The articles marked with an astrisk were originally written for my fellow Tour Guides, and may have some some professionally-technical information. But not too much, so you can enjoy them
...now known as the National Museum of Health and Medicine, is known for the bullet which killed Abraham Lincoln and Dan Sickel's leg. Personal stories make the history of wartime medicine come . . alive?
...Pickersgill. She sewed the actual Star Spangled Banner in a Baltimore brewery while hops were out of season. Why does Betsy Ross get all the credit?
As the 20th century dawned, kings to Philip Randolph, the Pullman Porter who would introduce Dr. King, passed through the station. Elenor Roosevelt visited its USO during WWII. Yet after the Bicentenian the station served as a homeless shelter and was almost condemned. Check out its wild ride.
One of DC's hidden gems, this shrine -- just down the street from the Brookland Basilica -- includes a church and chapel with magnificant mosaics, first-degree relics, and an exhibit on a life lived through the most important events of the 20th century.
This Frieze, behind the bench, features a pylon with the Roman Numerals I - X, emphasizing the Bill of Rights, and figures from Philosophy through Liberty to Equity and Peace.
Three Lawgivers, Moses, Solon, and Confucius, stand in the center, flanked by scenes of the Law applied. The tortiose and the hare, on the right, represent the Law's deliberate advance.
The Rule of Law is symbolized throughtout the building. A controversial representtion is the faces, a bundle of sticks often with an axe in the middle. Originally carried by Roman tribunes, the sticks represented floggings for misdemeanors, and beheadings for felonies. Dictator Mussolini adopted it as a symbol for authority, hence the word facism. Hitler appropriated the symbolism. In America, faces, for example the one at the Lincoln memorial, represent the unity of the states.
