23 minute read
BEST BETS
good life BEST BETS
Our picks for things to see and do in November and December
BY STEPHANIE SIEGEL BURKE
Nov. 5 TRAIL TO FREEDOM
Take a guided hike on the Underground Railroad Experience Trail to mark the end of slavery in Maryland at Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park’s Maryland Emancipation Day program. Guided hikes are offered at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the trail, which was designed to preserve the rural landscape and commemorate the community’s history. Maryland abolished slavery on Nov. 1, 1864, a year before the ratification of the 13th Amendment ended it across the country. The hike lasts about 90 minutes and covers approximately 2 miles. Admission to the Woodlawn Museum is included. Appropriate for ages 7 and up. Advance registration is recommended at activemontgomery.org.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., $8, Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park, Sandy Spring, woodlawnmanor.org
Nov. 16 through Jan. 8 THE CLOTHES MAKE THE RODENT
Based on a book by beloved children’s author Mo Willems, the musical Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience tells the story of Wilbur, who stands out in his community of naked mole rats— where everyone is always naked and proud of it— after he discovers a love of clothing and style. As in the book and the HBO Max animated movie, Wilbur shows the community that it’s OK to be different by being himself. The show, best for ages 4 through 10, includes rock music, singing and tap dance numbers.
$12-$39, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, imaginationstage.org
Nov. 19 through Dec. 31 LET IT SNOW
You don’t often get a white Christmas in the Bethesda area, but Winter City Lights, a new walk-through Christmas light experience, promises snow every night of the holiday season. The event, which will spread across an 18-acre site in Olney, includes a 1½-mile hiking trail illuminated with holiday light displays, a 52-foot-tall Christmas tree with a coordinated light and music show, and (faux) snow every night. For extra fees: an eight-lane snow tubing slide, ax throwing, food and drinks (alcoholic and non). Purchase tickets online.
Event opens at 5:30 p.m., $39-$48 for adults, discounts for ages 12 and under, and for 65 and older, 4501 Olney Laytonsville Road, Olney, wintercitylights.com
BEST BETS
Nov. 23 through Jan. 1
William Shakespeare’s drama The Tempest, about a group of people shipwrecked on a magical island where an old man attempts to control them with sorcery, has always incorporated magic and music. But Round House Theatre’s new production ups the quirkiness quotient of the play in this adaptation by playwright Aaron Posner and Teller (of the famous magic duo Penn & Teller). The show replaces Elizabethan tunes with music by songwriter Tom Waits and incorporates mind-bending moves from the dance company Pilobolus and spectacular magic tricks.
$46-$81, Round House Theatre, Bethesda, roundhousetheatre.org
Nov. 24 A TURKEY RAN AWAY
One of the largest races in Montgomery County, the annual Turkey Chase Charity Race returns as a live event for its 40th anniversary this year, after going virtual during the first two years of the pandemic. But for those who are still apprehensive about running with a crowd, there will be virtual events, too. Participants can choose the in-person 10K run or 2-mile walk on Nov. 24, or virtual events, including runs, walks, bike rides and swims, to be completed between Nov. 21 and Nov. 28. The live events start and end at the YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase. The event raises money for the YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase and the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rotary.
8:30 a.m. for 10K, 9 a.m. for 2-mile walk, $50 in advance, $60 race day, YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Bethesda, turkeychase.com
Dec. 9 LOVE SONGS THE PERFECT STORM
Countless high school students have been asked to compare Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with the musical West Side Story, which it inspired. The National Philharmonic, led by conductor Piotr Gajewski, gives that old assignment a musical twist in the concert Sarah Chang: West Side Story & Romeo + Juliet. The orchestra presents three musical interpretations of Shakespeare’s tragic love story: Fantasy Overture from Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story Suite with violinist Sarah Chang, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.
National Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski Dec. 19-22 GOING NUTS
The Hip Hop Nutcracker gives the classic Tchaikovsky ballet a new spin—you might even say a head spin—with break dancing and hip-hop choreography set to a remixed score that mashes up the traditional music with a DJ and violinist. In this version, Maria-Clara meets the Nutcracker Prince, a guy who sells nuts out of a grocery cart, on the streets of New York and the pair fight the Mouse King and his gang in a dance battle. Hiphop founding father Kurtis Blow opens the show with a live DJ set.
