Biz Group Hosts Autumn Reception at the Ritz
• November 6, 2012

After its monthly board meeting on Oct. 17, members and friends of the Georgetown Business Association relaxed at Degrees bar and lounge of the Ritz-Carlton on South Street, catching up with each other and drinking seasonal concoctions like vanilla-infused cognac champagne and spiced Manhattan and sampling finger foods that included beef Wellington, quiche and smores. People were talking about GBA treasurer Karen Ohri’s appearance on a Fox 5 News segment that highlighted the changes in Georgetown retail, especially the reconstruction of the Shops at Georgetown Park which will add discount stores to the M Street commercial scene. Also discussed was GBA’s economic forum at the City Tavern Oct. 18 and GBA’s big annual meeting on Dec. 12.

Check out (GBA’s Karen Ohri on Fox 5)[http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/19837492/changing-business-landscape-in-georgetown] [gallery ids="101026,135829,135824,135820" nav="thumbs"]

Living in PinkNovember 1, 2012
• November 1, 2012

When it comes to illnesses, especially with, but not limited to, cancer, we live in a time of high and keen awareness, a time of activism, and pro-activism, of an urgency working toward finding a cure, of gathering and distributing information and reaching out. This is the age of ribbons, runs and research.
The first time Michele Conley was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was 35, a mother of four young children with a career as a State Farm Insurance Agent living in Chevy Chase. She was a self-described fanatic when it came to athletics, running, physical fitness and exercise.

That was in 1995, and back then, there wasn?t a ribbon or a run for every illness, and what you could call medical activism of the kind started by Susan G. Komen for the Cure non-profit was not as all-pervasive as it is today. Many of the options now open to cancer-diagnosed patients were not yet available.

?I was shocked, but went through the chemotherapy, the radiation and the surgery,? she said. She had reason to be optimistic afterward?the cancer seemed to have gone into a long remission.
In the interim, her mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer and then, five years after her own bout with breast cancer, it came back.

?I had a much harder time with that,? she said. ?It was a tough, very tough. But this time, I thought, let?s go get it done with. And I thought, I?m going to do everything I can to not just fight this but end it in some way.?

This time she opted for radical surgery ? double mastectomy and hysterectomy ? which meant a hospital stay and a lengthy recovery period.

We visited Conley in her State Farm Office on upper Wisconsin Avenue, and found an outgoing, straight-talking, attractive blonde woman who gave no appearance of having gone through such a life-changing ordeal, even if it was in the somewhat distant past. When she talked about her experience, she was blunt, direct, animated.

There was no complaint, no whisper of long suffering. There was talk about running marathons, her
four children, about the hope and need to find a cure for cancer, which had made long and wrenching
visitations in her life and that of her family.

She?s a doer, pro-active, purely active. ?I?ve always been like that, and I think I get that from
my mother, who is amazing, really amazing,? she said. ?When we found out that mom, Annette,
was diagnosed, we went to the doctor together, and we were told about options and plans, and what
was required, starting in her case with chemotherapy. And she listened, and she said, ?Well, okay,
let?s do that. When do we start??

That ?let?s do it? attitude comes natural to her. Because she did more than just take on the cancer
and all it entailed. In 2004, she decided to do something a little more involving. She started the
?Living In Pink? Foundation, with a core committee of ten women, which sponsors a yearly fundraising
luncheon (It?s Nov. 2 this year) as well as the awarding of a grant, which supports innovative
research toward breast cancer research. Or, as the mission statement reads, Living in Pink was
created to ?help find a cure for breast cancer so that the next generation of women will not have to
endure the emotional and physical pain of breast cancer and treatment.?

Conley is president of the foundation, her good friend Dr. Pamela Peeke, a Bethesda physician
and diet and fitness specialist, is Chief Medical Advisor and Laurie Zorc is Director of Operations.
?Things have changed over the years, all sorts of cancer foundations and treatment centers
are have emerged,? she said. ?We?re all working toward the same thing, and I want to help. I met
through Dr. Peeke a lot of people who went through similar things and that?s one of the other things
that results from all this, the knowledge that we?re not alone. You can?t feel like you?re handling
this alone.?

?For me, I have to say that my children, twins Brooke and Denver, 22, Brendan Riley, 19 and
Forrest 17 have been just a tremendous source of support for me,? she said. ?They?re the reason
you want to fight so hard, but they were also there for me, especially the second time. Not fighting
back was not an option.?

