Weekend Roundup

Linnea Kristiansson • April 23, 2015

“We are very proud to be able to bring three-day eventing to Great Meadow. It is probably the most difficult of any of the equestrian sports, since it involves all three disciplines,” said Robert Banner, president of the Great Meadow Foundation, which operates the famous field events center and steeplechase course in The Plains, Virginia.

On April 3, Banner announced that, in connection with building a new arena, the foundation will bring back three-day eventing to Great Meadow.

Three-day eventing is the sport of horse trials. It presents the ultimate challenge of horsemanship because it requires horse and rider to perform three totally different activities within the same competition: dressage, cross country and show jumping.

Construction of the new arena will start July 1, so that it can be ready for Nations Cup 2016, should Great Meadow’s bid be selected. A new acquisition of land has provided 174 acres dedi-cated to this type of competition. The new, world-class arena will be 300 feet by 250 feet, with a warm-up arena 400 feet by 70 feet. It will have an all-weather surface or footing, which will pre-vent competitions from being canceled due to rain.

Great Meadow’s new international-level venue will host top horses and riders from around the world. At the Olympics in London, the U.S. team failed to medal at all, their worst performance since 1956. This venue will raise the bar by bringing the nations that won to the U.S., so that the team can train and face the competition at home. This is expected to help the U.S. reclaim its rightful position on the international medals podium.

The new competition will be called the Land Rover Great Meadow International and feature the Nation’s Cup format annually. There are plans to live-stream coverage on the internet this year. Next year, the plans are to broadcast the competition on NBC Sports.

A big spectator-based event, FEI Nations Cup is organized by Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body for all Olympic equestrian disciplines. It is the most prestigious competition series for national teams in the world.

”The Nations Cup has been going on for a long time for show jumping, but we have never had one for three-day eventing,” said Banner, former publisher of the Chronicle of the Horse.

Banner and the Great Meadow Foundation expect the new facility and level of competition will draw numbers similar to those for the Virginia Gold Cup races and other major events at Great Meadow.

Great Meadow will host a Concours International Combiné (CIC) 3 Event, which means the competitors do their dressage on Friday night. The show jumping takes place on Saturday night, and they run over a shortened version of the cross country course on Sunday morning. There are VIP dining and entertainment options throughout the weekend. CIC competitors are required to qualify for the same level of CCI competition, therefore the horse/rider combinations in the CIC tend to be slightly less experienced than in the CCI.

Course designer Mike Etherington-Smith, chief executive of British Eventing, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, has already completed renderings and layouts. The groundbreaking ceremonies and pep trials will be held June 19 to 21.

Peter Murray • April 13, 2015

This weekend, the Georgetown Business Improvement District will widen sidewalks — between 29th and 31st Streets — on M Street by a whopping eight feet to accommodate increased foot traffic caused by tourism around the National Cherry Blossom Festival and parade. In addition, the Circulator bus will offer free northbound trips up Wisconsin Avenue NW from 30th and K streets, thanks to BID. Lastly, area drivers can receive discounted parking in Georgetown lots Saturday and Sunday if they buy online.

The sidewalk widening will be the first of its sort this year, though BID has widened walkways in Georgetown on three other occasions, the latest of which occurred when Georgetown University and George Washington University had overlapping parents’ weekends last fall. The business organization plans to extend sidewalks for coinciding Georgetown and GW graduations in May and for the Georgetown French Market later this month.

The widening is a key part of the Georgetown 2028 15-year action plan, which aims improve the business district by modernizing aspects of the historic neighborhood and upgrading how Washingtonians access it.

Georgetowner • March 26, 2015

CAG Concerts Kick-off Party?

March 12th, 2015 at 06:30 PM | $60 | Event Website

The kick-off party will be at The George Town Club on March 12 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

Concerts in the Parks is Georgetown’s favorite summer concerts series that is free and open to the public in beautiful Volt and Rose parks. Proceeds from this event help underwrite the cost of putting on the concerts. 2015 Concerts will take place Sunday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 PM on May 17th, June 14th and July 12th.

Address

The George Town Club; 1530 Wisconsin Ave NW

Opening Reception: Full Spectrum

March 13th, 2015 at 06:00 PM | FREE | gallery@callowayart.com | Tel: 202-965-4601 | Event Website

Full spectrum, will explore six DC local and rooted artists’approach to color and abstraction. Participating artists include: Matthew Langley, Shahin Shikhaliyev, John Sandy, Chris Baer, Shaun Rabah and David Bell.

Address

Susan Calloway Fine Arts; 1643 Wisconsin Ave NW

Rock and Roll For Children Annual Bash

March 14th, 2015 at 07:00 PM | $75.00-$400.00 | mary@lindarothpr.com | Tel: 301-938-4505 | Event Website

The Rock and Roll for Children Foundation is proud to support the Children’s Inn at NIH at their Annual Bash. The party will kick off at 7:00 pm, uniting music icons and fans at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club for a night of incomparable rock n’roll, dancing and amazing auction items from rock legends.Memorable performances will include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s newest inductee, Ricky Byrd, of Joan Jett, among many more.

