Washington City Paper (January 31, 2019)

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POLITICS: JACK EVANS WANTS HIS SEAT BACK 6 SPORTS: A NEW GYM FROM AN OLYMPIC CHAMPION 8 ARTS: BUY A DOG’S ART AND GET SOME WEED WITH IT 18

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HOME ECONOMICS

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COVER STORY: HOME ECONOMICS

10 D.C.’s temporary housing subsidy, meant to help families out of homelessness, doesn’t work for everyone.

DISTRICT LINE 4 If It Weren’t for Us Meddling Kids: Washington Met students may have lost the fight to save their school, but they learned important lessons about activism.

6 Loose Lips: Jack Evans wants to return to the Ward 2 Council seat he just vacated. His former colleagues aren’t pleased.

SPORTS 8 A New Routine: Olympic champion Dominique Dawes wants to create a healthy culture change at her new gymnastics academy.

FOOD 16 Proofing Grounds: At three D.C. bars, a generation of industry workers and owners learned how to do their jobs.

ARTS 18 High Art: A local dog creates art that comes with a cannabis gift.

20 Fine Lines: On U Street NW, a barber shop doubles as an art gallery.

22 Curtain Calls: Thal on Arena Stage’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and Prologue Theatre’s Recent Tragic Events 24 Liz at Large: “Tired” 25 Short Subjects: Gittell on The Rhythm Section

CITY LIST 27 28 28 31

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DIVERSIONS 33 34 35 35

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On the cover: Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

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INTERIM EDITOR: CAROLINE JONES ARTS EDITOR: KAYLA RANDALL FOOD EDITOR: LAURA HAYES SPORTS EDITOR: KELYN SOONG LOOSE LIPS REPORTER: MITCH RYALS CITY DESK REPORTER: AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ CITY LIGHTS EDITOR: EMMA SARAPPO STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: DARROW MONTGOMERY MULTIMEDIA AND COPY EDITOR: WILL WARREN CREATIVE DIRECTOR: JULIA TERBROCK ONLINE ENGAGEMENT MANAGER: ELIZABETH TUTEN DESIGN ASSISTANT: MADDIE GOLDSTEIN EDITORIAL INTERN: KENNEDY WHITBY CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: MICHON BOSTON, KRISTON CAPPS, CHAD CLARK, MATT COHEN, RACHEL M. COHEN, RILEY CROGHAN, JEFFRY CUDLIN, EDDIE DEAN, CUNEYT DIL, TIM EBNER, CASEY EMBERT, JONATHAN L. FISCHER, NOAH GITTELL, SRIRAM GOPAL, HAMIL R. HARRIS, LOUIS JACOBSON, JOSHUA KAPLAN, CHRIS KELLY, AMAN KIDWAI, STEVE KIVIAT, CHRIS KLIMEK, PRIYA KONINGS, NEVIN MARTELL, KEITH MATHIAS, BRIAN MCENTEE, CANDACE Y.A. MONTAGUE, BRIAN MURPHY, BILL MYERS, NENET, TRICIA OLSZEWSKI, EVE OTTENBERG, MIKE PAARLBERG, PAT PADUA, JUSTIN PETERS, REBECCA J. RITZEL, ABID SHAH, TOM SHERWOOD, CHRISTINA STURDIVANT SANI, MATT TERL, IAN THAL, SIDNEY THOMAS, HAYWOOD TURNIPSEED JR., JOE WARMINSKY, ALONA WARTOFSKY, JUSTIN WEBER, MICHAEL J. WEST, DIANA MICHELE YAP, ALAN ZILBERMAN

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DISTRICTLINE CITY DESK

If It Weren’t for Us Meddling Kids

The fight for the future of their school transformed Washington Met students into budding activists.

By Amanda Michelle Gomez

Amanda Michelle Gomez

Washington Metropolitan opportunity acadeMy, an alternative school serving 157 middle and high schoolers, is struggling. The school has plenty of student parents but no daycare. There’s a library but no librarian or computers. While other alternative schools offer supplemental programs in culinary arts or barbering, Washington Met’s plans for things like that never actualized. DC Public Schools’ proposed solution for a deteriorating facility with poor academic performance was to close it.

Student Lyric Johnson, 16, spent this month and the last repeating these facts and reminding the adults making decisions about the ways they had failed her and her classmates. Maybe if everyone knew, the thinking went, then the Bowser administration wouldn’t shutter the school for under-enrollment and low test scores. Perhaps officials would change their minds and decide to keep the school open for at least another year, and invest enough money and resources so students could succeed.

Johnson and some of her classmates attended community forums after school and on weekends; conducted countless media interviews, published in print and broadcasted on local television and radio; and visited the Wilson Building to deliver a petition to the mayor’s office. Their message was simple: DCPS cannot close Washington Met. Not now. The students and their adult advocates campaigned nonstop since news of the closure broke just before Thanksgiving.

D.C. is a hotbed of protests, with rallies for some social cause taking place any given week, but fighting for their school was many of these students’ first go at organized activism. Ultimately, they didn’t get the outcome they desired. On Thursday, Jan. 23, DCPS Chancellor Dr. Lewis Ferebee announced that Washington Met would close at the end of the school year, and Mayor Muriel Bowser signed off on the decision. It will be the first DCPS closure since 2013.

“I have never really fought as hard for something,” Johnson told City Paper the day after the final decision came out, during her lunch break. “It’s tiring. It’s frustrating.”

As she reflected on the events of the last couple weeks, she started to sound like a veteran activist. “You’re not always going to get

A rally for Washington Metropolitan Opportunity Academy at Howard University

everything you want. Sometimes things are unfair, but that’s just how life is.”

When Johnson learned of the decision on Thursday, she and a few dozen of her classmates walked out of school in protest. Idalis Sosa, a Howard University student who volunteers at Washington Met, led the march from the school to her own campus, where the group spent the afternoon rallying at the flagpole.

“School closures disproportionately happen to black and brown communities. This is a researched fact,” read a sign one student carried. Ninety-five percent of Washington Met students are black.

“15 percent of our students are homeless and are being removed from the only home they know,” read another sign. Washington Met serves many students considered to be “at-risk” and who were sent there because they struggled in more traditional classroom environments.

4 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

“What’s your school chant,” Sosa asked the students. “We don’t have a chant,” replied one.

“We didn’t have an assembly all year,” school counselor Brian Wheeler says, as a way of explaining. He’s acted as a chaperone to the minors who’ve become more civically engaged over the past couple weeks.

On Thursday, Sosa winged it and started to chant, “They want to close our schools, but we won’t let it happen.” Just a few of the students join her. Another student started a chant of his own: “White people are trying to close our school.”

“I can’t lose my voice,” said 18-year-old Na’Asia Hawkins, “I got to go home to a baby.” Hawkins, like Johnson, had taken every opportunity to protest her school’s closure because Washington Met accepted her after she became a teen parent when her previous high school didn’t.

The day’s protest underscores how chal-

lenging it was to organize all along. The students have competing priorities, perhaps more than most kids their ages. But students did receive support from some of the staff at Washington Met, like Wheeler, and the Washington Teachers’ Union, which started the petition to keep Washington Met open and gathered more than 1,500 signatures. Students delivered the petition to lawmakers in mid-January.

It was also challenging to organize because, Wheeler explains, students sometimes faulted one another for the school’s failings on paper.

“The split in the school is the middle school versus the high school, which is why there’s an issue with the organizing right now,” says Wheeler, referring to Sosa’s failed efforts to get the students chanting that devolved when students instead started to argue with one another.

“What they can’t really articulate right now is they blame each other,” he continues. “Because they have no one else to blame. They

can’t blame any of the leaders because they never show up ... So they get to fight each other, which is—I feel like that happens all over the city. They just push different populations to different segments, and let them fight it out.”

Was it all worth it? That’s the inevitable question activists of every stripe ask themselves, particularly when the outcome they fought against happens anyway.

Washington Met was. “This is literally a second chance for kids that really want to do well but were just misunderstood at first,” says DuLane McGill, 16. But now students like McGill are preparing to transfer to another school, yet again.

“It’s basically stay home until they place me in another school,” McGill says. “But I don’t want to have to keep going through that process over and over again. It gets to the point where it gets tiring. I’ve been through the process three times already … I want to at least graduate with my friends.”

While the students weren’t able to change the Bowser administration’s mind, they did persuade others to act. Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau and Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White asked DCPS to delay the school closure after hearing from students and teachers. White, in his letter, cited the students’ activism as a reason he felt compelled to write DCPS. They also caught the attention of students outside Washington Met. “Here too, did Dr. Ferebee shut down high schools, and I think D.C. can learn a lot from the catastrophic results that came from it,” writes Elad NicholsKaufman, a junior at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. He emailed City Paper after learning from our coverage of the Washington Met students that Ferebee intended to close a school in D.C. just as he did while serving as superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools.

“The students, I thought, did a great job of exercising their voice,” Ferebee said Thursday when asked to further explain his decision. “In light of what I heard, there was confirmation that what they’re seeking, we really can do that in other places and do a better job than I think what we’ve seen at Washington Met.” “The reality is student data doesn’t indicate that that’s a good place for them and so it’s hard to make the argument that it’s a good place when, again, I go back to the attendance rate and the satisfaction,” he continued. “While we hear something different from students—in terms of it’s just a familiar place, some students like it because it’s small— those are things that we can work through with students in other places.”

Travius Butler, 17, is disappointed, but not discouraged. In fact, he has plans to visit the Wilson Building on Feb. 19 to testify before the Council Committee on Education.

Activism exhausted Butler; he recalls having to miss school the day after the second community meeting on his school’s closure, which ended late. But the experience was advantageous. Butler used to skip class in his old high school because of social anxiety. Now, his perspective has changed.

“It’s one step closer to bringing my school together,” says Butler. “One small step for us.” CP

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DISTRICTLINE LOOSE LIPS

Return of the Jack

Darrow Montgomery/File

Less than two weeks after resigning from his Council seat, Jack Evans filed to run in the elections to reclaim it.

By Mitch Ryals It’s only fIttIng that on the day Republican congressmen made a ridiculous request for sworn testimony from former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans in order to evaluate the District’s suitability for statehood, Evans would counter with an even more ridiculous request of Ward 2 residents: Vote for me.

About a week after Evans resigned in order to avoid expulsion from the D.C. Council seat he held since 1991 (and before he’d even received his final paycheck, apparently) he has filed to run again. According to the DC Board of Elections, Evans filed to run in the June 2 primary as well as the June 16 special election that he forced when he resigned. The special election is estimated to cost taxpayers $1 million, according to a Council spokesperson. LL could not immediately determine how much a new “DC Council Ward 2” license plate would cost if Evans wins.

Evans announced his resignation Jan. 7 and remained in office until Jan. 17, the last business day before the Council was set to expel him from office. He would have been the first D.C. councilmember voted off the body. Instead, he became the first to resign in lieu of expulsion.

Last year, multiple investigations found that Evans had trampled ethics rules for years. As chair of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Evans prioritized the interests of his private consulting clients over those of the public transit agency, investigators found.

A $250,000 investigation ordered by his Council colleagues found that he made hundreds of thousands of dollars from private clients despite doing no documented work and violated more than a dozen conflict of interest rules. Evans has disputed the investigations’ findings.

Evans is also the target of a U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation, and federal agents raided his house last summer, but he has not been

6 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

charged with a crime. Evans did not return LL’s phone call seeking comment Monday evening. Some of his former (and possibly future) colleagues did, however.

Chairman Phil Mendelson, who on Sunday appeared on a stage alongside Evans and Mayor Muriel Bowser at D.C.’s Lunar New Year festivities, says he is “disappointed” with his former colleague’s decision to run again.

He tells LL that Evans mentioned during Sunday’s celebration that he planned to file for election, but would not go into more detail about their conversation.

“It’s too soon after the Council was on the brink of expelling him, and I don’t think this helps restore the public trust in the Council,” Mendelson says, later adding, “I see the media liked his crashing the parade.”

Bowser declined on Monday evening to answer a Washington Post reporter’s question about Evans, saying “I won’t be getting in-

volved in the Ward 2 race, and it’s not a political calculation that I would have made.”

While Mendelson was unwilling to speculate about any actions the Council could take if Evans were to win the election, At-Large Councilmember Robert White Jr. was not.

“I think the options are calling for his resignation or reformation of the ad hoc committee,” White says, referring to the 12-member Council committee that cast the preliminary votes to expel Evans. “But unfortunately I now need to think through this ridiculous scenario to make sure Jack Evans is held accountable for his actions in office and also does not further tarnish the reputation of the city.”

White calls Evans’ choice to run “selfish and frankly embarrassing to the city.”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chaired the ad hoc committee, echoes Mendelson’s disappointment and wishes Evans’ young campaign the worst of luck.

“I hope his effort isn’t successful,” she says.

“It wouldn’t be good for Ward 2, it wouldn’t be good for the District of Columbia, and it certainly wouldn’t be good for the Council.”

Cheh is unsure whether the ad hoc committee’s findings and its vote to recommend Evans’ expulsion could still stand if Evans won the election, but she notes that in a crowded field of Ward 2 candidates and with Evans’ name recognition, he might have a shot.

Evans has run unopposed in the past two election cycles and won with almost 3,000 votes in 2012 and more than 7,600 in 2016.

Evans enters a primary field of six declared candidates, some of whom released statements on his decision shortly after the news broke.

Jordan Grossman says Evans’ “shameless corruption” disqualifies him from serving on the Council. Patrick Kennedy says Evans’ decision “represents the height of arrogance, entitlement, and denial about how deeply he has trespassed on the public’s trust.”

Asked about Evans’ predicament with federal law enforcement, Cheh says it would be unethical for a prosecutor to make any public statements about their investigation before taking official action, as Ward 7 Councilmember Vince Gray is all too aware.

Less than a month before the 2014 mayoral primary between Gray and Bowser, thenU.S. Attorney Ron Machen alleged that Gray knew about an illegal shadow campaign that helped put him in office in 2010. The announcement likely tipped the election in Bowser’s favor. Machen later stepped down and returned to private practice, but Gray was never charged with a crime.

“I think the way these things do work is if you’re out of the public eye, and you’ve resigned, there probably is less interest in you because you’re not sitting there in a position of power having committed wrong acts,” Cheh says. “But if you want to get back in, they might say ‘Oh really? Maybe we should look at this guy a little more closely.’”

She adds: “Mr. Evans really hasn’t learned any lessons from his. For him it’s just an inconvenience that he happened to be facing expulsion. That’s not the appropriate way for him to view what’s happened.” CP

Finding the Write Touch

With support from Capital One, a homegrown education nonprofit is evolving to meet students where they are: online.

A dozen years ago, Eric Goldstein was teaching at SEED Public Charter School in Ward 7 and grappling with why only 20% of his students had turned in a recent written assignment. He decided it was time for a new approach. He had students choose their own topics, having them pick a social justice issue relevant to their own lives.

Given the responsibility to choose their own topics, Goldstein’s students engaged. He then taught them how to turn their thoughts into well-organized essays backed by hard evidence. Twelve years later, what started as a writing project in one classroom is now the largest writing program in DC schools. serving about 5,000 students a year.

Teachers and students will tell you why. “The One World Education program teaches rigorous writing skills but it lets students advocate for things that matter to them, said Desiree Raught, a teacher at McKinley Tech HS in Northeast DC who has used the One World Program for six years. “They make meaning for themselves.”

Students also value the recognition and rewards that come with the program.

“I’m published,” 11th-grader Mikel Poole declares with audible pride. Poole’s research and writing on mental health in the black community is on the homepage of One World’s website. “Some black people don’t take mental illness as seriously as other people do. As a young woman in the black community, I believe we have to be stronger, but it can feel as if there’s other stuff going on that needs more attention at times. But you can’t be a productive person if your mental health is deteriorating. I’m passionate about raising awareness on the subject.”

Her fellow 11th-grader, Nicole Pendergast, won scholarship money toward college tuition for her presentation on LGBTQ bullying at One World’s annual District-wide public speaking challenge last March. “I see a lot of bullying [of LGBTQ people] on social media, and I want to put a stop to it,” Pendergast says of her chosen topic.

After his initial success in his classroom, Goldstein and another teacher developed the entire One World Education curriculum for teaching the writing process.

It begins with students choosing their own topics. The curriculum then guides students through a rigorous stepby step process research, “Writing is really challenging,” said Goldstein. “It is arguably the most challenging skill there is to both teach and learn. We make sure that both teachers and students have all the support they need to build this critical skill.”

