Latest News

Gary Tischler • November 15, 2012

Well into his second year of being Mayor of the District of Columbia, things remain troubled for Vincent Gray. According to polls, a majority of the city’s residents want him to resign, not to mention a few members of the District Council. Aides from his 2010 election campaign have confessed to election improprieties to U.S. District Attorney Ronald Machen. The investigation remains ongoing. Everywhere he goes, Gray is plagued with questions about his role in a so-called “shadow campaign,” involving developer Jeffrey Thompson. Everywhere he goes, Gray says little or nothing, on the advice of his counsel.

Yet, he soldiers on. July 27 was almost what you could call an upbeat day for the mayor as he led a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Adams Morgan, celebrating the high-style completion of the neighborhood’s 18th Street Streetscape project, which has transformed the long stretch of the area’s commercial and nightlife district.

“This is the sort of the thing we should be paying attention to. It’s something positive, a project that going to help transform the Adams Morgan neighborhood, bring business to the areas and make a dramatic difference,” Mayor Gray said, trailed by reporters, local business and community leaders and officials from D.C.’s Department of Transportation.

Gray looked and sounded upbeat, as he moved up and down 18th Street, dropping into shops and restaurants along the way. Still, faced with reporters with notebooks, he often looked a little wary. This is part of his daily routine now, even when it’s not the central piece of a particular event, as it really wasn’t here. Locals helped him celebrate, including Ward One Councilman Jim Graham, members of the Adams Morgan Business Improvement District and harried business owners, many of whom applied for interest-free loans from the city to alleviate costs caused by construction noise and disruption.

“If you have not been to Adams Morgan recently, you might not recognize it,” Mayor Gray said. “18th Street has undergone an extreme makeover and the results are remarkable. The new roadway, the wider sidewalks, the safer crosswalks—all of the upgrades support the local businesses in this great community and will help attract new customers.”

The project began February 2011, going up and down the sides of 18th Street from Columbia Road to Florida Avenue, a half-mile stretch. There were days and nights when the street looked like a war zone, with gaping wounds and craters along streets and sidewalks, not to mention the constant noise of drilling. The street, famous for its bar and night and entertainment and restaurant life, was in the past often congested, colorful and sometimes dangerous.

The result of the streetscape, similar to other projects in the city (there’s one about to begin on U Street and in Columbia Heights ) have made a remarkable difference at first sight. The $6.8-million project includes 32 Washington Globe street lights, 16 pendant pole lights at intersections, 47 ADA-compliant sidewalk wheelchair ramps, wider bump-outs and pedestrian gathering islands, a reconfigured intersection at 28th Street and Florida Avenue, 4,868 feet of granite curbs and brick gutters, new garbage cans and recycling cans and solar-powered compactors and larger storm-drain inlets. There are also 71 new bike racks, signs for bikers, and 59 new trees. The streets and sidewalks are wider, giving the area a new, urban, cosmopolitan look it didn’t have before. Shop owners on the whole appeared pleased with the new digs, and already there’s been an influx of new restaurants that appear an upgrade from the double-decker bars prevalent in the area. [gallery ids="100926,129531" nav="thumbs"]

Emily Lindstrand •

D.C. is rich with history soldiers helped create, and this weekend the District, as well as the rest of the country, will honor these veterans. Veterans Day weekend in D.C. will feature a wide range of events to honor those who have served the country.

On Saturday, November 10:

The American Freedom Festival will feature rock bands Chicago and Kansas. The concert will honor veterans and Armed forces; proceeds will benefit organizations that serve and support our veterans, active duty military service members, and injured soldiers. The event will also feature a Veterans Career Hiring Event. Tickets: Ticketmaster.com

The National Marine Corps Museum will celebrate the both Marine Corp’s birthday and Veteran’s Day with a ceremonial sword cake cutting.