Address

Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club; 7719 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814

Cloverfest presented by Drink the District

March 14th, 2015 at 01:30 PM | $39-$50 | ilovebeer@drinkthedistrict.com | Tel: 202-618-3663 | Event Website

Channel your inner leprechaun and join us at Cloverfest presented by Drink the District! There will be 75+ beers to sample at the end of this rainbow so get your tickets fast before they disappear!

Address

The Yards Park; 1300 1st St SE

Free Chamber Concert

March 17th, 2015 at 12:00 PM | 0 | info@dumbartonhouse.org | Tel: 2023372288 | Event Website

Friday Morning Music Club performs a free chamber concert at Dumbarton House on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at noon.

Address

Dumbarton House; 2715 Q Street NW

Building in the 21st Century: Small and Sustainable

March 17th, 2015 at 12:30 PM | Free Member | $10 Non-member. | Tel: 202-272-2448 | Event Website

Brian Levy commissioned the first Minim House in 2013. Working closely with Foundry Architects on the design and Element Design+Build on the construction of the tiny house, Levy went on to found Minim Homes LLC to make the plans for and completed versions of micro homes with cutting-edge sustainable technologies widely available. Levy speaks about off-grid electric and water, cooling, heating, and air quality systems appropriate for small dwellings. 1.0 LU HSW (AIA). Pre-registration required

Address

National Building Museum; 401 F Street NW

Landmark Society Lecture: The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites

March 18th, 2015 at 06:30 PM | Member, $15 | Non-Member, $20 | mwachur@tudorplace.org | Tel: 202.580.7323 | Event Website

6:30, wine + light appetizers | 7 – 8:30 p.m., lecture

What is American about “American” food? Join author Libby H. O’Connell, chief historian for the History Channel, for a rich chronicle of the evolution of American cuisine and culture from before Columbus until today. Dr. O’Connell’s book, The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites, explores how cultures and individuals have shaped our national diet and continue to influence how and what we cook and eat.

Address

1670 31st St NW
Washington D.C. 20007

Georgetowner • March 11, 2015

House Mountain Horse Show

MARCH 7TH, 2015 AT 12:00 AM | EVENT WEBSITE

Named after the Lexington-area mountain, this two-day regional schooling horse show for hunter and jumper riders is owned and operated by the Virginia Horse Center Foundation and managed by Keedie Leonard & L. M. ”Sandy” Gerald.

Address

Anderson Coliseum, Virginia Horse Center, 487 Maury River Rd., Lexington, Va.

40th Annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair

MARCH 7TH, 2015 AT 10:00 AM | $8-$14 | EHELPERN@SCOTTCIRCLE.COM | EVENT WEBSITE

It’s time to put down your e-readers and experience a bit of history! Have you ever seen a $30,000 book? Or a book that is hundreds of years old? Now is your chance when the 40th annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair returns to the nation’s capital from March 6-7, 2015.

Address

Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge; Rosslyn Ballroom, Shenandoah Suite & Dogwood Room;1900 North Fort Myer Drive; Arlington, VA 22209

Washington, DC Travel & Adventure Show

MARCH 7TH, 2015 AT 10:00 AM | $11-16 | INFO@TRAVELSHOWS.COM | TEL: 202-249-3000 | EVENT WEBSITE

Discover dream destinations at the Washington, DC Travel & Adventure Show, March 7 & 8. Roster of Celebrity Travel Speakers Includes Rick Steves, Pauline Frommer, Samantha Brown, Patricia Schultz and Josh Gates, offering travel expertise and inspiration. Savor world cuisines on the Taste of Travel Stage, watch the world come alive on the Global Beats Stage, and the brand new Savvy Traveler Stage will focus on insider travel tips and practical advice.

Address

Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW

Fauré Requiem – Cathedral Choral Society

MARCH 8TH, 2015 AT 04:00 PM | $15-75 | LSHERIDAN@CATHEDRAL.ORG | TEL: 202-537-2228 | EVENT WEBSITE

Stunningly luscious music on an all-French program. Written following personal spiritual transformation, Poulenc’s Organ Concerto exudes heartfelt directness. Dictated to her sister at the end of her young life, the Pie Jesu was Lili Boulanger’s requiem for herself. Intimate and profoundly beautiful, Fauré’s Requiem is one of the most beloved pieces in the choral repertoire. Featuring Music Director J. Reilly Lewis as organ soloist.

