We were told a couple of days ago that a foreign dignitary would be arriving at our hotel on Thursday. Last night we heard it is the president of Pakistan.

Tuesday night we attended a Cancer Action Network event where we heard (and took pictures of) Barack Obama, Sam Donaldson, Tom Harkin, and Newt Gengrich.

Paraphrasing from the Wizard of Oz: “We’re not in Newberg anymore.”

It isn’t all English when you hear others talking here. And the English is often spoken with distinct accents. Yesterday the hostess in the Senate gallery told us that Democrats and Republicans were trying to work out an agreement on immigration reform. She said, in her heavy accent, that she is a Democrat but she sides with the Republicans on this issue. The word paradox comes to my mind.

A lot of very difficult and very important work goes on in this city. The fight against cancer is not the only place where we can’t afford to become complacent or fatalistic. We also need to maintain an active hope in effective government that improves the quality of life on this planet.