The Manassas Veterans Day Parade at 11:00 a.m. features military and high school bands, pipe and drum corps teams, military units from the various Armed Services, and military vehicles.

On Veteran’s Day, Sunday, November 11:

The National Veterans Day Service will take place at Arlington National Cemetery at 11:00 a.m. featuring a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Seating is limited and visitors are encouraged to arrive at least a half hour prior to the event.

From 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the Boston University CDIA is sponsoring a walkabout for photographers of all ages. Participants will visit places of historical interest, such as the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, The Air Force Memorial and the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials. RSVP to 202.625.1110.

The World War II Memorial will have a wreath laying ceremony at 9:00 a.m.
The Air Force Memorial will have a wreath laying ceremony and a two-minute moment of silence on at 11:00 a.m.

The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial will have a color guard, speakers, and a wreath-laying ceremony in honor of all who served during the Vietnam War. 1:00 p.m.

The ceremony at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial will feature stories of veterans from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as their children, told firsthand. The event will take place from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and 2:00 p.m.to 4:00 p.m.

Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens will have many special activities, including a concert by the all-veteran barbershop chorus at 11:00 a.m. and wreath laying at the tomb of George Washington at 2:00 p.m. Active duty military personnel and veterans get in free of charge; the concert wreath and laying ceremony are included with regular Mount Vernon admission.

Gary Tischler •

Music, be it jazz or classical or pop, is the most adaptive of art forms. It can thrive in any setting.

Of course, it’s always nice to have a perfect setting, and that’s what the S&R Foundation and its Overtures Holiday Concert Series provided November 2 at the sumptuously and classically beautiful Evermay in Georgetown.

The S&R Foundation’s Holiday series —headed by President Sachiko Kuno and Honorary Chair Ryuji Ueno—kicked off last Friday with a sweet, energetic and eclectic turn by young Israeli jazz guitarist Yotam Silberstein. The jazz theme continues tomorrow with an appearance by top-notch jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut.

The two jazz concerts are being presented in conjunction with the DC Jazz Festival, with help from the DCJF Chairman Michael Sommenreich and his wife Linda. DC Jazz Festival executive producer Charlie Fishman (and son Moses) and Executive Director Sunny Sumter were on hand for the first concert.

Silberstein is an up and comer in the jazz world. At age 21, he was named Israel’s “Jazz Player of the Year.” He plays with a light, easy style, in which player, instrument and music all seem to be involved in a courtship as he moved from free-styling versions of old standards, through his own compositions and forays into lively Brazilian numbers.

The series switches to classical performers with violinist Tamaki Kawakubo on November 16 and pianist Yu Kosuge on November 23, followed by a return to jazz with Jeb Patton and Mike Rodriguez November 30, then back to classical music with violinist/violist Yura Lee on December 7 and pianist Ryo Yanagitani December 14.

The S&R Foundation was created to support talented individuals with great potential and high aspirations in the arts and sciences. The Overture Series—which will have a spring season as well—was created to showcase award-winning emerging musical artists in the splendid setting of Evermay estates.

For more information, visit www.sandrfoundation.org
[gallery ids="101051,136713" nav="thumbs"]

Nico Dodd •

Sports legends were on hand to open the new Nike store in Georgetown Oct 25. The Vornado-owned building that formerly housed Barnes & Noble is now a three-story, 31,000-square-foot store that carries a wide range of Nike’s athletic gear at 3040 M St., NW.

Homages to Georgetown University athletics are present in numerous areas of the store. Displays include gear from Georgetown’s track & field team and a display case of Georgetown University Air Jordans.

In the entrance of the building is a commemorative display honoring former Georgetown University men’s basketball head coach John Thompson, Jr., who coached at the school from 1972 to 1999. A neon-sign quotation by Thompson reminds athletes not to ignore life beyond the court. “Don’t let the sum total of your existence be 8-10 pounds of air.”

Before the event began, coach Thompson and former Hoya Patrick Ewing were on hand for a few words. “It’s a great store,” Ewing said.

