A Very Durkheimian Day

I will catch up my blog with my life some day. The "Durkheimian" Day was Tuesday.

Scene One: Walking up 1st St in DC towards the United States Supreme Court building. As my friend and I approach the tall gold doors that remain stubbornly closed to us a weekend ago, we realize again just how excited we are! In business dresses and power heels, we have the distinct privilege of going into one of the most sacred buildings of US civil religion (Bellah's idea, but thanks to Emile) and meeting one of the nine sacred people who symbolically live there.

Congresspeople, Senators, and the President all fall into the category of "politician" in my head, to be met with cynicism and skepticism. Supreme Court Justice, on the other hand -- sure, he's only human, but I'm still impressed! We had the honor of meeting with Justice Antonin Scalia, thanks to connections via Dr. New, via an SFLA intern.

First, came the sheer joy at merely stepping into the Supreme Court building. After we passed through the metal detector, a security guard confronted our group of young people and took us to a better place to congregate: through an "Employees Only" door to a conference room in the hidden places of the building.

We sat in a beautiful conference room, surrounded by portraits of the first eight chief justices of the United States. After a few minutes of gawking, picture-taking, and listen to the security guard's instruction, we rose to greet Justice Scalia.

He spoke to us about the framers' intent in creating a legislature and a governmental system that basically kept itself from working: a way of stabilizing the country. What we call "gridlock" today (example: the health care reform) the framers would have accepted as proof that their system worked. He explained his philosophy of interpretation: originalism. Whatever the framers mostly meant is how he ruled. He also explained trivia I did not know about the Supreme Court, such as the fact that each justice used to write his own opinion. Interestingly, he called the Court the weakest of the three branches, explaining that Congress has the money, the President has the military, and the Court merely has the cooperation of the people.

After a Q&A, we snapped a picture with Justice Scalia and people got autographs. None for me; as impressed as I am by a Supreme Court Justice, I'm not so much into collecting signed things.

Next, we got a tour of two conference rooms, the courtroom itself, and the lower level, including a giant statue of John Marshall and a spiral staircase. Sitting in the courtroom was surreal. Part of me wanted to come back some day to argue there or to sit on the bench... but it's the same way that I want to live in the Blue Ridge or get five doctorates. Realistically, it won't happen because I will be pursuing other dreams. I soaked in the sacred space though. The tour guide seemed to like the frieze around the ceiling, saying it made the room more visually interesting, but I could have done without it.

Okay, that's a long story for part one of Durkheim (sacred vs. profane). I'll keep the second one short.

Scene Two: Leaving the Metro and walking into the Nationals Park. I hadn't been to a ball game for over 2 years. Durkheim and the collective effervescence. I guess sports represent another aspect of our civil religion.

Oh yeah, and we won. I must be a good-luck charm.