Address

3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW

Cultural Leadership Breakfast: Martin Wollesen

MARCH 12TH, 2015 AT 08:00 AM | RICHARD@GEORGETOWNER.COM | EVENT WEBSITE

As part of the series presented by Georgetown Media Group and sponsored by Long & Foster, Martin Wollesen, executive director of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, will share his plans and goals for The Clarice, the six-venue centerpiece of the University of Maryland’s College of Arts and Humanities. Admission is $20 ($15 for George Town Club members). RSVP via email.

Address

George Town Club, 1530 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

CAG Concerts Kick-off Party?

MARCH 12TH, 2015 AT 06:30 PM | $60 | EVENT WEBSITE

The kick-off party will be at The George Town Club on March 12 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM.
Concerts in the Parks is Georgetown’s favorite summer concerts series that is free and open to the public in beautiful Volt and Rose parks. Proceeds from this event help underwrite the cost of putting on the concerts. 2015 Concerts will take place Sunday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 PM on May 17th, June 14th and July 12th.

Address

The George Town Club; 1530 Wisconsin Ave.

Peter Murray •

Smoke and power outages plagued Metrorail the weekend of Feb. 20, while on the H Street corridor, a flash fire ignited atop a streetcar during service simulation late Feb. 21.

Problems started for commuters Friday morning when the power went out at the L’Enfant Plaza station, leaving hundreds of commuters in near-pitch-black dark. The outage occurred around 8:45 a.m., and power was not restored fully until the early afternoon. The station remained open during the outage, but the entrance at 9th and D streets NW remained closed until the lights came back on. Metro said in a tweet that the outage was caused by a “commercial power problem.” Feb. 20 was the coldest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching as low as 5 degrees at Reagan National Airport.

Then, smoke caused delays and evacuations at three Metro stations over the weekend. Woodley Park Station was taken out of service briefly after faulty brakes reportedly filled the station with smoke on the afternoon of Feb. 21. The station was evacuated, with commuters rushing to escape a potentially life-threatening situation akin to the one that occurred at the L’Enfant station on Jan. 12.

Smoke caused by faulty brakes was also reported at the L’Enfant station Sunday. A D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesman confirmed the source of the cause in a statement on Feb. 22.

Fire struck a streetcar around 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21. Officials said, “The sparks extinguished very quickly on their own and fire suppression was not required by the first responders on the scene.” No one was injured during the incident but Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a brief statement issued Sunday that D.C. Streetcar would not open to the public until “we know it’s safe, and not a moment sooner.” The as-of-yet not fully operational streetcar has had nine minor accidents since it began simulating service in Oct. 14, with the latest occurring in early January. No one has been harmed in any of the accidents.

Also on Sunday, smoke caused by an electrical arcing event in the third rail led emergency crews to the Foggy Bottom station around 6:30 p.m. A driver alerted authorities after noticing the smoke coming from the tunnel leading from Foggy Bottom to Rosslyn. Smoke did no reach surrounding stations, but officials instituted single-tracking by closing off the tunnel until 7:40 p.m.

A number of other smoke incidents have created problems on Metro in recent weeks, notably causing evacuations at the Dupont Circle and Court House stations in early February. However, Metro officials say that smoke incidents are on the decline, with 120 occurrences in 2012 to only 40 in 2014. There is no official count for 2015.

These safety problems for Metro come at a bad time, on the heels of reports by the Washington Post that Metro’s federally funded alarm system that contacts emergency response radio does not work properly in subway tunnels. Emergency response officials say Metro never notified them that about this critical flaw; they discovered it on their own in 2014 and pressured Metro to fix the problems to no avail. The radio defect held up D.C. firefighters’ rescue efforts at L’Enfant station when smoke killed one and injured more than 80 people on Jan. 12.

Georgetowner •

Twentythirtysomething Book Club (T.T.B.C.)

February 26th, 2015 at 07:30 PM | Free | julia.strusienski@dc.gov | Tel: 202-727-0232 | (Event Website](http://www.meetup.com/Twentythirtysomething-Book-Club-T-T-B-C/)

Are you a local reader at least 21 years old? Looking for a more casual book club experience? Then join us for Twentythirtysomething Book Club (T.T.B.C.), a new book group for younger adults.

For our February meeting, we will be reading Robin Sloan’s 2012 novel, “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.”

For more information, check out our MeetUp page or email erika.rydberg@dc.gov or julia.strusienski@dc.gov.

Address

breadsoda; 2233 Wisconsin Ave. NW

2015 DC Design House Bare Bones Tour

February 28th, 2015 at 12:00 PM | $5 or free with purchase of $30 DC Design House ticket for April 12-May 10 | dcdesignhouse@theloftatai.com | Tel: 301-807-0910 | [Event Website](http://www.dcdesignhouse.com/)

Take a tour of the 2015 DC Design House before the designers work their magic. See the 27 empty rooms in this new McLean, VA home built by Artisan Builders and then come back from April 11 to May 10 to see the beautiful designs. It’s the 8th Annual event with 100% of proceeds benefitting Children’s National Health System.

