East-of-the-River-Magazine-November-2012

Are all women at risk for breast

cancer? Is breast cancer the second most

common cancer among women? Is breast cancer the most common

cause of cancer deaths among Hispanic women?

Are black women more likely to die from breast cancer even though more white women get breast cancer?

The answer is YES!! Is cervical cancer the easiest gynecological cancer to prevent with regular

screening tests and follow-up? Is cervical cancer curable when found and treated early? Is HPV the main cause of cervical cancer?

The answer is YES!

“EARLY DETECTIONS SAVES LIVES” If you are a woman between the ages of 21-64 living in the District that is uninsured or underinsured, you may be eligible for a free breast and cervical cancer screening. Ask ME! Is a community outreach and education program aimed to increase community awareness about free breast and cervical cancer screening services. For more information or to schedule an appointment for a free breast or cervical cancer exam call Project WISH at (202)442-5900.

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS 10 ............Go See Do

12 ............East of the River Calendar

18 ............The Bulletin Board

22 ............District Beat • by Martin Austermuhle

24 ............The Numbers • by Ed Lazere

26 ............E on DC • by Ethelbert Miller

28 ............Barry Farm Redevelopment • by John Muller

30 ............DC Chartered Health • by Charnice Milton

31 ............Yes! Organic Market to Close • by Charnice Milton

32 ............When Unemployment Runs Out • by Stephen Lilienthal

34 ............CFC Listings

EAST WASHINGTON LIFE 36 ............Anacostia Fashion • by Mariessa Terrell

38 ............The Hills - 1 Couple 2 Businesses • by Charnice Milton

40 ............Islamic Heritage Museum • by Virginia Spatz

42 ............Dispatches from Anacostia • by Mariessa Terrell

KIDS & FAMILY 44 ............Kids and Family Notebook • by Kathleen Donner

HOMES & GARDENS 47 ............Changing Hands • compiled by Don Denton

48 ............The Classifieds

50 ............The Nose • by Anonymous

EAST OF THE RIVER MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2012 | CAPITALCOMMUNITYNEWS.COM

ON THE COVER: Mike Thomas, Robert E. Lee, John Gross, Frederick Hill III, Renita Hill (wife and co-owner), Charles McCullum pose in front of Hill’s 1972 Chevy Nova. The car has a Top Sportsman Full Tube Chasis with Charlie Buck 555 cubic inch motor that generates 900 horsepower with a top speed in the quarter mile of 170 mph. It uses a combination of a parachute and carbon brakes. The car was built by Charles Scott Hill in Hill’s garage. Photo: Andrew Lightman

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8 H EAST OF THE RIVER MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2012

EdIToRIAL STAFFManaging Editor: Andrew Lightman [email protected] & assoCiatE Editor: Maria Carolina [email protected] notEs Editor: susan Braun Johnson

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Kids & FaMily notEBooK Editor: KathlEEn donnEr

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ARTS, dINING & ENTERTAINMENT art: Jim Magner • [email protected]: Celeste McCall • [email protected] thE City: Joylyn Hopkins • [email protected]: Karen Lyon • [email protected]: Mike Canning • [email protected]: Jean-Keith Fagon • [email protected] thErapy: Scott Fazzini • [email protected]: Barbara Wells • [email protected]: Maggie Hall • [email protected] WinE guys: Jon Genderson • [email protected]

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BEAuTY, HEALTH & FITNESSPatricia Cinelli • [email protected] Bresnick Hauss, LCSW • www.quietwaterscenter.com [email protected] Sherer • [email protected]

KIdS & FAMILYKathleen Donner • [email protected] Johnson • [email protected]

SoCIETY & EvENTSMickey Thompson • [email protected]

HoMES & GARdENSRindy O’Brien - Hill Gardener • [email protected] Thomas • [email protected] Capen • [email protected]: Mark Johnson • [email protected]

NEwS & NEIGHBoRHood REPoRTSanC6a, 6B, 6C, 6d: Roberta Weiner • [email protected]: gWyn JonEs • [email protected] roW: [email protected] strEEt liFE: Elise Bernard • [email protected] nosE: [email protected] CirClE • [email protected] • Ralph Brabham: Ralph • [email protected]: Eleanor Gourley • [email protected] & u: Catherine Finn • [email protected]

PRoduCTIoN/GRAPHIC dESIGNassoCiatE art dirECtor / WEB MastEr: Jason Nickens202.543.8300 X17 • [email protected] art dirECtor: Jason Yen202.543.8300 X21 • [email protected]

AdvERTISING & SALESaCCount ExECutivE: Kira Means 202.543.8300 X16 • [email protected] ExECutivE: Jennifer Zatkowski 202.543.8300 X20 • [email protected] advErtising: Maria Carolina Lopez202.543.8300 X12 • [email protected] asst.: Giancarlo Fagon

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LAST DAY OF THE SEASON

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Diana McLellan (“The Ear”) Reads from“Making Hay”DC’s grande dame of gossip, Diana McLellan, will enter-tain and amuse at a special appearance at the Hill Cen-ter on Sunday afternoon, Nov 18 at 2:00 p.m. While the legendary journalist, columnist, author and editor, will be mainly reading from her latest publication-a collec-tion of poetry-she will also recall the days when she was privy to the ‘secrets’ of the famous and infamous. Those heady DC days, when one hardly passed that Diana-or The Ear as she was internationally known-did not drop some sexy, tasty, delicious morsel of information about those in the fast-lane of life, the White House, the corridors of DC power and Hollywood. As well as reading from Mak-ing Hay-which is delightfully illustrated by the esteemed New Yorker cartoonist Peter Steiner-Diana will chat with the audience in a question and answer session. She will also sign copies of Making Hay. For more information, call 202-549-4172 or visit hillcenterdc.org.

Grand Opening of DC’s Canal ParkOn November 16 and 17, help celebrate the grand opening of a $20 million city park that is a model of sustainable, green urban development containing the largest rain garden in the District of Columbia. Also within the park: a linear ice skating path, wa-ter features, Park Tavern restaurant, sculptures by DC artist David Hess, interactive light cubes display-ing video and photographic art. This offi cial open-ing features live music performances, ice skating and ice skating performances, fi tness activities, Zumba, boot camp, face painting, an interactive light cube launch and a lot more. Ice rink hours this winter are: Monday-Friday, noon-9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Adult fee is $8; children, seniors (55+) and military fees are $7. Skate rental is $3. The park is at Second and M sts. SE, one block east from the Navy Yard Metro (New Jersey Avenue exit). For more information, visit canalparkdc.org.

aerial view of the park. Photo: Courtesy of Canal Park


Spy Museum Parade of TrabantsWhere were you when the Wall fell? The Berlin Wall is long gone, but one Cold War icon is still chugging away-the Trabant. Despite their questionable performance and smoky two-stroke engines, these little cars are now affectionately regarded as a symbol of East Germany and the fall of Communism. Trabants are a rarity here, but on Nov 10 some of the finest examples in the US will chug their way to the International Spy Museum to celebrate their Sixth Annual Parade of Trabants. Drop in to view the vintage cars, which will be parked in front of the museum on F St. NW, and enter a raffle to win a ride in a Trabant. While the cars are on display, experts will be on hand to answer questions about Trabants, the Cold War, and Communism, while the Blaskapelle Alte Kameraden German Band provides festive music. International Spy Museum: 800 F St. NW. For more information, call 202-393-7798 or visit spymuseum.org.

Alexandria Holiday Boat Parade of LightsOn Dec, 1, starting at about 4 p.m., Old Town Alexandria’s harbor lights up when more than 50 illuminated boats cruise the Potomac River at the historic waterfront at the foot of Cameron Street. Enjoy this spec-tacle from any place that has a water view. Earlier in the day is Alexan-dria’s famous Scottish Christmas Walk Parade and Concert. The parade, which begins at the corner of Wilkes and South Saint Asaph and ends at King and Royal, steps off at 11 a.m. The massed-band bagpipe concert is from 1-1:30 p.m. in front of City Hall at Market Square. For more in-formation, call 703-838-5005 or visit visitalexandriava.com. Alexandria also has the first major Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the area. On Nov 23 (always the Friday after Thanksgiving) from 7-9 p.m., en-joy musical entertainment, caroling with a community sing along and greetings from the Mayor and Santa Claus at Historic Market Square in Old Town, 301 King Street.

trabants at the Capitol. Photo: Courtesy of the interna-tional spy Museum

the Holiday Boat Parade of lights approaches the alexandria harbor. Photo: Chester simpson

Union MarketThe newly-opened Union Market, at 1309 5th Street, NE, is an artisanal, curated, year-round food market featuring over 40 local vendors. This ap-proximately 25,000 square foot authentic marketplace is composed of the finest food artisans ranging from up-and-coming entrepreneurs to well known restaurateurs all creating a unique culinary experience. Union Mar-ket vendors include: Rappahannock Oysters Co.; Buffalo & Bergen created by well-known mixologist Gina Chersevani; an Amanda McClements’ life-style boutique; Righteous Cheese; Peregrine Espresso; Lyon Bakery; Trick-ling Springs Creamery; Harvey’s Market; Oh! Pickles; Almaala Farms; DC Empanadas and TaKorean. Starting Nov 10, market hours are Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8:00 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. For more infor-mation, call 301-652-7400 or visit unionmarketdc.com.


VETERANS HONOREDVeterans Day Wreath Laying at Arlington. Nov 11, 11:00 AM. President Obama will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington. The public is invited to watch this ceremony and to listen to the speech that follows. There is standing room at the wreath laying and seating in the adjacent amphitheater for the speech. Get there early.

The better the weather the earlier you should arrive. Security will be tight so please leave umbrellas and backpacks at home. Parking and the Tourmobile trip to the ceremony site are free. arlingtoncemetery.mil

Women Veterans ROCK! Rally at THEARC. Nov 11, 2:00 PM. The Women Veterans ROCK! Rally and Veterans Day Celebration is special-ly created to celebrate all women veterans, active duty, National Guard, reserve service

women and military families. This Veterans Day Rally honors their sacrifice, celebrates their service, and connects all women vet-erans to resources, services and other com-munity-based networks. Free. Open to the public. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Send Morale by Mail. Through Nov 11. Throughout American history, our nation’s armed forces have relied on mail to boost

morale and bring memories of home, espe-cially during wartime. The military and post-al service has combined forces to deliver mail under challenging circumstances. Stop by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum any day between now and Veteran’s Day to sign a postcard (or design your own). Mes-sages will be gathered and sent to Operation Gratitude where they will be enclosed with a care package sent in time to reach its recipi-ent by the winter holidays. National Postal

The Washington Ballet-The Nutcracker at THEARCNov 24-25. A holiday must-see full of magic and marvels. Septime Webre’s critically acclaimed “The Nutcracker” transports us back in time to historic Washington, DC and stars George Washington as the heroic Nutcracker. Full of swirling snowflakes, magnificent sets and costumes and Tchaikovsky’s beloved score, the curtain rises and the stage bursts with waltzing cherry blossoms, dancing sugar plums and other enchanting adaptations that have made Webre’s “Nutcracker” a Washington tradition with raves from critics and sold-out crowds. $30-$45. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE.

202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

CALENDAR

Snow Scene in The Nutcracker. Photo: Brianne Bland

Museum, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE. 202-633-5555. postalmuseum.si.edu

Veterans Day Observance at The Wall. Nov 11, 1:00 PM. Vietnam Veterans Me-morial. 202-393-0090. vvmf.org

Wreath Laying at World War II Me-morial. Nov 11, 9:00 AM. 17th St. between Constitution and Indepen-dence aves. NW. 202-619-7222. wwi-imemorial.com

Mount Vernon Salutes Veterans. Nov 11, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM. In honor of our nation’s veterans, Mount Ver-non admits all active duty, former, or retired military personnel free-of-charge. Special activities include a free patriotic community concert by the all-veteran barbershop chorus The Harmony Heritage Singers in the Robert H. & Clarice Smith Auditorium at 11:00 AM. 3200 Mount Vernon Me-morial Highway, Mount Vernon, VA. mountvernon.org

Free Newseum Admission for Vet-erans. The Newseum offers free ad-mission to members of the military and their families on Veterans Day weekend. Active and retired members of the military and up to three fam-ily members are invited to visit the Newseum as the country pauses to recognize their service. Service mem-bers should present military IDs or another form of military-service cre-dentials, or wear their uniforms. No IDs will be required for family mem-bers. newseum.org.

Veterans Day 10K & Tidal Basin Walk. Nov 11, 8:00 AM. Honor Amer-ica’s veterans with a run through West & East Potomac Parks along the Potomac River. Fast, fl at course. T-shirts, refreshments, random priz-es. Generous awards structure: 10 deep overall & 3 deep in 5-year age groups; top masters male & female. 301-840-2042. runwashington.com/veterans10k

THANKSGIVINGVillagekeepers Annual Thanksgiv-ing Fellowship at Union Temple. Nov 10, noon. Provided by Village Keepers (homeless ministry). Vil-lagekeepers is in need of volunteers, clothing, turkeys and cash donations to make this meal for about 250 people possible. Set and prep begins at 8:00 AM. Union Temple Baptist Church, 1225 W St. SE. 202-678-8822. uniontemple.com

Potomac Valley Track Club Cranberry Crawl 5K & 10K. Nov 17, 7:30 AM. $20. East Potomac Park Golf Course, 972 Ohio Dr. SW. 301-292-1441. pvtc.org

Annual Safeway Feast of Sharing. Nov 21, 11:00 AM-2:30 PM. The program will offer a complete sit down Thanks-


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giving meal, opportunities to explore the pos-sibility of gainful employment; health screen-ings; and also information on achieving and maintaining good health. Please help get the information out to seniors, churches, senior housing residences and especially to individu-als and families in need. Free. No reservations required. Washington Convention Center.

Thanksgiving Service at Union Temple. Nov 22, 10:30 AM. All are welcome. 1225 W St. SE. 202-678-8822. uniontemple.com

Thanksgiving Service at Washington Nation-al Cathedral. Nov 22, 10:00 AM. Cathedral at the intersection of Massachusetts and Wiscon-sin aves. NW. 202-537-6200. cathedral.org

Thanksgiving Mass at the National Shrine. Nov 22, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM and noon. Na-tional Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Ave. NE. 202-526-8300. na-tionalshrine.com

Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger 5K. Nov 22, 9:00 AM. Kids fun run at 8:30 AM. The only turkey trot in Washington, DC, SOME’s Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger offers com-munity members a way to help the homeless and hungry on Thanksgiving Day. Start and Finish on Pennsylvania Ave. NW, between 12th St. and 13th St. Event benefits So Others Might Eat. 202-797-8806. some.org

National Mall Museums Open Thanksgiv-

ing Day. US Holocaust Memorial Museum is open. The National Zoo is open. The na-tional monuments are all available for view-ing but Washington Monument is closed. All Smithsonian museums are open. Newseum, National Archives, US Capitol Visitors Center and Corcoran Gallery of Art are closed.

