Where Everybody Knew My Name: Part II the Hawk n' Dove

When I was an intern Washington DC I had a unique experience. I was the first congressional intern to be sent from Dixie State College, and, unlike most interns, was not there as part of a school program. I had to find my own housing and ended up living alone. I had a studio apartment on Capitol Hill on the corner of Independence and Maryland. It was a short walk to my office on the House side of the hill in the Longworth House Office Building. I was however for the first time in my life with out any preexisting social network and totally alone. When I was in the MTC one of my best friends was there at the same time this provided some sense of home. When I went to the mission field I had the district I had just spent three weeks in confinement with. When I was inside the Belt-Way I was alone.

For the first three weeks I explored the city on my own. Maggie came to visit on two weekends, along with friends from California, and a former co-worker of mine who was visiting a girlfriend in Maryland where my only previously known contacts. I did have two friends who were also there for an internship he worked on the floor above me, but he was married and living in Virginia which made casual engagements harder to arrange. For the most part I was alone. I would leave work and explore a Smithsonian museum, walk the great monuments to democracy. I would take sojourns to Arlington National Cemetery stare into the eternal flame that reminded me of the New Frontier and the passing of the torch to a new generation of Americans .I read the words of a little brother who sought to end poverty, and walk the rows of crosses and contemplate sacrifices made by those who came before. It was a great time to find myself and realize what matters most to me. However, in a city that thrives on networking, I wanted human contact beyond my office walls.

This happened at the Hawk n' Dove. I fell in with a group of fellow interns working at various senate and house offices, research groups, lobby groups, and various government agencies. The Hawk n' Dove is the kind of bar I always pictured being in Washington DC. The place where the debate carried over from the cloak rooms, halls and floors of congress to the bar stools, pool tables, and dance floors of DC night life. There was always discussion of the day's events, the latest scandals, and what was happening in "our members" various committees. One of the rules of the Hawk n' Dove was that you never talked about who you worked for by name, per chance the opposition was listening in at the next table. You always used the words "my member" when discussing you day job. It created a wonderful sense of importance.

The bar was long and dark with pictures of politicos past, campaign bumper stickers from across the country (I contributed one from Zion I had, and one with Brain from Pinky and the Brain saying "Put A Brain in The White House" raising his hands in the famous Nixon peace signs) and neon sign informing patrons "Jack Lives Here." The floor was old hard wood that creaked when you walked on it, the walls brick and showing the age of the building. The TVs always had both the Yankees-Red Sox game and CNN (Fox or MSNBC depending on which party gained control of the remote that day). I always felt at home here.

When I was home watching one of my favorite episodes (Dead Irish Writers) of West Wing (which is the fictional world I spent most of the Bush years pretending I lived in). Toby (White House Communications Director) and Lord John Marbury left a White House black tie party to go to a bar and share a bottle of Lagavulin and discuss the president's work with Northern Ireland. They quote Yeats, O'Neil, and Joyce as they battle of policy. It reminded me of my time in DC, and as the camera drew back on the two statesman it clearly revealed the name of the location the two had chosen...Hawk n' Dove.