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Gary Tischler • September 10, 2014

If you watch the news in this town and our towns across the country, you’re bound to have been saddened, bewildered and not a little agitated over the furor and fury that has erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed young black man was shot by a white police officer. This horrible, tragic event was followed by demonstrations, clashes between the police and demonstrators as well as looters, fire and tear gas in the night almost every night, in ways that we have seen before throughout our troubled and often violent racial history.

Nothing has really been settled yet. Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis with a predominantly black population and an overwhelmingly white police force, remains a cauldron of outrage, uncertainty, seething and explosive emotions, and conflicting and confusing accounts of what actually happened. The local police—heavily armed with high tech, military-style weapons—along side the county police and the highway patrol, and soon to be joined by the National Guard—have repeatedly clashed with demonstrators, many of whom have protested with their arms held high in the traditional “don’t-shoot” stance. The FBI is investigating the shooting and everything surrounding it. A video showing of the shooting victim, Michael Brown, and a friend allegedly stealing boxes of cigars from a convenience star was released several days later by the Ferguson sheriff’s department to outrage in the community. There have been at least two autopsies done on Brown’s body. The officer who shot Brown has been identified. The parents of Brown are demanding the arrest of the officer.

Ferguson has become a flash point for anger, another reminder that the racial divide in America appears in this case as wide and deep as ever. The situation was not new. The volatility of relations between the police force and the residents of Ferguson bubbled over with the shooting, but it’s also a part of a process which we have seen locally when Prince Georges County became a majority black county, even as the police force remained predominantly white. The same was true for Washington, D.C., in the wake of the coming of home rule until Marion Barry became mayor.

The echo of some of the imagery we’ve seen—the protesters in the streets, the heavily armed police force, acting very much like a military force, and the presence of familiar civil rights leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said, “Ferguson is the defining moment today in America”—reminded people of other times and other places—the shooting of Trevon Martin and Selma, to some.

Ferguson was a news story that became something way beyond itself. It was a reference story to the ongoing, often violent saga of race relations in this country and delivered its quota of tragedy, metaphors and memories.

Other things happened, of course. Ukraine remained a tinderbox, deaths from Ebola remained on the rise in West Africa, the truce in Gaza appeared to be holding amid the ruins and great tension. The United States — in a limited, but effective, way — helped slow the momentum of ISIS in Iraq with fighter and drone attacks.

We caught up with an old movie, “Dead Poet’s Society,” Peter Weir’s elegiac, lovely piece about the price of non-conformity at a 1950s prep school, where actor Robin Williams presided over and inspired a group of young students with “Carpe Diem.” It was a quiet, touching movie, every bit as memorable as Williams’s more manic efforts or the creepy “One Hour Photo.” It was also emblematic of the gifts of Weir, who gave us “Witness” and “The Year of Living Dangerously.” Williams’s suicide Aug. 11 and its manner touched cinematic tribal memories for anyone who watched television, laughed out loud often or went to the movies. It became a loss, like that of some never-forgotten friend from a distant land.

We also saw the new movie, based on a classic old tome of a novel: Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel for young people, “The Giver,” a book that found its way into many middle-school and high school curriculums as a thought-provoking work that let youngsters think about the kind of world which was best to live in.

Many years in the making—which, for what it was, did a respectable $12.8 million at the box office this weekend—it was an approximation of the book (which I gulped down over the weekend). It seemed almost hip and trendy in the sense that it caught the tail wind of two other movie version of teen books about heroes and heroines in a dystopian world, “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent,” helping to make the word “dystopian” very cool itself.

“The Giver”—which was helped into existence by the persistence of actor Jeff Bridges who has the title role—is about a world and a society, which has survived an unexplained catastrophe, called the ruins. In this brave new world, there are no emotions. There is nothing called death except the euphemistic “release” of the elderly and rule breakers. There is no music, no colors and no books. There is no conflict, racial or otherwise. There’s no unemployment, no war, no starvation, no unnecessary excitement, no love or hate. It’s all controlled by a ruling class, called the elders, and every one in it knows their place.