EARLY CHRISTMASA Christmas Carol at Ford’s Nov. 16-Dec. 31. (no performance Thanksgiving Day). Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebene-zer Scrooge on a journey of transformation

and redemption. Originally conceived by Michael Baron, this music-infused produc-tion captures the magic and joy of Dickens’s Yuletide classic. $35-$75. 202-347-4833. fordstheatre.org

“Season’s Greenings” at the US Botanic Garden. Opens Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM. The US Botanic Garden invites you to remember that the best things in life are free--the fragrance of a freshly cut fir tree, the magic of holiday lights and sumptuous decorations, and the delight of a child discovering the make-believe world of model trains. Free. 100 Maryland Ave. SW. 202-225-8333. usbg.gov

CALENDAR

Caption: Market will operate through Dec 8. Photo: Courtesy of DC CHEW Farmers’ Market

DC CHEW Farmers’ MarketSaturdays, through Dec 8, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. At the intersection of Good Hope Rd., Naylor Rd. and Alabama Ave. SE at Skyland Shopping Center. DC

CHEW is a project of the Office of the Deputy Mayor and sponsored by Mayor and the District of Columbia. dcchew.com

BZB Holiday Gift and Art Show. Nov 23 and 24; Dec 1, 8, 15 and 22; 10:00 AM-7:00 PM. Two floors of shopping at the largest African-American De-partment Store on the east coast. Shiloh Family Life Center, 1510 Ninth St. NW. 202-610-4188. bzbinterna-tional.com

Mount Vernon by Candlelight. Nov 23, 24 and 25; Dec 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16; 5:00-8:00 PM. Experience includes a candlelight tour, singing around a campfire, costumed charac-ters, hot cider and cookies. $14-$20. Mount Vernon, VA (at the southern end of the George Washington Memo-rial Parkway-16 miles from DC). 703-780-2000. mountvernon.org

Theater Alliance Presents Christ-mas on H Street. “Night Before Christmas” Nov 23-29, 10:00 PM. Adult comedy play. “Wonderful Life” Nov 29-Dec 30. 1365 H St. NE. 202-241-2539. theateralliance.com

Zoolights. Starts Nov 23, 5:00-9:00 PM. Don’t miss your chance to me-ander through the Zoo when it is covered with thousands of sparkling lights, attend special keeper talks, and enjoy live entertainment. Free. National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. nationalzoo.si.edu

Capital Holiday Parade. Nov 24, 11:00 AM. Capitol Holiday Parade will begin on Ron Brown Way at the corner of 14th and Constitution and will turn left on the national parade route marching past the Smithsonian, National Archives and other historic locations. The procession will march east towards Pennsylvania Ave. where a right turn will be made in front of the Newseum heading towards 3rd St. NW. The procession will then turn right on 3rd St. NW heading south towards independence Ave. Bleacher seating, $10-$15. capitalholidayparade.com

Black Nativity at the Atlas. Nov 27-Jan 7. Langston Hughes’ retelling of the Christmas story from an Afro-centric perspective, infused with rich gospel, blues, funk, jazz music and dance with griot style story telling from an ensemble cast. Now, today, here in this place, nineteen centu-ries removed from Bethleham-in a land far across the sea from Judea-we sing His songs and glorify His name. Tickets on sale now at $35. Discounts for under 18, students and seniors. theateralliance.com

Sewall-Belmont House Holiday Bazaar. Nov 29, 11:00 AM-7:00 PM. Do not miss this opportunity to pick up great gifts, such as the Votes for Women ornaments, while supporting the Sewall-Belmont House & Mu-seum. A variety of artisans will sell their wares, ensuring you can find the perfect gift for everyone on your list. 144 Constitution Ave. NE. 202-546-1210. sewallbelmont.org



Make Holiday Aprons. Nov 29, 10:30 AM. Learn how to fashion a holiday apron for your favorite holiday or occasion. Bring some material for embellishments. A mate-rials fee is required. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

The Nutcracker at the Warner. Nov 29-Dec 23. Discover, rediscover, and celebrate this one-of-a-kind Nutcracker production set in 1882 Georgetown and starring George Wash-ington as the Nutcracker, King George II as the Rat King, Anacostia Indians, frontiers-men, and all-American delights. Whimsical waltzes, glittering snowflakes, and gorgeous music, The Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker is a magical journey not to be missed! $34-$101. Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. 202-783-4000. washingtonballet.org

Imagine! The Living Christmas Tree @PABC Gospel Concerts. Nov 30, 7:00 PM; Dec 1, 4:30 PM and 7:45 PM; and Dec 2, 6:30 PM. This is a 40’ high “living” Christmas tree with singers inside. Tickets are on sale now. $15. The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, 3000 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-581-1500. pabc-dc.org

National Museum of the American In-dian Native Art Market. Dec 1-2, 10:00 AM-5:30 PM. The NMAI Art Market offers one-of-a-kind, handmade, traditional and contemporary items directly from the arti-sans. More than 35 Native artists from North and South America will participate in this annual weekend market featuring a wide selection of items for purchase including handmade jewelry, beadwork, pottery, prints and sculpture. Free. Fourth St. and Indepen-dence Ave. SW. 202-633-1000. nmai.si.edu

Holiday Boat Parade of Lights. Dec 1, 4:00 PM. Alexandria’s harbor lights up when more than 50 illuminated boats cruise the Po-tomac River at the historic waterfront. Al-exandria’s Historic Waterfront at the foot of Cameron St., Alexandria, VA. 703-838-5005. visitalexandriava.com

Logan Circle Holiday House Tour. Dec 2, 1:00-5:00 PM. Ticket pick-up at 12:30 PM at the Studio Theatre. Wassail reception, at Studio 3:00-5:30 PM. $30. LoganCircle.org

A Drag X-mas Salute to the Divas. Dec 2, 8:00 PM. $25. Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. 202-803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com

Union Station Christmas Tree Lighting. Dec 4, 6:00 PM. The tree is a gift to the people of Washington, DC and is a symbol of friendship between the United States and Norway. Join the Norwegian Embassy and DC as the 8,000 lights on Washington’s official holiday tree are lit and enjoy live musical performances. unionstationdc.com

National (White House) Christmas Tree Lighting. Dec 6, 5:00 PM. Tickets distribut-ed by lottery. There is no stand-by line but you can visit the tree anytime thereafter. thenationaltree.org

Christmas Concert at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Dec 7, 7:30 PM (but get there earlier). The National

Shrine invites you to their Annual Christmas Concert for Charity featuring the voices and sounds of the Catholic University of America Choir and Orchestra. Free will offering. Na-tional Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Ave. NE. 202-526-8300. na-tionalshrine.com

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad Santa Express. Holiday season festivities take on an old world charm in the nearby Maryland Mountains. The history filled small cities of Cumberland and Frostburg host traditional community tree lighting ceremonies on the Thanksgiving weekend. The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad operates Santa Express trains with morning and evening departures from Cumberland during the holiday season. More information about visiting Mountain Mary-land, about two hours west of the Beltway on I-68 can be found at mdmountainside.com.

Cut-Your-Own Christmas Tree Farms in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Visit pickyourownchristmastree.org for farms and directions. Then follow the prompts.

AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOODLegacy of Thelonious Monk. Nov 18, 2:00 PM. Learn, watch and experience the legacy of Thelonious Monk from his son’s perspec-tive. Make reservations. Anacostia Commu-nity Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

Steppin’ Out-Michael B. Platt. Through Dec 21. In Steppin’ Out, Michael B. Platt revisits his idea of life-sized cut-outs of charcoal drawings on wood, made in the 1980s-90s and based on then current newspaper im-ages of black on black crime. The artist cuts out digital prints from adhesive fab-ric—playing with repeated figures, generat-ing and implying a sense of ritual—familiar and unfamiliar. The experiences of a recent trip to Australia influenced many aspects of these new images. Honfleur Gallery, Good Hope Rd. SE. 202-365-8392. honfleurgal-lery.com

Divine Revelations: Passages from the Life of Our Lady. Through Dec 21. Caro-lina Mayorga will be exhibiting a Fotoweek exhibition at Blank Space SE, 1922 Martin Luther King Jr Ave. SE (the temporary satel-lite gallery of The Gallery at Vivid Solutions while the gallery is under construction). Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday, noon-5:00 p.m.; Saturday, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Or by appointment [email protected] and 202-365-8392. vividsolutionsdc.com

Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia. On view indefi-nitely. From Reconstruction to the second half of the 20th century, baseball, the great American pastime, was played in Washing-ton, DC, on segregated fields. “Separate and Unequaled” looks at the phenomenal popularity and community draw of this sport when played by African Americans. Featured are such personalities as Josh Gibson and “Buck” Leonard, star players of the Negro Leagues most celebrated team, the Wash-ington Homestead Grays. The show also highlights community teams that gave rise

to the various amateur, collegiate and semi-pro black baseball teams and leagues. For special viewing hours and tours, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

What’s Blooming at the US Arboretum in November? Conifer foliage and cones, dog-woods in fruit, viburnums in fruit, ornamental grasses, fall foliage, fall blooming camellias, chrysanthemums, native witch-hazels. Free. There are two entrances: one at 3501 New York Ave. NE, and 24th and R sts. NE, off of Blad-ensburg Rd. 202-245-4521. usna.usda.gov

MARKETSWard 8 Farmers Market. Saturdays, through Thanksgiving, 9:00 AM-2:00 PM. Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Bread and Meat. Market now will double the value of your SNAP, EBT, WIC or se-nior food vouchers for produce. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. ward8farmersmarket.com

H Street FRESHFARM Market at New Loca-tion. Saturdays, 9 AM-noon. 1300 H St. NE. The market is a producers-only outdoor mar-ket offering fruit, vegetables, meats, baked goods, cheese, flowers and more for sale. freshfarmmarket.org

Union Market. Starting Nov 10, market hours are Wednesday-Friday, 11:00 AM-8:00 PM; Saturday-Sunday, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM. The newly-opened Union Market is an artisanal, curated, year-round food market featuring over 40 local vendors. 1309 Fifth St. NE. 301-652-7400. unionmarketdc.com

NOMA Farmers Market. Wednesdays, through Oct 31, 3:00-7:00 PM. 1200 First St., NE. nomabid.org

Fresh Tuesdays at Eastern Market. Every Tuesday, 3:00-7:00 PM. Tuesday afternoon farmers’ line of fresh produce. Eastern Mar-ket, 200 block of 7th St. SE. 202-698-5253. easternmarket-dc.com

Eastern Market. Daily except Mondays and important holidays. Weekdays, 7:00 AM-7:00 PM; Saturdays, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM; Sun-days, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. Flea market and arts and crafts market open Saturdays and Sun-days, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM. Eastern Market is Washington’s last continually operated “old world” market. On weekends the market area comes alive with farmers bringing in fresh produce, craft and flower vendors, artists, a flea market and street musicians. 200 block of 7th St. SE. 202-698-5253. easternmar-ket-dc.com

14th and U Farmers Market. Saturdays. 9:00 AM-1:00 PM, until Thanksgiving. Pro-ducers-only market. 14th and U sts. NW, in front of the Reeves Building. marketsand-more.net

SPORTS, DANCE ANDPHYSICAL FITNESSWashington Capitals Ice Hockey. Nov 10, 16, 18, 21 and 27. Dec 1. Verizon Center,

601 F St. NW. 202-628-3200. capitals.nhl.com

Washington Wizards Basketball. Nov 17, 19, 24, 26 and 28. Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW. 202-397-SEAT. nba.com/wizards

Run for Rwanda 5K. Nov 10, 12:30 PM. Run (or walk!) along the Georgetown C&O canal, enjoy fall treats like hot cocoa, hot cider, and baked goodies, and benefit GlobeMed’s work with Rwanda Village Concept Project in Butare, Rwanda! Registration includes race T-shirt! 616-570-8085. run.eventbrite.com

The Hills Are Alive 5K & 10K Part II. Nov 17, 9:00 AM. The course is made up of hills and trails in beautiful Ft. DuPont Park. Do-nate $5 or more to their Childhood Obesity Running Program and receive a a custom long sleeve technical “Hills Are Alive” T-Shirt. 240-472-9201. dcrunningclub.com

DC Rollergirls. Nov 17, 4:00 PM. (Doors open at 3:00 p.m.) Tickets are $12 for ages 12 and up, $6 for children 6-11, and free for kids 5 and under. Tickets are available in advance at ticketmaster.com or at the door on bout day. Individuals with a valid mili-tary ID can purchase tickets for $10 at the door. DC Armory.

Ice Skating at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Mid Nov through Mid Mar (weather permitting). Monday-Thursday, 10:00 AM-9:00 PM; Friday-Saturday, 10:00 AM-11:00 PM; Sunday, 11:00 AM-9:00 PM. $7 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under, students with ID and seniors 50 and over. Skate rental is $3. Seventh St. and Consti-tution Ave. NW. 202-289-3361. nga.gov/ginfo/skating

Public Skating at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Fridays, noon-1:50 PM; Saturdays, 11:15 AM-12:15 PM. Dress for warmth and safe-ty. Clothes should be easy to move in, and pants must not fall below the heel of the skate (sweatpants or leggings are a good choice). Everyone needs to wear gloves or mittens, and one pair of thin, long socks or tights that fit snugly (no ankle socks). A helmet or knit hat is strongly recommended (loaner helmets are available). $5. $4 for kids and seniors. $3 for skate rental. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. NE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org

Adult Dance Classes. Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 PM, Jazz; Wednesdays, 7:00-8:15 PM, Bal-let; Saturdays, 9:00-10:00 AM, Zumba. The Washington Ballet @ THEARC offers three adult classes this year. Classes are $12 each or you may purchase a $100 class card for 12 classes. Classes are only $5 for Ward 8 residents. The class card for Ward 8 resi-dents is $50. (Valid ID required.) THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Free Exercise Classes at Kenilworth Ele-mentary School. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 6:00-7:00 PM. Bring your own mat, water and towel. 1300 44th St. NE. For more information, email [email protected] or call 301-395-1013

Free Yoga Classes at Anacostia Neighbor-hood Library. Every Thursday, 7:00-8:00

CALENDAR

PM. Yoga is a great way to relax, unwind and get grounded. Even if you’ve never done yoga before--this class is for you. Open to people of all abilities, ages and body types. All you need to bring is your-self, comfortable clothing and an open mind. Judgment free zone: having a great time is encouraged! Register in person at Anacostia Neighborhood Library or call 202-715-7707. 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE. dclibrary.org/anacostia

Deanwood (indoor) Pool. Mon-Fri 6:30 AM-8:00 PM; Sat-Sun, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. Free for DC residents. 1350 49th St. NE. 202-671-3078. dpr.dc.gov

Ferebee Hope (indoor) Pool. Open week-days, 10:00-6:00 PM. Closed weekends. Free for DC residents. 3999 Eighth St. SE. 202-645-3916. dpr.dc.gov

CIVIC LIFEBig Chair Breakfast Bunch. Saturday, Nov 10, 10:00 AM-noon. Big Chair Coffee n’ Grill (upstairs). All are welcome to attend and discuss what’s happening East of the River. 2122 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE. 202-525-4287.

Small Business Brief Advice Legal Clin-ic. Nov 13, 5-7:30 PM. If you are an exist-ing or an aspiring small business owner, come and meet one-on-one with attorneys at this brief advice clinic. You can get information on business formation, con-tracts, leases, taxes or any other questions you may have related to small business le-gal issues. DCRA Small Business Resource Center, 1100 4th St. SW (second floor). Please bring any documents relevant to the issues you wish to discuss. This is a walk-in clinic; however, if you wish to pre-register, visit bizdc.ecenterdirect.com/ConferencePresignup.action?iD=34676 or call Lauren Paley, Project Coordinator at 202-737-4700, ext. 3357.

NCPC Open House. Nov 14, 6:30–8:30 PM. NCPC hosts an open house to present draft policies for first-ever Federal Urban Design Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The policies will provide guidance for the de-sign of federal facilities and promote more active public spaces. District Architecture Center, 421 7th St. NW. ncpc.gov/urbande-sign

Congresswoman Norton’s SE District Of-fice. Open weekdays, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM. 2041 MLK Ave. SE, #238. 202-678-8900. norton.house.govCouncilmember Alexander’s Constituent Services Office. Open weekdays, 10:00 AM-6:00 PM. 2524 Penn. Ave. SE. 202-581-1560.Councilmember Barry’s Constituent Ser-vices Office. Open weekdays, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. 2100 MLK Ave, SE, #307. 202-698-2185.

Anacostia Coordinating Council Meet-ing. Last Tuesday, noon-2:00 PM. Anacos-tia Museum, 1901 Fort St. SE. For further details, contact Philip Pannell, 202-889-4900.

Capitol View Civic Association Meeting. Third Monday, 6:30 PM. Hughes Memorial United Methodist, 25 53rd St. NE. capi-tolviewcivicassoc.org

Historical Anacostia Block Association. Second Thursday, 7:00-9:00 PM. UPO-An-acostia Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. For further details, contact Charles Wilson, 202-834-0600.Anacostia High School School Improve-ment Team Meeting. Fourth Tuesday. 6:00 PM. Anacostia High School, 16th and R sts. SE.Deanwood Citizens Association General Body Meeting. Fourth Monday, except Aug. and Dec., 6:30 PM. 1350 49th St. NE.