12 noon until 3 p.m.

Address

956 Mackall Farm Lane; McLean, VA 22101

Paintings, Calligraphy and Ceramics by Stephen Addiss

February 28th, 2015 at 12:00 PM | [Event Website](http://robertbrowngallery.com/)

Robert Brown Gallery hosts an opening reception for an exhibition of work by painter, poet, ceramicist, musician and Japanese art historian Stephen Addiss. A professor for thirty-six years, Addiss retired in 2013 from a position at the University of Richmond. He began studying calligraphy and ink painting in 1969 with Asian scholars, later studying in Japan and Taiwan.

Address

1662 33rd St. NW.

Aaron Burr Lecture at Georgetown Library

February 28th, 2015 at 01:00 PM | jerry.mccoy@dc.gov

Jamie Stiehm, a columnist for Creators Syndicate and a contributor to usnews.com, will give a free 1 p.m. lecture: “The Intriguing Aaron Burr: Vice President and So Much More.” The third vice president of the United States, Burr served under Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805.

Address

Georgetown Neighborhood Library, Peabody Room (third floor), 3260 R St. NW.

Russian “Ballades, Fantasies, and Satires”

February 27th, 2015 at 12:00 AM | $50 | [Event Website](http://thercas.com/)

Soprano Natalia Kraevsky and bass Grigory Soloviov will sing songs in Russian accompanied by pianist Vera Danchenko-Stern, founder and artistic director of the Russian Chamber Art Society, at this third concert of RCAS’s 2014-2015 season. Danchenko-Stern’s Peabody Conservatory colleague, pianist Alexander Shtarkman, will also perform. Tickets, include a wine and dessert reception. For tickets, visit their website.

Address

Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court NW.

701 Restaurant Hosts Four-Course Wine Dinner with Crosby Roamann Winery

February 27th, 2015 at 07:00 PM | $90 | Tel: (202) 393-0701 | [Event Website](http://701restaurant.com/)

701 Restaurant invites guests to come celebrate one of Napa Valley’s finest wineries, Crosby Roamann, on February 27th at 7 p.m. The experience is priced at $90 per person (not including tax and gratuity) and guests will enjoy Executive Chef Benjamin Lambert’s four-course feast while winemaker Sean McBride will orchestrate pairings.

Address

701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Cantate Chamber Singers presents the St. John Passion of J.S. Bach

March 1st, 2015 at 04:00 PM | $35 ($45 for premium seats in first few rows), age 18 & under FREE, students with ID $15. | exec@cantate.org | Tel: 301-986-1799 | [Event Website](http://cantate.org/)

Cantate (Gisèle Becker, Music Director) presents Bach’s masterpiece in the rarely performed fourth version of 1749, with period instruments. Featuring Joseph Dietrich singing the role of the Evangelist, Kevin Frey singing the role of Jesus, soprano Mary Ellen Callahan, mezzo-soprano Barbara Hollinshead, baritone Steven Combs, and tenor David Wolff.

Address

Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church; 6601 Bradley Blvd; Bethesda, MD 20817

Time for Three

March 1st, 2015 at 05:00 PM | $25. – $30. | sam@stjohnsgeorgetown.org | Tel: 202-338-1796 | [Event Website](http://www.stjohnsgeorgetown.org/)

The groundbreaking, category-shattering string trio transcends traditional classification, with elements of classical, country western, gypsy and jazz idioms forming a blend all its own. Performing music from Bach to Brahms, arrangements of The Beatles, Katy Perry, Kanye West
and Justin Timberlake.

Free parking at the Hyde Addison School parking lot directly across from the church.

Address

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Georgetown; 3240 O St. NW

the Georgetowner • February 5, 2015

International Spy Museum’s Spy Fest

January 30, 2015, 6-9 p.m. | $14 | kthomas@spymuseum.org | Tel: 202-654-2852 | Event Website

Through interactive, spy-related activities and booths, attendees will learn how to think like real secret agents as they assume new identities, decipher coded messages, analyze hand-written and satellite images, and detect liars by polygraph — all directly from experts in the field. Ages 5 and up.

Address: International Spy Museum, 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC.

Sugarloaf Craft Festivals

January 30-February 1, 2015 | Free | sugarloafinfo@SugarloafFest.com | Tel: 301-990-1400 | Event Business

Enjoy the crafts of 500 artists, including jewelry, wood, leather, clothing, sculpture, glass and more. Watch live entertainment and feast on a variety of foods.