This past school year, Raught was one of a handful of area teachers selected to beta test an online version of the curriculum. “Watching them do One World on the computer felt closer to the college experience than you get

Photos: Paula Góngora Salazar

with pen-and-paper research projects . . . I think it’s really giving the students that college readiness,” she says of the experience.

Goldstein says. “Capital One’s investment in designing this digital platform--specifically our research portal and student writing library—will result in a resource unlike anything that’s available in D.C. schools currently.”

It was the potential for innovation in engaging with local students that caught the attention of Naomi Smouha, a community affairs manager for Capital One. She identifies regional nonprofits whose work aligns with Capital One’s philanthropic mission, curating partnerships based on the needs of a community.

“We’re really looking to ensure that individuals and families are prepared for the 21st century economy,” Smouha says of Capital One’s overall philanthropic mission. “We are training the innovators of tomorrow, investing in nonprofits with creative approaches and bringing together problem solvers to address difficult community and societal challenges. With its college- and career-readiness focus areas and ability to apply innovative technology to a bat-

tle-tested program, One World was a perfect fit. “ “One of the greatest components of the partnership has been connecting with the Capital One network,” Goldstein says. “Their developers have been able to help us navigate digital challenges that we don’t have the expertise for on our team. The organization sees this partnership as so much more than a fiscal investment—it’s a thought partnership.”

The partnership started in 2017, taking plans for the digitization of One World and slowly making them a reality. The research portal and student library are nearly finished and will be rolled out by the end of the year, and an enhanced digital platform is expected to roll out in more schools by the end of 2020.

“It’s not just about having the skills to research and write a paper, it’s learning how to ascertain what is correct information and how to relay your perspective in a persuasive manner,” says Smouha of the goal of the partnership. “By teaching the importance of writing and relaying a viewpoint effectively, One World is helping our youth with the critical skills to be future leaders, whether their next step is college or career. Capital One is happy to support programs that help to strengthen our youth to ensure their success and be prepared to thrive in the new digital economy.”

Capital One is focused on making real and lasting change, relying on a vast network of nonprofit organizations and local leaders who enhance educational opportunities, provide job training, build safe and affordable housing, deliver financial education and promote small business development.

To learn more about Capital One visit www.capitalone.com/about and follow them on twitter @CapitalOneNews

SPONSORED STORY FROM CAPITAL ONE washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 7

Kelyn Soong

SPORTS

The Wizards will have a difficult decision to make with Dāvis Bertāns. washingtoncitypaper.com/sports

GYMNASTICS

A New Routine

Darrow Montgomery

Painful memories inspire Olympic champion Dominique Dawes to open a new gymnastics academy.

By Kelyn Soong Over the years, Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes would tell her husband, Jeff Thompson, about her childhood as a gymnastics prodigy growing up in Montgomery County.

She would mention her tears. She talked about the body shaming that she had seen take place. She explained how young athletes were demeaned and constantly yelled at by adults. She recalled that kids practiced despite being sick. That, Dawes says, was her norm.

“My husband, who came from not that environment, he’s opened my eyes and has

been very much a part of my healing, and said, ‘You know, your upbringing is abnormal, right?’” she says.

The conversations helped lead her to an epiphany. In recent years, Dawes has spoken out about her painful past in the sport.

The 43-year-old Silver Spring native now has four kids under the age of 6, including 2-year-old twins. When she attempted to enroll her children in the sport, the negative feelings came rushing back.

“I started realizing a lot of my emotional scars started becoming reopened,” Dawes says. “Anxiety, fear, everything that was literally ingrained in me in the gym, was coming back. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, let me

8 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

get my kids out of this environment.’”

For her, that meant getting involved herself. To change the intense and sometimes toxic culture of gymnastics gyms, Dawes is taking matters into her own hands. This spring, the first of what she hopes will be several Dominique Dawes Gymnastics Academies is set to open in Clarksburg.

“Really it took me being a mom,” she says, “and having a different perspective on things of my childhood and realizing, hey, the way that I was spoken to or treated, there’s no one that’s going to treat my children that way.” tandy Knight, dawes’ friend and for-

mer teammate, still vividly recalls the first day Dawes walked into their gym in Wheaton and being amazed by a girl seven years her junior.

“She was this tiny little ball of muscles,” Knight says. “And she ran right over to a set of bars, had to jump up to even get to the low bar, because that’s how tiny she was.

And she did what’s called a pullover, which is a basic skill in gymnastics, but still usually takes people a little time to learn it because there’s some strength involved with it. She just hopped up and did it right away.

And we all kind of looked at each other and just knew at that point there was something special about her.”

When Dawes and her family moved to Bethesda a few years ago, the two had dinner to catch up. Their conversation revolved around Dawes’ vision for her academy and the desire to make a positive difference in gymnastics.

“It didn’t take long for me to realize that if anyone can change the culture of the sport, and make it a more positive and healthy environment, it’s Dominique,” Knight says.

The sport and its governing body, USA Gymnastics, has been rocked by scandals in recent years. Former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar is serving 60 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges, and received a subsequent sentence of 175 years in state prison after pleading guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Former gymnasts have also alleged that famed coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi fostered a culture of fear and inflicted emotional and verbal abuse on their students at their now-closed training center.

Dawes, who at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta became the first African American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics, has praised the courage of the hundreds of gymnasts who have spoken out against Nassar and in part blames the ultra competitive and intimidating atmosphere of gymnastics for allowing Nassar to get away with his actions

for as long as he did.

“People that probably wanted to speak out were too fearful to speak out,” Dawes says.

“Because if you come from an environment where there’s a lot of emotional and verbal and physical abuse, and then there’s another abuse kind of mounted on top of it, you’re kind of like, well, this is just acceptable. This is just the norm. There’s no safe.”

On a recent Friday morning in Clarksburg, Dawes bounced between the two suites where her academy will be located.

Construction has yet to begin; the walls of one are still covered in the bright colors of the former tenant, and a large Tesla sign hangs on the wall of the other.

But Dawes has been busy interviewing potential coaches for the gym. The sessions, she says, have become a “therapeutic healing experience” for some former gymnasts who have the shared “emotional scars” of growing up in a gymnastics gym.

“I’m looking for people with exceptional character, love working with kids,” Dawes explains. “Of course, the gymnastics background is key. But what I’m also trying to reiterate is, when I sit down with a number of staff that were gymnasts, they share with me the ways they were treated. And literally it turns into a healing session.”

The Clarksburg location will include programs for school-age children, a competitive team program for girls, and a co-ed area for ninja training—an aspect of gymnastics that has become popular with kids and popularized in the TV series American Ninja Warrior.

If parents are looking for a place to send their kids full-time, the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics Academy won’t be the right fit for them. Dawes doesn’t want to see kids living in the gym.

“My childhood of 36-plus hours in the gym and wake up at 5 a.m. and training for multiple Olympics is not the norm,” she says. “If your kid is that talented and really wants to do that, by all means I’m not going to squash your dreams and hopes, but this might not be the environment for you.

So I’m talking about the importance of having a balanced childhood.”

In interviews, Dawes is careful to not mention the name of her former coach and childhood gym. But she admits that people will begin to “put the pieces together.”

Dawes trained under coach Kelli Hill at Hills Gymnastics in Gaithersburg, about 12 miles away from Dawes’ future academy in Clarksburg. Dawes does not currently speak to Hill.

“There are definitely those life skills that you learn that help you want to achieve,” she says of the lessons she learned at Hills Gymnastics. “I think [I learned about] setting goals [and] trying to achieve those goals, but anything about true friendship, happiness, what’s truly going to make you fulfilled in this world, I did not learn there.”

Reached for comment, Hill says she hasn’t seen much of Dawes the last two years but that they’ve been “very, very close,” in the past, calling her “more like family than anything else” and offering to “help anyway I can” with launching her academy.

“I’ve reached out many times,” Hill adds.

“She has not responded.”

Hill has heard Dawes talk about her desire to change the culture of gymnastics gyms compared to what she experienced as a child, but says she has “no idea” what Dawes is referring to.

Dawes , fo r her part, sounds ready to move on. “ W h a t I ’m saying is, I feel very free now, at 4 3 years old, to speak my truth. And there’s nothing that I’m doing that is embellishing or not truthful,” she says. “I just know as a parent, I would not have my kid in that environment.”

“It didn’t take long for me to realize that if anyone can change the culture of the sport, and make it a more positive and healthy environment, it’s Dominique.”

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Photo: Jeff Watts, 2019

FrOm a yOung age, Dawes recognized the impact she could have. Whenever she wanted to quit gymnastics, she thought about the letters she received from fans, and it motivated her to continue.

In her post-Olympic life, she dabbled in media work, and also spent time as a motivational speaker. She briefly appeared on Broadway in the musical Grease— “I did very poorly,” Dawes says—and served as the co-chair for the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition under President Barack Obama.

But none of those felt like career callings.

Her grandfather and father encouraged her to start a gym for years. She hesitated because she didn’t want to live the life of gym owners and head coaches she saw at gyms growing up, Dawes says.

It wasn’t until she started to put her kids into the sport that she realized this is what she needed to do in the place she calls home.

“I want to raise my kids in Maryland,” Dawes says. “I love the state of Maryland. I do want to expand and do more academies ... I hope to move down the county and maybe even expand it further to the DMV area.

But it’s not to take business away. It’s really to create a healthy culture, a culture that’s needed in the sport.”

CP washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 9

Tremaine Anderson

HOME ECONOMICS D.C. officials have known for years that the city’s primary tool for lifting families out of homeless shelters and into housing doesn’t work for everyone.

So why is it used as a one-size-fits-all solution?

By Mitch Ryals Photographs by Darrow Montgomery 10 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

Mayor Muriel Bowser stood over Tremaine Anderson’s shoulder and watched as the then-26-year-old signed a lease in November 2017. Anderson and her two children had bounced from friends’ and families’ couches to living in the now-shuttered D.C. General family shelter. But thanks to the mayor and the city’s rapid rehousing program, Anderson’s family would have a stable place to sleep.

TV news cameras captured the special moment and promoted Bowser’s Home for the Holidays campaign, an effort to place more than 400 people into housing before the new year. (This season’s Home for the Holidays campaign helped 438 households transition from homelessness to housing, as of Jan. 17, 2020.)

The cameras rolled as Anderson gave the mayor and Don Gladstone, the property manager, a tour of her two-bedroom apartment just off Naylor Road SE, less than a mile from the Maryland border.

“Very nice, very nice,” Bowser said as Anderson showed her the master bedroom closet.

Gladstone even got some good publicity out of the deal, telling a Street Sense reporter that

he wanted to do his part to help those most in need. He called on property owners to “take a bold step forward and make a difference in the lives of individuals and families across the city.”

“By joining hands and hearts we can work together for endless possibilities,” Gladstone said.

In exchange for appearing as the face of the mayor’s campaign, Anderson says she was promised a permanent voucher at the end of the temporary rapid rehousing subsidy.

Rapid rehousing is the District’s primary tool for moving people from the shelter system and into an apartment. Participants generally get a 12-month rental subsidy with an extension of up to six months. According to Laura Zeilinger, the director of D.C.’s Department of Human Services, a promise like the one Anderson says she was made would generally go against the agency’s policies. She says there are clear rules for who qualifies for permanent housing vouchers; in D.C., they are usually reserved for people with a disabling condition that might prevent them from earning enough money to pay rent.

Within months of moving in to her unit, Anderson says, the dishwasher stopped working and still hasn’t been fixed. The building’s washer and dryer never worked, she adds, so she and her partner take the family’s clothes to a laundromat. Mold is eating a hole in her hallway ceiling, just behind the spot where Bowser stood in 2017 while Anderson answered reporters’ questions. Water leaks into the unit’s smoke detectors and light fixtures, and mice have chewed holes in the back of the kitchen cabinets.

The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs documented the damage, and cited the building’s owner, Muntan Tahar, for housing code infractions.

In September, when her rapid rehousing subsidy ran out, and with no chance of a permanent voucher coming her way, Anderson was left to pay the entirety of the rent on her own. While she was in the program, Anderson earned a special police officer’s license and started working as a security guard, earning about $15 an hour—exactly the kind of progress the program seeks to foster.

But she also had three more children during that time, including a set of twin girls born prematurely in December 2019. The twins spent their first two months in the neonatal intensive care unit at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, and Anderson worries about bringing them home to an apartment with mold and mice.

Also weighing on her mind is the $1,592 monthly rent she now owes. Her $908 in monthly benefits through the Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) program, plus the money her partner brings in, isn’t enough to cover it, she says. She can’t go back to work until the twins are old enough to go to daycare.

In January, when she fell behind on rent, Gladstone filed to evict her.

From the perspective of legal advocates, Anderson’s story is a typical example of one of the major problems with the rapid rehousing program: When the temporary subsidy is cut off, people often can’t afford to take over the full market rent.

Zeilinger touts the program’s success in lifting people out of shelters and stabilizing them long enough to get back on their feet. The program isn’t perfect but it helps more people than it hurts, she claims.

But success for families in rapid rehousing, known locally as the Family Re-Housing and Stabilization Program, is a matter of perspective and one that officials and advocates have disagreed on since D.C. implemented it in 2012. So why does D.C. continue to use it?

And what are officials doing to improve it?

“My hope was this administration would make meaningful changes,” says Damon King, an attorney and policy advocate with the Legal Aid Society of D.C. “Instead, what we’ve seen is a doubling down on this approach of using time-limited vouchers.”

During her first State of the District address in 2015, Bowser promised to end family homelessness by 2018.

It’s now two years past her deadline, and the mayor has failed to deliver on that bold assur-

Mold and water damage in Anderson’s apartment ance. But ask the Bowser administration about its progress, and they will say there is reason for optimism.

“Rapid rehousing very much helps us in … an economy where wages have not kept up with the cost of housing,” Zeilinger says. “So people can have access to that safety, and they exit to housing.”

The annual Point-in-Time census for 2019—an imperfect accounting of people experiencing homelessness that’s required in cities that receive federal assistance for homeless services—showed a 12 percent decrease in homeless families in D.C., from 924 families in 2018 to 815 in 2019. The count also shows a 45 percent decrease since 2016, when D.C. identified 1,491 homeless families, a decline the administration attributes in part to the rapid rehousing program.

As it stands now, rapid rehousing requires families pay at least 40 percent, and sometimes as much as 50 or 60 percent, advocates say, of their income toward rent, while the government picks up the rest. The city officially counts the program’s participants as perma-

nently housed despite the temporary nature of the subsidy.

From 2016 to 2019, the budget for families in the rapid rehousing program increased from $25.7 million to $51.5 million. In that timeframe, the number of families in the program jumped from about 1,000 to 2,400.

To measure success, the program’s defenders, including Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, tout a 90 percent success rate.

“It’s a successful program for many, many, many people,” Nadeau says. “And that’s why its current form, of it being a temporary program, is important. If 90 percent of people are succeeding, and then you extend it and make it permanent, we’re not going to exit people and then bring more people into the subsidy.”

Out of the 613 families who left the rapid rehousing program in fiscal year 2018, 90 percent did not seek emergency shelter after 18 months, according to DHS’ internal numbers.

A separate calculation of the 876 families that left the program between fiscal year 2018 and the first part of 2019 found that 67 percent, or 590 families, live in a unit that they owned or

rented.

Legal advocates and critics of rapid rehousing say those metrics don’t tell the whole story because DHS doesn’t track how many of those families remain in their units after they leave the program.

“DHS defines success narrowly,” King says.

“They are really only looking at families who, after rapid rehousing, show up in their shelter system again. And that doesn’t capture all of the ways in which people are in deeply unstable and perhaps dangerous situations.”

The agency can’t say, for example, how many families are couch surfing or sleeping in cars, or whether they were evicted after leaving the program, though DHS recently started analyzing eviction data.

Critics point to other statistics that call the 90 percent success rate into question: • Of the people who exited D.C.’s homeless services system and then returned seeking homeless services during the 2018–2019 hypothermia season, 42 percent had been in rapid rehousing before, according to a report prepared by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness.

• In a sample of 882 families who left the rapid rehousing program between Oct. 1, 2017 and Feb. 28, 2019, 46 percent, or 404 families, ended up with an eviction lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court, according to data DHS presented as part of a task force assembled in 2019 to improve the program. (Even if tenants are not officially evicted, the mere existence of a lawsuit can make it more difficult for them to secure housing in the future, housing lawyers say.)

• From 2016 to 2019, the average income of rapid rehousing participants increased only slightly, from $1,285 to $1,435 per month, according to DHS data presented to the task force. Average market rent for a two-bedroom unit in D.C. is about $3,100 a month.

