Me, at the White House.

There is a nearly audible tone of power around Pennsylvania Ave and Capitol Hill, like the kind that hums under most large cities’ financial districts. Made up of the clicks of 1000s of stylish heels and the swish of 1000s of tailored jackets, it can be intoxicating or upsetting. But unlike visiting the Financial District in San Francisco, I always feel hopeful when I walk near or through the conduits of authority in Washington DC. I see people like me–my age, my gender, my obsessively direct walk, my cell-phone glare. Even though I could hear the compromises and aspirational policy positions, underlying it all I saw a true commitment from the senior policy advisors on the panel to try and make things better. That’s nearly enough for me.

I absolutely enjoyed my time at the White House TweetUp on Tuesday and felt honored to have been invited. If you want to see me there, here’s the video of the panel.

And here’s me, staring down the camera:

A view from my seat:

Strangely touching: look at how many bikes were locked up in the internal courtyard of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at 11pm at night:

I met some new people I look forward to getting to know better through their feeds, got to talk to some current White House interns about how they like the gig, and best of all, I realized that I now know three of the people in this photo from the Oval Office from listening to them speak in person.

Talk about feeling connected to my government.

Inspirational Quote:

“The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”–Henry Miller