Deanwood Citizens Association General Body Meeting. Fourth Monday, except Aug. and Dec., 6:30 PM. 1350 49th St. NE.

Eastland Gardens Civic Association Meeting. Third Tuesday. 6:30-8:30 PM. Ke-nilworth Elementary School (auditorium), 1300 44th St. NE. Greg Rhett [email protected] or 202-388-1532.

Fairlawn Citizens Association. Third Tuesday, 7:00 PM. Ora L. Glover Commu-nity Room at the Anacostia Public Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE.

ANC 7A. Second Tuesday, 7:30 PM. Ben-ning-Stoddard Rec. Center, 100 Stoddard Pl. SE. 202-727-1000. [email protected]. anc7a.org

ANC 7B. Third Thursday, 7:00 PM. Ryland Epworth United Methodist Church, 3200 S St. SE (Branch Ave and S St. SE). 202-584-3400. [email protected]. anc7b.us

ANC 7C. Second Thursday, 7:00 PM. Sar-gent Memorial Presbyterian Church, 5109 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE. 202-398-5100. [email protected]

ANC 7D. Second Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Sixth District Police Station, 100 42nd St. NE. 202-398-5258. [email protected]

ANC 7E. Second Tuesday, 7:00-8:30 PM. Jones Memorial Church, 4625 G St. SE. 202-582-6360. [email protected]

ANC 8A. First Tuesday, 7:00 PM. Anacostia UPO Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. 202-889-6600. anc8adc.org

ANC 8B. Third Tuesday, 7:00 PM. Seventh District Police Station Community Center, Alabama and McGee Sts. SE. 202-610-1818. anc8b.org

ANC 8C. First Wednesday (June meeting is on the nineth because of the holiday), 6:30 PM. 2907 MLK Jr Ave. SE. 202-388-2244.

ANC 8D. Fourth Thursday, 7:00 PM. Spe-cialty Hospital of Washington, 4601 MLK Jr. Ave. SW. 202 561-0774

ANC 8E. Third Tuesday, 7:00 PM. SE Tennis and Learning Center, 701 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-561-6616. [email protected] l


Moms On The Hill

2012 School Information Night[ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2ND ]

[ 2:00–5:00 PM ][ CAPITOL HILL DAY SCHOOL ] [ 210 SOUTH CAROLINA AVENUE SE ]The closest Metro stop is Capitol South on the blue and orange lines

Preschool, Public, Charter, Private, Catholic/Parochial, Middle Schools

and other programs. Come see all of your options!

More Info:

[ [email protected] ][ WWW.HILLSCHOOLINFONIGHT.ORG ]

ALL PARENTS (including non-members) OF THE DISTRICT ARE WELCOME

Organized by MoTH (Moms on the Hill)


BULLETIN BOARD

Design-and-Construction Team Unveil Plans for St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion

Mayor Gray, Ward 8 Councilmember Barry, and Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Develop-ment Hoskins unveiled the design plans for the St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion on October 13. Near the center of historic neighborhoods in Ward 8, St. Elizabeths East Campus is an exceptional op-portunity for the District government and the private development community to create a landmark for the 21st century: a well-planned, mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable, livable community. Th e Gate-way Pavilion is envisioned as an innovative, fl exible and aesthetically unique structure designed to serve a wide range of interim uses, including stimulating economic development by providing food vendors and other amenities. Th e structure will allow visitors to experience St. Elizabeths before Phase I redevelop-ment of the East Campus is complete.

Listen for the Music at Kenilworth ParkAARP is the latest to endorse “vitamin N” for

healing. Th e N stands for nature as therapy for stress,

pain and to speed recovery from surgery and illness. Join Ranger Kate for a half hour or more of gentle exercise, relaxation techniques and focus on the music of nature our ears were made for. No special equip-ment is needed. Free. Appropriate for older teens and up. Nov 10 and Dec 1 at 8-8:45 a.m. Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens, 1550 Anacostia Ave. NE. nps.gov/keaq

SOS: Steps of Success to Wellness at THEARCTh e SOS: Steps of Success to Wellness is a free

six-session training series, taught by experienced medical practitioners including several pediatricians and a dentist. Participants who attend all six sessions receive a $100 gift card. Th ose who attend 5 sessions receive a $50 gift card, and $25 if you attend 4. Par-ticipants must be at least 18 to be eligible for the gift card. All attendees also receive a certifi cate of com-pletion. Sessions take place the 3rd Th ursday of every month from 5:00-7:00 p.m. A light meal is provided each session. For more information or to register, contact Ellen Wiggins at 202-436-3076. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

2012 Military Bowl Tickets on SaleTickets for the 2012 Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman are now on sale. Th e game

is set for a 3 p.m. kickoff on Th ursday, Dec. 27 and will be televised live nationally on ESPN. Ticket prices start at $25.Returning to RFK Stadium for its fi fth year, the Military Bowl will once again provide $100,000 to the USO and more than 5,000 tickets for military families. Ticket prices remain the same as the 2011 Military Bowl, a 42-41 victory for the Toledo Rockets over the Air Force Fal-cons. Tickets are priced at $25 for reserved, $55 for premium reserved and $90 for VIP, and can be purchased at militarybowl.org.

The 2012 Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman returns to RFK Stadium for the fi fth time on Thursday, December 27 at 3:00 p.m. Last year the Toledo Rockets defeated the Air Force Falcons 42-41. Tickets for this year’s bowl are on sale now. Photo: JD Kline Photo

Boating & Recreation on the Anacostia River Community Forum

On Tuesday, Nov 13 at 7 p.m., join the discussion in the Anacostia Community Museum’s latest com-munity forum on the use of the Anacostia River by boaters and other recreational users of the river-past, present & future. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

See JONAH Sight & Sound Th eatreIn case you missed it, here’s your chance to see

the latest production at Sight & Sound Th eatre’s JO-NAH with East River Family Strengthening Col-laborative. Before the show, shop at Rockvale Outlets and enjoy a lunch at Hershey Farm Restaurant, one of the best in Lancaster. Fee includes transportation, lunch and the show. Th is trip is on Friday, Dec 7. It departs at 8:30 a.m. and returns at 8:30 p.m. $150. For more information, visit erfscjonahfundraiser.eventbrite.com or contact Rosie Parke at 202-397-7300, ext 14 or [email protected].

Free Cell Phones at Ward 8 Farmers Market at THEARC

Safelink, a program that off ers free cell phones (with 250 free minutes per month) to people who meet income requirements will be at the Ward 8 Farmers Market every Saturday through Th anksgiv-ing. Read more about the program at safelinkwireless.com. Th e Ward 8 Farmers Market is open Saturdays, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. ward8farmersmarket.com

Anacostia Library Social Media Marketing SeriesAnacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE, is

off ering a series of social media classes this fall and winter. Th e schedule is as follows: Nov 15, Bloggers International; Nov 20, Facebook; Dec 6, LinkedIn; Dec 18, YouTube; Jan 17, Google+; Jan 31, Twit-ter; Feb 7, Blogging; Feb 21, Email Marketing. All classes are 6:30–8:45 p.m. Register with Mr. Strick-land in the Library at [email protected] or 202-715-7707 or 202-717-7708. Th ese classes are a service to the DCPL by Kim Baker PR. For more

information, contact Kim Baker at 202-754-6803 or [email protected].

Southeast White House to Provide Thanksgiving Baskets

The holidays are a very special times and parents have an urgency to meet the expectations of their children. Traditions are an impor-tant part of family life because it cultivates a sense of belonging and security. Deuteronomy 15:11 tell us that our God wants us to share what we have with the less fortu-nate.

To help, SE White House is accepting monetary donations which will be used to purchase a basket from the SHARE Food Network. This basket contains enough food for more than one meal. The cost of a basket is ap-proximately $25. They are also asking for donations of non-perishables and can goods that will be used to make up a basket. Contributors may also make their own baskets. Reach the SE White House, 2909 Pennsylvania Av-enue, SE, at 202-575-3337 or visit sewhitehouse.org.

Double Nickels TheatreElderSpeak Salon

On Nov 15, 10 am-noon, Double Nickels Theatre wants to hear from all elders who wish to share their interesting and humor-ous stories. Your stories could pos-sibly be the start of the next DN Theatre production, or features for DN’s website or other programs. This event is free and open to the public. THEARC community room, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

No More New Bonus Dollars at Ward 8 Farmers Market at THEARC

The Ward 8 Farmers Market at THEARC has run out of bo-nus dollars for their customers us-ing food assistance programs such as WIC, SNAP or Food Stamps. Many of their customers have received these bonus dollars but have not spent them. The market will accept bonus dollars already


Call 202.895.9680 for more information

To benefit The Washington Home & Community Hospices’services for aging and terminally ill area residents

Special Guest & Art Buchwald Award Recipient Gail Sheehy

You are invited to the

“Home Is Where The Heart Is”Gala on November 16, 2012


issued. The Ward 8 Farmers Market at Saint E’s is closed for the season.

Chartered Health Plan to Continues Services in Receivership

The Department of Health Care Finance an-nounces that the DC Chartered Health Plan will continue to provide services to beneficiaries and pay-ments to health-care providers as the company is put into receivership under the auspices of the Depart-ment of Insurance, Securities and Banking. As a result of the anticipated receivership, DHCF will forward a contract to the DC City Council for approval. DH-CF’s managed care contracts expire April 30, 2013 completing the five-year term for Chartered as well as the District’s two other health plans.

Bread for the City’s Holiday Helpings Bread for the City’s Holiday Helpings campaign

kicks off next week! Already, 36 individuals and or-ganizations have started their own fundraising drives to provide complete holiday meals to families facing hunger here in DC. This holiday season, Bread for the City is providing 9,000 people with a turkey and all the trimmings. Just $29 will help them provide a com-plete holiday meal to a family of four. Find out more at breadforthecity.org.

DCHA Receives $300,000 Grant to Start Barry Farm Redevelopment

The District of Columbia Housing Author-ity (DCHA) announces the receipt of another grant to continue making strides in the redevelopment of blighted neighborhoods in the city. The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded DCHA a $300,000 Choice Neighborhoods Plan-ning Grant to support the development of a compre-hensive neighborhood transformation plan for Barry Farm and Wade Apartments. This will allow DCHA to capitalize on the redevelopment momentum in this section of Ward 8. This award marks DCHA’s second Choice Planning Grant for this calendar year, with the first one awarded in January for the Kenilworth-Parkside Neighborhood. Last month DCHA was notified that the Kenilworth-Parkside neighborhood was designated as a finalist for a Choice Neighbor-hoods Implementation Grant for up to $30 million. DCHA has received seven HOPE VI grants from HUD, the second highest tally in the nation. DCHA has leveraged the $181 million in grants into $2 bil-lion in redevelopment across the District.

DDOT Building vs. Infrastructure DBE Construc-tion Workshop

The District Department of Transportation is hosting a workshop that will take an in-depth look at the differences and similarities existing within com-mercial/residential building construction and heavy highway/infrastructure construction, and how one’s

business may transcend into both industries. Top-ics to be discussed may include the following areas: Concrete and paving; electrical and utility; trucking; structural steel; geotechnical; and other professional services. Panelist will include representatives from DDOT/AWI and the 11th Street Bridge Project’s prime contractor, Skanska/ Facchina Joint Venture, and construction manager, HNTB.

This workshop will be held on Thursday, Nov 29, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Anacostia Gate-way Government Center (in the Housing Center Resource Ballroom), 1800 MLK Ave. SE. It is open to certified DBE firms and other construction-related small business firms. Advanced registration is required no later than November 26 via 11thstbridgeworkshop.eventbrite.com. Questions about this meeting may be directed to David Janifer at [email protected] or 240-375-3345.

Douglass Descendent Returns for 50th AnniversaryThe Frederick Douglass National Historic Site is

celebrating its 50th anniversary with Frederick Doug-lass descendent Kenneth Morris. Mr. Morris has been working with students around the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation to create a “New Proclamation of Freedom” which will state the urgent problem of human trafficking and ask the US De-partment of Education to initiate a National Human Trafficking Education program. The new proclama-tion was introduced publicly for the first time at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site on Oct. 20.

The Frederick Douglass National Historic joined the National Park Service in 1962 under the direc-tion of President John F. Kennedy. The site preserves Douglass’s final home, Cedar Hill, in an effort to en-sure that his memories and ideas remain accessible to Americans today. Douglass’s tireless commitment to civil rights, human rights, as well as to civic engage-ment are as important today as they were in the 19th century. His work remains particularly relevant con-sidering human slavery and trafficking continue today.

Kenneth Morris’s organization, the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation (FDFF) is an Atlanta-based 501c(3) that attempts to prevent young peo-ple from becoming victims of human trafficking by bringing education on the subject to secondary school classrooms..

Fort Stanton: Enemies Amongst UsOn Nov 25, 1 p.m., join a Ranger at Fort Stan-

ton to learn about the dangers inside and around the forts that circled Washington and the escape of John Wilkes Booth after assassinating President Lincoln. Parking at Anacostia Museum (1901 Fort Pl. SE). nps.gov/fodu

Free DCRA Vending WorkshopIf you are interested in learning about obtain-

ing a Vendors permit, then you should attend this workshop. DCRA’s Vending Division will assist cur-rent and future vendors with navigating through the

vending processes. Workshop is Dec 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, 1100 4th St. SW, Room E-200. The closest Metro is Waterfront-SEU (Green Line). To register go to bizdc.ecenterdirect.com/ConferencePresignup.action?iD=34044. If you need further assistance with registering for this workshop, contact Jacqueline Noi-sette (DCRA) at [email protected] or 202-442-8170.

Arts and Humanities Forum on Increasing Arts Funding in DC

On Wednesday, Nov 14, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities will host an open forum to receive feedback from the District’s arts community on upcoming plans for the increased arts budget for FY 2013. The top priority of the forum will be to dis-cuss the agency’s new grant program, the Arts Stabi-lization Grant (ASG). The Arts Stabilization Grant (ASG) is one-time funding to support cultural orga-nizations that have demonstrated a long-term impact within the District of Columbia. The program pro-vides general operating funds to arts and humanities

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

The Art in Embassies Artist Exchange at THEARC, with Artist Nick Cave

On Wednesday, Nov 28, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., THEARC is collaborating with Art in Embassies and sculptor/performance artist Nick Cave for THEARC’s Community Open House-Arts Day. This event, produced as part of the US Department of State’s office of Art in Embassies 50th anniversary, will include student performanc-es with Nick Cave in attendance, highlighting THEARC’s community enriching cultural pro-grams offered by The Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Levine School of Music, The Washington Ballet and THEARC Theater, all based at THEARC. A light dinner will be served. This event is free. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

James Prinz Photography. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

organizations whose primary function is exhibition, presentation or training in the arts and humanities.

DCCAH will host this forum on Nov 14, 6-8 p.m., at the new DCCAH office at 200 I (Eye) Street, SE, in the conference room. The Navy Yard Met-ro station (Green Line) is two blocks from to the office. Public transporta-tion is encouraged because of limited street parking. Photo identification is required to enter the DCCAH office building.

Greater Washington Urban League Financial Literacy Seminars

Greater Washington Urban League is offering a series of finan-cial literacy and first time homebuy-ers’ seminars. Registration available on-line for all classes at gwul.org. First Time Homebuyer’s Seminars are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Nov. 17, Spauldings Li-brary, 5811 Old Silver Hill Rd., Dis-trict Heights, MD; Dec. 15, New Car-rollton Library, 7414 Riverdale Rd., New Carrollton, MD.

Financial Literacy “Know Your Credit Score” Seminars are at the Greater Washington Urban League (Pepco Community Room), 2901 14th St. NW, 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 and Dec.13. Attending one of these seminars gives you the opportunity to register for the GWUL Homebuyers Club. This club offers monthly meet-ings that will prepare you for Home-ownership. For more information, con-tact Tracey Johnson at 202-265-8200 x 228 or email [email protected].

