85. Close Your Eyes in D.C.

I’m sitting at a coffee house in Rosarito, Baja, Mexico waiting for my car at the auto service next door. The mechanic, Guillermo, has the same name as my middle name, William. He speaks pretty good English which usually means he grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons from the US. He confirmed this with “I’m a border guy from Tijuana, so I mostly watch American TV.”

I’m doing preventative maintenance because I’m leaving for a week long trip, not by car, but flying . . . to Washington, D.C. I’ve been there twice before for extended visits, one personal and the other with a national program for teachers at the Supreme Court. So both times I’ve been there in June, a warm humid Summer month when the best time to stroll the National Mall monuments was from 10pm to after midnight, especially by moonlight. For me, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the Smithsonian museums, touring Congress and sitting at the Supreme Court listening to their year end decisions in June were all highlights. 

Which brings me back to the Rosarito coffee house. I'm wearing my jacket to begin acclimating to the freezing January weather in D.C. I’m also getting in the mood by visiting the Supreme Court’s weekly online audio downloads of “Oral Arguments.” One can listen live at 10am or revisit previous court proceedings. Today it’s “Tik Tok vs. Garland, Attorney General.” 

With our emotionally divided politics, this is a great exercise because it is only audio. There is no video nor photography of personalities to visually enflame our bias. Without this sensory overload, all one is left with are ideas presented by anonymous lawyers. . . and questions from Justices most of whom you don’t know who is speaking. There are no identifiers, only ideas. No sensory triggers. In this case the hot button issue is whether Tik Tok as owned by ByteDance with algorithms controlled by the People’s Republic of China has any claim to our first Amendment Right of Free Speech within the US. Does it make a difference that other corporations in the US are owned by foreign entities? Without getting into the weeds, it’s a clean warm shower of ideas, arguments, and probes by The Black Robes to seek clarification. 

And to be honest, it's difficult to identify who is speaking. All that is left is the merit of ideas. And the more I listen the more complicated it becomes without the black and white headlines, or a red and blue bolding. And the less of an opinion I have.  I end up with more questions than certainty. There’s nothing to enrage. It’s a warm shower of ideas with a hot coffee mocha. No whipped cream on either. My cup is finished. My car is ready. And I exit the court audio less certain than before, but more appreciative of the complexity of the question. How refreshing is that. 

I leave for the real thing in Washington at the end of the week. I wasn’t lucky enough to score an Inauguration ticket through my US congressman’s lottery, but I will be there. I can still sit on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the far west end of the National Mall and listen to the ceremony on the steps of the Capitol at the eastern end by using my iHeart radio app.

But I do have a ticket to the Washington Capitals vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins, my very first NHL game. And I do have a ticket to the Atlas Center of Performing Arts for a Greek Tragedy/Middle East political theater drama called Ajax. And I do have a ticket for yet another tour of the Capitol and Congress courtesy of my Congressman, Juan Vargas. But because my application was too late I don't have a ticket to the Supreme Court's Oral Arguments. The next best thing is to stand in line at the Supreme Court at 9am hoping to get a live experience within the Court at 10am. What's on the docket after Tik Tok? I have no idea! It doesn't matter. It's a cell phone, video, photography free zone. How refreshing is that. Just minds, voicing ideas. And above the Supreme Court is another court, a basketball court in the same building, just for the staff and Justices. I won't be there, but if I could . . . I'd make a free throw. It seems the right thing to do . . . at the higher court.

I hope to take you with me and give you a front row seat within the warm comfort of your own home and with your own steaming cup of coffee. As with my previous blogs from Albania, Kosovo, the "stans" in Central Asia and the Caucasus, allow me to give you an experience of being there. My goal is to listen and allow you to close your eyes . . . simple reflections on what I discover in Washington without the divisive chatter of visual and social media.

See you in D.C.