Address: Dulles Expo Center, 4320 Chantilly Place Center, Chantilly, VA

Weekend Mindfulness Retreat

January 30th, 2015 at 6-8 p.m. | $80 | monicadorhoi@yahoo.com | Tel: 202-407-4265

World Bank/IMF Staff Meditation Club you to a Mindfulness Meditation Retreat Led by the Meditation Teachers from the World Bank. No prior experience with meditation needed. All levels welcome. A ticket price is $80. No one will be turned away because of lack of funds.

There will be a second session on January 31st, 2015 at 10:00 a.m

Address: Courtyard Mariott, 20th Street & F Street, Washington DC, 20006

Chapter Two by Neil Simon

January 30th/31st, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. | $14-17 | Thunderous_Productions@hotmail.com | Tel: 301-937-4532 | Event Website

Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical Chapter Two offers the quick wit & humor Simon fans expect, but is often raw & downright tragic. It tells the stories of George-a novelist & recent widower-and Jennie, an actress & divorcee. The two are set up by their respective best friends, Leo & Faye. They play matchmakers to George & Jennie, while also planning trysts of their own. Will George & Jennie be able to deal with their pasts & keep up their new exuberant relationship?

Address: Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd SE Washington, DC 20020

Jazz Masters with John Eaton: Richard Rodgers

January 31st, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. | $5-10 | evelyn.hill@fairfaxcounty.gov | Tel: 703-790-0123 | Event Website

Jazz pianist, musicologist, and humorist John Eaton brings his popular continuing education program to The Alden. Jazz Masters with John Eaton is an entertaining and insightful afternoon that combines Eaton’s peerless knowledge of the Great American Songbook, hilarious commentary, and elegant renditions of jazz standards, both popular and obscure.

Whether it was with Lorenz Hart or Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rogers made beautiful music. Come discover the man behind “Oklahoma!”

Address:The Alden, 1234 Ingleside Ave, McLean, VA 22101

the Georgetowner • January 29, 2015

The Widow Lincoln

January 23, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. | Starting at $20 | tel: 202-347-4833 | Event Website

Veteran stage, screen and television actress Mary Bacon embodies the life and spirit of a grieving Mary Todd Lincoln in a new play by James Still, who wrote the dazzling “The Heavens Hung in Black” (which re-opened the renovated Ford’s in 2009). Directed by Stephen Rayne with an all-female cast. At Ford’s Theatre, Jan. 23–Feb. 22.

Address: 511 Tenth St, NW, Washington, DC 20004

E-Reader Rescue Weekend

January 24, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. | Free | julia.strusienski@dc.gov | tel: 202-727-0232 | Event Website

Did you get a new e-reader, tablet, or other digital device over the holidays? Want to use it to access library e-books, e-audiobooks, popular magazines, and more?
Then join us for a special extended instructional session from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where library staff will provide one-on-one assistance with all of your library digital resource needs.

Address: 3260 R St. NW, Washington, DC 20007

Burns Night Supper at Oatlands

January 24, 2015 at 06:30 p.m.| $100 per person | lkimball@oatlands.org | tel: 7037773174 x.103 | Event Website

Snow date: January 25, 2015 – 6:30 p.m.

Join Becky and Scott Harris, owners of Catoctin Creek Distillery, to celebrate the birthday of poet, Robert Burns. A traditional Scottish dinner of local lamb, neeps, tatties, and trifle will be served. And, of course, there will be haggis!
Advance reservations are required. Cash bar featuring local wines and Catoctin Creek Distillery whiskey.

Address: 20850 Oatlands Plantation Lane, Leesburg, VA 20175

Exhibition Opening: HOT TO COLD: an odyssey of architectural adaptation

January 24, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. | efilar@nbm.org | tel: 202-272-2448 | Event Website

After the resounding success of their BIG Maze last summer, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group’s HOT TO COLD focuses on how local culture and climate shapes the firm’s design solutions. More than sixty three-dimensional models will be suspended from the second floor balconies of the Museum’s historic Great Hall in an unprecedented use of this public space. Featured projects from across Europe and the United States will draw from the firm’s extensive archive of process material. Through August 30, 2015.

Address: 401 F Street, NW, DC 20001

SOUP-er Bowl at Waterfront Station

January 24, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. | Free | shelby@brandlinkdc.com | tel: 202-733-5223 | Event Website

Soup for you! Waterfront Station launches first-ever SOUP-er bowl in DC. A championship soup competition and taste-off, SOUP-er Bowl will feature: Soup and chili samplings from the region’s top restaurants, a beer garden with complimentary football lounge streaming some of the greatest Super Bowl highlights, live music from Motown band The Original Moonlighters, DJs and more.

Address: 425 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20024

The DUMC Winter Festival

January 25, 2015 at 4:00 p.m.| mdoan96@yahoo.com| Event Website

Fun for all ages: youth, children and adults. There will be board games, life-size games, a snowball fight, arts & crafts, bolo toss game, a hunt for hidden penguins and food.

