DC Scenes

Jeff Malet • April 11, 2016

Burma’s democracy leader, Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow, at a ceremony Sept. 19 in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former first lady Laura Bush joined congressional leaders to pay tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, who was first awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008, while she was under 15 years of house arrest in her native country, Burma, also known as Myanmar. Four years after being awarded the medal, Suu Kyi was finally able to accept the honor in person.

The Georgetowner also caught up with Suu Kyi the next day when she addressed Amnesty International at the Newseum.

View the photos by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="100996,132728,132737,132745,132753,132762,132772,132780,132788,132795,132803,132813,132822,132830,132718,132709,132865,132633,132857,132641,132851,132650,132845,132658,132669,132676,132685,132693,132701,132837" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet • April 5, 2016

We attended the opening of the 145th edition of The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus aka the “Greatest Show on Earth,” on Thursday March 31 at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. This years show, produced by Feld Entertainment, is titled Circus Xtreme featuring “artists who redefine the word extreme in everything they do” – extreme performers like human canonball Gemma Kirby, and wild animal trainer Tabayara Maluenda, aka “Taba”, and his 16 tigers. This years edition also marked the last time elephants will be in the District. The elephants will retire to the company’s conservation center in central Florida.

The circus finished its run at the Verizon Center on Sunday April 3. But you can still catch it on April 6-10 and April 14-17 for 16 shows at the EagleBank Arena (formerly Patriot Center) in Fairfax Va.

View our photos of some of the performers, and the opening ceremonies by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet).
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Jeff Malet • March 30, 2016

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform focused for the first time on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, at a hearing on Capitol Hill Feb. 3. The residents of Flint received national attention as high levels of lead in their water supply made their water irritating to the skin and unsafe to drink since 2014. During the hearing, lawmakers of both parties grilled federal and state officials about actions that have resulted in fears of lead poisoning in children, blaming the crisis in varying degrees as a failure of government at all levels.

The hearing got underway with testimony from Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), whose district encomposes Flint. He was followed by a panel of four. Marc Edwards, the engineering professor from Virginia Tech who helped uncover the contamination of Flint’s water, put the blame on state environmental officials for a cover-up and some in the Environmental Protection Agency for not detecting the problem sooner. Joel Beauvais, a deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water, was questioned about the EPA’s delayed response to Flint. Keith Creagh of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality was on the defensive for much of the hearing. Rounding out the panel was Flint resident LeeAnne Walters, known nationally as the mother who exposed the Flint water crisis.

Democrats on the committee, led by ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) continued to call for Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to bring Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to Washington for questioning, but the hearing ended without a decision on that score. Also missing from the hearing was Darnell Earley, who was Flint’s state-appointed emergency manager between 2013 and 2015. Early was invited but apparently refused to testify.

The hearing was punctuated by congressmen of both parties yelling at officials, and emotional outbursts from many in the overflow crowd which included several busloads of residents from Flint and Detroit, Michigan, many wearing “Flint Lives Matter” T-shirts.

From her seat in the gallery, one Michigander, Gladyes Williamson,held up large clumps of her hair in one hand and a bottle of tainted water from her sink in the other. Many later gathered outside the building for an emotional circle of prayer, urging a mixture of divine help, guidance and retribution.

View our photos from inside and outside the emotional hearing by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet.) [gallery ids="102382,123537,123544,123531,123550,123557,123564,123576,123582,123587,123523,123515,123507,123394,123570,123474,123404,123368,123377,123490,123467,123412,123421,123429,123439,123449,123457,123481,123498,123385" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet • March 18, 2016

The 45th edition of the Washington, D.C., St. Patrick’s Day Parade got underway up Constitution Avenue under cloudy skies on Sunday, March 13. View our photos of the bagpipers, Irish dancers and military units by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="102265,128604,128612,128620,128629,128637,128645,128653,128661,128669,128691,128596,128587,128578,128521,128677,128703,128685,128529,128537,128545,128553,128561,128569,128697" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

Wondering what’s hot in travel now? Looking for an escape from the snow and the cold? Then chances were high that you were among the thousands of adventure seekers who assembled at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the Washington, D.C., Travel and Adventure Show on Feb. 22 and 23 to help plan that perfect vacation.

Now in its 10th year in the District, the show featured more than 100 exhibitors, representing some of the world’s most desirable vacation destinations. The show also featured prominent travel experts, top chef demos, consumer seminars, exotic animals, dance performances and interactive family activities like rock climbing and scuba diving.

Among the featured speakers were Rick Steves, host and writer of the popular public television series, “Rick Steves’ Europe,” who spoke for more than one-and-a-half hours to an overflow audience at the Travel and Adventure Theater sponsored by the Travel Channel. Other speakers included Samantha Brown, Todd Carmichael and Paulene Frommer.

