Church

          The Teen Press split up to go to cover different stories, and my group went to the local church.  We didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if it was a gospel church or a bake sale church.  We arrived at an old building.  It looked like it came out of a movie.  Kendall, Sierra, and I waited outside for John until he came and we entered the building. Inside the Church there were two greeters who welcomed us in.  It was definitely different than churches I have been to in the past.  The majority of the attendees were African American.  They had plenty of stories to tell about their many years at the church.

            The service was held in an average chapel, with pews in rows ending where the preacher stood.  A painting of Jesus looked down on you and everyone else. You could see that the church could hold a lot of people but surprisingly there was a small crowd that day.   The sermon started out with us singing hymns and songs about “The Lord”.  People spoke about things going on in the world and they prayed.  They asked for donations and I gave them ten dollars.  The best part was when the reverend gave his sermon.  It was what I call “intense”. He was yelling and sweating, I‘ve never seen someone so into it.  At the pinnacle of his sermon, he stopped, calmed down, and said, “amen”.

           

            

NOBAMA

We were in Martin’s Tavern after an interview with the longest serving waiter when we got the call.  Obama was arriving at Union Station.  We weren’t as rushed as I thought we would be as we exited the tavern.  The team hailed a cab and headed for Union Station.  It was dark when we got there and we were all anxious to see Obama.  The cold punched me in the face as I stepped out of the taxi.  K-9 cops and Secret Service agents were scattered around the front of the train station.  People were everywhere, swarming into Union Station to get a glimpse of our next president.

            The inside of Union Station was packed and the spirit was festive.  People milled around trying to find out where Obama was arriving.  We headed toward the train platforms and the largest crowd.  Our group of kids squeezed through the masses.  We took advantage of our size and made use of every crack and open space, weaving our way to the front.  I was already feeling squished when someone yelled “OBAMA!!!!”  All hell broke loose.  People were screaming and yelling.  The whole crowd surged and was condensed against the glass door that separated us from where the train was to arrive.   The mob became unruly.  My excitement at seeing Obama was mixed with fear of being crushed.  I was packed like a sardine in a can.  The parents finally pulled us out one by one because the situation was dangerous.  We waited on the sidelines, and waited, and waited.  We looked around and realized there where no Secret Service or press.  There was no way Obama was coming this way.  As we were leaving we got a call that he had left in his motorcade.  Nobama.

Ben's Chili Bowl

Ben’s Chili Bowl was one of the many places we traveled to on our first day in D.C.  Obama visited the place after the election to get to know the locals.  The place has a reputation to have the best chili dog on the East Coast and being 100% local.  When we showed up at the joint the first thing that caught my eye was the giant teddy bear sitting outside the restaurant.  It was covered with pictures of all sorts of animals, places, and buildings.  We took silly pictures of us with it while we waited to get into Ben’s.  The place looked like it hadn’t changed in years with colorful signs saying “Our chili makes your hotdog bark,” and “Home of the famous chilidog”.  There were guys in the window cooking up some grub, they were dancing so I decided to join in.  The place was as crowded as D.C. on inauguration day.  Everybody wanted to bite into one of their delicious chili dogs.  They had old-school soul music blasting from a jukebox in the corner.  All of the employees were dancing and singing along.  People were laughing.  You could feel that it wasn’t just the chilidogs that attracted customers.   It was the energy.  We made our way through the crowd and into the backroom where we grabbed a table.  The walls were littered with pictures of famous actors and singers at Ben’s Chili Bowl.  Such as Bono, Denzel Washington, and Dr. Dre.  Ben’s has been around for along time since 1958

The only things people ordered at Ben’s is the chilidog, the chili cheese fries a.k.a “The Clogger” ,  and the chili burger.  We made a mass order of high cholesterol and waited as we sipped our drinks.  Some kids went around asking strangers to say, “Yes we can,” in to the camera, surprisingly everyone was eager to be on film.  They also interviewed a local woman about the inauguration. We got our fries and immediately knew that we were in for a treat.  The fries were covered in piping hot chili and soaked in nacho cheese.  Christian and I ate as fast as we could knowing the fries would get soggy if we let them sit.  They were extremely messy, I will probably have a permanent chili stains on my jacket.  I ate a lot but also saved some room for a chili burger.  The chili burger was a monster.  It dripped onion juice and chili. Almost half the burger was gone before you would get to take a bit into it.  Though it was messy, it was delicious.  After I ate, the group decided to get into the vibe and make a Congo line.  We danced into the front room until the music turned off.  It was really awkward because everybody was looking at us like we were a group of weirdoes.  As we left we got the whole restaurant to say “yes we can” as loud as they could.  People were really excited about the days to come.

I am so happy that I can be a part of history.

Hi, this is my blog.  There is nothing because we leave to D.C. on Thursday.  Hopefully we will have a safe trip.  My team and I are very excited, we are crossing our fingers to get into some Inaugural balls for good interviews.  We are making phone calls everyday and emailing every hour.  All of us a VERY busy.