• The number of homeless students is trending upward from about 3,000 kids during the 2014 school year to more than 5,500 in 2019, according to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

Amber Harding, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, wants to know why Bowser is able to claim progress in reducing family homelessness while student homelessness is going up.

“If Bowser’s goal was to end family shelter stays, she could claim she was succeeding,” Harding says. “Not so much on family homelessness.”

The difference lies in the definitions of homelessness the city and DC Public Schools use. Bowser relies on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s narrow definition that only considers people living on the streets or in shelters. The school system counts kids who are couch surfing or who are “doubled up” with friends or family as homeless.

“All of those people need housing assistance,” says Nan Roman, president and CEO of that National Alliance to End Homelessness. “But it’s not there.”

Roman says the rapid rehousing model, which first came about in 2009 at the federal

washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 11

are reluctant to rent to people with the temporary vouchers; and many of the units are substandard and in need of repairs.

A stinging 2017 report from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, titled “Set Up to Fail,” argued that D.C. relied too heavily on the program and that despite the District’s claims of success, only about 20 percent of families were able to continue paying their rent after the subsidy ended. The report also found that 45 percent of families in the program ended up in eviction court while still in the program, More than 90 percent of rapid rehousing participants live east of the Anacostia River, the Washington Legal Clinic’s report found, where there are fewer grocery stores, accessing health care is difficult, and average income is lower, unemployment is higher, and life expectancy is shorter than in the rest of the District.

Just this month, the Post reported again on the program, profiling Karmaletha Johnson and her three children. The family had moved six times in the past three years, but at the end of the 12-month program, the family was earning too much money to qualify for an extension and not enough to afford the $1,897 a month to stay in their apartment. In the end, Johnson moved her family to a cheaper place in Maryland.

Does DHS consider that family’s story a success?

“I don’t think it’s that black and white,” Zeilinger says.

On the one hand, Johnson is now supporting her family without a government subsidy, even if she has to put 42 percent of her monthly income toward rent, as the Post reported, to do so. HUD considers a family “cost burdened” if they pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income in rent.

On the other hand, Johnson and her fam-

much better than (where she was) without the program,” Zeilinger says. “It’s so important that she’s achieved what she’s achieved, and we’re proud of the success she’s had in doing that.”

Nadeau, despite her praise for the program, disagrees. “I don’t think that’s success. I think it’s something that happens in D.C. every day.

It’s something we as a city are working hard on,” she says.

Success or not, families in the rapid rehousing program continue to struggle. Zeilinger doesn’t deny that. That’s why, she says, the agency assembled a task force last year to come up with solutions.

Darrow Montgomery/File

level as part of an Obama-era stimulus package, is generally considered a success.

“Would a full fledged subsidy be better for people who are getting rapid rehousing?” Roman asks. “Probably almost universally, yes.”

But with too few housing vouchers and a shortage of affordable housing, the quick fix program is the next best thing, she says.

Nadeau says the lack of permanent housing vouchers is mostly a question of local resources, not political will.

“In theory this government could fund all the needed units of housing. In the past we’ve heard from the executive that if we were to allocate all the funding needed in a particular fiscal year, there wouldn’t be the capacity to implement all the programs in the course of the year,” she writes in an email.

Nationally, research suggests that rapid rehousing can be an effective tool to lift people out of homelessness quickly, though there is little evidence that the program works to stabilize families in the long run.

New York City’s use of rapid rehousing offers the biggest cautionary tale. The city credited the program with moving 33,000 people out of shelters between 2005 and 2011. But, unlike in D.C., the rate at which people returned to shelters after rapid rehousing skyrocketed, costing the city an estimated $1 billion, according to a report by the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness.

The local program’s flaws are also well documented. Articles in the Washington Post in 2013 and City Paper in 2015 called out many of the same dilemmas the D.C. program faces today.

The subsidy is too short; people can’t begin to make enough money to afford market rate rents on their own, and when the subsidy ends, they cycle back into unstable situations; landlords

Department of Human Services Director Laura Zeilinger ily no longer live in the District, and as Maryland residents, they don’t have access to D.C.’s more robust homeless services, should they fall on hard times again.

They are now among the tens of thousands of African Americans displaced from a jurisdiction that ranks among the highest in the country in “intensity of gentrification,” according to a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. More than 20,000 African American residents in D.C. were displaced between 2000 and 2013, the study found. “[Johnson] is not homeless, her family has stability, and while it’s far from ideal, it’s also

In September 2019, all of the voices involved with rapid rehousing assembled at a common table: Program participants, landlords, lawyers, service providers, legislators, and members of executive branch agencies that address homelessness, housing, and employment came together to talk about what’s wrong with rapid rehousing and figure out how to fix it.

For some, like Shonnie Jones, that DHS was open to listening to people who had been through the program was positive.

Jones participated in the rapid rehousing program for less than a year before she received a more permanent housing voucher largely due to her son’s disability and with a lawyer’s help.

But, she cautions, she was one of the lucky ones.

“If you hear advocates for [the program] talk about it, it sounds great, but the way it’s implemented, other dynamics are left out, including families with mental health issues and behavioral health issues,” she says. “A lot of the case managers know they’ll be back in the shelter, too. And they still push it. It’s so much money wasted.”

Zeilinger’s opening remarks at the task

Families’ Paths Through D.C.’s Homeless Services Unstable Housing

The Shelter

Rapid Rehousing

a) Unstable Housing Many families cannot get back on their feet during the rapid rehousing program and end up in eviction court, couch surfing with friends or family, or sleeping in otherwise unstable or unsafe situations.

b) Out of the District Some families cannot afford D.C.’s market rent, even after the rapid rehousing subsidy ends, and are forced to look for cheaper housing in Maryland or Virginia.

c) With a voucher Families leave the rapid rehousing program with one of the scarce permanent housing vouchers, typically reserved for those who have a disabling condition that prevents them from earning enough money to afford the rent.

Families live in many types of unstable situations beyond sleeping under a bridge or in a park. Many are doubled with family or friends, couch surfing, or sleeping in laundromats or cars. Others are trying to escape a domestic violence situation.

Families’ first stop in the homeless services system is the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, where they receive an evaluation and could be placed in emergency temporary shelter.

12 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

After exiting emergency temporary shelter, families are given up to 18 months of a partial rent subsidy, along with a case manager who is tasked with connecting participants to services such as job training, health care, and childcare.

Where do families end up?

d) Stabilized Families are able to take over the full amount of rent on their own.

washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 13

force’s first meeting impressed even her most persistent critics. The DHS director told the task force members that the agency was willing to be self-critical, acknowledged the racial inequities in the program, and said the agency wanted to listen, and was willing to make changes, according to those in attendance.

That was a marked difference from the praise that Harding, of the Washington Legal Clinic, previously heard Zeilinger give the program.

“It seemed like we had the right people in the room, and there might be some political will to make change,” says Harding, who for years has been vocal in her dissatisfaction with the District’s homeless and housing policies. “And dammit, I did have a little bit of hope.”

But the shared optimism quickly faded.

After the second meeting, Zeilinger sent out a memo putting restrictions on the discussion going forward.

Any recommendations had to be cost neutral, according to the memo, which says the “City Council has cut [family rapid rehousing] funds in the last several budget cycles, and there is a strong likelihood that any enhancements to the program would be eliminated in the budget process.” Zeilinger’s explanation is undercut by a chart embedded in the memo showing the program’s budget for families has increased, from a budgeted $30 million in 2017 to a budgeted $35 million in 2020. The memo also required any recommendations to maintain the program as a time-limited subsidy and to further the District’s goal of moving people out of the shelter system quickly, according to Zeilinger’s memo.

“It was very on brand for the Bowser administration’s version of soliciting community input,” Harding says. “It was very controlled at every point along the way.”

For task force attendees who often represent people on the receiving end of rapid rehousing’s flaws, the effort was a wasted opportunity.

“The conversation was not as robust as we had hoped in terms of thinking about the big picture about rapid rehousing being the only tool for families,” says Kathy Zeisel, a lawyer with the Children’s Law Center and a member of the task force. “It really isn’t the right tool for every family, and we were not really ever able to have that conversation as part of the task force.”

The task force’s final report is expected next month, but a draft of its final recommendations is currently posted to DHS’ website. It suggests improvements to virtually every aspect of the rapid rehousing program, including the screening process, case management, and data collection.

One recommendation, which concerns legal advocates, calls for DHS to look into the possibility of working with landlords in Maryland and Virginia.

“We’ve seen in case management notes, for planning the end of the subsidy, that clients are advised to look for housing in Maryland and Virginia,” Harding says. “People can’t afford to rent here anymore. It’s a slow displacement tool.”

The draft report imagines two pathways out of the program. The first, known as the “Bridge Model,” is for families who qualify for a longer

Anderson speaks with a member of Councilmember Trayon White’s staff.

term voucher—usually those who are chronically homeless or have some sort of disabling condition that prevents them from earning enough money to pay rent.

The Bridge Model allows rapid rehousing to act as a holding station for 12 months for those families until a permanent voucher becomes available and requires families to pay 30 percent of their income toward their rent. If no voucher becomes available, they’re entitled to up to 18 more months of help paying the rent.

A feasibility study determined that about 20 percent of families in rapid rehousing would qualify for the Bridge Model, and that DHS would have to find an extra 170 vouchers to accommodate them.

The second path, known as the “TANF Model” is for everyone else—families in the assistance program or who are working but can’t afford market rent. In the TANF Model track, families can receive the rapid rehousing subsidy for no more than 30 months.

In the final six months of the program, families will shift from paying a percent of their income in rent to a percentage of the total rent.

For King of the Legal Aid Society, the 30-month cliff makes little sense considering the District’s reforms to TANF benefits, which eliminated an arbitrary time limit.

“The result is we actually ended up with the same program at the back end of the task force, and not the look at the role of the program that we really need,” King says. “If you are structuring your homeless services system in a way that it’s supposed to be a bridge to permanent housing, but the permanent housing investments aren’t sufficient, is that success?”

14 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

For Zeilinger, one of the most significant revelations to come out of the task force was that the services that usually come along with participation in the program should be more nuanced.

Some families may need more help with job training, health care, or child care, for example, she says. Others may want a lighter touch.

But, she emphasizes, any conversation about rapid rehousing should also include a discussion about the District’s severe lack of affordable housing.

“We need to focus not on the debate of whether we need to be the Housing Authority and the homeless services continuum at the same time,” she says. “We’ve done that five years, and it doesn’t work.”

Tremaine anderson raTTles off a list of available nearby apartments one afternoon last week while her kids are at school. Most are two-bedroom units that cost $2,000 or more a month. She and her partner, Harvey Martin, might be able to afford that, she speculates, if she were working.

Anderson has been through this process already. Before she signed her lease at the end of 2017, she lived in a different apartment with help from the rapid rehousing program, she says. When the subsidy ended, she had to leave and landed back in the shelter.

Now, on her second time through the program, she’s looking at another eviction and possibly another cycle through the shelter system.

Her eviction case was delayed until Feb. 4, when she could argue that the housing code violations in her unit are a defense against the evic-

tion, according to her attorney, Dan Hofman.

Gladstone, the property manager, says he has tried to address the issues but his maintenance workers couldn’t get into the unit. He suggests Anderson may be intentionally preventing the issues from getting fixed.

“They will not allow us to go in, and it creates a negative situation for the landlord,” he says.

“We’ve seen that in a couple cases and we feel this case is suspect. I can’t say that it is, but I feel quite confident that it’s suspect.”

Anderson says she has been at work when the maintenance workers knock on her door and that she hasn’t been given enough notice in advance.

In the meantime, she says, she went to DHS headquarters seeking help. She says an employee there scrolled through her phone while Anderson explained her situation. The only option, the employee told Anderson, was to go back to the shelter.

She also reached out to Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White’s office, and a member of his staff came to her apartment to look around. Wendy Glenn, White’s constituent services director, emailed DHS to ask about moving Anderson and her kids to another place to live. Only after Glenn reached out, Anderson says, did someone come to address the mold and holes in her unit. She says just this week an extension of her rental subsidy was approved, but her eviction case is still ongoing.

“I’m doin’ the best I can do for my kids to have a roof over their heads,” she says. “Even having a job working it’s still not enough to afford full market rent in D.C. So I’m just like, what now? What else am I gonna do?”

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washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 15

DCFEED

what we ate this week: Queso Fundindo en Hoja de Platano with huitlacoche, three cheeses, corn epazote, and tortillas, $10, Anafre.

Satisfaction level: 5 out of 5. what we’ll eat next week: Salmon with sea asparagus, green grapes, and ficoide glaciale, price TBD, Cranes.

Excitement level: 4 out of 5.

YOUNG & HUNGRY

Proofing Grounds

These bars and restaurants trained up the next generation of local hospitality leaders.

Tom Tom made the world a little blurrier every Thursday. That’s when the bygone bar offered “group therapy,” consisting of four beers and four shots for $10. Bartenders sold hundreds of rounds on a night some people stay in.

From 2002 through 2012, the Adams Morgan bar pulled off the impossible. It drew lines while simultaneously earning some of the fiercest one-star Yelp reviews to tarnish the platform. It was a place where flip cup was deemed a sport and patrons sat on couches, padding their stomachs with wings while Stoli Razberi vodka and Bud Light flowed freely.

Tom Tom might not sound like the type of proving ground to birth a bunch of responsible business owners, but it did. Many of its employees who started out as barbacks or bartenders went on to open their own D.C. bars and restaurants.

This watering hole wasn’t alone. Several places that were in full swing during the start of the District’s hospitality boom in the aughts intentionally or unintentionally readied their staff to become their own bosses. They include the Founding Farmers family of restaurants and the original Passenger from brothers Tom and Derek Brown.

Each management team took a different approach to prepare their worker bees to go forth and shape where D.C. eats and drinks today.

Tom Tom When real estate brothers Soleiman and Iraj Askarinam opened Tom Tom where a tapas restaurant once stood, Brian Vasile was on the opening team. “We didn’t change much because we didn’t have a lot of money to work with,” he says. “We added a sound system and put in an old-school Nintendo before it was a thing. Three got stolen before we locked it up.”

He recounts a few famous visitors who came through, including the Bush twins, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, and professional soccer players. “It was a Top 40 fun bar where people went to have fun and dance and maybe meet somebody without feeling like they need to order a $17 drink to feel cool,” Vasile says.

Vasile was at Tom Tom from 2002 to 2007, when he left to open his first bar, Grand Cen-

Illustration by Julia Terbrock

By Laura Hayes

tral, located up the street. Later on he’d open Brickside Food & Drink followed by Capo Deli. He’s been keeping a list of what Tom Tom alumni have gone on to accomplish.

There’s Nic Makris who owns Blaguard and Homestead; Gareth Croke and Colin McDonough of Boundary Stone and two locations of All-Purpose Pizzeria; Paul Holder who owned Town Hall before joining forces with another Tom Tom alum, Jeremy Carman, to open The Salt Line; Tony Kowaleski of DC Reynolds and Moreland’s Tavern; and Matt Croke of Boundary Stone and Moreland’s Tavern.

“I was supposed to be a temporary barback for a couple of weeks while a former classmate was on vacation,” Holder recalls. This was in 2002. “I was good at keeping beer cold and stocking ice so they kept me around.”

A recent Georgetown University graduate, Holder was an asset in other ways. He ensured that current students knew about Tom Tom by plastering campus with bright posters filled with puns written in Times New Roman font. “That was the extent of our advertising and it grew from there,” he says.

Camaraderie was required to get the team through late nights keeping the dance floor quenched. “It was a really collegial group,”

16 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

Holder says. “We all chose to be there. That’s the best way to describe it. Back in 2002, the restaurant industry hadn’t taken root like you see it now. A bunch of us didn’t know if we’d be lifers. But it evolved as such … I got to learn from people who had been in environments where they had to figure things out for themselves.”

Vasile agrees. “We were happy about each other’s successes,” he says. “There was no jealousy. We just wanted the bar to succeed.

It’s rare when everyone gets along and there’s not a ton of drama.”

Makris started as the assistant general manager in 2005 and took over the general manager position from Vasile when he left.

“I was 26 when I bought Blaguard, which is rounding the corner on nine-and-half years in business now,” says Makris. “I learned enough at my time at Tom Tom to do it. Or at least I was ready to try. The climate of managers there was so good. I learned so much from Brian so quickly on how to run a business and treat coworkers. I took those lessons and moved on with them.”

Alumni keep in touch on an ex-employee Facebook group, host the occasional reunion, and fight for points in a fantasy football league.

