EAST-OF-THE-MAGAZINE-AUGUST-2012

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS 08 ............Go See Do

10 ............East of the River Calendar

16 ............The Bulletin Board

20 ............The District Beat • by Martin Austermuhle

22 ............The Numbers • by Ed Lazere

24 ............H St. Playhouse Moves • by Annette Nielsen

26 ............Jail Leads to the Law • by Amanda Wilson

27 ............ANC 7A Report • by Mariessa Terrell

28 ............Marshall Heights Job Readiness • by Stephen Lilenthal

EAST WASHINGTON LIFE 30 ............EOTR Steelband • by Michelle Phipps-Evans

32 ............History Comes to Life • by Monica Z. Utsey

KIDS & FAMILY 34 ............Kids and Family Notebook • by Kathleen Donner

38 ............Camp Invention Expanding in DC • by Virginia Avniel Spatz

HOMES & GARDENS 39 ............Changing Hands • compiled by Don Denton

40 ............The Classifieds

42 ............E on DC • by E. Ethelbert Miller

EAST OF THE RIVER MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2012 | CAPITALCOMMUNITYNEWS.COM

ON THE COVER: Children’s History Theater Group History came alive last month as W.E.B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, Frances Ellen Harper and Septima Clark graced the stage of St. Stephen’s church in Northwest during the performance of the play “The War in the Classroom.” Nabila Abdul-Malik portrayed Sister Clara Muhammad. See story page 32

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6 H EAST OF THE RIVER MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2012

EDITORIAL STAFFMANAGING EDITOR: Andrew [email protected] & ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Maria Carolina [email protected] NOTES EDITOR: SUSAN BRAUN JOHNSON

[email protected]

KIDS & FAMILY NOTEBOOK EDITOR: KATHLEEN DONNER

[email protected]

ARTS, DINING & ENTERTAINMENT ART: Jim Magner • [email protected]: Celeste McCall • [email protected] THE CITY: Joylyn Hopkins • [email protected]: Karen Lyon • [email protected]: Mike Canning • [email protected]: Jean-Keith Fagon • [email protected] THERAPY: Scott Fazzini • [email protected]: Barbara Wells • [email protected]: Maggie Hall • [email protected] WINE GUYS: Jon Genderson • [email protected]

CALENDAR & BULLETIN BOARDHILL RAG, MIDCITY DC & EAST OF THE RIVER:CALENDAR EDITOR: Kathleen Donner [email protected], [email protected]

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT Michelle Evans • [email protected] McCall • [email protected] Schoell • [email protected] Avniel Spatz • [email protected] Waldron • [email protected] Donner • [email protected] Deutsch • [email protected] Sunukjian • [email protected] Holloway • [email protected] Ollstein • [email protected] Abrahams • [email protected] Kiefhaber • [email protected] Weiner • [email protected] Jones • [email protected] H. Muller • [email protected]

BEAUTY, HEALTH & FITNESSPatricia Cinelli • fi [email protected] Bresnick Hauss, LCSW • www.quietwaterscenter.com [email protected] Sherer • [email protected]

KIDS & FAMILYKathleen Donner • [email protected] Johnson • [email protected]

SOCIETY & EVENTSMickey Thompson • [email protected]

HOMES & GARDENSRindy O’Brien - Hill Gardener • [email protected] Thomas • [email protected] Capen • [email protected]: Mark Johnson • [email protected]

NEWS & NEIGHBORHOOD REPORTSANC6A, 6B, 6C, 6D: Roberta Weiner • [email protected]: GWYN JONES • [email protected] ROW: [email protected] STREET LIFE: Elise Bernard • [email protected] NOSE: [email protected] CIRCLE • [email protected] • Ralph Brabham: Ralph • [email protected]: Eleanor Gourley • [email protected] & U: Catherine Finn • cathefi [email protected]

PRODUCTION/GRAPHIC DESIGNASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR / WEB MASTER: Jason Nickens202.543.8300 X17 • [email protected] ART DIRECTOR: Jason Yen202.543.8300 X21 • [email protected]

ADVERTISING & SALESACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Kira Means 202.543.8300 X16 • [email protected] EXECUTIVE: Jennifer Zatkowski 202.543.8300 X20 • [email protected] ADVERTISING: Maria Carolina Lopez202.543.8300 X12 • [email protected] ASST.: Giancarlo Fagon

DISTRIBUTIONDISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Andrew LightmanDISTRIBUTORS: Southwest DistributionDISTRIBUTION INFORMATION: [email protected]

DEADLINES & CONTACTSADVERTISING: [email protected] ADS: 15th of each monthCLASSIFIED ADS: 10th of each monthEDITORIAL: 15th of each month; [email protected] BOARD & CALENDAR: 15th of each month;[email protected], [email protected]

HILL RAG MID CITY DC EAST OF THE RIVERFAGON COMMUNITY GUIDESTHE EDUCATION EDITION

Capital Community News, Inc.224 7th Street, SE, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20003 202.543.8300 • www.capitalcommunitynews.com

We welcome suggestions for stories. Send queries to [email protected] are also interested in your views on community issues which are published in the Last Word.Please limit your comments to 250 words. Letters may be edited for space. Please include your name, address and phone number. Send Last Word submissions to [email protected] employment opportunities email [email protected].

PUBLISHER: JEAN-KEITH FAGON • [email protected] © 2010 by Capital Community News. All Rights Reserved.

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Melissa Ashabranner [email protected]

Ascensions Psychological andCommunity Services, Inc.

1526 Howard Rd. SE, Wash., DC 20020 202-889-4344 • www.2ascend.org

Offering therapeutic assistance with depression, anxiety, relationships, and goal achievement.

Dr. Satira S. Streeter, Clinical Director

Individual and FamilyTherapy Services

We accept most insurance and have low cost sessions for the uninsured

Skype and coffee shop sessions are also availablefor your convenience. Call for details.

Furniture, lighting, rugs, drapery, home decor and more.

Visionary's

Destination shopping on H Street with a fashionable approach for your surroundings beauty and comfort.

Opening Fall 2012!

By Appointment now at

202.600.5417visionarysdesign.com

Havre de GraceSeafood FestivalFrom August 10-12, Havre de Grace, Md wel-comes seafood lovers with over 30 vendors serving more than 175 seafood delicacies. This historic town located “where the Chesapeake Bay begins” puts on this annual event that has been named on of the 10 best food festivals in the country. Other things-to-do are visit an arts and crafts market with 120 vendors with locally made products, 24 hours of live entertainment, a classic car show and the general fun of a fes-tival on the water. Havre de Grace is about 75 miles from DC; take Route 95 north. 410-939-1525. HdGSeafoodFestival.org

Richard Diebenkorn:The Ocean Park Series atthe CorcoranA pivotal fi gure in the history of modern painting, Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993) was an innovator whose work inspired legions of artists and greatly advanced the lexicon of abstraction. The Corcoran is the only East Coast venue for Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series, the fi rst major museum exhi-bition to focus on the artist’s most celebrated body of work. The exhibition features more than 80 works, including large-scale paintings, smaller paintings made on cigar box lids, mixed-media drawings on paper, monotypes, and prints. On view at the Corco-ran Gallery of Art from June 30-Sept 23. 500 17th St. NW. 202-639-1700. corcoran.org

GO.SEE.DO.

Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #38, 1971. Oil on canvas, 100 1/8 x 81 inches. The Phillips Collection, Gift of Gifford and Joann Phillips.©The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation. Image courtesy The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation.