There is also the giver, the one person who holds all the memories of events, feelings, feelings, creativity and such that existed. He is there as a kind of wise man in waiting, who has the answers for any questions that might come up. In this society, everyone is given an assignment—and young Jonas, age 16 (he’s 12 in the book), is about to get his. He will become the new giver, a process by which the Giver himself fills him with all the memories that he has inside him.

Jonas soon s finds himself in conflict with the “community,” his family and his friends, not to mention a watchful head elder, played by Meryl Streep in the film.

This is, of course, a movie and it must have its heroics and action, but it is also a highly affecting work. I’m not sure why but the daily lives of Jonas, his family and friends and his adventures are a potent emotional brew.

We left the theater in Georgetown and wandered by the water fountain at Percy Plaza in Georgetown Waterfront Park, past the new restaurants at Washington Harbour. We saw the birds of the river and the family of man, chaotic, warm, energetic, enjoy the day and seizing it for its quality of gentleness and sunshine, the citizens of this town and our town, enjoying the fruits of whatever labor there is. I would not have been surprised to see a spry Walt Whitman singing the multitudes.

There were as yet no signs of ruins, only a pirate ship and two impressively sized yachts and dogs at play—these everyday things, far from Ferguson for now.

Robert Devaney •

A woman riding a moped died Aug. 15 after being hit by a truck on the 4900 block of Connecticut Avenue, NW, in the District, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

The accident occurred in front of Engine Company 31 around 8:30 Friday morning at Fessenden Street NW. D.C. Fire & EMS spokesman Tim Wilson told WTOP, “A witness came in and alerted the members that were inside. Immediately, the rest of the members of the fire house … ran out and assessed the situation and provided some medical care to the patient.”

The moped driver — 36-year-old Nadia Sophie Seiler of Wheaton, Md. — was taken to a local hospital, where she later died.
An MPD spokeswoman said that the truck driver stayed on the scene and that the incident was under investigation.

Robert Devaney •

Another Georgetown classic is about to vanish.

Mr. Smith’s — “the friendliest saloon in town” at 3104 M St., NW, since 1965 — will close within weeks, probably by Sept. 1, its general manager Juan Andino told several media outlets.

Andino told ABC 7 News and others that the Boston-based landlord is raising the rent to levels his business cannot afford. He also said that he hoped to relocate the restaurant elsewhere in Georgetown, just as those who ran the closed Neyla, due to a lost lease, have indicated.

Said local advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels: “Mr. Smith’s, a fixture on M Street since 1965, was one of Georgetown’s enduring establishments. It added a nice flavor to the scene, and its piano bar will be missed.”

Mr. Smith’s with its piano bar and sing-alongs amid vintage furnishings is known to many Washingtonians as a spot where they had some of their first dates. As the restaurant wrote on its website: “One customer summed up Mr. Smith’s quite nicely a few years ago when he said, ‘…with its faded Victorian elegance, Mr. Smith’s is the place to go for good food and great fun!’ ”

Gary Tischler •

These days, if you want to talk about immigration, or naturalization, or American citizenship, people are likely to get angry.

Immigration, long a feverish political issue, discussed in terms of amnesty or no amnesty, has become a flashpoint topic that divides the country politically. Several presidents and legislatures have failed to come together on solutions. Recently, a huge influx of illegal immigrants coming from Central American countries has added fuel to the flames of the debate.

All this bellicosity, anger, and paralysis has obscured something essential about the United States. Everybody still wants to come here, live here, work here, and in astounding numbers, wants to become a citizen. Immigration and naturalization occurs every day and every year, in simple, and quite emotional, occasions all over the country. It’s an ongoing process that appears to be little noticed in all the media and political tumult.