Tim Hershey, head of North American retail for Nike opened the ceremony. Hershey manages Nike’s 202 stores in North America. He explained how the store received 4,500 applications to work there, which were eventually whittled down to 500 interviews, and finally, to 171 employees working in the store today. One employee said he was in three weeks of training for his sales position.

Michael Jackson, who played point guard on Georgetown’s 1984 NCAA championship team, is now Vice President and General Manager of Basketball in North America at Nike. Jackson remarked on the new store and presented Thompson with a one-of-a-kind, commemorative jacket honoring his career in the basketball.

Thompson, who is on the board of directors at Nike, was characteristically to-the-point. “I’d rather eat a bug than what I’m doing right now,” he said.

Thompson spoke about Nike’s commitment to Georgetown University’s basketball program when the team needed support. “Nike was one of the few corporations who jumped in when we needed help,” he said.

On his quote in the store, Thompson explained how he convinced his former player, Jackson, to leave the NBA to pursue a career off the court. He emphasized that there is more to life than basketball. “If that’s what defines you totally, you’re a damn fool,” Thompson said.

Current Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson III also spoke about the new store.

After the ceremony, Thompson, Jr., was joined by his son, his two grandchildren, Michael Jackson, Tim Hershey and Jack the Bulldog for the ribbon cutting. Afterwards, eager shoppers poured in to see the new store for themselves. Along with sports gear in other sports, such as that of the Washington Redskins, the store will manage a running club.
[gallery ids="101033,136049,136042,136036,136029,136023,136017,136064,136069,136011,136074,136082,136056" nav="thumbs"]

Hayley Markovich •

During all of the trick-or-treating and revelry in Georgetown on this quickly approaching Halloween, parking will be restricted on some of the roadways in the neighborhood from 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31, until 6 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 1.

Those streets affected are K Street, NW, from 30th Street to Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Water Street, NW from 33rd Street to the Capital Crescent Trail, 1000, 1100,1200, 1300 Blocks of Wisconsin Avenue, NW, M Street NW, from 25th Street to Key Bridge, 1100 block of 26th Street, NW, and Thomas Jefferson Street – 1000 block (from the canal, north to M Street).

Residents, visitors and employees of businesses in these areas will have access to these streets. Additional streets may be closed or opened as well. To gain access to these streets, citizens must present proof of work or residence to gain access to these streets. The restrictions will be in effect on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m., until Thursday, Nov. 1, 4 a.m. The streets affected by these closures
are:

• 1000 block of Grace Street, NW

• 1000 block of Thomas Jefferson Street, NW

• 1000 through 1500 blocks of 29th Street, NW

• 1000 through 1500 blocks of 30th Street, NW

• 1200 through 1300 blocks of Potomac Street, NW

• 1200 through 1500 blocks of 27th Street, NW

• 1200 through 1500 blocks of 28th Street, NW

• 1200 through 1600 blocks of 33rd Street, NW

• 1200 through 1700 blocks of 34th Street, NW

• 1500 32nd Street, NW

• 1200 through 1700 blocks of 35th Street, NW

• 2600 through 3100 blocks of Dumbarton Street, NW

• 2600 through 3100 blocks of P Street, NW

• 2600 through 3600 blocks of O Street, NW

• 2700 through 3600 blocks of N Street, NW

• 2700 block of Poplar Lane, NW

• 2700 through 2900 blocks of Olive Street, NW

• 3100 block of Blues Alley, NW

• 3100 block of Oak Alley, NW

• 3100 block of South Street, NW

• 3200 through 3400 Q Street, NW

• 3200 block of Cecil Place, NW

• 3200 through 3600 blocks of Prospect Street, NW

• 3300 through 3400 blocks of Dent Place, NW

• 3300 block of Cady’s Alley, NW

• 900 block 30th Street, NW

Motorists are encouraged to exercise extreme caution when traveling in these areas. In addition, those who will be in the area on Halloween are encouraged to use public transportation.
Georgetown will be holding many events on and around Halloween to celebrate. Thunder Burger and Bar will be holding a Halloween Costume Contest. You can come at any time; costume judging begins at 10 p.m. Titles up for grabs are best male and best female costumes. Winners receive a $50 gift certificate to Thunder Burger and Bar.