Crowds line-up at a popular crab shack. Photo: Heppner Imaging

CAPITALCOMMUNITYNEWS.COM H 9

Photo: Courtesy of Events DC

Maloof Skate Park at RFK StadiumThe Maloof Skate Park at RFK Stadium is an outdoor venue for skateboard lovers of all ages and skills. Located in Park-ing Lot 3 adjacent to RFK Stadium, this new 15,000 square foot facility is open daily for public use from dawn to dusk and is only closed during inclement weather. Use of the park is free as is parking. Designed by Pro Skater Geoff Row-ley and California Skateparks, the Maloof Skate Park is the first major skate park in DC. Inspired by Freedom Plaza and the architecture along Pennsylvania Ave., the skate park in-cludes replicas of the Golden Rail and Freedom Plaza Ledg-es. Located by DC’s Metro Center rail station, the Golden Rail has been made world famous by local skate boarders. 202-608-1100. dcsportsent.com

A Celebration of Gaming at LabyrinthFrom August 5-12, join Labyrinth Games & Puzzles for a week-long Celebration of Gaming. On Sunday, August 5, the week will start with a super-bargain sale of used and donated games and puzzles for all ages. It will continue throughout the week with their an-nual store-wide sale. On Thursday, August 9, they will celebrate the store owner Kathleen Donahue’s birthday with Party Game Night! Award-winning game designer Dave Chalker will play Get Bit and friends from local North Star Games will join everyone to play their award-winning Wits & Wagers. There will be door prizes and cake! The Celebration will culminate in a weekend-long celebration of board games and tabletop role-playing on Saturday, August 11 and Sunday, August 12, featuring game designers from all over the east coast. Labyrinth Games & Puzzles, 645 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-544-1059. labyrinthgameshop.com

Summer Music in the CourtyardGallery OonH ConcertsGallery OonH continues its Summer Music in the Courtyard Se-ries on Saturdays, 5:30-10:30 p.m., through September 2, with performances by the John Stone Reggae Band; Sir Allen and the Calypso Ponzi Schemers; and Wheelie and Tia Nina. The gallery and adjacent courtyard, at 1354 H Street, NE, provide an indoor/outdoor space where art, music, and minds intersect for cultural experiences appealing to a broad range of ages and interests. Presentations will include pop-up markets for food and retail while continuing to feature gallery exhibits from the private collection of the owners Mary Ellen Vehlow and Steve Hessler. “We see this as an opportunity to infuse the local community with an energy beyond the bars and night life of H Street,” explains Vehlow. galleryoonh.com


SPECIAL EVENTS2012 Twilight Tattoo at Fort Myer. Wednes-days, Aug. 15, 22, and 29. 7 PM with pre-cere-mony pageantry starting at 6:45 PM. The 2012 Twilight Tattoo season has been extended and will run through the entire summer. Members of the 3rd US Infantry (The Old Guard), the US Army Band “Pershings Own,” Fife and Drum Corps and the US Army Drill Team will perform an hour-long sunset military Pageant. Over 100 Old Guard soldiers dressed in period uni-forms will provide a glimpse of Army history from colonial times to the soldier of the fu-ture. Summerall Field on historic Fort Myer in Arlington, Va. usarmyband.com

Marine Barracks Evening Parade. Friday evenings through Aug. 31. Guests admitted starting at 7 PM. Guests should be seated by 8 PM. Program begins at 8:45 PM. The Eve-ning Parade has become a universal symbol of the professionalism, discipline and Esprit de

Corps of the United States Marines. The story of the ceremony reflects the story of Marines around the world. The ceremony begins with a concert by the United States Marine Band. Free. It is wise to have reservations that can be made online at mbw.usmc.mil. Marine Bar-racks (front gate), Eighth and I Streets SE. 202-433-4073. mbw.usmc.mil

Free Summer Saturdays at the Corcoran. This summer, through Labor Day weekend, en-joy special exhibitions and programming free of charge in addition to Gallery tours, select workshops, demonstrations, and performances for all ages. Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW. 202-639-1700. corcoran.org

SUMMER MUSICFort Dupont Summer Concerts. Saturdays, Aug. 11 and 18. The National Park Service

offers six Rhythm and Blues performances in July and August as part of Fort Dupont Park’s “Summer Theatre” concert series. The con-certs’ are sponsored solely by the National Park Service and free to the public. On Aug. 11 at 7:30 PM, it is DC’s Legends ‘n Soul Night, Al Johnson & His A Team, Peaches & Herb, Skip Mahony & the Casuals and HALO. On Aug. 18 at 8 PM, see KLYMAXX featuring Bernadette Cooper and B’ela Dona. There is a Jr. Ranger tent offering programs for children and gen-eral information about Fort Dupont Park. nps.gov/fodu

1812 Overture on the Mall. Aug. 14, 8 PM. US Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” and the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presi-dential Salute Battery. Sylvan (open air) The-ater on the Washington Monument grounds (southeast corner). usarmyband.com

South on South Capitol Southern Rock Con-cert Series. Aug. 24; 11:30 AM, Bands all

day, mechanical bull, picnic tables. Half and M Streets SE at the Navy Yard Metro. fair-groundsdc.com

Evenings at Zuppa Fresca. Third Thursdays, 6-8 PM; Aug. 16, Jimi Smooth & the Hittime (Motown), Sept. 20, Levi Stephens (Funk/Blues). 250 K St. NE. nomabid.org

Yards Park Friday Evening Concert Series. Through Sept. 14, 6:30-8:30 PM. Spend your Friday evenings on the river, relaxing on the terraced lawn steps with family and friends and listening to live music from the Yards Park’s boardwalk stage. Friday evening con-certs will feature a wide range of live musi-cal performances including jazz, salsa, reggae, and more. capitolriverfront.org

Military Band Concerts at the US Capitol. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays in summer (weather permitting). 8 PM. Mondays, US Navy Band; Tuesdays, US Air Force Band;

Anacostia River Paddle NightWednesdays through Sept. 12, 5-7:30 PM. Come out and join them for a relaxing evening of paddling on the Anacostia River. There’s no fee. Just bring yourself and be ready to have a good time! They’ll have staff, canoes, and kayaks there for anyone who would like to paddle on the river. These events are hosted by the Anacostia Watershed Society and the Anacostia Community Boathouse Association. Meet at the Anacostia Community Boathouse,

1900 M St. SE. RSVP at 301-699-6204. anacostiaws.org

CALENDAR

Courtesy of the Anacostia Watershed Society



Wednesdays, US Marine Band; Fridays, US Army Band. Free. West Terrace US Capitol Building.

US Marine Band Concerts at the Sylvan Theater. Thursdays in summer (weather permitting), 8 PM. You are welcome to bring folding chairs, blankets and re-freshments to the concert. Free. 15th St. and Independence Ave. SW (on Washing-ton Monument grounds). 202-433-5717. mbw.usmc.mil

National Shrine Summer Organ Recital Series. Sundays in Aug., 6 PM. Free. Free will offering accepted. All welcome. 400 Michigan Ave. NE. 202-526-8300. nation-alshrine.com

Navy Memorial Concerts on the Av-enue. Tuesdays, through Aug. 28, 8 PM. Come out to the US Navy Memorial for an evening of relaxing music by the United States Navy Band and its special-ty groups. Free. US Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 202-737-2300. navyband.navy.mil

Air Force Band Concerts. Wednesdays in summer. 8 PM. Air Force Memorial at One Air Force Memorial Drive in Arling-ton, Va. (14th St. Bridge into Virginia, merge onto Washington Blvd. and then Columbia Pike in the direction of the Navy Annex. Then follow signs.) Expect a pleasing mix of contemporary and pa-triotic tunes and spectacular views of the nighttime Washington, DC skyline. Free. airforcememorial.org

Jazz in the Sculpture Garden. Fridays in summer (rain or shine), 5-8 PM. National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Live jazz performed by an eclectic mix of top art-ists from the Washington area entertains visitors outdoors in front of the fountain or in the Pavilion Cafe (if it’s raining). The Pavilion Cafe features a seasonal tapas-style menu and bar service during the concerts. Everyone can enjoy these concerts. You do not have to order food or drinks. Free. 202- 289-3360. nga.gov

MUSIC AND THEATERFollow the Drinking Gourd. Aug. 11 and 25, 10:30 AM. Join performance artist Kwelismith, as freedom fighter Harriett Tubman, and take a trip on the Underground Railroad to freedom by following the celestial drinking gourd. Go back in time to 1854 and learn how Tubman’s faith in God and her knowledge of land, water, stars, plants and animals contributed to her success on the dangerous journey from Cam-bridge, Maryland, to St. Catherine’s Canada. For reservations, call 202-633-4844. Anacos-tia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. ana-costia.si.edu

Fort Dupont Summer Concerts. Saturdays, Aug. 11 and 18. The National Park Service offers 6 Rhythm and Blues performances in July and Aug.ust as part of Fort Dupont Park’s “Summer Theatre” concert series. The concerts’ are sponsored solely by the National Park Service and free to the public. On Aug. 11 at 7:30 PM, it is DC’s Legends ‘n Soul Night, Al

Johnson & his A Team, Peaches & Herb, Skip Mahony & the Casuals and HALO. On Aug. 18 at 8 PM, see KLYMAXX featuring Bernadette Cooper and B’ela Dona. There is a Jr. Ranger tent offering programs for children and gen-eral information about Fort Dupont Park. nps.gov/fodu