Croke reveals that he and Kowaleski even met their wives at Tom Tom.

Founding Farmers and Farmers Fishers Bakers The bar talent that poured out of Farmers Restaurant Group was prolific. Current and former employees refer to the company as “The Farm,” and some say they’re part of a “farmaly.”

“I’m not going to say it was all me, but it was all me,” says a confident Jon Arroyo. He’s been with Farmers Restaurant Group since the first Founding Farmers opened in Foggy Bottom in 2008. Today he serves as the vice president of beverage operations.

To prepare to launch Founding Farmers, Arroyo attended BAR 5-Day—an acclaimed bartending training program in New York. His class was a who’s who of craft bartenders, including fellow Washingtonian Derek Brown.

“I remember all the laughs I got when I told them my plan to open a craft cocktail bar in a 200-seat, high-volume restaurant,” Arroyo says. “People lost their minds.”

Arroyo made some mistakes at first, like putting a mint julep on the menu without a machine to make pebbled ice, but he largely pulled off his plan to bring craft cocktails to the masses.

Those applying for bartending jobs were coming over from Clyde’s or Maggiano’s, Arroyo explains. They needed to learn how to make a laundry list of classic cocktails quickly and with consistency. Arroyo, who calls himself “hard, but fair,” created rigorous training programs.

“I promise no matter what you’ve done this will be the hardest thing you’ve done, but if you make it through, you’ll be fast and make good money,” he says.

People who endured Arroyo’s bartender’s bootcamp went on to open popular bars, lead major bar programs, or represent top liquor brands. Glendon Hartley and Chad Spangler co-own Service Bar. Chu Yi and Devin Gong co-own Copycat Co. and Astoria. Torrence T. Swain and Duane Sylvestre both ran the bar at Bourbon Steak and currently represent El Silencio Mezcal and Campari, respectively. And Kapri Robinson bartends at Reliable Tavern and heads up Chocolate City’s Best—a cocktail competition for bartenders of color.

Hartley was among the first employees at Founding Farmers. He worked there from opening day through 2010 and returned to work at Farmers Fishers Bakers in 2012. “Glendon lived in Rockville but wanted to learn how to bartend,” Arroyo recalls. “He sucked, but he was a very gifted little student. I remember the first day he worked for me. ‘Will you try this drink I made?’ he asked. ‘Before I try it, what’s in a Martinez? Come back and taste me on that drink when you know.’”

“Every single thing about that job was an ass-kicking,” Hartley says. Bartenders start out making drinks for the breakfast crowd, a shift that starts at 7 a.m. Once they pass a certification test, they could move on to working the out-of-sight service bar in the evenings before eventually graduating to the main bar. “It was very challenging, but I would not have gotten that experience if I wasn’t making 300 or 400 cocktails at night by myself.”

Robinson started at Farmers Fishers Bakers at the beginning of 2013. “To get certified to work a p.m. shift you had to make six cocktails within 10 minutes and they had to be spot on,” she says. “It’s like trying out for a reality show.”

She passed. Ready for the next challenge, Robinson signed up for Arroyo’s new 90-day Head Bartender in Training Program.

“It teaches you how to manage a bar financially,” Arroyo explains. That means crunching the cost of ingredients, placing orders, and doing inventory. “You’re learning how to run your own business. Anyone can make a drink, but can you make it profitable?”

“I still have my binder,” Robinson says. “It has so much information on how to calculate your costs and organize your bar.” While doing inventory she gave herself a nickname— the keg whisperer. “Counting beer kegs is hard. You have to shake that shit around and feel it out. You have to listen to where the liquid is. We counted every bottle every Monday.

Some places do it once a month.”

“I think I’ve worked for 50 or 60 restaurants and that was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had in the restaurant industry,” Hartley sums up. “It was a chore, but we were building something that was going to last and building a future for ourselves and we didn’t even know it.”

The Passenger The Brown brothers opened the original location of the Passenger in Shaw in 2009. Derek focused on the upscale Columbia Room located in the back while Tom largely held down Passenger. Both bars closed in 2014 only to be revived elsewhere in the neighborhood a couple years later.

Tom says D.C.’s craft cocktail scene was in its “late adolescence” when Passenger debuted. “There was a lot of interest in it and it was growing, but it wasn’t like it is now where bartenders have to have a certain amount of knowledge just to get a job,” he explains. “It was often an afterthought for restaurants to have a cocktail program.”

That meant there was a host of people eager to learn and ready to work, especially women. “From kitchens to the front-of-the-house, sexism prevailed like any industry in the U.S.,” Brown says. “But the restaurant industry being a slow adopter, it left a talent pool that was untapped.”

One of his first hires was Alexandra Bookless. “When she came to Passenger, we let the hierarchy sort itself out,” Brown says. “We trained everybody the same and gave each person the opportunity to step forward and she rocketed to the top. Within a very short time, she was my right-hand woman.”

Soon Bookless was training others, which some probably agreed was an improvement.

“My idea of training somebody is usually throwing them to the wolves and then criticizing them until they don’t want to be criticized anymore,” Tom jokes.

Bookless first connected with Derek when he came into Bourbon in Adams Morgan on Sunday nights. “He had a tasting group,” she says.

“They would taste new spirits and liqueurs and talk about it and hang out. I always worked that.

They let me taste their cool things. One person brought whiskey with a snake in it.”

The experience made her even more interested in pursuing a craft bartending career.

She came on board at Passenger and stayed on until the year it closed. After a brief stint in San Francisco, Bookless returned to the District where she is now the beverage manager for the Eaton Hotel, including cocktail bar Allegory, restaurant American Son, and rooftop bar Wild Days.

Bookless ticks off other prominent alumni of the original Passenger: Mola owner Erin Lingle; Mick Perrigo, who left Left Door to lead the bar program at L’Annexe last year; Jamie MacBain, who has worked at cocktail destinations like Daikaya and Bourbon Steak and now represents Diageo Reserve Brands; Cotton & Reed creative director Lukas B. Smith; ANXO Cidery & Pintxos general manager Jade Aldrighette; and Drink Company partner JP Fetherston, who started out as a Passenger doorman.

They keep in touch and call on each other.

Bookless just commissioned former Passenger bartender Julia Hurst to make the mugs for the coffee shop inside of the Eaton Hotel.

After bartending at hotspots like Rose’s Luxury and Archipelago, Hurst started her own pottery line.

Bookless says Passenger was a formative place to work because of the freedom it offered. “We could try any spirit we wanted, go wild with creativity, and pass that on to our guests,” she says. Specifically, “Tom allowed us the freedom to be creative and Derek was always there with the technical answers when we needed it, so it was a special environment.”

The tradition of freedom transferred to Passenger’s new location at 1539 7th St. NW, according to its former general manager Andrea Tateosian. She’s currently the president of the DC Craft Bartenders Guild. “It’s a great space to go wild creatively and take initiative to be part of the community,” she says.

During the 2019 government shutdown, for example, Tateosian and her team made way for furloughed federal employees with bartending experience to pick up shifts. “There aren’t a lot of places where you have that kind of trust of ownership where you can go for it and make things happen,” she says.

But before she worked at the new Passenger, which opened in 2016, Tateosian patronized the first one.

“I was really excited about the prospect of working and managing a bar that had meant so much to me in my early days in D.C.,” she says. “The original Passenger was filled with talent and it was a great party.”

CP

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CPARTS High Art

Buy a painting from this dog and get a cannabis treat.

District Derp, an online art gallery that gifts cannabis products when customers purchase prints of dog-created paintings, started with a bet. “My friend said, ‘You can train the dog to roll over, but I bet you can’t train her to do something really cool,’ co-founder Chris explains. “So we asked, ‘Well, what would be impressive enough for you?’ and he said ‘painting.’”

In just a few weeks, he had trained Sudo, his Alaskan Klee Kai, to paint. Capitalizing on her love of sticks, Chris drilled a hole in a short, thick wooden dowel and super glued a paintbrush into the hole. Sudo loved holding her new toy in her mouth, but the challenge was getting her to touch the brush to the canvas. With the command “paint” and no shortage of treats (salami is a favorite), Chris soon had Sudo adding a loaded paintbrush to her mouth and bringing it to a canvas propped on a child’s easel set on a bottom stair in the row house he shares with his partner in life and business, Anais. Sudo was creating strokes and dots with acrylic paint.

Her work is varied. The painting titled “Simply Sudo” features her pawprints in contrasting neons, while “Jovial Nature” uses District Derp’s brand color palette, with swipes of gold and green. According to the online store, the dense “Clash” is Sudo’s magnum opus, “an abstract portrayal of our current political climate.” The prints can be purchased without an accompanying gift, for those who find art to be inspiration enough.

Sudo’s talent bloomed in early 2018, the same time Chris and Anais had started sourcing cannabis from different D.C. delivery services to mitigate their struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. “We were much more interested in using plant medicine instead of benzos, and we were just really unhappy with the quality of the delivery services that were out there,” Anais says. “They couldn’t vouch for the quality of their product; they didn’t let you know what strain you were buying or what to expect from it, which is super important when you’re trying to address something specific. On top of that, the customer service was horrible.”

Chris and Anais quickly tired of late delivery people, miscommunication, and the game of

Elizabeth Tuten

By Elizabeth Tuten

chance that came with unidentified strains of cannabis. “We knew we could do a better job,” says Anais. Fueled by those negative delivery experiences and their desire to treat their anxiety naturally, the pair combined a shared interest in the science of cannabis, Anais’ passion for baking, and Sudo’s new artistic talent to create District Derp.

The website went live in November of 2018.

Chris, Anais, and their clients asked not to use their last names because of the stigma they believe is still associated with selling and using cannabis. Both Chris and Anais still work day jobs: Chris is a software engineer at a financial institution, and Anais is a project manager at an international NGO. They hope that future legislation will legalize the licensed and regulated retail distribution of recreational cannabis. This would allow them to step out more publicly as business owners and cannabis advocates.

They’re hyper-conscious of staying aboveboard. “We started diving into a compliant business model—the logistics of staying legal,”

18 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

Chris says of District Derp’s beginnings. It took two specialized attorneys, two accountants, a business advisor, and a creative director to ensure that everything from the books to the website copy was in keeping with the District’s Initiative 71 gifting model for the sharing of cannabis.

Chris and Anais were also determined to keep their business local, sourcing cannabis from regional master growers who tend to the couple’s seeds on their behalf.

All of District Derp’s products are doubletested with both an inhome chemical testing kit and a process called thin-layer chromatography, which tracks the movements of colored water droplets on chromatography paper to test potency, turbanoid profile, and THC to CBD ratio. Once they can confirm that the batch doesn’t have trace amounts of pesticides or debris, they package the loose bud or put it into edibles, all of which come in varying strains and amounts.

They’re then given as gifts based on which of Sudo’s paintings a customer selects from the online gallery.

Anais creates all of the edibles in their

“They’ll tell you about the painting, like what kind of mood Sudo was in when she made it.”

D.C. trio Too Free’s new album is full of electronic grooves and emotion. washingtoncitypaper.com/arts home kitchen, tweaking recipes until “it’s something you’d want to eat even if there wasn’t cannabis in it,” she says. She hosts parties for friends to try out and give feedback on new recipes and tinkers with dosage until she can confidently tell consumers exactly what to expect from their treat. Exacting standards and transparency around product production are what the couple hopes will set District Derp apart as the D.C. cannabis industry grows. That, and the painting dog.

Sudo looks like a mini-wolf. She’s charming, bumbling, and exceptionally soft. She takes about 15 to 20 minutes to create a painting, which includes salami breaks and a showering of pets and praise. Chris and Anais pick the color schemes and will sometimes place a makeshift stencil on the canvas to create negative space amid Sudo’s brushstrokes. The result is a modern canine spin on abstract expressionism, which has made unexpected art collectors out of District Derp clients.

Scott and Jade, two of Sudo’s buyers, both say they’ve been seeking out a reliable cannabis source to quell anxiety and depression that prescription medication doesn’t always adequately assuage. They do, however, have differing opinions on Sudo’s best work. Jade likes the purple and yellow of “Mardi Gras,” a muddy, impressionistic take on Pollock, while Scott prefers the simplicity of modern, minimalist “Noir.” They each have all of Sudo’s available prints. Jade gifts duplicates to friends. “The idea that you’re buying paintings from a dog is hilarious,” she says.

But it’s the high quality cannabis and the customer service that made both Scott and Jade repeat customers.

“As someone who’s smoked not-high-quality-product, I can confidently say this is a high quality product,” says Scott, a finance and accounting recruiter. “I haven’t seen anything like them in D.C. This is the best customer service I’ve had, even when I was buying from friends. They’ll tell you about the painting, like what kind of mood Sudo was in when she made it.”

Sudo and her work are helping to facilitate Chris and Anais’ relationships in the local arts community. District Derp was a sponsor of POW! WOW! international mural festival’s stop in D.C. this past spring, and they’re on the lookout for new opportunities to support and partner with local art events.

There’s no brick-and-mortar gallery space for Sudo’s art yet. But Chris and Anais envision a future community gathering space and dispensary where customers can sit, stay, view her paintings in person, and learn about cannabis.

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CPARTS ARTS DESK

Fine Lines

By Kayla Randall Lesley Bryant opened her U Street NW barbershop, Lady Clipper, in May 2017. Since then, she’s featured work from a varied, rotating list of local artists in the space. Patrons can buy that art right off the walls. In a city full of art museums, Bryant, born in Trinidad and raised in D.C. since she was 12, has cultivated her own community-based display at Lady Clipper. Bryant spoke with City Paper about turning her barbershop into an art gallery, the importance of supporting artists in the community, and the local artists we should know.

Lesley Bryant: My background is in graphic design—I worked in the design industry for about 12 years before becoming a barber. When I became a barber, I felt like it was important to bring my background into it. Design and barbering are very related and the same principles apply: proportion, point, line, and plane elements. I feel like it’s important to highlight local art because we’re on U Street, which is a historical hub for art and music. I thought it made sense to continue that trend and bring it into the shop. For me, as an artist, we definitely seek a lot of inspiration. So it was important for me to give back to the community and see if there were any local artists that sat in my chair that wanted to share their work or sell their work in my shop. When I was constructing my barbershop, I thought it would be a good idea to open the walls to local artists to display their work and sell it.

WCP: So, if a customer comes into your shop and they see a piece they really love, what next steps do they take to buy the piece?

LB: Each piece has a tag with the artist’s name and a price. If you walk into the shop and say, “I love this piece, I want it,” all you do is pay me and then I pay the artist. And you walk home with your piece that day.

WCP: Sometimes you’re showcasing art from people whose work may not otherwise be featured. Do you feel that responsibility and is that part of your goal with this idea?

LB: That is the ultimate goal—to give them an outlet, give them a space, make them feel included.

WCP: How are you finding the artists you feature in your shop?

LB: Honestly, it started with a post on Instagram. I asked for anybody that wanted to be featured, any visual artist, and one response turned into 10. I only really had to post that once and it caught like a roaring fire in the community. The first artist I ever featured was one of my clients. His stuff was up and we did an art show for him, and at his art show, other artists came. At his art show, people were starting to ask me verbally “How does this work?” and “How can I get mine up?” and “When is the next availability?” So I just keep a calendar of who’s next, and we switch artists about every two months.

WCP: And D.C. is actually full of talented visual artists.

LB: Yes, I’m so surprised at how many people are doing it, and not all of the artists are doing it as their full-time job.

They’re just doing this as hobbies sometimes. And how great is it to make money from your hobby?

WCP: What are the parameters for an artist who wants to be featured in the shop?

LB: Specifically, you have to be from the DMV. As long as the artwork is PG13—we want to make sure that the art is not offensive to anyone—that’s another rule. The other rule is the artwork has to be protected. If it’s on canvas, that’s OK because it’s waterproof. Or it can be framed. We’re a barbershop first, so we want to make sure it’s either framed or on canvas in case water or hair gets on it. Sometimes people want to hang posters, and posters aren’t good unless they’re framed because if they get wet or ripped or something, I’m responsible.

20 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

Lady Clipper Team

WCP: Why did you decide to place such an emphasis on local art and artists in your space?

Lady Clipper owner Lesley Bryant looks at work by artist Dorian Blue in her shop.

WCP: Can you speak to the importance of art in your business?

LB: Art, I believe, is extremely important as far as having a community connect with each other, relate to each other. I feel like art is an equalizer. It’s like a signature—you can’t look at someone’s signature and say this person’s rich or this person’s poor. You look at art and it is up to your interpretation. It’s a bonding experience, something that people can share.

