National Book Festival

If you're one of the cool kids in Washington, DC, then you were probably doing one of three things today:
1. Jamming to M.I.A., Matt & Kim, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at Virgin Free Festival.
2. Cruising through Clarendon Days.
3. Listening to various writers speak at the National Book Festival.
Although I had tickets to Virgin Fest, I opted for option #3. Why on earth would I do that? Well, because Jonathan Safran Foer was speaking, and I just couldn't miss that. I could honestly listen to him talk for hours. He's gotten some flack for his writing style, but listen to that man talk for 30 minutes and you can't tell me that you aren't totally enthralled.

I love that the National Book Festival is on the first day of Banned Books Week, and I love that so many people show up to support arts and literature every year. It makes me think there's hope for us yet.