Still Talking: Zoning Panel Approves Extension
• April 18, 2012

The D.C. Zoning Commission approved a 60-day extension for comments for Georgetown University’s 2010-2020 Campus Plan.

Now in private discussions, local residents with university representatives asked for the extension, which now allows for testimony on the plan to be filed in the middle of June.

“We hope to come to some compromises on what the community needs and what the university needs,” Jennifer Altemus, president of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, told the campus newspaper, the Hoya. “I think both of our sides are very clear on what we’ve been wanting out of the process, and hopefully if we work together we can make that happen. [Private meetings] haven’t been successful in the past, but we haven’t given up trying.”

Georgetown Garden Tour, May 5
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But, wait, there’s more . . . to see besides Georgetowners’ homes . . . like their gardens. The annual Georgetown Garden Tour of eight private gardens is set for Saturday, May 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each garden presents a unique perspective on designing precious outdoor space in this historic neighborhood. The 2012 tour includes the magnificent gardens of the Bowie-Sevier house on Q Street as well as several other gardens, both intimate and grand.

Tickets are $30 before April 28 at www.georgetowngardentour.com. Tickets may also be purchased by mail: Georgetown Garden Tour 2012, 3313 P Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007 or by phone: 202-965-1950. Tour tickets are available at $35 the day of the event at any of the gardens or at Keith Hall, Christ Church, 3116 O Street, N.W.. A tea for ticket holders takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. at Keith Hall.

The Garden Tour is sponsored by the Georgetown Garden Club to benefit local organizations, with emphasis on the preservation of gardens, parks and green spaces. Past beneficiaries have included Book Hill Park, the Student Conservation Association at Montrose Park, Trees for Georgetown, Tudor Place gardens, the rose garden at Montrose Park, Rose Park and the Volta Park Habitat Garden.

The D.C. Emancipation Day Moment
• April 17, 2012

On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. His signature 150 years ago freed 3,100 slaves within the nation’s capital and pushed forward the arc of freedom for all African-Americans. It is still felt to this day — especially this past week with D.C.’s sesquicentennial celebrations all around town.

Many of us began with a walk around the monuments at the National Mall, especially those of Lincoln and King, went to Frederick Douglass’s home in Anacostia, Lincoln’s Cottage at the Old Soldiers’ Home, and concerts at Lincoln Theatre. On the holiday itself, many enjoyed a parade, speeches and fireworks at Freedom Plaza. There was a brunch at the Hamilton Restaurant and a party at Lincoln Restaurant. Many in the District government have been pushing for making the holiday bigger, especially Councilmember Vincent Orange. They deserve our thanks.

At Georgetown University, a April 17 commemorative program instructed on the history of blacks, Union soldiers and contraband camps near D.C. If the federals seized slaves as wartime contraband, they had the start of a chance for freedom. We have mostly forgotten such details, and even that of the nearby university’s landmark tower, seen for miles around. It is named for Rev. Patrick Healy, S.J., Georgetown’s president in the 1870s, born of a bi-racial slave and Irish father. The young Healy would have been considered a slave except that his father send him north for his schooling.

These are stories that need to be re-told. We need to sing the African-American hymns anew as well. At one Sunday event, a black preacher said that some of us need to “break the bondage of slavery in our minds.” We have heard that before but it needs to be said again.

“We got to figure out ways to own this emancipation,” said Rev. Raymond Kemp, moderator of the Georgetown commemoration, where Mayor Vincent Gray also spoke. To that and all the other salutes to struggle and freedom, we say, “Amen.”

Theatre Shorts April 18 2012
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Theatre Shorts

D.C. Democratic Primary Results: Decidedly Status Quo
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The District of Columbia Primary Elections — at least for the city’s overwhelming number of registered Democrats — did not shake up the status quo. If voters were concerned about perceived ethical mistakes or miscues by the District Council, no one got called on it — perhaps not even at-large councilmember Vincent Orange, whose electoral results with repeat opponent Sekou Biddle seemed a replay of the 2011 special election. Several council members were asked about donations from contractor Jeffrey Thompson to their campaigns. Democrats may want to rock the vote, but they did not evidently want to rock the boat.