In 2012, by May, some 500,000 people from all parts of the world had become citizens through the process of naturalization. Some 600,000 have done so so far this year. Every year, there are special occasions for large naturalization events, celebrating the long standing virtues of the United States¬—that this is a place where—not always, but most of the time—the door has been open for people from elsewhere in the world.
On Aug. 1, 25 children from countries all over the world received citizenship certificates by dint of the fact that their parents had already become citizens. The event was held in the North Garden at Dumbarton House (its director Karen Daly is shown below at a podium) on Q Street with the help of staff from the U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services, and was hosted in conjunction with the D.C. region’s Star-Spangled Summer War of 1812 Commemorative programming.

This was not a political event, but rather a celebration of proud children and proud parents who had become citizens of the U.S. They came from El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Togo and Vietnam.

Naturalization events, in which immigrants pledge allegiance to the United States, after passing tests on American history and government, civics and English, were held in large numbers all over the country on the Fourth of July. On September 17, which is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, similar events will be held at military bases, national parks, presidential libraries and historic sites, including Faneuil Hall in Boston; Glacier Point at Yosemite National Park; National Monument in Grand Junction, Colo.; the Harry Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Mo.; the National Archives in Washington, D.C.; the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas; Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, and others.
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Robert Devaney •

Love locks, which have been showing up on the railing of Key Bridge that links Georgetown and Arlington, will be cut off the structure Thursday by the District Department of Transportation, the agency says.

While Washington, D.C., may not want to look like it is anti-romantic, the padlocks are seen as damaging to the bridge over the long term.

“We are all about love—a nice bridge is love, a working bridge is love—but we are going to have to take them down,” DDOT spokesperson Reggie Sanders told WJLA. “It is an aesthetic problem as well.”

While love locks have been around for a long time, love locks on bridges gained major popularity in Europe within the past 10 years. Locks are put on railings or fences with a special inscription for the two lovers. Locks have also been cluttering up the Brooklyn Bridge. In June, the love-famed Pont des Arts footbridge in Paris near the Louvre lost part of its fencing which collapsed under the weight of so many locks.

Sanders further argued to WTOP: “Locks are being removed because we don’t want to establish a precedence where our structures could become polluted with these types of campaigns. Also, it could jeopardize the functionality of the railings.”

Robert Devaney •

Besides the dumpsters and service vehicles lined up for house renovations across Georgetown, major projects have gotten underway that involve schools, parkland and an old theater.

Duke Ellington School of the Arts is closed until September 2016 for redesign, renovation and additions. It is surrounded by a painted plywood barrier. The $82-million project will expand the historic school — built in 1898 and originally known as Western High School — to 294,900 square feet. The interior of the school will contain an atrium and a new 850-seat theater. The rooftop will have a classroom along with limited-use space. The school’s main portico will be preserved.

Work on the addition for Hyde-Addison Elementary Public School is being set up. Here is what the D.C. Department of General Services has said, in part: “This project involves the construction of an addition to Hyde Elementary that will consist of approximately 9,500 feet of additional space as well as a Phase 1 modernization of the existing Hyde school. It is contemplated that the addition will house a ‘Gymatorium,’ a media center and building service space (i.e., additional bathrooms, custodial and circulation space). This project will NOT include interior renovations of the Addison building. Site work will be directed at conserving the existing parking availability, preserving existing playground areas and circulation management. Due to the historic significance of the school and surrounding neighborhood, this project requires presentation of the proposed design to the Old Georgetown Board, the Commission on Fine Arts and State Office of Historic Preservation.”

Part of Rose Park at 26th and O Streets is closed for reconstruction “until sometime in November,” says the D.C. Parks & Recreation Department and D.C. Department of General Services. The playground, tot lot, basketball court and recreation center, including restrooms, are closed. The tennis courts remain open as does the ball field along P Street. The tennis courts will close in late September for two weeks of resurfacing. For more details, contact David Abrams of the Friends of Rose Park at jake.chase@juno.com.