WCP: Who are some of the artists people should have on their radar?

LB: What we do on my Instagram page is every time an artist hangs, we kind of make a collage and we put a mini bio up.

Let me give you a few to start: Dew Charmant, Ashley Brown, and Jessica Valoris.

I think those three are really good ones.

WCP: How have you previously experienced art at barbershops or hair salons?

LB: In my experience, I have been to barbershops that have had art on the wall,

but it’s been art from artists that feel like they’re unreachable or untouchable. It’s sort of like a generic thing that I’ve seen in my experience. It’s not really local paintings or photography. It seems like branded material, as opposed to something that was hand painted or photographed—more commercial and sterile.

I feel like putting actual paintings and drawings and sketches up. People feel like it’s more tangible and it gives a warm feel to the shop, sort of a homey vibe.

That was my mission in the first place.

WCP: Now that you’ve had your business for a few years, how do you feel like things have changed?

LB: I feel like there has been a huge uptick in the brand recognition. The other day, I walked on 14th Street and I saw one of our buttons in a store randomly sitting in a bowl with other random local buttons. It’s just been wonderful, the support and the recognition. I feel like my community is proud of what we’re doing and how inclusive we are. We definitely have gained trust and respect from the community.

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CITYPAPER WASHINGTON

Located on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University, six miles west of Beltway exit 54 at the intersection of Braddock Road and Rt. 123.

FEB. 5, 2020 6 PM–8 PM PEARL STREET WAREHOUSE For tickets, visit pearlstreetwarehouse.com/shows

VOTING PARTY

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THEATERCURTAIN CALLS A Thousand Splendid Suns

Almost Perfect Strangers Two plays about the unexpected relationships that build between people who don’t know one another well stand out on stages in Northeast and Southwest.

By Ian Thal

A Thousand Splendid Suns

By Ursula Rani Sarma Adapted from the novel by Khaled Hosseini Directed by Carey Perloff At Arena Stage to March 1 It Is fIttIng that a stage adaptation of a novel begins with a sequence of images like those on a book cover: Men and women in kurtas use long carpets to drag hookahs, birdcages, and thrones across the stage. The sun and the mountainside are rendered in wires, like pen-and-ink sketches made sculptural, and the sky and the ground have been touched with brush strokes that could be either calligraphy or henna.

Ursula Rani Sarma’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns opens in 1992, with Kabul in chaos. Three years after Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the mujahideen are preparing to take the city. As 14-year-old Laila (Mirian Katrib) and her family pack their books and prepare to join other refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, an artillery shell hits their house, killing both her parents. She awakens in the house of neighbors Rasheed (Haysam Kadri, who also does fine work as the fight captain) and Mariam (Hend Ayoub), who have taken her in as she recovers from the blast.

Upon hearing that her childhood friend Tariq (Antoine Yared, primarily seen in Laila’s reveries), has died in Peshawar, she realizes she has nowhere to go: Rumors of mujahideen raping unaccompanied women abound. Given the perceived dishonor of an unmarried Laila living in the house, Rasheed, over Mariam’s objections, proposes making Laila his second wife. Laila

hastily accepts his reasoning, the first of many self-justifications for Rasheed’s ever-tightening authority over the household as society collapses elsewhere in the city. As succeeding factions take control of Kabul—first, the mujahideen and later, the Taliban—he takes license from their misogyny to become increasingly violent toward the women under his roof.

Though the two wives are initially set against one another, they become friends and allies through Laila’s daughter, Aziza (Nikita Tewani).

By the time Laila is ready to deliver her son, Zalmai (played on opening night by Ravi Mampara, who alternates with Justin Xavier Poydras) the Taliban have already denied the women’s hospital both anesthetics and antibiotics.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is not the first time one of Hosseini’s novels has been adapted to the stage –– Matthew Spangler’s adaptation of The Kite Runner premiered in 2009 at the now defunct San Jose Repertory Theater.

Adaptation requires some plot aspects be emphasized, altered, or elided due to the constraints of the stage, and Sarma’s script focuses on the succession of episodes centering on Laila as protagonist and audience surrogate, with Mariam’s backstory relegated to an extended flashback. With the exception of Rasheed, who continually monologues his increasing cruelty, we have little access to the interiority of the characters. Laila and Mariam are known more through their torments and oppression than by how they perceive themselves. Likewise, outside the identification of the burqa as a Pashtun custom, the cultural divide between Pashtun Rasheed and Tajik Mariam and Laila is left unexplored. Perhaps doing so was seen as necessary to allow Eng-

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lish-speaking audiences in Western countries to identify with Afghani women.

However, the artful staging by director Carey Perloff, who originally commissioned the adaptation in her role as artistic director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, along with the collaborators from the original 2017 production who have returned for the East Coast premiere, prevent the proceedings from being entirely didactic. The visual elements are extraordinary: Ken MacDonald’s sets, defined by portals and arches fashioned from metal lattices that are either wheeled into place or lowered from the heavens allow for quick scene changes. Stephen Buescher’s choreography simulates slowed-down and sped-up camera effects. Costume designer Linda Cho’s embroidered kurtas and patterned scarves are beautifully lit by Robert Wierzel.

At Arena Stage, where the audience may regularly include makers of policy and interpreters of law, some artful didacticism may be necessary.

The spectacle could be seen as an argument that human rights, and specifically women’s rights, must be a foreign policy consideration. It also reminds us how, even in a country like Afghanistan, where before the war, women worked as doctors, lawyers, and university professors, authorities offering protection can quickly become oppressors. One may also wonder if Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Samuel Alito, who were both in attendance on opening night, will discuss that slippery slope in corridors of the Supreme Court.

1101 6th St. SW. $56–$115. (202) 554-9066. arenastage.org.

Recent Tragic Events

By Craig Wright Directed by Jason Tamborini At Atlas Performing Arts Center to Feb. 16 natalIe Boland stands in front of an apartment set designed by Jonathan Dahm Robertson and makes the opening remarks that regular theatergoers are accustomed to.

Then she asks for a volunteer to flip a coin.

This chance event, heads-or-tails, Boland explains, will determine how the script diverges at various points that will be identified by an audible tone.

Someone knocks on a door. Waverly (Kari Ginsburg) rushes to the door, her hair wrapped in a towel. Her nervous blind date, Andrew (Jacob Yeh), has arrived, holding a bottle of Syrah in one hand and a Joyce Carol Oates novel in the other.

Andrew manages the bookstore at the Minneapolis airport. Waverly works in advertising.

Were the action not set on September 12, 2001, we might be watching the pilot episode of a sitcom about a sweet couple and their zany neighbors and co-workers in the Twin Cities. Instead, the television plays non-stop reportage from Ground Zero in New York. Neither wanted to cancel the date. To Andrew’s surprise, Waverly is the spitting image of a woman he met while visiting New York two weeks earlier. Coincidentally, Waverly has yet to hear from Wendy, her zanier twin sister who lives in New York. Wa-

verly’s bookcase seems to be almost the twin of Andrew’s: They both love Anthony Trollope and Elizabeth Bishop. Though she hasn’t read them yet, Waverly also has all of Joyce Carol Oates’ books. (The novelist, Andrew’s favorite, is also Waverly’s great-aunt.) Playwright Craig Wright uses these coincidences to ratchet up the paranoia many felt while fearing another attack. It’s no accident that costume designer Alison Samantha Johnson has dressed Waverly in a robe with fractal patterns on it.

Soon, Ron (Jonathan Feuer), a neighbor from down the hall, arrives. Though he presents himself as easy-going, delivering such catchphrases as “synergy,” “flow of energy,” and “do what you gotta do” in a distinctive Minnesota accent, he’s the sort of neighbor only tolerated on television, with a habit of arriving unannounced and opening bottles of wine without asking. He claims to be so sensitively attuned that he can hear the tones that signify the divergences in the script. Ron’s largely silent lady friend, Nancy (Molly Shayna Cohen), soon joins them for pizza, dressed only in a long nightshirt. Once the second act begins, Joyce Carol Oates, taking the form of a sock puppet on Cohen’s right arm, joins the quartet for beers and a peculiar card game of Wendy’s invention. Her plane has been grounded due to the national emergency.

It takes a skillful ensemble to maneuver the play’s philosophical aporia, loopy comedy, and the ever impending dread all at the same time, and director Jason Tamborini aptly leads his capable cast.

The question of free-will versus fate has been a theme of tragedy since Oedipus first visited the Oracle at Delphi. Whether we live in a deterministic or probabilistic universe, at the very least, we experience ourselves as having freewill. Fictitious characters in a scripted drama only have the appearance of that experience, if the playwright decides to write them that way.

As much as the characters protest throughout the run that they have free-will, their protests have been authored. Meanwhile, Ron, as an advocate of determinism and easy-going dude, without any indication that he studied either history or the jihadist ideology that animates al-Qaeda, soon explains that the attacks were made inevitable by the hubris of building the Twin Towers and the 1948 founding of the modern state of Israel in a part of the world where Jews were not wanted.

When tragedies occur, it is easier to claim that history is determined by simple equations than it is to examine the complexity and messiness of human agency. Ironically, it’s only sock-puppet Oates who seems to articulate humanist outrage.

Recent Tragic Events premiered in August 2002 at D.C.’s own Woolly Mammoth Theatre, just 11 months after 9/11. Prologue Theatre’s production demonstrates that Wright’s play, like a wine of a certain vintage, has aged very well, and still speaks to our anxieties about a world that seems beyond our control and understanding.

1333 H St. NE. $20–$35. (202) 399-7993. prologuetheatre.org.

LUCE UNPLUGGED COMMUNITY SHOWCASE

A celebration of DC’s local bands and local beverages, surrounded by thousands of artworks in SAAM’s Luce Foundation Center

Friday, January 31, 6–8 p.m. | Free

Performances by Pree and Carly Harvey. Free tastings (21+) from Anxo Cider. Additional beverages and snacks for purchase.

Presented with the Washington City Paper.

8th and G Streets NW | Washington, DC | AmericanArt.si.edu/events

KINAN AZMEH’S CITYBAND

WE’VE BEEN SEEN AND HEARD IN D.C. SINCE 1981.

Kinan Azmeh, clarinet Kyle Sanna, guitar John Hadfield, percussion Josh Myers, double bass

SAT, FEB 8, 8pm • SIXTH & I Syrian clarinetist and Silk Road Ensemble veteran Kinan Azmeh leads his polished and pulse-quickening CityBand in an inventive blend of classical music, jazz, and the music of his homeland.

Special thanks: Galena-Yorktown Foundation

MELISSA ALDANA QUARTET

BECOME A MEMBER.

SAT, FEB 15, 8pm SIXTH & I

D.C.’s awesomest events calendar. washingtoncitypaper.com/membership

washingtoncitypaper.com/ calendar washingtoncitypaper.com

The first female winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, Chilean-born tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana dazzled a WPA audience in last season’s Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour concert. Now, she showcases her trademark harmonic sophistication with her own ensemble.

Special thanks: Susan S. Angell, GalenaYorktown Foundation. Honorary patron: His Excellency Alfonso Silva, Ambassador of Chile

TICKETS: WashingtonPerformingArts.org (202) 785-9727

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LIZ AT LARGE

Broadway & Beyond with Megan Hilty and Cheyenne Jackson

Two multi-talented stars of the stage, screen—Tony® nominee Megan Hilty (Wicked, 9 to 5, TV’s Smash) and Grammy® nominee Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, Aida, TV’s American Horror Story) join forces with conductor and notable actor Damon Gupton and the NSO over Valentine’s Day weekend to celebrate songs from Broadway, film, and the American Songbook, with performances of Wicked’s “Popular,” Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” and more!

February 13–15 | Concert Hall Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600

Groups call (202) 416-8400 For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

“Tired” by Liz Montague

AARP is the Presenting Sponsor of the NSO Pops Season.

Liz Montague is a D.C.-based cartoonist and cat mom. You can find her work in The New Yorker and City Paper.

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FILMSHORT SUBJECTS

“An enduring classic… gives [ABT’s] fans their richest reward” —The New York Times

VENGEANCE IS FINE The Rhythm Section Directed by Reed Morano

The Rhythm Section opens Friday in theaters everywhere.

Devon Teuscher in Giselle, photo by Gene Schiavone

Blake lively is at her best when she has a secret. In recent films The Age of Adaline and A Simple Favor, she has succeeded as characters who hide dangerous pasts behind glamorous facades. It’s the type of role that plays to her strengths, both her physical beauty and a certain inscrutability. In The Rhythm Section, an incoherent revenge thriller, Lively changes course, scrapping glamour for grit and trading guarded emotions for high-pitched action.

It might have worked, too, if the film had any idea what it was doing.

At first glance, her role in The Rhythm Section actually seems perfect for her particular talents. She plays Stephanie, a British woman who, after losing her entire family in a terrorist attack, seeks violent revenge. With no discernible skills, she turns to a gruff ex-MI6 agent (Jude Law), who is working privately to take down the same funder of terrorism she is after. At his training facility deep in the Scottish moors, he teaches Stephanie to kill. He gives her a new identity. She cuts her hair and dyes it brown. She enters a dangerous world with a very big secret.

It’s a transformation that, in a different film, would be played for entertainment—it’s a gritty makeover, but a makeover nonetheless— but director Reed Morano is resistant to fun.

As Stephanie embraces her new identity as an assassin, working her way up from the smalltime thug to the big boss, the film nibbles at the edges of genre conventions, while withholding the pleasures they typically deliver. There’s a jaw-dropping chase scene through the alleys

of Tangier, Morocco, filmed entirely from inside Stephanie’s shaking car. There are fight scenes, in which her newfound skills are tested against those with more experience, that unfold with a rare and ugly intimacy. These are predictable moments in a revenge thriller, but Morano films them with just enough originality to feel fresh.

These flourishes, however, are not enough to compensate for the film’s core flaws. The Rhythm Section is built on a twisty plot, features strong performances, and is filmed with verve, but its meaning is always just out of reach. It’s not entertaining enough for pure genre, and it lacks anything new or interesting to say about vengeance. For a film that revolves around terrorism, there is shockingly little politics. Still, grand statements of purpose are unnecessary when we’ve got a character we like on a well defined journey. The script, adapted by Mark Burnell from his own novel, never looks beyond Stephanie’s grief to see her as more than, as she’s described in the film, a “woman with nothing to lose.” A thirdrate cliche is a poor substitute for characterization.

Even Lively, with her gift for mystery, isn’t enough to enliven this dead screenplay. There is a gleeful moment halfway through when Lively poses as a sex worker and infiltrates the Central Park penthouse of a noted scumbag with terrorist connections. For a glorious moment, she slips easily back into the mode of the opaque seductress, and we wait in giddy anticipation for her to dole out punishment for the wicked. But it’s just a tease. Moments later, the film reverts back to its glum machinations, and we are reminded that the spilling of blood is not necessarily a sign of life.

—Noah Gittell

American Ballet Theatre Giselle February 11–16 | Opera House Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600

Groups call (202) 416-8400

For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

American Ballet Theatre’s engagement is made possible through generous endowment support of The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund.

Support for Ballet at the Kennedy Center is generously provided by C. Michael Kojaian.

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CITYLIST

The Club at Studio K

Music 27 Dance 28 Theater 28 Film 31

M A S O N B AT E S ’ S KC J U K E B OX

Juan Atkins, Godfather of Techno

CITY LIGHTS: FRIDAY

T H U . , JA N . 3 0 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

The Time Machine Roast F R I . , JA N . 3 1 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

L AVA IMITE ILAB D ILIT Y

Broccoli City Festival Preview S A T. , F E B . 1 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

Linda May Han Oh, Aventurine

SOL

DO

UT

T H U . , F E B . 6 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

ill Camille F R I . , F E B . 7 | 7 : 3 0 P. M .

Chris Distefano

L AVA IMITE ILAB D ILIT Y

S A T. , F E B . 8 | 7 : 3 0 & 9 : 3 0 P. M .

Bilal: Valentine’s Day Residency F E B . 1 3 & 1 4 | 7 : 3 0 & 9 : 3 0 P. M .

SPOTLIGHT ON IMPROV COMEDY

Music FRIDAY BLUES

AMP BY STRATHMORE 11810 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Billy Price. 8 p.m. $16–$28. ampbystrathmore.com.

CLASSICAL TAKOMA PARK COMMUNITY CENTER 7500 Maple Ave., Takoma Park. (301) 891-7100. The Patagonia Winds: By the People, For the People. 8 p.m. Free–$10. takomaparkmd.gov.

ELECTRONIC SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. MINKA. 9 p.m. Free. songbyrddc.com.