In the end, it was good to be an incumbent for everybody: at last count, Orange led challenger Sekou Biddle by 543 votes for an at-large District Council seat. Unofficial Board of Elections numbers as of April 3 were: Orange, 21,237; Biddle, 20,694. With almost all votes counted, Orange appears to have won by 1.02 percent (39.77 to 38.75), which may be enough. (A candidate’s lead must be at least one percent to avoid an automatic recount.) Peter Shapiro grabbed 10.51 percent of the vote; E. Gail Anderson Holness, 7.254 percent. There were 1,614 undervotes, i.e., no votes, as well as 335 write-ins.

All of the voting precincts have reported in, including earlier votes, while more than 3,830 absentee and provisional ballots have not yet been counted — at least that amount had been requested; the number of returns is uncertain. All votes will be counted by Friday, April 13, and then certified on April 18.

Most of Orange’s votes came from Wards 8, 7, 6 and 5, while Biddle (who finished third in the 2011 election behind Republican Patrick Mara), got most of his votes in Wards 3 and 2 — that includes Georgetown.

Indeed, a black-and-white tale is told by the mirror-image votes of Ward 2, which went for Biddle, and Ward 8, which went for Orange — roughly 63 to 12 percent in both cases.

Meanwhile, some folks who were imagining ominous signs for Ward 8’s forever political leader Marion Barry were imagining in a major and mistaken manner. Barry swept aside several challengers with ease, winning 72.5 percent of the vote, and simultaneously blazed new Twitter frontiers for himself and his peeps with his election night comments. Other incumbents also did well: Muriel Bowser swept to victory with 65.39 percent in Ward 4, and Yvonne Alexander held up strongly in Ward 7 with 41.9 percent as her two top challengers—Tom Brown and Kevin B. Chavous split the vote, getting 22.45 percent and 21.42 percent, respectively.

Georgetown’s Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans ran unopposed.

The general election is on Nov. 6.

The District of Columbia Board of Elections & Ethics website displays all the latest election results: DCBOEE.org.

Celebrate Clara Barton
• April 16, 2012

Today is the 100th Anniversary of Clarissa ‘Clara’ Barton’s death, the woman who is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross. This weekend there will be a series of events celebrating her life. The events will take place in Glen Echo Park, Md., where the National Historic site in Clara Barton’s name is located. Established in 1975 as part of the National Park Service, the site is located at the house where Barton spent the last 15 years of her life.

Apr. 13: Hourly tours will highlight Barton’s legacy and the period surrounding her death. The tours will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Apr. 14: Catch free performances at the Bumper Car Pavilion in Glen Echo Park, where actress Mary Ann Jung will portray Clara Barton. The performances will start at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. There will also be an Open House on Saturday, featuring Dr. Hubbell (James Perry), from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Apr. 15: A symposium on Clara Barton will be held in Glen Echo Park’s Spanish Ballroom Annex from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The symposium will feature Elizabeth Brown Pryor, author of Clara Barton Professional Angel, and George Washington University women’s history scholar, Bonnie Morris. Elizabeth Brown Pryor will also be book signing at an Open House from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Weekend Roundup April 12,2012
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DC Design House

April 13th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | $20 | Event Website

DC Design House opens to the public for tours April 14- May 13

Times vary, so check website!

Address

4951 Rockwood Parkway, NW

Washington, DC

Many Moves One Movement: A Multilingual Dance, Music and Art Celebration

April 13th, 2012 at 07:30 PM

April is Language Access Month in Dc and to celebrate, Many Languages One Voice is hosting Many Moves One Movement, an evening of dance and music performances that reflect DC’s diverse immigrant communities. Performances: Ethiopian coffee ceremony, son jarocho, samba, salsa, a film about Chinatown’s senior community, traditional Hawaiian, Japanese and West African dances. Event will include Caribbean, Ethiopian, and Vietnamese food, local art, and a silent auction.

Address

BloomBars

3222 11th St, NW

Washington, D.C.