Free Foreclosure Prevention Clinics Housing Counseling Services

(HCS)-a DC based non-profit will offer free Foreclosure Prevention Clin-ics to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes. Clients will receive information and individual counsel-ing to help them identify their real-istic options for avoiding foreclosure and “foreclosure rescue scams.” DC law gives DC homeowners in danger of losing their homes the right to seek mediation with their lender in order to avoid foreclosure. Learn about the benefits of mediation and how to navi-gate the mediation process on Wed., Nov 14 and 21 at noon and Wed., Nov 28 at 6 p.m. Please call Su Cheng at 202-667-7006 for more information.

Street Vending Details for 2013 Inauguration

DCRA begun accepting applica-tions for 2013 Inauguration.Street Vending. 750 vending licenses will be issued. Applicants not already regis-tered with the Office of Tax and Rev-enue (OTR), must register their busi-ness using OTR Registration Form FR-500B. Applications may be ob-tained at OTR, 1101 4th St. SW. This form may be obtained online by going to: (a) cfo.dc.gov, then (b) Taxpayer Service Center, then (d) Forms and finally, selecting the Form FR-500B. Applicants must also obtain a Clean Hands Certification from OTR. (Available at the OTR Costumer Service Center). Applications will be accepted through Friday, Nov 23, 5 p.m.. All applications must be mailed or submitted in-person; no online ap-plications will be accepted.

National Archives Veterans’ Day Documentary Screening

On Wednesday, Nov 15, at 7:30 p.m., the National Archives marks Veterans’ Day with a screening of the 2012 documentary “Profiles in Ser-vice: It Takes a Nation,” a film explor-ing the service and sacrifice made by American service members, veterans and families. The film was directed by author Alivia Tagliaferri and narrated by Associated Press correspondent and Peabody Award-winning journalist Kimberly Dozier.

Following the screening, Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton (retired) will moderate a panel including Deputy Assistant Secretary Junior Ortiz, De-partment of Labor; Col. Anthony M. Henderson, Special Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff for Warrior and Family Support; Cheryl Laaker Hall, COO, USO Metropoli-tan Washington; Sonja Batten, PhD, Department of Veterans Affairs; and Kristina Kaufmann, Executive Direc-tor, Code of Support Foundation.

This public program is free and no registration is required. William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Entrance on Constitution Av-enue at Seventh St. NW. Fully acces-sible. Yellow or Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station. For more in-formation, call 202-357-5000 or visit archives.gov/calendar. l



NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Once you walk out of a polling place on November 6, you can feel proud knowing that you’ve done your democratic

duty. With a few strokes of a pen, you chose the men and women that will rep-resent you, both locally and federally, for the coming years. And as with any repre-sentative democracy, you can sit back and know that election season is over, that all of those political TV ads and campaign yard signs will soon disappear.

Well, kind of. At some point next year, the D.C. Board of Elections will call a special election to fill the At-Large seat on the D.C. Council that will be vacated by Phil Mendelson, the likely victor in the race for the council’s chairmanship. The petitions will come back out, the candidate forums will be scheduled, the fundraising pitches will return, and you’ll again be asked to come out and vote.

In the meantime, though, there will be an election that you probably won’t know much about—nor will you likely be invited to participate in. As with ev-ery At-Large vacancy on the council, the D.C. Democratic State Committee—the local franchise of the Democratic Party—will be charged with selecting an interim councilmember, a seat-holder who will briefly assume the responsibilities and enjoy the perks of being an elected official in D.C.

The Battle for BiddleThe last time this happened was in

January 2011, when the committee was tasked with finding someone to fill the seat vacated by Kwame Brown, who was rising to the council chairmanship. Party members gathered in a small conference room and hashed out who would succeed Brown, and after three rounds of hotly contested balloting, chose Sekou Bid-

dle over Vincent Orange to fill Brown’s seat until a special election could be held.

The process wasn’t pretty, though. Open ballots weren’t used, as required by the party’s rules, and members refused to say whom they had voted for. When it became evident that Orange would fight Biddle to the bitter end, Brown, former Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) and Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) appeared on site to press the flesh for Biddle’s interim ap-pointment.

The whole process ended up tainting Biddle; painted as a party insider who benefited from Brown’s endorsement, Biddle lost the April 26 special election to Orange, who had the gumption to present himself as just the type of out-sider that the D.C. Council needed. (His political resume included representing Ward 5 for two terms and running for mayor and council chair.)

Selecting Mendo’s SuccessorWill this January’s selection of an

interim successor to Mendelson be any better? Not according to some critics. “What you’re going to see play out in the Democratic State Committee selec-tion process is exactly what’s wrong with what voters are seeing in District poli-tics today,” said Charles Allen, a member of the Ward 6 Democrats. “There’s al-ready so much talk within the committee wanting to select someone who will be beholden to the 80 or so members of the state committee. That’s not an approach that will select the best Democrat—let alone the best person—to represent the District at-large.”

Other critics, some who wanted to remain anonymous, say that the local Democratic Party has simply failed to re-

main open and engaged with the 350,000 registered D.C. Democrats it is supposed to serve and represent. To them, the party remains an insular club of people unable to adequately manage their finances or find a way to make themselves relevant in a town that’s overwhelmingly Demo-cratic.

Philip Pannell, a Ward 8 activist and candidate for the State Board of Educa-tion who served the party in a variety of capacities over the course of 30 years, pulls no punches when speaking of the committee’s current trajectory. “I’ve seen the party in the best of times and the worst of times. This is indeed the worst of times. The Democratic State Committee is the pits. It is an absolute intellectual wasteland, and it does practically noth-ing for the body politic in this city,” he said.

Other critics say that the commit-tee just doesn’t seem to want to invite competition from those outside the in-ner circle. As evidence, they point to a change in the way the party chooses its 48 members.

Late last year the committee an-nounced that it was doing away with the direct election of its members, opting in-stead for a caucus. While committee of-ficials said that the decision stemmed in part from consultations with the Demo-cratic National Committee, one party critic who asked to remain anonymous said that the move was made to ensure that the party leadership didn’t change ahead of the Democratic National Con-vention.

Pannell said much the same, add-ing that a caucus—“consummate inside baseball,” he termed it—would keep out-siders from participating. Even worse, there’s no set date for a caucus, meaning that many members will be exceeding the

It’s Time for a (S)election!by Martin Austermuhle


length of their terms. That feeling of a rigged

inside game extends to the At-Large selection process, undoubtedly one of the few mo-ments when the committee’s ac-tions attract citywide attention. Not only does a small group of people get to elevate one of its own to the city’s legislature, but it largely gets to do so without the usual checks or balances on the process.

To that end, one person who has already put their name in the running is the ultimate in-sider: committee chairwoman Anita Bonds, a former aide to Barry—and a senior executive for Fort Myer Construction, one of D.C.’s biggest contrac-tors.

Still, some committee mem-bers say they’re hoping to use the appointment process as a means to present a new, more inclusive side. “All of us want it this to be a process…that’s as broadly based as possible and have as much interaction with the public as possible and be as representative as possible. As with any public body, there’s a real struggle to find out what the best way is to do that,” explained Tania Jackson, the committee’s Director of Com-munication and an At-Large member elected in 2008.

Democratic PartyDoldrums

Will the committee be able to pull it off ? Maybe. But more importantly, will it even matter? The committee seems to be suf-

fering from an existential crisis, awkwardly trying to define it-self and its mission in a chang-ing city. Maybe having no real competition has made the com-mittee atrophy—D.C. voters are so consistently Democratic, after all, that the committee doesn’t have to do much to fight for their support.

But worse than being ir-relevant is being ineffectual, a position the committee has found itself in in the past. Not only did Biddle lose to Orange despite being endorsed by the committee, but in 1997 Arrington Dixon, another in-terim councilmember cho-sen by the committee, lost to David Catania, who was then a Republican.

That the committee will again be able to exercise its power to appoint a coun-cilmember should raise the question: is the process is even necessary? Ward-based seats, for one, remain empty until special elections are held. Ad-ditionally, the city can now hold special elections more quickly after vacancies are announced. Do we really need someone to keep a council seat warm for two months before someone is elected to do so on a fulltime basis?

That’s a question all D.C. voters should consider over the next few months.

Martin Austermuhle is Editor-in-Chief of DCist.com and a free-lance writer. He lives in Colum-bia Heights. l


NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

In this month’s column, we’re going to talk about why the District has unexpected defi-cits or surpluses sometimes—such as the $140 million in bonus money announced at

the end of September—and how we can best use our resources given this volatility.

The amount of money our local government brings in—and, therefore, the amount we can spend—is varies based on many factors. Some of those factors the District has more control over—like what tax rates are set—and some the District has less control over—like whether the federal government will do a massive spending cut in a move called sequestration.

No matter what the District must balance its budget every year. While the challenge of mak-ing expenditures equal revenue in tough times is brutal, there also are tough choices to make when we bring in more money than expected, as is hap-pening right now. Some DC leaders are suggest-

ing that we save every penny of surplus money while others are proposing tax cuts, but the most judicious path is to use the money to prepare us for the future. That can involve saving some of the surplus and spending some of it on programs that give a good return on investment, like put-ting money into affordable housing that stabilizes families or libraries that promote literacy.

Looking into the Crystal Ball ofRevenue Forecasting

DC government does a lot of different things, and a few of the people who work for our city are tasked with predicting the future. No, they are not psychics or palm readers. They are economists,

and they work for the Office of Revenue Analysis for our city’s Chief Financial Of-ficer in Southwest DC.

These economists analyze a range of economic indicators, including popula-tion, employment, and housing to predict how much money will come into District coffers, and, therefore, how much we can spend. During the Great Recession, the Office of Revenue Analysis delivered a lot of bad news to District leaders, but lately their forecasts have been more uplifting as the District’s population boom has meant more people living and working in the city, more houses and condos sold, and more people spending money at District busi-nesses. There are 15,000 more working DC residents than a year ago, and wage income grew five percent. The number of new hous-ing permits issued in the last 12 months is double the number from a year ago.

Four times a year, ORA looks at all of these trends and tells us how much revenue we have to spend now and how much we might have down the road. In September, the Office of Revenue Analy-sis announced that tax collections at the end of fiscal year 2012 were $140 million higher than had been predicted just three

months earlier. Overall tax collections for 2012 are $500 million higher than in 2011.

This doesn’t mean everything is rosy, of course. While unemployment is low for college-educated DC residents, more than 20 percent of residents with a high school degree or less remain out of work, and nearly one-third of DC’s children live in poverty. For these residents, the recession is

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A Deep Dive into DC Revenue AnalysisCrystal Balls, Fiscal Cliffs and Other Metaphors

by Elissa Silverman and Ed Lazere


not over and we have to consider whether it makes sense to use some of the boost we get from some parts of our economy to help those who haven’t done so well in it.

The Fiscal Cliff – A Risk that Probably Will Be Avoided

Another factor that goes into our forecast is what happens in the federal government. The feds are the largest employer in our city, and so changes to the federal bud-get and the federal workforce can have a big impact on the District. Right now, budget experts and economists are watching to see if we go over the so-called federal “fiscal cliff ”-- a mix of tax increas-es and spending cuts that will go into effect to cut the federal deficit.

The good news is that, despite the recent history of federal politi-cal gridlock, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have re-ally strong incentives to work out a deal. Neither wants the deep defense cuts or tax increases on middle-income families that come with the fiscal cliff. That is why most blue chip economists and political observers feel that in the end Congress will either decide to delay tax increases or spending cuts entirely or create a new budget deal that brings down the deficit more slowly and responsibly.

That has a big impact on DC’s revenue picture. If the fiscal cliff is avoided future forecasts might be revised to reflect more money, and just like we have planned for the worst case scenario in which se-questration happens, we should also start thinking about if it doesn’t.

Using Our New Resources to Make DC A Better Place

When DC’s $140 million year-end bonus was announced in Sep-tember, many elected officials said we should save the whole thing. While it is important to have money in the bank, whether you’re a household or a government, it also makes sense to spend savings sometimes, particularly if you have a decent amount set aside and the expenditures would serve an im-portant purpose. After falling for several years, DC’s savings account

— the city’s “fund balance” — grew last year to $1.1 billion. As a share of the city’s budget, that is larger than in all but eight states. This means a part of the $140 million could be spent without putting our fiscal security at risk. That is exactly the approach Mayor Wil-liams took in the mid-2000s when the city was adding large surpluses year after year.

The city faces many challenges now that could be addressed by us-ing some of the $140 million rev-enue surplus. The DC budget ap-proved last summer did not have adequate funding for basics such as homeless services, for example. The surplus also could be used for things like building up collections at libraries, including school librar-ies, or providing down-payment assistance to first-time homebuy-ers, or creating a small-business loan fund. There are no doubt many other good ideas.

In just a few months, the mayor and DC Council will start the pro-cess of developing a budget for the next year. If it turns out DC’s tax collections are still growing, that will provide a great opportunity to think about tackling some of DC’s greatest challenges: improving outcomes at our lowest performing schools, a key goal of Chancellor Henderson; getting more adults trained for jobs; helping residents cope with the rising costs of hous-ing; opening up libraries and rec centers on Sundays.

We all can point to public in-vestments that have made the city more attractive in recent years, whether it is the Wilson pool, the new H.D. Woodson High School, or a host of new libraries and recre-ation centers. With more money in the bank these days, DC’s leaders should not take the approach that the most responsible action is to save it all. Instead, they should fo-cus on smart investments that will add to DC’s vitality and help more residents succeed.

Silverman and Lazere work at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (www.dcf-pi.org), which conducts research on tax and budget issues that affect low- and moderate-income DC residents. l


NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

There comes a point in a writer’s life when it’s time to move beyond workshops, conferences and retreats. Failure to do this can result in lost opportunities and stunted growth. I think

it’s the same with conversations about Washington, D.C. How long can one continue to “workshop” gentrifica-tion? How many times can we talk about neighborhoods changing without saying the same things over and over? I refuse to count the number of white people who now walk along U Street. I was never good at math. I did how-ever learn the difference between multiplication, subtrac-tion and division.

Lately I’ve started defining myself as an immigrant whose children happen to have been born in the new country. My daughter and son are Washingtonians. They were both born in George Washington University Hos-pital. It’s my daughter who sometimes reminds me of the limitation of language and how words lose their meaning or are simply misused. If one was to describe the “face” of gentrification, could my daughter model its clothes?

My daughter attended only private schools while growing up in this city. Her early childhood was spent near the streets of 14th and Rhode Island, NW, and Full-er Street (behind the Potter’s House) in Adams Morgan, in the building once owned by the arts patron and restau-rateur Herb White.

I wrote about this time in our lives in my second memoir, The 5th Inning:

It was a small white building with four floors pushed back from a street behind Columbia Road. It had a ve-randa instead of a terrace, and on the hot days you could watch all the drug transactions. If someone had told me there was a “God of Gentrification” I would have been on my knees almost everyday praying to it. How many fathers are forced to raise their children on Fuller Streets?

We moved into Ward 4 during her adolescence, and found a house near the so-called Gold Coast where the black middle class often discovered gold disguised as government jobs and Howard University employment.

Here my daughter would turn 16, survive the Ed-

mund Burke School and go off to Boston for college; she would return to Washington and attend law school at George Washington University.

Today, my daughter works at a K street law firm. She lives in Anacostia.

When I learned she was moving to Southeast to live with her boyfriend it reminded me of Columbus getting lost while trying to find a way to the Indies. Might parts of D.C. today represent the New World and all that comes with it including the misunderstanding of the original in-habitants, their displacement and destroyed way of life? Why does progress sometimes comes with a cross, a gun or a sign that says “Condominium”?

What is the difference between discovery and gentri-fication? What if I stop a white jogger or bike rider and he says his name is Vasco da Gama or Ponce de Leon? And who is this woman, once my baby, who carries my name and love? How is she viewed in the Anacostia neighborhood? What are the many shades of blackness? How many types of chocolate are there?

In 2012 the beautiful ones are here again. My daugh-ter represents the type of African American women we have been waiting for. If DC is to be a capital city it must dance with my daughter again. It must remain her city, a place where she is able to afford a home and raise her children.