FOLK THE ANTHEM 901 Wharf St. SW. (202) 888-0020.

Greensky Bluegrass. 7:30 p.m. $42.50–$65. theanthemdc.com.

HIP-HOP COMET PING PONG 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. (202) 364-0404. The Artifacts. 9:30 p.m. $12. cometpingpong.com.

Baby Wants Candy: Historical Hip Hop Edition

MINKA

F E B . 2 0 | 7 : 3 0 & 9 : 3 0 P. M .

Heartbreak changed a lot for Philadelphia-based MINKA. When frontrunner Ari “Dick” Rubin’s year-long relationship ended, he createdthe lovelorn EP End of the Affair mostly alone.

While the release is a representative blend of his 1980s soul sound, songs like “Sentimental Girl” and “All I Ever Had” are somber compared to the group’s earlier records. Despite the sobering reflection on his breakup, MINKA’s Rubin creates a unique performance. Stylized facial hair and big fur coats are his look of choice for promotional materials. He also says the band brings “1984 meets 2050” vibes, which checks out against his futuristic spin on classic soul and R&B. What’s more, the band allegedly “smells like lavender.” Does that mean you’ll be able to smell Rubin & Co. from the crowd? Do they use essential oil diffusers? It’s unclear. Anyways, you’ll be in for a treat when Philadelphia lends MINKA to D.C. as part of the group’s 2020 tour.

MINKA perform at 9 p.m. at the Songbyrd Vinyl Lounge, 2475 18th St. NW. Free. (202) 450-2917. songbyrddc.com.

—Sarah Smith

POP 9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Metronomy.

10 p.m. $30. 930.com.

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Kindo. 8 p.m. $15. songbyrddc.com.

SATURDAY

ROCK

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Lane 8. 6 p.m.; 10 p.m. $27. 930.com.

PIE SHOP DC 1339 H St. NE. (202) 398-7437. Hide Your Fires, Dear Spring, and Almas. 8 p.m. $10–$12. pieshopdc.com.

F E B . 2 1 | 7 : 3 0 & 9 : 3 0 P. M .

Wild Horses F E B . 2 2 | 7 : 3 0 & 9 : 3 0 P. M

Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600

Groups call (202) 416-8400 For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

Major Support for Comedy:

RHIZOME DC 6950 Maple St. NW. Swim Camp, Pen Palindrome, Carmen Canedo, and Belly Shin. 8 p.m. $10. rhizomedc.org.

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Caamp. 6 p.m. $25. 930.com.

The Black Version

ELECTRONIC FOLK

Major Support for Jazz: The Buffy and William Cafritz Family Foundation Major Support for Hip Hop and KC Jukebox: The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives Additional Design Support: Vicente Wolf of Vicente Wolf Associates and Margaret Russell

THE ANTHEM 901 Wharf St. SW. (202) 888-0020.

Greensky Bluegrass. 7:30 p.m. $42.50–$65. theanthemdc.com.

David M. Rubenstein Cornerstone of the REACH

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POP

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Knyves Escobar. 8 p.m. $13–$15. songbyrddc.com.

ROCK

PIE SHOP DC 1339 H St. NE. (202) 398-7437. Bandit, No/Mas, Ground, and Needle M.S.D. 8 p.m. $12. pieshopdc.com.

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Oppo. 9 p.m. Free. songbyrddc.com.

SUNDAY JAZZ

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1333 H St. NE. (202) 399-7993. Atlas Presents Jazz: Jane Bunnett and Maqueque. 7 p.m. $14–$35. atlasarts.org.

ROCK

AMP BY STRATHMORE 11810 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Apple Core. 8 p.m. $15–$25. ampbystrathmore.com.

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Slow Crush. 8:30 p.m.

Free. songbyrddc.com.

MONDAY POP

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Chris Farren. 8 p.m. $13– $15. songbyrddc.com.

U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Palace. 7 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.

TUESDAY FOLK

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Bonny Light Horseman. 8 p.m. $17–$20. songbyrddc.com.

WEDNESDAY COUNTRY

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP 1635 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Tanya Tucker. 7:30 p.m. $47–$67. wolftrap.org.

PIE SHOP DC 1339 H St. NE. (202) 398-7437. Jesse Dayton. 8 p.m. $12–$15. pieshopdc.com.

FOLK

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Bonny Light Horseman $17–$20. songbyrddc.com.

HIP-HOP

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Kembe X. 8 p.m. $15. songbyrddc.com.

ROCK

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Spafford and Eggy. 7 p.m. $22. 930.com.

Dance

BEREISHIT DANCE COMPANY This Seoul-based company approaches traditional Korean culture from a contemporary perch. Two of the company’s works, Judo and Balance & Imbalance, display their fusion of controlled movement and full-body excitement.

Music Center at Strathmore. 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Feb. 6, 8 p.m. $35–$75. (301) 5815100. strathmore.org.

Theater

THE 39 STEPS Four actors embody over 150 characters in this remix of the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name, including Richard Hannay, who starts a night at a London theater and ends it accused of murder. Constellation Theatre at Source. 1835 14th St. NW. To March 8. $19–$45. (202) 204-7741. constellationtheatre.org.

BEREAVED An Israeli couple and a Palestinian couple have each lost a child, and playwright Joseph Sobol weaves a tale of compassion and endless war. Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center.

1333 H St. NE. To Feb. 3. $15. (202) 399-7993. mosaictheater.org.

BLOOMSDAY A couple meets on a walking tour of James Joyce’s Dublin, but a misunderstanding drives them apart; 35 years later, they reunite and confront the missed opportunity. Washington Stage Guild at Undercroft Theatre. 900 Massachusetts Ave. NW. To Feb. 16. $25–$60. (240) 582-0050. stageguild.org.

BROADWAY CENTER STAGE: NEXT TO NORMAL This semi-staged rendition of Next to Normal tells the story of a family shattered by the effects of mental illness. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. 2700 F St. NW. To Feb. 3. $69–$215. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org.

EXQUISITA AGONÍA (EXQUISITE AGONY) A middleaged woman tries to find love with the young man who got her dead husband’s transplanted heart in this witty and poignant play. In Spanish with English supertitles. GALA Hispanic Theatre. 3333 14th St. NW. To March 1. $40–$48. (202) 234-7174. galatheatre.org.

THE GREAT DIVORCE The Fellowship for the Performing Arts presents C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, a fantasy about heaven and hell and choosing between them, directed by D.C.-born Christa ScottReed. Michael R. Klein Theatre. 450 7th St. NW. To Feb. 9. $49–$89. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org.

WORLD

THURSDAY

MISS YOU LIKE HELL This new musical tracks the love between an estranged mother and daughter who take a weird and wild road trip from Philadelphia to California. Olney Theatre Center. 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney. To March 1. $37–$79. (301) 9243400. olneytheatre.org.

FOLK

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Bonny Light Horseman $17–$20. songbyrddc.com.

ROCK

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Deep underneath the Paris Opera House, a deformed and bitter musician develops an obsession with a new singer named Christine. Known only as the Phantom, he terrorizes the opera house and manipulates Christine, tutoring her and demanding she be cast in more prominent roles. Synetic Theater at Crystal City. 1800 South Bell St. , Arlington. To March 1. (866) 811-4111. synetictheater.org.

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP 1635 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. California Guitar Trio & Montreal Guitar Trio.

8 p.m. $32–$37. wolftrap.org.

PILGRIMS MUSA AND SHERI IN THE NEW WORLD Egyptian immigrant Musa hooks up with waitress Sheri after her shift ends, and a night of passion becomes a night of undermining cultural assumptions. Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas Performing

HIP-HOP

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Kembe X $15. songbyrddc.com.

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. –NW. (202) 265-0930. Cold War Kids. 7 p.m. $35. 930.com.

WHAT PROBLEM?

THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA Canada’s esteemed ballet company performs two works by William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort, and Alexei Ratmansky’s Piano Concerto #1, plus Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty later in the week. Kennedy Center Opera House. 2700 F St. NW. Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. $29– $149. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Falstaff has a plan to woo Windsor’s wealthy housewives, but they team up to teach him a lesson, and his comedic comeuppance is well-deserved. Folger Elizabethan Theatre.

201 East Capitol St. SE. To March 1. $27–$85. (202) 544-7077. folger.edu.

EMBASSY OF SLOVENIA 2410 California St. NW. (202) 386-6601. Mak Grgic. 7:30 p.m. $30. washington.embassy.si.

CITY LIGHTS: SATURDAY

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Composed of three sections—first, Bill T. Jones alone, then alongside members of the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Company, and, finally, joined by volunteers from the Northern Virginia community and the Mason University Singers, all of whom Jones worked with to develop the dance piece—What Problem? explores the relationship between group and individual in the current political climate. Jones, one of the inaugural artists-in-residence at George Mason’s Center for the Arts, is perhaps the most decorated member of today’s dance community: He’s received, among others, Tony Awards, a MacArthur fellowship, the National Medal of Arts, and Kennedy Center Honor. Jones’ 1994 piece Still/ Here (created after his partner Arnie Zane’s untimely death from AIDS) used his own experience living with HIV to connect with others facing life-threatening illnesses, incorporating material developed in workshops similar to those he’s conducting for his George Mason co-commission. Still/Here presents a meditation on living and surviving, and is remembered for its performance, for its critical response (The New Yorker critic Arlene Croce dismissively refused to see the work, proclaiming it “beyond the reach of criticism”), and for its ability to lean toward, not away from, difficult conversations. In its world premiere, What Problem? promises to do the same, using art as a means of communion. The show begins at 8 p.m. at the George Mason University Center for the Arts Concert Hall, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax. $29–$48. (703) 993-8888. cfa.gmu.edu.

—Zara Corzine

CITY LIGHTS: SUNDAY

GROUNDHOG DAY

They don’t make movies like Groundhog Day anymore. That said, they didn’t really make movies like Groundhog Day back when it was first released, either. The 1993 film, starring Bill Murray as a smarmy TV weatherman doomed to relive the same eponymous holiday in an infinite time loop, was that rarest of birds: a high-concept studio comedy with a dark, brooding soul. Screenwriters Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, who also directed, mine the golden premise for real pathos, sending Murray’s cursed character into some truly desperate places before allowing him his eventual redemption. Both laugh-out-loud funny—especially the scenes featuring Stephen Tobolowsky’s obnoxious insurance salesman, Ned “The Head” Ryerson—and genuinely profound, the film also performed a public service in proving once and for all the deep shittiness of the Sonny & Cher song “I Got You Babe.” Almost 30 years later, Groundhog Day still holds up. It plays on Sunday, the real Groundhog Day, at the Warner Bros. Theater in the National Museum of American History. Go and see it again (and, perhaps, again, and again, and again, and again, and again). The film screens at 3:30 p.m. at the National Museum of American History’s Warner Bros Theater, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. $8.50–$10. (202) 633-1000. americanhistory.si.edu.

—Justin Peters

Merriweather Post Pavilion • Columbia, MD JUST ANNOUNCED!

LUKE BRYAN

w/ Morgan Wallen & Caylee Hammack.................................................... SAT JUNE 20

JANUARY THIS WEEK’S SHOWS

Metronomy w/ Joy Again .. F JAN 31

of Montreal w/ Lily’s Band ........M 2 Koe Wetzel w/ Read Southall ...Th 5

D SHOW ADDED!

FIRST SHOW SOLD OUT! SECON

U STREET MUSIC HALL PRESENTS

Early Show! 6pm Doors . Sa FEB 1

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Spafford w/ Eggy .......................W 5

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

The Dustbowl Revival

Kix • Tesla • RATT • Night Ranger and more! ..................MAY 1-3 For more info and a full lineup, visit m3rockfest.com

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Halsey * w/ blackbear & PVRIS ....................................................................... JULY 19 Rod Stewart * w/ Cheap Trick ......................................................... AUGUST 15 Daryl Hall & John Oates * w/ Squeeze & KT Tunstall ..... AUGUST 22

Early Show! 6pm Doors ....................Sa 7

STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS

PEEKABOO

w/ Moody Good • ZEKE BEATS • ISOxo Late Show! 10pm Doors ..................Sa 7

merriweathermusic.com • impconcerts.com • Ticketmaster.com * Presented by Live Nation

The Districts w/ And The Kids .Tu 10 Dead Kennedys w/ D.O.A. ......W 11 Radical Face w/ Axel Flóvent ..Th 12

Lincoln Theatre • 1215 U Street, NW Washington, D.C.

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

w/ Birds of Chicago

Early Show! 6pm Doors .....................F 7

Electric Guest w/ Soleima

Late Show! 10pm Doors........................F 7 D NIGHT ADDED!

FIRST NIGHT SOLD OUT! SECON

Blood Orange w/ Tei Shi......... MAR 18 Sucker For Love ................... FEB 14 Welcome to Night Vale Jonathan Richman & w/ Dessa .............................................APR 2 Bonnie “Prince” Billy ........ MAR 7 Walk Off The Earth ................APR 5 Brian Fallon & Kurt Vile with The Howling Weather Cate Le Bon .............................APR 24 w/ Justin Townes Earle & Worriers .MAR 13 Watch What Crappens........ MAY 2 Whindersson Nunes .......... MAR 16 MIKA ............................................... MAY 5 STORY DISTRICT’S

The Motet & TAUK ................F 13 ZZ Ward w/ Patrick Droney.......W 18 Best Coast w/ Mannequin Pussy ..................Th 19

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Raphael Saadiq

w/ Jamila Woods & DJ Duggz .......Su 9

Echosmith

w/ Weathers & Jayden Bartels....W 12

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Railroad Earth w/ Kyle Tuttle Band 2-Night Passes available! ....F 20 & Sa 21

Caribou w/ Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith ............Th 26

thelincolndc.com • impconcerts.com •

U Street (Green/Yellow) stop across the street!

L’Impératrice

Big Something and Andy Frasco & The U.N.

Early Show! 6pm Doors .....................F 27

w/ Kyle Ayers ...........................Th 13

Galactic feat. Anjelika Jelly Joseph and special guest Chali 2na (Sa 15 - w/ Southern Avenue).F 14 & Sa 15 AN EVENING WITH

STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS BASS NATION FEAT.

Blunts & Blondes

w/ SubDocta & Bawldy Late Show! 10pm Doors ...................F 27

Soccer Mommy w/ Tomberlin

Early Show! 6pm Doors ...................Sa 28

Super Diamond -

The Neil Diamond Tribute ....Th 20

Refused w/ Youth Code & Racetraitor ........F 21

Bruno Major w/ Adam Melchor

Late Show! 10pm Doors ...................Sa 28

Poliça w/ Wilsen .......................Su 29

Wolf Parade w/ Jo Passed

APRIL

Early Show! 6pm Doors ..................Sa 22

Leslie Odom Jr.........................W 1

White Ford Bronco: DC’s All-‘90s Band

Late Show! 10pm Doors ..................Sa 22

Josh Abbott Band • Randy Rogers Band • Pat Green ..Th 27 Drive-By Truckers w/ Buffalo Nichols............F 28 & Sa 29

STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS

Manic Focus + Mersiv w/ Russ Liquid.............................Th 2

STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS

Minnesota

w/ Of the Trees • Eastghost • Thelem • Abelation ........................F 3

Pussy Riot w/ Deli Girls ............Sa 4

MANY MORE SHOWS ON SALE! 930.com impconcerts.com

9:30 CUPCAKES

M3 ROCK FESTIVAL FEATURING

The Lil Smokies & Joe Pug

FEBRUARY

Lane 8

On Sale Friday, January 31 at 10am

MARCH

9:30 CLUB PRESENTS AT U STREET MUSIC HALL 9:30 CLUB & ALL GOOD PRESENT Great Good Fine OK w/ Aaron Taos ....................... F JAN 31 The Soul Rebels .........................F 6 Palace w/ Janet May ................M FEB 3 070Shake All 10/10 tickets honored. ..................Sa 7 Anna of the North w/ Dizzy Fae....Th 13 Tall Heights w/ Victoria Canal .......Tu 10 9:30 CLUB & ALL GOOD PRESENT Moon Hooch w/ Paris Monster ......Sa 22 Shing02 & The Chee-Hoos: A Tribute to Nujabes .................W 11 Sango w/ Anik Khan & Savon............W 26 City of the Sun w/ William Wild .....Sa 14 VÉRITÉ ......................................F 28 Social House ............................ M 16 GARZA Mondo Cozmo (Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation) .Sa 29 w/ Reuben and the Dark ...................W 18 Audrey Mika w/ Souly Had ..... W MAR 4 Colony House w/ Tyson Motsenbocker ..................Sa 21

The best thing you could possibly put in your mouth Cupcakes by BUZZ... your neighborhood bakery in Alexandria, VA. | www.buzzonslaters.com

TICKETS for all shows are available at IMPconcerts.com, and at the 9:30 Club, Lincoln Theatre, The Anthem, and Merriweather Post Pavilion box offices. Check venue websites for box office hours.

