East of the River Magazine February 2016 by Capital Community News

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YVETTE ALEXANDER ON JUNE 14, 2016

RE-ELECT

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East of the River Magazine February 2016

BLACK HISTORY SPECIAL

Black History and the Coming of Black Rain

Jonetta’s Take

Meeting Dr. Woodson

Black History Local Events

by E. Ethelbert Miller

by Jonetta Rose Barras

by Alexander M. Padro

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

IN EVERY ISSUE

The Bulletin Board

The Numbers

AG Karl Racine Sues Politically Connected Congress Heights Developer by Jonetta Rose Barras

by Kate Coventry

What’s on Washington

East of the River Calendar

New Affordable Housing Adds to Anacostia Revitalization by Christine Rushton

The Classified

Our River: The Anacostia

The Crossword

by Bill Matuszeski

EAST WASHINGTON LIFE

Persisting Against the Odds

Jazz Avenues

Unconventional Heart Health

From Frozen to Bloom

by Christine Rushton

by Steve Monroe

by Candace Y.A. Montague by Virginia Avniel Spatz

REAL ESTATE

ON THE COVER: Portrait of Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Feb. 1947. Photo: William P. Gottlieb. Music Division, Library of Congress. Story on page 26.

Changing Hands compiled by Don Denton

KIDS & FAMILY

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East of the River Magazine February 2016

DCRA FREE WORKSHOPS FOR EXISTING AND ASPIRING DISTRICT BUSINESSES Build It in DC: General & Home Improvement Contractor Forum 2016 Date: Monday, March 14, 2016 Time: 8:00 am – 1:00 pm Location: Walter E. Washington Convention Center 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW Washington, D.C. 20001 To Register: www.BuildItinDC.com

Senior Entrepreneurship Program Date: Thursday, February 4, 2016 Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am Location: 3001 Alabama Avenue SE Washington D.C. 20020 To Register: http://dcbiz.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41356

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How to Open a Small Business by Navigating through DCRA’s Regulatory Process Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 Time: 9:00 am – 10:30 am Location: 1100 4th Street SW, 2nd Floor (Room E-200) Washington, D.C. 20024 To Register: http://dcbiz.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41235

Navigating Government Contracting with DCPTAC Date: Thursday, February 18, 2016 Time: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Location: 1100 4th Street SW, 4th Floor (Room E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024 To Register: http://dcbiz.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41940

SmartStart Integrated Licensing and Money Smart for Small Business Program Date: Monday, February 22, 2016 Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am Location: 1100 4th Street SW, 2nd Floor (Room E-268) Washington, D.C. 20024 To Register: http://dcbiz.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41090

The Regulatory Process of Starting a Business Date: Monday, February 22, 2016 Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Location: Takoma Park Neighborhood Library 416 Cedar Street NW Washington, D.C. 20012 To Register: http://dcbiz.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41343

Money Smart for Small Business Workshop: Financial Management & Credit Report Date: Thursday, February 25, 2016 Time: 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm Location: 1100 4th Street SW, 4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024 To Register: http://dcbiz.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41936

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East of the River Magazine February 2016

Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration in Historic Anacostia Ceremonies, talks, storytelling, tours, book signings, music and cake mark the 198th birthday celebration of Frederick Douglass in Historic Anacostia. The special celebratory events are on Friday, Feb. 12, and Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE; the Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE; the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl. SE; the Anacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE; and the Frederick Douglass NHS, 1411 W St. SE. See the Black History Month listings for complete details. Photo: Courtesy of the National Park Service

Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival 2016 Kicking off the Atlas Performing Arts Center 10th Anniversary, the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival 2016, February 26 through March 6, brings the best of DC arts and artists to the stage and H Street with performances, experiences and happenings in theatre, dance, music, vocal, choral, opera, visual arts, video, film, writing, sculpture, photography, circus, spoken word, public art, community art and art space activation. The complete INTERSECTIONS schedule is in the Calendar section of this paper. Enjoy. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. atlasarts.org. See the Xuejuan Dance Ensemble: A Dance of Languages at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival 2016 on Feb. 27, 2:30 p.m. Photo: Jack Yan and Lei Ke

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“See. Speak. Feel.” Showcase at the Anacostia Arts Center In an effort to represent the voices of up-and-coming artists local to DC, the third annual “See. Speak. Feel.” art and performance showcase will be held on Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. at the Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. “See. Speak. Feel.” will feature visual artists, musicians, vocalists and spoken word poets in a body of work that represents broader themes of love, revolution and courage. This year, National Poetry Slam Champion Elizabeth Acevedo will kick off the show. General admission tickets are priced at $20 and are available at seespeakfeel.com. Show director Tyece Wilkins performs her poem “Loved and Understood” at the 2015 installment of “See. Speak. Feel.” Photo: Jazzmin Williams

Washington Antiquarian Book Fair At the 41st Annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair, exhibitors from around the country will convene offering both serious collectors and budding enthusiasts rare books, manuscripts, modern first editions, autographs, prints, maps, drawings and other rare finds. The Washington Antiquarian Book Fair is on Friday, Mar. 4, from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Mar. 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge, 1900 North Fort Myer Dr., Arlington, VA. The entire show is $14; Saturday is $8. $5 admission on Saturday for librarians and students with valid ID. Children 12 and under, free. Read more at wabf.com. Photo: Courtesy of the Washington Antiquarian Book Fair

Cupid’s Undie Run Once a year, in February, you have an opportunity to see hundreds of attractive people running down a public street for about a mile in their underwear. With any luck there will be snow on the ground. To watch, position yourself on Pennsylvania Avenue SE between Seventh Street and the Capitol on Saturday, February 13 by 2 p.m. To participate, visit cupidsundierun.com. Cupid’s Undie Run takes place in 39 cities around the world and raises millions for the Children’s Tumor Foundation. Photo: Courtesy of Cupid’s Undie Run

East of the River Magazine February 2016

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FEBRUARY

VALENTINE’S Love in Every Language at the Sackler. Feb. 13 and 14, noon to 4 PM. Enjoy a digital slideshow of images of love in Asian art. Create Valentine’s Day cards using woodblock prints that say “love” in more than a dozen Asian languages. Fold heart-shaped origami. All ages welcome with adult companions. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. Valentine Tea & Chocolate Tasting at Dumbarton House. Feb. 13, 1 to 3 PM. $25. Reserve ticket is advance. Dumbarton House, 2715 Q St. NW. dumbartonhouse.org. Practice with Love Yoga Gathering. Feb. 20 and 27; 10:30-11:30 AM. The Practice With Love classes aim to create an accessible space for all people to tune

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into their breath while enjoying the amazing spaces around our beautiful city. WithLoveDC brings their free yoga gatherings to the US Botanic Garden. This program is first-come, first-served with limited space available. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own mats. No pre-registration required. usbg.gov. 2016 Love Stamp Showcases Three-Dimensional Artwork. The 44th inductee into the Postal Service’s Love series, the stamp features a heart created using the ancient art of quilling ─ also called paper filigree ─ which involves rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper, laying them on their edges, and gluing them in place to form intricate designs. usps.com. Tour the Harper Macaw Chocolate Factory. Saturdays, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30 PM. Harper Macaw Chocolate Factory is at 3160 Bladensburg Rd. NE. harpermacaw.com.

Black angels Over Tuskegee aT THearc Feb. 25 and 26, 7:30 PM. This award-winning, historical docudrama is a narrative of six men embarking upon a journey to become the first aviators in the United States Army Air Forces during a tumultuous era of racial segregation and Jim Crow idealism in 20th Century American history. Tickets are $10-$20. THEARC Theater, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org. Image: Courtesy of THEARC

largest parade celebrating Washington’s birthday in the US. washingtonbirthday. net/parade. George Washington’s 284th Birthday at Mount Vernon. Feb. 22. Free admission today. mountvernon.org.

AROuNd thE NEIghBORhOOd Edges and Allowances by Lillian Hoover at Honﬂeur Gallery. Through March 11. In this series, Hoover walks the line between abstraction and photorealism. She explores liminal spaces comprised of patterns, textures, shapes and shadows that appear to have arranged themselves with care, awaiting the viewer’s notice. Honfleur Gallery is at 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE. honfleurgallery.com. Sol Hill’s Signal from Noise at Vivid Solutions Gallery. Through March 11. Signal from Noise interweaves the immediacy of photography in a creative process he dubs “energy paintings.” Hill combines the aesthetics and visual concerns of painting and photography. Vivid Solutions Gallery is at 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. honfleurgallery.com.

pREsIdENt’s dAy Presidents Day at Mount Vernon. Feb. 13 to 15. To kick-off George Washington’s 284th birthday, enjoy a sample of Washington’s favorite hoecakes, on Feb. 13 and 14 (included in admission). Celebrate President George Washington on President’s Day, Feb. 15, with free admission. mountvernon.org. President’s Day Library of Congress Main Reading Room Open House. Feb. 15, 10 AM to 3 PM. Twice each year, the Library of Congress opens its magnificent Main Reading Room for a special open house to share information about how the public can access the Library’s resources year-round. Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE. loc.gov The President Woodrow House on President’s Day. Feb. 15. 50 percent off admission and free admission for anyone alive during Woodrow Wilson’s administration ─ born before 1922 (good luck). The President Woodrow Wilson House, 2340 S St. NW. WoodrowWilsonHouse.org. George Washington Birthday Parade in Old Town. Feb. 15, 1 to 3 PM. This is the

Twelve Years that Shook and Shaped Washington: 1963-1975. Through Oct. 23. Change was in the air, some of it unsettling and threatening. Against a national background of Lyndon Johnson’s “great society,” anti-war protests, black power and feminism, this exhibition focuses on events, people and challenges that transformed the city between 1963 and 1975. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202633-4820. anacostia.si.edu.. Film and Discussion at ACM. Feb. 12, 11 AM to 1 PM, Foxy Brown (1974; 94 min.); Feb. 13, 4 to 6 PM, Fly By Light (2014; 60 min.); Feb. 17, noon to 2 PM, Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution (2015; 120 min.); Feb. 19, 11 AM to 1 PM, Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970; 97 min.); Feb. 26, 11 AM to 1 PM, Cleopatra Jones (1973; 89 min.). Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu. The Black Love Experience: Part Trois. Feb. 20, 6 to 10 PM. The Black Love Experience is a conglomerate of artistry and inventiveness geared towards natives, travelers, and fearless visionaries featuring performance artists, visual artists, independent creatives, East of the River Magazine February 2016

CALENDAR small businesses and the like under the canopy of all things Black. $17-$30. Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. AnacostiaArtsCenter.com. Make it Home at Anacostia Arts Center. Feb. 26 to 28. Make it Home is the story of a family trying to reclaim their life and find hope again after the recent death of their son. $10-15. Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. AnacostiaArtsCenter.com.

Feb. 26 to March 6. The lineup follows. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. atlasarts.org.

Sound Feb. 26, District Sax Quartet: Rhythm of the City, 9 PM; Feb. 26, 9 PM, Amadou Kouyate: Amadou Kouyate and the Proper SKANKS; Feb. 27, 3:30 PM, The In Series: Latina Supremes; Feb. 27, 4 PM; Feb. 27, 10 PM, Cantigas: On our way to Cuba; Feb. 27, 10 PM, Black Masala: Live Performance; Feb. 28, 4:30 PM, Domingues and Kane: Gut + Voltage: Viola da Gamba and Electronics in Synthesis; Feb. 28, 5 PM, John Kocur Presents: Jazz Meets Irish Music; Feb. 28, 6:30 PM, Opera on Tap, DC Metro: Opera on Tap presents: We got 99 problems but a pitch ain’t one; Feb. 28, 7 PM, EcoSono / Matthew Burtner / Rita Dove: The Ceiling Floats Away; March 4, 7 PM, Cristian Perez Quintet: South American Jazz; March 4, 8 PM, Capital City Symphony/Go-Go Symphony: Go-Go Symphony; March 4, 8:30, Night Watch Paradox: Magnificent Machines and Astonishing Tales; March 5, Washington Balalaika Society: From Russia with Love: The Art of the Russian Folk Orchestra; March 5, 6:30 PM; March 5, 9:30 PM, Brad Linde: Roger Over and OUT!; March 6, 6 PM, William Brent & Noah Getz: StreamStretch; March 6, 7:30 PM, Phonic Wrinkle: Vintage Divergence.

Movement Feb. 26, 8 PM and Feb. 27, 5 PM, Zip Zap Circus USA / AirBorne DC: Reaching the High Notes; Feb. 27, 1:30 PM, MOVES/ The Maverick Lemons Dance Project: HASHTAG; Feb. 27, 2:30 PM, Xuejuan Dance Ensemble: A Dance of Languages; Feb. 27, 4:30 PM and March 5, 2 PM, Jane Franklin Dance: Wash Over You Part I and II; Feb. 27, 6:30 PM, Taurus Broadhurst Dance: Defining Love; Feb. 27, 8 PM and Feb. 28, 6:30 PM,, Furia Flamenca Dance Company: Flamenco to the Max!; Feb. 27, 9 PM and March 5, 1:30 PM, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company: Mortal Tongues, Immortal Stories; Feb. 28, 2 PM, Dissonance Dance Theatre: Heads or Tails; Feb. 28, 2:30 PM, Alice Howes: The Jury; Feb. 28, 3 PM, Motion X Dance DC: Altered Archives; Feb. 28, 4 PM, MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet: Perspectives: Contemporary Women in Dance; Feb. 28, 7 PM, NACHMO/DC: NACHMO Ordinary Dance Show – Final Showcase of National Choreography Month/DC; March 5, 5 PM, Gin Dance Company: Introspections; March 5, 6:30 PM, Tehreema Mitha Dance Company: Blue Gold; March 5, 7 PM and March 6, 5 PM, Aura Curiatlas Physical Theatre: DREAM LOGIC; March 5, 8 PM, Miřenka Čechová: FAiTH; March 6, 2 PM, Metropolitan Youth Tap Ensemble – Stomping Grounds: where art and life intersect; March 6, 2:30 PM, NEA Youth Arts Connect; March 6, 5 PM, Company Danzante & Veronneau: Rhythms of the Heart; March 6, 7:30 PM, DC Dance Theatre Company: Re’surjens: Faith, Life, Love.

Story Feb. 26, 7 PM and Feb. 27, 7 PM, Annalisa Dias: Servant of the Wind; Feb. 26, 7 PM and Feb. 27, 7 PM, Aaron Reeder: IMAGE ─ Life in the comics; Feb. 26, 9:30 PM and Feb. 27, 2 PM, The Rude Mechanicals: Antigone Reflected; Feb. 27, 1:30 PM and Feb. 28, 2 PM, Terry Nicholetti: Meeting Bessie Bluefeld: Immigrant, Feminist, Entrepreneur; Feb. 27, 5 PM and Feb. 28, 9:30 PM, Sepia Works/Marjuan Canady: Girls! Girls? Girls.; Feb. 27, 9 PM, Conscience Drama Directive: THE PRESCIENT CONSCIENCE OF ERIC BENTLEY: the SCOTUS Marriage Decision (2015) and “Lord Alfred’s Lover” (1978); March 4, 6:30 PM, Éamon Boylan & Company: Juvenilia; March 4 9 PM, Goldie Patrick and Dave McDuffie: Body Language: Image and Imagery; March 4, 9:30 PM, Restoration Stage Inc: Veils; March 5, 8 PM, Story District: Mind Over Matter: True stories about living with mental illness; March 5, 9 PM and March 6, 8 PM, AWoL Productions: Ten Principles )’(; March 6, 1 PM, Arena Stage: Voices of Now Program Mead and Mentor Ensembles; March 6, 3:30 PM, FRESHH Inc: My Mic Sounds Nice; March 6, 5:30 PM, City at Peace: Live; March 6, 6:30 PM, Youth Summit Meeting: What’s up with your art?

Free in the Lobby Feb. 26, 6:30 to 7:15 PM, Joy of Motion Dance Center Youth Dance Ensemble; Feb. 26, 7:30 to 9:15 PM, Veronneau; Feb. 27 and March 5, 9 AM to noon, DJ Dustin; Feb. 27, noon to 2 PM, Bellwether Bayou; Feb. 27 and March 5, 2 to 2:45 PM, Mosaic Theatre Company of DC; Feb. 27, 3 to 5 PM, Flo Anito; Feb. 27 and March 5, 5 to 6 PM, Musical Theatre Division of the Catholic University of America; Feb. 27, 6:15 to 7 PM, Furia Flamenca and Guests; Feb. 27, 7:30 to 10 PM and March 5, 8 to 10:30 PM, Analog Soul Club; Feb. 28, 1:30 to 3:30 PM; March 4, 6:30 to 9:30 PM and March 5, 2 to 4 PM, DJ RBI; Feb. 28, 3:30 to 5:15 PM, eXposure Film Series; Feb. 28, 5:30 to 7:15 PM, Not What You Think; March 4, 6:30 to 7:15 PM, Michelle Ava Dance; March 5, noon to 2 PM, Hari Vasan; March 5, 3 to 4:45 PM, Boris Willis Moves; March 5, 6 to 8 PM, Just Vibe Ensemble; March 6, 5:30 to 7:30 PM, Redwine Jazz Band. See Kids and Family Notebook in the back of the paper for INTERSECTIONS family programming schedule.

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CODE SWITCH by Contradiction Dance at Anacostia Arts Center. March 3 to 11. Code switching is instinctual for some, for others it’s a way to advance and get ahead, for most it’s a way to try and fit in with peer groups. Contains adult themes and language. $20-30. Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. AnacostiaArtsCenter.com. See. Speak. Feel. at Anacostia Arts Center. March 5, 7 to 9 PM. See. Speak. Feel. is an art and performance showcase highlighting the work of local DMV creatives whose work is tied to a broader message. $20. Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. AnacostiaArtsCenter.com. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf at Anacostia Playhouse. Feb. 24 to March 26. This stirring choreopoem weaves together 20 separate poems with music and movement to tell the stories of love, empowerment, and struggle of seven African American women. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl. SE. theateralliance.com. Word Becomes Flesh at Anacostia Playhouse. Feb. 24 to March 26. Through spoken word, dance, djing, and visual images, a collective of performers delivers a series of letters from a single father to his unborn son, documenting the range of emotions, fears, and expectations. theateralliance.com.