Demolition and rehab work has begun on the old Georgetown Theater property with its iconic “Georgetown” neon vertical sign. Owner and architect Robert Bell contacted the Georgetowner concerning the upcoming reconstruction on the building at 1351 Wisconsin Ave., NW: “I will be removing the old sign and having it rebuilt by the original manufacturer — Jack Stone Signs — who still has all the templates and parts. I expect to have it removed in September and returned renovated in October, during which time I will be removing the faux stone and stuccoing the front façade to return it to the 1940 design.”

Robert Devaney •

The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation released the Outdoor Aquatic Facilities Closure Schedule for the 2014 summer season. DPR will implement the first phase of Outdoor Pool closures starting on Sunday, August 10. Below is information received from DPR.

• All Outdoor Pools will close in waves beginning on Sunday, August 10. Pools will close for the season at 6 pm on their respective Sundays.

• All Children’s Pools will close for the season at 6 pm on Sunday, August 17.

• All Spray Parks will close for the season at 7 pm on Labor Day, Monday, September 1. Please note that select spray parks will undergo renovations after September 1.

• East Potomac Outdoor Pool will close for the season at 6 pm on Sunday, October 19.

Below is the comprehensive closure schedule for the 2014 season. Pools are listed by type (Outdoor, Children’s and Spray Park) and then by date. Please call DPR’s Aquatics office at 202-671-1289 should you have additional questions or need further assistance.

2014 OUTDOOR AND CHILDREN’S POOLS CLOSURE SCHEDULE

– Closed August 10 for the season:

• Ward 5: Langdon Park Pool (2860 Mills Ave., NE)

• Ward 7: Kelly Miller Pool (4900 Brooks St., NE)

• Ward 8: Douglass Pool (1921 Fredrick Douglass Ct., SE)

– Closing at 6 pm on Sunday, August 17 for the season:

• Ward 1: Park View Children’s Pool (693 Otis Pl., NW)

Happy Hollow Children’s Pool (2200 Champlain St., NW)

• Ward 5: Harry Thomas Sr. Pool (1743 Lincoln Rd., NE)

• Ward 6: Lincoln Capper Children’s Pool (555 L St., SE)

Watkins Children’s Pool (420 12th St., SE)

• Ward 7: Benning Park Pool (5100 Southern Ave., SE)

– Closing at 6 pm on Sunday, August 24 for the season:

• Ward 2: Jelleff Pool (3265 S St., NW)

Volta Park Pool (1555 34th St., NW)

• Ward 5: Theodore Hagans Jr. Pool (3201 Fort Lincoln Dr., NE)

• Ward 6: Randall Pool (25 I St., SW)

• Ward 7: Fort Dupont Pool (830 Ridge Rd., SE)

• Ward 8: Anacostia Pool (1800 Anacostia Dr., SE)
Fort Stanton Pool (1800 Erie St., SE)

– Closing at 6 pm on Monday, September 1 for the season:

• Ward 1: Banneker Pool (2500 Georgia Ave., NW)

• Ward 2: Francis Pool (2435 N St., NW)

• Ward 4: Upshur Pool (4300 Arkansas Ave., NW)

• Ward 6: Rosedale Pool (1701 Gales St., NE)

• Ward 8: Oxon Run Pool (501 Mississippi Ave., SE)

– Closing at 6 pm on Sunday, October 19 for the season:

• Ward 2: East Potomac Pool (972 Ohio Dr., SW)

SPRAY PARKS CLOSURE SCHEDULE

– Closing at 7 pm on Monday, September 1 for the season:

• Ward 1: 14th & Girard Street Spray Park (14th & Girard Sts., NW)

14th & Park Road Spray Park (14th St. & Park Rd., NW)

Columbia Heights Spray Park (1480 Girard St., NW)

Harrison Spray Park (1330 V St., NW)

• Ward 3: Chevy Chase Rec. Ctr. Spray Park (5500 41st St., NW)

Friendship Spray Park (4500 Van Ness St., NW)

Macomb Spray Park (3409 Macomb St., NW)

Palisades Spray Park (5200 Sherier Pl., NW)

• Ward 4: Fort Stevens Spray Park (1327 Van Buren St., NW)

