A Week in DC

While it’s always good to get out of the office and even out of New York City every now and then, there is a big difference between a vacation and a business trip. I was in hot-as-hell Washington DC for the latter over the past six days and although the job picked up the tab for the entire trip, it is nice to be home and able to sleep in my own bed.

Now before any of my DC friends scream, “How come you didn’t tell me you were in town” it’s not like I had a whole lotta free time. We were having our membership conference with some 1,500 participants. The department I work in manages the gathering and while event planning is not my everyday job, at times like these, everyone in the department is pressed into service. So I hit the ground running last Friday and put in long hours before, during and after the event.

And did I mention how oppressively hot it was down there? Our hotel was one block from the convention center and in that brief walk, in 90 degree temperatures with 100 percent humidity, the sweat dripped freely.

Nevertheless it was a productive conference. There was a large youth contingent present and while I’m not sure how much of the conference specifically focused civil liberties issues into a youth context or what the young people’s reaction to it all was, the fact that they did attend bodes well for further engagement with them in the future. The conference was also the occasion to publicly unveil a major fundraising appeal already underway, which not surprisingly has the right wingnuts quaking in their boots.

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