?We?re looking toward the future,? she said. ?We?re talking about the future of our children.
Recipients of Living in Pink Research Funding have included Dr. Eliot Rosen from the Lombardi
Cancer Center at Georgetown University; Dr. Koji Itahana from the University of North Carolina;
Dr. Sandra M. Swain of the Washington Cancer Institute at the Washington Hospital Center;
Dr. Robert Strange of the University of Colorado; Dr. Ehsan Samei of the Duke University Medical
Center and Ann-Marie Simeone of the University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
?It?s a lot different today,? she said. ?More and more people and groups are involved.

Married for a second time to mortgage banker Mark Eigerbrode, Conley is in some ways much
the same woman as she was before she encountered the disease that looms so large in the minds of
women. She is still a runner, a doer, a straightforward, plain speaker with style and verve. Except
you think that everything she does now has a dollop of urgency in it. ?Cancer,? she said, ?is not for
the faint of heart.?

The No-Cut, No-Color Drybar Opens Near Safeway
• October 31, 2012

“Peace, Love & Blowouts” is emblazoned above the reception desk at Georgetown’s newest salon, Drybar. The upscale salon opened Oct. 19 at 1825 Wisconsin Ave., NW, and offers its unique service of a blow dry bar. Its slogan is “No Cuts. No Color. Just Blowouts: Only $40.”

The concept, created by founder Alli Webb, was begun in Los Angeles, when Webb’s at-home blow-out service called for expansion. The Georgetown salon is the 18th Drybar location in the United States with others in several states, including California, Texas and New York. This is the second location in the D.C. area; a Drybar also opened in Bethesda Oct. 19.

The chic space is the same in every Drybar: white with bright yellow accents all around. Its iconic upside-down, yellow blow dryer, Buttercup, can be seen throughout the salon as an artsy chandelier. (There was also a giant version of the blower, driven around town to promote the two new stores, announcing chances to win a free blowout.) The walls are adorned with black-and-white glamour shots of Hollywood movie stars, and customers are treated to chick flicks on television, while getting their hair done. Fruit-infused water is served, and small packs of assorted snacks are available for $4.

Each style of blow-out is $40 and listed on the large chalkboard in the entrance. Customers can pick from the “Straight Up: simple and straight,” the “Manhattan: sleek and smooth,” the “Southern Comfort: big hair with volume,” the “Cosmopolitan: lots of loose curls,” or the “Mai Tai: messy and beachy.” “Shirley Temple’s” are offered at $28 to children, aged ten and under.
For an appointment, call 202-609-8644, visit TheDryBar.com or get the Drybar app for iPhone.
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George McGovern: Unabashed Liberal and Patriot
•

George McGovern died Sunday at the age of 90 as the 2012 presidential race rapidly approached its climax. It has been a campaign that has been one of the most contentious campaigns since, well, 1972, when McGovern and his followers took the Democratic Party on a rambunctious, liberally liberal and ultimately disastrous crusade against incumbent President Richard Nixon and the incumbent Vietnam War.

McGovern was an unabashed liberal, and an unabashed patriot, a war hero who bled for the blood of young American men in an unpopular war, a man who led a sometimes stolid, stoic American life coming out of a small-time upbringing on the flat plains of South Dakota to rise to the U.S. Senate for three terms, the pure head of the liberal wing of the Democratic party and his party’s standard bearer in 1972.

The result—a campaign that featured an assassination attempt that knocked Alabama governor George Wallace out of another third-party run, a not-always-hidden dirty tricks campaign by the president’s forces, the demise of centrist Maine Senator Edmund Muskie’s campaign amidst tears in New Hampshire and McGovern, seen as the anti-war heir of the slain Robert F. Kennedy, taking the helm of the party.

That campaign and the man are worth remembering today: his was a life that was marked by decency, sacrifice, the triumphs inevitably accompanied by defeats and tragedies almost as much as the Kennedy clan’s. McGovern’s unrepentant, uncompromising challenge to the nation was to defeat Nixon and end the war. Coming from a man who had flown terrifying bomber missions over Nazi Germany during World War II and was decorated for his heroics. This message should have echoed with great effect throughout the land, but McGovern became the victim of being swept away with the spirit of the party at the time, which, if you listen to commentators of the time, or saw any part of the convention, was an outburst of left-wing, counter-culture ebullience, an in-your-face cultural challenge of rock and roll music, tie dyed t-shirts, afros, beards, mini-skirts, drugs and license which made Middle America shake in its boots.