The Annual Boo Cruise will be taking place on Saturday, October 27. Guests 21 and over can come aboard and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar all night long. Halloween costumes are encouraged and the best costume will win 4 free tickets on the Spirit of Washington during the costume contest by the end of the night! Boarding will begin at 9:00 pm, and the cruise will last from 9:30 p.m. to 12:05 a.m.

On Oct. 28, the Georgetown Theatre Company will be communicating with the spirits and reading poems and short stories by Edgar Allan Poe including “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee.” After the show there will be a “Horrors d’oeuvre Reception” with the cast.

In Cady’s Alley on Oct. 27, starting at 9 p.m., L2 Lounge will host an Angels & Demons party. Doors are open until 11 p.m.

Bandolero will be hosting its Wake the Dead Party at 10 p.m. on Nov. 2. It will feature a DJ on the first floor and a popular-vote costume contest from 10 p.m. until midnight. Prizes include gifts of lunch or dinner at Bandolero.

Paul Bakery has taken a different spin on Jack-o-Lantern making. It will carve bread rather than pumpkins. You are invited to join the fun at the Georgetown bakery and café. Cost is $15 per person; this includes a large pumpkin-shaped loaf of bread, a stencil to carve a design and a drink and treat. To reserve a spot, email paulb03@paul-usa.com. Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, 10 a.m. to noon; 1078 Wisconsin Ave., NW.

Gary Tischler • November 14, 2012

When Colin Powell walks into a room, you kind of want to sit up a little straighter.

He looked in his dark suit, walking-tall way, smiling but firm, well, presidential. It’s only natural that such a thought came to mind, given that President Barack Obama had been re-elected the night before. There was still a buzz in the air among those attending the book talk by Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State at the Dupont Circle offices of the Aspen Institute, the non-profit, non-partisan think and issues tank.

Not only that, but it had been only days since Powell, a Republican, had endorsed Obama for a second time, which stirred a certain amount of controversy, at least among the likes of shoot-from-the-hip Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly, who suggested that Powell did so because Obama, like Powell, is black and rose success from modest circumstances.

It’s also true that in the 1990s, there was a groundswell for the popular Powell, an African American who led the hugely successful U.S. military effort in the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, to run for president.

Nobody in the crowd at the Aspen Institute asked him about that, but they didn’t need to. Powell brought it up himself. “We all know the huge effect of fund raising and money has had on the electoral process. That was evident to me even back then. My running was a serious matter, raised by serious people, and it had to be taken seriously, and I gave it considerable thought. I agonized over it a little, truth be told. But a decision like that in our house involve my wife, Alma, and I thought about it. And I thought about having to go to yet another fund raiser. I thought about the life of daily campaigning that it would take, and I finally decided and I came down for my morning coffee and told her of my decision. “I’m not running,” I said. She looked at me and said, “What took you so long?”

Everybody laughed. This was, after all, not a policy staff meeting in the Pentagon or White House. This was a book talk, moderated by noted biographer (of Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein) and Aspen president and CEO Walter Isaacson. Powell was among friends—including his successor as National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, Aspen members, a two-star army general, former colleagues in his state department where he served as the first African American Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, and an opera singer and professor of music at George Mason University. Everybody knew everybody.

Still, Powell had a little more—all right, a lot more—gravitas than anyone else in the room, but he wore it lightly and well. The book in question—“It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership” published by Harper—is a kind of bookend to his critical and popular successful memoir “My American Journey”, an anecdotal riff on the qualities of leadership and what is required to be a top leader in any field.