If this city works for her, it might just work for all of us. Of course there is much to repair. There are still many things broken in Washington. Some things might even need to be erased. It is the word “erasure” that now seems problematic and perhaps dangerous. It appears to be what comes after invisibility. There is a “Ralph Ellison” in me that keeps counting the light bulbs in the basement.

How many black Washingtonians feel they are slowly being driven underground? How many no longer see light or hope in the shadow of the Capitol? What are the choices they must navigate on a daily basis in order to survive? I look into my daughter’s eyes for a possible answer.

I need to father more words in order to tell her story. l

Fathering Gentrification by E. Ethelbert Miller

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On the first Friday in No-vember, Nella Peterson, President of the Barry Farm Resident Council,

was asked by the DC Housing Author-ity (DCHA), along with other mem-bers of the resident council, to read and evaluate seven proposals within a week to select a master planner and devel-oper for her neighborhood.

“They’re very complicated and in depth,” Peterson says. “Housing has put a priority on these proposals. It’s mind-boggling; we have no time.”

Last month the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded Choice Neighbor-hood planning grants to 17 recipients, including DCHA, which received $300,000 for its proposal for the rede-velopment of Barry Farm Dwellings. To jumpstart redevelopment efforts, when the Housing Authority com-pletes the planning process it intends to apply for a competitive Choice Neigh-borhoods Implementation Grant. This could provide up to $30 million for the revitalization of the Barry Farm com-munity, according to Dena Michael-

son, DCHA’s Director of Public Af-fairs and Communications.

The announcement from HUD comes on the heels of DCHA’s receiv-ing those seven proposals in response to the call for a master planning and de-velopment team to lead a $400 million, four-phase renewal process that could take an estimated two decades. Barry Farm Dwellings sits on 26 acres in Southeast, bounded by Firth Sterling Avenue, Suitland Parkway, Wade Road and St. Elizabeths’ West Campus, with more than one million square feet pro-jected for mixed-use redevelopment. That is a large piece of land, though far smaller than the original Barry Farm, which had 375 acres when purchased for $52,000 by the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1867.

DCHA is expected to announce a short list from the seven applicants this month. Finalists were evaluated by a six-member panel with equal repre-sentation from DCHA, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DPMED) and the Barry Farm Resident Coun-cil. A similar panel will score the final

proposals from the short list and make recommendations to Adrianne Tod-man, DCHA’s Executive Director, in March 2013. Once Todman accepts the finalist, she will take the proposal to DCHA’s Board of Commissioners for final approval. The proposal can be sent back to the panel with questions from either Todman or the Board.

As part of the proposal process the master planner and developer will

identify other sources of private and public funding that will be used to complete the project, including the Choice Neighborhoods seed grant, if DCHA wins it. The Housing Au-thority has a track record of leverag-ing HUD grants. In total, DCHA has received $182 million through seven HOPE VI grants, which have been leveraged to return “more than $1.5 billion in community development for

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Barry FarmRedevelopmentPlans Restartby John Muller

An 1894 Baist survey of the greater Anacostia and Barry Farm communities.

Flyer posted by the Barry Farm Resident Council for an ’Emergency Town Hall Meeting’ posted in Charlie’s Cornerstore.

the District,” according to Michaelson.Ground-fl oor retail has not been incorpo-

rated into the recently opened Sheridan Sta-tion, but plans for Barry Farm’s redevelopment could include up to 30,000 square feet of retail to complement the addition of hundreds of market rate units.

DCHA is aware of Barry Farm resi-dents’ concern about displacement. “Th e city’s New Communities program, HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program and the DCHA Board of Commissioners’ Development Prin-ciples all require a 1-to-1 replacement of units that serve low-income families on site or in the immediate community,” confi rmed Mi-chaelson. “Th ere are 100 units, 60 already built and occupied and 40 being built, at Sheridan Station and Matthews Memorial Terrace that are part of the Barry Farm redevelopment. Th e priority for all 432 units is for Barry Farm fam-ilies in good standing. A successful redevelop-ment will deconcentrate the public housing on the footprint to provide for a mixed-income, transit-oriented, green community.”

Kalfani Ture, a doctoral student who has been immersed in the community since 2007, observes that “on one hand, policymakers say that Barry Farm Dwellings proper is too dense in the sociological characteristics of a ‘RUG,’ a racialized urban ghetto.” He continues: “But on the other hand, the same policymakers say Barry Farm needs greater density because it hasn’t appreciated for the market. Th e re-facing of the Anacostia waterfront, on both sides, is in the hopes a developer will see the attractive-ness of investing in this community and create density of disposable income-consumers.”

Disconnect between city offi cials and Barry Farm residents is straightforward, says Ture. “Th e primary concerns of residents are self-preservation of their family and kinfolk in response to the structural policies that have produced the community’s desperation, which the current development policy proposes to resolve. Th e city’s intention is to make money and expose Barry Farm to the market. Th ese

are two antithetical perspectives on the same community.”

Barry Farm Residents Wait for the Next Step

Anxiety has been mounting for residents since Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 8 Councilmem-ber Marion Barry held a series of meetings at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church in spring 2008 to discuss the city’s New Communities redevelopment plan, which began in November 2005 and was approved by the City Council in 2006. With the downturn in the economy and housing market in fall 2008, plans to

rejuvenate the faded and blighted community were put on the shelf. More than four years later the whole process begins anew.

Th rough all the fi ts and starts seasoned res-idents of Barry Farm have developed mistrust toward the city government. Th e city seems to engender residents’ worst fears, and in response an emergency town hall meeting was organized in late October. Th e meeting drew more than 50 attendees, including neighborhood artist-activist and documentary fi lmmaker Tendani Mpulubusi, who is a member of the Barry Farm New Communities Advisory Board. “A sense of intense concern was expressed at the meeting,” he says, “but this emotion was pur-poseful, directed, and empowering.”According to Mpulubusi, Barry Farm residents are work-ing with legal counsel provided by a citywide nonprofi t to draft a “Community Benefi ts Agreement” and provide “competency and engagement” workshops as the development process moves forward.

On a recent visit to the neighborhood, fl y-ers posted by the Barry Farm Resident Coun-cil were seen hanging inconspicuously on the door of the Barry Farm Recreation Center and inside Charlie’s Corner store on Sumner Road SE. Th e posters demand improved pub-lic safety, community heritage preservation, job training and employment opportunities and “Our Right to Return to Barry Farm after the Development!”

As for the future of Barry Farm, Nella Pe-terson, a home health aide to her mother, says, “I would like to see us return to being a close-knit community. We need to get back on that path.”

No Word on Next MeetingA “Barry Farm New Communities” public

meeting planned for October 25 at the Excel Academy was cancelled. With the approach-ing holidays and demands on the Barry Farm Resident Council, the next public meeting is not expected to convene until early 2013. l


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On October 25, Coun-cilmembers David Catania (At-large) and Yvette Alexander

(Ward 7) hosted a joint oversight roundtable focusing on issues re-garding Chartered Health Plan, Inc. As chairpersons for the Commit-tees on Health and Public Services and Consumer Affairs, Catania and Alexander, respectively, questioned Wayne Turnage, director of the De-partment of Health Care Finances (DHCF), and William White, commissioner for the Department of Insurance, Securities and Bank-ing (DISB). Councilmember Mar-ion Barry (Ward 8), a member of the Committee on Health, was also questioned the witnesses.

Financial Warning Signs In his testimony, White detailed

Chartered’s timeline of financial is-sues. In 2009 and 2010, the com-pany’s financial statements showed that its capital level was “…at a level of concern to my department.” Despite increasing financial over-sight for Chartered and granting an extension to file its 2011 statement, the company reported a $15 mil-lion loss this April. “That weakened the company’s finances to the point that I was worried about whether it had sufficient capital to keep oper-ating,” White said. An audit from Brown Smith Wallace is analyzing the loss; however, the audit’s finish-ing date was originally scheduled for the end of October.

Chartered’s situation worsened over the summer: then-owner Jef-fery Thompson’s legal issues were revealed (leading to his resigna-tion as chairman of the board), the original auditors resigned in May, and potential buyers couldn’t reach a deal with the company. Addition-ally, Turnage testified that CHP’s budget had $4 million in irregulari-ties: $3 million in unsourced rev-enue and $1 million transferred to an unknown receiver. As a result, DHCF announced that it will not renew Chartered’s Medicaid five-year contract under present own-ership; the contract ends on April 30, 2013, putting CHP’s 110,000 Medicaid and Alliance members at risk for losing benefits and health care and endangering 160 jobs.

Receivership and Possible Sale“Recently, it became clear from

our careful half-year of intensive supervision that the department would have to step in and assume a larger role to ensure health care for Medicaid and Alliance enrollees would continue,” White testified. On October 16, White, Turnage, and their staff met with Chartered’s board and outlined their proposal for receivership, in which a court appointee will manages its affairs; Thompson (as Chartered’s parent company’s sole shareholder) and the board approved. Three days later, Chartered was officially in re-ceivership, with White as its head. He, in turn, hired insurance lawyer

Daniel Watkins as special deputy rehabilitator to help oversee the company’s finances.

However, both witnesses agreed that “…a sale and change of own-ership, if feasible, is the best and safest outcome for everyone.” Al-though White stated that there are a few potential bids, he didn’t give any names. However, Alexander pointed out that the ongoing audit could hinder a potential sale, stat-ing “There’s no company that wants to buy another company without knowing their financial status.”

Potential ImplicationsWhite noted, “At no time did

these possible financial irregulari-ties found by the ongoing audit af-fect the quality of care or payment to providers. To our knowledge, patients are being seen and medical providers are being paid.” He also noted that Chartered will continue to operate as a private company and won’t become a city agency. Turnage said that the receivership “…allows the DHCF to extend a contract to CHP for the remainder of the original contract period...” He also noted that “…this decision does not alter or diminish the existing health care provider network for Chartered’s beneficiaries,” nor will it change payment arrangements to providers.

However, the receivership could also potentially hinder Chartered. A Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new five-year Medicaid con-

tract was released on November 2; although Chartered can bid for a new contract, it can’t receive a new contract if under receivership. Therefore, CHP must either be sold or successfully exit the receivership before May 1, 2013, when the new contract begins. Should Chartered fail to win a contract, the company would transfer its members to ei-ther MedStar Family Choice or United Healthcare.

Barry voiced concerns that Chartered’s disadvantage could hinder a potential sale. “Here’s the problem,” he said, “A new purchaser of Chartered is not going to pur-chase Chartered unless they’re able to bid on the five-year contract.” With the deadline set for Decem-ber 3, the new owners would most likely not have enough time to make their own bid. Although Turnage suggests that the buyer won’t make the sale official unless Chartered won its contract, Barry believes no investor will sign such a deal.

ChallengesNow that Chartered is under

receivership, the embattled compa-ny is on track to improve its finan-cial standing. However, it will be a challenge to do this with limited disruption to members’ benefits and services. “Finding a qualified buyer and completing a purchase agree-ment within the timeline to allow Chartered to effectively compete for a new contract will be challeng-ing,” White said, “but we are going to do our best.”

For more information, call Chartered Health Plan at (202) 408-4720 (toll free 1-800-7511) or the DCHCF Off ice of the Health Care Ombuds-man and Bill of Rights at (202) 724-7491 (toll free 1-877-685-6391). l

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Chartered Health Plan’sUncertain Future by Charnice A. Milton

Located on the first floor of the Grays on Pennsylvania, the Fair-lawn Yes! Organic Market was the first organic supermarket located

east of the Anacostia River, the first to be built since 2007, and seventh Yes! location in the city. “Residents in Ward 8 have not been able to buy fresh, nutritious food at an affordable price in their neighborhoods,” then-Mayor Adrian Fenty said in a 2010 statement. “This store changes that.” How-ever, two years later, Gary Cha, its owner, has announced that it will close sometime in December.

“We truly wanted to be the first store to provide healthy options,” says Cha, a native Washingtonian. “We tried to do this for two years, but we can’t do this for much longer.”

Timothy Chapman, head of Chapman Development and owner of the Grays, also expressed his disappointment over the closing.

“I think the world of Gary,” he says. “I believe he’s handling this like a gentleman.” He is currently looking for a retailer to oc-cupy the store’s space; he didn’t comment on which retailers he would like to work with, as he is just beginning the search.

Chapman first met Cha while searching for an anchor retailer for the Grays, a mixed-use property with 118 affordable housing units and views of the Washington Monu-ment. Thanks to the Great Streets Initiative and the Supermarket Tax Credit program, the city gave Chapman $900,000 and a tax

break to bring Yes! east of the Anacostia. Cha already had success bringing Yes!

to other communities in transition, such as Petworth and Brookland. In fact, some of his first customers at the Fairlawn location for-merly crossed the John Philip Sousa Bridge to visit his Capitol Hill location. The Fair-lawn location not only brought Yes! closer to home, but created jobs in an area where high unemployment is the norm; the citybizlist DC website reported that the store created 30 jobs, 24 of which were given to Wards 7 and 8 residents (8/31/2010).

Despite accepting supplemental nutri-tion assistance benefits (SNAP) and Wom-en, Infant, and Children (WIC) vouchers, Yes! suffered from low business volume, stated Cha.

“We do try to cater to the community and keep our prices low,” says Carenthia Brown, an assistant manager at the Fair-lawn Yes! However, in an area where there are many food assistance recipients, not too many potential customers can afford to shop there. “Usually the first to the 15th of the month, business is great,” Brown says. “Af-terwards, it goes downhill from there.”

Despite the setback at its current loca-tion in Ward 7, Cha hopes to open more locations east of the river. “The customers deserve equal access to organic food as those in Northwest,” he said.

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexan-der announced that she will be working with Cha to relocate Yes! to a more suitable loca-tion. Residents have complained about the store’s inconvenient location parking-wise and about the high prices, she stated. Alex-ander is also committed to working with the owners of the Grays to find another grocery or convenience store to replace Yes!

“We want a lot of things for our commu-nity,” Alexander said in a statement. “When a new business comes to our community, we should be diligent in supporting them.”

One resident, John Capozzi, is already planning ways to rally the community to keep Yes! open.

“If Yes! closes, other businesses will think twice about moving east of the Ana-costia River,” he said. Capozzi also points out that there are limited options to buy healthy food with only a few supermarkets in Wards 7 and 8.

“We can’t just keep losing businesses,” Capozzi stated. “We deserve better.” l


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Fairlawn Yes! Organic Market to Close after Two Yearsby Charnice A. Milton

The Fairlawn Yes! Organic Market is expected to close sometime in December due to low business volume. No word is available on what will replace the retailer.


Rev. Dr. Kendrick Curry, pastor of the Pennsyl-vania Avenue Baptist Church, received an as-

signment many people would con-sider to be Mission Impossible: “You have been using your credit cards as a means of survival while the father continues to look for employment, but now the credit cards have reached their maximum limit. Mother has health insurance through her work but it is too ex-pensive to cover her husband and her children. They have no insur-ance at this time.”

Rev. Curry’s new identity: com-puter programmer Albert Aber, married, with three children, but

laid off four months ago from his 20-year job and now facing the loss of his unemployment benefits. Monthly expenses for the Abers total over $1,500. His wife earns $1,324 monthly after taxes, leaving a $221 shortfall. Fortunately, Rev. Curry’s impoverished state lasted only two hours. Many DCers are not so lucky.

Rev. Curry was participating in the “Poverty Simulation” an ex-ercise co-sponsored on October 13 by Capital Cause, Serve Your City, the Steinbruck Center for Urban Studies and Defeat Poverty DC (DPDC). The last of these organi-zations is an advocacy group rais-ing awareness of poverty in DC

and developing support among city leaders for policies to alleviate it.

Poverty in DCThe DC Fiscal Policy Institute

in a September 12, 2012, policy brief cautioned that poverty is in-creasing in DC. “One in five DC residents – approximately 123,000 – live in poverty according to U.S. Census Bureau data,” the report states.

“There are many myths about poverty,” says Joe Weedon, execu-tive director of DPDC. “People do not want to work. It’s their fault that they are in poverty.” Weedon argues that the reasons for poverty are more complicated. The simula-

tion helps to illuminate the difficul-ties people experience.