McGovern’s quite idealistic, resounding, powerfully affecting “Come Home, America” acceptance speech might have made some dent in the final result had it been heard by most of the nation. But with battles and celebrations over all sorts of speeches and issues dragging things out, it wasn’t heard until 2 a.m. As McGovern said then, “Welcome to my sunrise service speech,” an hour when most Americans had indeed gone home.

More trouble followed from the get-go. It was discovered that Missouri Senator Tom Eagleton, his choice for running mate, had electric shock treatments, and was eventually forced from the ticket even after McGovern unwisely had said he backed Eagleton “one-thousand percent.” Few takers for the job could be found, until Sargent Shriver, Kennedy family icon and former head of the Peace Corps, accepted like the good and loyal soldier he had been all of his life.

The Watergate break-in occurred at the time, and while it was being reported, McGovern railed against it, suggesting deeper, darker doings from an unscrupulous Nixon administration. He turned out to be a prophet, a fact which gave him no solace “You know, when somebody says you’re ahead of your time, it just means you have a terrible sense of timing.”

His opposition to the war was honorable, and almost visceral, coming as it did from the experience of war. “I am fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in,” McGovern said.

His convictions, his campaign convinced few and ended up in a historic defeat, getting only 38 percent of the nation’s vote—and carrying only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, losing his own state.

The defeat stung, and lingered, as it might have done with any person in a quest for the most powerful job in the world. In 2008, McGovern was in Washington at the National Press Club participating a panel on the media and elections. A 20-something woman asked him how long it takes getting over losing a presidential election. “I’ll let you know when it happens,” McGovern quipped, 36 years after the 1972 election.

McGovern was not done with suffering—he lost his U.S. Senate seat in the Reagan Republican sea change, and two of his five children died young after battling alcoholism.

Personal tragedy, even of the Shakespearean or Greek kind, does not add up to a legacy, of course; it is a part of the river of life’s stories. McGovern’s legacy remains his steadfast principles, his almost quixotic run against Nixon who himself was forced to resign the presidency, his honest opposition to the Vietnam War and his leadership on fighting world hunger, a passion and cause he shared with Republican Bob Dole, who shared with him a lost presidential campaign and World War II heroism.

President Bill Clinton, who worked on his 1972 campaign in Arkansas, honored him with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called him “always a gentleman and an outstanding member of the greatest generation.”

As a political figure, McGovern was transcendent, with the result that the party, after his devastating defeat started to move more to the center. He was principled—a rare quality today when many politicians, of both parties, seem to have few positions which they are not willing to discard for a sign of movement in the polls. As a man, he never lost touch with the many multitudes and factions that make up our country.

The late journalist Tom Wicker once described McGovern’s antagonist Richard Nixon as “One of Us,” meaning he was the sometimes dark, uncertain face we sometimes saw in the mirror. If that is indeed the case, then George McGovern was the best in us—that which flickers sometimes in our own mirrors.

Coldwell Banker and Operation Paws Sponsor Pet Adoption
•

October has been a good month for homeless animals in and around D.C.

Earlier this month, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Georgetown office partnered with Operation Paws to sponsor a dog adoption event. An estimated 150 people came to Washington Harbour on the Oct. 13 event, and seven furry, barking friends were adopted.

Coldwell Banker Georgetown became involved with Operation Paws through several of its employees who volunteer and foster animals there. Oct. 13 was the third time that these two organizations joined forced for this cause. Previous adoption events took place during October 2011 and June 2012; these two efforts saw a total of 27 dogs adopted. The next adoption event is scheduled for May 2013.

Also, now through Oct. 30, the Washington Humane Society is charging no adoption fees on black or orange animals. More information can be found by calling the Humane Society at 202-723-5730.
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Weekend Roundup October 25, 2012
•

Napoleon Bistro Celebrates National Champagne Day

October 26th, 2012 at 09:00 PM | Event Website

A Champagne Flight will be offered from 9pm-11pm highlighting non-vintage, rose, and brut champagnes. Champagne cocktails will be offered at half-price throughout the evening. Napoleon’s Last Tango Crepe will be paired with a champagne for $20.

