A Writer Goes to Washington, D.C. - Part 3

And speaking of Hamilton...

The guy is all over D.C.

At Mount Vernon

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

The National Portrait Gallery

Couldn't resist

Isn't it amazing someone who was unfairly not much more than a mental footnote in our history lessons is now a super star!

There are HAMILTON clubs at junior high and high schools. Kids are drawing fan art of Alexander Hamilton and other characters from the show. I've heard raps ala HAMILTON on a myriad of historical figures by students who are invested in learning history. A must read is the amazing YA novel, Alex and Eliza, A Love Story by Melissa De La Cruz on our hero and his love. 

I've been listening to the score since the day it came out. I do a really good George III.

In a few weeks, I will FINALLY get to experience the show.

History has its eyes on you, indeed!

Any other HAMILTON aficionados out there? Have you seen it? 

If you haven't seen the PBS special on the making of HAMILTON - you're in for a treat. 

A Writer Goes to Washington, D.C. - Part 2

Another stop on my "never seen it before" Washington, D.C. trip was Mount Vernon - you know, the ole Washington place.

Officially wowed! The sense of history is palpable and the grounds ain't too shabby either. 

I might exercise more if I could get my steps in looking at scenery like this. Not a bad view from the back porch either!

I enjoyed super delish peanut and chestnut soup at the Mount Vernon Inn restaurant where I met a tour guide for the "Enslaved Persons" tour. Her expertise and passion for that piece of history inspired me to take the tour. I learned more during that hour than in all the classes I've ever taken on American history. The insight to the individuality of each enslaved person who lived at Mount Vernon was enlightening and thought provoking. It saddens me that history is taught in schools far too often as dates and events. It should be told as the story of the people who created and experienced those dry facts and data.

Lin Manuel Miranda got it right when he gave us HAMILTON! 

At the end of the tour we stopped at the enslaved persons memorial. 

I was fortunate enough to take place in a memorial service and read the biography of one of the Mount Vernon slaves as a remembrance. At the end of the reading of the biographies, a musician played the fife. When he finished he looked up and saw that the leader of the school group attending the memorial was someone he knew. He invited the man up to sing. 

I have never heard a richer, more soulful voice in my life. The tour guide sang "Let My People Go." When he finished the forest was silent. Tears were streaming down everyone's face, including the sassy group of teens he'd brought to Mount Vernon.

I went to Mount Vernon for history, and left with a spiritual experience.