MUSIC AROUND TOWN Music at The Howard. Feb. 6, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic; Feb. 7 and March 6, Harlem Gospel Choir (Sunday brunch); Feb. 10. MMXVI; Feb. 11, Gregory Porter; Feb. 12, Amel Larrieux and the Prince and Michael Jackson Experience; Feb. 12, The Dream Genesis Tour 2016; Feb. 14, Maysa ─ Valentine’s Day Show; Feb. 15, Daley; Feb. 18, Living Color; Feb. 19, Gianmarco and James Brown Dance Party; Feb. 21, K Jon; Feb. 22, Jadakiss; Feb. 25, Naughty by Nature; Feb. 26, Morgan Heritage & Blackalicious; Feb. 27, Virginia Music Adventures Gala; Feb. 28, A Drag Salute to the Divas; March 1, CeeLo Green; March 5, Exquisite Ghana Ball. Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. 202-803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com. Music at Black Cat. Feb. 6, Blisspop Symposium; Feb. 7, Two Inch Astronaut; Feb. 9, Bibliodiscotechque; Feb. 10, Pell; Feb. 11, The Flavr Blue; Feb. 12, Church Night; Feb. 13, Voivod; Feb. 14, Protomartyr Priests; Feb. 15, Hunter Valentine; Feb. 16, Chuch Ragan & the Camaraderie; Feb. 17, Positive Force-More Than a Witness; Feb. 18, Keeps; Feb. 19, Right Round Up! and Black Broadway; Feb. 20, Cryfest; Feb. 24, The Electric Grandmother; Feb. 25, Jennylee (of Warpaint); Feb. 26, Pissed Jeans Downtown Boys; Feb. 27, Jungle/Fever; March 1, Highly Suspect; March 2, SWMRS. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. blackcatdc.com. Music at Rock and Roll Hotel. Feb. 6, Beauty Pill; Feb.

East of the River Magazine February 2016

CALENDAR

President’s Day Public Skate at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Feb. 15, 11 AM to 2 PM. $5 for skating and skate rental. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. SE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org. Photo: Courtesy of Fort Dupont Ice Arena

6, 13, 20 and 27 and March 5, DJS Rex Riot & Basscamp; Feb. 9, Ezra Furman; Feb. 13, Grisfolk; Feb. 18, Georgetown Cabaret; Feb. 19, Seratones; Feb. 20, Kaleo; Feb. 25, Julia Holter; Feb. 27, Jack Garratt; March 4, Aztec Sun; March 5, Common Kings. Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE. 202-388-7625. rockandrollhoteldc.com. Music at Sixth and I. Feb. 6, Brooklyn Rider & Gabriel Kahane; Feb. 13, Roomful of Teeth & American Contemporary Music Ensemble; Feb. 14, Laura Jane Grace and The Devouring Mothers; Feb. 18, Where’s the Band?; Feb. 20, Brooke Waggoner and The Cowards Choir; March 5, Zuli. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org. Music at 9:30 Club. Feb. 7, Lupe Fiasco; Feb. 10, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead; Feb. 11, Big Head Todd and the Monsters; Feb. 12, Graveyard and Snails; Feb. 13 and 14, The Devil Makes Three; Feb. 16, Best Coast & Wavves; Feb. 17, Unknown Mortal Orchestra; Feb. 18, Ralphie May and Talib Kweli; Feb. 19, Anders Osborne; Feb. 20, St. Lucia; Feb. 21, Madeon; Feb. 23 and 24, Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band; Feb. 25, Ty Segall & The Muggers; Feb. 26, Steep Canyon Rangers and BoomBox: Bits & Pieces Tour; Feb. 27, The Floozies; Feb. 28,

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Editors; March 1, The Lone Bellow; March 2, Wolfmother; March 4 and 5, Drive-By Truckers. 815 V St. NW. 877-435-9849. 930.com. Music at the U Street Music Hall. Feb. 7, PRINCE FOX with Special Guest: Stelouse; Feb. 9, Mardi Gras Carnivale; Feb. 11, AraabMUZIK; Feb. 12, Hey Marseilles and Baio; Feb. 13, Honey Soundsystem & Martyn; Feb. 14, Alison Wonderland; Feb. 16, SafetySuit; Feb. 17, Kat Dahlia; Feb. 18, Timo Maas; Feb. 19, Maceo Plex; Feb. 20, Le Youth; Feb. 23, Vinyl Theatre & Finish Ticket; Feb. 24, Moon Hooch and Bondax and Friends; Feb. 25, Autograf; Feb. 26, White Ford Bronco and Mathias Kaden; Feb. 27, Will Clarke; March 3, Tale Of Us; March 4, A Great Big World and Haywyre; March 5, Louis The Child; March 6, Goldfish. U Street Music Hall, 1115 U St. NW. 202-5881889. ustreetmusichall.com. Sunday Concerts at the Phillips. Feb. 7, Sandrine Piau, soprano; Feb. 14, VárjonBaráti-Várdai Piano Trio; Feb. 21, Bella Hristova, violin; Feb. 28, Steven Osborne, piano; March 6, Jordi Savall, viol; March 13, Christopher Park, piano. $30, $15 for members, students, and visitors 6 to 18; includes museum admission for day of the concert. Reservations recommended. phillipscollection.org/music. Blues Night in Southwest. Every Monday, 6 to 9 PM. Feb. 8, David Cole & Main Street Blues; Feb. 15, Electrified Blues Band w/Charlie Sayles; Feb. 22, Full Power Blues. Feb. 29, Bad Influence Band; March 7, Danny Blew & the Blues Crew; March 14, Lou Jerome Band; March 21, Nadine Rae & the All-Stars; March 28, Vintage #18 Blues Band. The cover is $5. Children under 16 are free. Reasonably priced meals offered. 202-484-7700. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. SW. westminsterdc.org.

Church of the Epiphany Weekly Concerts. Every Tuesday, 12:10 PM. Feb. 9, Mardi Gras celebrated with New Orleans Jazz from Mike Flaherty’s Dixieland Direct; Feb. 16, Vasily Popov, cello Ralitza Patcheva, piano; Feb. 23, Black History Month ─ Peate Peagues and Irvin Peterson; March 1, Washington Bach Consort. Free, but offering taken. 1317 G ST. NW. 202-3472635. epiphanydc.org. Jazz Night in Southwest. Every Friday, 6 to 9 PM. Feb. 12, A Jolley Family-Tribute to Noble Jolley, Sr.; Feb. 19, DC International Trombone; Feb. 26, Tribute to Gloria Lynne; March 4, Tribute to Gloria Lynne. The cover is $5. Children are under 16 years old are free. Reasonably priced meals offered. 202-484-7700. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. SW westminsterdc.org Gay Men’s Chorus “The Way We Were” at the Atlas. Feb. 12, 8 PM; Feb. 13, 5 PM and 8 PM. Their select vocal ensembles bring you their favorite hits over the years. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. gmcw.org. Society of the Cincinnati Concerts. Feb. 13, 10:30 AM. Jacqueline Neimat, soprano; Apr. 2, 10:30 AM, William Baskin, acoustic guitar; May 21, 10:30 AM,

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Beau Soir Ensemble. Free. Anderson House, 2118 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 202-785-2040. societyofthecincinnati.org. The Music and Life of Duke Ellington with Rusty Hassan. Tuesdays, Feb. 16 to March 9, 6:30 to 8 PM. Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. hillcenterdc.org. Concerts at the Library of Congress. Feb. 20, 8 PM, Handel and Haydn Society; Feb. 27, 2 PM, Juilliard String Quartet. These free concerts are in the Coolidge Auditorium located on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE. loc.gov.

SPORTS AND FITNESS Washington Capitals Ice Hockey. Feb. 7, 16, 20, 24 and 26; March 2 and 4. Verizon Center. capitals.nhl.com. Washington Capitals Practice Schedule. Nongame day, 10:30 AM; game day, 10 AM; and day after game, 11 AM. All practices are at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, 627 No. Glebe Rd., Suite 800, Arlington, VA. They are free and open to the public. kettlercapitalsiceplex.com. Washington Wizards Basketball. Feb. 19, 23, 28 and 29; Mar. 5. Verizon Center. nba.com/wizards Free Weekly Jazzercise Class. Wednesdays, 6:30 to 7:30 PM. Jazzercise is a 60-minute workout that incorporates cardio, stretch and strength-training exercises. Bring weights and a mat. 4800 Nannie Helen Burroughs in the Community Room on the ground floor. Zumba at THEARC. Mondays, 7:15 to 8:15 PM. Ditch the workout, join the party! Latin Dance-Fitness fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic fitness program that will blow you away. $6 for 20020 or 20032 residents. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org. Adult Yoga at THEARC. Saturdays, 8:45 to 10 AM. Vinyasa Yoga is a practice where postures or asanas are connected through the breath for a transformative and balancing effect. It builds heat, endurance, flexibility and strength. $6 for 20020 or 20032 residents. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-8895901. thearcdc.org. Adult African Dance at THEARC. Wednesdays, 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Taught by Sylvia Soumah, founder of Coyaba Dance Theater and teacher at The Washington Ballet (SE Campus), Adult African Dance classes provide a friendly environment to learn West African dance. Come feel the beat. $6 for residents of 20020 or 20032. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-8895901. thearcdc.org. Adult Kundalini Yoga at THEARC. Thursdays, 7:30 to 8:45 PM. Come experience Kundalini Yoga, a science that works on your energy system using various hand and finger positions (mudras) body postures (asanas), and chants (mantras). $6 for residents of 20020 or 20032. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org. Yoga @ the Library. Saturdays, 10 to 11 AM. Wear comfortable clothing and bring a mat, but if you don’t have one, yoga mats are available. Classes are taught by a Yoga Activist and are held on the lower level of the library in the Larger Meeting Room. Free. Doro-

thy I. Height Neighborhood Library, 3935 Benning Rd. NE. 202-281-2583. dclibrary.org/benning. Canal Park Ice Skating. Through mid-March. Mondays and Tuesdays, noon to 7 PM; Wednesday to Friday, noon to 9 PM; Saturdays, 11 AM to 10 PM; and Sundays, 11 AM to 7 PM. Adults are $9; children/seniors/military are $8; and skate rental is $4. Holidays hours vary. Canal Park is at 202 M St. SE. canalparkdc.org. National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Skating. Through March 13. Open Monday to Thursday, 10 AM to 9 PM; Fridays, 10 AM to 11 PM; Saturdays, 11 AM to 11 PM; Sundays, 11 AM to 9 PM. $8.50 for adults; $7.50 for age 50 and over, age 12 and under, and students with a valid school ID for two hour session beginning on the hour. $3 for skate rental. Seventh St. and Constitution Ave. NW. 202-216-9397. nga.gov. Washington Harbor Ice Rink. Through mid-March. Monday-Tuesday, noon to 7 PM; Wednesday to Thursday, noon to 9 PM; Fridays, noon to 10 PM; Saturdays, 10 AM to 10 PM; Sundays, 10 AM to 7 PM. Skating is $9-$10. Skate rental is $5. Washington Harbor is at 3050 K St. NW. 202-706-7666. thewashingtonharbour.com. Public Skating at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Fridays, noon to 2 PM and Saturdays 12:45 to 1:45 PM. Public Skate, $5 for adults (13-64); $4 for seniors and children (five to 12); $3, skate rental. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. SE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org. Yoga @ the Library. Saturdays, 10 to 11 AM. Wear comfortable clothing and bring a mat. Don’t have one? Yoga mats are available. Classes are taught by a yoga activist and are held on the lower level of the library in the Larger Meeting Room. Free. Dorothy I. Height Neighborhood Library, 3935 Benning Rd. NE. 202-281-2583. dclibrary.org/benning. Barry Farm (indoor) Pool. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:30 AM to 8 PM; and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 AM to 5 PM. Free for DC residents. 1230 Sumner Rd. SE. 202-730-0572. dpr.dc.gov. Deanwood (indoor) Pool. Monday to Friday 6:30 AM to 8 PM; Saturday to-Sunday, 9 AM to 5 PM. Free for DC residents. 1350 49th St. NE. 202-6713078. dpr.dc.gov. Ferebee Hope (indoor) Pool. Open weekdays, 10 AM to 6 PM. Closed weekends. Free for DC residents. 3999 Eighth St. SE. 202-645-3916. dpr.dc.gov.

MARKETS AND SALES

Ave. NW, 1500 block of 20th St. NW. 202-362-8889. freshfarmmarket.org. Branch Avenue Pawn Parking Lot Flea Market. Saturdays, year-round (weather permitting). Set up after 10 AM. 3128 Branch Ave., Temple Hills, MD. Union Market. Tuesday to Friday, 11 AM to 8 PM; Saturday to Sunday, 8 AM to 8 PM. Union Market is an artisanal, curated, year round food market featuring over 40 local vendors. 1309 Fifth St. NE. 301-652-7400. unionmarketdc.com. Georgetown Flea Market. Sundays year around except in the case of very inclement weather, 8 AM to 4 PM. 1819 35th St. NW. georgetownfleamarket.com. Maine Avenue Fish Market. Open 365 days a year, 7 AM to 9 PM. 1100 Maine Ave. SW. 202-484-2722.

CIVIC LIFE Councilmember Alexander’s Constituent Services Office. Open weekdays, 10 AM to 6 PM. 2524 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-581-1560. Congresswoman Norton’s SE District Office. Open weekdays, 9 AM to 6 PM. 2041 MLK Ave. SE, #238. 202-678-8900. norton.house.gov. Eastland Gardens Civic Association Meeting. Third Tuesday, 6:30 to 8 PM. Kenilworth Elementary School Auditorium, 1300 44th St. NE. Contact Javier Barker, j58barker@yahoo.com or 202-450-3155. Anacostia Coordinating Council Meeting. Last Tuesday, noon to 2 PM. Anacostia 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. capitolviewcivicassoc.org. Historical Anacostia Block Association. Second Thursday, 7 to 9 PM. UPO Anacostia Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. For further details, contact Charles Wilson, 202-834-0600. Anacostia High School Improvement Team Meeting. Fourth Tuesday, 6 PM. Anacostia High School, 16th and R Streets, SE. Fairlawn Citizens Association. Third Tuesday, 7 PM. Ora L. Glover Community Room at the Anacostia Public Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE.

ANC MONTHLY MEETINGS ANC 7B. Third Thursday, 7 PM. Ryland Epworth United Methodist Church, 3200 S St. SE. 202-584-3400. anc7b@pressroom.com. anc7b@earthlink.net. ANC 7C. Second Thursday, 7 PM. Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church, 5109 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE. 202-398-5100. anc7c@verizon.net. ANC 7D. Second Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Dorothy I. Height Neighborhood Library, 3935 Benning Rd. NE. 202-398-5258. 7D06@anc.dc.gov. ANC 7E. Second Tuesday, 7 PM. Jones Memorial Church, 4625 G St. SE. 2025826360. 7E@anc.dc.gov.

Friends of Southeast Library Book Sale. Monthly on the second Saturday Feb. 13), 10 AM to 3 PM. Most books are $1. Proceeds benefit children’s programs. Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403 Seventh St. SE. 202-698-3377. dclibrary.org/southeast.

ANC 7F. Third Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, 200 Stoddert Place, SE.

Eastern Market. Daily except Mondays and important holidays. Weekdays, 7 AM to 7 PM; Saturdays, 7 AM to 5 PM; Sundays, 9 AM to 5 PM. Flea market and arts and crafts market open Saturdays and Sundays, 9 AM to 6 PM. Eastern Market is Washington’s last continually operated “old world” market. 200 block of Seventh St. SE. 202-698-5253. easternmarketdc.com. Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Sundays (rain or shine), year round, 10 AM to 1 PM. 20th St. and Mass.