His Chosen Diamond-A Domestic Violence Story. Aug. 11, 3 PM. Dan Didier Productions, Inc. presents “His Chosen Diamond,” a rivet-ing, suspenseful, and powerful stage play that executes a message against domestic vio-lence. $25. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Women Breaking Salsa Boundaries. Aug. 25, 2-4 PM. Host Jim Byers of WPFW 89.3FM’s “Latin Flavor” as guest Eileen Torres and oth-ers discuss breaking the glass-ceiling facing female musicians and percussionists in the male-dominated world of Salsa. The band “All-Star Female Descarga” will perform Salsa music in the second hour. This program re-ceived Federal support from the Latino Initia-tives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, as well as an individual Artist Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Space is Limited. For more infor-

mation, call 202-633-4866 or 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

EXHIBITIONSThe Gallery at Vivid Solutions-Inside Out-side by Gabriela Bulisova. Through Sept. 28. This project offers the first-person accounts and insights of formerly incarcerated men on the process of reentry. It casts light on their plight in the hope that we will do more to help these men succeed in becoming produc-tive members of society and caring family members. The Gallery at Vivid Solutions, 2208 MLK Ave. SE. 202-365-8392. vividsolutionsdc.com

Sixth Annual East of the River Exhibition. Through Sept. 8. This exhibition showcases the work of artists with connections to com-munities east of the Anacostia River. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 PM and Saturday, 11 AM-5 PM Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE. 202-365-8392. honfleur-gallery.com

Double Take-The Surreal Art of Russ Mc-

Intosh. Through Aug. 31. Russ McIntosh’s unique digital photography exhibition. Center for Green Urbanism, Tubman-Mahan Gallery, 3938 Benning Rd. NE. 202-506-3867. center-forgreenurbanism.org

DeanwoodxDesign: Designing Life Through the Arts. Through Aug. 31. DeanwoodxDesign is a creative place-making project sponsored by ArtPlace and the DC Office of Planning (OP). ArtPlace, a new private-public collabo-ration, is an initiative of eleven of America’s top foundations working in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts and sev-en federal agencies, ArtPlace’s aim is to drive revitalization across the country by putting the arts at the center of economic develop-ment. Each project supported by ArtPlace has been selected for developing a new model of helping towns and cities thrive by strategi-cally integrating artists and arts organiza-tions into key local efforts in transportation, housing, community development, job cre-ation, and more. Center for Green Urbanism, Tubman-Mahan Gallery. 3938 Benning Rd. NE. 202-506-3867. centerforgreenurbanism.org

Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia. On view indefinite-

CALENDAR

He’s Not Mine, She’s Not Mine at THEARCAug. 19, 3 PM. Promise Productions presents “He’s Not Mine, She’s Not Mine,” a heartfelt play that exposes the challenges and struggles of blended families. What happens when a son and his stepfather refuse to get along and the mother/wife is in the middle? Will the family ever survive? This is a story you don’t want to miss! $25.

THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

“He’s Not Mine, She’s Not Mine” Photo: Courtesy of THEARC

ly. From Reconstruction to the second half of the 20th century, baseball, the great American pastime, was played in Washington, DC, on segregated fields. “Separate and Unequaled” looks at the phenomenal popularity and com-munity draw of this sport when played by African Americans. Featured are such personalities as Josh Gibson and “Buck” Leonard, star players of the Negro Leagues most celebrated team, the Washington Homestead Grays. The show also highlights community teams that gave rise to the various amateur, collegiate and semi-pro black baseball teams and leagues. For special viewing hours and tours, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

TOURS, TALKS AND CLASSESKenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens Tours. Weekends in Aug. 9 AM and 11 AM. Awaken your senses and sense of discovery with a ranger led tour of the ponds and wetland area that borders them. Find out who was out during the night eating water lilies and which plants are in bloom. 9 AM tour is best for night blooming water lilies. 1550 Anacostia Ave. NE. 202-426-6905. nps.gov/keaq

Public Art East of the River. Aug. 12, 10 AM-12:30 PM. Some of the most exciting public art in the District of Columbia is on view east of the Ana-costia River. The artworks make bold statements and reflect the diversity and craftsmanship of artists through mosaics, paint, and a variety of sculp-tural materials. Meet at the museum no later than 1:50 PM to join them on this exciting tour as they travel to select sites and view art by Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Roderick Turner, Uzikee Nelson, and others. Mixed-media artist Deidra Bell will serve as your guide. For regis-tration, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

Discovering Community-Behind the Scenes at the Anacostia Community Museum. Aug. 17, 24 and 31, 10 AM. Join the Collections staff for a behind-the-scenes tour of some of the hold-ings used in expanding the museum’s role as a “community museum.” The tour will explore art that provides daily inspiration, observe some of the mu-seum’s ongoing preservation projects, and possibly preview some of the ob-jects being assembled for future exhi-bitions. Participants must meet at the museum’s staff entrance no later than 9:55 AM Space is limited. Call 202-633-4844 for more information and to make reservations. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

The Ties That Binds at Anacostia Community Museum. Aug. 19, 2 PM.



Join them for an inspiring story of how a grandmother’s creative guidance led to the development a uniquely imaginative idea. Beautifully handcrafted of high quality fab-rics, Velma Crawford’s aprons are fun, fancy and functional. At a very young age Velma sat at her grandmother’s feet learning how to cut out quilting blocks. In addition to being a professional clothing consultant, she now spends much of her time crafting uniquely designed aprons that fit any occasion. For reservations, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

The Rise of Fashion in WDC. Aug. 21, 7 PM. Fashion attorney and blogger Mariessa Terrell, founder of the Fashion Law and Policy Center and YooHooDarling.com leads a discussion on the rise of DC fashion. This session includes a fashion show featuring Fashion Row House fashion design fellows moderated by selected east of the river designers. Come and see what DC Fashion looks like in 2013. For reservations, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Mu-seum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

Kim Johnson’s Story of the Pan. Aug. 26, 2 PM. The steel pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, which celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence from Great Britain this year. Kim Johnson, leading re-searcher of steel band history, presents valu-able research in “The Illustrated Story of Pan.” Featured are oral testimonies and pictures of the pan from its beginnings to the present. Links to the African drum and the “African aural aesthetic,” to tamboo-bamboo and the older Carnival tradition of beating bits of metal for percussion, are presented in words and images. Johnson will discuss this unique musical heritage and sign copies of the book that tells its story. A demonstration of pan music will also be featured. This program is co-sponsored by Caribbeana Communications Incorporated. For reservations, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

A Watershed Study. Sept. 5, 10:30 AM. What is a Watershed and how does your backyard fit into it? In this first educational workshop of a series, you will learn about the Anacos-tia River, its tributaries and the land within its boundaries. Using maps, photos and other artifacts our journey into the place we call home begins. For more information and reser-vations, call 202-633-4866 or 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail. Discover, or see with new eyes, this traditionally African American enclave in Far Northeast when you follow “A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail.” Fif-teen poster-sized street signs combine story-telling with historic photographs and maps to transport you back to the days before Dean-wood was Deanwood. To pick up the trail go to Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. and Division Ave. NE. Walk one block south to Foote Street, at the edge of Marvin Gaye Park. The 90-min-ute, self-guided tour will bring you along Nan-nie Helen Burroughs Avenue, up 49th St. and along Sheriff Rd. back to Minnesota Ave. and the Metro station. Walk the trail at your own pace and take time to enjoy this small town in the city. Don’t forget to pick up a free trail

guide from businesses along the way. 202-661-7581. www.culturaltourismdc.org

MARKETSWard 8 Farmers Market. Saturdays, through Thanksgiving, 9 AM-2 PM. Fresh Fruit, vegeta-bles, bread and meat. Market now will double the value of your SNAP, EBT, WIC or senior food vouchers for produce. THEARC, 1901 Mis-sissippi Ave. SE. ward8farmersmarket.com

Ward 8 Farmers’ Market at St. E’s. Saturdays through Oct. 27, 10 AM-2 PM. Chapel East Gate, 2800 MLK Ave, SE. 202-841-0394. ward-8farmersmarket.com

H Street FRESHFARM Market at New Loca-tion. Saturdays, 9 AM-noon. 1300 H St. NE. The market is a producers-only outdoor mar-ket offering fruit, vegetables, meats, baked goods, cheese, flowers and more for sale. freshfarmmarket.org

NOMA Farmers Market. Wednesdays, through Oct . 31, 3-7 PM. 1200 First St., NE. nomabid.org

Penn Quarter FRESHFARM Market. Thursdays, through Dec. 20, 3-7 PM. North end of Eighth Street, between D and E Streets NW. fresh-farmmarket.org

By the White House FRESHFARM Market. Thursdays, through Oct. 25, 11 AM-2:30 PM. 810 Vermont Ave. NW. freshfarmmarket.org

Mount Vernon Triangle Market. Sundays, 10 AM-4 PM. Initiating its second season, the market is situated in Mt. Vernon Triangle, at the corner of 5th and Eye Streets NW just north of Chinatown. The market will feature a diverse mix of art, crafts, imports, antiques, collectibles and furniture. The market will also highlight local prepared foods such as hand-made chocolates and breads; and beverages, such as organic juices, teas and coffee. The food truck, Curbside Cupcakes and Bita Dio-mande, of Sarafina will also be at the market. Also find handmade jewelry, vintage and con-temporary clothing and accessories. mount-vernontriangle.org

9th and U Flea Market. Saturdays and Sun-days, 9 AM-5 PM. 9th and U Streets NW.

Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Sundays year round (rain or shine), 9 AM-1 PM. The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times of London named the market one of the top farmers’ markets in the country. During the peak season, there are more than 30 farmers offering fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit pies, breads, fresh pasta, cut flowers, potted plants, soaps and herbal products. 1500 block of 20th St. NW (between Mass. Ave. and Q St. in the adjacent parking lot of PNC Bank). 202-362-8889. freshfarm-market.org

14th and U Farmers Market. Saturdays. 9 AM-1 PM, until Thanksgiving. Producers-only market. 14th and U Streets NW, in front of the Reeves Building. marketsandmore.net

Mi Tierra (Latino) Market at Unity Park. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (weather per-mitting). 9 AM-7 PM. Unity Park at Champlain

and Euclid Streets and Columbia Rd. NW. Mi Tierra market has 18 approved vendors that sell foods and crafts from their native coun-tries in the heart of Adams Morgan.

Georgetown Flea Market. Sundays year around (except in the case of very inclement weather), 8 AM- 4 PM. The crowd is as diverse as the items for sale! Antiques, collectibles, art, furniture, rugs, pottery, china, jewelry, silver, stained glass, books and photographs are an example of the available items. 1819 35th St. NW. 202-775-3532. or georgetown-fleamarket.com

Eastern Market. Daily except Mondays and important holidays. Weekdays, 7 AM-7 PM; Saturdays, 7 AM-5 PM; Sundays, 9 AM-5 PM. Flea market and arts and crafts market open Saturdays and Sundays, 9 AM-6 PM. Eastern Market is Washington’s last continually op-erated “old world” market. On weekends the market area comes alive with farmers bringing in fresh produce, craft and flower vendors, art-ists, a flea market and street musicians. 200 block of 7th St. SE. 202-698-5253. eastern-market-dc.com

SPORTS, DANCE ANDPHYSICAL FITNESSPublic Skating at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Saturdays and Sundays in August, 2-3:30 PM. Dress for warmth and safety. Clothes should be easy to move in, and pants must not fall be-low the heel of the skate (sweatpants or leg-gings are a good choice). Everyone needs to wear gloves or mittens, and one pair of thin, long socks or tights that fit snugly (no ankle socks). A helmet or knit hat is strongly recom-mended (loaner helmets are available). $5. $4 for kids and seniors. $3 for skate rental. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. NE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org

Dr George Washington Carver and the Na-ture Trail. Aug. 15, 10:30 AM. Learn about Dr. George Washington Carver and how the mu-seum’s nature trail uses Kwanzaa principles to explain the benefits of natural recycling, the insect community, medicinal plants, and other outdoor offerings. The museum’s trail walk is co-sponsored by the George Washington Carver Outdoor School, Inc. For reservations, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Mu-seum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

Nats Baseball. Aug. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30 and 31; Sept. 1. $10, up. Nationals Park. 202-675-6287. washington.nationals.mlb.com

National’s Ballpark Tours. Wednesday-Sun-day (non-game days), 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM. On day of night-time home games, tours at 10:30 AM. Take the Nationals Park Ballpark Tour for a behind-the-scenes look at Nationals Park. Over the course of an hour and fifteen minutes you will visit the PNC Diamond Club, the Lexus Presidents Club, the Stars & Stripes Club, luxury suites, the Shirley Povich Media Center, Nationals dugout and Nationals club-house. Throw a pitch in the Nationals bullpen. $12-$15. All proceeds from Nationals Park Tours will be donated to the Nationals Dream Foundation. washington.nationals.mlb.com

DC United Soccer Home Match. Aug. 19, 5 PM, vs. Philadelphia Union; Aug. 22, 7:30 PM, vs. Chicago Fire; Aug. 29, 8 PM, vs New York Red Bulls. $23-$52. RFK Stadium. 202-587-5000. dcunited.com

Washington Mystics Basketball. Aug. 19 and 24. $17, up. Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW. wnba.com

Waterfront Workouts at the Wharf. Satur-days, 9-11 AM. Yala Fitness at 9 AM and Flow Yoga at 10 AM. 7th Street Landing at 7th and Water Streets SW. wharfdc.com

Pick-up Field Hockey on the Mall. Every Monday at 6 PM. Meets at the fields in front of the Smithsonian Metro stop for males and fe-males who have a passion for field hockey. No experience necessary. Bring water, shinguards, mouthguard, cleats, a field hockey stick, and either a reversible jersey or a light and dark shirt - no grays please. Free.

Rock Creek Park Trail Rides. On Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. and Tuesdays, Wednes-days and Thursdays through Aug., take a one-hour guided horseback ride through Rock Creek Park. Weekend rides are at 9:30 AM, 11 AM and 12:30 PM on Saturdays and 11 AM and 12:30 PM on Sundays. Weekday rides are at 6 PM. No prior experience is necessary but riders must be under 200 lbs. except for one horse that can carry up to 225 lbs. Reserve your ride well in advance at rockcreekhorsecenter.com or call 202-362-0117. $40. Rock Creek Horse Center, 5100 Glover Road, 1/2 block south of Military Road, NW. Watch for signs.

Adult Dance Classes. Starting Aug. 27. Tues-days, 7-8:30 PM, Jazz; Wednesdays, 7-8:15 PM, Ballet; Saturdays, 9-10 AM, Zumba. The Washington Ballet @ THEARC offers three adult classes this year. Classes are $12 each or you may purchase a $100 class card for 12 classes. Classes are only $5 for Ward 8 resi-dents. The class card for Ward 8 residents is $50. (Valid ID required.) THEARC, 1901 Mis-sissippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Free Yoga Classes at Anacostia Neighbor-hood Library. Every Thursday, 7-8 PM. Yoga is a great way to relax, unwind and get grounded. Even if you’ve never done yoga be-fore – this class is for you. Open to people of all abilities, ages and body types. All you need to bring is yourself, comfortable cloth-ing and an open mind. Judgment free zone: having a great time is encouraged! Register in person at Anacostia Neighborhood Library or call 202-715-7707. 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE. dclibrary.org/anacostia

Roller Skating at Anacostia Park. Skate sunrise to sunset. This is a covered, outdoor skating pavilion. Free. One-hour free skate “rental” has started but sizes and supplies are limited. During summer months, open daily. Go east on Penn. Ave. across Anacostia River and make the first right turn onto Fairlawn Ave. and another right onto Nicholson and then into the park. 202-472-3873.

Free public tennis courts in Wards 7 and 8. Fort Davis Community Center, 1400 41st St. SE; Hillcrest Recreation Center, 3100 Denver St. SE; Kenilworth-Parkside Recreation Center, 4300 Anacostia Ave. NE; Randle Highlands

CALENDAR

Tennis Courts, 31st St. and Pennsylvania Ave. SE; Anacostia Park, 1900 Anacostia Dr. SE; Bald Eagle Recreation Center, Martin Luther King, Jr Ave. and Joliet St. SW; Con-gress Heights Recreation Center, Alabama Ave. and Randle Pl.SE; Fort Stanton Commu-nity Center, 1812 Erie St. SE. All courts are open daily, dawn to dusk. Some are lighted for extended evening play. Courts are avail-able on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis for one-hour intervals; extended use of tennis courts requires a permit. Proper shoes and attire is required. 202-671-0314. dpr.dc.gov

Southeast Tennis and Learning Center.Open daily; Monday through Saturday, 9 AM-9 PM; Sunday, 9 AM-6 PM. Four indoor courts. Six outdoor courts. Summer hourly fees at $6 to $10 for adults. Kids 17 and under play for free. 701 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-645-6242. dpr.dc.gov

Anacostia Pool. 1800 Anacostia Dr. SE. 202-724-1441. dpr.dc.gov

Barry Farms Pool. 1230 Sumner Rd. SE 202-645-5040. dpr.dc.gov

Benning Park Pool. Southern Ave. and Fable St.SE. 202-645-5044. dpr.dc.gov

Douglass Pool. Frederick Douglass Ct. and Stanton Ter. SE. 202-645-5045. dpr.dc.gov

Fort Dupont Pool. Ridge Rd. and Burns St. SE. 202-645-5046. dpr.dc.gov

Fort Stanton Pool. 1800 Erie St. SE. 202-678-1798. dpr.dc.gov

Kelly Miller Pool. 4900 Brooks St. NE. 202-724-5056. dpr.dc.gov

Oxon Run Pool. Fourth St. and Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-645-5042. dpr.dc.gov

NOTE: All outdoor pools are open weekends, noon-6 PM. Weekday hours are 1-8 PM. Every pool is closed one day a week for cleaning and maintenance. All pools are free for DC residents. Have picture ID.