Address

1847 Columbia Road NW Washington DC 20009

Everard’s Clothing | All-American Trunk Show

October 26th, 2012 at 09:00 AM | Free Admission! | admin@otimwilliams.com | Tel: 202-298-7464 | Event Website

Enjoy cocktails while perusing through the latest Fall collections from featured American designers Hickey Freeman and Allen Edmonds.

Address

1802 Wisconsin Avenue NW Washington, DC 20007

Thanksgiving Voilà! Hallah Baking Demo & Tasting at Rodman’s

October 26th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Free! | info@tribesadozen.com | Tel: (202) 684-8256 | Event Website

Join Leah Hadad, owner of Tribes-A-Dozen, as she demonstrates the art of baking Voilà! Hallah Egg Bread Mixes. As a special treat for Thanksgiving, you will have the opportunity to taste Leah’s sweet Cranberry-Almond Hallah and savory mushroom pastry roll.

A woman-owned DC based company, Tribes-A-Dozen offers a unique line of all-natural, kosher certified (OU) hallah bread mixes in three varieties: Traditional, Wholey Wheat, and Simply Spelt.

12pm – 4pm

“Break Bread, Not Tradition”
Address

Rodman’s Tenleytown; 5100 Wisconsin Avenue NW

The Smithsonian Craft2Wear Show

October 27th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | $5 | Sfawcett46@gmail.com | Tel: 888.832.9554 | Event Website

The Smithsonian Craft2Wear show will take place the weekend of Oct. 26-28 at the National Building Museum. Representing the finest of American wearable-craft artists, all 45 exhibitors have been juried into previous Smithsonian Craft Shows.

Address

National Building Museum; 401 F Street, NW

Middleburg Scavenger Hunt

October 27th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | registration for the Scavenger Hunt is free | Tel: 540-687-8888 | Event Website

Scavenger Hunt participants must be 21 years of age or older. Visit wine tastings, shops, art galleries, libraries, restaurants and local historians to help answer the Scavenger Hunt questions. The participant with a correctly completed card, will receive the grand prize of a Middleburg Gift Basket containing a certificate for an overnight stay at the Middleburg Country Inn, local goods and coupons worth over $1,000.

Address

Pink Box; 12 North Madison St; Middleburg, VA

Halloween in Georgetown

October 27th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | Free | Tel: 703-271-7700 | Event Website

Please join us as actors from The Georgetown Theatre Company communicate with the spirits and read a witches’ brew of poems and short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, including The Cask of Amontillado, The Raven, Annabel Lee and others.

We also guarantee a “supernatural” surprise!

A Horrors d’oeuvre Reception will follow the reading with goodies and coffee.

A $10 donation to The Georgetown Theatre Company is requested.

Address

Grace Church Georgetown; 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (One block south of M Street)

Halloween Bike Party

October 27th, 2012 at 09:00 PM | dcbikeparty@gmail.com

Grab a costume and your bike to be a part of the DC Bike Party. Everyone will meet at the Dupont Circle Fountain and leave at 9pm. There will be a stop at Oak Hill Cemetery, heading down Pennsylvania Avenue to Chinatown. Then the group will head to Duffy’s Irish Pub.

Address

Dupont Circle Fountain

The Ripple Effect Artist Talk

October 27th, 2012 at 02:00 PM | Tel: 202-458-6016 | Event Website

Join Ripple Effect curator Raquel de Anda as well as a few of the artists from the exhibit for a discussion about the exhibit and possible social implications from art and art projects such as those seen in Ripple Effect.

Address

Art Museum of the Americas; 201 18th Street NW

Family Festival at the Marine Corps Marathon

October 28th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | JStinnett@scottcircle.com | Event Website

Watch your runners while your kids have a ball at miles 22 and 23 of the Marine Corps Marathon Course in Crystal City. Kids will enjoy arts and crafts with the National Children’s Musuem, face painting, moon bounces, balloon animals, obstacle courses, circus activities and more!

Address

241 18th Street, Arlington, VA, 22202.

Music of Heaven and Earth

October 28th, 2012 at 05:00 PM | $20 | ChurchOffice@uccdc.org | Tel: 202-628-4317 | Event Website

The Thomas Circle Singers’ “Music of Heaven and Earth” explores scenes of heaven and earth through a diverse program of music in a variety of languages. Highlights include Blake Henson’s The Good Fence, Alice Parker’s An American Kedushah, and Lee Hoiby’s Last Letter Home.

