Limbs! of the 1860s.

Here's the wrap-up of my D.C. trip.

My friend Bryan lives next to this:



(it's for sale, if you're interested. Allegedly, a gay porn was shot there, too.)

And across from this:



I tried again to see Lincoln's death house, but the line was out the door and into the blazing sun. The temperature was tickling 100 degrees. I resolved to come back in the dead of winter, and honored Lincoln instead by buying a souvenir shot glass.

I spent a lovely afternoon at the Portrait gallery. I got to see a real daguerreotype camera (the first type of commercial photography):



And they also have a great exhibit on Civil War portraiture, including about 30 photos of celebrities from the era, which featured the likes of P.T. Barnum, Tom Thumb (and his teensy wedding party), Edwin Forrest, and these two:



Pauline Cushman, famous Union spy, who here appears to be in some sort of romanticized Roman-slave outfit. She's showing a hella lotta limb for the 1860's; I was SHOCKED when I saw this photo. I think it may have been softcore porn.



This is the stunning opera star Isabella Hinckley, whose career was cut tragically short with her death at age 21. She is also showing a shocking amount of leg. It made me think about how in every time and in every culture, it's the celebrities that are always pushing the envelope, that are culturally allowed to be a little scandalous, for the greater good. Maybe we owe the beginnings of women's suffrage to Pauline's slutty little leg.

The rest of the weekend was spent drinking, sitting in air conditioning, and catching up on Bravo reality tv. I had a wonderful time.