The show was tailored to the hard-core travel enthusiast, according to the show’s chief organizer John Golicz. It attracts people who are into the “cultural, natural, active beauty of their destination… People that attend the show like to plan a trip as much as they like to take a trip,” Golicz said. Travel & Adventure claims to represent the largest series of travel gatherings in the country with shows in five other cities, but Golicz singled out the Washington D.C. attendees as being among the most sophisticated.

View our photos from the show by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101647,145299,145305,145321,145325,145334,145317,145339,145345,145330,145359,145347,145352,145293,145287,145243,145229,145249,145310,145235,145239,145254,145257,145263,145269,145275,145281,145356" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet • March 7, 2016

The flag-draped casket carrying Justice Antonin Scalia’s body arrived at the Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C. at 9:30 a.m., Friday, Feb. 19. It was then carried slowly up the steps by court police, who served as pallbearers, and passed through two lines of former clerks, who served as honorary pallbearers. Scalia would lie in repose in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall in the first of two days of public mourning over the late associate justice, who died unexpectedly Feb.13.

View our photos from the Supreme Court by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet) [gallery ids="102250,128964,128972,128980,128988,128995,129003,129010,129017,129025,129033,129041,128956,128949,129052,129059,128881,128889,128897,128905,128912,128920,128925,128933,128941,129047" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • February 22, 2016

Thousands of adventure seekers once again assembled at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the Washington, D.C., Travel and Adventure Show on Feb. 20 and 21 to help plan that perfect vacation. Now in its 12th year in the District, the show featured more than 100 exhibitors, representing some of the world’s most desirable vacation destinations and featuring lectures from prominent travel experts, top chef demos and on-hand activities like rock climbing and scuba diving. Patricia Schultz, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” was a popular speaker. The U.S. Passport Office was on hand to provide useful information. International dance and music performances ran round the clock from the Global Beats Stage managed by the non-profit World Heritage Cultural Center whose mission “is to create a common ground where any Culture in the World can come and celebrate their way of life through the Arts and food, while making a positive impact through knowledge and charity”.

View our photos from the Washington D.C. Travel and Adventure Show by clicking on the following photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet).

Jeff Malet • February 18, 2016

Despite subfreezing temperatures, thousands turned out in Washington’s Chinatown to welcome the Chinese Lunar Year of the Monkey with a colorful parade on Sunday, Feb. 14, featuring Chinese lion and dragon dances, musical performances, youth groups, marching bands and beauty queens. We wish everyone “????” — “gong-sshee faa-tseye,” a popular Chinese New Year greeting which means “Happiness and prosperity!”

View our photos of the parade by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="102247,129241,129249,129257,129265,129273,129281,129289,129297,129311,129317,129218,129211,129204,129146,129233,129225,129196,129074,129162,129084,129129,129093,129170,129111,129120,129137,129179,129155,129322,129189,129305,129101" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

According to the Chines lunar calendar, the first day of Year of the Red Monkey is February 8, 2016. The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. celebrated a few days early with a Chinese themed family day on Saturday, January 30, 2016. The program included performances by the Henan Performance Group of Cbina and the Yong Han Lion Dance Troupe of Johns Hopkins University. For kids there were a variety of activities and demonstrations throughout the day including traditional paper cutting, painting, and sculpting by Henan Folk Artists; calligraphy demonstrations with the Confucius Institute at George Washington University; mask coloring and Chinese knot making with the Confucius Institute at George Washington University; calligraphy by John Wang; plus red paper lantern making, coloring sheets, and monkey hand puppet crafting. The program was presented in partnership with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

View our photos from the event by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet). [gallery ids="102381,123656,123663,123672,123679,123686,123711,123718,123740,123728,123734,123647,123640,123593,123748,123703,123577,123585,123601,123609,123617,123624,123632,123694" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet • January 26, 2016

Thousands of anti-abortion activists rallied near the Washington Monument for the 43rd Annual “March for Life” up Constitution Ave. to the Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C. on Friday, January 22, 2016 in snow and sub-freezing temperatures. The event takes place every year on the anniversary of the Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized access to abortion. The attendance for this year’s March was scaled down somewhat by the approach of winter storm Jonas which forced several buses to turn back. The March has traditionally been dominated by the Catholic community. But this year thousands of “Evangelicals for Life” joined in record numbers. The pro-life activists were met at the Supreme Court by a smaller but very vocal contingent of pro-choice counter-demonstrators and a sizable force of Supreme Court and Capitol Police to help keep order. Later that afternoon, a new storm was beginning as another was ending.

View our photos of the March for Life by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet). [gallery ids="123805,123913,123921,123929,123937,123944,123952,123958,124167,124174,124156,123905,123897,123889,123812,123820,123828,123836,123843,123850,123857,123866,123874,123881,124149,124141,124020,124012,124004,123997,123989,123967,123981,123975,123796,124112,124027,124034,124042,124129,124104,124121,124094,124088,124080,124072,124065,124057,124049,102374" nav="thumbs"]