$34-$68, The Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, strathmore.org
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PHOTO BY STUART BROTHERS PHOTOGRAPHY Clark Rogers salutes the state at National Harbor.
A HERO RISES
Meet the retired county firefighter from Kensington gaining fame as Captain Maryland
BY CHRISTINE ZHU
OVER A YEAR AGO, Clark Rogers of Kensington first donned a formfitting costume featuring the design and colors of the Maryland state flag. With cans of Old Bay seafood seasoning attached to his belt, he carried a red crab-shaped shield and an oversize mallet fashioned out of cardboard tubes.
It was the summer of 2021, and Rogers was unveiling his new superhero persona of Captain Maryland at Awesome Con in Washington, D.C., an annual pop culture convention at which attendees can dress up as their favorite characters.
Rogers, 55, says becoming a superhero started out as a joke to make his friends laugh. He’d been doing cosplay—costume play—for many years, he says, and assembled the costume out of pieces that were “readily available.”
A couple of months later, he planned on wearing a different costume for Comic Con in Baltimore, but his wife, Ashley, persuaded him to go as Captain Maryland again. Another attendee made a TikTok video of him that went viral and has received almost 800,000 views to date. From there, his fame skyrocketed—he’s since created social media pages and gained a widespread following.
Rogers wanted to create an original superhero for fun and says with a laugh that if any state were to have a superhero, it would be Maryland. “If you can’t eat it, you put the flag on it, and if you can eat it, you put Old Bay on it,” Rogers jokes about common attitudes among Marylanders.
Given his background, Rogers can lay just about as good a claim as anyone to the Captain Maryland crown— he was born at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, grew up in Chevy Chase and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. After starting out as a volunteer at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, he became a career firefighter who worked all over Montgom-
“The point of the whole thing was to make people smile, make people laugh,” Clark Rogers says.
ery County for 35 years. Rogers retired in September 2020 and now works as a special education paraeducator with Montgomery County Public Schools.
He’s lived in Kensington for about 15 years, he says, and marched as Captain Maryland in the town’s Labor Day parade this September, where he met U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, both of Maryland. He’s also planning to make an appearance at the
Mayor’s Christmas Parade in Baltimore in December.
Rogers says he was approached on Facebook in June by country music star Jimmy Charles, who asked him to appear in the music video for his song “It’s a Maryland Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand.” Charles, an Ocean City native, was singing the national anthem in July at an Orioles game in Baltimore and invited Rogers to come along to film the video that afternoon. During the game, Captain Maryland ran around the stands to hype up the crowd.
Reactions to Captain Maryland vary, Rogers says. Kids are a bit more “reserved” since he isn’t a superhero that they recognize, but adults usually “double up laughing,” and some ask to take a photo when they figure out his superhero persona. “The point of the whole thing
“It’s surreal that something that started out as a joke has just blown up. I find it amazing and super awesome,” Ashley Rogers says.
was to make people smile, make people laugh,” says Rogers, whose 14-year-old son thinks the Captain Maryland persona is “neat” and would like to portray a sidekick.
To make his outfit, Rogers repurposed a cosplay helmet from comic book character Captain America to feature the colors of the Maryland flag and an “M” on the front. Like his mallet, his shield was originally cardboard, but he’s since made a larger one out of a plastic sledding disc.
Ashley Rogers, who can sew, says she expected to help when Clark first proposed the idea for the outfit—she thought it was brilliant—but he put together most of it himself. “It’s surreal that something that started out as a joke has just blown up,” she says. “I find it amazing and super awesome.” n
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THE VOICE
Tennis star Serena Williams handpicked a Silver Spring teen to bring life to buzzy doll Qai Qai in a new YouTube series
BY ROBIN L. FLANIGAN
TAIKIRHA MILLER WAS ALMOST done competing in a national pageant last summer in Tampa, Florida, and was preparing to head home to Silver Spring when she got the news: Tennis star Serena Williams had chosen her to be the voice of Qai Qai in a new YouTube series. It was personal for the retiring legend: Qai Qai is the favorite doll of Olympia, her 5-year-old daughter.
“I kind of had a freak-out moment in the lobby, screaming in front of the people there,” recalls Taikirha, 16, a junior at Kensington’s Albert Einstein High School.