National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade

April 14th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | $20 for grandstand seating, free along parade route | parade@downtowndc.org | Tel: 877.442.5666 | Event Website

Lavish floats, giant helium balloons, marching bands, and performers burst down the historic avenue in an energy-filled spectacle of music and showmanship seen only once a year during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Address

Constitution Avenue from 7th to 17th streets, NW

U.S. NAVY MEMORIAL HOSTS 21ST ANNUAL “BLESSING OF THE FLEETS

April 14th, 2012 at 01:00 PM | Free | mweber@navymemorial.org | Tel: (202) 380-0723 | Event Website

The centuries-old “Blessing of the Fleets” ceremony is intended to safeguard crews and ships from the danger of the seas through a traditional blessing given by a clergyman at the water’s edge.
The Blessing of the Fleets’ highlight occurs when Sailors from the U.S. Navy’s Ceremonial Guard proceed across the Memorial Plaza’s “Granite Sea” to pour water from the Seven Seas and the Great Lakes into the surrounding fountains, “charging” them to life and ushering in the spring season.

Address

701 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest Washington D.C., DC 20004

FotoDC National Cherry Blossom Photo Contest 2012

April 15th, 2012 at 12:00 AM | 6.95-12.95 | Tel: 202.337.FOTO | Event Website

Grab your camera and catch Washington “in the pink!” FotoDC and the National Cherry Blossom Festival present the second annual Photography
Contest honoring the 100-year anniversary of DC’s beloved gift.

Show a side of The Blossoms this city’s never seen before. Find endless inspiration at the Cherry Blossom Festival. Capture a moment thousands of residents and visitors will remember. Enter the contest and your work just might blossom!

Address

1838 Colombia Road NW,

Washington DC, 20009

Preview Night Benefit Smithsonian Craft Show and Sale

April 18th, 2012 at 06:30 PM | $200, tickets by advance reservation | austrpr@si.edu | Tel: 888-832-9554 | Event Website

Cocktail Buffet, First Choice Shopping, Meet the Artists, Jazz by the John Paul Ensemble.

The Craft Show and Sale is widely regarded as the country’s most prestigious juried show and sale of fine American craft.

Address

The National Building Museum

401 F Street, NW.

Washington, DC 20001

Christ Church Art Show and Sale

April 27th, 2012 at 05:00 PM | Event Website

The annual Christ Church, Georgetown, Art Show and Sale is coming up on April 27, 28, and 29 in Keith Hall. The opening reception is on Friday, April 27, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The show and sale continues on Saturday, April 28, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and on Sunday April 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Artists contribute at least 50% of all sales to Christ Church, and the proceeds are used to expand parish outreach.

Address

Christ Church Georgetown

31st and O Streets

‘American Stories’: It’s All About Us
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“American Stories,” the newest signature exhibition at the National Museum of American History opened today and shows and tells the stories of Americans from the 1600s to the 2000s, beginning with wampum and a piece of Plymouth Rock to Apolo Ohmo’s ice skates and the 2008 presidential election.

At the show’s entrance visitors are greeted by Dorothy’s red ruby shoes from the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” The show flows in a circle with interactive screens in the center near a video camera used by a French film crew at Sept. 11, 2001, in downtown Manhattan.

The historical objects tell “the tales from e pluribus unum,” said the museum’s interim director Marc Pachter at the preview opening. “There are millions of untold stories out there.”

There are items that belonged to Benjamin Franklin as well as a jacket worn by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and Archie Bunker’s chair from the TV show, “All in the Family.” The profoundly historic mixes with the everyday and mythic. “The power of the ruby slippers is real,” Pachter said.

The 5,300-square-feet exhibition displays a fraction of the Smithsonian’s holding to “examine the manner in which culture, politics, economics, science, technology, and the peopling of the United States have shaped the country over the decades,” according to a museum statement. “Dedicated spaces throughout will regularly feature new acquisitions to give a more inclusive representation of the experiences of all Americans.”

