that wall. so having these men on the plaques looking left and right represents the law. Half of

their heads are turned left, and half are turned right because they’re all facing the full face relief of

moses in the center of the north wall. There is a total of 11 reliefs on the wall. The white house is

a piece of architecture that definitely represents democracy, because it holds a democracy, it

created the democracy, I mean it’s the workplace of the president that’s part of the democratic

party. new pieces of work are constantly being added to the white house, so that’s why I think the

white house represents democracy, because the president is free to do what he wants with his

house just like our democratic government. The second piece of architecture, that I believe

represents democracy is the thomas jefferson memorial, because thomas jefferson was a

democrat, and he helped establish a democratic government. The Thomas Jefferson memorial

is so pretty, the marble staircase just shows how important this is, This piece of architecture

represents our third president, definitely one of our most important as well. A third piece of

artwork that represents our democratic government, is the united states capitol. The united

states capitol represents democracy because it is the seat of the united states congress, and

we all know the congress is democratic just like all of our stuff in government, so when you see

the architecture on this building, you know it represents a democratic government. When I see

all these marble  buildings, and statues as a whole it all represents the democratic government

to me because we live in a democratic country so it’s all democratic to me.

Monuments

The first monument that I find interesting is the Washington monument, because it is the national

mall in D.C. and it was built to commemorate George Washington who at the time was

commander and chief of the continental army, and of course our president, it was built in the

year 1848. The second monument I liked was D.C. war memorial. This piece of artwork is a

memorial, for all of the citizens that served in world war one, and all of their names are written in

there as well. This piece was built in 1924. I like this one because of the pillars and the dome at

the top, it looks really nice, and everything looks really well put together, it just looks peaceful,

there’s no complex thing to it or anything you have to think hard about, it’s just peaceful. The third

monument that caught my attention was the Titanic memorial, this statue is very neat, because it

is made entirely out of marble, and it was made to honor the men that risked their lives for the

women, and children on the titanic as it was sinking, it was created in 1931. When I first saw this

picture, I thought it was a cross, because of the way the guy had his arms out, so i’m assuming

it’s suppose to have a cross to represent that the guys that died in the titanic passed away and

they’re in our prayers now, they’re in heaven. This piece is really pretty. All of the monuments

and memorials you can tell they’ve have had a lot of work put into them, they’re huge statues,

and they all have a good reason for being built. All of the monuments in D.C. are pretty close to

each other, so if you ever go to Washington D.C. you have easy access to the many beautiful

monuments that are all worth admiring. I like how they build these memorials in consideration of

other people, and giving them recognition for what they have done, like fight in world war one or

risk your life for the value of others, without these memorials we would never know the history

behind things like that, so this is a really good thing, and the fact that we have a lot shows that

we care about our citizens, and want people to know what they’ve done for us, and it’s a way of

thanking them for their heroic acts.

Supreme Court

The supreme court works, by first getting a choice in which court case they want to work with,

because they get a lot sent to them, but they get a choice in which one they want to hear. Every

case is optional to them unless it has something to do with the state, and government. After they

hear the case, the nine justices take a vote on what to do with the case, after all the votes are in,

the senior justice writes down the majority opinions that the other justices wrote. The building is

very spacious which dominates the proceedings. There are public spaces for tourist showing the

symbolism of the law like the scale, artwork of people who served before, private rooms, the

building is made out of bright marble which represents that the court is a different branch of

government, it kind of looks like Jefferson and Lincoln memorial. At the temple of justice there’s

blindfolded justice holding a scale of justice shows that the building has something to do with the

law. 2 flagpole bases symbols of law and knowledge indicating that the building has a purpose.

and on the side there is a justice holding a blindfolded justice, and on the opposite side there’s a

justice holding a book with the Latin word Lex on it which means law. All the artworks outside of

the building represent justice. My favorite pieces of artwork in the supreme court building, was

the flag pole bases, I like the flag pole bases because I think it’s cool how they put a bunch of

little characters on such a skinny flagpole, but the characters on there all represent the law. The

contemplation of justice statue is interesting because I find it weird that she’s holding a tiny blind

folded justice, why couldn’t they just put a blindfolded justice up there? and the authority of law

statue because it’s very simple, and I like how it has the Greek word lex on his book which

means law, and the giant pillars make the court look old like it was made in the Greek times, so

seeing the word lex makes it look old like it’s from from Greece. But why couldn’t it be written in

english why does it have to be written in old Greek what is this symbolism?

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Declaration of Independence, and Constitution

 The declaration of Independance and the constitution look very similar, except the

declaration of independance is like an agreement on something, because it has a lot of

signatures, and John Hancocks is the biggest signature on there, but the constitutions is stating

something, the first line says we the people in really big letters, that shows that a group of people

agreed on something and they are stating that. the declaration of independance looks like a

contract that you have to get signed if you want this law to pass. The constitution and the

declaration of independence are both housed in the rotunda of the national archives building in

downtown Washington D.C. The Declaration of independence is important because it contains

the ideals and goals of our nation, the complaints of the colonist against the British king, and it

contains the arguments the colonist explained why they wanted to be free of British rule. The

constitution is important because, it established america's national government and fundamental

laws, and guarantees certain basic rights for citizens. I found my information and pictures about

the constitution and the declaration of independence on google images, and history.com. They

have special preservationist that keep both the declaration of independance, and the constitution

framed and glazed in a fireproof safe, for preservation, and display. The constitution represents

the hopes and dreams of the American people, we have the ability to do whatever we want to a

certain extent without being punished for it. and the declaration of independance represents

freedom. Both the constitution and the declaration of independance both represent freedom

without these pieces of paper, our society today wouldn’t be where it is, we would be held back

from doing things because of the British king, but thanks to the constitution, and the declaration

of independance, we have the ability to do what we want to a certain limit.

The White House

I find this picture of John Fitzgerald Kennedy very interesting, because he looks like he’s


stressed out, in the whole tour all of the paintings of the presidents, or other people throughout


the house looked very formal, but the picture of kennedy, he has his head down and his arms


crossed, almost like he wasn’t ready for the picture, but it was a painting he was obviously ready.


It almost makes you wonder what is he thinking at the time he is posing for this picture. It doesn’t


look like he’s thinking to me because his facial expression looks so sad, but what is he so sad


about? Probably the cold war, the Cuban missile crises, he was an advocate for civil rights, and


white people at the time were probably hating on him for it, etc. So he was probably stressed


over a lot of things. By looking at this picture, I can just tell how stressful running our country


really is.


     I think our founding fathers, built such an impressive home for the presidents, to show


their dominance, and power. For example, when someone has a really nice car we assume


they’re really rich, they feel confident, and it’s a form of power. So when the president lives in a


huge white house it lets people know that he has the power because his house is nicer, and


bigger than a lot of ours, it’s a symbol of leadership, the white house represents leadership and


political freedom around the world. Also the white house is changed all the time to meet the


likings of the new presidents that come in, so it’s constantly changing to fit their needs, they are


the president and they do work and live in there, so they need to be comfortable running our


country. In grade school we learned that the white house is white to cover up the burning of the


house by the british in the year 1814, but it was always white, they just repainted it after the


burning. Since the white house is such a big tourist attraction it has to be big and elegant so the


president can show off his beautiful home, it needs to appeal to the eye’s of the people as well.