Qai Qai (pronounced quay-quay) is no ordinary plaything. A best-selling doll on Amazon beloved for her self-confidence, she has more than 3 million followers on social media and her own YouTube channel. The Adventures of Qai Qai, a book authored by Williams, hit shelves in September. Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, talks openly about possible collaborations and tweeted, “The @RealQaiQai Empire is THRIVING.”
After the announcement, “Voice of Qai Qai doll” shot to the top of Taikirha’s Twitter bio. Her other identities as an actress, dancer, model—she was named USA National Miss District of Columbia Preteen in 2017—and voiceover artist still stand. But there’s a reason her latest venture quickly zoomed to the head of the line.
“Everything I’ve had the opportunity to do is great, and I wouldn’t change any of it at all, but…,” she explains, laughing,
Taikirha Miller with a Qai Qai doll. Taikirha is voicing the character in a new YouTube series.
“Serena Williams didn’t handpick me for those things.”
Taikirha first auditioned for the gig in May, recording songs and a short script with a cellphone in her living room. Then she repeated the process, eventually getting called for two more auditions at her voiceover agent’s recording studio in Virginia.
Even though Qai Qai looks young and is marketed to children ages 3 and older, Taikirha didn’t need to alter the way she naturally speaks. “You’d be surprised how many people come up to me and say, ‘She has the cutest little voice,’” says her mother, Lisette Bethea-Scott. “At pageants I have to say, ‘Tai, please use your big-girl voice,’ because I want her to sound more mature.”
While Taikirha hasn’t yet met Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion told People magazine, “Everyone needs to find their voice, and I’m happy Qai Qai found hers in Taikirha.” And she asked the doll’s production team to send her best to Taikirha, calling the teen “a great inspiration!”
Qai Qai’s title on Instagram is “motivational speaker.” She doles out wisdom and wit on the YouTube show, and encourages girls to explore their potential. Taikirha, who once voiced a commercial for Nike’s Jordan brand alongside basketball players Russell Westbrook and Te’a Cooper, is having fun delivering some sass along with the doll’s no-nonsense counsel: “She gives really good advice, and everything she
says, she says with love, but she may be a little bit blunt.”
Hoping to spread some of her own lessons learned, Taikirha, who says she has been bullied since second grade, wrote I Am: 30 Day Affirmation Journal for Teens, which she sells on Amazon to help those struggling with self-worth. She also has formed a limited liability company called Tai It Together@; in its early stages, the company plans to focus on anti-bullying messages through the performing arts.
In Taikirha’s spare time, she’s been prepping for a high school equivalency exam in October, even though she plans to continue pursuing both an International Baccalaureate diploma and an associate degree through Einstein. The GED certificate is so the actor, who has appeared in indie films and educational videos, can be more competitive soon at
Qai Qai’s official title is “motivational speaker.”
California casting calls because she won’t be requiring an on-set tutor.
“I want to be able to see myself on TV rather than just hear myself,” she says. “I feel like that would bring a lot more of me to the table.”
Bethea-Scott says her daughter’s new managers, Alenah Riffle and Shanelle Gray—signed after the Qai Qai deal was finalized—are well-connected, own a large acting studio in Los Angeles, and remind her of famous mom-to-theKardashians Kris Jenner. Bethea-Scott is excited to see what’s next for Taikirha, who, she says, works hard and does “what she needs to do, no matter how long it takes, because she has always aspired to be in front of the camera.”
“It’s a lot to handle,” Taikirha acknowledges, “but with time I’ll understand everything more.”
Childhood dreams of studying political science and becoming the first female president remain. That’s been the goal since age 9, and “you always need something to fall back on,” she says.
In the meantime, she’s living another kind of dream.
“I think they want to take this thing as far as it can go,” says Bethea-Scott, adding that Qai Qai fans have already been asking for more, like a cartoon series or TV show. “So I think she’ll be employed for a minute. For a good minute.” n
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Gary Rosenthal at the Kensington art studio where he creates strength stones (below) and menorahs (opposite)
STRENGTH FROM THE STONES
Kensington artist Gary Rosenthal aims to inspire cancer patients through glass works
BY MARGARET ENGEL
IN A SECOND-FLOOR Howard Avenue studio in Kensington, artist and activist Gary Rosenthal stands in front of a low wooden box that holds dozens of thin sheets of colored glass. At casual glance, this rainbow array is a collection of art supplies. But for Rosenthal, 68, the glass is a tool for healing from illness, for affirming one’s Jewish faith, and for maintaining hope.