Highlights include the following objects:

= a fragment of Plymouth Rock

= a section of the first transatlantic telegraph cable

= a sunstone capital from the Latter-day Saints temple at Nauvoo, Illinois

= the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz”

= baseballs used by Babe Ruth and Sam Streeter

= a Kermit the Frog puppet

= clothing artifacts, including a “quinceañera” gown worn for a 15th-birthday celebration

= Apolo Ohno’s speed skates from the 2002 Winter Olympics [gallery ids="100731,121334,121285,121326,121295,121319,121304,121313" nav="thumbs"]

Japanese Stone Lantern Lighting Ceremony (Photos)
• April 12, 2012

The Cherry Blossom Festival Japanese Stone Lantern Lighting Ceremony celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Gift of Trees, took place on Sunday, April 8 at the Tidal Basin. The lantern was carved 360 years ago. It was first lit in 1651 and was given to the City of Washington as a gift in 1954, symbolizing friendship and peace between Japan and the United States. The lantern is lit only once each year during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. See photos of the ceremony by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet) [gallery ids="100728,120929,120937,120948,120956,120964,120971,120981,120989,120997,121005,121013,121021,121030,121039,121049,121060,120921,120910,121097,121088,120809,121081,121075,120820,120829,120837,120845,120853,120861,120869,120877,120885,120893,120901,121067" nav="thumbs"]

The Heat and Light of Mike Wallace
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Mike Wallace of CBS News had not done an interview for four years—Roger Clemens, the famed Boston Red Sox pitcher accused of using steroids got the honors for that last one—but all those living whom he interviewed for “60 Minutes” probably feel not enough time has passed for them not to get goose bumps just thinking about the experience.

Sadly, it’s goose bump time, because everyone in the media and the objects of their attention is thinking about Wallace. Wallace, whom some said was the most feared, if not loved, television journalist who ever donned a trench coat, was back on the air, in the form of tributes, news stories and fond remembrances by the people he worked with and by some who didn’t.

Wallace passed away at the age 93, and now politicians who’ve escaped the Wallace treatment—more like an interrogation some said, while others used the word inquisition—can breathe a little easier.

Wallace was the mainstay and star of “60 Minutes,” probably the best and most popular news magazines show ever on CBS, a show still going strong but without many of its most stellar reporters (Ed Bradley, Howard K. Smith, Andy Rooney) not to mention producer Don Hewitt, all of whom have passed away. And now: Mike Wallace.

As late as 2006, Wallace received an Emmy for an interview with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinjad. Years earlier, he had interviewed the Ayathollah Rubollah Khomeini, to whom he quoted Egyptian President Anwar Sadat calling him an “idiot.”

Right off, you could say he feared nothing, and if you encountered Wallace accidentally in a parking lot, with a microphone in his hand it was not accident and you were in trouble. While conservatives see mainstream television media as being liberal, you couldn’t say that about Wallace, who described himself as moderate in his politics, if not his temperament. He was an equal-opportunity investigator, interviewer and pursuer, going after such luminaries as Barbra Streisand and Malcolm X. He could be respectful and polite, but his forte was “finding the truth.” Almost every obituary you can run across will state in some form or another that the most feared words in a potential interviewee’s world were “Mike Wallace is here.”

Wallace was a man of many wives (four) and many jobs—he was an actor on radio and television, a quiz show host and a reporter and finally he was: Mike Wallace.

Although he attracted and created controversy, including an exhausting, dragged-out and complicated law suit and trial in which General William C. Westmoreland, who was the chief of U.S. forces in Viet Nam sued him and CBS for $120 million involving enemy troop estimates. The suit was settled out of court but haunted Wallace. Wallace would later admit that he suffered from depression and had even tried to kill himself with sleeping pills after the trial.

The Viet Nam piece and its results in the end showed that Wallace was human and not invincible.

His career—especially at “60 Minutes” since its beginnings in 1968—showed a stature that is hard to diminish. He made trench-coat journalism—he was often seen wearing one—chic but also respectable and honored. Those early “60 Minutes” reporters were the journalistic offspring of Edward R. Murrow, and it’s not hard to imagine Wallace alongside Murrow during the London Blitz, unruffled and solid.

In the age of the instant video, of “if it bleeds it leads,” of slap-dash, beat-the-other-guy-by-60 seconds journalism, of bloggers and reality television, which blurs reality, Mike Wallace still looks uncommonly real. Indeed, in “Heat and Light: Advice for the Next Generation of Journalists,” which he co-wrote with Beth Knobel, formerly with CBS News, he offers advice that young social media-imbued reporters should take to heart.

Upstairs, there’s a knock at a heavenly gate. “Mike Wallace is here,” the gatekeeper announces. “Should I be worried?” his boss asks. “Perhaps,” the gatekeeper says.