Feeling the Pain“People think that is easy to ap-

ply and get benefits to keep your family afloat,” explains Weedon. It’s not. In the simulation, designed by the Missouri Association for Com-munity Action, people play roles ranging from official positions, such as a mortgage company offi-cer, to being members of a family whose father lost his job. Covering the period of a month, each week in the simulation lasts fifteen minutes.

Bianca Vazquez, a Lutheran Volunteer Corps member who serves as program coordinator at the Steinbruck Center, helped to arrange the simulation at N Street Village. She wrote in an email that the simulation “exposes the incred-ible wealth of knowledge” a person in poverty needs just to navigate the system. She reels off questions that are important to know to in order to receive assistance. “What churches have food pantries on what days? What agency will help you get a photo ID or your birth certificate? What nonprofits can assist with rent, transportation passes? What to I do if I can’t read the forms that the DC Housing Authority gives me?”

Meet the AbersRev. Curry, a board member of

DPDC, arrives at N Street Village that Saturday, discovering he will portray Albert Aber. Rev. Curry is introduced to his family and, upon starting the simulation, he quickly takes command, realizing that ev-erything presents a cost in time and money. Just getting to places requires transportation passes.

Albert tells his wife, daughter and two sons: “We need help with the mortgage.” But attention also has to be paid to needs of food and transportation. “I’ll go to make a partial payment [on the utility bill]. If we can do that we will be able to move forward,” he tells his family.

At the utility office, Albert decides to have his family forego having a phone to concentrate on paying bills for electricity and gas. Then it’s to the Department for So-

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Unemployment’s Run Out.Now What?Defeat Poverty DC Hosts Simulation to Demonstrate Difficulties Many DCers Face

by Stephen Lilienthal

At Poverty Simulation, Rev. Curry (on right), aka Albert Aber, meets his new family.

cial Services (DSS) to apply for an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. Later Albert waits in line at a bank, when it closes.

On and on it goes, end-less visits to DSS and having to refill their forms. Stops at the bank, a mortgage company, Community Health Services and the Community Action Agency, each with its own de-mands for identification and verification of unemployed status that must be met before closing time.

A siren screams. Weedon announces that a family has been “picked up” for not paying their utility bill.

Back to his normal life, Rev. Curry notes that he could rely upon his knowledge of “the system” to help prioritize deal-ing with his simulated family’s problems. “We needed to pre-serve shelter so we could be intact as a family,” he explains. But he’s left wondering, “Why do I have to fill out an applica-tion four times to get an EBT card?”

Albert and his wife are col-lege educated. Many in DC lack even basic literacy skills. Some participants received a sheet from the Community Health Services in Greek just to see how difficult it can be to for people unable to read com-plicated medical instructions.

DPDC will stage more sim-ulations in the coming months. Rev. Curry wants to see city leaders, including elected offi-cials, participating so they will better understand the problems many DCers are facing. “For those without the skills of ex-perience to navigate the system, it can be frustrating. We started to feel that frustration too even though we were participating in a simulation.”

Stephen Lilienthal is a freelance writer living in Washington, DC. Defeat Poverty DC’s web-page is located at http://defeat-povertydc.org. l


GIV ING LOCALLY


Access Housing, Inc. CFC #22663Access Housing, Inc. (DC) operates the Southeast Veterans Service Center and Ches-apeake Veterans House in Southeast DC. This is a non-profi t agency dedicated to provid-ing support services and housing to formerly homeless veterans. Both male and female veterans reside at the facilities. Veterans from all branches and wars have been served by the SEVSC; which celebrated its 10 year anniversary last November. 820-840 Chesa-peake Street, SE, DC 20032, 202-561-8387, Accesshousingdc.org

Capital Area Food BankCFC #30794, United Way #8052For 30 years, CAFB has been the D.C. met-ro area’s hub for food sourcing, distribu-tion and nutrition education - serving over 478,000 people struggling with hunger. Through direct service and a network of 700 nonprofi t partners, the CAFB distributed 27 million pounds of food last year, including 10.8 million pounds of fresh produce. For more on hunger, visit our website at Capi-talAreaFoodBank.org. 645 Taylor Street, NE, Washington, DC 20017, 202-526-5344, www.CapitalAreaFoodBank.org

Central Union MissionCFC# 85786Central Union Mission is a faith-based 501(c)3 nonprofi t organization. It oper-ates a rehabilitation program for men with life-controlling issues, free meals program, a clothing and furniture distribution center, and a 220-acre retreat center with a camp for underprivileged children and recreation facilities for the community. Its current pro-grams serve homeless men, underprivileged women, children, seniors, veterans and the growing Hispanic community. The Mission works to help transform the area’s toughest rehabilitation cases into productive mem-bers of society

Coalition for the Homeless CFC #83436, United Way #8194The Coalition for the Homeless was es-tablished in 1979. Our mission is to help transition homeless and at risk individuals and families in the Washington area to self-suffi ciency through housing programs and supportive services. The Coalition fulfi lls its

This CFC season consider giving back to a veteran who has given so much to us.

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mission by operating 13 housing and shelter facilities. 1234 Mas-sachusetts Avenue NW., Suite C-1015, Washington, DC 20005, 202-347-7279, www.dccfh.org

For Love of ChildrenCFC #72093, United Way #8260For Love of Children (FLOC) pro-vides educational services be-yond the classroom to help stu-dents succeed from first grade through college and career. We bring together students, volun-teers, families, and community partners in proven programs that teach, empower, and trans-form. 1763 Columbia Rd, NW, DC 20009, 202-462-8686, www.flocdc.org

Green DoorCFC #13954 , United Way #8197 Since 1976, Green Door has been empowering people with mental illnesses to take charge of their own recovery and re-habilitation by focusing on their three biggest challenges: stigma, poverty and recovery. Today, we serve nearly 1,500 in-dividuals through programs and services at our locations. 1623 Sixteenth St, NW, Washing-ton, DC 20009, 202.462-4092, http://www.greendoor.org

So Others Might Eat (S.O.M.E)CFC#74405 Since the 1970s, SOME has of-fered meals, a medical clinic, job programs and affordable housing programs to those in need. 1,000 meals are served each day in our dining room. SOME offers comprehensive pro-grams that meet a full spectrum of needs while giving a sense of dignity to the poor and home-less of the District. 71 O Street, NW, DC 20001, 202-797-8806, www.some.org l


1221 Taylor Street, NWWashington, DC 20011202-464-9200

Green Door helps men and women with mental illness achieve the highest level of personal success and independence in our community.

Green Door Values: •Respect,DignityandEmpathy •Collaboration •FocusonIndividualStrengths •QualityServices •WelcomingandSafeEnvironment

Community ChildDevelopment Center

Open Year round 6:30am to 6:00pmAges 2 to 4 plus School age

Developmentally Appropriate ProgramsToilet Training • Certified Educators

Hot Balanced Meals • Educational Field TripsTuition Based on Income

4021 Minnesota Ave NEWashington DC 20019

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Learning”

Two Locations


V alentino says he knows what women want: “Th ey want to be beautiful. Th ey also want to be fashionable. I have been on a quest for remarkable style since grade school. My parents

thought that Martin Luther King, Jr., Public Library was tantamount to an amusement park. So I spent many Saturdays peering over fashion picture books in the library’s art department. Not only did I develop a peculiar style all my own, but I also learned how to recognize and appreciate the other kindred spirits all around me. Believe it or not, DC has always been home to fashion mavens: pioneers who set the trends for everyone else. I take great pleasure in ferreting out super

Finding Fashion at Homeby Mariessa Terrell


style stars in unlikely places. For instance, some of the trendiest fashion heroes I know live and work in Southeast.

Holeeta Cain, Fashion ManufacturerHoleeta is a third-generation seamstress, a

product of DC public schools who graduated from the University of the District of Colum-bia with a fashion design and merchandising degree. She recalls with a smile DC’s illustrious retail fashion past. Once upon a time, Holeeta interned at Garfinkel’s, Woodard & Lothrop and Lansburg (one of the first department stores to extend credit to African Americans). Soon thereafter, Holeeta opened a boutique in Georgetown featuring her bespoke designs. When she closed her shop in 2011, she found-ed Cain & Carlyle with D. Carlyle Briggs. Cain & Carlyle is an apparel manufacturing company that specializes in creating short runs (less than 100 pieces) for local designers and fashion afi-cionados. Holeeta is now resurrecting a silver mink jacket that I rescued from a thrift store bin. Thanks to Holeeta Cain and D. Carlyle Briggs, finding women’s clothing with a “made in DC” label affixed is a reality. Some of Holeeta’s notable celebrity clients include Omarosa of the Apprentice, Windy Raquel Williams (Regina of the Steve Harvey Show), Alli-son Seymore (Fox 5 News anchor) and Sheila Stew-art (director of news programming/media relations for Radio One).

D Carlyle Briggs, Fashion Photographerand Graphic Designer

D. Carlyle Briggs grew up in far Southeast (Ward 8). In 1997 he joined the Army, and while attending Austin Peay State University in Tennessee he studied film and traveled across the globe on military busi-ness. A few years later he transferred to University of Maryland in College Park, switching his major to visual communication with a focus on graphic design. D. excelled in fashion photography. He learned to shoot runway presentations the hard way. Once, his boss placed him on a median strip facing on-com-ing traffic. His job: to photograph passengers in cars going over 50 mph. No problem! Like Holeeta, D. benefitted from wonderful apprenticeships with vet-eran fashion and advertising industry photographers. It was during an internship in Miami with fashion photographer David LaChapelle that D. decided to return home. He joined forces with Holeeta Cain soon thereafter.

Claudia Diamante, Handbag DesignerClaudia Diamante is from Argentina, but, for the

past 20 years, she has lived on Capitol Hill. Claudia is co-founder of Diamantina, a DC-based leather handbag company. She is passionate about sustain-able fashion. What is so sustainable about leather? Consider that Argentina is the third largest beef ex-

porter in the world. Believing in the adage “Waste not want not,” Claudia uses all remaining parts of the animal. To that end, Diamantina products use the finest Argentine leather including full grain leather, embossed leather, patent leather, engraved leather and suede. Claudia designs for those of us who can identify superior products without a popular luxury label affixed. A Diamantina “Margo” clutch is luxuri-ous, luscious, local and affordable ($200-$400)! www.diamantina.net

Indigo Makong, Nail StylistDC’s nail game was legendary. Remember the

late 1980s and early 1990s, when fly girls would actu-ally cut up dollar bills to accentuate their acrylic nails? Sadly today’s pop-up, overcrowded and poorly venti-lated nail shops have almost blighted out DC’s illus-trious mani-pedi past. I credit Indigo Makong with

almost singlehandedly resurrecting DC’s nail care industry, one satisfied customer at a time. A creative nail stylist from Richmond, VA, In-digo works in a darling salon (428 8th Street SE, inside Tracey & Company). Her customer service is legendary. Her nail designs are fantas-tic (think “caviar” embellishments, cool decals and crystals with staying power). And her rain-bow bright color selection (Essie, Zoya, Gelish, Shellac, OPI) has inspired a cult-like following.

Makong is not only a local legend, she is a sought after celebrity nail artist who regu-larly works behind the scenes during New York Fashion Week as a team member for CND. Twice a year, she designs nail art for fashion houses like Jason Wu, J. Mendel, Donna Karan, Diesel, Calvin Klein, BCBG, Baby Phat, Luca Luca, Malandrino, MaxAzria, Tadashi Shaji, Badgley Mishka, Tory Burch, Mathew Wil-liamson and a multitude of others. Book early

and often; and be on time! www.indigonailstylist.com

Jarmal Harris, Fashion Designer andExecutive Director

Jarmal Harris was reared and still resides in Ana-costia. He attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts and is a self-taught fashion designer, make-up artist and celebrity wardrobe stylist. Jarmal has styled for the Grammys and local celebrities and teaches modeling to local “glamazons.” He founded The Jar-mal Harris Project, Inc. ( JHP), a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization located in Ward 8 that provides learn-ing opportunities for DC youth. For the past sev-eral years, JHP has served as a site for the Mayor’s summer youth employment program. Most recently, during the Congressional Black Caucus, Jarmal pre-viewed his second fashion line, Regal Queen, a collec-tion brimming with room-stopping statement pieces using exotic fabrics. Favorites include a shawl-collar, four-buttoned white peplum jacket with matching slim-fitting pencil skirt; and a floor-length silk and wool brocade kimono coat cinched with a Victorian tassel woven rope and paired with a gold-accent knee-length skirt. Cultivated drama is Jarmal’s signature!

Fashion abounds throughout the District of Co-lumbia, darling. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Mariessa Terrell is a native Washingtonian reared in Southeast. She is an intellectual property attorney, brander and founder of SBC Law Group (www.sbclawgroup.com) with over 10 years’ experience providing intellec-tual property law services to creatives. Prior to starting her own firm, Mariessa worked as a trademark examin-ing attorney with the United States Patent and Trade-mark Office and helped to register fashion brands includ-ing Revlon, L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dooney and Burke, Avon and countless others. n 2007 Mariessa drafted a bill to create a Fashion Commission in DC. The bill became law in 2009. She contributes to the HillRag and East of the River and writes a fashion blog, Yoo Hoo Darling, www.yoohoodarling.com. l

OPPOSITE PAGE - Clockwise from Upper Left1. Holeeta Cain, DC Manufacturer & Fashion Designer2. Claudia Diamanté, Handbag Designer and Co-founder, Diamantina3. Model wearing design by Holeeta Cain4. “Margo” Clutch by Diamantina5. Model featuring designs by Jarmal Harris6. Jarmal Harris, Fashion Designer, Make-up Artist, Fashion Show Producer7. D. Carlyle Briggs, Photographer8. Model posing with urban background by D. Carlyle Briggs

THIS PAGE - From Top to Bottom9. Model showcasing Nail Art by Indigo Makong10. Nail Art by Indigo Makong, Nail Stylist


Frederick Hill, III, and his wife Reinta aren’t your usual Ward 8 couple. Hap-pily married since January 1, 2011, they have been together for the last ten years.

Their home is a testament to how well they work together. She designed their small fireplace in the living room and a Japanese-style garden in the backyard, and he built them. Even after 30 years in the workforce, both created two different small businesses to address two different needs:

Frederick is the president and CEO of Gotta Go Now, LLC, a portable toilet rental business, and Reinta is the owner and proprietor of Angel’s Arena Child Care, LLC, which grew out of her love for children. Running both businesses in their home on the 1400 block of Bangor Street has allowed them to create job opportunities in their community while giving back.

Gotta Go Now, LLCFrederick had worked as a contrac-

tor for 30 years when he noticed that some of his clients didn’t receive the best service when it came to portable toilet (“porta-potty”) rentals. So in 2006 he bought three portable toilet units from a construction company. “One day, one person asked if they could rent it for a kid’s birthday party,” he said. “After that, word got out and other people wanted to rent the porta-potties.” What started out as a need for his clients became a new business venture.

When asked how he and Reinta came up with the all-too-fit-ting name, they both laughed. “When we thought of the name, I really had to go to the bathroom!” said Frederick. “He kept saying, ‘I gotta go now!’” Reinta adds. “I’m already used to hearing kids say that!”

Today, Gotta Go Now is one of five portable toilet com-panies in the DC Metro area and the only one in the city. Targeting special events and construction companies, the firm has amassed an impres-sive list of satisfied customers, including Obama for America, the official reelection campaign for the President. In fact, their website includes a short testi-

monial thanking them for their service at their event in Richmond. Frederick owns 175 regular-sized units (with plans to buy 25 more), a spe-cial-made vacuum truck for cleaning the waste and a trailer that carries 20 units. Although the vacuum truck stays at the house, all the porta-potties are stored on his grandfather’s farm in Upper Marlboro.

For those picturing a dirty affair, Frederick

EAST WASHINGTON LIFE

One Couple, Two BusinessesEntrepreneurs Frederick and Reinta Hill Run Two Home Businesses

article by Charnice A. Milton | photos by Andrew Lightman

William Cuff, Charles McCullum, Gordon Contee and Frederick Hill III pose in front of Hill’s custom Ford F350.