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

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

ANC 8C. First Wednesday, 7 PM. 2907 MLK Jr Ave. SE. 202-388-2244. ANC 8D. Fourth Thursday, 7 PM. Specialty Hospital of Washington, 4601 MLK Jr. Ave. SW. 202-561-0774. Have an event for the Calendar? Email calendar@hillrag.com. u East of the River Magazine February 2016

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Frederick Douglass

Civil War Soilders

BLACK C

Harriet Tubman Booker T. Washington

George Washington Carver

Jackie Robinson

Rosa Parks

World War 2 Soilders

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

W.E.B. DuBois

Malcom X

Thurgood Marshall

EAST OF THE RIVER SPECIAL ISSUE

Miles Davis Guion Bluford East of the River Magazine February 2016

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BLACK HISTORY SPECIAL

Black History and the Coming of Black Rain by E. Ethelbert Miller

lack no more? I was always curious about the Africans who saw that first European boat “swimming” off the coast of their neighborhood. Was the sky that day a lovely blue? Going back just a few years here in DC I thought the first white jogger might have been mistaken for a missionary. Even now I’ve been told one can detect the signs of global warming by listening to new arrivants to the city trying to decide what to wear two days in a row. Is climate change another way of saying gentrification without moving one’s lips? Once the challenge of living in this city was filled with dangerous romance. Wealth and poverty co-existed like college roommates in a dorm. Wealth was always touching Poverty’s hair and searching for an explanation. But there is nothing like a kink to keep someone in their place. How did Poverty simply turn into displacement? What “weave” might one day tell? Sometimes we survive and sometimes we don’t. It doesn’t take a magician to understand black people are disappearing from DC. For some strange reason one never sees any moving trucks. No footprints for my native blood to track. I was born into a West Indian family in New York City. It was the pursuit of a college education that introduced me to DC and the Southern road. The year was 1968 when I walked across the Howard campus just a few months after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Like many cities in our nation, Washington D.C. felt the hard lash of flames. In the late Sixties destruction became an urban thing. Detroit was renamed Destroyed. Even James Brown couldn’t stop black people from dancing in the streets. History contains the fine print of memories. A few weeks ago I was sitting in my daughter’s condo in Anacostia. She was softly rubbing her pregnant belly. February is the month she will give birth to her first child. Another black boy will enter the world during Black History Month. The historian Carter G. Woodson selected February to pay tribute to blackness because it was the month Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were born. It’s nice the month is also known for Valentine’s Day and love. Yet in 2016 one ponders aloud whether the once famous Chocolate City has been reduced to a box of chocolate. In many places around the city one will see Black History is just a moment in time. Beyond the gateway perhaps my King will come. Photo: Andrew Lightman

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small pool pockets of black people sitting near curbs or doorways as if time was fanning herself and waiting for a blind date. I wonder what stories I will one day tell my grandson. How will I describe what this city was like before he took his first step? Every day it seems impossible to describe what is taking place. If this city was a vessel we would all be seasick from the motion of change. My daughter is giving birth during the time of the crane. New buildings being erected everywhere as if God’s plan consisted of a divine set of Legos. It’s not just the new buildings that are spreading the fever of despair among black people, it’s the attitude of a non-black minority counting its numbers and realizing that after addition comes multiplication. Black people are skilled as the masters of division and subtraction. The new math equals a new city. At times white people just don’t see black people. Black people at times only see white people. If you’re Korean or Japanese you’ll always be Chinese to someone in the hood. Race relations have become the new slippery slope. Meanwhile, the 21st century is shaping up to be a take home exam on religion. Today when I walk the city streets they no longer recognize me. When my daughter (and son) were children we could walk from Adams Morgan to Vertigo Bookstore near DuPont Circle. The place was a destination, a meeting place, a cultural beacon where books were like flavors of ice cream. The taste of books has also changed; the smell of print being pushed aside for the glow of a screen. Like old electronic equipment some of us are simply being pushed aside. Walk the streets and the newness can blind the old residents. Yes, the city is more beautiful but it seems as if beauty is not engaged to my future. There is a loneliness that comes

with a city in transition. It’s walking into a new restaurant and having the patrons look at you as if it you were from Money, Mississippi. It’s standing in a new grocery store and having someone move your food out of their way without politeness. It’s sitting on a crowded bus and being a crowd of one. Every seat is taken but the one next to you. Your Bible tells you later that the plague you suffer from is not contagious nor is your blackness. But you wonder. I could lose myself in this city. Where is home these days? If I were from North or South Carolina I might think about returning to the rural area of old folks. Even my West Indian blood at times begs for a sip of bush tea and the joy of carnival. But I have no dreams of moving to Barbados or returning to New York. The South Bronx of my youth is now called SoBRO, and so even the Bronx Tales have been painted over and maybe the Puerto Ricans are lighting candles praying for some saint to save the last remains of el barrio. I have often asked my African friends which is worse, being taken from the land or having the land taken from you? Do we dare compare the scars of slavery with those of colonization? All I know is that beneath the many the circles of this city, beneath the higher frequencies, beneath the stares, beneath the shadows of condos, there exists a quiet rage that will not disappear. One day this city will hear the thunder and there will be no quiet storm but instead a black heaven opening and delivering the howl of the newborns and the hard rain of justice and salvation. E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist and the board chair of the Institute for Policy Studies. His Collected Poems edited by Kirsten Porter will be published by Willow Books in March 2016. Miller was inducted into the Washington DC Hall of Fame in April 2015. u

District Of Columbia Housing Authority SOLICITATION FOR

ACCOUNTING SERVICES FOR PARKWAY OVERLOOK, LP Request for Proposal No.: POLP 0001-2016 The District of Columbia Housing Authority (“DCHA”) solicits proposals from qualified accounting firms to provide accounting services for Parkway Overlook, LP. Parkway Overlook, LP is a District of Columbia limited partnership and an affiliate of the District of Columbia Housing Authority. Requests for Proposal documents will be available at the Issuing Office at 1133 North Capitol Street, N.E., Suite 300, Office of Administrative Services-Contracts and Procurement, Washington, D.C. 20002-7599 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, beginning Monday, February 01, 2016, and on the DCHA website www.dchousing.org Responses by Sealed Proposal are due to the Issuing Office no later than 11:00 a.m. (ET) Monday, February 29, 2016. Contact Issuing Office, Darcelle Beaty (202) 535-1212 or email dbeaty@dchousing.org for additional information.

East of the River Magazine February 2016

BLACK HISTORY SPECIAL

Black History IS American History Jonetta’s Take

by Jonetta Rose Barras

sculpture. His former Ninth Street NW home has been declared a national historic site and is unfell out of love with Black History Month, as a der renovation. separate event, decades ago. I make that conAs the founder and director of the Association fession not to cast aspersion on famed scholfor Negro Life and History, Woodson established ar and historian Carter G. Woodson, who the second week in February to highlight contricreated Negro History Week. Actually, I celbutions of blacks to the United States. He selectebrated the fact that last year the National ed that time to capitalize on the birthdays of PresiPark Service, spurred by District residents in dent Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, a the Shaw neighborhood, including Alexanformer slave, abolitionist, and recorder of deeds for der Padro, dedicated a $1 million memorithe District of Columbia. Woodson also pushed for al park in Woodson’s honor, replete with a bronze public schools across the nation to teach “Negro” history. The US Department of Education embraced that effort. Eventually the week grew into a monthlong commemoration and teach-in with nearly every state joining in the celebration. So, what’s my beef? The role AfricanAmericans played in this country’s development isn’t some appendix, some footnote to be amplified once a year. Further, blacks should not be relegated to the sidelines of American history. As Jim Sleeper, author of “Liberal Racism,” wrote, “the descendants of slaves are in some ways the most American of us all.” Truth be told, even before 1926, Negro History Week Carter G. Woodson. Image Courtesy of Ancella Bickley Collection, West Virginia State Archives should have been de-

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clared an anachronism. Blacks were already key players in the physical, cultural, and political infrastructure of American society. They had been the foundational backbone of the economy. They had fought on the frontlines of several wars: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War I. They helped construct the White House, the US Capitol, and other government buildings in the nation’s capital. (Recently, while in New Orleans, I was reminded that African-Americans helped construct that city’s French Quarter, which isn’t strange since Benjamin Banneker completed the work of another Frenchman, Pierre L’Enfant.) Then as now, their music, dance, and theatrical performances comprised the core of what is largely considered the original American culture. More important, through their great personal sacrifices they extended the boundaries of democracy, solidifying the vision of the country’s founders in ways no others have done. Nevertheless there are those who choose to confine their remarkable achievements to a mere month of rote recitation, spouting the names of a few, albeit well-respected, individuals over and over: Sojourner Truth, Harriett Tubman, Madam C. J. Walker, W.E.B. DuBois, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Don’t act like what I am saying is foreign to you. Deliberately or not, that repetition has perpetuated the view that blacks have made a minor mark on the American landscape. Of course there has been and continues to be a plethora of inventors, intellectuals, architects, managers, and corporate leaders like those at McDonald’s, Xerox, American Express, and yes, Time Warner, who have since contributed to American exceptionalism. But far too many blacks do not see themselves as owners of this country. They have allowed themselves to be portrayed as victims, as freeloaders, as beggars, although in this 21st century they have more than one trillion-dollars in purchasing power. I vigorously rebel against that depiction. I refuse to

accept the part of some insignificant sideline player, only worthy of a 28- or 29-day mention. That is an insult to my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, the men and women who lived in communities where I grew up or where I worked, people who ignored the brutal beatings they sometimes received as they made America the great country it is. What’s more, I am no fan of balkanization. Women’s History Month and Hispanic History Month do not receive my embrace. Slicing and dicing our society or narrative promote and sustain division. It exacerbates racial tensions and the kind of venomous rhetoric that fills some national, and local, political campaigns. The indisputable fact is this: black history is American history. If there are folks who have not come to realize that, that’s their problem, not mine. I share Sleeper’s analysis that “the best of the civic culture which the early civil rights movement tried to embrace and redeem presumes not that our racial and ethnic story lives and affinities should disappear. But that they should not prevail as the central organizing principles of our lives … Full citizenship in the American republic entails a commitment to join in a race- transcendent human experiment.” With that as the goal, isn’t it time to end Black History Month? Isn’t it time to ensure that all stories from all peoples, from all Americans, are written into a single, accurate, and inclusive cultural narrative? Jonetta Rose Barras is a freelance writer. u

INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING WITH US? Call Laura Vucci 202-400-3510

or laura@hillrag.com for more information on advertising. East of the River Magazine February 2016

BLACK HISTORY SPECIAL

Meeting Dr. Woodson

Coming Face-to-Face with the Father of Black History by Alexander M. Padro

frican American History Month in 2016 marks the first time in over 60 years that visitors to Shaw will be able to sit down with Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, in the neighborhood he called home. He’ll be waiting for you every day on a tall, rounded stone bench in the triangle park at Rhode Island Avenue, NW at Ninth and Q Streets. You can sit beside him and watch the traffic and pedestrians go by. You can put your hand on his and run your hands over his books on the back of

The bronze statue’s stern gaze conveys Dr. Woodson’s drive to accomplish his goals of making black history understood and appreciated. Photo: Alexander M. Padro.

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

the bench. You can even talk to him. Just don’t expect him to answer. Dr. Woodson’s skin is the color of bronze, and so are his clothes. In fact, he’s actually made of the metal, and not just figuratively. Carter Godwin Woodson died in 1950, but the Harvard-educated historian who pioneered the study of African American history as a profession and scholarly discipline is back in the neighborhood he called home for three decades, in the form a larger-than-life-sized statue by noted sculptor Raymond Kaskey, known in Washington for his work on the lions at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the eagles, wreathes and reliefs at the National World War II Memorial. The Woodson memorial, in a city park named for him in 2001, was completed last year and dedicated in December 2015. As a historian and son of former slaves, Woodson understood that the contributions of African Americans to the nation’s history in a wide range of fields had been intentionally left out of history books and classrooms, and how that affected the self-image, lives and futures of people of color. “Not to know what one’s race has done in former times is to continue always as a child,” Woodson wrote in his 1935 book, “The Story of the Negro Retold.” Woodson became one of the founders of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (today’s Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)) while on a visit to Chicago in 1915. Through the Association and its publications, like the Journal of Negro History, Negro History Bulletin, and dozens of books and articles, Dr. Woodson devoted his life to research and advancing the understanding of Black history among all people, but most especially, African Americans themselves. By promoting Negro History Week starting in 1926, Dr. Woodson sought to put Black history on the calendar in the same week as the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator and Frederick

The Woodson Memorial is dramatically lit at night. Photo: Alexander M. Padro.

Douglas, the Great Orator. (ASALH expanded Negro History Week into Black History Month in 1976.) Woodson had to form his own publishing house, the Associated Publishers, because commercial publishers saw no possibility of profiting from printing and distributing books on Black history. As Woodson noted in “The Miseducation of the Negro” (1933), “Of the hundreds of Negro high schools recently examined by an expert in the United States Bureau of Education only eighteen offer a course taking up the history of the Negro, and in most of the Negro colleges and universities where the Negro is thought of, the race is studied only as a problem or dismissed as of little consequence.”

Woodson’s Base In Shaw

Dr. Woodson was a Washingtonian for decades, living and working in and around what is now known as Shaw, the center of Black life in the Washington, DC metropolitan area at the time. The Association’s earliest offices were in a now demolished building on U Street across the street from the Lin-

coln Theatre. Woodson purchased the building at 1538 Ninth Street, NW in 1922 as both his home and the offices of the Association and Associated Publishers. He served a principal of Armstrong Manual Training School on the 100 block of P Street, NW, today home to a charter school, and taught at the M Street High School, today’s Dunbar High School. Both schools were part of the segregated Colored division of the District of Columbia Public Schools. He was later a professor and dean at Howard University. Dr. Woodson took many of his meals at the cafeteria in the basement of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, directly across Rhode Island Avenue from the park that bears his name. His funeral services were held at Shiloh Baptist Church, on the same block in Shaw where he lived and worked. Shaw neighborhood elders tell of seeing Dr. Woodson when they were children, walking on the street carrying piles of books, perhaps making deliveries of volumes published by the Associated Publishers or taking them to the post office. They nicknamed him “The Book Man,” and also recall that the scholar always

East of the River Magazine February 2016

Visitors are drawn to sit next to Dr. Woodson’s statue. Photo: Pleasant P. Mann.

had candies in his pockets for them. The Woodson Home National Historic Site, incorporating Dr. Woodson’s home and office and two adjacent row houses, was established in 2006 by the National Park Service after authorizing legislation was signed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and acquiring the building from ASALH. The site is currently in the first phase of construction and renovation, which will allow the public to begin touring the home this year. Don’t let Dr. Woodson’s stern look put you off. Sculptor Kaskey captured the intensity of a man who spent his life dedicated to a cause, often without taking a salary, a man who overcame great obstacles to achieve what he is known worldwide for accomplishing. You’d expect a man like that to sport a serious mien. If you were to ask Dr. Woodson about the role of the historian and the value of history, he might well answer with quotations like these three from other authors

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on these subjects, which he included in “The Story of the Negro Retold”: “The historian is the prophet looking backward.” The Spaniard Cervantes’ words, “History is the depository of great actions, the witness of what is past, the example and the instructor of the present and the monitor to the future.” And the quote carved in the blocks at the top of the back of the monument: “Truth comes to us from the past, like gold washed down from the mountains.” Borrow one of Dr. Woodson’s books from the library before you visit. Read his words while you contemplate his visage as he gazes west towards Logan Circle. Let his words ring in your head. And before you depart, be sure to look him in the eyes and say, “Thank You, Dr. Woodson.” Alexander M. Padro is an eight-term Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner representing the Shaw neighborhood and executive director of Shaw Main Streets. u

East of the River Magazine February 2016

BLACK HISTORY SPECIAL History Month, Chris L. Jenkins, Assistant Local Editor at The Washington Post, will discuss the topic and barriers to racial dialogue. MLK Library, Black Studies Center, Room 316, 901 G St. NW. 202-7270321. dclibrary.org/mlk.

Black History Local Events 1966: Civil Rights at 50 at Newseum. Through Jan. 2, 2017, 9 AM to 5 PM, daily. Explore milestone civil rights events of 1966, including the rise of the Black Power movement and the ambush and shooting of James Meredith during his “March Against Fear” through Mississippi. Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. newseum.org. Twelve Years that Shook and Shaped Washington: 1963-1975. Through Oct. 23. Change was in the air, some of it unsettling and threatening. Against a national background of Lyndon Johnson’s “great society,” anti-war protests, black power and feminism, this exhibition focuses on events, people and challenges that transformed the city between 1963 and 1975. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu. Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement at Newseum. On view indefinitely, 9 AM to 5 PM. Make Some Noise explores the new generation of student leaders in the early 1960s who fought segregation by making their voices heard and exercising their First Amendment rights. Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. newseum.org.

Portrait of Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Feb. 1947. Photo: William P. Gottlieb. Music Division, Library of Congress.

“Jazz Singers” Exhibition Opens at Library of Congress. Feb. 11 to July 23. The exhibition will offer perspectives on the art of vocal jazz, featuring singers and song stylists from the 1920s to the present. Performing Arts Reading Room Foyer on the first level of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. loc.gov 26

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NMAAHC Black History Month Family Day. Feb. 6, 10 AM to 4:30 PM. A collection of guided family activities and story times will be provided to help young children understand themes of the Civil Rights movement. From 2 to 4:30 PM, March!: A Discussion Featuring Congressman John Lewis and co-author Andrew Aydin. This event is at the American History Museum. nmaahc.si.edu. The Long Emancipation: The Demise of Slavery in the United States. Feb. 10, noon. Answers to questions about who ended slavery, how, and why remain fiercely contested more than a century and a half after the passage of the 13th Amendment. National Archives, 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. archives.gov. Is It a Challenge Today to Discuss Race in America, Publicly? Feb. 10, 6:30 PM. In recognition of Black

2016 Washington Informer African American Heritage Tour. Feb. 13, 8 AM. The Washington Informer celebrates Black History month with a short Black History program in the THEARC Theatre, preceded by a continental breakfast and then taking six bus loads on a tour designed to teach guests little know local tidbits related to African American Culture. The tour will be going to Baltimore this year. $10-$15. Call The Washington Informer at 202-5614100 for more information. Advanced ticket sales only. No tickets at door. Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration in Historic Anacostia. Feb. 12 and 13. Ceremonies, talks, storytelling, tours, book signings, music and cake mark the 198th birthday celebration of Frederick Douglass in Historic Anacostia. Events are at the Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE; the Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE; the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl. SE; the Anacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE; and the Frederick Douglass NHS, 1411 W St. SE. Here’s the schedule. Feb. 12, 1:30 PM “Behind the Scenes at the Anacostia Museum Archives with Archivist Jennifer Morris” at the Anacostia Community Museum; 7 to 8:30 PM, “Slide into the National Parks” at the Anacostia Arts Center; 8:30 to 10 PM, “Kick-off House Party” at the same venue. Feb. 13, 10:15 to 11:30 AM, “Frederick Douglass Birthday Opening Ceremony” at the Anacostia Playhouse; 12:30 to 1:30 PM, Children’s Story Program at the Anacostia Library; 1 to 1:45 PM, author of “Picturing Frederick Douglass: An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century’s Most Photographed American,” Dr. John Stauffer, book signing at the Frederick Douglass NHS; 1:30 to 2:45 PM, “How the National Parks Made Me a Better Citizen” by Author Audrey Peterman at the Anacostia Arts Center; 2 to 2:45 PM, “The New Harriet Tubman National Historic Site” by Superintendent Robert Parker at the Anacostia Library; 2 to 3 PM, “ Frederick Douglass’s Washington” by John Muller, author of “Frederick Douglass in Washington, DC: The Lion of Anacostia” at the Frederick Douglass NHS and 3:45 to 4:15 at the Anacostia Arts Center; 3 to 3:30 PM, author of Audrey Peterman of Our True Nature Finding a Zest for Life in the National Park System at the Frederick Douglass NHS; 3 to 3:45 PM, author Ranger Nathan “Reporting from Cedar Hill: Douglass Invites Reporters in to his home” at the Anacostia Library; 3 to 3:45 PM “Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories” by Ranger Margaret Miles at the Anacostia Library; 3:30 to 4:15 PM, “Wet Britches and Muddy Boots: A History of Travel in Victorian America” by Author John H. White, Jr.

