Read All About It

The Newseum, like its name suggests, is a museum dedicated entirely to telling the history of the news and the media. Located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue (there is a beautiful view of the historic street from the top floor of the building) and Sixth Street, the Newseum is by far my favorite museum in Washington, D.C.

The interactive Newseum blends five centuries of news history with information about current technological trends (blogs, for example) and their effects on the news. Here are a few of my
favorite Newseum exhibits:

• Eight 12-foot-high sections of the Berlin Wall and a three-story watchtower that once stood near Checkpoint Charlie, a crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin. After examining the graffiti on one side of the wall and stepping inside the tower where guards were ordered to shoot anyone trying to escape, I read about the role of the media during the Cold War

• The Watergate door complete with the taped doorknob that alerted a security guard on site to suspicious activity. The door led to the arrest of five men attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters under President Nixon's orders

• Kennedy's notes from the first televised presidential debate

• Pulitzer Prize-winning photos (The exhibit includes the photographers' descriptions of how they captured their incredible shots)

• A 4D theater with moving chairs and squirting water. The movie features the history of Nellie Bly, an innovator in 19th century investigative reporting. Nellie Bly went undercover as a mental patient at the Woman's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island and revealed the mistreatment of patients

• Front pages from around the world (The headlines during my visit focused on Black Friday and the Wal-Mart worker trampled to death by crazed shoppers)

• A place to vote for the breed of dog that Obama should take to the White house (I voted for the Bichon)

• Videos of memorable inaugural speeches

A visit to the Newseum is not complete without stopping by the interactive newsroom where you can become a news anchor. I picked the U.S. Supreme Court as a background. My brief report about the controversial issues on the Court's current docket was then broadcast on all of the TVs in the museum.

The Rest of the Week at a Glance:

• Made homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes for a Thanksgiving feast with friends
• Saw the San Francisco Ballet perform Giselle at The Kennedy Center. The Second half of the ballet was breathtaking. Set in a foggy forest, Giselle danced from her grave in a white tutu
• Ate salmon at Sequoia, a restaurant by the waterfront in Georgetown