CIVIC LIFECongresswoman Norton’s Annual Job Fair.Aug. 23, 10 AM-3 PM. Professional develop-ment workshops, 10-11 AM. Over 80 employ-ers will be represented. Washington Conven-tion Center. norton.house.gov

Congresswoman Norton’s SE District Offi ce. Open weekdays, 9 AM-6 PM. 2041 MLK Ave. SE, #238. 202-678-8900. norton.house.gov

Councilmember Alexander’s Constituent Services Offi ce. Open weekdays, 10 AM-6 PM. 2524 Penn. Ave. SE. 202-581-1560.

Councilmember Barry’s Constituent Ser-vices Offi ce. Open weekdays, 9 AM-5 PM. 2100 MLK Ave, SE, #307. 202-698-2185.

Anacostia Coordinating Council Meeting.Last Tuesday, noon-2 PM. Anacostia Mu-seum, 1901 Fort St. SE. For further details, contact Philip Pannell, 202-889-4900.

Capitol View Civic Association Meeting.Third Monday, 6:30 PM. Hughes Memo-rial United Methodist, 25 53rd St. NE. capi-tolviewcivicassoc.org

Historical Anacostia Block Association.Second Thursday, 7-9 PM. UPO-Anacostia Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. For further details, contact Charles Wilson, 202-834-0600.

Anacostia High School School Improvement Team Meeting. Fourth Tuesday. 6 PM. Anacos-tia High School, 16th and R Streets SE.

Deanwood Citizens Association General Body Meeting. Fourth Monday, except Aug. and Dec., 6:30 PM. 1350 49th St. NE.

Deanwood Citizens Association General Body Meeting. Fourth Monday, except Aug. and Dec., 6:30 PM. 1350 49th St. NE.

Eastland Gardens Civic Association Meet-ing. Third Tuesday. 6:30-8:30 PM. Ke-nilworth Elementary School (auditorium), 1300 44th St. NE. Greg Rhett [email protected] or 202-388-1532.

Fairlawn Citizens Association. Third Tues-day, 7 PM. Ora L. Glover Community Room at the Anacostia Public Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE.

ANC 7A. Second Tuesday, 7:30 PM. Benning-Stoddard Rec. Center, 100 Stoddard Pl. SE. 202-727-1000. [email protected]. anc7a.org

ANC 7B. Third Thursday, 7 PM. Ryland Ep-worth United Methodist Church, 3200 S St. SE (Branch Ave. and S St. SE). 202-584-3400. [email protected]. anc7b.us

ANC 7C. Second Thursday, 7 PM. Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church, 5109 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE. 202-398-5100. [email protected]

ANC 7D. Second Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Sixth District Police Station, 100 42nd St. NE. 202-398-5258. [email protected]

ANC 7E. Second Tuesday, 7-8:30 PM. Jones Memorial Church, 4625 G St. SE. 202-582-6360. [email protected]

ANC 8A. First Tuesday, 7 PM. Anacostia UPO Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. 202-889-6600. anc8adc.org

ANC 8B. Third Tuesday, 7 PM. Seventh District Police Station Community Center, Alabama and McGee Sts. SE. 202-610-1818. anc8b.org

ANC 8C. First Wednesday, 6:30 PM. 2907 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. 202-388-2244.

ANC 8D. Fourth Thursday, 7 PM. Specialty Hospital of Washington, 4601 MLK Jr. Ave. SW. 202 561-0774

ANC 8E. Third Tuesday, 7 PM. SE Tennis and Learning Center, 701 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-561-6616. [email protected]

Note: Many regular monthly community meetings to not happen in August. ●


NOW AT TWO LOCATIONS!Fresh produce from local farmers, plants, art, food-preparation work-

shops, children activities, nutrition and more...

[email protected] • www.Ward8FarmersMarket.com

Saturdays: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm At THEARC1901 Mississippi Ave., SE - Front parking lot

Saturdays: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm At St. Elizabeths2700 Market Luther King, Jr. Ave. (Chapel Gate)

We DOUBLE your EBT,WICand Seniors Coupon dollars!!

(as long as funds last)

Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Bread and Meat.

Thank you to our Ward 8 Circulator Sponsors:Anacostia Coordinating Council • Congress Heights Citizens AssociationSecrets of Nature – Natural Foods Store • Georgetown University • SHIRE

Southeast Tennis Center (701 Mississippi Ave. SE)

Ward 8 Farmers’ Market / THEARC (1901 Mississippi)

Salvation Army / Spirit Health Center (2300 MLK Ave.)

Big Chair (stop in front of Chair)

Birney Elementary / Barry Farms / Matthews Memorial (Stop in front of Birney E.S.)

Ward 8 Farmers’ Market / St. E’s (Friendship Academy, 645 Milwaukee Pl. SE) (MLK across from St. E’s Chapel Gate)

Washington Gas Bldg. (3101 MLK) - across from Historic Old Congress Heights School

(New) Assumption Catholic Church / National Capital Children’s Center

Secrets of Nature (3923 South Capitol St. SW)

(New) Simon Elementary (Mississippi Ave & 4th St SE)

The FREE Ward 8 Farmers Market Circulator Shuttle Bus

Every Saturday9:30am – 1:15pm.

Alabama Ave & 10th Place (1000 Alabama Ave. SE)

IHOP / Giant (1523 Alabama Ave. SE) (stop in front of IHOP)

BUS ROUTE


BULLETIN BOARD

Groundbreaking for Unity Health Care-Parkside Health Center in Ward 7DCPCA’s Medical Home DC program continues to expand access to primary care east of the Anacostia River, breaking ground in the Parkside neigh-

borhood. Replacing the Hunt Place Center in Ward 7, Unity Health Care, Inc. will more than double its capacity to serve District of Columbia residents in the soon to be constructed state-of-the-art community health center. An estimated 50,000 projected annual patient visits will be scheduled at the brand-new 43,200 square foot Unity Health Care-Parkside Health Center. Th e total cost of this capital project is nearly $26 million. Th rough Medical Homes DC, DCPCA leveraged more than $15 million–61% of the project costs. Unity-Parkside is projected to open at the end of 2013.

Anacostia Community Museum 45th Anniversary Gala

On Saturday, Sept. 15, join them in celebrating the 45th anniver-sary of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Th e theme of this year’s exciting gala is Reclaim-ing Our Edge: Launching a New Vision. Guests attending the gala will get a preview of their upcoming exhibition, “Reclaiming the Edge: Urban Waterways and Civic En-gagement,” which opens to the gen-eral public on Sept. 17. Th e Gala will feature live entertainment, a silent auction, dinner and dancing. Funds raised by the Gala will help sustain the Smithsonian’s only museum dedicated to its local DC constitu-ents and will enable the Anacostia Community Museum to sustain and expand its ongoing programs and activities including research, exhi-bitions, and educational outreach.

For more information call 202-633-4875 or email [email protected]

Ward 8 Farmers’ Market at St. E’sTh e Ward 8 Farmers’ Market has

opened a second branch at the Chapel East Gate, 2800 MLK Ave., SE. It will be there every Saturday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. through Oct. 27. For more in-formation, visit ward8farmersmarket.com or email [email protected] or call Michael Segal, Executive Director 202-841-0394.

DDOT Reconstructs DC-295 (Anacostia Freeway) Ramp from Pennsylvania Avenue SE

DDOT began reconstructing the existing DC 295 ramp from Pennsyl-vania Ave. SE in July. Th is work is part of an improvement eff ort to create safer merging conditions for motorists. Th e reconstruction work will entail widen-

ing the existing DC 295 ramp from Pennsylvania Ave. SE and the replace-ment of overhead signage, sign lighting and pavement markings on the Sousa Bridge. Th e project is anticipated to take 270 days to complete. Traffi c con-trol signs will be installed to guide mo-torists and provide advance warnings about expected construction delays. Visit goDCgo.com for more informa-tion on transportation options.