Address

First Congregational United Church of Christ; 945 G St, NW (10th and G Street NW — Metro Center)

Billy Collins: Where Everyday Things Meet Poetry
•

Billy Collins. As you’re talking to the two-time U.S. Poet Laureate—and once New York’s as well—you kind of want to stick out your hand and say hello, even though he’s in Florida, and you’re here, where you are at home in Adams Morgan. The name has a rock-solid feeling to it, a reality you cannot deny, as real as someone standing next to you waiting for the light to change. You wonder, too, how his fortunes might have fared had he been born in a different place with a different name, say Thaddeus Slowisky, would people even approach him in such familiar ways.

Talking with Collins—I won’t presume the “Billy,” although he doesn’t mind being called that—is an oddly familiar experience, like meeting an Irishman in an Irish bar, where the spoken word will surely ensue. Collins, by heritage and background, is Irish—big and happy surprise, that—and he writes poetry that thousands, maybe millions, of people read and have read. They have also downloaded, heard in the flesh, so to speak, or spoken out loud themselves, or listened to on National Public Radio, or stumbled across like a grand field of verse and video on YouTube, where he is as omni-present as a Taylor Swift song, but not nearly so irritating.

I bring this up not because Collins’ poems are like a Taylor Swift song—although it’s likely he will one day suddenly write a poem about the comparison and it will be pointed, mysterious and funny all at the same time—but because in that rarefied, often academic, will-o’-the-wisp world of literature, of which poetry is its most literary branch, Collins is an odd duck. He is hugely popular, maybe, as the New York Time noted and more than one commentator noted, the “most popular poet in America.” By poetic standards, Collins has made quite a bit of money plying his art, once getting an astounding (for poetry) six-figure advance for three books not yet written.

Of course, that kind of success—popularity plus money—are the whipping sticks used by less fortunate and more obscure poets, not to mention lean and thinly high priests of literature, to try to dismiss the worth of the work. Collins, in turn, dismisses the success while not shunning it. “These things are nice, no question,” he said. “But they have little to do with the writing and creation or value of poetry.” As for those honors, he said, “I was dumbfounded being named laureate. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do besides give a talk.” These honors were bestowed in 2001 and 2002, but Collins did do things. He created a special program to teach poetry in high schools called “Poetry 180,” using 180 poems he selected, as well as coming up with a sequel for 180 more.

“I’m proud of that, sure,” he said. “I think young people today are very susceptible to poetry, not perhaps in its formal processes, but there you are. It’s an exciting time for poetry, I think.” Collins can make you laugh or smile. Each of his poems, you suspect, involves serious business, and Collins is serious about the craft, art and worth of poetry. It may have something to do with the Irish background—or the fact that his mother recited poems to him regularly. It is a truism that in the company of that tribe, which can be magical, joyous and musical, there always comes a moment spent in encountering and discussing God, the bitter end, matters of the universal universe. This happens all the time in poetry.

As a poet and a human being, Collins is not one for living in a cave. He splits his time between homes in New York and Florida, does readings, gives talks, and teaches and continues to write poems that ambush poetry readers.

We got to talking about the Irish a little, about dogs, about process, about the puzzle of his popularity. “I’m said to write about everyday life or the stuff of everyday life,” he said. “That’s true enough, I suppose, but it’s not that simple. There’s the surface, there’s what lies beneath, so to speak, and perhaps things I haven’t thought about. Ideas, images, they do come up sometimes without being sent for.”

He came to being a poet a little late in life—influenced by professors, by other poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the beats, when he was, admittedly, young. But Collins and his poetry are like nothing and nobody, influences be damned. For one thing, we had this little chat about dogs, because I mentioned that I missed walking my dog who had passed away earlier this year. He sympathized—he had lost his dog the year before. And perhaps not surprisingly, some of his poems are about dogs. He believes, as many dog owners do, that we try to live up to what our dogs think of us. Then again, there’s “The Revenant,” a poem by Collins which suggests an altogether different, sly, counter-sentimental view that perhaps dogs know us too well and carry an honest grudge to the grave.

Collins’s poems—often funny, hence a literary prize for a Mark Twain Humor category—are rooted in classicism—in terms of referencing—in jazz—in terms of an often improvisational style—and, yes, in the commonplace, which he manages to make most uncommon and in a formalism that isn’t Victorian or iambic. They seem more like haiku, although not as short.