HAPPY HOUR DRINK PRICES impconcerts.com AFTER THE SHOW AT THE BACK BAR!

• 930.com/u-hall • impconcerts.com • Buy advance tickets at the 9:30 Club box office. •

PARKING: The 9:30 Club parking lot is now located at 2222 8th St NW, just

past the Atlantic Plumbing building, about a 3 minute walk from the Club.

Buy your advance parking tickets at the same time as your concert tickets!

930.com washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 29

CITY LIGHTS: MONDAY

NEXT TO NORMAL

Diana Goodman is perpetually on the brink. Her bipolar disorder—the sort that compels her to compulsively make sandwiches and hallucinate ghosts—is splintering her suburban family apart as they struggle to preserve an eroding sense of reality through dialogue and song. It is within this unstable and largely unhappy household that the Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical Next to Normal unveils ugly, honest truths about mental illness. Snag tickets for the final performance of this three-time Tony-winning show to see Rachel Bay Jones, a Tony winner for playing Heidi Hansen in the similarly themed Dear Evan Hansen, star as the woman on the verge. Helmed by original director Michael Greif, this latest entry into the Kennedy Center’s acclaimed Broadway Center Stage repertoire is a semi-staged concert featuring wrenching songs like “I Miss the Mountains”—Diana’s requiem for the emotion medication robs from her. According to Ben Brantley’s 2009 New York Times review of the Broadway production, it’s a “feel-everything musical.” Just like Diana, you’ll never forget the exhilarating highs and devastating lows. The show begins at 7 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, 2700 F St. NW. $69–$215. (202) 4168000. kennedy-center.org.

—Amy Guay

CITY LIGHTS: TUESDAY

JOE YONAN

WORLD STAGES 2019–2020 series 3 SHOWS ONLY!

February 13–15 | Family Theater Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600

Theater at the Kennedy Center is made possible by

Kennedy Center Theater Season Sponsor

Groups call (202) 416-8400 For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540 International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

If you haven’t heard by now, unfortunately, the planet is melting. There are hundreds of recommendations out there for how we can each help cut carbon emissions, and it’s hard to know what’s actually making a dent on the climate crisis. But if there is any consensus on something that will help, it’s eating less meat—even the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is asking consumers to cut down on animal products.

But that can be hard if you were raised on a diet of steak and potatoes every night. What’s the alternative for a protein-packed dish centerpiece? The humble bean, and its legume cousins chickpeas and lentils. If you’re not familiar with the versatility of these foods, there are far more ways to eat and enjoy them than you might think. You’ll find 125 ideas for preparing them in Washington Post food and dining editor Joe Yonan’s comprehensive cookbook Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking the World’s Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein—boil them, mash them, stick them in a stew. Plus, his talk at Politics and Prose will include samples of beet hummus bowls (one of the book’s recipes) prepared by the noted legume lovers over at Little Sesame. Joe Yonan speaks at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 364-1919. politics-prose.com.

—Emma Sarappo Arts Center. 1333 H St. NE. To Feb. 16. $20–$65. (202) 399-7993. mosaictheater.org.

PIPELINE Nya, a single mother of a teenage son, is trying to give Omari the best education—and life—that she can. But when an incident at his private school threatens his future, Nya must fight for her child in a broken education system. Studio Theatre. 1501 14th St. NW. To Feb. 16. $20–$80. (202) 332-3300. studiotheatre.org.

RECENT TRAGIC EVENTS On Sept. 12, 2001, Waverly waits in her Minneapolis apartment to hear from her New York-based sister Wendy. Prologue Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center. 1333 H St. NE. To Feb. 16. $20–$35. prologuetheatre.org.

THE ROYALE Jay “The Sport” Jackson wants to be the heavyweight champion of the boxing world, but 1905 boxing is racially segregated, and the odds are

30 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

against him. 1st Stage. 1524 Spring Hill Road, McLean.

To Feb. 23. $15–$42. (703) 854-1856.

1ststagetysons.org.

SHELTERED It is 1939, and though much of the world has turned its back on the Jews of Europe, Evelyn and Leonard Kirsch suspect that the menace is real.

They make a bold decision that could save the lives of many Jewish children and change the course of history, but first, they must convince their estranged friends to help. Theater J. 1529 16th St. NW. To Feb. 2. $34–$64. (202) 777-3210. theaterj.org.

SILENT SKY A decade before women gained the right to vote, Henrietta Leavitt and her fellow women “computers” transformed the science of astronomy.

In the Harvard Observatory, Leavitt found 2,400 new variable stars and made important discoveries about their fluctuating brightness, enabling fellow scien-

CITY LIGHTS: WEDNESDAY

A TALE OF FOUR CITIES

Frank Van Riper’s street photographs of Venice, Paris, and New York, now on view at the Waverly Street Gallery, will be familiar to those who have leafed through his meditative books of black-and-white images Serenissima: Venice in Winter and Recovered Memory: New York and Paris 1960-1980. The grainy, noirish images from these cities channel the style and subject matter of Brassai, Robert Frank, and Lee Friedlander. For the Waverly Street retrospective, however, Van Riper has added less familiar images from a fourth city—D.C., his longstanding home. If these mostly color images don’t steal the show, then they at least draw second glances. Van Riper moodily captures the Art Deco stylings of the Uptown Theater and Glen Echo Park at night, the Marilyn Monroe mural that has become a neighborhood landmark in Woodley Park, and the odd, tower-like remainder of a nearly torn-down building near Farragut Square. The exhibition runs to Feb. 8 at Waverly Street Gallery, 4600 East-West Highway #102, Bethesda. Free. (301) 951-9441. waverlystreetgallery.com.

—Louis Jacobson

Millennium Stage A celebration of the human spirit

Free performances every day at 6 p.m.

30 Thu. | NSO Youth Fellows

Participants in the NSO training program play chamber ensemble and solo works.

31 Fri. | Go-Go Friday

In the Skylight Pavilion at the REACH Understand Go-Go’s history and importance to our city. Curated

by Dominique Wells, and featuring Kelcie Glass presented in collaboration with Girlaaa, Long Live Go-Go.

1 Sat. | Hip Hop Dance Classes

RÊVERIE

What happens when daydreams become nightmares? That question is at the heart of Fractal Theatre Collective’s upcoming show rêverie. Writer and director Hannah Ruth Wellons, a student in American University’s MFA program, brings a linguistic twist to the production. The French word “rêverie” means “daydream,” but stems from the Old French root “rever,” which means “to be delirious.” And that deliriousness is exactly what plagues the show’s lead character, Diana (Ezra Tozian), as Diana’s reality and dream-state begin to blur. Tozian is joined on stage by Noa Gelb, Amber Monks, and Peter Mikhail. This show is yet another world premiere out of Fractal, a nonprofit theater collective conceived by American University students in 2017. The group’s summer 2018 run of Shakespeare Is a White Supremacist led to its official incorporation. As the company promotes accessibility, friendship and community engagement, rêverie undermines safety and reality. The show runs to Feb. 9 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. $5. (202) 399-7993. atlasarts.org.

—Sarah Smith

tists to map the Milky Way and beyond. Ford’s Theatre. 511 10th St. NW. To Feb. 23. $22–$72. (202) 3474833. fords.org.

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS This adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel focuses on two Afghan women in Kabul who become unlikely allies in the face of brutality and must make a dramatic decision.

Arena Stage. 1101 6th St. SW. To March 1. $56–$105.

(202) 488-3300. arenastage.org.

THE TOXIC AVENGER Melvin Ferd the Third falls into a vat of radioactive waste and emerges as a sevenfoot-tall freak called The Toxic Avenger, who’s ready to clean America up. Rorschach Theatre at the Silver Spring Black Box. 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring.

To March 1. $10–$65. (202) 399-7993. rorschachtheatre.com.

Film

THE TURNING This adaptation of The Turning of the Screw brings the young governess tasked with caring

for a strange pair of children into the contemporary world. Starring Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard, and Brooklynn Prince. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)

Join the cast of Footsteps in the Dark: Journey of Hip-Hop Movement to practice breaking and popping.

Limited seating.

2 Sun. | Furia Flamenca

In Studio K at the REACH The award-winning dance company brings the ferocity and passion of flamenco to the stage and transports audiences to Southern Spain.

Free general admission tickets will be distributed in the Peace Corps Gallery starting at approximately 5 p.m., up to two tickets per person.

3 Mon. | Library x REACH: LGBTQ + Changemakers

In the Justice Forum at the REACH The Kennedy Center teams up with Library of Congress to present a series of discussions featuring writers, poets, activists, historians, and creative voices from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

Free general admission tickets will be distributed in the Welcome Pavilion starting at approximately 5 p.m., up to two tickets per person.

DOLITTLE A doctor finds out that he can understand animals. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) THE RHYTHM SECTION After a plane crash kills her family, a woman seeks revenge on the people behind it. Starring Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Sterling K. Brown. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) BAD BOYS FOR LIFE Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowery reunite when an Albanian mercenary offers them an important bonus. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) THE GENTLEMEN A British drug lord attempts to sell off his lucrative empire to some Oklahoma billionaires. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, and Henry Golding. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)

Brought to you by

Jan. 30–Feb. 12

Free general admission tickets will be distributed in the Welcome Pavilion starting at approximately 5:00 p.m., up to two tickets per person.

CITY LIGHTS: THURSDAY

Millennium Stage Presenting Sponsor:

No tickets required, unless noted otherwise.

4 | Christie Dashiell

10 | Seeing Queer History

4 Tue. | Christie Dashiell and the U.S. Army Blues

9 Sun. | Figaro Meets Frederick Douglass

The contemporary jazz vocalist joins forces with the premier jazz ensemble of the United States Army.

5 Wed. | Encore Stage and Studio’s Flip the Script The local company brings its new student-devised play that rediscovers Arlington, Virginia’s African American voices, incorporating both historical and modern narratives.

6 Thu. | Sinclair Emoghene

The founder of WXZY Arts Factory and the choreographer for the acclaimed 2011 Nigerian movie I’ll Take My Chances, together with Artistic Director Bre Seals, premieres his latest experimental dance work.

7 Fri. | Stay tuned for a special guest!

8 Sat. | Revelations Celebration Workshop

Begins at 5:30 p.m.

Members from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater offer a special interactive workshop, teaching choreography from the iconic masterpiece. Be prepared to dance!

Limited seating. This performance will not be livestreamed or archived.

Imagine hearing the voice of Frederick Douglass as he lived his life as a slave, as an abolitionist, an author, and orator. Then imagine him hearing the music of Mozart and what may have propelled him to also passionately love the violin, ultimately encouraging both his son and grandson to play the instrument.

Presented in collaboration with Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts.

10 Mon. | Library x REACH: LGBTQ + Changemakers

In the Justice Forum at the REACH The Kennedy Center teams up with Library of Congress to present a series of discussions featuring writers, poets, activists, historians, and creative voices from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

Free general admission tickets will be distributed in the Welcome Pavilion starting at approximately 5 p.m., up to two tickets per person.

11 Tue. | Bilal Chishty Sangari

The Sufi and classical Indian vocalist, composer, lyricist, savant, and teacher performs.

12 Wed. | Dante Pope

Enjoy the magnetic sound of soul as the multi-instrumentalist and former Artist-in-Residence at Strathmore communicates his love, passion, and appreciation of life through his music.

For details or to watch online, visit Kennedy-Center.org/millennium.

The Millennium Stage was created and underwritten

by James A. Johnson and Maxine Isaacs to make the performing arts accessible to everyone in fulfillment of the Kennedy Center’s mission to its community and the nation.

Generous support is provided by The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

Additional support is provided by Kimberly Engel and Family-The Dennis and Judy Engel Charitable Foundation, The Gessner Family Foundation, The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives, The Isadore and Bertha Gudelsky Family Foundation, Inc., The Meredith Foundation, Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A.J. Stolwijk, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Millennium Stage Endowment Fund.

The Millennium Stage Endowment Fund was made possible by James A. Johnson and Maxine Isaacs, Fannie Mae Foundation, the Kimsey Endowment, Gilbert† and Jaylee† Mead, Mortgage Bankers Association of America and other anonymous gifts to secure the future of the Millennium Stage.

Daily food and drink specials | 5–6 p.m. nightly | Grand Foyer Bars Take Metro to the Foggy

Bottom/GWU/Kennedy Center station and ride the free Kennedy Center shuttle departing every 15 minutes until Metro close.

Get connected! Become a fan of KCMillenniumStage on Facebook and check out artist photos, upcoming events, and more!

The Kennedy Center welcomes guests with disabilities.

Free tours daily by the Friends of the Kennedy Center tour guides. Tour hours: Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sat./ Sun. from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. REACH tours available Mon.–Fri. at 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. and Sat./Sun. at 11 a.m. For information, call (202) 416-8340.

Please note: Standard parking rates apply when attending free performances.

All performances and programs are subject to change without notice.

washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 31

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SAVAGELOVE M DOOGALS THE FAMOUS

C

I’m a 33-year-old woman in a relationship with a 43-year-old man. My boyfriend’s fantasy is to have a threesome with another man. He enjoys watching me have sex with other men and then intermittently fucking me. But he mostly likes to watch me get fucked. For a long time, my boyfriend would send nudes or videos of him fucking me to men we met on dating apps. We would talk dirty about it during sex. Recently, we met up with a man for the first time. I don’t think it went well.

My boyfriend and I have had conversations about my fear of contracting an STI. So before the threesome started, I explained to my boyfriend and the other guy that condoms were required.

They both agreed. This guy was really nervous and when he put a condom on, he went flaccid.

He would try to fuck me with his flaccid, condomcovered penis, but it just didn’t work. He would take the condom off, jerk off, get semi-hard, put a condom back on, go completely soft again. Even when I sucked the guy’s dick: nothing. (He actually told me to stop trying!) So my boyfriend, who was observing and jerking off, suggested we forget the condoms in the hopes this guy could stay hard.

I said no and restated my boundary. The guy still couldn’t get it up, hopped out of bed, and started getting dressed. My boyfriend offered to let the guy cream pie me if he would stay. I said fuck no and the guy left. He didn’t even say bye.

I don’t know why the guy couldn’t get hard.

But I certainly don’t think my boundary should be compromised because a stranger can’t get it up.

My boyfriend keeps suggesting we meet up with this guy again so he can “get closure.” He really wants to watch this guy at least come on me. My boyfriend and this guy have since texted about him fucking me again. I’m all for being GGG, but ... what the fuck?

I thought this guy was kind of an asshole. My boyfriend was definitely an asshole. My questions are: If I’m uncomfortable during a threesome, how do I politely call it off ? I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but this went on for two hours and the guy never got it up. How do I terminate a threesome without sounding like a bitch?

—Threesome Obviously Dried Up My Pussy To politely call off a threesome, TODUMP, all you gotta say is, “Hey, this isn’t working for me—let’s take a rain check.” Say it while pulling up your pants and use your “final answer” voice.

And the “rain check” thing doesn’t have to be sincere. It can be, of course, if you’re interested in trying again sometime, but it doesn’t have to be. The “rain check” thing is mostly a nice, polite, face-saving, ego-sparing way to ease someone out of your pants/bed/playroom/apartment/whatever. And if anyone starts arguing with you—if your third or your primary partner starts arguing with you—don’t worry about being polite, TODUMP. Go ahead and be a bitch: “This is over, you/they need to

go, rain check rescinded, asshole/assholes.”

And while we’re on the subject of terminating things with assholes, TODUMP, you need dump your incredibly shitty fucking boyfriend immediately—and there’s no need to be polite about it. Fuck him. Your boyfriend tried to coerce you into having sex without condoms when he knew you didn’t want to; you consented to having a threesome on the condition that condoms be used. Attempting to reopen negotiations about your stated boundaries once the threesome was underway was a violation of your consent. And your boyfriend knew you wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone and maliciously attempted to weaponize your consideration for other people’s feelings against you! Can’t you see that? He was hoping you wouldn’t embarrass him by refusing to have sex without condoms after he “offered” to let this guy cream pie you (come inside you) to get

“He not only deserves to be alone forever, TODUMP, he deserves to be kicked in the balls forever.” him to stay! He was hoping you’d rather risk an STI than risk embarrassing or contradicting him! And on top of that, he spoke to this guy like it was up to him—up to them—what happened next, like you were a Fleshlight or tube sock or something!