at Anacostia Arts Center and at 4:30 to 5 PM at the Frederick Douglass NHS; noon to 5 PM, tours of Frederick Douglass’s home, 1411 W St. SE. The Black Panthers-Vanguard of the Revolution Screening. Feb. 18, 6:30 PM. Indie Lens Pop-Up and WHUT present a free screening of Stanley Nelson’s acclaimed documentary at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. NW. The event includes a screening and discussion about DC’s Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s. Reservations required at bp-dc.eventbrite.com. Film and discussion also at Anacostia Community Museum on Feb. 17, noon to 2 PM. Annual US Capitol Historical Society Black History Month Lecture. Feb. 17, noon. This year’s event features a panel discussing black congressmen of the Reconstruction Era, with an emphasis on Senator Blanche K. Bruce. Sen. Bruce was the second black Member of the Senate and the first to be elected to a full term; he represented Mississippi from 1875 to 1881. Room 385 of the Russell Senate Office Building. Pre-registration encouraged at ow.ly/XBERe. Foods of the Civil Rights Movement at the American History Museum. Feb. 20, March 12, Apr. 8, May 6; 2 PM. What were the foods that nourished the Civil Rights Movement? Sur La Table Chef Lindsay Leopold takes you through some of the signature soul food creations that fed the organizers of the sit-ins, boycotts, and marches of the African-American Civil Rights Movement from 1958 to 1968. Talks are held in the Demonstration Kitchen. americanhistory.si.edu. Black Angels Over Tuskegee at THEARC. Feb. 25 and 26, 7:30 PM. This award-winning, historical docudrama is a narrative of six men embarking upon a journey to become the first aviators in the United States Army Air Forces during a tumultuous era of racial segregation and Jim Crow idealism in 20th Century American history. Tickets are $10-$20. THEARC Theater, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf at Anacostia Playhouse. Feb. 24 to Mar. 26. This stirring choreopoem weaves together 20 separate poems with music and movement to tell the stories of love, empowerment, and struggle of seven African American women. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl. SE. theateralliance.com.

Word Becomes Flesh at Anacostia Playhouse. Feb. 24 to Mar. 26. Through spoken word, dance, djing, and visual images, a collective of performers delivers a series of letters from a single father to his unborn son, documenting the range of emotions, fears, and expectations. theateralliance.com. Remembering Marion Barry Tour at the ACM. Mar. 6, 11 AM and 1 PM. Barry was a guiding force in the District who came to national prominence when he was elected mayor of Washington, DC the first prominent civil rights activist to become chief executive of a major American city. Anacostia Community Museum is at 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu. Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Occupying the last available space on the National Mall, the museum is situated prominently between the National Museum of American History and 15th Street, next to the Washington Monument. When it opens to the public this year, it will be a centerpiece venue for ceremonies and performances, as well as a primary exhibition space for African American history and culture. Watch construction progress at nmaahc.si.edu/ Building/Camera. Tour the Frederick Douglass House. Daily at 9 AM, 12:15, 1:15, 3 and 3:30 PM. The site preserves and interprets Cedar Hill, where Frederick Douglass lived from 1877 until his death in 1895. The centerpiece is the historic house, which sits on top of a 51foot hill and is surrounded by eight acres of the original estate. Restored to its 1895 appearance, the house is furnished with original objects that belonged to Frederick Douglass. 1411 W St. SE. nps.gov/frdo. The Lives of Frederick Douglass at President Lincoln’s Cottage. March 3, 6 to 8 PM. Famed abolitionist, orator, and writer Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies in his lifetime. Historian Robert S. Levine, author of “The Lives of Frederick Douglass,” will discuss and reflect on Douglass’s many narratives to present a more complete and fascinating look at the social reformer. Dr. Levine is Professor of English and a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. Visitors to President Lincoln’s Cottage enter the campus through Eagle Gate, at the intersection of Rock Creek Church Rd. NW and Upshur St. NW. lincolncottage.org u

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neighborhood news

“in The ArTisT’s Words” AT AnAcosTiA librAry East City Art presents “In the Artist’s Words,” an artist talk series hosted in partnership with DC Public Libraries. The talks are free and open to the public. In the February, East of the River artists Rik Freeman and Jay Coleman will discuss their recent work. Rik Freeman is at Anacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Freeman’s talk will focus on two series of paintings on canvas including “The Chittlin Circuit Review,” which is based on the early history of Blues Music and the conditions that caused its birth and fruition with a presentation of about 20 images. The second part will discuss the next series BAHIA !, based on the Afro-Bahian contribution to Brazilian-Bahian culture and history. A dicussion will follow. Jay Coleman is at Anacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Coleman will speak about his work and its many artistic facets including his recently completed “Mayor 4 Life” mural in Anacostia that pays homage to Mayor Marion Barry, Jr. Coleman is an accomplished portrait artist, tattoo artist, sculptor and educator. He is currently working on a large bronze sculpture for the Barry Farms Recreation Center. Artist Rik Freeman and Bahia inspired works at the Instituto Sacatar. Photo: Tom Correia

breAsT cAre For WAshingTon “lAdies nighT in” Breast Care for Washington in partnership with Community of Hope is inviting the women of Wards 7 and 8 to “Ladies Night In” on Friday Feb. 19, 6 to 8 p.m., at Conway Resource Center, 4 Atlantic St. SW. Attendees will be treated to a special night of pampering including make overs, massages, mammograms and more. This free event will also offer women’s health resources, light refreshments, door prizes, children’s crafts and more. For more information, visit breastcaredc.org or communityofhopedc.org.

From The greAT socieTy To dc lAW And order AT Acm On Saturday, March 5, 2 to 4 p.m., join George

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, e , s -

Washington University history professor Bell Julian Clement as she talks about the shift in attention from the 1960s Great Society aspirations for DC , “law and order” and home rule goals. The talk includes an examination of the early community organizing efforts of Marion Barry. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-6334820. anacostia.si.edu.

WArd 8 home buyers club MANNA is partnering with the 11th Street Bridge Park to offer a monthly Homebuyers Club supported by a grant from The Kresge Foundation. Participants will receive resources about buying a home, peer support and financial education. The club will also provide a window into new and forthcoming Ward 8 housing developments. Contact them at 202-534-1038 or email pjohnson@mannadc.org. The first Homebuyers Club meeting will take place at 2235 Shannon Pl. SE on Tuesday evenings beginning in late February. bridgepark.org.

dPr FiTness cenTers noW Free For dc residenTs As of Jan. 1, the DC Department of Parks and Recreation is waiving resident fees at DPR Fitness Centers. DPR Fitness Centers feature a variety of equipment including elliptical, stationary bikes, treadmills, free weights and universal weight machines. Ward 7 Fitness Centers are Benning Park Community Center, Southern Ave. and Fable St. SE, 202-341-6765; Deanwood Recreation Center, 1350 49th St. NE, 202-671-3077; and Hillcrest Recreation Center, 3100 Denver St. SE, 202-645-9200. Ward 8 Fitness Centers are Anacostia Recreation Center, 1800 Anacostia Dr. SE, 202-6982250; Bald Eagle Recreation Center, 100 Joliet St. SW, 202-645-3960; Fort Stanton Recreation Center, 1812 Erie St. SE, 202-671-1040; Barry Farm Recreation Center, 1230 Sumner Rd. SE, 202-730-0572; and Southeast Tennis & Learning Center, 701 Mississippi Ave. SE, 202-6456242. dpr.dc.gov.

ArT-drenAline 365 cAFÉ oPens AT AnAcosTiA ArTs cenTer Anacostia Arts Center announces the opening of a new café that offers a daily blend of creative ethnic fusion menu items. The Art-Drenaline 365 Café is a restaurant with a mission to serve Ward 8 by training individuals to craft and serve naturally prepared and artistically designed foods. Owners Amanda Stephenson and Shawn Lightfoot, both Ward 8 residents, bring a healthy and delicious menu to Anacostia. Serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and the ever-popular Sunday brunch, the Art-Drenaline Café features an open kitchen, casual dining room and patio along with a grab-n-go breakfast and coffee bar. The café will also have a pre-theatre dinner menu for people going to a show at the Anacostia Arts Center or the Anacostia Playhouse. Business hours are Sunday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit artdrenaline.com or call 202-306-5545. The Anacostia Arts Center is at 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. anacostiaartscenter.org.

volunTeer AT kenilWorTh PArk On Saturday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. to noon, join fellow volunteers outside picking up trash, working on trails, and removing invasive English ivy and honeysuckle. Individuals and groups of all ages welcome. SSL credits can be earned. Register online at friendsofkenilworthgardens.eventbrite.com. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens are at 1550 Anacostia Ave. NE. friendsofkenilworthgardens.org.

helP resTore shePherd PArkWAy Volunteer from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 13, April 9, May 14, June 11, July 9 and Aug. 13. Shepherd Parkway’s 205 acres are home to two Civil War forts, two bald eagle nests and some of the oldest forests in DC. Help your neighbors remove trash and invasive species from this important but neglected natural area in Ward 8. Meet at the pic-

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East of the River Magazine February 2016

neighborhood news / buLLeTin boArd

nic tables near the corner of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Avenues, SE. Gloves, bags, and light refreshments will be provided. Wear boots and clothes you can get dirty. For more information, contact Nathan Harrington at nbharrington@yahoo.com or 301-758-5892. Visit shepherdparkway. blogspot.com.

Jobseeker legAl clinics AT AnAcosTiA librAry Having difficulties getting or keeping a job? Come to one of the Jobseeker Legal Clinics at the Anacostia Library. Meet one-on-one with an attorney from Neighborhood Legal Services Program to find out if you have a barrier to employment that an attorney may be able to help resolve. Get information about issues like criminal record sealing, credit reports, background checks, obtaining driving and professional licenses, resolving child support arrearages and other issues. Upcoming clinics are on Wednesdays, Feb. 17 and March 16, 10 a.m., at Anacostia Neighborhood Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE. 202-715-7707. dclibrary.org/anacostia.

communiTy orgAniZing And iTs imPAcT On Saturday, Feb. 13, 1 to 3 p.m., join Don Murray and Parisa Nourouzi as they reflect on their work in political and community activism. Murray, a long-time resident of the District, has been active in community organizing since the late 1960s. Newer on the scene is Nourouzi, Executive Director of Empower DC, who has been active in community causes since the 1990s. Anacostia Community Museum is at 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

Free smAll business legAl Advice clinic DCRA and the DC Bar Pro Bono Center offer a free Small Business Brief Advice Legal Clinic on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 5 to 7:30 p.m., at the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ Small Business Resource Center, 1100 Fourth St. SW, Second Floor. This clinic is for aspiring or existing small business owners. Attendees can meet one-on-one with attorneys for brief advice on any legal issues their businesses may be facing.

ciTy voids snoW emergency rouTe TickeTs

remembering mArion bArry Tours And A PerFormAnce AT The Acm On Sunday, March 6, at 11 a.m. and noon, in recognition of Marion Barry’s birthday and in conjunction with the exhibition “Twelve Years That Shook and Shaped Washington, 1963-1975,” the Anacostia Community Museum is offering two, special docent-led tours of the exhibition. Barry was a guiding force in the District who came to national prominence when he was elected mayor of Washington, DC – the first prominent civil rights activist to become chief executive of a major American city. There will also be a performance by Cuban Hip Hop artists Obsesione at 1 p.m. in the program room. This dynamic duo of Magia Lopez and Alexy Rodriguez have been writing and playing music since 1996 and are considered to be among the most notable hip hop artists in Cuba. Anacostia Community Museum is at 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

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Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced that citations issued for parking on snow emergency routes on Friday, Jan. 22 will be voided. At 9:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22, a snow emergency declaration went into effect requiring residents to remove their vehicles from snow emergency routes, and prohibiting them from parking along these routes until the declaration expired. 2800 citations were issued Friday, each of which carried with it a $250 fine and fees for towing and vehicle storage. Unpaid citations will be voided administratively. Residents who have already paid their citations for violations will receive a refund. In either case, all applicable towing and storage fees still apply. Residents with questions about the citation void are asked to call 311.

WAciF Announces neW execuTive direcTor The Washington Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF) has announced that it has named Harold B. Pettigrew, Jr. as its new Executive Director. Pettigrew will succeed Timothy Flanagan, and join WACIF in early February. Pettigrew has over a decade of economic development experience leading successful initiatives to help small businesses grow. Most recently, he served as the Director of Entrepreneurship at the Corporation for Enterprise Development, one of the nation’s leading asset building organiza-

tions focused on the financial security of low-and moderate-income entrepreneurs. Before joining CFED, he led Washington, DC’s Department of Small and Local Business Development.

American Folklife Launches My Tradition Photo Campaign In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has launched a year-long campaign asking Americans to share photos of their folk traditions. The campaign kicks off a year of events that will commemorate AFC’s four decades as the institution of record for American folk traditions and ensure that it remains the country’s most vibrant folklife archive and research center well into the future. Photo subjects can include performances; artworks; cuisine; handmade objects such as baskets, textiles or furniture making; or customs observed. The campaign asks participants to share the photos to Flickr with the tag “MyTradition” and a Creative Commons license. The campaign will last throughout 2016, and at the end of the year the Library of Congress will harvest photos that have both the tag and a license and add them to the AFC’s collections. For further details on how to participate, visit the AFC blog, Folklife Today (blogs.loc.gov/folklife/).

MLK Library Launches Memory Lab The Memory Lab launches on Feb. 20. Take a tour of MLK Library’s latest DIY space where you can digitize your home movies, scan photographs and slides. Learn how to care for physical and digital family heirlooms. Tours will last 20 minutes and will begin at 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a., noon, 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. To learn why personal archiving is important for Black History, come to a free screening of the film “Through a Lens Darkly” at 2 p.m. in the Great Hall. Following the screening, Director Thomas Allen Harris will speak about how Black family archives shed light on people, places, events and stories that have rarely been told outside of the immediate circle of families and scholars. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. 202-727-0321. dclibrary.org/mlk.

National Book Festival Slated for September 24 The Library of Congress continues its annual celebration of authors and readers, the National Book Festival, for its 16th year on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Conven-

tion Center, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. All programs will be free of charge. For more information, visit loc.gov/bookfest.

Get a 2016 Visitor Parking Pass Online Register for a 2016 visitor parking pass online at vpp.ddot.dc.gov/vpp. The Visitor Parking Pass (VPP) Program is designed to allow District of Columbia residents’ guests to park for more than two hours on Residential Permit Parking (RPP) zoned blocks. A VPP is only valid during the hours of RPP enforcement and in the same RPP zone and ANC boundary as the residence. The passes are not necessary on holidays or other times when parking restrictions are not subject to enforcement.

District Grants to Reduce Mobility Barriers for The Elderly Safe at Home promotes aging-in-place for older adults (60 and older) and people living with disabilities (18 to 59 years old) by providing up to $10,000 in home accessibility adaptation grants to reduce the risk of falls and reduce barriers that limit mobility. District residents who: (1) own or rent their home; (2) are either 60 years or older, or between 18 and 59 living with a disability; and (3) have household income at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income. Contact the Safe at Home Program at 202638-0050 or email afeathome@homecarepartners.org to work with a trained specialist to complete an application and collect supporting documentation needed for enrollment. Once accepted, an occupational therapist will work with the applicant to identify potential fall risks and mobility barriers in his/her home developing a list of modifications and equipment to reduce them. The Safe at Home staff then hires a general contractor to install the modifications and equipment.

Protect Pipes and Keep Hydrants Visible As temperatures drop and winter weather arrives, DC Water reminds residents and business owners to protect their pipes. Pipes that freeze most frequently are those that are exposed to the outside, such as outdoor hose outlets, water sprinkler lines and water pipes along an outside wall; or in unheated interior areas such as cabinets, closets, attics, garages, basements and crawl spaces. For emergency service inside your home, customers should contact a licensed plumber. To prevent pipes from freezing, eliminate

sources of nearby cold air by sealing drafty windows and doors, and insulating walls and attics. Wrap pipes with insulation or even newspaper. Keep water moving by turning on the faucet to a very small, steady trickle. Use the faucet farthest from the main valve. Run warm water through pipes that demonstrate a decrease in water pressure to loosen any ice that may be forming. Keep pipes in cabinets and vanities warmer by opening the doors to let warm air in.

Courage Caps Launched to Support TAPS Courage Caps, Washington Capitals team-issued branded hats and T-shirts, are on sale now. Sponsored by Telos Corporation, 100 percent of their sales benefits the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Courage Caps and T-shirts can be purchased for $20 online at WashingtonCaps. com, at the Washington Capitals Team Store at Kettler Capitals Iceplex and at the Team Store and at stands throughout Verizon Center during Capitals home games. www.taps.org.

Open Call for Juried Art Exhibition at CHAW This March, the Capitol Hill Arts League (CHAW), hosts its annual DCmetro Open Call juried art exhibit based on the theme Appetite for Art. The call challenges metro artists to interpret local art and food. 2-D and 3-D works will be accepted. This year’s jurors are Public Art Project Manager Deidre Ehlen MC Williams, and Stephen Cheung, owner of Fusion Grill and Lavagna. They will select 30 pieces, picking five for cash prizes. All artists, 18 years of age or older residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are eligible. Deadline for submissions is Feb. 16. Details are at caphillartleague.org. All awards will be presented at the opening reception and jurors’ talk on Saturday, March 5, 5 to 7 p.m., with the jurors presenting their remarks at 6 p.m. The exhibit, which will be held at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop at 545 Seventh St. SE, runs March 5 through April 15.