Frederick Hill III empties fresh water from the 600 gallon slide-end unit custom installed on his 2005 Ford F350.

Mike Thomas, Robert E. Lee, John Gross, Frederick Hill III, Renita Hill (wife and co-owner), Charles McCullum pose in front of Hill’s 1972 Chevy Nova. The car has a Top Sportsman Full Tube Chasis with Charlie Buck 555 cubic inch motor that generates 900 horsepower with a top speed in the quarter mile of 170 mph. It uses a combination of a parachute and carbon brakes. The car was built by Charles Scott Hill in Hill’s garage.

noted, “it really isn’t as bad as you think. The vacuum usually takes care of the dirty work and the hands only touch the hose.” Despite this, Frederick, everyone still wears protective gear while cleaning each unit. After the vacuuming is done, each unit is power-washed, wiped-down and sprayed with deodorizer.

Although Gotta Go Now has two part-time employees (with plans to hire at least one more along with one full-time employee), the Hills’ families and neigh-bors help out from time to time, especially before huge events. They host “cleaning parties” either at home or at the farm to get all the units ready. “When we have a cleaning party, we would line up the units in the street, and everyone pitches in to help clean,” Frederick says. “Everyone eats pizza and chicken, and she cooks,” refer-ring to his wife.

Fredrick isn’t the only person in the family in the portable toilet business. Re-inta has her own venture, Pint Size Potty, making Gotta Go Now the only company on the East Coast that provides child-sized porta-potties. The idea for Pint Size Potty came during a trip to a “pumper,” a portable toilet company convention, in Indiana, when an associate suggested that Reinta enter a prize drawing. Despite fac-ing a pool of over 5000 people, Reinta won the grand prize: a TJ Shorty portable toilet that was small enough for a child. Today she has two “pint size potties” available for rent, with plans to purchase two more this winter. While both are stored at the farm, she sometimes keeps one at home for her other business.

Angel’s Arena Child Care, LLC and Godchildren

Reinta founded Angel’s Arena Child Care, LLC, less than three years ago. “I had been working at the US Postal Service Federal Credit Union for 30 years,” she says, “and my tax consultant told me, ‘You should start a daycare. You love children! You have good business sense!’” Reinta laughs at the memory, but it’s obvious that she loves her job.

Named for her affinity for collecting and receiving angel memorabilia, Reinta runs Angel’s Arena from her living room; the spacious backyard doubles as an out-door play area. Reinta owes her business to word-of-mouth advertising based on results. Her curriculum includes Span-ish, language skills and math; even at the age of two, her charges can count and say their name if asked. “Parents were showing off what their children were learning, and

people got interested.” Some of the word of mouth came from

Reinta’s godchildren, who now have chil-dren under her care. Altogether, 61 god-children and two foster children come though the Hills’ home. The practice began when her daughter took dance lessons as a child. “There were two girls in her class that lived with their grandfather,” Reinta said. “They didn’t have a mother figure in their lives, so I helped them with costumes and hair.” Since then, she always kept her door open for neighborhood children, acting as a mother figure for those who need one. “This used to be the house where kids came to have fun,” she observed. In a way, it still is. The collages of past and present charges hanging in the kitchen are proof of that.

Angel’s Arena is currently looking for new charges. Reinta is in the process of getting approval from the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) in order to admit families with school vouchers.

Giving Back to the CommunityEven with running three businesses,

Frederick and Reinta Hill still have time to plan and host community events. For years their backyard has been the venue for “Honor a Child, Elevate a Mind,” a sum-mer cookout honoring children’s scholas-tic achievements. Next summer they plan to host an outdoor movie night in which children have to do one act of service to get in. One of Reinta’s favorite events is the “Tea for Two” Grandparent’s Day event she does with her godchildren. “The boys would escort the grandparents while the girls would make tea sandwiches,” she explains. “Then, the children serve the old-er adults – except the tea!”

One venture gives Frederick a chance to highlight his hobby: auto racing. So far, Gotta Go Now has sponsored five legal drag races this year. The most recent, the Gambler’s Race for Custom T’s of DC’s Battle on the Hill, was held last month. Winners usually receive $1000 to $1250 in prize money and children are always free. As with cleaning parties, each race is a celebration, especially when Fredrick races his 1972 Chevy Nova outfitted with Gotta Go Now’s logo. “Yeah, it’s good advertis-ing,” he said, “but it’s always important to give back.”

For more information about Gotta Go Now, LLC, visit www.gotta-gonow.com or call 202-747-8105. For more information about Angel ’s Arena Child Care, LLC, call 202-316-6373. l


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“People don’t know each other. That’s why we have all this mess,” says Ahmad An-

sari, participant in a recent event at America’s Islamic Heritage Museum (AIHM). He gestures to encompass the range of discussion topics just raised: interfaith mistrust, economic development insensitive to commu-nity needs, people who hear without listening, politicians who speak with-out understanding. That’s why it’s es-sential, Ansari argues, “to get to know people better,” and that’s one reason AIHM is so important.

On this pre-hurricane Sunday, AIHM is hosting film screenings, museum tours and conversation. The gathering concludes with special programming for Islamic Heritage Month.

“I really didn’t know much about Islam or Muslim culture,” says Kate-lyn Dehey, first-time museum visi-tor and Arlington resident. “Then I saw this event for Islamic Heritage Month.” Following the film and ex-hibit tour, Dehey chats with Ansari and several other participants. She describes her studies in multicultural counseling and her interest in explor-ing a culture unfamiliar to her. “I was so uneducated,” she remarks. “Now I’m more educated.”

“Dialogue is so important,” An-sari says. “And this museum offers an opportunity to learn more about Is-lam, see documents and artifacts. This building itself is an artifact, actually.”

“Artifact” in OperationThe “artifact” in question is the

building at 2315 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave SE. Outside, a sign still reads “Clara Muhammad School,” acknowledging the early leader in what is now the American Muslim Society. Inside, the building holds a few hints of its previous life as an el-ementary school. Restrooms are still labeled Boys and Girls, and old lock-ers are incorporated into an exhibit. But the space is now renovated for

displays, events, offices and a small museum shop.

AIHM opened to the public on April 30, 2011, and draws non-Muslim and Muslim visitors of all ages. At the core of the museum is “Collections & Stories of American Muslims,” an exhibit exploring the intersection of Islam, African Ameri-can culture and US history. The ex-

hibit, created by Amir Muhammad and his wife, Habeebah, traveled for 15 years. Displays extend from pre-Columbian Muslim explorers to con-temporary American Muslims. With its new, more stationary home, the exhibit itself is growing, and AIHM offers a variety of programs for visi-tors of different ages.

During Islamic Heritage Month,

a special exhibit, on loan from the US State Department, was installed. Special programming for the month also included book signings, lectures, films, a tour of DC’s Islamic sites and a special event co-hosted with Islam-ic Relief USA (IRUSA).

Community EngagementIslamic Relief is an international


Islamic Heritage Museum NewsFrom Food Pantry to Presidential Engagement

by Virginia Avniel Spatz

CLOCKWISE from TOP1. Exhibit about presidential engagement, on loan from US State Department, joins core exhibit at America’s Islamic Heritage Museum.

2. AIHM president Amir Muhammad leads a museum tour as part of the museum’s final Islamic Heritage Month event.

3. Newly installed “Presidential Engagement” exhibit, cre-ated by historian Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, covers administrations from Washington to Obama.

charity responding to disasters and “seeking to eradicate poverty, illiter-acy and disease.” Th e US affi liate re-cently launched a national program, “Giving Grain,” aiming to address hunger and poverty across this country. Headquartered in north-ern Virginia, IRUSA established its fi rst Giving Grain site at AIHM.

“We wanted to begin in the local area, especially in Southeast, where the need is high,” says Minkailu Jalloh, IRUSA’s program director. “Brother Amir [Muhammad] was one of the fi rst people we thought of ... because he is respected in the community, and because the muse-um is a focal point.” In cooperation with AIHM and Masjid Muham-mad, IRUSA has been providing a bi-weekly food pantry in Anacos-tia since August. IRUSA raises the funds, while volunteers from the community, the masjid and IRUSA distribute nutritious food to anyone in need. “We didn’t even advertise,” Jalloh explains. “But upwards of 60 or 70 families show up every time.”

Building on DC’s example, Jal-loh is helping launch similar op-erations in other cities. IRUSA also joined with AIHM to present a special Islamic Heritage Month event and to provide winter gear, school supplies and other items along with hot meals, health screen-ings and entertainment.

Presidential EngagementUnited States presidents, begin-

ning with George Washington, have engaged with Muslim communities around the world. Historian Pre-cious Rasheeda Muhammad (no relation) compiled speeches, letters, photographs and news reports from various administrations to create “Presidential Engagement of Mus-lim Communities, 1787-2011.”

In 1864, for example, Lincoln’s administration published a Tuni-sian perspective on slavery calling on the United States to “eradicate from your Constitution all that can give countenance to the principle of slavery. Pity the slave. God loves the merciful among his worshippers.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, while a candidate in 1953, supported Mus-lim servicemen seeking religious accommodation. Four years later,

President Eisenhower spoke at the dedication of DC’s Islamic Cultural Center, saying: “Indeed, America would fi ght with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience.”

AIHM is excited to off er the State Department’s exhibit to the public, says (Amir) Muhammad. While designed for all audiences, the exhibit “is perfect for students and school groups” and it promotes an understanding of diversity. He hopes schools will take advantage of access to this unusual view into US history.

Th e exhibit illustrates “presi-dents affi rming America’s respect for Muslims and Islam dating back to Washington, Adams, and Jef-ferson,” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said, when the work was initially unveiled. “We celebrate that history.”

To “Savage” Ads No SanctionTh is fall public transit sys-

tems across the country received ads, from a recognized hate group, equating Muslims and savages. WMATA and other transit sys-tems initially refused the ads but were forced by court order to dis-play them. Th e “savage” ads, in DC’s Metro throughout October, met with protest from many groups and individuals.

Do the ads suggest widespread objection to “respect for Muslims and Islam”? Th e AIHM experience suggests otherwise. “Th e Museum shows that Muslims have been part of the fabric of U.S. society for a long time,” says Jalloh. “Th ere are individuals who want to pres-ent Muslims and Islam as ‘foreign,’ somehow contrary to American values. But most people just aren’t buying it.”

America’s Islamic Heritage Museum, 2315 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave. SE, is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday noon-5:00 p.m. www.MuslimsinAmerica.org 202-678-6906. Giving Grain Food Pantries, fi rst and third Saturdays, 9:00 a.m.-noon. Open to all in need. Volunteers encouraged. www.IRUSA.org 703-370-7202. l


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Uniontown Bar & Grill Will Reopen

At the time of this writing, Curtis Brothers property manage-ment has confirmed that they have selected a new tenant to purchase Uniontown Bar & Grill. The new tenant is a DC-based business selected from among three candi-dates for their experience in run-ning a successful neighborhood-style restaurant in Washington. Curtis Brothers and the new pro-prietors are finalizing the terms of the lease and the purchase of the business from the previous own-er. We can tell you that the new tenant is not Busboys and Poets, which has been rumored by vari-ous internet-based sources.

The name of the establish-ment will remain the same, as the business has been sold turnkey. We have been told that patrons can expect to find a similar menu and a well-stocked bar as in the past. How-ever, no word on whether the new owners will be fond of heavy pours as the previous owners seemed to be!

HIVE 2.0 Business Incubator Opening, Nov. 15

The HIVE (Home of Innovators Visionaries and Entrepreneurs) 2.0 will host a grand opening on Thurs-day, Nov. 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tour the new 5,000-square-foot co-working space that includes private offices, meeting rooms and a lounge. Meet other like-minded local entrepreneurs and buy art from Hon-fleur Gallery’s special art sale for your new office.

Sponsored in part with a grant from the DC Department of Hous-ing and Community Development, the HIVE 2.0 will provide 24/7 of-fice space to monthly members. The monthly fee covers wi-fi, utilities, meeting and event space, a dedicated business-hour receptionist, washer/dryer, free business services and small business workshops, on-street parking, easy access to DC/MD/VA and plenty of public transportation options.

The HIVE 2.0 is located on the lower level of 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE Washington, DC 20020. This is in an Enterprise and HUBZone less than two miles from the Saint Elizabeths campus, slated by the District of Co-lumbia Government for extensive re-development which will include federal government agency relocations.

Address RSVPs to membership@

thedchive.com, and with any ques-tions, or call (202) 507-8072. Follow the HIVE 1.0 and 2.0 on Twitter @thedchive

Two New Exhibitions for DC Fotoweek

In participation with FotoDC 2012, the Gallery at Vivid Solu-tions and Honfleur Gallery have an-

nounced the solo exhibitions of Carolina Mayorga and Michael B. Platt, two local artists whose prac-tices use photography to surprising and provocative effect. Both exhib-its will have opening receptions on Nov. 2. “Divine Revelations: Pas-sages from the Life of Our Lady” by Carolina Mayorga will be at the Gallery at Vivid Solutions from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. “Steppin’ Out” by Michael B. Platt will pre-miere at Honfleur Gallery from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Divine Revelations: Passages from the Life of Our Lady is a site-specific photography installation in which Carolina Mayorga uses her own image to recreate religious scenes inspired by masterpieces and her Catholic upbringings in Colombia. For this project the art-ist reconstructs iconic depictions of the Virgin Mary in a series of pho-

tographs and text. This is a continua-tion of projects Mayorga has worked on previously that examine issues of cultural identity, gender and ethnicity.

Colombian-born Mayorga is a naturalized US citizen. She has had solo exhibitions in Colombia, Mex-ico, Kansas and in the Washington area and has also participated in ex-hibitions in Europe and Central and South America. She received a BFA in art and fiber arts from Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Kansas at Lawrence.

Michael B. Platt was long known as a printmaker but now prefers the more encompassing designation, im-agemaker. His artwork has turned to digital imagery and book art that combines image and poetry playing with the idea of fragments, allowing us glimpses of ourselves. He contin-ues to create artwork that centers on figurative explorations of life’s survi-vors and the marginalized, referenc-ing history and circumstance in the rites, rituals and expressions of our human condition.

In Steppin’ Out Platt revisits his idea of life-sized cutouts of charcoal drawings on wood, made in the 1980s


Dispatches from the Village of Anacostiaby Phil Hutinet

The HIVE 2.0, shared desk space. Photo Shannon Halloway. Courtesy of ARCH Development Corporation

Honfleur Gallery in room 225 of the 2012 (e)merge art fair. Photo Shannon Halloway. Courtesy of ARCH Development Corporation

and 1990s and based on then-current newspaper images of black-on-black crime. Th e artist cuts out digital prints from adhesive fabric, playing with repeated fi gures, generating and implying a sense of ritual, both familiar and unfamiliar. Th e experi-ences of a recent trip to Australia in-fl uenced many aspects of these new images. Platt teaches drawing, digital photography/digital printmaking at Howard University. A 2007 recipient of the prestigious Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant, he has exhibited internationally and nationally.

Both exhibits will be on display from Nov. 2 to Dec. 21. FotoDC is Nov. 9-18.

Honfl eur Gallery is a contem-porary fi ne art gallery located in Historic Anacostia at 1241 Good Hope Road SE. Note that the Gallery at Vivid Solutions will be occupying satellite space at 1922 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave. SE while the permanent space under-goes renovation. Both galleries are projects of ARCH Development Corporation. Visit the galleries online at www.honfl eurgallery.com and www.vividsolutionsdc.com.

Honfl eur at the (e)merge Art Fair

Honfl eur gallery took part in the (e)merge art fair in Room 225

of the Capitol Skyline Hotel on Oct. 4-7. Th e gallery brought the work of three artists to (e)merge: Marsha Staiger (Alexandria, VA), Cyril Anguelids (Paris) and Steven Pearson (Westminster, MD). Th e second annual art fair showcased galleries from around the country and from around the world. Th e im-portance of (e)merge for developing Washington as a signifi cant market for contemporary art should not be discounted. Increasingly, both fi rst-time buyers and veteran collectors fl ock to such events to make signifi -cant purchases.