And now your asshole boyfriend is pressuring you to get back together with a guy who couldn’t get it up with a condom on when he knows you don’t want to have sex without condoms? A guy who couldn’t be bothered to say goodbye after you sucked his fucking dick?

And your boyfriend is claiming you owe him (or them) closure?

WTF? This relationship should have been over the moment your boyfriend made it clear some stranger’s dick was more important to him than your health, safety, and boundaries.

In that moment—that moment he attempted to barter away your boundaries—he proved he can’t be trusted and you aren’t safe with him, TODUMP, alone or with a third.

DTMFA. This is every woman’s nightmare scenario when it comes to cuckolding or hotwifing—that her boyfriend or husband will pressure her to do things she doesn’t want to do during a sexual encounter with another man.

Guys like your boyfriend not only don’t deserve to have GGG girlfriends or their fantasies fulfilled, they ruin things for other wannabe cucks, stags, and hot husbands. He not

only deserves to be alone forever, TODUMP, he deserves to be kicked in the balls forever.

—Dan Savage

One of my closest friends kissed me while very drunk, told his female partner, and now he’s not allowed to see me anymore, even in group settings.

(I am also female.) I understand that cutting off contact is the universally recommended first step after someone cheats, but considering how close we are as friends, it is heartbreaking to think I might lose him over this one incident. We are former coworkers and we’ve been close friends and regular drinking buddies for 12 years. Nothing has EVER happened between us before this one very drunk night. We ended up making out on the sidewalk outside of a bar and exchanged a few semi-dirty text messages later that night, which— unfortunately for all of us—his partner saw. He thinks we just need to be patient and one day we’ll be able to pick up our friendship where we left off.

And while I know he needs to prioritize his partner now, I’m scared that we actually won’t be able to stay friends after this. Do I just swallow my sadness about the likelihood of losing a best friend over a relatively minor infidelity? Or is there anything I can do to help the situation? FWIW: I’m in a happy open marriage and have never once tried to initiate anything with him. I’ve never been attracted to him before and wouldn’t want anything to happen between us again, anyway, even if the kiss was hot. Complicating matters, my friend wanted to re-raise the possibility of opening up his relationship with his partner, which he insists has nothing to do with me. (My friend is male and his partner and I are both female.)

—Friend With No Benefits Hmm … I have a hunch you were something of a sore subject before this incident, FWNB, however isolated. If the text messages your friend’s partner saw confirmed fears she’d already been told were irrational, your exile is likely to last as long as their relationship does. But take heart: If your friend decides to reopen discussions about opening up their relationship in the wake of this incident, your friend will likely be single again soon. If they do manage to stay together, FWNB, the only way to get back into her good graces—and back in your friend’s life—is to gracefully accept your exile. (Going to her and saying, “It only happened because we were so drunk!” isn’t quite the slam-dunk you think it is, seeing as you and her boyfriend are drinking buddies.) It’s a paradox, I realize, but if she sees that her boyfriend is willing to cut off all contact with you to set her mind at ease, FWNB, she may be willing to give your friendship her blessing down the road.

—DS Email your Savage Love questions to mail@savagelove.net.

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Landlord andSell, Tenant Branch cated at 510 4th Street Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2019 LTB 028196 NW, Washington, DC, DC Housing Authority . . . . . to Community . .show . . . .cause . . . . if . there . . 42 Plaintiff, be any reason why the Employment . . . . complaint . . . . . . . for . . possession . . . . 42 v.

Norfleet Mabry Jr. Health/Mind . . . . should . . . . .not . . .be . .granted . . . . . .

Defendant. and the plaintiff take NOTICE TO HEIRS OF of, Body & Spirit . . . . possession, . . . . . . . . dispose . . . . . 42 NORFLEET MABRY JR. or take any other acHousing/Rentals . . . as . . ordered . . . . . .by . .this 42 Norfleet Mabry Jr., who tion lived at 3400 Banneker Legal Notices . . . Court . . . . of . .any . . .personal . . . . 42 Dr., NE, 328, Washingproperty contained in ton, DC 20018, at the Row . the Music/Music . .unit. . . . Inquiries . . . . . . .may 42 time of his reported be directed to: . . . . . of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 death,Pets is the .subject an action for a ComReal Estate . . . . . Jillian . . . . K. . . Lewis, . . . . .Esq. . . 42 plaint for Possession Musolino & Dessel PLLC

by Plaintiff DC Housing Shared Housing . 1615 . . . .L . Street, . . . . . NW . . .Suite 42 Authority in the Land440 Services . . . . . . . . Washington, . . . . . . . . .DC . . 20036 . . 42 lord and Tenant Branch of the Superior Court of (202) 466-3883 the District of Columbia, Case No. 2019 LTB 028196. A judgment for One School Notice possession may lead to of Intent to Award a eviction and the loss of Sole Source Contract personal property in the to Apple for Macinresidence. tosh Computers. To Any interested person, obtain copies of full including but not limited NOIs, please visit our

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DC SCHOLARS PCS - INTENT ENTER NOTICE IS TO HEREBY GIVEN SOLE SOURCE CONTHAT: TRACT – DC ScholarsINC. TRAVISA OUTSOURCING, (DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Public Charter School DEPARTMENTto enter OF CONSUMER intends a sole AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS source contract with FILE 271941) TeachNUMBER for America for HAS DISSOLVED EFFECTIVE NOVEMan alumni matching BER 27, 2017 AND HAS FILED staffing partnership in OF ARTICLES OF DISSOLUTION SY 2019-20.

A contract DOMESTIC FOR-PROFIT CORwill be awarded close PORATION WITH THEatDISTRICT of business FebruOF COLUMBIA on CORPORATIONS DIVISION ary 10th, 2020. If you have questions, contact AEmily CLAIM AGAINST TRAVISA Stone at estone@ OUTSOURCING, MUST dcscholars.org INC. no later INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE than 5:00 pm on FebruDISSOLVED CORPORATION, ary 10, 2020.

INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE CLAIMANT, INCLUDE A SUMMARY OF THE FACTS SUPPORTING OneCLAIM, Request Pro-TO THE AND BEfor MAILED 1600 INTERNATIONAL DRIVE, posals (RFP) to supply SUITE 600, MCLEAN, VA 22102 Cisco/Meraki Network Equipment. To obtain ALL CLAIMS WILL BE BARRED copies of full RFPs, UNLESS A PROCEEDING TO please visit our website: ENFORCE THE CLAIM IS COMwww.centercitypcs.org.

MENCED WITH IN 3 YEARS OF Contact: OF THIS NOTICE PUBLICATION Scott Burns sburns@ IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION centercitypcs.org 29-312.07 OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ORGANIZATIONS ACT. SUPERIOR COURT Two Rivers PCS is soliciting OF THEtoDISTRICT proposals provide projectOF manCOLUMBIA agement services for a small conLandlord andFor Tenant struction project. a copy of the RFP, please email procurement@ Branch tworiverspcs.org.

Deadline for 2019 LTB 028195 submissions is December 6, 2017.

DC Housing Authority Plaintiff, v.

Frederick Smith Defendant.

NOTICE TO HEIRS OF FREDERICK SMITH Frederick Smith, who lived at 3400 Banneker Dr., NE, 427, Washington, DC 20018, at the time of his reported death, is the subject of an action for a Complaint for Possession

by Plaintiff DC Housing Authority in the Landlord and Tenant Branch of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Case No. 2019 LTB 028195. A judgment for possession may lead to eviction and the loss of personal property in the residence.

Any interested person, including but not limited to creditors, heirs, and legatees of the decedent, shall appear on February 26, 2020 at 9:00 am in Courtroom B109, in the Landlord and Tenant Court, located at 510 4th Street NW, Washington, DC, to show cause if there be any reason why the complaint for possession should not be granted and the plaintiff take possession, dispose of,

34 january 31, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com

or take any other action as ordered byLegals this Court of any personal DC SCHOLARS PCS REQUEST property contained in FOR PROPOSALS – Moduthe unit. Inquiries may lar Contractor Services - DC be directed Scholars Publicto: Charter School

solicits proposals for a modular Jillian K.toLewis, Esq. contractor provide professional Musolino & and Dessel PLLC management construction servicesL toStreet, construct a modular 1615 NW Suite building to house four classrooms 440 and one faculty offi ce 20036 suite. The Washington, DC Request for Proposals (RFP) (202) 466-3883 specifi cations can be obtained on Washington, DC 20036 and after Monday, November 27, (202) 466-3883 2017 from Emily Stone via communityschools@dcscholars.org.

All questions should be sent in KIPP DC PUBLIC writing by e-mail.

No phone calls regarding this SCHOOLS RFP will be acCHARTER cepted.

Bids must be PROreceived by REQUEST FOR 5:00 PM on Thursday, December POSALS 14, 2017 at DC Scholars Public Charter School, ATTN: Sharonda Accounting Services Mann, 5601 E. Capitol St. SE, KIPP DC is soliciting Washington, DC 20019. Any bids proposals from qualified not addressing all areas as outvendors for specifi Accounting lined in the RFP cations will Services.

The RFP can not be considered. be found on KIPP DC’s website at www.kipApartments for Rent pdc.org/procurement.

Proposals should be uploaded to the website no later than 5:00 PM ET on February 21, 2020. Questions should be addressed to marthe. harris@kippdc.org.

Payroll Services KIPP DC is soliciting Must see! Spacious semi-furproposals from qualinished 1 BR/1 for BA Payroll basement fied vendors apt, Deanwood, $1200.

Services.

The RFPSep. canentrance, W/Won carpet, W/D, kitchbe found KIPP DC’s en, fireplace near Blue Line/X9/ website at www.kipV2/V4. Shawnn 240-343-7173. pdc.org/procurement.

Proposals should be Rooms for Rent uploaded to the website no later than 5:00 PM furHoliday SpecialTwo ET on rooms February 21,or long nished for short 2020.

Questions should term rental ($900 and $800 per be addressed to marthe. month) with access to W/D, WiFi, Kitchen, and Den. Utiliharris@kippdc.org. ties included. Best N.E. location along H St. Corridor. Call Eddie 202-744-9811 for PUBLIC info. or visit E.L. HAYNES www.TheCurryEstate.com CHARTER SCHOOL NOTICE OF INTENT TO ENTER A SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT Instruction Partners E.L. Haynes is in its fifteenth year of operation and recently underwent a strategic planning process between April 2019 and November 2019 to review its program effectiveness and to guide the key initiatives the school must implement over the next five years to achieve its goals.

The strategic planning process surfaced a specific need for more coherence across academic systems. Specifically, a need to identify a partner to conduct a curriculum audit and support E.L. Haynes to establish a common academic vision that will facilitate alignment of its PK-12 academic program.

Following a detailed

market analysis of the Construction/Labor available firms with expertise in this area, it was clear that only one provider, Instruction Partners, has the qualifications and experiences toPOWER support this NOW specific DESIGN HIRnext duringAPPRENspring ING step ELECTRICAL TICES OF ALL SKILL LEV2020.

If ELS! you have questions or concerns regardabout thenotice, position… ing this please Do you our love Procurement working with contact your hands? Are you interOfficer: ested in construction and Kristin Yochum in becoming an electrician?

E.L. Public ThenHaynes the electrical apprentice Charter position School could be perfect for kyochum@elhaynes.org you! Electrical apprentices are able to earn a paycheck and full benefi ts while learning the trade firstNOTICE OF through REQUEST handPROPOSALS experience.

FOR

Thurgood Marshall what we’re looking for…

Academy charter school Motivated D.C. residents who seeks contractors for want to learn the electrical door locksets and/or trade and have a high school entry resistant window diploma or GED as well as reliable film.

Fortransportation. full RFP email Certificate Of Insura littletobitdschlossman@ about us… ance Power Design is one ofdue the tmapchs.org . Bids top electrical contractors in February 17, 2020. the U.S., committed to our values, to training and to giving back to the communities KINGSMAN in which we liveACADEMY and work.

PUBLIC CHARTER more details…

SCHOOL Visit powerdesigninc.us/ NOTICE: FOR REcareers FOR or email careers@ QUEST PROpowerdesigninc.us!

POSAL Kingsman Academy Public Charter School in accordance with Services section Financial 2204(c) of the District of Denied Credit??

Work to ReColumbia School Reform pair Credit solicits Report With The Act Your of 1995 Trusted Leader Credit Repair. proposals forin vendors Call Lexingtonthe Lawfollowing for a FREE to provide credit reportforsummary & credit services SY19.20: repair consultation. 855-6209426. John C. Heath, Attorney at * Behavioral Law, PLLC, dba Support Lexington Law Services Firm.

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FREE HD. Add Internet for $14.95 rfp@kingsaContact month. 1-800-373-6508 manacademy.org for a copy of the Scope of Work. Proposal submissions should be emailed to rfp@kingsmanacademy.org. No phone calls.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF PERSONAL PROPERTY: Public auction of items presently owned by Luthor Beasley, Elaine Alale, Amber D Grayson, Rashid Ahmad, and Carl Douglas to compensate for storage charges thereon.

Items were stored in DC on behalf of customers in the surrounding area and include misc. furniture and boxes and bins of items. The auction will open for bids on January 30th, 2020, at 10:00am at Storagetreasures.com,

and will close as a final sale on FebruaryAuctions 6th, 2020. Purchases must be made with credit card and paid at the time of sale.

Buyers will coordinate with MakeSpace to pick up purchases from our facility at 3370 V St NE, Washington, DC, 20018 within 3 days of winning the lot. Foods All goods are Whole Commissary Auction sold as is and must be DC Metro Area removed by the end of Dec. 5 at 10:30AM the scheduled pick up 1000s S/S Tables, Carts appointment.

Buyers & Trays, 2016 Kettles up must pay an additional to 200 Gallons, Urschel $10 for each green plasCutters & Shredders inticcluding storage bin Diversacut or mov2016 ing blanket choose 2110 Dicer, they 6 Chill/Freeze toCabs, keep.

MakeSpace Double Rack Ovens & Ranges, Braising reserves the(12) right to Tables,any 2016bid.

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PUZZLE

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ET TU?

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59 It's quite a long time 60 Casino tools 61 Meat stamp letters 62 Dino with arms only one meter long 63 Adam's grandson 64 Mic check

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48 Pours drinks, e.g.

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washingtoncitypaper.com january 31, 2020 35

(Her)story Made.

We never realize it when we’re in the moment - that Monumental moment. The moment we’re witnessing our heroes not only Raise the Game for themselves but for all the people in the Greater Washington community.

The Washington Mystics rewrote Herstory with the record-breaking, thrilling 2019 Championship run. Witnessed by thousands in our new home court in Ward 8, their win brought greatness to our beloved city once again – the District of Champions.

They’ve set the standard, both on and off the court in our community – and inspire us all to do more, to innovate more, and to challenge Herstory.

But changing (her)story also happens in the Board room. That’s why we have the world’s most diverse ownership group, featuring three extraordinarily successful and accomplished women who help us innovate and lead in the sports marketplace.

We’ll continue to look for ways to empower, celebrate and champion our female athletes, partners, executives and employees – and be part of changing (her)story.

MONUMENTALSPORTS.COM

KICKING OFF FEB 8TH AT AUDI FIELD FOUNDING SEASON TICKET MEMBERS WILL ENJOY EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS INCLUDING: • VIP field pass for one Defenders home game • Season ticket price-lock for first two seasons • Access to the XFL’s Football Advisory Network • 25% discount on merchandise at XFL.com • Exclusive Defenders game day access • VIP Defenders experiences throughout the year • Priority status for playoff tickets and season ticket renewal

2020 DEFENDERS SEATING MAP & PRICING PRICING TIERS

SEASON TICKET PRICE PRICE PER SEAT

5-GAME PACKAGE

TIER 1 - CLUB

$100

$500

TIER 2 - CLUB

$90

$450

TIER 3

$75

$375

TIER 4

$55

$275

TIER 5

$40

$200

TIER 6

$30

$150

TIER 7

$20

$100

FIELD SEATS & SUITES

CONTACT EXPERIENCE MANAGER FOR MORE INFO: 202-908-3939

XFLDEFENDERS.COM | 202-908-3939 | TICKETS@XFLDEFENDERS.COM

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P HUNTER NISWANDER

KICKING OFF FEB 8TH AT AUDI FIELD

TICKETS START AT $24 XFLDEFENDERS.COM 202-908-3939 TICKETS@XFLDEFENDERS.COM

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