DC United Announces Home Schedule DC United will play their home opener of the 2016 MLS regular season Sunday, March 20 at 5 p.m., at RFK against the Colorado Rapids. Single game tickets go on sale Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. DC United fans can secure the best seating locations by joining the Black-and-Red family in 2016 for as low as $20 per match. To reserve your seats and get priority for their new stadium at Buzzard Point, call 202-587-5000. dcunited.com.

Ford’s Theatre Raises $90k for N Street Village The Ford’s Theatre production of “A Christmas Carol” collected $90,000 on behalf of N Street Village during this year’s curtain call donation drive. Donations were collected Nov. 19 to Dec. 27. In addition to a collection at each curtain call, patrons were encouraged to make donations through the Ford’s Theatre Box Office, and members of the “Christmas Carol” company and Ford’s Theatre Society staff contributed to the campaign. fords.org. www.nstreetvillage.org.

Help Keep Unsheltered Residents Safe this Winter Call DC Shelter Hotline at 1-800-535-7252 if you see someone in who appears to need shelter from the cold. Have a story for the Bulletin Board? Email bulletinboard@hillrag.com. u

East of the River Magazine February 2016

neighborhood news / The Numbers

Income Matters How DC Can Give Children a Better Chance of Escaping Poverty by Kate Coventry

large and growing body of research finds that family economic stability, or the lack thereof, has lasting impacts on a child’s ability to succeed in school and in later life. The challenges poor parents face in creating a positive environment for their children – like inadequate access to healthy food or unstable and unhealthy housing – can lead to toxic levels of stress and adversely affect both physical and cognitive development, including brain development. Low-income children enter school well behind other children and then perform more poorly. They complete fewer years of education and then work less and earn less as adults than others. That may sound depressing and hopeless, but it shouldn’t. Research also shows that increasing a family’s income, even by a small amount, can make a big difference on a range of outcomes for poor children, including test scores, school attendance, high school graduation, college enrollment, and future employment. This research helps explain why reducing poverty from generation to generation is so hard. Children facing toxic stress have trouble focusing at school, contributing to DC’s stubborn achievement gap despite years of school reform. It tells us that policies to improve family stability, such as affordable housing and paid family leave, are not just nice to offer but actually are critical to the city’s economic future. One important place to start is DC’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF provides a level of aid to unemployed parents so low that it guarantees families will live in constant stress: just $441 a month for a family of three. A plan to raise benefits over the next three years is really important to improving family stability. The District also needs to reform the TANF time limit that is set to go into effect in October 2016, which could leave thousands of families with no income and in deeper stress. Changing the time limit with the goal of supporting family stability, such as giving families time they need rather than a rigid time lim-

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it, would help ensure that TANF supports better child outcomes rather than worsening them.

Poverty’s Impacts Low-income children are more likely than other children to face malnutrition and exposure to toxins, resulting in high rates of asthma, lead poisoning, low birth weight, developmental delays, and learning disabilities. Beyond that, a growing body of research suggests that poverty can leave children in highly stressful environments, “toxic stress,” with serious negative impacts. Toxic stress impairs the development of the area of the brain crucial to the acquisition of executive functioning (EF) skills such as memory, attention-focusing, planning, and the inhibition of impulsive behaviors. One study found that a young adult’s working memory at age 17 “deteriorated in direct relation to the number of years children lived in poverty.” Children experiencing toxic stress are also more likely to have emotional behavioral disorders and struggle to manage stress. Exposure to toxic stress can change the immune system and lead to increased inflammation, associated with poor health outcomes like asthma, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune disorders. Additionally, toxic stress in early childhood is a risk factor for later risky behavior, like illicit drug use, that can negatively affect adult health. One study found that poor children had an average of 7 to 10 percent less grey matter in areas of the brain associated with academic test performance than children living above 150 percent of the poverty line. This explains as much as one-fifth of the gap in achievement scores between children from lower and higher-income families.

Financial Stability Helps Children The good news is that increasing a family’s income, even by a small amount, can reduce stress and improve a range of outcomes for poor children. One study found that an increase of $3,000 in annual family income before age five

was associated with 19 percent higher earnings and a 135-hour increase in annual work hours during adulthood. A study of Native American families who received $4,000 per adult annually from their tribe’s casino profits found their children were more likely to graduate from high school by age 19. The children were less likely to commit minor crimes, less likely to report dealing drugs in their youth. Children from the poorest families experienced the largest gains. A second study found that additional casino-profit income reduced behavioral and emotional disorders associated with lower levels of educational attainment and employment. It also improved personality traits like conscientiousness and agreeableness. The largest gains were for children who prior to the casino payments had shown more symptoms of emotional and behavioral disorders and were behind their peers in these personality traits.

What DC Can Do These findings show that policies that boost incomes, help families meet their basic needs, or otherwise promote financial stability not only help families cope with the rising costs of living, but also help children live up to their potential and contribute fully to the economy. While the District has done a great deal in this regard – increasing the minimum wage, expanding housing assistance, and creating the largest earned income tax credit (EITC) for working poor families at the state level – the policies in its TANF welfare-to-work program could leave very lowincome families in deep poverty. Actions taken over the next several years could greatly improve TANF’s role in promoting family economic stability. DC’s TANF benefits are very low, just $441 per month for a family of three. The District should follow through on a series of planned increases over the next three years that would raise benefits to $644 per month, 35 percent of the poverty line. This still leaves DC’s benefits low but at least would put them in line with

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other high-cost jurisdictions such as Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City. The District should modify its TANF time limit to help more families move toward greater financial stability without pushing more children into deep poverty. Under the current time limit policy, some 6,000 families with 13,000 children who have received assistance for 60 months or more are slated to lose all benefits by October 2016. Recognizing the complex lives of many poor families and the dangers of children living in deep poverty, 44 states allow some families more time after the time limit to move to self-sufficiency. But DC’s rigid time limit has no exceptions. Most families removed from TANF across the country are not able to replace lost benefits with employment income, leaving many to face chaotic and unstable lives. This leads to increases in homelessness and child neglect. The District should replace its rigid time limit with a policy that gives families the supports and time they need to make progress. Ensuring that children do not fall into deep poverty will create a brighter future for them and for the District as a whole. Kate Coventry is a policy analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (www.dcfpi.org). DCFPI promotes budget and policy solutions to reduce poverty and inequality in the District of Columbia and to increase the opportunity for residents to build a better future. u

Address

River Terrace Rec Center & Elemantary School 420 34th St , NE CVS - East River Park 320 40th St , NE Safeway – NE 322 40th St , NE 6th District Police Dept - Main 100 42nd St , NE Ward Memorial AME 240 42nd St NE Kennilworth Elementary School 1300 44th ST NE Unity East of the River Health Center 123 45th ST NE First Baptist Church of Deanwood 1008 45th St NE Deanwood Public Library 1350 49th ST NE Hughes Memorial United Methodist 25 53rd St NE Capitol Gateway Senior Apts 201 58th St , NE Marvin Gaye Rec Center 6201 Banks Pl NE Watts Branch Recreation Center 6201 Banks St , NE Langston Community Library 2600 Benning Rd , NE Anacostia Neighborhood Library 1800 Good Hope Road SE Benning Branch Library 3935 Benning Rd NE Marshall Heights CDC 3939 Benning Rd , NE Kelly Miller Recreation Center 4900 Brooks St , NE Tabernacle baptist Church 719 Division Ave NE Randall Memorial Baptist Church 4417 Douglas St NE East Capital Church of christ 5026 E Capitol St NE Seat Pleasant CARE Pharmacy 350 Eastern Ave , NE 7-Eleven 950 Eastern AVE NE Riverside Center 5200 Foote St , NE Mayfair Mansions 3744 ½ Hayes St NE Citibank: East River Park 3917 Minnesota Ave , NE Chartered Health Center NE 3924 Minnesota Ave , NE Vending Machines – Deanwood Metro 4720 Minnesota Ave , NE The Minnicks Market 4401 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave NE Lederer Gardens 4800 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave NE Suburban Market 4600 Sherriff Rd NE Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church 4601 Sheriff Road NE Dave Brown Liquors 4721 Sheriff Road Northeast Dave Brown Liquor 4721 Sherriff Rd NE A & S Grocery 4748 Sheriff Rd NE St Rose Pentecostal Church 4816 Sherriff Rd NE Malcolm X Rec Center 3200 13th st SE St More Catholic Church 4275 4th St SE Fort Davis Recreation Center 1400 41st St , SE Ferebee Hope Recreation Center 3999 8th St , SE Emanuel Baptist Church 2409 Ainger Place SE IHOP Restauarant 1523 Alabama Ave, SE Giant Food Store 1535 Alabama Ave , SE SunTrust Bank 1571 Alabama Ave , SE Parklands-Turner Community Library 1547 Alabama Ave , SE Manor Village Apartments Leasing Office 1717 Alabama Ave , SE Garfield Elementary 2435 Alabama Ave 7th District Station 2455 Alabama Ave , SE 6th District Police Dept - Satellite Station 2839 Alabama Ave , SE Service Cleaners 2841 Alabama Ave , SE Safeway – SE 2845 Alabama Ave SE Pizza Hut 2859 Alabama Ave , SE America’s Best Wings 2863 Alabama Ave , SE M&T Bank 2865 Alabama Ave , SE Washington Senior Wellness Center 3001 Alabama Ave , SE

MIDCITY

St Timothys Episcopal Church 3601 Alabama Ave SE Francis A Gregory Neighborhood Library 3660 Alabama Ave , SE National Capital Parks--EAST 1900 Anacostia Dr , SE Kid smiles 4837 Benning Road SE Pimento Grill 4405 Bowen Rd SE East Washington Heights Baptist Church 2220 Branch Ave ,SE St Johns Baptist Church 5228 Call Place SE Capitol View Branch Library 5001 Central Ave , SE Marie Winston Elementary School 3100 Denver St , SE Subway 4525 East Capitol St Our Lady Queen of Peace Church 3800 Ely Pl , SE Anacostia Museum for African Amer History 1901 Fort Pl SE - Back Door Smithsonian Anacostia Marcia Burris 1901 Fort Place SE - Back Door DC Center for Therapeutic Recreation 3030 G ST SE ARCH 1227 Good Hope Rd , SE Anacostia Pizzeria 1243 Good Hope Rd , SE SunTrust Bank 1340 Good Hope Rd , SE Unity Health Care Inc 1638 Good Hope Rd , SE Bread for the City 1640 Good Hope Rd , SE Marbury Plaza Tenants Assoc 2300 Good Hope Rd , SE Dollar Plus Supermarket 1453 Howard Rd , SE Ascensions Psychological and Community Services 1526 Howard Rd SE Dupont Park SDA Church 3985 Massachusettes Ave SE Orr Elementary School 2200 Minnesota Ave SE Hart Recreation Center 601 Mississippi Ave , SE Southeast Tennis and Learning Center 701 Mississippi Ave , SE The ARC 1901 Mississippi Ave , SE Neighborhood Pharmacy 1932 Martin Luther King Jr , SE PNC Bank 2000 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Bank of America 2100 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE C Aidan Salon 2100 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Big Chair Coffee 2122 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE

For more distribution locations, contact 202.543.8300 x.19

Animal Clinic of Anacostia 2210 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Max Robinson Center of Whitman-Walker Clinic 2301 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE The United Black Fund 2500 Martin Luther King Ave SE The Pizza Place 2910 Martin Luther King Ave SE Metropol Educational Services, 3rd Floor 3029 Marin Luther King Jr Ave , SE National Children’s Center - Southeast Campus 3400 Martin Luther King Jr , SE Assumption Catholic Church 3401 Martin Luther King Ave SE Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center 3500 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Congress Heights Health Center 3720 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE CVS - Skyland 2646 Naylor Rd , SE Harris Teeter 1350 Pennsylvania Ave SE Thai Orchid Kitchen 2314 Pennsylvania Ave SE St Francis Xavier Church 2800 Pennsylvania Ave SE Pennsylvania Ave Baptist Church 3000 Pennsylvania Ave SE CVS – Penn Branch 3240 Pennsylvania Ave , SE Congress Heights Recreation Center 100 Randle Pl , SE Johnson Memorial Baptist Church 800 Ridge Rd SE Ridge Recreation Center 800 Ridge Rd , SE Savoy Recreation Center 2440 Shannon Pl SE PNC Bank 4100 South Capitol St , SE Rite Aid 4635 South Capitol St , SE United Medical Center 1310 Southern Ave , SE Benning Park Community Center 5100 Southern Ave SE Benning Stoddert Recreation Center 100 Stoddert Pl , SE Union Temple Baptist Church 1225 W ST SE Senior Living at Wayne Place 114 Wayne Place SE 115 Atlantic St , SW William O Lockridge/Bellevue Bald Eagle At Fort Greble 100 Joliet St SW Covenant Baptist Church 3845 South Capitol St Faith Presbyterian Church 4161 South Capitol St SW Henson Ridge Town Homes Office 1804 Stanton Terrace, SE The Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW CCN office 224 7th ST SE Eastern Market 225 7th St SE YMCA Capitol View 2118 Ridgecrest Court SE CW Harris Elementary School 301 53rd Street, SE DC Child & Family Services Agency 200 I Street SE

FA G O N C O M M U N I T Y G U I D E

East of the River Magazine February 2016

neighborhood news

AG Karl Racine Sues Politically Connected Congress Heights Developer Will Going Legal Protect Affordable Housing? By Jonetta Rose Barras

A rendering of the proposed Congress Heights development.

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

C Attorney General Karl Racine has decided to use the local court system to rescue tenants suffering poorly performing landlords. He filed a lawsuit against the owners of four apartment buildings on Alabama Ave. SE in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Ward 8, charging “a pattern of neglect” that included maintaining premises with “vermin or rat infestation, filth or contamination, inadequate ventilation, illumination, sanitary, heating or life safety facilities, inoperative fire suppression or warning equipment, or any other condition that constitutes a hazard to its occupants or to the public.” Declared Racine, “Preserving affordable housing for all of the District’s residents and protecting public safety are two of our highest priorities at the [Office of the Attorney General]. The owners of these buildings have undermined both of those priorities, and we intend to hold them accountable.” A hearing in DC Superior Court has been scheduled for this month. Racine has asked the court to appoint a receiver to insure money collected from rents is used to bring the buildings up to code. According to the lawsuit, the properties are owned by 1309 Alabama Avenue LLC, Alabama Avenue LLC, 3210 13th Street LLC, and Sanford Capital LLC. All have the same address in Bethesda, Md.; the principal and founder of Sanford is Aubrey Carter Nowell. He did not return telephone

calls to his Bethesda office, nor did he respond to a message left with the company’s registered agent, CT Corporation, where copies of the attorney general’s complaints were sent. In a published report Nowell told The Washington Post that the company abstained from making building improvements due to planned development. That suggests it was engaging in a strategy of ‘demolition by neglect.’ The attorney general requested receivership because “the landlord can’t be trusted.” He also noted that “there are criminal aspects to this we have not taken off the table.” Racine and his team, which includes Tamar Meekins, deputy attorney general for the Public Safety Division, and Ebony Robinson, acting chief of the Neighborhood and Victim Services Section, have drawn praise from some elected officials. At-large DC Councilmember Anita Bonds, who heads the Committee on Housing and Community Development, said, “There is enough in this case that the attorney general might set a precedent.” Ward 8 Council member LaRuby May told East of the River, “We have to be diligent and hold people accountable. I have been asking for the property to be cleaned up for a pretty long time.” At-large Councilmember Vincent Orange, as chairman of the Committee of Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, has oversight of the executive agency charged with enforcing the city’s housing codes. He declared that “the attorney general’s complaint against the owners of a rent-controlled apartment complex in Congress Heights for multiple violations of the District’s housing laws further demonstrates why an elected attorney general is so important for the District.” The lawsuit “could be extremely helpful,” said William Merrifield, staff attorney at the Legal Clinic for the Homeless’ Affordable Housing Initiative; for the past five years he has worked with a coalition of tenants at the Alabama Avenue site. “A judge should be able to look objectively at the case and say these [landlords] cannot be trusted to fix this property and keep it fixed.” But will the attorney general’s litigation provide relief to tenants simulta-

neously suffering alleged unscrupulous landlords and skyrocketing rents?