Address: Dumbarton United Methodist Church, 3133 Dumbarton St. NW.

2028 Georgetown BID Meeting

January 26, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. | Free | events@georgetowndc.com | Event Website

The Georgetown BID invites you to a community meeting to celebrate accomplishments, discuss future goals, and mark one year of progress toward 2028 and a better Georgetown. The event will take place at House of Sweden from 6 to 8 p.m.

Address: 2900 K St. NW, Washington D.C. 20007

Gary Tischler • January 16, 2015

About 10 to 14 days ago, maybe even last weekend, and for sure Tuesday and Wednesday, America discovered gay marriage.

That’s not exactly true, of course, since the issue of whether gay couples should be allowed to marry has been around a few years, although not as many as you might think. It’s just that the last week or two seems to have turned the issue—the very existence and fact of it—into a portrait of a rising tide. The media was talking about it—it turns out according to respected polls that for the first time a majority of Americans approve of gay marriage, up considerably from a low 30 percentage or so several years ago. President Barack Obama, who went through what appeared to many a torturous process clearly indicated in his second inaugural address that he saw gay marriage as a civil rights issue and approved of it.

Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that she was for gay marriage. Former President Bill Clinton has said as much earlier, even though the Defense of Marriage Act–also known as DOMA–was passed during his administration. At the recent Conservative Political Action Committee gathering, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, once a high profile opponent of gay marriage, announced that he had changed his mind after his son had come out as a gay man.

This week, a whole bunch of people were talking about gay marriage, DOMA, gay rights, California’s Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, about the rights to federal benefits by gay married couples. They also talked about the enduring power of love and snakes in the garden. Some of the talking was being done in front of the Supreme Court by attorneys, justices and plaintiffs. A lot of it was being done on the steps of the Supreme Court where a host of people had gathered for two days while the court heard arguments, pro and con, about overturning Proposition 8 and about restrictive aspects of DOMA.

On March 26 and 27, a certain kind of street theater was being performed outside the Supreme Court as it always does in this politically divided country when divisive issues are being argued legally here. The pros and cons, the antis and the for-it, the religious right, the liberal left, the principled conservatives, and principled liberals, the flag wavers and the sign-carriers, the young and the old, the rabid and the argumentative, always gather like colorful, visceral and verbal moths to the flame of history—along with tourists startled and pleased at being in the midst of history-making.

During these two days, there was a prevalence of couples—traditional man-woman couples and their children, not-traditional woman-woman couples and man-man couples, some of them also accompanied by their children. On the first day’s arguments, the divide seemed about as equal as it exists across the country, while the judges heard arguments for overturning and/or keeping Proposition 8 in place. The hard-line folks from a Topeka, Kan., Baptist congregation were there, taking a rest from demonstrating near military funeral sites but so were numerous couples, some of them long-married, having had to do so in Canada. The atmosphere, by written and video accounts, were often argumentative and loud.

On Wednesday, after judges had already seemed reluctant to initiate wholesale rulings on either subjects and often sounded reluctant to be in the position of making rulings on them, the atmosphere in front of the Supreme Court had changed. There were fewer people for one thing, and the arguments were fewer. The hard-liners, the shrill voices on either side seemed to have left. There was one man across the street waving a bible, acknowledging his sins, raging against reprobates, talking about Adam and Eve, quoting scriptures, even as he was argued with—and been heckled by—a group of young persons, some of whom surrounded him and yelled, “Take a picture of the freaks.”

Celebration seemed to be in the air more often than not. A woman weaved and bobbed through the crowd while her spouse held up a sign that read, “Equality Is Patriotic.” “Seven years and not a single person harmed,” she said.

Signed proliferated amid the gathering, most of them celebratory, urgent and insistent: “A Veteran for Everyone’s Rights,” “It’s Time For Marriage Equality,” “Equality Now,” “Blame My Straight Mother: she gave birth to a bi-sexual daughter,” “Equal Rights for all the Sexes,” “Devoted, Monogamous and Living in Faith,” “Love is Love” (by Stephen and John, married for 25 years) and “We’re Not Done Yet,” this sign by a student with an intensely celebratory, rambunctious group from American University.

A couple carried a bright sign that read, “The Young Are at the Gates.” They explained that it was a replica of a banner carried at a Susan B. Anthony demonstration for women’s right to vote.

“It’s a blessing,” one woman, said. “It’s inspiring to be here.” Valerie Brookhart, who is married to Army Major Savannah Brookhart, was here with her children, wide-eyed, one-year-old Aleks and three-year-old Charlie. “As DOMA stands, right now I’m not eligible for benefits should anything happen, and that’s just not fair.” The couple have been together for four years. Her spouse has served two tours in Iraq.