As for myself, I think Collins is constantly awake in the world, sometimes buffeted, sometimes embracing the wind and the trash it leaves behind. His imagery comes from music and dreams and the stuff of daily breathing, as fanciful as a baby, as real as a cold call. He inspires, and he puts solid words out there that make you think about real time, not virtual time. Recently, a minister at a Georgetown church invoked Collins in a sermon, read and used his wondrous poem, “When I Was Ten,” in a sermon on “Everyday Miracles.” That’s what Collins does, he makes for all time everyday miracles called poems.

War Horse’s Puppetry Plays Leading Role
• October 26, 2012

Let’s be straight about this: “War Horse” is not the best play ever written. It’s not Shakespeare, but the touring version of the Tony Award-winning play now at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through Nov. 11 may be one of the best staged theatrical productions you will likely to encounter. That’s saying something in our digital, tech-savy world that includes the performing arts.

“War Horse”, at its heart, is a deeply-rooted, deeply felt old story: boy meets horse, boy and horse fall in love, boy trains horse, boy loses horses, to the vast killing fields of World War I France no less, boy enlists in the English army to find horse, while horse tries to survive as a cavalry mount, horse falls into the hands of a sympathetic German officer, while boy searches, through barbed wire and ferocious combat, for his horse. The rest is for you to find out and for me not to tell you, although if you’ve seen Steven Spielberg’s film version, you probably know how it ends, and if you can’t figure it out , well, it’s almost Christmas.

It’s the journey, or, rather, the context, the sets and setting, and most importantly, the horse, that matters in “War Horse.” This production uses everything that’s available to contemporary stagecraft-a skrim that fills up the back of the stage as a kind of moving narrative of video, film and special effects, music both live and otherwise that moves the narrative and is moving itself, light, noise and contraptions-notably a World War I tank, bigger than it should that makes an overpowering, frightening appearance on the stage.

Most of all, there is the magic work of the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, which brings to life a birds, vultures and a fussy duck, who sometimes terrorizes the denizens of an entire English farm of the period. Mostly it creates horses, lean, worn out work horses, Topthorn, a gleaming black and powerful steed and competitive comrade.

And there’s Joey, the War Horse, the star, the hero and heart of this play, a giant, bigger than life puppet version, gleaming with the contraptions that make for a beautiful horse, embodied-literally by three actors who manipulate-again, literally-the movements and emotions of Joey. Here’s the thing – when it comes to feelings and the human heart, it’s Joey who exhibits most of them in ways that can make you dream about them.

There are of course, other, dare we say, “real” actors on the scene, the stalwart young Michael Wyatt Cox as Albert Naracott, who’s smitten from the first time he sees Joey as a snorting, nervous foal Albert’s father, a struggling farmer who drinks too often and is resentful of his well-off brother, engages in a duel for the purchase of the hunting horse and spends the mortgage on him to get the best of his brother.

In the course of things, after Albert and Joey bond through music and a mutual affinity – “we’ll be together forever”, the boy insists – his father sells him to the British army for a hundred pounds, a big sum in those pre-Romney days and off Joey goes as a war steed.

The stage then fills with the wasteful fury of World War I, the British and their officers leading a bloody cavalry charge against barbed wire and German machine guns, the Germans capturing both Joey and Thopthorn. The war is evoking with horrific imagery – bombs, shells, noise, the horses gleaming in mid-stride, this is a horses and bayonet war, after all. Among the other actors, Angela Reed shines as Albert’s frustrated mom (the way she says “Men” pretty much encapsulates the worst qualities of the gender that drive women crazy) and Andrew May as the conflicted German Captain Friedrich Muller are particularly effective, and managed to stand out amidst the towering presence and magic of the horse(s).

Puppetry has by now become an integral part of many theatrical production – remember “The Lion King” – as well as stand-alone productions from the fertile imagination of Basil Swift. You can see how revolutionary the art of puppetry has become when Joey, the War Horse displays the most vivid emotions and emoting on the stage.

When he first makes his appearance as a foal, whinning, skittish, small (it’s a different kind of puppet in construction and manipulation), you begin to go all in almost immediately. Later, in spite of the fact that you can see the actors “inside” the horse, they seem to disappear and Joey the War Horse, sometimes rearing up like a unicorn without the horn, all gleaming, running, pulling, nudging Albert’s face, alert as he senses his presence or hears someone call his name becomes as real as you and I.