An Instructive Past It’s not the first time that the Office of the Attorney General has used its legal muscle to help tenants. In 2008 AG Peter Nickles went against more than two dozen apartment owners he called slum landlords. In 2014 then-AG Irv Nathan intervened on behalf of residents at Park Southern Apartments, a 350-unit complex in Ward 8. Those cases provide a glimpse of what could happen. Alicia Washington, assistant deputy attorney general for the Public Safety Division, who was the lead attorney on the 2008 case, said the office filed both civil and criminal charges. “But the criminal route was not getting the results we wanted. We wanted people to have decent housing,” she continued. Instead of jailing offending landlords, judges often imposed fines. That meant that the prosecutorial approach ended up being comparable to that in a civil case. Some landlords were also operating without proper business licenses or certificates of occupancy, giving the Office of the Attorney General added leverage. Mostly, however, landlords submitted abatement plans that were monitored to insure compliance. Further, a financial penalty was set for each day a landlord continued to violate the housing code. One landlord was jailed for civil contempt. One property was condemned and the tenants were forced to move. Still, “there definitely was a good outcome,” continued Washington, noting that the city relocated those displaced residents to better apartments with comparable rents. Tenants at Park Southern have yet to experience a favorable resolution. The conditions there were similar to those at the Alabama Avenue properties: rat infestation, inoperable heating and cooling units, poor trash collection, flooding, broken windows. Additionally there were allegations that the owner, a nonprofit organization, had defaulted on a loan secured from the city. There were accusations that rent collections had been misappropriated by the corporation’s president, the Rev. Rowena Joyce Scott, and the management company East of the River Magazine February 2016

neighborhood news she had employed, Capitol Services Management, headed by Phinis Jones. Both denied any wrongdoing. During the ensuing skirmish the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) – the agency that provided the multimillion loan to the nonprofit – appointed a new management company. The tenants filed a lawsuit. Attorney General Nathan jumped into that fight, asking the court to appoint a receiver that would help repair the building and oversee its sale. The case has gone on for 18 months without resolution. “I’m surprised the legal system takes its time in dealing with quality-oflife issues for poor black people.” said Councilmember May, adding that she is “bothered and angered.” Leah Gurowitz, a spokesperson for the court and its judges, called the case “complicated.” She said that at the District’s request DC Superior Court Judge John Mott combined two cases, making it “even more complex and time-consuming.” Further, there were claims and counterclaims by the various parties. But, she said, “Judge Mott has been very active and has done his best to get the parties to work out many of the issues, including discovery disputes, although some of those efforts have met with limited success. He has entered more than 25 orders and has held six hearings to date in order to move the case to resolution.” According to Gurowitz the judge entered “a default against defendant Park Southern Neighborhood Corporation and [granted] judgment to the District on Park Southern Neighborhood Corporation’s counterclaim.” He also has ordered “several of the defendants to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for failing to comply with discovery orders.” Still, Mott has not issued a definitive ruling on Nathan’s request. A status hearing is set for Feb. 24. During the court’s delays the DHCD has provided some relief. Gwen Cofield, director of communications, said in an email that the agency “continues to monitor the day-to-day property management of Park Southern and continues to pay utility bills to avoid disconnection of services, as well as pay repair bills.” She said the agency also “has administered the [Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act] process since the owners received a sale offer in September 2015.” Cofield did not respond to a follow-up email asking her to indicate how much cash the DHCD has spent on behalf of the nonprofit owners of Park Southern. She also did not provide, as requested, the name of the individual or company that wants to buy the building. Meekins said the current lawsuit is very different from the others, however. The OAG is attempting to establish a foundation for future litigation that would provide “temporary and permanent injunctive relief ” to tenants while putting in a place a significant system to monitor poor performing landlords “We are going to make sure Congress Heights is resolved expeditiously,” added Racine. Can he keep that promise?

Promises, Promises Calling housing construction and preservation in the District a political minefield would be speaking in understatement. At Park Southern, for example, both key players – Scott and Jones –are political supporters and allies of Mayor Bowser. In fact, during the 2014 campaign Jones helped raise $20,000 in contributions. When the head of DHCD asked for a public hearing regarding the problems at the complex, Bowser sought to resolve the matter behind closed doors. Thus far, she has made no public statement about the properties on Alabama Avenue, where political connections are equally troubling. The owners and their partners recently received approval for a zoning change. They want to build on the site of the exiting apartments, which is across from the Congress Heights Metro Station, offices, retail shops, and more upscale rental units. The partnership includes Geoffrey Griffis, who in published reports acknowledged that he is one of Bowser’s long-time friends and political supporters. Bowser appointed him last year to the National Capital Planning Commission. That designation came even as his business associates refused to make repairs to the apartments that senior citizens and low-income residents called home. Phinis Jones also is in the middle. He provided management and construction services for Sanford Capital LLC, a prime owner of the Alabama

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

Avenue properties. He also helped prepare a community benefits agreement, an arrangement in which property developers or owners offer cash and other resources to select nonprofit groups and individuals; signers of the agreement in turn advocate for the project and secure support from their neighbors. One recipient of the Alabama Avenue benefits agreement is supposed to be a workforce development training program started by Jones, according to government sources. They also indicate that Jones has been lobbying to purchase a fifth building on Alabama Avenue adjacent to those named in the attorney general’s lawsuit. Jones, who did not return telephone calls to his office at Capitol Services Management, was a key figure in May’s council campaign. Prior to her election she and Jones worked together to construct a senior housing complex in Ward 8. When asked about Jones’ involvement in the Alabama Avenue properties, May attempted to distance herself. “I am not sure about any specific involvement of Phinis Jones,” she said. “I am a lawyer,” she continued, “but I am not the lawyer for Mr. Jones or [for] the building owners or for DHCD.” The landlords seem to have circumvented residents’ rights under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) by not formally putting the buildings up for sale or securing a permit for their demolition. That hasn’t happened, speculated Bonds, because they want the tenants to move out. If TOPA were to take effect, it could stall the development that Nowell and his team want by as much as six months to a year. “If the DHCD had partnered with the tenants to purchase the property when it was possible, things wouldn’t look the way they do,” added Merrifield, who entered the conflict to help the residents with the TOPA process. He said residents have gone to multiple District agencies looking for relief and support: DCRA, DHCD, the zoning commission, and the District Council. “I have never worked with a group of tenants like the ones at this property. It’s been a unique experience,” added Merrifield. They have not received any tangible support except for the attorney general’s lawsuit. Why didn’t others come to their aid? Are political connections serving as obstacles to the preservation of the affordable housing the mayor has promised? Merrifield said he has seen documents between DHCD and Sanford Capital. There was also communication between the Office of Planning and Sanford before it presented its case to the zoning commission. He said that wasn’t supposed to happen. “It was not an independent process,” he continued. “The game is rigged.” It’s certainly hard to fathom why the District government would continue to do business with property owners who have a documented history of violating the city’s housing code. Even May suggested she was troubled by that. She said that in assessing developers she looks at “how [they] are treating people they are serving now as an indicator how they will treat people in the future.” May said she has asked DHCD Director

Polly Donaldson to renovate that fifth building owned by the government. That would be the same property allegedly coveted by Jones, who is a friend of the mayor and May. “We have a lot of housing needs in Ward 8,” continued May. “We need to be more aggressive, more creative about getting more housing on line. I’m looking across the country for best practices. I am looking for the most aggressive processes that we can adopt.”

Room for a Legislative Fix “If we had the regulations for DOPA [District Opportunity to Purchase Act], we could go in and purchase those buildings,” said Bonds. That law was introduced by Marion Barry in 2008 and approved unanimously by the legislature. Seven years later, however, the implementing regulations remain incomplete. She said she and Council Chair Phil Mendelson met with Donaldson to discuss the problems on Alabama Avenue. Bonds also met with May, who initially wanted to invoke eminent domain. “[That] could take years,” said Bonds, who with Mendelson finally held a public roundtable on the plight of the residents on Alabama Avenue. There seem to be laws that could have brought early relief. DCRA cited Sanford and his associates with more than 70 violations of the city’s housing code. The agency could have taken the owners before the judges in the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). DCRA spokesman Matt Orlins did not answer East of the River’s question about whether that was done. Instead, the tenants’ lawyer said it was only late in January that he and the tenants filed a case with OAH. The DCRA also did not use money from its Nuisance Abatement Fund to make repairs to the apartments. Orlins did not explain why the DCRA failed to use the fund; in 2016 the city budgeted $520,000 for that purpose. And while the agency has authority to revoke a business license, it appears it didn’t seek to use that power either. Bonds said that her committee is looking make changes to TOPA and ensuring that DOPA regulations are finalized. A member of the city’s Preservation Strike Force, she said that group likely will be presenting a strategic plan for holding onto affordable housing units. “We are going to be coming out strong to show that we are doing everything not to lose any additional units.” A few days later the Bowser administration announced it would spend nearly $900 million to construct or preserve affordable housing units. There was no mention, however of either Park Southern or the Alabama Ave. SE properties. The lines are drawn. Sanford Capitol with the support of District agencies continues to advance the redevelopment of its Congress Heights properties. The AG, on the other hand, is refusing to let Sanford abandon its responsibilities as a landlord. Is Racine’s legal stick big enough to get their attention? Equally important, by the time the courts intervene, will the tenants have fled unlivable conditions? jonetta rose barras is a freelance writer. u

New Affordable Housing Adds to Anacostia Revitalization Bowen Flats Will Offer Affordable Housing and Career Programs in Ward 8 by Christine Rushton

new three-story, 41-unit housing development set for construction in Ward 8 is designed to bring more quality, affordable housing to the historical Anacostia community. At the end of 2015, the DC Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) closed a deal to help fund $6.6 million in tax-exempt bonds for the $13.5 million project headed by developer Neighborhood Development Company (NDC). Builders broke ground on the previously empty lot in January. The new 48,000-squarefoot Bowen Flats on the 2620 Bowen Road, SE will offer Anacostia residents 36 one-bedroom, three two-bedroom and two three-bedroom apartments ranging from 600 to 1,000 square feet. It will also include 20 parking spaces free to residents, a garden, bicycle racks, community room, management office and in-unit washers and dryers. And it sits less than a mile from the Anacostia Metro station. The units will be rented to families or individuals earning up to 60 percent of the area’s median income — rent will sit at 55 percent of the median for 32 units and 45 percent for nine units. “Introducing our first project in the historic Anacostia neighborhood, a neighborhood where I grew up, adds an extra level of excitement,” said Adrian Washington, founder of NDC. NDC pre-

viously developed the mixed-income housing projects at 3232 and 4100 Georgia Ave., NW. Anthony Waddell, director of public finance for DCHFA, said they plan to employ about 35 percent locally-sourced workers for the project to support the local economy. NDC announced that Hamel Builders, Inc., a DC-based construction company, will be the general contractors for project. Waddell will not know the exact percentage of the overall number of locally sourced workers for Bowen Flats until the project finishes hiring. He said once Bowen Flats opens its doors, it will offer more than a living space for tenants. The agency plans to start job readiness training, GED prep help, a computer room and tutoring in the multipurpose room for anyone who wants it. Maria K. Day-Marshall, interim executive director of DCHFA, said she and the agency follow a mission to build safe, affordable and quality housing for all DC residents. “Historically Ward 8 has been a hub for affordable housing,” DayMarshall said. She said the agency supports the efforts to return the availability of economical housing to that community. DCHFA currently runs eight projects in southeast DC. In the last six months, their housing projects added 222 new units. Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May said she supports additional multifamily units for the Anacostia community. But she wants the developments to focus on also providing quality living spaces. “Anytime that we can bring affordable housing on board, I’m a big advocate of that,” May said. “We know there is a shortage.” Mixed income housing helps incentivize businesses to invest in local economies, she said. It’s logical — if a company knows a community can spend a certain amount of their income on their products or sales, they will bring their

business to the area. “The city has to make an investment in prioritized housing,” May said. “It has to be a partnership between the private sector and the city. The city has to take leadership.” May added that she wants to transition the homeless and those in city shelters into housing before thinking about building for newcomers. This includes supporting the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s New Communities Initiative (NCI), which includes the Barry Farm community in Ward 8. DC’s Housing Authority manages the Barry Farm residences for low-income households, and the community boasts a robust number of community services and churches like the Holy Temple, Matthews Memorial and Campbell AME. Each helps keep the community’s history alive and supports those residents who have lived in the area all their lives. Waddell said that while Bowen Flats is not a part of the NCI, it will help the overall revitalization of the Anacostia community. “New communities replace the old, antiquated housing, help remove the crime and preserve the historical community,” he said. “They also help to break up the concentration of poverty.” u

East of the River Magazine February 2016

neighborhood news / our river

Jim Foster: A Nice Guy You Want on Your Side Our River: The Anacostia by Bill Matuszeski

im Foster is starting his seventh year as the president of the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS). We had a long talk the other day at the society’s DC Office – a couple of houseboats moored at one of the historic Anacostia marinas above the 11th Street Bridge. The idea was to get his thinking on where we are on the river’s restoration. Foster has a friendly, almost jovial manner,

but there is a fierce sense of commitment to the river not far below the surface. He is a city boy, having grown up in Pittsburgh and Boston. With his environmental management degree he has seen most of the issues in the Anacostia from many angles – as a consultant, an employee of one of the big developers, a project director of cleanups, and now as head of the largest citizen-based environmental group focused on the river. We started by talking about Jack Wennersten’s book, “Anacostia: The Death and Life of an American River” (2008). I had been re-reading it recently and remarked that it seemed rather downbeat compared to how folks feel about the river just eight years later. “On the contrary,” said Foster,

Jim Foster on our river. Photo: Anacostia Watershed Society

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

“that book was critical to changing the tenor of the discussion; it served as a catalyst for moving attitudes from bleak to promising, from embarrassment about what had been allowed to happen to the river to eventual pride.” I had better cease with the casual comments, I said to myself. We turned to Foster’s sense of his role in the morass of activity underway with the river’s restoration. “My job is to work with citizens to hold the public agencies accountable; and with

f g r . n s o h

Coming Soon! 1610 Montello Ave NE

the public agencies to make sure they have the will and the resources to get their part of the job done. I also feel strongly that we need to especially hold the federal agencies to the task.” They are the ones, he said, who did much of the damage before the District had home rule, by destroying the wetlands in the name of “improvements,” by permitting the toxic pollution, and by building the sewer overflow system, among other things. He added that “we need to keep all the parties in communication, from upstream watershed groups and park agencies to school groups and federal agencies – constant contact is key.” Foster emphasized the importance of funding. “The restoration of the Anacostia is a complex combination of voluntary and mandated efforts with public agencies either directly responsible or responsible to assure others are doing their share. This means getting funds into their budgets, starting yesterday. There would be nothing worse than figuring out what needs to be done and then hearing them say, ‘We’re sorry but it isn’t budgeted.’” That means planning well in advance. He explained, “We know the city, the National Park Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and many others will need to fund shoreline restoration, natural area recovery, toxic sediment removal, removal of impermeable surfaces, and any number of other needs. And they know it too. They should be working now to get these costs into their budgets in coming years. If they aren’t, we are wasting our time.” It has to be noted that a lot is in the works. Beginning in mid-April, AWS and Riverkeeper will begin city-funded boat trips for the public along the tidal Anacostia, offering for some their first look at the wilder and more remote areas above the arboretum. There will be tie-ins to the Cherry Blossom Festival, which this year will again focus its final weekend on the river. Later this year the final link in the River Trail system will open, closing the three-mile gap from Benning Road to Bladensburg and creating a system of 70-some miles along tributaries and the main stem. “This will mean thousands of folks seeing new parts of the river on walks and bicycle trips,” said Foster. “When the rowers discovered the river about ten years ago it began to make a big difference in the level of support for improvement. Adding the trail users should be a huge boost to our efforts.” By next year’s AWS Earth Day Cleanup, volunteers should be seeing far less Styrofoam container trash, thanks to product bans taking effect across the watershed this year. Foster hoped by 2017 to see the District and Maryland enact bottle deposit programs, the only way to dramatically reduce the

huge and growing source of river trash. We are two years from completion of the largest portion of the new tunnel storage system to capture and hold combined storm and sanitary sewer volumes until they can be run through the Blue Plains Treatment Plant. Upon full completion in 2022, the tunnels are predicted to reduce the number of overflows of raw sewage from an average of once a week to perhaps once a year. “This river will never be Perrier,” explained Foster; “it’s an urban river, but it can sure be a lot better.” In 2018 a proposal for cleaning up contaminated sediments will become available to the public by the DC Department of Energy and Environment. This will outline steps to remove, cap, or otherwise deal with those sediments as well as new loadings that occur from upstream and re-suspended sources. Foster added, “Other challenges for DC include ensuring that polluted runoff is also sharply curtained from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and that future development throughout the watershed – from Wheaton to New Carrollton and from College Park to Buzzard Point – is river friendly so that the gains we are making are not soon undone.” While this cleanup of sewage, trash and toxics goes on, what are the emerging challenges for the DC portion of the river? “The biggest issue I see,” explained Foster, “is that the neighborhoods along the river are changing. They are going highrise and higher income in most cases, and we need to guard against the average citizen being cut off from the river and cut out of its offerings. That’s why it is important to support groups like the Historic Anacostia Boating Association, which works to keep the traditional boathouses and affordable marinas.” And he asked, “What will we have accomplished if we have a riverfront lined with hotels and condos used by wealthy visitors and marinas for their boats that they are taking on their way to Florida for the winter?” Foster acknowledged that the District is interested in economic development, “but it has to be done in a way that is our friend.” He asked for development for the people who are here. “We need to make clear that we expect someday to swim in the river and eat the fish, and we are holding our elected officials, public agencies, and all the other stakeholders accountable to make it happen on a reasonable timeframe.” I know a number of public officials who had better get busy on their budgets for the next few years. Bill Matuszeski writes monthly about the Anacostia River. He is the former director of the Chesapeake Bay Program, DC vice-chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Anacostia River, and a member of the Mayor’s Leadership Council for a Cleaner Anacostia River. u

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East of the River Magazine February 2016

East washington life A Teacher and Leader His students came from all backgrounds and situations — poor, wealthy, transient, abused, privileged, Baldwin said. Dedicated teachers are those who accept the responsibility of teaching, mentoring and supporting each regardless of the challenge, he feels. He led as a principal at Davis Elementary, Maury Elementary in Ward 6 and Kelley Miller Middle School in Ward 7 during the years between 1984 and 1998. He then took on the role of DCPS assistant superintendent for five years. “You wear a lot of hats, teachers do,” he said. “You work beyond the school day.” “No one has a patent on teaching children. You pull from each other and blend your own,” he added.