Some of it centers around Powell’s famous 13 rules—they were first referenced in a Parade Magazine story—chief and legendarily among them “Get Mad, Then Get Over It”. “Throughout my military career,” he said, “I’ve always encouraged discussion, even disagreement, and the rule applies here, not just about getting mad, but arguing. But once that’s over, the decision is made and you abide by it. It works in life, too. A reporter asked my wife once how we had managed to have successful marriage for so many years—“Get mad, then, get over it,” she answered.

Powell has had a fabled American career of service. In the army, where he says he found his home, his life, his friends, and in American government, he rose to the rank of four-star general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, served as National Security Adviser, and Secretary of State, becoming the first African American (of Caribbean descent) to serve—in both roles.

A decorated combat officer—he has always said he was haunted by Vietnam, where he served with distinction. He is not only the author of the 13 rules (others include “Share Credit!” “Have a Vision!” “Be Demanding!” “Perpetual Optimism is a force multiplier”) — he is also the author of the Powell Doctrine. This doctrine was an approach to military decision-making in wartime that, summed up, means applying maximum force with minimal casualties. This worked famously in Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf War against Iraq, where, coupled with the elder Bush’s ability to forge an eclectic alliance against Saddam Hussein, U.S. Arms won a decisive victory with few casualties.

The 2nd Iraq war, in which President Bush asked him to make the case for military action against Saddam Hussein (in a post-9/11 climate) based on intelligence that Hussein had WMDs was a different matter. “Look, I went there—gladly—with the intelligence that was given to me. Based on that, I gave my speech. It turned out that the intelligence should have been looked at more closely by all concerned. I’m not happy with that—we should have bored in more into the intelligence. There isn’t a day that goes by when I’m not asked about that, and it’s a burden I carry. It’s a blot on my record. But given the same intelligence, that is what I knew then, when I made the speech, I would do it again.”

He had blunt things to say about the war and other matters, saying that the Iraqi army should not have been dismantled, that the conduct of the war, post-victory, was not all it should have been.
He praised President Obama for his handling of the auto bailout, for what he called “his nuanced diplomacy”, and he said that the election revealed a diverse America .

“The Republican Party, we all, are facing a historical demographic change,” he said. “In another generation, there will be no more minorities, in terms of gender, Hispanics, people of color, families with different organizations. The Republican Party has to recognize it. Yesterday demonstrated that you have to figure it out. You can’t say we have no immigration policy. It’s a historic moment that’s happening, and we’re the only country that could deal with such a huge change, and that’s why it’s such a beautiful country.” He said that “there is a vein of intolerance in my party (Powell is a Republican after all). We have to change that. You can’t attack the president and say he’s a Muslim. There’s nothing wrong with being a Muslim, but we can’t demonize people we disagree with …I hope after the election yesterday, there’s no place in America for this kind of intolerance. We are the example of the best in us to the world. When I hear somebody say that we’re living in the worst of time—I say, no it’s not, I can show you the worst of times.”

There was both authority and a passionate love of country in his words. Describing the United States of America post-2012 election sounded, well, presidential.

Georgetowner • November 12, 2012

The Georgetowner’s Holiday Benefit & Bazaar 2012

November 29th, 2012 at 06:00 PM | $45 or $65 at the door | adra@georgetowner.com | Tel: 202 338 4833 | Event Website

Join us for an evening of shopping and holiday delights, as we honor and give back to a shining community star:

THE GEORGETOWN SENIOR CENTER

Shop for unique gifts from select vendors.Warm your senses with seasonal cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Gather in the joy of giving this holiday season.

Advance tickets can be purchased for $45 or $65 at the door.

