On my last week of school, a Medill Alum invited us to see a taping of Nightline. She’s a producer there.

We watched George Stephanopoulos interview a military couple in Fort Hood. Then he said what’s up to us in the control room.

We also checked out their offices and their edit bays.

…and this is the first podium used by Ted Kopple on Nightline.

levar_npc

Originally uploaded by queenkv.

On my last day of class, I headed over to the Press Club to see LeVar Burton talk.

I’m such a trekker…

Joan covered the event as part of her in-depth package on the state of PBS. I just wanted to snap some pix of the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise….I was also darn tickled when I ran into him at the elevators:

“Hi. How are you doing?” Burton asked me.
“Good.” and the elevator doors closed. All by myself, I started jumping up and down in the elevators. I was tickled.

On my last week of school, a Medill Alum invited us to see a taping of Nightline. She’s a producer there.

We watched George Stephanopoulos interview a military couple in Fort Hood. Then he said what’s up to us in the control room.

We also checked out their offices and their edit bays.

…and this is the first podium used by Ted Kopple on Nightline.

potluckprintdivas

Originally uploaded by queenkv.

Thank you Elana, Helena and Joan for hosting this fab get-together…..To all the folks who went and didn’t skip down - you rock!

From the e-mail invite:
“…If you go to the Press Club instead, we’re telling Elmer to cut you off.”

Broadcast Divas - Joan and Kris!

Ron made some yummy pate….

apparently…Ron had a cookbook on pate dishes…

Kids from the Winter 2004 Intro class….at Medill….we’ve come a long way from Evanston….the winter weather sucked.

Lexi made cupcakes.

she added green sprinkles for St. Paddy’s day…

Brian’s contribution to the potluck…

Suzelle, Tequia and Kris!

Chuck checking out the sweet 16 hopefuls…..this was his last night in the States - before he heads off to Paris…lucky.

Lauren - global diva - and Kris!

Pauline and Kris….bumping up the diversity quota in this class…. ok - sorry for all the pix of “…and Kris.” Mark said I take so many pictures that I don’t end up in them. He pointed out that people may think I never went to DC….or any of these parties…or have journalism friends…

London-partners-in-crime - Andrea and Kris!

cake_cut

Originally uploaded by queenkv.

On our second to last day of classes - the professors brought in cake and champagne into the newsroom….ok - it should be called ’sparkling wine’ - since the alcoholic stuff wasn’t made in the region of Champagne, France.

Still…students pulled themselves away from their computers and stories….and joined the news bureau for toasts to the quarter and to each other.

One big happy family…

Some folks were still filing stories for their stations and papers. Some broadcast reporters just got back from the baseball hearings on Capitol Hill.

How many cameras do you need to cover a cake and champgne party at Medill?

Mary cutting the cake.

Ben, Chuck and Suzelle eating the cake.

Class picture - with students from the print AND broadcast side

colonial_church

Originally uploaded by queenkv.

Last Saturday, Steph, Mark and I drove down to Williamsburg, VA. They have this recreation of a colonial town…from colonial times.

In the post office - they have this book on pictures of Williamsburg - during different decades. Back in 1922 - it looked like a suburb. Then the townsfolks figured they could make the place a tourist trap and rake-in the tourist bucks. So, they got rid of the modern-day street traffic on Duke Gloucester. They forced people into colonial costumers. They renovated a bunch of buildings to their colonial glory….

In case you couldn’t figure it out…this is a colonial church…and it still has worship services going on.

Here’s Steph taking a picture of a Colonial Courthouse….they still hold mock trials for our tourist viewing pleasure…

This colonial dude told us they have a variety of trials…you could also be arrested and tried for skipping church.

Colonial confusion? perhaps…

Williamsburg people love hawking their colonial wares….these are birdhouses…done in the colonial style….colonial stuff is expensive in Williamsburg - we found a teapot going for $108 (American).

This all that remains of a colonial Starbucks…according to the notes - this coffee house was more of a hang-out for Colonial men, than the taverns and pubs. I had a colonial chai tea latte at a tavern across the way. Not only do folks dress up in the colonial garb - they speak with the colonial accent: “Good day to you!”

After Steph ordered her colonial tea…the server traveled back to the present and started speaking with a VA drawl.

Williamsburg used to be the capital of Virginia…in colonial times. One colonial character told us they moved the capital away from Williamsburg because folks thought it was too vulnerable of location - being surrounded by bodies of water and stuff like this. During colonial times, the governor (appointed by the King) and the House of Burgesses (reps to the different provinces) met in this building.

Here’s the colonial jail….one mom told her kid: “Let’s go inside the jail!” The kid replied: “I don’t want to go to jail!” The mom promised they would be able to get out of the jail after going inside….

Colonial horsepower….the horses got swamped by a visiting cheerleader squad…guess the team name…

“The Colonials….”

oldtown

Originally uploaded by queenkv.