One Teacher’s Story LeGrande Baldwin at his home in Anacostia in Ward 8. Photo: Christine Rushton

Persisting Against the Odds LeGrande Baldwin Shares His Experiences In A New Book “The Power of Persistence” by Christine Rushton

ore than a decade ago, a group of young students at the former Davis Elementary School in Ward 7 sat on the set of a local TV station. After two years of prepping for a chance to compete on the station’s “It’s Elementary” quiz show, the group won a chance to compete against a Montgomery County, Md. school. With the help of their teacher LeGrande Baldwin, the team took on the game. The Davis students didn’t expect to win — the Montgomery County school held a reputation of high achievement. But when they did take the winning prize, they brought back more than an academic accomplishment — they carried back with them a new sense of what they could accomplish. What Baldwin taught them was to persist despite the odds. He guided them through lessons that he had learned first-hand growing up in under-privileged circumstances. Now Baldwin, 73 and a retired DCPS principal, wants to share with other teachers his experiences of helping his students and what inspired him. He wrote and published his first book “The Power of Persistence: An Arduous Journey” in December to share his life lessons with teachers

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and students. Writing took a year, and he credited his wife, teacher Vasser Baldwin, with the support he needed to finish the book. “It’s amazing how much you remember,” Baldwin said of his stories. “[The book] is an honest depiction of life as I experienced it. I think a lot of people will relate.”

Building a Sense of Culture Beyond His Hometown Baldwin grew up in an under-privileged family in North Carolina. He joined the United States Air Force after graduating high school and spent several years in Libya, Spain and West Africa. He later returned to West Africa on a college scholarship. The people he met, languages he learned and cultures he interacted with helped him value relationships and to take advantage of whatever opportunities were before him. “The consequences of your birth do not determine your path,” Baldwin said. “When you go to another country and have to live and breathe their air, you appreciate life.” He incorporated his journeys into his book and hopes the people that read it will understand that the world offers an education of its own through life.

Henri Cooper, a teacher at Maury, worked with Baldwin when he was principal. Her career lasted 37 years, and she attributed her drive to challenge herself to push her students to Baldwin’s leadership. She said she always knew what goals he had for their school and the teachers followed. “One of the things I always remembered was we never worked for Mr. Baldwin —we worked with Mr. Baldwin,” she said. One year, Cooper recalled a group of cheerleaders from the school that couldn’t afford the bus to attend a competition in South Carolina. Baldwin heard about the problem, asked the students what they needed, reached into his pocket and wrote the check for the bus service. Cooper said he always asked, “What do you need, baby?” And he never turned down the chance to help the students. Growing up in a dilapidated house and with little money in the house, Baldwin related to the challenges of some of his low-income pupils. “His parents had very little growing up, but he had a vision of what was outside his life,” Cooper said. “He brought that vision to his teaching.” Cooper has read “The Power of Persistence,” and hopes readers both young and old will pick up the book. She said she has taught students who don’t understand the willpower they can use to succeed. “I know Baldwin’s stories can help,” she said. “There’s a sense now of ‘I don’t have it, I wont’ get it,” she said. “But Mr. Baldwin can truly inspire those to get it.” Much of his life was spent helping the students in DC, and he wants to focus on ways to improve the education system — supporting advancements in African American students’ performance and an overall commitment to education in the state and federal budgets. He hopes people will value learning and educators as he does. “I would not trade my career in education for anything,” he said. “That’s worth more than money — helping change behavior, to persist despite the odds.” To buy a copy of LeGrande Baldwin’s book “The Power of Persistence: An Arduous Journey,” email legrande4@verizon.net. u

Jazz Avenues

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by Steve Monroe

“Through his interviews with artists performing in town, [Felix] Grant introduced me to the D.C. jazz scene. I was soon hanging out at the Bohemian Caverns at Eleventh and U streets, NW, where I caught performances by John Coltrane and Miles Davis. I was at the Caverns when Ramsey Lewis recorded “The In Crowd,” which became a big hit in 1965.” --WPFW-FM producer and programmer Rusty Hassan, from “Jazz Radio in Washington,” in Jazz in Washington/Washington History, a publication of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., Spring 2014.

“Radio is still the best way to discover jazz” Black History Month brings to mind the awesome contribution made by radio broadcasters over the years to the jazz fabric of our area, from Felix Grant to Paul Anthony, Yale Lewis, Nap Turner, Jerry Washington, Ron Sutton, Faunee, Whitmore John, Candy Shannon, Gwen Redding to Askia Muhammad, Bob Daughtry, Hodari Ali, Jamal Muhammad, Tom Cole, Ellen Carter, Keanna Faircloth, Tim Masters, Bobby Hill, Rusty Hassan and Willard Jenkins, Katea Stitt, Miyuki and many, many more. Hassan’s article in the 2014 Historical Society of Washington edition “Jazz in Washington” provides a fascinating look at a slice of the broadcasting history of the music, on stations including WMAL, WRC, WAMU, WGTB, WDCU and of course WPFW. “In 1976 I participated in getting a new station on the air,” said Hassan, “as part of the Pacifica Network that would play jazz, blues, and world music. But in February 1977 when Von Martin played “Take the ‘A’ Train” to open the WPFW-FM signal to the Washington airwaves, I opted to keep The New Thing Root Music Show on WAMU. I thought that jazz should be

played on as many stations as possible.” Hassan says of the 1970s, “This strength of jazz programming on the air reflected the vibrant scene for performances in Washington. Major artists came through DC to play in clubs such as Blues Alley in Georgetown, Harold’s Rogue and Jar … Pigfoot and Moore’s Love and Peace … and the One Step Down … Musicians who came by the WAMU studios on a Sunday Afternoon to be interviewed on my show include Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Dexter Gordon, Eddie Jefferson, and Sun Ra.” But, of today’s environment, Hassan said, “How people listen to music has changed dramatically. Downloads to IPods are convenient, but background and appreciation for the music is lacking. An informed announcer on the radio provides the names of the soloists and tells stories about the music … Washington, DC is fortunate to have WPFW still broadcasting the music with knowledgeable programmers … Radio is still the best way to discover jazz.” Thank you, Rusty and friends!

Mid-Atlantic Jazz 2016 The 7th annual Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Feb. 12-14 at the Hilton in Rockville brings Terence Blanchard, Poncho Sanchez, Curt Elling, Louis Hayes, Poncho Sanchez, Eric Byrd, Terell Stafford, Dave Stryker, Sharon Clark, Chad Carter, James Zimmerman, Coniece Washington, Tom Newman, Cyrille Aimee, Joey Calderazzo, Anthony Compton, Wes Biles, Paul Carr’s Jazz Academy Orchestra, along with high school band and voice competitions, eclectic vendors and much more. Organizer Carr says the theme of this year’s festival is “Directly from the Source.” When asked about the task of putting on a yearly festival in addition to his own performing, recording and teaching roles, Carr says, “Out of my love for teaching, I saw the need for informed jazz presenting. Now all three feed off themselves to create something I hope people will like and support. Also, I have an awesome two person staff and awesome volunteers that help make MAJF happen. So yes, it’s a 24 hour a day job … but I love it, most times. LOL!” See www.midatlanticjazzfestival.org for complete information.

The Michael Thomas Quintet performs Feb. 19 at Bohemian Caverns. Photo: Michael Thomas

February Highlights: … Tony Martucci, Feb. 6-7, Twins Jazz … Dick Smith, Marshall Keys w/Chris Grasso Trio, Feb. 7, Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club … Marty Nau, Feb. 10, Twins Jazz … Karen Lovejoy, Feb. 12, Inwood House/Silver Spring … A Jolley Family Tribute, Feb. 12, Westminster Presbyterian Church … Integriti Reeves, Feb. 13, Bohemian Caverns … Christie Dashiell, Feb. 18, Bohemian Caverns … D.C. International Trombone, Feb. 19, Westminster … Twins Jazz Orchestra, Feb. 19, Twins Jazz … Michael Thomas Quintet, Feb. 19, Bohemian Caverns … Joe Lovano Village Rhythms Band, Feb. 19-20, Kennedy Center … Brian Settles, Feb. 20, Bohemian Caverns … Jordan Dixon, Feb. 26, Twins Jazz … Tribute to Gloria Lynne/Sandra Johnson, Feb. 26, Westminster … Thinking About Jazz/Gloria Lynne, Feb. 27, Westminster … Akua Allrich, Feb. 27, Bohemian Caverns …Cheyney Thomas, Feb. 27-28, Twins Jazz … February Birthdays: James P. Johnson, Joshua Redman 1; Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz 2; Eubie Blake 7; Chick Webb 10; Machito 16; Stan Kenton, David Murray 19; Nancy Wilson 20; Tadd Dameron 21; James Moody 26; Mildred Bailey, Dexter Gordon 27. Steve Monroe is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at steve@jazzavenues.com or @jazzavenues. u

East of the River Magazine February 2016

East washington lifE

Unconventional Heart Health Four Unexpected Contributors to Heart Disease by Candace Y.A. Montague

s we welcome Heart Health month we look at ways to keep the “old ticker” healthy. Heart disease in the District is very serious business. In 2010, heart disease was the cause of 28% of the total deaths in the city making it the number one cause of death. Poor diet, stress and lack of exercise are wellknown causes of cardiovascular disease. But there are others that are often overlooked.

sadness, worthlessness or helplessness that can last for several days or even months. According to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. Where is the connection to heart disease? Depression makes it difficult for people to concentrate on wellness. The hopelessness and sadness takes away their self-value and will to survive. As a result, eating habits are poor and exercise becomes negligible. Some people with depression smoke as a coping mechanism which is a major risk factor for heart disease.

depreSSion

According to the DC Department of Health 2014 Cardiovascular Disease Report, the prevalence of diabetes among adult black residents rose from 11.7 percent in 2005 to 13.4 percent in 2010. An elevated risk of diabetes means an elevated risk of heart disease. Why? In many cases, type 2 diabetes is a result of lack of a healthy diet regimen and little to no physi-

Mental health experts and physicians agree that your mental health can greatly affect your physical state. Such is the case with depression and heart disease. Depression is an intense feeling of

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cal activity which leads to obesity. Dr. Reginald L. Robinson, Cardiologist with MedStar Health Cardiology Associates says that the two are closely linked. “If you have diabetes, you have heart disease until proven otherwise. Diabetes is what we call a cardiac equivalent. A lot of people think of diabetes as this separate thing. But it’s not just about the diabetes. It’s also the effects of diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of stroke, heart attacks, amputation, and ending up on dialysis.” Dr. Robinson says the effects of diabetes complications can affect the cardiovascular system. “If you know someone who has had an amputation from diabetes they are three to four times more likely to have a heart attack, especially if they have suffered from a blood vessel disease. The blood

vessel is one big tree. So if you have a disease in one part of the tree you’re going to have it everywhere else.”

Insomnia Not being able to sleep and heart disease may sound like two completely unrelated woes, but there is a link between the two. There is an increased work demand on the heart after a person wakes up. People who wake up frequently from sleeping problems such as obstructive sleep apnea often have hypertension, a risk factor for heart disease. Dr. Robinson explains how a person’s weight can exacerbate the issue. “Sleep apnea is connected to obesity. You see people with large necks. Typically they snore. When they snore the oxygen level goes down which produces adrenaline that wakes them up. That adrenaline will cause palpitation and skipped beats and blood pressure issues.” Addressing sleep problems and breathing issues can lower the risk for heart disease.

A “Broken Heart” Ever heard of someone dying from a broken heart? That’s not exactly conjecture. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a heart attack brought on by highly stressful events such as a death in the family, a violent event, or a sudden surprise which can produce excessive adrenaline, leading to a small chance of causing a heart attack. This kind of heart attack appears more often in women. An unhealthy lifestyle compounded with stress can spell trouble.

Making It Better The upswing to this is that cardiovascular disease can be reversed. It starts with an honest conversation with your primary care physician. Some risk factors like race, family history or age cannot be changed. Other risk factors like cholesterol, diet, exercise and smoking can be changed. Also sodium reduction can have a big effect on health outcomes overall. Dr. Robinson suggests making a few simple changes. “Diet and exercise are important. Portion control is the key. I tell a lot of my patients to find the diet that works best

for you. I tend to like the ones similar to the South Beach diet. I tell people to get away from the simple carbohydrates in their diets. They convert to sugar which converts to fat. Move to more colors, brown rice instead of white rice. You’ve got to eat to live, not live to eat.” Focusing on wellness instead of on reducing the chance of a heart attack may make the journey more enjoyable. Increased wellness also addresses more than one ailment at a time. The DC Cardiovascular Health Program supports the Million Hearts™ campaign. Their website contains lots of resources from healthy eating plans to scripts on how to speak to your health care provider about managing blood pressure. There are many local resources that are available to assist people in their journey to wellness. Trusted Health Plan’s Outreach Center on Minnesota Avenue offers healthy cooking demonstrations to help members find easy, healthy ways to swap bad ingredients for good ones. The University of the District of Columbia CAUSES (College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences) offers a free six-week workshop called Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). The workshop offers tips on nutrition, daily meal planning, food safety, hands-on cooking, and equipment care. Want to move more? Check out the Fit DC website and consult with your ward 7 and 8 coaches about how to get out there more. And the Community Wellness Collective inside the Anacostia Arts Center offers workout classes for all skill levels. For more information about Million Hearts visit http://millionhearts. hhs.gov. To find out more about Trusted Health Plan’s Outreach Center and their classes visit www.trustedhp.com. To find out more about UDC’s healthy cooking workshops go to www.udc. edu/causes . Candace Y.A. Montague is a health reporter for Capital Community News. u

East of the River Magazine February 2016

East washington life

From Frozen to Bloom Snowzilla and the Jewish New Year for Trees by Virginia Avniel Spatz

nowzilla and the Jewish New Year for Trees arrived together this year. This may seem ironic timing – celebrating trees when branches are bare and everything is covered with a thick layer of snow. But the holiday is meant to take place at a point when last year’s leaves are long gone and new buds are still weeks away. The challenge is to celebrate future blooms when things look bleakest. This series on worship east of the river has so far explored Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, and Yoruba experiences. I have yet to find any visible signs of Jewish group life east of the river, with the exception of cemeteries in Congress Heights. So, for this fifth installment, I adapted a “seder” (a set of steps, usually with food and text) from Jewish tradition and asked for some ideas to launch more thought about east of the river seeds and possibilities for growth.

A Few EOTR “Trees” Support for Justice and Soul The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing has offered grief and trauma support for decades. Its newer office at the Big Chair offers individual and family grief counseling as well as group counseling for adults and youth. Shelley Tillman, administrative assistant, says she’s available to connect community members to services and help organize candlelight vigils for victims of violence. Many others in the community aim to support mourners in a range of ways. A varied group stood together outside Marbury Plaza Apartments on December 1, for example, in memory of Alonzo Smith, killed on November 1. Many participants focused on standing with Beverly Smith as she demands justice for her son. Some are helping her pursue legal answers, locally and even through the United Nations. Oth-

Four fruits and four cups, light to dark, for Jewish New Year for Trees

Seeds, Roots, and Fruit: An East of the River Seder This seder can be pursued individually or in groups. Partaking of real drinks and fruits can aid focus and fellowship, but a “virtual” seder also works. Begin with two drinks (usually wine/ juice), one light and one dark. At each step, drink half the cup, gradually adding dark liquid to symbolize the earth and its trees awakening; enjoy the associated fruit; and take a few moments to consider “seeds,” already present East of the River, and to imagine them in “full bloom.” Step 1: Wintery Ground. Sweetness Inside. This cup is white, like the wintery ground with seeds beneath the surface.. This fruit has a tough exterior and edible inside (banana or orange, e.g.), sweetness within a barrier. What community “seeds” do you see? Do you have a specific hope for the community which is still a sapling? What barriers do you see? What resources, “sweetness inside,” can help turn hope into reality? Step 2: Supportive Roots. Sturdy Core. This cup is just tinged with color, the beginnings of a thaw, roots gathering nourishment. This fruit is edible outside, with an uneaten core or pit (apricot or apple, e.g.), strength at the center with the possibility of connection. What community roots might be better activated in the year ahead? What source(s) of nourishment would you like to see developed? How are you protecting your own core? Step 3: Emerging Abundance. Sustained Connection. This cup is more colorful than white, as underground resources awaken new growth. This fruit is edible throughout (figs or berries, e.g.), symbolizing abundance and sustained connections. As thaw continues, how can individuals and groups, with their varied root systems, better connect to serve the community together? What resources can you bring – post-freeze – to communal abundance?

A “rag-tag team” seeks to support Beverly Smith (red hat), mother of Alonzo Smith (1/2/88-11/1/15)

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Step 4: Full Bloom. Fruit Imagined. This cup is deeply colored, with just a touch of the frozen white remaining. The final “fruit” is pure imagination. Envision, regardless of how distant spring may seem, one hope, a flowering you want to see, for the community in the coming year. Imagine buds finding their way through frozen ground; see full blossoming to come. The New Year for Trees reminds us that sap is already rising, preparing the way for hopes to bloom, even when things still look frozen and inhospitable.

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CHANGING HANDS 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.

“Justice 4 Zo” candlelight vigil outside Marbury Plaza, 2300 Good Hope Road SE, December 1, 2015.

ers stressed the importance of keeping Ms. Smith lifted up through prayer, as she faces her on-going ordeal. “We’re a rag-tag team. But family comes together,” Henry Hansforth said on December 1. “We come to show that we are love, and we are one.”

Healing Trauma “Too often individuals, children and families east of the river are exposed to an excessive amount of senseless violence,” says Stuart Anderson, community activist and founder of Family and Friends of Incarcerated People. “Families go through a lot of trauma that doesn’t get addressed. Churches and other organizations try to respond, but not all are prepared to deal with grief and trauma for the long-term. And they are disconnected efforts.” Anderson envisions a 24-hour healing and wellness center, ready to address community trauma in a holistic way. He has begun searching out seeds: “I have talked to a number of pastors over course of some time, to see where we are and what is needed,” he reports, adding that a coordinated strategy needs “a practitioner who understands dealing with grief and trauma.... We need training for those who willing to help.” The

planning group wants to see their idea bloom at the old Malcolm X School, 1351 Alabama Ave. SE.

