Today was the first day that we did not have a seminar or meet with the entire student group here. Instead, we went to the Newseum. The museum was composed of major media mile-stones and pieces of media history. There were two specific sections that caught my eye: the 9/11 and FBI sections. The 9/11 section had the front pages of well over one hundred different news papers world wide which had the different headlines of the day after the towers were hit. There was also a piece of one of the towers in the exhibit as well. It was the radio tower off of the very top of one of the buildings. It was a sad reminder of the devastation that happened that day, seeing the twisted and warped steel. The FBI section was very interesting as well. It had different possessions from major gangsters and mobsters that were caught during the early days of the bureau and the “G-Men.” It also had a section on the DC snipers and a recreation of the car trunk that they shot through. Along with this, there was sections on the Wako, TX and Oklahoma City bombing. I thought it was very well done and the building was extremely modern and open. The most interesting part that occurred though was a protest that happened within the museum. Ten or so people had been able to sneak in a banner and wore sweatshirts under their jackets that displayed their mission: bring Cheney and Bush up on war crimes. They had a very well planned operation, as five people took a banner to the second floor and draped it over the railing while two or three people went to over floor, 1-6, and started yelling their message. It lasted for about 5 minutes before security broke it up and they were moved outside. It was effective on their part regardless, as they did get everyones attention. Very interesting day.
