I just got back from a long weekend in Washington DC, a place I visited frequently as a child since my grandparents live there. While I saw them for brunch on Sunday, the purpose of the trip was to catch up with my best college girlfriends, a three-times-a-year tradition we've maintained successfully since 2000.
Because we became friends while working together at the university newspaper, it was only fitting that we tour the Newseum. Just blocks from the White House, the Newseum is an interactive walk through the ever-changing face of journalism, from the printing press to the online world. Exhibits range from Pulitzer Prize winning photos and a large display of front pages the day after 9/11 to an indepth look at how certain events - like the Oklahoma City Bombing - were captured by the media. For newsies like me and my friends, every exhibit was fascinating. We stayed until the lady over the intercom told us to leave.
Aside from the tear-jerking photos and powerful headlines from September 12, 2001, my favorite exhibit was the First Amendment Gallery, which explores how freedom of the press is an essential foundation for which so many other freedoms can stand. Unfortunately, many people don't know what five freedoms we're given in the First Amendment, and so you don't have to Google it, here ya go:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment is also posted outside the Newseum, etched in stone and larger than the building itself. As an American, it fills me with pride to see the words big and bold, and reaching to the sky. As a writer, it gives me courage.
--Jennie
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