A little Dubya, Ulster, and Rock and Roll

Ahhhh, my first real weekend in DC! And, let me tell you, I was the consummate DC-er too. Since my weekend starts on Thursdays now, I headed down to the Capitol building after classes to join an immigration rally and lend support to an Ulsterboy friend from Boston. Upon arriving at the rally, I was greeted by a plentitud of signs in Spanish (Justicia para todos! Somos America! and the like) and heard a respected Asian-American California congressman address the crowd in surprisingly decent Spanish.

Now, I am all for immigration reform -- after all, my family made it to this country on dubious papers and worked their asses off, just so I could be here, blogging about it you. But I'm saddened on two counts that the loudest voices for immigration reform are in Spanish. I'm sad because it gives the impression to the less-informed public that reform is all about Latinos (which most people read as Mexican). And I'm sad because it means all the other contributing souls who speak Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese aren't speaking loud enough or aren't being heard. I know Latinos are the largest immigrant population in the U.S., but immigration isn't just about one race or one country, folks.

But seeing as America is full of contradictions anyway and I speak more Spanish than Chinese, I joined in the shouts -- "Bush, escucha! Estamos en la lucha!" Not that Congress is going to put immigration back on the ballot during an election year. God forbid a politician should risk his or her campaign by actually doing the job we elected them to do.

Mmmkay, enough with the cynicism. The rest of the weekend was filled with a tour of the White House (pssst, no more guided tours there evidently), a visit to the trendy area of Eastern Market, dinner with the Gang of 100, and a sloshy, gin-and-tonic filled evening at the new Rock 'n' Roll Hotel. [The Gang of 100 is how I'm referring to my MBA classmates. And yes, that's because there are about 100 students in the class, Sherlock.] The Rock 'n' Roll, by the way, is a great spot, although it's out of the way. I should be grateful that it's out of the way, otherwise I never would have met Matt.

Matt drives a blue Toyota Prius. And he picks people up along H St in the Atlas District and drives them to Union Station for free. That's right. For free. I don't quite understand it all, but the RNR bouncer spouted off a phone number for me, I made the executive/ginned-up decision that I should call it, and lo and behold, Matt in a blue Toyota Prius showed up. I wonder if that bouncer has a number for handsome, built, well-paid, single men with character and integrity who want to sweep me off my feet and take me out for Belgian mussels at that bistro in Eastern Market....

But back to Matt. With an Asian, an Ulsterboy, a Ghanaian, a Mormon and a Chicagoan in his car, Matt was as friendly a driver as I've ever encountered. Never one to miss an opportunity, I asked Matt if he ran his own business (which he did) and whether he might like to be on the receiving end of a marketing plan created by a group of GW business students (which he did). Who knew I could get marketing homework done on a Saturday night, while getting a free ride at 2am for me and my friends with a man I'd never met before?

I'd say my first real weekend in DC was a success.