Address

Historic Georgetown Club; 1530 Wisconsin Ave NW

Live Jazz at The Henley Park

November 8th, 2012 at 07:00 PM | Free | Tel: 202-638-5200 | Event Website

The Henley Park Blue Bar Lounge presents vocalist Nancy Scimone and her pianists each Saturday night, 7:30 to 11:00. Scimone will sing songs by the greats, including Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin. The bar menu offers gourmet dishes, desserts, cocktails, and international wines and beers.

Address

Henley Park Hotel Blue Bar Lounge; 926 Massachusetts Ave NW

Snooping with the Curator Tour

November 8th, 2012 at 07:00 PM | 10.00 | info@dumbartonhouse.org | Tel: 202-337-2288 | Event Website

This in-depth tour allows visitors see the insides and interiors of some of Dumbarton House’s important objects, including the Baltimore desk, piano forte, and Charleston sideboard, not usually seen by the public. Learn about these wonderful objects and our on-going efforts to preserve the Dumbarton House collection. Scott Scholz, Deputy Director & Curator, will give the hour-long tour. The program begins in the Dumbarton House Visitor Center, located on the Q Street side of the house.

Address

2715 Q Street, NW

Spy at Night

November 9th, 2012 at 06:00 PM | $14.95 | Tel: 202.EYE.SPYU | Event Website

Come to the International Spy Museum for Spy at Night, an experience providing guests with exclusive after-hours access to the museum exhibitions. A night of “intrigue, deception, and cocktails.”

Address

The International Spy Museum; 800 F St NW

Oceans in Focus Exhibit

November 10th, 2012 at 01:00 AM | Free | Tel: 202.483.6000 | Event Website

As part of FotoWeekDC, the Oceans in Focus Exhibit at the Dupont Circle Hotel will showcase spectacular underwater photography from noted photographers David Doubilet, Brian Skerry, Michelle Westmorland and Octavio Aburto.

Address

Dupont Circle Hotel; 1500 New Hampshire Ave, NW

Tea with Mrs. B Holiday Etiquette and Tea Party for the Entire Family

November 11th, 2012 at 01:00 PM | $29-$49 | Tel: 202 736-1459 | Event Website

Children are invited to learn about healthy eating and holiday manners at this fun-filled event. Culinary demonstration focusing on holiday meals and treats. Menu includes: house made finger sandwiches, mini desserts, cupcakes, tarts and fruit kabobs, along with green, black and white herbal teas. There will also be Silver butler service, a Holiday Photo booth, and a Gift bag.

Address

The Fairfax at Embassy Row Hotel, the iconic ballroom

Photographs of Social Life in Washington DC, 1900-196

November 11th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Free | Tel: 202-347-7978 | Event Website

Part of FotoWeekDC, this offers a glimpse of social life in Washington DC between 1900 and 1960, as documented by the National Geographic Society through photographs.

Exhibit runs through November 30

Address

975 F Street NW

Freshfarm Markets 2012 Farmland Feast

November 12th, 2012 at 05:00 PM | $250 and up | Tel: 202.362.888 |Event Website

10th annual Farmland Feast showcases our Chesapeake Bay farmers and producers. Local chefs will prepare a spectacular six-course anniversary dinner with local food and local wine pairings. Our mission driven, selective auction takes place during the seasonal cocktail hour; a live auction is held during the dinner. This benefit is a prominent part of the local-food movement in the Washington, DC area, and was named “the locavore party of the year” by DC magazine in 2010.

Registration closes: Friday, November 09, 2012

Address

The Ritz-Carlton, 1150 22nd St NW

Hayley Markovich •

The Norman Parish Gallery is featuring famed micro-sculptor Willard Wigan’s “The Half Century Collection.” On Friday Nov. 9, there is a special reception, 6 to 8 p.m., with Wigan in attendance.
Wigan is known for his pieces that sit within the eye of a needle or on a pinhead. His work is so tiny that it cannot be seen without the aid of a microscope.