No one in the audience would have been surprised if he had spoken words. It’s not that horses can’t talk. This one spoke volumes, the way at bottom we communicate away from our gadgets, heart to heart.

Obama Charms George Mason
• October 25, 2012

The line wound around George Mason University’s athletic field, filled with people eager to see President Barack Obama speak. They sat with energy drinks and made trips to the nearby Starbucks as they waited for the Oct. 19 event to start. Many were there as early as 3 a.m., but most agreed that lack of sleep was well worth it in exchange to see the president firsthand.

The wait was certainly worth it for Nicole Berg, a student from Germany at American University for the fall semester, who said, “Especially for an international student, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was either grasp it or never have it again.”

People were able to enter the field at 8:45 a.m. Tickets were available for free online but did not guarantee admission, which was why many arrived early.

The excitement was palpable. Chants of “four more years” could be heard throughout the event. Obama took the stage around noon. It took him little time to increase the already high levels of enthusiasm that were present.

A crowd favorite – and a phrase that has quickly found its way online – was “Romnesia.”

“I mean, [Mitt Romney]’s changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping, we’ve got to name this condition that he’s going through. I think it’s called “Romnesia,’” Obama quipped.

Throughout the morning, volunteers with Obama for America were emphasizing the importance of the days remaining before the election and encouraging people to sign up to participate in neighborhood canvassing or the phone banks.

This event was an important one for Obama, as Virginia is considered a swing state. Fortunately for the president, if those in attendance on Friday are any indication, many are skeptical of Romney and the profound case of “Romnesia” with which Obama has diagnosed him.
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VP Debate: Biden Came on Strong, Ryan Pushed Back
• October 24, 2012

Vice presidential candidates — Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) debated for a lively 90 minutes last night. The exchange was moderated by Martha Raddatz of ABC News and focused on both domestic and foreign policy issues. Described by the New York Times as an aggressive quarrel, neither candidate hesitated to harshly criticize or scoff at the other.

Ryan and Biden’s clash of philosophies centered around multiple topics, including healthcare, Libya, tax cuts, the Middle East, defense cuts and Social Security. Throughout the night, there was little that the candidates agreed upon – Ryan made a strong case for conservative policies, whereas Biden sharply criticized Ryan’s proposals and advocated a liberal Democratic agenda.

Medicare in particular was a fiercely debated topic. Biden argued, “Their [Republican] ideas are old and their ideas are bad, and they eliminate the guarantee of Medicare.” Ryan countered that Democrats “got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, turning Medicare into a piggybank for Obamacare.”

The candidates also contrasted sharply when Raddatz asked what role their Catholic faith had played in shaping their views on abortion. Ryan, who identifies as pro-life, made it clear that his faith and politics are intertwined, saying that he was not able to see how persons could separate their public life from their faith. Biden stated that although he has considered himself a practicing Catholic for his entire life and accepts the Catholic Church’s position that life begins at conception, he refuses “to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews. . . [He does not] believe that we have a right to tell other people that – women they can’t control their body.”

Foreign policy further emphasized the divide between the candidates. Ryan was critical of the way the Obama administration handed the terrorist strike in Libya, saying he was unsatisfied that “It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack.” He questioned why the United States lacked protection for the diplomatic compound. When Ryan went on to further criticize the Obama administration’s response to the Middle East, Biden retorted that his criticisms were “a bunch of malarkey,” causing the phrase to significantly trend online.

Throughout the debate, Biden had no shortage of quips for his opponent, and his smirk at Ryan was a constant presence. As the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Biden showed no hesitation in hectoring, heckling and interrupting his challenger.” Biden’s sharp responses included “These guys bet against America all the time” and “But I always say what I mean. And so does Romney.”

Biden’s demeanor was a popular topic on social media. “Malarkey” was trending on Twitter, and images of the smirks he gave Ryan were prominent on Tumblr. Sam Youngman, a campaign correspondent for Thomson Reuters, tweeted, “People who like Biden will think this is the greatest debate ever. Folks who don’t will find him at his most obnoxious.”

While Biden definitely made a strong impression, polls were divided as to who won the debate. A survey by CNN declared Ryan the winner; another survey by CBS News called it a clear victory for Biden. The CNN survey stated that 48 considered Ryan the winner of the debate, while 44 percent said that Biden was the winner. CBS News found that 50 percent thought the night was a win for Biden.