“Here’s what I’ve always tried to do— make things beautiful while doing good,” Rosenthal says.
His four decades of creating Judaica morphed into all kinds of unexpected work along the way, most recently his Glass Ribbon Project, in which small, polished “strength stones” are given to patients to hold for comfort while they undergo cancer treatment. Rosenthal was inspired to embark on the project in 2012 after several women he knew were diagnosed with breast cancer.
The smooth jewel-toned squares, about an inch on each side, also are meant to be given to friends and family as reminders to appreciate and support their loved ones being treated for cancer.
Rosenthal began with pink glass for those with breast cancer, but as the open boxes ready for shipping show, the stones have been adopted by those dealing with many types of cancer, like purple for lymphoma and teal for ovarian cancer. In a related
project, Rosenthal has enlisted hundreds of people across the United States and in India, Poland and Israel, among other countries, to make the simple glass items in groups as good deed projects and for fundraisers. “It’s from Poland to Poughkeepsie,” Rosenthal says. “We’ve had book clubs and soccer teams and family-and-friend support groups for a sick person.”
For the past 10 years, Rosenthal has funded the Glass Ribbon Project himself. Then, in 2020, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“That’s the great irony, isn’t it?” he says of his own diagnosis. So now he works constantly with the polished stones and has distributed some to friends and family to support his own cancer journey.
Rosenthal had surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and has felt “spectacular” for nearly two years, but says doctors recently found growths in his lungs and scheduled him to resume cancer treatment. As a result, he is looking for a nonprofit to take over the Glass Ribbon Project and also is winding down his Judaica business, the Gary Rosenthal Collection.
Rosenthal was always an improbable artist. He grew up in Kenwood Park and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda without a compelling career idea. He decided to study industrial labor relations at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, but says he dropped out after a failed romance and took up welding as art after being intrigued by a crafts show at the university’s student union. He eventually returned for his degree, and says he completed an MBA in 1984 at the University of Virginia.
When he graduated, a crafts movement was flowering in America, and Rosenthal began creating small sculptures that focused on hobby and sports themes. An early success came from little metal dancers mounted on marble left over from the construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They were on the shelves for years at the center’s gift shop. He did lacrosse figures for the Baltimore market and sold his wares at shows in malls throughout Montgomery County. “White Flint, Montgomery Mall, Wheaton: I was in those craft shows in the centers of those malls,” he says. One customer asked if Rosenthal could create a menorah, he recalls. He did, and an even bigger career was born.
“After the Holocaust, people were afraid to show they were Jewish,” Rosenthal says. “That finally changed, but no one was making Judaica in the 1970s. We filled a huge empty lane, making Judaica that looked like art.”
At one point in the late 1990s, Rosenthal had 50 employees, shipping goods to a growing network of stores that sold religious items. All three floors of his current Kensington studio were filled with skilled designers and fabricators. “In the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, those were good years for Jews to be open in their identity,” Rosenthal says. “Antisemitism was very under the rug. It was a 30-year period where it was OK to show you were Jewish.”
One of the many fans of Rosenthal’s work is Alex Shapero, a nonprofit consultant from Washington, D.C. He established MyZuzah, which works with Jewish groups to try to place a mezuzah—a small decorative case inscribed with Torah verses traditionally affixed to the front door—on every Jewish home in the world. He’s bought mezuzahs from every country he visits, but “I’m a sucker” for Rosenthal pieces, he says, and commissioned Rosenthal to make a custom series of the sculptures for his organization’s use. “His aesthetic is so colorful, creative and playful,” Shapero says. “He’s opened up a lot of eyes with his artwork.”
Rosenthal is married to Marta Goldsmith, a city planner, and the couple, who have two grown children, have long lived in D.C.’s American University Park neighborhood.