Owners of Willard Wigan’s work include Prince Charles, Elton John, Sir Philip Green, Lord Bath, Mike Tyson and Simon Cowell. One of his most recent pieces, The Coronation Crown was requested by Queen Elizabeth II in tribute to her celebration of her Diamond Jubilee.

Wigan’s micro-sculptures are shown in the main gallery. You can view his work for a $5 fee; children are free. The collection is being shown until early January 2013.

The Norman Parish Gallery located in Canal Square at 1054 31st St., NW, represents primarily, but not exclusively, visual artists of significance from Africa and the African Diaspora. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.
[gallery ids="101050,136715,136711,136706" nav="thumbs"]

Emily Lindstrand • November 9, 2012

There are several sources though which to get involved if you want to assist the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Many organizations have said that the best way to help is to donate money, and they made doing so as easy as a text message or a few clicks online.

American Red Cross: The Red Cross is accepting blood donations as well as monetary ones. There are a variety of ways to get involved. Text REDCROSS to 90999 in order to donate $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. You can also call 1-800-733-2767 for English and 1-800-257-7575 for Spanish. You can donate money (http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations) and find information about donating blood (http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood) online.
Also, there’s a link on the iTunes homepage to donate to the Red Cross via your iTunes account. According to Apple, 100 percent of your donation will go to the Red Cross.

Salvation Army: Salvation Army is working to provide meals and shelter to those in need after Sandy. A press release last Tuesday announced that “At this point, in-kind donations, such as used clothing and used furniture, are not being accepted for hurricane relief.” You can text STORM to 80888 to make a $10 donation; to confirm the donation, reply with yes. You can also call 800-725-2769 or donate online (https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/disaster).

Habitat for Humanity: Habitat is doing its usual work of rebuilding homes. To make a donation, call 1-800-422-4828, and press 0 when prompted.

Catholic Charities: You can donate online by calling 1-800-919-9338.

Humane Society: The Humane Society’s Animal Rescue Team are working to rescue any pets in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast who were unable to go with their owners to safety. You can donate by calling 301-258-8276.

Gary Tischler •

So here we are: the eleventh hour, the last moments, the seal-the-deal times, the end of days, when it comes to the 2012 presidential campaign.

It’s generally conceded that there may by now and at last be more pandas in the world than there are undecided voters. If you haven’t decided by now, you’re probably lying to the last robo-caller and to yourself.

It will be Republican Mitt Romney or Democrat Barack Obama, the incumbent president. Or it may be the other way around. We will know by tomorrow. And maybe we won’t.

According to the polls—snapshot in time, folks, this time, this hour, this day, nothing more, but again, nothing less—the two men after wailing on each other with their own ads and those made by SuperPACs with generic, patriotic but altogether anonymous names are more or less in a dead heat in the popular vote, with some polls showing now a slight edge to the president. I don’t believe a percentage of it. Like exit polls, polls on the day before the election are the kinds of things—frown lines on a loan officer’s face, studying the centimeters of eyebrow raising on your spouse’s face after you came home a little late after the football game—that are iffy, they’re meant to allow news people to make predictions without fear or favor. Fat chance.

The playing field, in any case, has leveled. The toss ups remain, with perhaps the exception of Ohio for reasons not determined—unstable, volatile, fearfully unsettled—and in Florida’s case, as always, like a disturbance in a foreign land.

Almost everyone agrees that Hurricane Sandy has played its part—probably because President Obama could be President Obama and get a hug from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Christie, a Republican is still voting for Mr. Romney, but resented criticism of his let-us-now-praise-the-president, bipartisan mode. Romney had little to do, except to hand out food and dodge questions about what he would do with FEMA.

It is hard to figure out what’s going on in the sense of vox populi, because this has been a very dispiriting campaign on which enough money was spent to probably turn on the entire East Coast power grid, alleviate the damage and help every one that suffered a material loss. That, in and of itself, is dispiriting. Even Brian Williams of NBC News had a frown for the cost of the ad campaigns of the two candidates.