Feet in the Street (Save the Date)Th e National Park Service will hold

its fourth annual “Feet in the Street” Event on Saturday, Sept. 22. Th ey are teaming up again this year with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and for the fi rst time with the annual Car Free Day! Car Free Day is an international event celebrat-ed every Sept. 22 in which people are encouraged to get around without cars and instead ride a train, bus, bicycle,

carpool, subway, or walk. Th e benefi t to greater society is a day with less traffi c congestion, a greener environment and reduced gasoline demand.

Fort Dupont is one of the largest parks in the Nation’s Capital, with 361 acres to explore. On Sept. 22, the road-ways in the park, including Fort Davis Drive and Fort Dupont Drive, will be closed to motor vehicles from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Residents and visitors are invited to come put their Feet in the Street and run, walk, bike, skate, and move along this 1.6 mile long corridor. Th ere will also be organized activities and pro-grams including a 5k walk/run to kick-off the event, guided nature hikes, rock climbing wall, physical fi tness classes, community garden tours and vegetable gleaning, healthy cooking demonstra-tions and farmer’s market, face paint-ing, free bike rentals courtesy of Bike and Roll, Capital Bikeshare test rides and free ride coupons and much more. nps.gov/fodu

Pictured (left to right): DC Councilmember Vincent B. Orange Sr. (At-Large); Jair Lynch, President/CEO, JAIR LYNCH Development Partners; Dorothy Douglas; Sharita Slayton, Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy; DC Councilmember Yvette M. Alexander (Ward 7); DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray; DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton; DCPCA CEO Sharon A. Baskerville;

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Willie Woods; Geraldine Bell, President, Parkside Civic Association; Unity Health Care President/CEO Vincent A. Keane. Photo: Saida Z. Durkee



AfterDark@THEARCOn Saturday, Sept. 15, 6:30 p.m.,

join them for AfterDark@THEARC, their annual gala to support THEARC (Town Hall Education Arts Recre-ation Campus) and its partners: Build-ing Bridges Across The River; Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington; Children’s National Medical Cen-ter: Children’s Health Project of DC; Corcoran Gallery of Art: Corcoran ArtReach; Covenant House Washing-ton; Levine School of Music; LIFT-DC; Parklands Community Center; Trinity Washington University; The Washington Ballet; Washington Mid-dle School for Girls. Individual ticket is $250. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Anacostia CommunityMuseum Reopens

Anacostia Community Museum, which was closed for repairs, has re-opened its public spaces to the public and on-site programming has resumed. 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. ana-costia.si.edu

Clean Rivers Project UpdateThe construction schedule of the

Clean Rivers Project has been updated. DC Water will begin removal of the sidewalk along M Street, SE from 8th to 9th Streets SE in order to accom-modate four lanes of traffic along M Street during the major construction efforts. (Pedestrian traffic will remain open along the south side of M Street SE, from 9th to 14th Streets. through-out construction.) The Metrobus stop at 8th and M Streets SE will be tem-porarily relocated during construction. In the interim, transit riders may board the bus at either 7th and M Streets or 10th and M Streets.

Capital Area Food Bank Moves to New Facility

The Capital Area Food Bank is re-sponding to the growing hunger crisis facing the Washington metro area by moving to a larger, newly-constructed food distribution center in Northeast DC that will enable it to double its food storage and distribution capacity over time and foster healthy eating. The food bank opened its new Northeast Washington facility on July 30.

The new $37 million food distribu-

tion center, which is fully paid for, is located at 4900 Puerto Rico Ave. NE near the food bank’s former lo-cation for 21 years on Taylor Street NE. Due to the uncertain economy and the dire situation it has created, the Capital Area Food Bank em-barked on a capital campaign five years ago under the leadership of co-chairs Donald E. Graham, J.W. Marriott Jr., the late Abe Pollin and Bennett Zier. Hilary Salmon, the food bank’s director of special projects, played a leading role in the capital campaign and transition into the new facility. capitalarea-foodbank.org

Habitat for Artists at THEARCHabitat for Artists returns to

THEARC this summer in a col-laboration with the Corcoran Gal-lery of Art. HFA uses the idea of the artist’s studio as a catalyst for mutual engagement between art-ists and communities and will work with THEARC and the Corcoran from July 16-Aug. 24. The “habi-tats” are small, temporary, 6’-by-6’ structures. HFA invites artists to work in these small, temporary stu-dios, and while exploring their own creative process, the artists engage in active dialogues with a new au-dience. The public, meanwhile, is invited into a dialogue about art, the artist’s role, and topics pertinent or relevant to that local community. Through Aug. 24 in THEARC Or-ganic Garden, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

DeanwoodxDesign NeedsVolunteers

DeanwoodxDesign (pronounced as Deanwood by Design) showcases the rich arts, cultural, historical, and green space assets of Deanwood and Ward 7 through a community-wide, intergenerational, and collaborative effort. This project engages artists and a diverse network of Deanwood insti-tutions and stakeholders to cultivate community pride, showcase and create great art, and invigorate the creative economy. These events feature work-shops, exhibitions, and cultural events that reflect the community.

Volunteers have the opportunity to lend their skills and talent to a series of arts and cultural events, exhibitions

and workshops that will take place each weekend through Oct. 31 at all the Temporiums. Volunteers are needed to distribute posters and fliers in Dean-wood and surrounding neighborhoods, assist with online promotion and mar-keting, staff special events, photograph special events and live performances, photograph/document the temporium transformations, assist with art instal-lation. Volunteers serve in shifts of 2-3 hours Thursday and Friday evenings from 5-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. For more information, contact Kellie Armstead at [email protected], deanwoodxdesign.com/volunteers

The Organic Garden at THEARCThe Organic Garden at THEARC

is a 100 percent organic garden operat-ing as a community project of Building Bridges Across the River developed with THEARC partners to serve as a tool to educate THEARC community

about nutrition and healthy eating. This market operation will help de-velop entrepreneurial skills in the youth of Ward 8, while exposing them to employment opportunities in the fields of agriculture, business and the culinary arts. For more in-formation, contact them at [email protected]

Building Bridges Across the River is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that built and now runs THEARC. The mission of Building Bridges Across the River is to improve the quality of life for children and adults living east of the Anacostia River by provid-ing leadership, management and financial oversight of the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC). Through a collaboration of partner nonprofit organizations, THEARC provides access to high quality educational, arts, recreation, health and social service programs. Building Bridges Across the River was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1997 by William C. Smith + Co. In its role as the leader of THEARC, BBAR is responsible for the col-laboration of the nonprofit partner organizations at THEARC, as well as the management of THEARC Theater, and the maintenance and upkeep of THEARC facility and grounds. thearcdc.org

Fishing with AWSCome on out and join them for

some evening fishing off of the pier at Bladensburg Waterfront Park. They provide the equipment, lures, and in-struction. You just have to show up and have a good time! Friday, Aug. 17, 5-7:30 p.m. Bladensburg Waterfront Park, 4601 Annapolis Rd., Bladens-burg, MD. RSVP at 301-699-6204 or anacostiaws.org.

Green JobsCurrent and Emerging Opportunities Community Forum

The Anacostia Community Mu-seum continues its research and edu-cational initiative focused on urban waterways, especially rivers, their wa-tersheds, and associated creeks and streams. The project explores, among other things, social conditions, envi-

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Courtesy of Aya Community Markets

Aya Community MarketRelocates to SW

The market provides resources for healthy and sustainable communities through farm fresh produce, educa-tional health speakers and live musical

Performances, locally produced handmade crafts and baked goods, art, youth activities and more. Formerly at the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, it is now at Christ United Methodist Church, 900 4th St. SW. every Saturday through Nov. 17, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. ayamarkets.org

ronmental burdens, citizen con-cerns and involvement, and cultural and recreational traditions associ-ated with urban rivers. This com-munity discussion focuses on green jobs: current and emerging oppor-tunities. Aug. 14, 7 p.m., Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

District’s First ‘Green’ Alleys Completed

The Green Alleys Project is a joint collaboration between DDOT and DDOE with fund-ing from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The project is aimed at reducing the quantity and improving the quality of storm water run-off within the District’s right-of-way. As part of the project, the existing concrete, gravel and dirt alleys were removed and replaced with a permeable con-crete pavement–allowing water to pass through the surface and perco-late through a gravel layer and into the soil below. Construction started in November 2011. Throughout the US, Green Alley projects are being used as an effective and innovative way to manage storm water runoff and pollution.

