Jessica McFarland

Today, class, we are going to learn the difference between Washington (state) and Washington, D.C.

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know this already. I’ve met Americans who need this explained to them. Actually, it seems a bit lazy, naming two places after the same guy. Why do we have two big Washingtons, but the only famous “Lincoln” is the capital of Nebraska? (I mean, except for the original one, of course, but most of our place names come from Britain, and that’s another story.)

Okay, here we go. Washington, D.C. is a city. It is the capital of the United States of America. It has the White House and Congress and lobbyists and protesters, and it looks like this:

Obama's house could take 10 Downing St any day of the week (twice on Sundays).

Washington State is, well, a state. One of 50. As a state, it has its own capital, Olympia, and many other cities and towns, the most famous of which is Seattle (for unleashing Starbucks on the unsuspecting planet). It is also home to Seattle’s grubbier cousin, Tacoma, as well as Forks, a small town which was unknown until an insultingly awful series of novels was set there. I don’t have any photos of Washington State, but here’s an artist’s representation:

I didn't say it was a good artist.

The last topic was about Nashville, and now we’re going just an hour to the northeast.

Still in Tennessee, of course. As mentioned previously, I’ve spent quite a bit of time there, as my mother’s side of the family has some land on the Cumberland River, about an hour’s drive from Nashville. And although I would never claim to be “from Tennessee” (because a) I wasn’t born there b) I didn’t grow up there and c) even today my driver’s license isn’t from there), it is probably the one place that has been a constant in my life. Even now, although I only get back to the U.S. once or twice a year, I must go spend at least a few days at the farm.
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On one of the first glorious days of late spring, I donned flip flops and decided to go for a walk after work to explore my neighbourhood. I brought only my phone and my camera and had a mini-adventure, which I documented with the camera. (Not the phone, I’m not that technologically advanced.)

I walked up quiet residential streets. I met many commuters on their way back from the train station. I stopped to take a picture of a lamp post:

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