Honfl eur Gallery saw a steady fl ow of attendees, most of them from the DC metro area. Th is was the perfect opportunity for Hon-fl eur staff to interact with an art-loving public and talk about arts and culture East of the River and especially in Historic Anacostia.

Phil Hutinet is the chief operating offi cer at ARCH Development Cor-poration (ADC), a 20-year-old non-profi t, 501(c)(3), community-based organization. ADC is founded on the belief that arts and the creative economy can be employed as part of a comprehensive, synergistic approach to community revitalization in Anacos-tia. Visit them at www.archdevelop-ment.org. l


Carolina Mayorga, “Untitled,” from Divine Revelations: Passages from the Life of Our Lady 2012. Photo Carolina Mayorga.

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KIDS & FAMILY

This family-friendly holiday party at THEARC is meant for the kid in all of us. Photo: Steve Vaccariello

Holiday Tree Trimming at THEARCOn Monday, Dec 3 from 6-8 p.m., join them for their annual tree trimming holiday party. There will be plenty of family-friendly holiday activities, performances, pictures for children with Santa, and holiday treats! Free and open to the public. THEARC, 1901

Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Kids & Family Notebookby Kathleen Donner

I love snow! at Kenilworth ParkOn Dec 2 and 9, from 1-1:45

p.m., discover the secret life of an-imals as you hunt for footprints in the snow with Ranger Lee at Ke-nilworth Park and Aquatic Gar-dens, 1550 Anacostia Ave. NE. Appropriate for all ages. Free. For more information, call 202-426-6905 or visit nps.gov/keaq.

Largest Playground Improvement Project in DC History

Mayor Gray, D.C. Depart-ment of Parks and Recreation Director Aguirre and Depart-ment of General Services Direc-tor Hanlon have announced that the District government would be undertaking the largest play-ground renovation project in its history. Mayor Gray prioritized this initiative and worked with his budget team to identify additional end-of-year capital funds to both add additional playgrounds to the project and accelerate the pace of renovations. As a result, a total of 32 playgrounds will now be reno-vated in Fiscal Year 2013.

The following Wards 7 and 8 playgrounds will be renovated. Ward 7-Hillcrest Playground at 3100 Denver St. SE; Ben-ning Park Playground, Southern Ave and Fable St. SE; and Neval Thomas Playground, 650 Anacos-tia Ave. NE. Ward 8-Fort Greble Playground, MLK Ave. and Elmi-ra St. SW; Douglass Playground, 2100 Stanton Terrace SE; and Oxon Run Playground, 6th St. and Mississippi Ave. SE. Renova-tions are expected to start this fall, with completions during 2013.

“Teach to One: Math” Program Begun at Ward 8’s Hart Middle School

DC Public Schools and Teach to One: Math have unveiled an innovative, technology-driven math program for all students at Hart Middle School in Ward 8. Teach to One: Math is revolution-izing math instruction at Hart by

providing instruction on multiple skills at multiple academic levels each class period. Every day, each student receives a unique math schedule that targets skills the student is ready to learn and pro-vides instruction at that student’s academic level.

Over the summer, Hart was remodeled for Teach to One: Math, so math students now sit in two large, open classrooms. At any time, there are six to eight different types of instruction, delivered in a variety of formats including live teacher-led instruction, collabora-tive learning, live virtual instruc-tion, software-based learning, and independent practice. One group of students, for example, might work with a teacher on probabil-ity while another group uses soft-ware to practice specific skills. A complex set of algorithms, based on each student’s understanding at the end of the previous lesson, creates a customized schedule for the next day. In this way, each stu-dent moves through a rich, indi-vidualized learning experience at his or her own pace. And teachers are able to leverage their time and expertise to better support student learning.

Disney @ DeanwoodEnjoy Disney movies each

month at the Deanwood Library. On Nov 28 see “Bambi” and on Dec 19 see “Snow Buddies.” All movies are shown at 5 p.m. They are appropriate for ages 6-12. Deanwood Neighborhood Li-brary, 1350 49th. St. NE. 202-698-1175. dclibrary.org/dean-wood

Winter Basic Skills Program at Ft. Dupont Registration Open

Fort Dupont Ice Arena of-fers group skating classes to area youth, ages 5-18 (kindergarten to 12th grade), through its Kids On Ice program. Kids On Ice is a free, community program whose mis-sion is to make skating accessible and affordable for Washington-



area children. Children are ac-cepted into the program on a “first come, first served” basis. Priority is given to returning students (returning is defined as a skater who has had regu-lar attendance in a class during the last calendar year). Winter Basic Skills registration dead-line is Dec 14. Register online or in person at Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. NE. (Fort Dupont Holiday Show-save the date is Dec 8.) 202-584-5007. fdia.org

Young Artists Create at Ana-costia Community Museum

On Saturday, Nov 17 at 11 a.m., enhance the creativity of your kids with art projects in-spired by Reclaiming the Edge exhibition on view. Materials provided. Make reservations. Anacostia Community Mu-seum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

Levine School of Music: Jade Simmons

On Saturday, Nov 10, 3-6 p.m., the Levine School of Music piano department presents one of the most innovative and exciting mu-sicians of our time, Jade Simmons, for a special master class and solo recital. The public is welcome to watch Levine students participate in the master class, and then stick around for the rare opportunity to see Jade perform. This event is free and open to the public. Children interested in learning to play the piano are encouraged to attend with their parents. For more informa-tion, visit levineschool.org/piano or email [email protected]. This event is at THEARC, 1901 Mis-sissippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Geography Awareness Week T-Shirt Crafting Workshop

On Saturday, Nov 17 at 2 p.m.,

join the District of Columbia Geo-graphic Alliance and DC Public Library in celebrating Geography Awareness Week! This workshop will increase your knowledge about the global connection that we all have with our T-shirts, and it will enable you to create new wearable items from gently worn T-shirts. WHO KNEW? Your old T-shirt could become your new bracelet, scarf, etc…Bring a couple of your old t-shirts and get ready to play! Snacks will be available. Ages 8-14. Dorothy I. Height/Benning Li-brary, 3935 Benning Rd. NE. 202-281-2583. dclibrary.org/benning

Saturday Morning at the National Free Performances for Children

On Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. there are free live per-formances for children in the Helen Hayes Gallery. Tickets are required and distributed first come-first seated. Tickets are distributed 1/2 hour prior to performance. One ticket per person in line. The Na-tional Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania

Ave., NW. 202-783-3372. Nov 17-The Frog Prince. Baltimore’s award-wining Black Cherry Pup-pet Theatre tells the classic Broth-ers Grimm fairy tale about a beau-tiful princess, a talking frog, and the importance of keeping one’s promises. Beautiful handmade pup-pets and an original soundtrack tell the merry musical tale. Dec 1-Oh! Hanukkah! Nell and David Green-fieldboyce combine music, comedy and puppets to bring out the Ha-nukkah spirit in everyone! Two enchanting puppet tales of Jewish life in the old country combined with a novel retelling of the story of Hanukkah brings the seasonal tale of the “Festival of Lights” to life. Dec 8-Christmas Dreams from The Nutcracker. Saturday Morning at the National families eagerly await the annual presentation of the Vir-ginia Ballet Company and School’s selections from Tchaikovsky’s glit-tering confection. Snowflakes and Sugar Plum Fairies fill the air in a dazzling presentation full of lovely costumes, lively dances and elegant

holiday cheer. Dec 15-Chris Davis: A Christmas Carol. Join Tim Cratchitt (all grown up) and his blushing bride, Rose, in recreating Charles Dickens’s classic tale A Christmas Carol. Kids in the audience take roles in the show, playing Jacob Marley, Ghosts of Christmas, and the cantankerous old miser himself to the delight and mer-riment of all!

Chancellor Henderson An-nounces Taskforce to Support School Libraries

In an effort to broaden ac-cess to reading for students, DC Public Schools Chancel-lor Kaya Henderson has an-nounced a task force to better support school libraries. The DCPS Library Task Force will make recommendations for consideration and possible im-plementation in the 2013-2014 school year. The task force’s first

meeting was this week.Specifically, the task force will

be asked to evaluate the current status of school libraries and library programs, including staffing levels, instruction provided and collec-tions; evaluate the best practices for library instruction and program-ming; determine the basics of a quality school library system; de-velop recommendations to improve the quality of school libraries and library programs; and recommend any voluntary/community-based strategies designed to increase and improve school libraries, library programs and collection develop-ment.

November 17 is National Family Volunteer Day

Kids are never too young to vol-unteer! See how your kids can make a difference at school and at home! Go to generationon.org/kids to find some great projects and ideas for volunteering.

KIDS & FAMILY

All boys and girls are encouraged to sign-up and use this event to develop their public speaking skills. Photo: Courtesy of the National Park Service

Frederick Douglass Annual Oratorical ContestThe goal of the Oratorical Contest is for students to experience the same transformative power of language that Frederick Douglass did as a young man. The contest is open to all students in grades 1-12 and is hosted in early december. Students memorize and present a portion of a Douglass speech from a stage at his home of Cedar Hill. Application deadline is Nov 11, 4:00 p.m. For more informaiton, call Braden Paynter at 202-426-5961. The contest is Dec 6, 7 and 9; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Frederick Douglass

National Historical Site, 1411 W St. SE. nps.gov/frdo

Fall Harvest Scavenger Hunt at Brookside Gardens

On Nov 16, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., have some seasonal fun throughout Brookside Gar-dens. Start at the Visitors Center and follow the color-ful leaf trail leading you to the conservatory and back again. Along the way, hunt for sea-sonal clues and participate in fun activities, exercises and crafts. Guided garden walks leave on the half hour begin-ning at 10:00 a.m. Last walk leaves at 12:30 p.m. An adult must walk with each child and assist in the activities. This event is designed for ages 2-6. $5 per child. Please register online at montgomeryparks.org/brookside. Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD. For more in-formation, call 301-962-1400 or visit brooksidegardens.org.

DC Youth Orchestra Concert at the Kennedy Center

The DC Youth Orchestra Program launches its 53rd concert season with its Youth Orchestra’s Fall Concert at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Ter-race Theater on Saturday, Nov 17 at 2:00 pm. Led by Mae-stro Jesus Manuel Berard, the program includes “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” by Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Ives’ “Fugue” from his Sym-phony No.4 and Beethoven’s Symphony No.8. The concert is free and open to the public, although tickets are required. Tickets are available at dcyop.org or through Eventbrite at dcyopfall2012-efbevent.eventbrite.com. l


Neighborhood Close Price BR

FEE SIMPLE

ANACOSTIA 1344 MAPLE VIEW PL SE $170,000 41436 V ST SE $89,000 22270 MOUNT VIEW PL SE $85,000 41612 V ST SE $43,000 31526 MISSISSIPPI AVE SE $520,000 4

BARRY FARMS 2216 HUNTER PL SE $195,000 4

CHILLUM 38 LONGFELLOW ST NW $629,500 45613 NORTH CAPITOL ST NE $415,000 45527 KANSAS AVE NW $272,000 3

CONGRESS HEIGHTS 3218 10TH PL SE $225,000 3807 CHESAPEAKE ST SE $115,000 3

DEANWOOD 1017 46TH ST NE $278,000 44409 EDSON PL NE $249,999 3118 DIVISION AVE NE $245,000 55354 HAYES ST NE $178,000 45603 EADS ST NE $170,000 35217 DIX ST NE $142,500 35206 EAST CAPITOL ST NE $120,000 3849 50TH PL NE $120,000 3

FORT DUPONT PARK 818 BURNS ST SE $143,000 23948 S ST SE $142,900 31195 46TH PL SE $110,000 34318 BOWEN RD SE $90,000 2

HILL CREST 3410 CARPENTER ST SE $335,000 31523 38TH ST SE $330,500 32544 36TH ST SE $257,500 31400 25TH ST SE $129,000 32057 34TH ST SE $329,900 3

HILL EAST 24 16TH ST SE $575,000 3

MARSHALL HEIGHTS 5025 ASTOR PL SE $255,000 44937 CALL PL SE $190,000 249 47TH ST SE $166,000 24645 A ST SE $160,000 25217 E ST SE $143,000 45024 A ST SE $66,000 2

RANDLE HEIGHTS 1905 T PL SE $145,000 2

CONDO

DEANWOOD 944 EASTERN AVE NE #7 $52,900 24810 QUARLES ST NE #301 $52,000 2

FORT DUPONT PARK 3937 S ST SE #A-6 $50,000 1

MARSHALL HEIGHTS 4932 A ST SE #402 $150,000 3

COOP

CONGRESS HEIGHTS 20 CHESAPEAKE ST SE #C47 $17,000 1l

Changing hands is a list of most residential sales in the District of Columbia from the previous month. A feature of every issue, this list, based on the MRIS, is provided courtesy of Don Denton, manager of the Coldwell Banker office on Capitol Hill. The list includes address, sales price and number of bedrooms.

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THE NOSE

Michael Brown was born with the proverbial silver spoon firmly wedged in his mouth. Charismatic, tall, dark and handsome, scion of a Clinton BFF, Brown is a native Wash-

ingtonian, favorite son of vote-rich Ward 4. What better combination could one offer to the District electorate?

This brings us, Dear Readers, to the subject of Brown’s recent defeat. The Nose has learned four lessons from this fiasco:

1. You don’t get elected unless you campaign.2. You can’t campaign effectively without money.3. Politicians who pay their bills and their taxes get elected.4. Always watch the campaign checkbook.The Brown name was once considered to be so powerful

a political moniker that its very appearance on the ballot even when harnessed to different politician of the com-pletely opposite complexion stirred fear in the hearts of op-ponents. The successful nimbus that surrounded Brown the Elder, in common wisdom, was said to magically levitate his son’s political prospects.

In a changing city, where bicycles whiz along cycle lanes, dogs frolic in exquisitely designed municipal canine recreation facilities while mothers lounge in child play ar-eas alongside complicated double decker strollers resem-bling The Transformers of cinematic fame, perhaps it is time to refashion the political commonsense of an earlier cocoa inflected era?

To those that still believe in the brand of Brown, here is little ditty for you cribbed without apology from the songbook of the Grateful Dead:

Running, Got my chips cashed in. Keep running, against the Grosso man.Together, more or less in line. Just keep running all the time.Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on U Street.Hip, young, biking, tweeting and it’s all on the same street.A younger, gentrifying city involved in an upscale day-dreamHang it up Chocolate City ‘cause you know what tomor-row brings.

Union Market, got handcrafted sodas and knishes;Anacostia, got galleries and an art scene;The Washington ComPost’s got the ways and means;but just won’t endorse you, oh no!Most of the Council you meet on the dais speak of ethics,Most of the time they’re too busy to hear constituent groans.One of these days they know they better get working,Or they’ll be out of off ice and stranded on the streets all alone.Running, like the Grosso man; once told me you’ve got to play your hand.Sometimes your treasury’s not worth a damn, but you still got to lay’em down!Sometimes the dollars are raining on me;Other times reporters won’t let me be.Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange race it’s been.What in the world ever became of Mary Jane?She gained legality and now she isn’t the same.Living on Ben’s chili, Peregrine expresso, and Metro trains,All I can say is ain’t it a shame.Sitting and staring out of the apartment window,Got a tip that the bank’s gonna foreclose on the property again.I’d like to get some sleep before I campaign,But if you got a writ, I guess I gotta let you in.Busted, down on K Street. Set up, like a bowling pin.Knocked down, it gets to wearing thin. The press just won’t let you be, oh no.You’re sick of hanging around, and the campaign’s begun to unravel;Get tired of running and you want to settle down.I guess they can’t revoke your license for trying,Get out of the Wilson Building! Drive out and look around!Sometimes the dollars are raining on me;Other times reporters won’t let me be.Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange race it’s been.

In the case of Michael A. Brown, the emperor truly had no clothes.

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What A Long, Strange Race It’s Been!by Anonymous

East-of-the-River-Magazine-November-2012

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