The initial Green Alley sites are in the Watts Branch Watershed in Ward 7 in the alley between 54th St., Blaine St., 55th St., & Clay St. NE; the alley between 56th St., Eads St., & 57th St. NE and the al-ley between 58th St., Dix St., 59th St., & Clay St. NE. ddot.dc.gov

11th Street Bridge Project Traf-fic Advisory

DDOT may close lanes during off peak travel times on the 11th Street bridges, related ramps, porti-waons of the Southeast/Southwest Freeway, I-295/DC 295 and local streets through Sunday, Sept. 30 to accommodate 11th Street Bridge Project related construction activi-ties. For more information about this work or the 11th Street Bridge Project, contact DDOT Deputy Chief Engineer Ravindra Ganvir at 202-359-6948 or visit the 11th Street Bridge page on Anacosti-aWaterfront.org. l



In September 2010, Vince Gray defeated Adrian Fenty in the Democratic primary.Wait, did he?That’s not the sort of question

any voter should have to ask them-selves close to two years after the election. But that’s exactly where we are today, as further revelations in the ever-evolving scandal surround-ing Gray’s 2010 campaign have suddenly cast doubt upon the most basic element of democracy: did the winner actually win? It’s no longer a black and white issue—we’ve en-tered a gray area.

In terms of sheer number of votes, yes, Gray won. He defeated an incumbent who, while enjoying a two-to-one fundraising advan-tage, ran an uninspired campaign and failed to turn back the tide on an electorate that had largely soured on him. At the end of the day, Gray emerged with 13,000 more votes than Fenty—a 10 percent margin.

But all of that is now being re-visited. Gray’s supporters could ex-cuse some of his first missteps, but as more irregularities have been re-vealed, the more impossible it has become to shrug off the doubts.

The Shadow Campaign

In early July, donor Jeanne Clarke Harris pleaded guilty to running a massive straw donation scheme that directed $653,800 in off-the-books contributions to a shadow campaign that helped elect Gray.

Only weeks later, the Washing-ton Post uncovered further wrong-doing within Gray’s campaign—members of his staff had improperly obtained a database of the names of 6,000 public housing residents,

gaining a treasure trove of personal information on a segment of the population that while sympathetic to Gray’s message, doesn’t often ex-ercise its rights at the ballot box.

Additionally, campaign trea-surer Betty Brown—that’s the of-ficial campaign, mind you—admit-ted that $100,000 in day-of walking around money was mislabeled on campaign finance reports as being payments for polling and mailing lists. In June former D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown pleaded guilty

to much of the same—giving poll workers more than the $50 they are allowed to get in cash.

Cheating Your Way to VictoryHad it only been one slip-up or

violation, residents may have dismiss it. Had things been limited to pay-ing Sulaimon Brown to say mean things about Adrian Fenty—which he did with gusto—maybe that too could have been brushed aside.

But with the enormity of the scandal having become that much

more apparent, many voters have started asking a key question—was the election fairly won? Sure, Gray crossed the line first. But did he trip up his principal competitor along the way, making a fair race all but impossible?

For those who have lined up to say that Gray should resign, it’s an easy answer—the process was so corrupted that even a wide-margin victory like the one Gray received is likely suspect.

“The legitimacy of the elec-tion has been called into question. Whether the Mayor knew of the shadow campaign or not does not matter. He should not be the benefi-ciary of that illegality,” said Coun-cilmember David Catania (I-At Large). Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who endorsed Gray in the 2010 primary, said much the same when she called on him to re-sign, saying that he had benefited from “massive election fraud.”

The scandal seems to reveal as much. According to the investiga-tion led by U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ron Machen, the shadow campaign didn’t shy away from the light of day—in fact, the money that Har-ris funneled into it (along with co-conspirator Jeffrey Thompson) openly benefited the campaign. Some $203,100 went to pay for staff, $127,700 bought campaign materi-als, $58,000 went to supplies, and $265,000 covered rental vans, ho-tel rooms and other expenses. For a campaign that legally raised close to $2 million for the primary, $653,800 isn’t a rounding error—it’s a sub-stantial percentage.

As for the list of public hous-ing residents, it provided a distinct

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

The Gray Areaby Martin Austermuhle

Mayor Vincent Gray. Photo: Andrew Lightman.

advantage for Gray’s campaign. The Post found that same-day registrations from pre-cincts with large public housing populations surged during the September primary—and those precincts largely went for Gray. In one precinct in the southwestern segment of Ward 6, for one, turnout increased by 26 percent, with the majority of the new votes going for Gray.

Not All Fraud Is The SameThe case seems to be weighing heavily

against Gray at this point—politically, at least. Election fraud and campaign finance violations are very different beasts, and Gray’s campaign is accused primarily of violating the latter. No one has yet said that Gray paid people to vote for him, much less that he stuffed ballot boxes. This may seem like a low standard for what’s right and wrong in electoral democracy, but directly linking money to votes without proving that voters were paid is extremely difficult.

Campaign finance violations are cer-tainly of concern, though. This country’s democratic system is premised on fair com-petition, and that’s partly judged on money being raised and spent according to set rules and in a manner that is open to public review. Gray’s shadow campaign effectively made it impossible to know who was sup-porting his candidacy, what they were pay-ing to get him elected and what they might get in return.

These might seem like semantic dis-tinctions, but they matter. I called upon a number of elections experts to ask whether any elections had ever been nullified by massive campaign finance violations, and they couldn’t think of any that fit the bill. The closest case came from Baltimore, where a city councilwoman failed to file any campaign finance reports at all during her re-election bid—but still kept her seat after having won the election.

At this point, then, there’s no real le-gal case to be made for the claim that Gray “stole” the election. Did he play the game un-fairly? Absolutely. But did that style of play push him over the top against Fenty? Short of finding evidence that the $653,800 was used to buy votes, we’ll likely never know.

“Mayor” GrayOf course, little of that seems to matter

now. The standards for political guilt are sig-nificantly lower than they are for legal guilt, after all. Looked at that way, a large part of D.C. residents seem to think Gray is guilty

as charged. According to a Post poll in mid-July,

54 percent of respondents said that Gray should resign. (That majority largely crossed demographic and geographic lines, a reality that’s richly ironic since Gray’s dream of forging “One City” seems to be limited to pushing a majority of residents to want him gone.) The poll also found that if there were a do-over of September 2010 today, Fenty would win by a two-to-one margin. Ouch.

While Gray has said little as the scandal has blossomed, he has steadfastly denied having known anything about what was happening in his own campaign. At the advice of his attorney, though, he has said nothing of his involvement in the inves-tigation—only further fueling conspiracy theories, rumors and chatter as to how long he will remain in office.

Short of any further revelations, though, it’s looking like he’ll survive through the dog days of summer. After that, though, the D.C. Council will return and Gray will be faced with the reality that he’ll have to govern with very little political capital at his disposal. That may ultimately be the thing that does him in—does he want to seem like a lame duck for the next two years, governing over a city that largely doesn’t trust him?

Until he makes that decision for him-self—or Machen comes back with a case against him—Gray is putting his head down and insisting that it’s business as usu-al. In late July, he rolled out a 60-page “One City Action Plan” (basically bullet points of what his administration had already said it would do), presented the results of an initiative that allows residents to more easily grade D.C. agencies and announced plans for a number of longstanding development proj-ects from Walter Reed to Reservation 13.

But it’s hard to pretend nothing has hap-pened while the very legitimacy of his may-oralty crumbles beneath him. Journalists constantly pepper him with questions about the scandal, and residents can only lower their gazes and hope that D.C. doesn’t stumble any lower than it already has.

Sure, we’re in a far better place than we were during the worst of Marion Barry’s days, but at least then everyone could say that they knew he won the election. Nowa-days it’s even hard to admit that much.

Martin Austermuhle is the editor-in-chief of DCist.com and a freelance writer living in Petworth. l


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It’s hard to deny that the super-rich sometimes get to live by a different set of rules than the rest of us, like the

celebrities who get all sorts of fan-cy stuff for free just for showing up somewhere.

DC may soon have its own case in point of preferential treat-ment for the well-heeled. Legisla-tion before the DC Council would allow some very wealthy DC resi-dents to pay a lower income tax rate than the typical working DC family, mostly because some high-income residents said they didn’t want to pay DC’s normal tax rates.

To be clear, the bill in question — introduced by Mayor Gray — would not turn DC’s income tax structure entirely upside down. In-stead, it would set a very low tax rate for investments in DC-based tech firms. Yet because invest-ments provide the main source of income for the super-wealthy, and because DC’s growing tech sector is making a number of people rich, this tax cut would let some very well-off residents pay a lower in-come tax rate than you or I do.