Lafayette Spray Park (5900 33rd St., NW)

Petworth Spray Park (801 Taylor St., NW)

Riggs LaSalle Spray Park (501 Riggs Rd., NE)

Takoma Spray Park (300 Van Buren St., NW)

• Ward 5: Joseph H. Cole Spray Park (1299 Neal St., NE)

Turkey Thicket Spray Park (1100 Michigan Ave., NW)

• Ward 6: Kennedy Spray Park (1401 7th St., NW)

• Ward 7: Fort Davis Spray Park (1400 41st St., SE)

Hillcrest Spray Park (3100 Denver St., NW)

• Ward 8: Fort Greble Spray Park (ML King Jr. Ave. & Elmira St., SW)

To contact DPR Aquatics Division, call 202-671-1289 or online at DPR Aquatics Activities or DPR Aquatics Facilities.

Robert Devaney •

Georgia Kirk Shallcross died suddenly at her home in Marshall, Va., near Middleburg, Va., August 25. She was well known around Washington, D.C., especially in Georgetown, where she had lived with her family for 22 years — and wrote a column for many years for the Georgetowner.

Shallcross leaves behind her two children, James Halsey Shallcross, 19, and Marina Kirk Shallcross, 15, with her former husband Jim Shallcross. She is also survived by her mother Barbara Copanos, better known to her grandchildren as “Ba Ba,” and by her fatherJohn Demitri Copanos and brother John Copanos. She was 51.

Her mother Barbara talked to the Georgetowner about her daughter, noting her intellectual curiosity, and said, “She was a wonderful mother. And with her love and knowledge of art history, she explained so much to her children.”

Born on Oct. 9, 1962, Shallcross grew up in Baltimore and attended the Friends School of Baltimore and Garrison Forest School. She earned a B.A. in art history at Hollins College and a master’s degree in English literature at George Washington University. She also studied briefly at the Sorbonne in Paris. After college, she was a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and then worked at the nearby, private Wildenstein Gallery for two years.

In New York, Shallcross met her husband Jim Shallcross. They moved to Georgetown and had two children, James Halsey Shallcross and Marina Kirk Shallcross. Upon their divorce, Jim Shallcross moved to Greenwich, Conn., and the son Halsey attends the Riverview School in Sandwich, Mass. Georgia Shallcross moved to Middleburg, Va., where her daughter Marina attends Foxcroft School.

For 18 years, Shallcross was a contributing columnist to The Georgetowner newspaper. This year, she began a column, called “The Georgetown Insider,” for Washington Life magazine. She also had written for Capitol File magazine. Among her other work activities, Shallcross was a life coach and an advisor on astrology.

“I have known Georgia for more than 23 years,” said Sonya Bernhardt, publisher of The Georgetowner. “She was insightful, creative, articulate, lots of fun and a very good friend. Our mutual interest in art drew us together and never left us. I am saddened beyond words.”

“Georgia was full of energy and full of life,” said John Arundel, associate publisher of Washington Life. “What happened was a true tragedy. She was a beloved person in Georgetown and involved in everything. She wrote with punch and flair. She was a beautiful writer.”

Georgetowner • September 8, 2014

Arvind Manocha, president and CEO of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, will headline a breakfast discussion on 8 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, at the George Town Club.

The event is the latest in the Cultural Leadership Breakfast Series with talks, hosted by the Georgetown Media Group—publisher of The Georgetowner and The Downtowner Newspapers. The speakers are all-stars in their fields as well as being newcomers to the Washington, D.C., arts scene.

The series continues on Oct. 9 with Melissa Chiu, recently appointed director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. On Nov. 6, Deborah Rutter, new president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will meet us for breakfast and a talk.

These informal events for D.C. cultural insiders take place from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the George Town Club, 1530 Wisconsin Ave., NW. The cost is $20 per person per breakfast ($15 for George Town Club members). To reserve a place, email richard@georgetowner.com or call 202-338-4833. Please note that space is limited.