Last Sunday, Mark and I drove down to the historic old town - Alexandria. It was a favorite hang-out place for George Washington and Robert E. Lee.

A bunch of the buildings and street names are from colonial times. Plenty of modern businesses flourish here as well - from Starbucks to GAP.

Some nice classical music for our stroll through Old Town.

Somebody lost a shoe in Old Town Alexandria.

The Torepdo Factory is a three-story building filled with artists’ studios. Folks can wander in and see the artists at work. Mark enjoyed petting a little black dog chilling with his painter. The dog ended up padding back to his owner and sitting at her feet, while she painted waves.

The staircase inside the Torpedo Factory is covered with artists’ works.

Fire away…

We parked our car by the White House and walked down to the National Mall…saw a bunch of monuments and memorial…Steph said we must have walked at least 5 miles - from the Lincoln Memorial to the Jefferson Memorial…I know…that’s a lot of walking for a little bear like Andre.

On our way to the mall, we passed by the FDIC….your bank better be insured by these people.

First, we visited the Vietnam War Memorial.

The causalities of the Vietnam War was in 1959.

The memorial was designed so that the first year of the causalities will intersect with the last year of recorded deaths. The memorial forms a giant ‘V’.

Visitors can look up the names of the American soliders who died during the war…or who passed away due to injuries from the war. There are these huge binders - scattered throughout the memorial - and they list the names, ranks, location of the soliders’ names. The park rangers will also do a pencil sketching of the names, by request.

Then we visited the Korean War Memorial….after visiting the war memorials, I let Andre get some fresh air, at the Lincoln Memorial.

ANDRE HAD A LOT OF STAIRS TO CLIMB AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.

MOMMY GOT THIS SHOT OF THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND THE REFLECTING POOL FROM TOP OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL STEPS.

MARKIE TOLD MOMMY THAT HE SHOULD SELL PENNIES AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL. MARKIE SAID HE WOULD SELL THEM AS “MAPS” TO THE MEMORIAL.

ANDRE WANTED TO SIT ON LINCOLN’S HEAD. MOMMY TOLD ANDRE DON’T DO THAT.

MARKIE TOLD ANDRE LINCOLN’S HANDS SPELL OUT ‘A’ AND ‘L’. THOSE ARE THE PRESIDENT’S INITIALS.

ANDRE SAW LITTLE KIDS RUNNING IN FRONT OF THE ‘FOUR SCORE…’ SPEECH.

MOMMY SAID THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL LOOKS PRETTY. ANDRE THINKS WE WALKED TOO LONG TO GET TO PRETTY MEMORIAL.

BEFORE THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL…MOMMY AND MARKIE VISITED THE FDR MEMORIAL. MOMMY READ IN HER BOOK THAT PEOPLE WERE PISSED OFF THE MEMORIAL DIDN’T INCLUDE AN IMAGE OF THE PRESIDENT IN HIS WHEELCHAIR. SO THEY ADDED THIS STATUE.

ANDRE LIKES THE DOG.

MOMMY THOUGHT IT WAS FRICKIN’ COLD AROUND THE WATER.

THERE WERE A LOT OF STUDENTS VISITING THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL. ANDRE THOUGHT THEY WERE TOO LOUD.

MOMMY TOOK MARKIE AND ANDRE BACK TO THE CAR. THE CAR WAS PARKED NEXT TO THE WHITE HOUSE. THE WHITE HOUSE LOOKS PRETTY AT NIGHT.

MARKIE TOOK MOMMY AND ANDRE TO CHINATOWN FOR DINNER. MOMMY DIDN’T WANT BEER. SO ANDRE DRANK BEER WITH MARKIE.

ANDRE HAD A GOOD DAY ON THE MALL.

Andre was annoyed at being left at home when Louie skiing….but Andre also bitches about cold weather…he’s a Cali bear after all.

So this weekend - we took a tour of all the DC tourist traps…I mean memorials and stuff….

ANDRE TOLD MOMMY TO TAKE HIM OUT THIS WEEKEND. ANDRE TOLD MOMMY WE SHOULD VISIT THE PRESIDENT.

ANDRE DOESN’T LIKE BARS AND GATES.

ANDRE COULDN’T FIND THE PRESIDENT.

The box office diva spoke at $28 NPC lunch. Her remarks aired on CSPAN….The Medill News Service also shot the luncheon…we actually have one network interested in using our footage.

She was introduced as the Academy Award winner (Girl Interrupted) and as the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

She said to bear with her…the flashing cameras made her nervous.

Jolie spoke about her visits to refugee camps all over the world. She talked about the difficult experiences refugee children encountered when applying for asylum in the United States. Many young victims are interrogated by American officals about being abused, raped and witnesses to brutal murders.

She sounded really sincere about her mission. It’s nice to see famous people do some good in the world.