Another woman, who had managed to get into the hearing for “about five minutes,” said, “It was difficult to hear what was going on, but it sounded like some of the judges were unhappy to have the cases in front of them. “

We also saw activists Kesh Ladduwahetty, founder of Arts for Activists and First Amendment activist Mary Beth Tinker, who said she was here “to support equality.” “It’s amazing in some ways the rapid change that has occurred,” Tinker said. Tinker was part of a Supreme Court case with her brother and other students who wore black armbands to school in Des Moines, Iowa, protesting the Viet Nam war. They were banned from their school for refusing to take the armbands off. It became a Supreme Court case on free speech with the court ruling in the students favor.

It was a bright, cold morning, full of energy and speeches. Even opponents of circumcision showed up, dressed in white. A line of attorneys emerged from the court, walking down the steps, after the close of testimony, and the crowds cheered. “You don’t hear lawyers being cheered every day,” said one impressed spectator.

There was no decision, that day, only the reading of the runes by the media. It awaits a later day, probably in June. But it was also clear that something had changed in the country and that the mainstream, once easily recognizable, was becoming an even bigger coat of more and many colors.

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Gary Tischler •

One  thing about living in Washington, or maybe even in the modern world, there’s always something going on. There is something to look forward like a birthday or a holiday, something to look back on like the 57th Inauguration, something to celebrate, like Groundhog Day.  For every month of the year, the calendar is pretty much full, if you choose to fill it.

February, for instance, is Potato Lovers Month and Umbrella Month. It is Black History Month or African American History Month. It is Creative Romance Month and Condom Month as well as Friendship Month, and that includes the celebration of Flirting Week and birthdays galore  and special days every day of the month, just about, from Morgan Fairchild’s birthday (Feb. 3), to Thank-a-Mailman Day (Feb. 4).

You get the drift.  In this issue, we celebrate February for our readers, by concentrating on love and history, if you will, specifically, we’re going to take a look at Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14),  the birthday of presidents, specifically, that of  Abraham Lincoln and the presence of history in our city and daily lives, and the celebration of February as Black History Month with its accompanying round of events, commemorations and celebrations.  It is a fact that in this city, especially, remembering the past allows us to anticipate the future more fully.

Our cover photo is of Barack and Michelle Obama in their inaugural night glam and glory by former White House photographer David Hume Kennerly.  In many and most ways, the Obamas embody the themes of our February story. As a couple and as parents, they are very much about the essence of Valentine’s Day which is love both romantic and familial.  As the first African American president and first lady, first and second terms, they are giant figures in the stream of American history as well as African American history, and their presence adds to the enrichment of our daily lives as citizens in a city embraced by history.

ST. VALENTINE’S DAY

It is probably fair to say that President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, as couple and parents, represent many of the qualities and virtues that sell Hallmark Cards, inspire a rush to the flower stands, give rise to a man going to Jared Diamond, make us think about couples and parents and the subject and celebration of love.

The inauguration revealed those aspects about the Obamas and not for the first time. Here were the daughters suddenly grown into adolescents and near-teens, acting like older and younger sisters under the beaming eyes of their parents, fooling around, texting, and look at that couple coming down the stairs there in the glare of a gala, Obama’s killer-watt smile at high, courtly beam, the tux, the red dress, the white bow tie, she serenely proud, billowing, what a rush of a date night.

They bring evidence of the love and romance in their lives to the public regularly.  It is speculation, of course, but you guess that they’ve had their rough patches because politics is not an arena for starry-eyed beginners, but you also guess that their relationship is one of deep and shared love and respect, and got-your-back loyalty and pride. While both are husband and wife with guy and gal things, they are total grown-ups as parents. 

In terms of glamour, the Obamas give Camelot a run for its residue of dazzle and razzle and youth and kids.  Their elevation to the White House seems to have strengthened them as a couple, it has been an addition as opposed to an imperilment. They appear to do honor to the idea of love.

The rest of us have to do what we often do at times like these—forget our workaholoic tendencies,  and appreciate the fact that someone other than the face in the mirror or our pets love us.  If you are loved, and share a love, how to show your appreciation of the person you so nonchalantly introduce as your better half?  Praise, wine and dine, kiss and give a shout out, buy roses, Godiva, cupcakes and a little shiny bauble from somewhere, if not Jared’s. 

Do something, besides dinner and champagne.  Here are some suggestions: go to a movie.

Specifically, go to the “Screen Valentines: Great Movie Romances” at the American Film Institute Theater, a series of some of Hollywood’s classic romantic movies which will move you, make you laugh and make you cry, running from Feb. 1 through March 14. 

Some of the films include “Ninotchka,” a 1930s movie billed as “Garbo Laughs,” in which the Great Greta, playing a dour Soviet commissar is wooed and led astray by American Melvyn Douglas; “A Man and a Woman,” the classic example of French sensuality starring Anouk Aimee and Jean Louis Tringinant; “The Way We Were,” in which passionately opinionated New York Jewish princess Barbra Streisand and rabble rouser meets blonde golden boy Robert Redford in his prime.  There are more—go to the AFI website for details.