Georgetowner • September 3, 2014

Smithsonian Collects Six FFA Jackets to Showcase Nation’s Agricultural Story

July 25th, 2014 at 10:00 AM | meeganl@si.edu | Tel: 202-633-3129 | Event Website

In a special donation ceremony, the National Museum of American History will collect six jackets worn by FFA members, including the one worn by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The jackets will be on display in the museum’s upcoming exhibition, “American Enterprise,” in a section showcasing the nation’s rich agricultural heritage.

The museum is also collecting the donors’ photos and stories for its Agricultural and Innovation Heritage Archive, an online portal launched in 2013.

Address

Warner Bros. Theater; National Museum of American History Constitution Avenue, between 12th and 14th streets N.W.

Susan Calloway: Caroline Adams Egg Tempera

July 26th, 2014 at 10:00 AM | gallery@callowayart.com | Tel: 202 965 4601 | Event Website

Mix egg yolk with powdered pigment and you have egg tempera, a painting medium that has been used for over 1,000 years. A successful Kickstarter campaign provided the funding for Washington artist Caroline Adams’s project to make 50 paintings in egg tempera. Combining 21st century crowdsourcing with ancient techniques is a natural path for the classically-minded artist.

An artist reception will be held Friday, August 15 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Address

Susan Calloway Fine Arts; 1643 Wisconsin Ave NW

Extraordinary Acupuncture Seminar

July 26th, 2014 at 10:00 AM | Free | info@thegilbertclinic.com | Tel: 301-215-4177 | Event Website

Jonathan Gilbert, acupuncturist extraordinaire and former lecturer at Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland, presents a practical and engaging overview of acupuncture, how it works, what it is used for, and a brief history of the Han dynasty culture that created Traditional Chinese Medicine to answer health and medical questions of its time . . . and ours.

RSVP to (301) 215-4177 or info@thegilbertclinic.com.

Address

The Gilbert Clinic; Bethesda Crossing, Wisconsin Tower East; 7315 Wisconsin Ave, Ste 760E; Bethesda, MD 20814

Free Talk on Lucretia Mott

July 26th, 2014 at 02:00 PM | Tel: 202.727.0233

On Saturday, July 26th the nationally syndicated opinion columnist and Washington, D.C. resident Jamie Stiehm will present “The Triangle of Slave Emancipation: Lucretia, Frederick and Abraham. It took a Friend, an Escaped Slave and an Outsider President to Set Enslaved People Free.” The talk focuses on American Quaker, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, and social reformer Lucretia Mott.

Address

The Peabody Room, located on the third floor of the Georgetown Neighborhood Library (3260 R Street, NW.)

Unlimited Beer at The Block

July 26th, 2014 at 01:00 PM | $40 | ilovebeer@drinkthedistrict.com | Tel: 2026183663 | Event Website

Get your birthday hats and streamers ready… it’s time for Drink the District: Birthday Beer Bash! For a limited time, presale tickets are just $40, so buy them while you can! Come and over 100 national and international beers and select full pour options.

Whether you like to drink or party, the three hour sessions allow attendees to get out of the bars and into the sunshine to socialize with other young professionals, live music, play games and eat from the best food trucks DC has to offer.

Address

The Block; 500 New York Ave NW

Tom Principato

July 27th, 2014 at 05:00 PM | Free | Tel: 703-790-0123 |

Part of the Summer Sunday Concerts in the Park series. Tom Principato is one of the most unique guitarists around, combining his rich blues background with high-energy rock, and a highly charged, emotionally expressive delivery. Concerts will be held in the McLean Central Park Gazebo, located at Route 123 and Old Dominion Drive. Parking available at McLean Community Center.

Address

McLean Central Park Gazebo; 1468 Dolley Madison Blvd; McLean, VA 22102

Summer Concerts: Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir

July 27th, 2014 at 02:00 PM | Free | marcommintern@nbm.org | Event Website

Free. This youth choir showcases uniquely talented voices in its distinctive style of high-energy performances.

Address

National Building Museum; 401 F St. NW