There is not a single phrase that I heard during the course of the campaign that was not negative in some way—that was rhetorically inspiring—not even “Forward,” which is, after all, the same phrase the commander of the Light Brigade used, according to Lord Tennyson. Of course, the suspicion remains that Romney has a hundred slogans, including a “Brighter Future,” “America Strong Again,” and so on, all pointing to 1955.

Even now, the two sides are still snarking and sparring—the president at one point in an aside to a reporter appears to have called Romney a b-ser, not the worst thing that’s been done in this campaign. And after there were boos in a crowd after hearing Romney’s name, the president reportedly said, “Don’t boo. Vote. Voting is the best revenge.” Romney promptly and often criticized him for urging voters to vote out of revenge.

It’s worth looking back—not too much, else the strangeness of it all affect voter turnout—on the campaign. You could, for simplicity’s sake, break it down: Phase One, the Republican Nomination Campaign, which consisted of a series of primaries and a series of debates, in which Romney outlasted and outspent and made fewer mistakes than his many, many opponents, none of whom merited even the thought of measuring as presidential. In the second half of this phase, Romney earned a victory from his labors which consisted of bullying Newt Gingrich, trying to move to the right of Rick Santorum and thankfully never quite succeeding, outsmarting Rick Perry—how hard is that?—and ignoring everyone else, except for fellow Mormon John Huntsman for working in the Obama administration.

Phase Two were the Republican and Democratic conventions, the former preceded by Romney’s sage choice of Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, the party’s budget whiz kid, as his running mate. The convention itself was not quite the super bowl event it could have been—Ryan wowed, everyone praised Ann Romney for her speech in support of her husband, and everyone talked about Clint Eastwood’s conversation with an empty chair. If Romney could not do that to himself, perhaps Clint did.

The Democratic convention was not a triumph for Obama, but it was a winning event, especially when former President Bill Clinton took the stage, doing more to explain and boost the achievements of the administration that had hitherto been managed by the candidate himself.

There was a bounce and then an apparent surge, which the president, at the start of Phase Three, the all-important-to-the-media debates, single-handedly threw away and turned the race into the deadlock that it is now by a still-mystifyingly poor, detached and passive performance in the first debate. The rest of the campaign has been spent with the president climbing slowly, but apparently successfully, out of the hole that had loomed as a total disaster.

Mind you, although news kept coming of the Middle East and the economy inched its way upward but not out of stagnation, it was a great television show—at least to the electronic media, which treated each debate (there were four), as the deciding factor in the election.

The economy was Obama’s burden to defend and Romney’s whip. Neither did enough to change the political climate, which was a barrage of negative ads across the country. There is now a worrisome feeling in the air, not exactly jump-for-joy, but a certain relief that it will be over.

Maybe. None of the great issues were discussed, and none of the more urgent lesser ones made it to the table in the debates, either. Everyone talked about the looming financial cliff; few offered a solution.

The campaign this year was conducted in a time of horrific, and consistently regular, mass shootings, using semiautomatic weapons, most dramatically at a midnight showing of a Batman movie in a Colorado suburb. The campaign was also conducted in a time when there were more unseasonable, dramatic and severe weather—a devastating drought, out-of-season and destructive tornadoes and wildly wind-filled and flood-inducing storms, forest fires spectacularly destructive, and most recently, Hurricane Sandy. Neither gun control nor climate change nor global warming came into the discussion in any significant way.

Romney made it a trademark to speak inelegantly, to struggle to define himself as a warm human being. That inelegance produced “$10,000 bet?” and most dramatically, the 47 percent and and the embrace/desertion of stands on issues that made flip-flop seem too elegant a phrase.

All notwithstanding, here we are. Tomorrow, we—all who choose to—get to have our say. Regrettably, there is no electoral box to check or click that can indicate: “We want our money back,” “None of the above,” “Abraham Lincoln” or “the Joker.”