Easing Everyday Burdens “Once the funeral is over, there isn’t much help and support,” says Sandra Seegars, Congress Heights resident and long-time Ward 8 advocate. “Even at school, they don’t do grief counseling over here.” “Oftentimes people don’t seek help – they don’t have time or they don’t think counseling is worth it,” she adds. Rather than address trauma itself, she would first tap different roots: Offer additional health services, particularly for seniors and others with mobility issues. Provide more, and better, employment and affordable housing assistance. Make bureaucratic matters easier, for everyone, including those responding to loss. Because eventually, “you just breathe and go about your business.” Wendt Center, 2041 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., SE, Suite 234. 202-6100066. wendtcenter.org Contact Stuart Anderson, swandersondc@yahoo.com or 202-239-9439, for more on the healing/wellness project. u

Alonzo Smith died November 1, 2015 in the custody of “special police” inside Marbury Plaza, 2300 Good Hope Road, SE. His death was ruled homicide, but questions remain and officers involved have yet to be charged. Community support for Beverly Smith continues as she demands policy changes as well as justice for her son. A related Town Hall gathering, with the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, was scheduled for January 27 (after press time) at Union Temple Baptist Church in Ward 8. Find “Justice for Zo” on Facebook or contact Pan-African Community Action: paca@protonmail.com, 202-787-5229.

Neighborhood

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East of the River Magazine February 2016

KIDS & FAMILY / NOTEBOOK

notebook by Kathleen Donner

African American Pioneers in Aviation and Space Family Day Each February, the National Air and Space Museum celebrates the significant contributions African Americans have made to flight and space exploration despite the overwhelming obstacles they had to overcome. Visitors enjoy presentations, hands-on activities, and stories, and may have the opportunity to meet astronauts, fighter pilots and others who will share stories of their challenges and accomplishments. They also learn about inspiring historic figures like Bessie Coleman through reenactments or story times. African American Pioneers in Aviation and Space is on Saturday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the National Air and Space Museum, Independence Avenue at Sixth St. SW. airandspace.si.edu. Visitors participate in a hands-on activity at African American Pioneers in Aviation and Space Heritage Family Day at the National Air and Space Museum. Photo: Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

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Lloyd D. Smith Foundation College Scholarships for Ward 7 Students

Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Stories

The Lloyd D. Smith Foundation announces college scholarships for 2016 Ward 7 high school graduates. Two $2,500 scholarships will be awarded to applicants that meet eligibility requirements. Applications must be received by the Lloyd D. Smith Foundation, P.O. Box 10473, Washington, DC 20020-9994, by Apr. 16. To download an application, visit lloyddsmithfoundation.org or email the Foundation at info@lloyddsmithfoundation.org. If you have any questions, contact Mary Ann Smith at 202-584-1826.

There will be a Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story Program on Saturday, Feb. 13, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., at the Anacostia Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE.

The Wacky & Whimsical Tea for THEARC The Wacky & Whimsical Tea for THEARC is a fun-filled, Sunday afternoon tea featuring adventurous delight for the entire family. Activities

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APPLICATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE 2016-2017 SCHOOL YEAR Apply for admissions at: www.myschooldc.org or call (202) 888-6336

Pre-K 3 through 4th grade

Building a strong foundation for learning

Open Houses on the following Thursdays, 9:30 am-10:30 am*:

February 18 & 25 March 17 & 24 . April 21 & 28 *You must register for these sessions by calling (202) 726-1843. For the 2016-2017 school year Bridges PCS will be in our new location:

100 Gallatin St. NE, Washington, DC 20011.

www.bridgespcs.org 1250 Taylor Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011 p: 202.545.0515 Accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Voted one of the Best Preschools in DC, City Paper Readers Poll 2013 -2015!

East of the River Magazine February 2016

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KIDS & FAMILY / NOTEBOOK

include high tea, creative games, special entertainment and other great surprises. All of the proceeds benefit the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) located east of the Anacostia River. This event takes place on Sunday, Mar. 6, 2 to 4 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton, 1150 22nd St. NW. Adult tickets are $175; children’s (13 and under) are $100. Sponsorships are available. Read more at thearcdc.org/thearctea2016.

Ward 8 Education Fair On Saturday, Feb. 13, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., join neighbors at THEARC to get information on quality public school and public charter school choices. There will also be face painting, summer camp information, music by 93.9’s DJ Big John and $25 Giant gift cards for first 20 people to arrive. THEARC is at 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. thearcdc.org.

Mardi Gras Family Festival at the Anacostia Community Museum On Saturday, Feb. 20, noon to 4 p.m., enjoy live entertainment, face painting, mask making, storytelling, a second-line parade and art activities for the kids. Attendees also may participate in the popular Art of Adornment workshop with artist and entrepreneur Januwa Moja-Nelson. Get a complimentary picture of yourself dressed in Januwa’s individual designs. Those interested in the Adornment workshop should sign up on a first-come, first-served basis upon arrival. Anacostia Community Museum is at 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

Child Car Seat Inspections at THEARC To ensure children are properly secured in safety seats and belts, DC Safe Kids in partnership with Children’s Health Project of DC is holding free child safety seat inspections every Friday. Inspections take place in THEARC’s parking lot from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information, call 202-476-3618. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. thearcdc.org.

Fish Tales Story Hour in Anacostia Park Ever heard a fish tale? Well, this one is true! Join biologists at the Aquatic Resources Education Center (AREC) in Anacostia Park, for Fish Tales – a nature based story hour for two to four-yearold children and their parents and guardians. On Feb. 6 and 30; and March 5 and 19; from 10 to 11 a.m., AREC staff biologists will read stories about aquatic animals and lead corresponding craft activities for DC’s youngest naturalists. Stories will focus on the aquatic wildlife in our city and include close encounters with the education center’s resident fish, frogs, turtles and more. To register for Fish Tales Story Hour, email doee.arec@

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

dc.gov and indicate the number of participants you are bringing.

Twelve Years Tours to Treasure at the ACM Families are invited to a docent-led tour of the exhibition Twelve Years That Shook and Shaped Washington (1963-1975). Afterwards kids can go on a self-guided treasure hunt with an exhibition family guide to test their knowledge. They’ll receive a free gift for completing the hunt. Each Tours to Treasure program lasts approximately 60 minutes. Recommended for families and children (six years, up). Tours are on Feb. 7, 11 and 14; 11 a.m. to noon. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

Family Fun Days at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS During INTERSECTIONS Festival 2016 (Feb. 26 to March 6), each Saturday morning the Atlas comes alive with performances and activities for all members of the family. The Atlas lobby will be filled with music, balloons, clowns, instrument “petting zoos” and more to entertain and engage even the youngest arts enthusiast. All lobby activities are free. INTERSECTIONS ticketed family events: Shakespeare for The Young: Midsummer Magic, Feb. 27 and March 5, 9:30 a.m.; Cri-Cri El Grillito Cantor: The Singing Cricket, Feb. 27 and March 5, 10:30 a.m.; General Mischief Dance Theatre: Mischief goes Mobile/”Up and Away”, Feb. 27, 11:30 a.m.; Arts on the Horizon – Space Bop, March 5, 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and March 6, 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m.; Classical Ballet Theatre presents “Day on the Ranch”, March 5, 11:30 a.m.; March 12, 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The Atlas Performing Arts Center is at 1333 H St. NE. The box office number is 202-399-7993 ext. 2. atlasarts.org.

Smithsonian Associates Summer Camp Smithsonian Associates offers one-of-a-kind learning experiences that spark the imagination — and offer plenty of great fun — during Smithsonian Summer Camp, now in its 47th year. A wide variety of camps for children in kindergarten through ninth grade will be held Monday, June 20, through Friday, Aug. 19, at the Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr. SW. During summer camp, kids explore, discover, create and go behind the scenes at the Smithsonian. Campers can blast into space, take center stage, create a masterpiece, invent a fantasy world, relive history or learn to shape the future of the planet. The rich and exciting world of the Smithsonian is theirs to discover. More than 90 camps are offered this year, with a camper-to-instructor ratio of 4:1. Camps are held Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Before-camp (8 to 9 a.m.) and aftercamp (4:30 to 6 p.m.) activities are also available. Prices for weeklong summer camps are $460 for

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non-members and $395 for Smithsonian Associates members. For more information, visit smithsonianassociates.org/ camp or call 202-633-3030. NSO Family Concert “Let’s Remix the Classix!” What would the classics sound like with a hip-hop beat? On Sunday, Feb. 28, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., join Grammynominated beatboxer and multi-instrumentalist Christylez Bacon, electric cellist/composer Wytold, and conductor Steven Reineke for a crash course in the fundamentals of remixing. For ages 5 and up. Come early for the Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo,” a project of the Women’s Committee for the NSO. Immediately following the 4 p.m. performance, meet concert artists for a free Kids’ Chat. kennedy-center.org.

My First 5K/10K This race is definitely for all but wanted to create a race for those who have never run a 5K before. Here is a chance to run/ walk a 5K or 10K with your peers and to scratch it off of your bucket list. My First 5K/10K is Saturday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m. at C&O Canal Towpath in Georgetown, 3700 Water St. Register at active.com/ washington-dc. To encourage a family-friendly event and their way of giving back, they are allowing kids ages 11 and under to run for free. Each child will get a bib and medal at the race. If you would like to make a donation so they can keep this event free for kids, please do so on race day via cash or check (payable to DC Running Club).

Giant Panda Cub Bei Bei Makes Public Debut Giant panda cub Bei Bei went on public exhibit on Jan. 16. In the past three months, he has transformed from a pink hairless lump weighing about five ounces to a robust 12.5-pound black-andwhite cub capable of crawling and sometimes walking on his own. Bei Bei is larger than both his older siblings Bao Bao and Tai Shan were at the same age. The Panda House has been closed since August to give the mother and cub quiet and time to bond. The Panda House is now open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily. Mei Xiang and Bei Bei will continue to have access to the den where Bei Bei was born. There they are only visible on the panda cams. On high visitation days, visitors will be allowed into the Panda House in small groups. nationalzoo.si.edu.

Disney On Ice Get tangled up in Disney’s 50th animated feature with Rapunzel and Flynn and enter the worlds of your other favorite Disney princesses: Tiana, Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Mulan and of course Snow White. Ahoy, Mateys! Set sail with Peter Pan, the always sassy Tinker Bell and the cantankerous Captain Hook and his pirate pals on an adventure beyond Never Land! Trek the wilds of Africa with Simba, Nala, Pumbaa and Timon as they discover the true meaning of the ‘Circle of Life.’ Tick-Tock! Tick-Tock! Don’t be late to a very important date with Alice and the Mad Hatter as they march with the Queen of Hearts’ Army of Cards. Set a playdate with Woody and Buzz Lightyear because the toys are back in town. Disney On Ice Presents Treasure Trove is at the Verizon Center, Feb. 10 to 15, for 10 shows. Tickets, starting at $20, are on sale now at ticketmaster.com.

Children’s Movies Families are invited to enjoy a wide range of innovative film programming that includes classics, recently produced shorts and foreign features. The films are selected to appeal to both youth and adult audiences. Age recommendations assist parents in selecting the most emotionally and intellectually stimulating films for their children are available. Feature films are in English, unless otherwise noted. All children’s films are shown in the East Building Auditorium which seats 500 people. Seating is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Groups are welcome. Programs are free. No advance registration is required. Coming up are Frosty Films (ages 4 and up), Saturday, Feb. 13 at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday, Feb. 14 and Monday, Feb. 15 at 11:30 a.m.; and Monkey Kingdom (ages 6 and up), Saturday, March 19 at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday, March 20 at 11:30 a.m. nga.gov.

Accepting Applications for the 2016-2017 School Year Grades PS/PK-5th

Apply at: www.myschooldc.org Application deadline March 1, 2016

Preparing culturally diverse elementary school students to be leaders, scholars, and responsible citizens who are committed to social justice. • French and Spanish immersion program • Dual focus on academic excellence and community service

Open House February 25: 9:30 AM–10:45 AM School tours on the following Wednesdays from 9:00 AM -10:00 AM February 3 • February 17 • March 2 • March 16 • April 6 Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS 3700 Oakview Terrace, NE | Washington, DC 20017 | 202.265.7237 www.ewstokes.org

National Archives Story Time for Pre-Schoolers On Wednesday, Feb. 17, 10 to 11 a.m., it’s story time at the National Archives. Join them for stories, activities, and crafts about Presidents. This program is designed especially for 3 to 5-year-olds and accompanying adults. The National Archives is at 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. archives.gov. Also at the Archives, delve into the history of the Emancipation Procla-

East of the River Magazine February 2016

KIDS & FAMILY / NOTEBOOK

Discover Engineering Family Day at the National Building Museum On Saturday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., join the National Building Museum to discover how professional engineers turn ideas into reality. Then, do some engineering and problem solving of your own. Celebrate Engineers Week, Feb. 21 to 27. Participate in this free, hands-on, and fun-filled festival. Explore thermodynamics, electricity, aerodynamics, and more with engineers at more than 25 activities and demonstrations made especially for kids. The National Building Museum is at 401 F St. NW. 202-272-2448. nbm.org.

mation and learn about US Presidents through hands–on activities in the Boeing Learning Center, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the month of February.

Photo: Courtesy of the National Building Museum

On Feb. 14, there will be an historic camp and tactical demonstrations throughout the day including a Revolutionary War skirmish at 2 p.m. between the Redcoats and the Colonial Army. Participants include renowned reenactment units from around the United States dressed in authentic period costumes and demonstrating authentic l8th Century weaponry. Admission is free. Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site is at 4301 West Braddock Rd., Alexandria, VA. washingtonbirthday.net/revwar-reenactment.

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

Revolutionary War Reenactment at Fort Ward Park

Len Piper’s Pinocchio at Glen Echo This production is a life-sized marionette version of Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s tale created in the 1960s by the father of the Puppet Co.’s co-founder, Christopher Piper. This production has been completely refurbished and adapted for the Puppet Co. stage. On stage at Glen Echo through Feb. 21. Plays are Thursdays and Fridays at 10:30 a.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Recommended for ages 5 and older. Running time is 50 minutes. thepuppetco.org. Coming soon are Beauty and the Beast, Feb. 25 to Apr. 10, and Sleeping Beauty, Apr. 14 to May 29. Have a tip for the Kids & Family Notebook, email bulletinboard@ hillrag.com. u

East of the River Magazine February 2016

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“Spilling the beans ”

Crossword Author: Myles Mellor • www.themecrosswords.com • www.mylesmellorconcepts.com

by Myles Mellor and Sally York Across:

1. Mayhems 7. Oregon grape 14. Old Toyota 19. City in northern Syria 20. Prayers 21. Bring to a boil? 23. Palmists, e.g. 25. Advance money 26. High ___ 27. Escort’s offering 28. Medicinal balsam 29. Enumerate 30. Dances to “Hernando’s Hideaway” 33. Trinity component 35. Gofers 36. Survives a dangerous experience 43. Followers of a witchcraft cult 44. Poker holding 45. Laura’s husband on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” 46. Damp and chilly 49. Pint-sized 50. Rough 52. Not short 55. Founded: Abbr. 56. Yo-Yo Ma’s instrument 57. Botheration 59. Part of a TV transmission 60. Plants 62. Jewish teacher 65. Humans, e.g. 66. Rossini composition 70. Opposite of celebrate 71. Hidden 72. Signs off on 73. Have the throne 74. Not waste 75. Packed away 77. “Marriage Ref” network 80. Etc. 82. Called 84. Convex molding 86. Food additive 87. Slick 89. Hodgepodge 90. Barely make 91. “Yeah, sure!” 96. State in NE India

5

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

99. Big galoot 100. Making no value judgments 101. Allowance 103. Go through volumes 107. Charged item 108. Chi preceder 111. Type of alkali 112. Revealing particulars 116. Shells out 117. More serious 118. “All clear!” is one 119. Feeling of apprehension 120. Electron tube 121. Fearsome fly

Down:

1. Knife handle 2. Hand cream ingredient 3. Designer Wang 4. Elect 5. PC “brain” 6. Speech sounds 7. Tropical American bird 8. “We ___ the World” 9. See 1-Down 10. Sonja Henie’s birthplace 11. “O Sanctissima,” e.g. 12. Sudden flow 13. Lunkhead 14. Back-to-school mo. 15. Imaginary 16. Early-arriving baby, for short: var. 17. Galloping 18. Staring intently 22. Baby blues 24. “Cogito, ___ sum” 29. Completely 30. Heavy, durable furniture wood 31. Wan 32. Calyx part 34. Done, to Donne 36. Prospector’s find 37. Ovid poem title 38. Blow off steam 39. Drudge 40. Women’s ___ 41. Encouraging word 42. Legal org. 46. Equestrian 47. “All kidding ___...”

Look for this months answers at labyrinthgameshop.com 48. ___ Who 50. Hospital fluids 51. Fastens, in a way 53. Flock 54. The “Wolf” 56. Mint 57. ___ of Tiflis, Christian saint 58. Consecrate 60. Beats with a cane 61. Grassy plain 63. Age 64. Common European bird 65. White rice’s lack 66. Pipsqueak 67. Ammonia derivative 68. Driver’s helper? 69. Managed, with “out”

70. Angelina’s beau 74. Naked 76. Hilo hello 77. It follows 11 78. Off-color 79. Sacks for Wacs 81. ___ spill 82. Moppet 83. U.N. workers’ grp. 84. Gumbo vegetable 85. Sign of secrecy 88. Pound sound 90. Heartfelt 91. Recording 92. Blue-pencils 93. Cylindrical 94. Certain settler

95. Kind of ring or swing 96. Nile snakes 97. Dome-shaped Buddhist shrine 98. Femme fatale 102. Den 104. Spirit 105. Hit the ground 106. Lover of Aeneas 108. Windshield option 109. Word of woe 110. Archipelago part 112. Kitchen meas. 113. Outlaw Kelly 114. Frank McCourt memoir 115. “___ before beauty”

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Hyperlocal connotes information oriented around a well defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of its residents. synonym: eastoftheriverdcnews.com Daily online. Monthly in print.