His focus now is finding a home for his Glass Ribbon Project. He’s willing to throw in thousands of dollars and art materials. “Every group has its own mission, and it’s difficult getting them to adopt ours,” he says. “But there is such need for comforting ways for people to be supported as they endure cancer. We know these stones help without the awkwardness of not knowing what to say or do. They help people connect when they need it most.” n
A CLASS OF THEIR OWN
Brookhaven Elementary embraces MCPS’s only preschool for visually impaired students
BY CAITLYNN PEETZ
THE WALLS OF Diana Garcia-Mejia’s prekindergarten classroom at Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville are bare. There are no toy bins in the room, no clutter. Colors are neutral, like the deep navy rug in the center of the room where story time is held, and there are few busy patterns.
It’s all intentional—Garcia-Mejia’s students wouldn’t be able to see wall decorations, or if they could, the room would feel “cluttered” and likely be more confusing than helpful.
That’s because she teaches a full-day class dedicated to prekindergarten students who are blind or have visual impairments. It’s the only class of its kind in Maryland public schools, aside from those offered at The Maryland School for the Blind in Baltimore. As with other preschool classes, some children attend for a year, some two, depending on circumstances. After that, most of Garcia-Mejia’s students are enrolled in general education classes and receive one-on-one assistance from staff members as needed.
Her students have varying degrees of blindness—some have partial vision and can see clearly through very narrow tunnels or have extremely blurred eyesight. Others see nothing and cannot even sense when it is light or dark. She has five students this year but says she’s had as many as nine at a time.
In her classroom, Garcia-Mejia creates a tiny community of children with similar
Diana Garcia-Mejia teaches prekindergarten to visually impaired students.
needs. They receive specialized instruction, including lessons in braille, and learn how to adapt to being in a school.
While attending Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, less than 5 miles from Brookhaven, Garcia-Mejia became friends with three other students who were all visually impaired (Garcia-Mejia is not). After she graduated in 2013, those friendships inspired her to get a degree in visual disabilities education, and then her master’s in curriculum and instruction in visual disabilities with a specialization in early childhood special education, she says. Both degrees were from Florida State University.
Garcia-Mejia wanted to teach preschool specifically because she often heard her friends lament that there were so many skills they wished they had learned earlier in their education, like how to read and write braille. It’s also “the most powerful age group that I can empower and help parents through that grief process that happens when you have a child that has low vision,” Garcia-Mejia says.
Her classroom is designed for visually impaired children—down to the smallest details. Each cubby in a wooden shelf holds one toy, device or book. That helps the students find what they’re looking for more easily, or even memorize where those items are located. On another shelf, there are buckets of different toys and objects. Each bucket has an example of the object mounted on the outside so the students can feel it and know if it’s what they’re looking for. The few signs and posters on the walls are written in braille and are positioned at heights the students can reach.
She frequently incorporates props and uses verbal descriptions that the students may be able to relate to. Maybe she’ll explain that something is smaller than they are, or bigger than a refrigerator.
“I once had a student who asked how airplanes don’t fly into walls because he thought walls just went up forever. He
An example of whatever each bin holds is mounted on its front so students can feel it.
hadn’t seen it, so he didn’t know ceilings exist,” Garcia-Mejia says. “That’s why using objects and explaining is so important. There are so many things other children learn by seeing, or by seeing other people do and imitating. My students don’t have that ability.”
Fnu Pradyumna says his son was in Garcia-Mejia’s class for about 18 months after he was diagnosed at age 2 with a condition that leads to progressive vision loss. In class, Garcia-Mejia and her two paraprofessionals, Jackie Davis and Marcello Beatley, helped the boy learn to use his hands to identify objects, sizes and shapes, a critical skill for people with visual impairments. They taught him braille, and when his mother showed an interest, Garcia-Mejia set aside time to help her learn it, too. Garcia-Mejia assigned the mother “homework,” which she worked on for hours. Garcia-Mejia then graded it and provided feedback. Now the mom is proud of her ability to relate to her son and often uses braille in their home, Garcia-Mejia says.
“It is people like Diana who are like the light at the end of the tunnel for such families,” Pradyumna says of
Garcia-Mejia. “It is after working with her that we realized that our son is in safe hands and that he, too, can lead an independent life and grow into a successful adult.”
While Garcia-Mejia helps parents experience the world as their children do, she also is focused on teaching the students that there’s so much they can accomplish. She talks to them about blind celebrities. She tells them about her friends from high school, who now have families and careers of their own.
“I want them to know from the start that there’s so much they can do,” she says, “and it’s so much more than what they can’t do.” n
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