It was always Hollywood to which we looked for guides to the joys, sadness and perils of love: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” was Oliver’s epigram for his lost love, but don’t try that one on your girlfriend or you’ll be sorry.  And my favorite love line from a western: Wyatt Earp, smitten with a school teacher, asks a bartender: “Hey, have you ever been in love?” to which  the reply is “Nope. I been a bartender all my life.”

You could check out the Washington Ballet, Feb. 13 to 17, at Sidney Harman Hall in the Harman Center, where the company’s “L’Amour (love, baby . . .) features three sensual, sexy, hot and love-stuff dances. That would be “Dangerous Liasons,” a world premiere choreographed by David Palmer; “Opposites Distract,” a company premiere choreographed by Elaine Kudo, and “Under Covers,” a world premiere choreographed by Amy  Stewart.  It all sounds like various reflections on the sexual and romantic and sometimes darker sides of love.

Or you could go where he goes: “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?”  That would be our good swain Romeo upon discovering Juliet. You will hear those lines again, but in a somewhat different context at the Signature Theater’s production of Joe Calarco’s play “Shakespeare R&J,” in which students at a repressive and all-male Catholic boarding school go against the rules and begin to “perform and act out” the forbidden Shakespeare play with dramatic results.  This “Romeo and Juliet” is modern, or as Calarco says, “wildly passionate and sexy.”   At Signature, Feb. 5 through March 3.

Don’t forget, in fact, to give your dog a Valentine’s Day treat. Their love for us is, after all, and unlike that of anyone else who might love you, unconditional.  (February is Responsible Pet Owner Month)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Just by being who and what they are, Barack and Michelle Obama stand at the center of Black History Month, and the president, in his speech and looking back on the thousands-strong multitude understood the historic nature of where and how he stood,  knowing he would not be in that place again.  When he was elected and inaugurated for the first time, I suspect much of Washington’s overall, day-to-day citizenry re-discovered themselves as neighbors after all.   In Adams Morgan, my friend and neighbor Mickey Collins, who often regaled me with tales of U Street glory days of the black community, told me how sad he was that his aged mother had not lived to see the election. Then, I was sad also that Mickey did not live to see the results of the second election.

Black history is neither an overlay nor a background noise in Washington, D.C., the city which we inhabit. It belongs to everyone who lives here, not just in traditionally African American neighborhoods but the entire city, now changing in its makeup, but always rich in a permanent history.  We have a network of black churches and congregations, we have Martin Luther King, Jr.’s memorial, we have the Frederick Douglass Museum in Anacostia, we have slave and church cemeteries and the steps of the Lincoln Memorial which is as much a shrine to the memory of the 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech as it is to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. And we have all that jazz everywhere.

Some people have argued that with the election of Obama, we are living in what’s called a post-racial era, yet the subject of race is always on the mind like a prayer and an unanswered question.  At the District of Columbia Jewish Community Center, there will be an exploration of the subject with “Race in America: Where Are We Now,” an arts and ideas weekend with panel discussions, films and performances of David Mamet’s play “Race,” Feb. 16-17.

Here are some events to watch out for, including the Feb. 2 Black History Month Family Day at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum.

On Feb. 14, THEARC at 1901 Mississippi Ave., SE, the DC THEARC Theater will present two free performances in honor of Black History Month, featuring “Harriet Tubman: The Chosen One,” a 45-minute play performed by Gwendolyn Briley-Strand, taking the audience on one of Tubman’s 19 journeys on the Underground Railroad.

In addition, such institutions as the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the D.C. Public Library, the Anacostia Community Museum, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, and others will hold special events throughout the month of February.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE CIVIL WAR

February is the month we celebrate the birthdays of both President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln, but it is Lincoln, the Civil War president and the Great Emancipator who resonates most strongly during the years of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  While we look to the past and hear echoes of Lincoln’s words as spoken by Daniel Day Lewis in the hugely popular film “Lincoln,” President Obama will address a joint session of Congress with his annual and much-anticipated State of the Union address on Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12.

We are by now almost reflexively calling Washington a divided city in terms of the governing classes, but when the Civil War began in 1861, those divisions were searing, real and often bloody. Washington, itself, became at times a city under potential siege as well as the seat of power. 

Our museums especially have focused on the Civil War.  You can go to the Smithsonian  Museum of American Art for “The Civil War and American Art” to the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture Gallery (inside the National Museum of American History) for “Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963” and “Torn in Two,” a geographic and cartographic approach to exploring the causes and memories of the Civil War with political cartoons, photographs, prints and maps at the Ford’s Theatre through Feb. 24.