This dramatic departure from progressive tax rates — the tech investment tax rate would be lower than the DC’s lowest income tax rate for wage and salary income — could be justified only if there were convincing evidence that the rest of us would be better off as a result — that it would, for example, create a lot of jobs and boost DC’s economy. Yet supporters cannot point to any such benefits.

In fact, when pressed, the tax-cut supporters in DC government say the lower rate is needed because they have heard from wealthy inves-tors who are planning to move from the District to Virginia to avoid

paying DC taxes when they cash in on their tech investments. This sug-gests that the rich and powerful get to dictate DC government policy, down to the income tax rate they will pay to the city.

There clearly is something wrong with this, especially since the District actually does a good job at-tracting and retaining high-income residents. DC’s richest residents have higher incomes than similar families in any major U.S. city.

If any of this tax debate sounds familiar, it may be because War-

ren Buffett has brought attention to something similar at the federal level. The billionaire investor (who graduated from DC’s own Wilson High School) has challenged fed-eral capital gains tax laws that al-low him to pay a lower tax rate on his investments than his secretary pays on her salary. The issue also has gotten Mitt Romney into some hot water, since his tax returns show that he pays a low rate on his in-vestment-heavy income.

DC’s policymakers would do well to follow the Buffett Rule —

that wealthy investors pay a higher tax rate than middle-income fami-lies — rather than violating it.

Tech Investment Tax Break Plan Goes Too Far

The “Technology Sector En-hancement Act” is intended to support growth in DC-based tech-nology companies, a worthwhile goal at a time when the federal government may be shrinking. But good intentions are not enough. A close look at the proposed inves-tor tax credits raise lots of serious questions. • Ridiculously low tax rates for

investors: The bill would set a 3 percent tax rate on gains from investments in DC-based tech firms. That is lower than the tax rates paid by any working DC resident — even a minimum wage worker — where the rates start at 4 percent and go up to 8.95 percent.

• Tax breaks for venture capitalcompanies: The low tax rate would apply to venture capital companies, which are in the business of investing in other companies. They don’t need special tax breaks to be encour-aged to do so.

• No focus on start-ups: Newcompanies are the ones most likely to face challenges attract-ing investors. Yet the proposed legislation would offer the low tax rate for investments in any tech companies, including suc-cessful well-established ones.

Letting the Rich Set Their Own Tax Rates: Not a Wise Move

Perhaps the most shocking ele-ment of the Mayor’s bill is that it would lower the tax rate for people

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSThe Numbers

Warren Buffett Is RightWealthy Investors Should Not Pay Less Tax than the Average DC Family

by Ed Lazere

who currently hold investments in DC tech companies. If the goal of the tax cut is to encourage more investment in tech companies, we shouldn’t offer tax breaks to peo-ple who already have made such investments, right?

This is where the plot over a seemingly mundane tax proposal gets more interesting. The Gray Administration, in a document shared with the DC Council, says that the tax cut is needed because there are “high-value tech em-ployee stock-holders” that have told the Mayor’s people that they are considering “relocating to Vir-ginia to shelter themselves” from paying taxes to the District.

To be clear, this means that there are residents who plan to cash in their tech investments soon — standing to make very large sums, no doubt — who have said they would rather not pay taxes on their substantial gains. And the Mayor’s response has been to offer them a lower tax rate than any other DC resident pays.

This proposal is disturbing on many levels. Not only does it fly in the face of fair tax policy, it also is policy made based on anecdote. It does not make sense to reduce taxes deeply in response to con-cerns raised by a small number of people. While it’s not surprising that some wealthy residents would ask for lower taxes, but there is no evidence that DC’s tax system is creating widespread agitation among our richest residents. The average income of the top 5 per-cent of DC families is $473,000, and that is higher than in any ma-jor U.S. city.

Investment Tax Breaks Won’t Turn a Frog Into a Prince

As if this isn’t enough to cast doubt on cutting investment taxes, what about the simple fact that it won’t even work? That it is unlike-ly to result in greater investments in DC tech companies?

Investing in a new company

with a new product or idea is risky. There is no FDIC insurance pro-tecting that investment. An inves-tor could stand to lose everything if the company fails. So it is no surprise that the people and com-panies that invest in tech start-ups are very choosy and only pick the start-ups they feel are likely to succeed. Offering investors a low tax rate on earnings from DC tech companies is unlikely to change investors’ behavior, because a low tax rate does not turn a risky in-vestment into a safe one.

David Weaver, who mentors and educates “angel investors,” the kinds of people who invest in start-ups, says it best: “[T]ax credits won’t make angels invest in a company that they wouldn’t invest in with-out the credit…[Investors] aren’t so foolish to throw their money away because someone waves an incen-tive in from of them.”

Follow the WarrenBuffett Rule

This brings us back to War-ren Buffett, the billionaire who supports efforts to raise taxes on investments, because current fed-eral tax law allows some of the wealthiest Americans to pay some of the lowest income tax rates. The good news is that DC doesn’t have the problem that Warren Buf-fett points out — yet — but we would if the tech investor tax cut is adopted. Rather than bribing a handful of very well off residents to stay and invest in DC with tax rates that are lower than anyone else’s, DC’s leaders should keep supporting efforts to make DC a healthy and attractive city — which will do more in the end to create the right atmosphere for economic growth.

Lazere is the executive director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (www.dcfpi.org), which conducts research on tax and budget issues that affect low- and moderate-income DC resi-dents. l



NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Exit the Anacostia Metro stop and you start to feel the en-ergy of this vibrant neighbor-

hood. Travel past the Capital Bike-share station, Arcadia Farm’s Mobile Market selling fresh fruit and vege-tables, and walk a few blocks on bus-tling Martin Luther King Boulevard and you’ll find the HIVE, a creative and shared workspace for freelancers and small businesses, a project of the ARCH Development Corporation (ADC).

Around for over two decades, ADC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit community based organization that believes arts and the creative econ-omy can be employed as part of a comprehensive approach to commu-nity revitalization in Anacostia– and believes in working collaboratively with other groups and organizations

to realize economic growth. Back in January 2012, ADC

heard that the H Street Playhouse would no longer operate out of their H Street NE home and they reached out to the theater to propose their re-location to Historic Anacostia. And now, just a block from the HIVE, live theater will come to Anacostia.

“It was a natural fit,” says Phil Hutinet, ADC’s Chief Operating Officer who spearheaded the project. “The H Street Playhouse’s presence in Historic Anacostia will not only provide a world-class black-box the-ater for both local and regional pa-trons, but it will also provide a stage for local performers who live and work East of the River including Southeast Trinity, Verbal Gymnas-tics, the Serenity Players and Mel-vin Deal and the African Heritage

Dancers and Drummers.”On the heels of LUMEN8Ana-

costia where art venues showcased the works of local fine artists and ar-tisans as well as performances by vi-sual artists, dancers and actors – the H Street Playhouse announcement seems perfectly timed.

Charles Wilson, President and Co-Founder of the Historic Ana-costia Block Association, is enthu-siastic about the announcement and said that the move is a good indica-tor that Anacostia will be getting the attention it deserves.

“The buzz is out there – folks are definitely talking about the fu-ture development of the larger Ward 8 community – between Anacostia and Congress Heights, there is a lot going on. There’s an influx of new residents, mostly young black pro-

fessionals coming into the neighbor-hood, too, which gives hope that we can all pursue the American Dream.”

Julia Robey Christian, who not only works as the managing direc-tor of the H Street Playhouse, but at one time served as program direc-tor for Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, and also more recently held the post of executive director at Capi-tol Hill’s Chamber of Commerce (CHAMPS), was raised in a com-munity-minded household.

Julia’s parents, Adele and Bruce Robey, had purchased the building at 1365 H Street, NE in 2001 and started the H Street Playhouse. Af-ter Bruce passed away in 2009, Adele sold the building to Century Associ-ates. The H Street Playhouse is cur-rently a Century tenant through the end of January 2013.

“I’m a neighborhood nerd, and more than ever, it’s key for the H Street Playhouse to continue to be a resource for its community – I grew up in DC, and my father grew up in Anacostia – it’s important to work on behalf of the place that took care of you.”

Philip Pannell, executive direc-tor of the Anacostia Coordinating Council and longtime Ward 8 resi-dent said of the H Street Playhouse relocation that there couldn’t be bet-ter news. “There hasn’t been a live theater and performance space in Anacostia in 20 years – since 8Rock was located on Martin Luther King Boulevard – I can’t wait for the Play-house’s arrival.”

The Playhouse’s change in venue to 2020 Shannon Place, SE, also has the support of Mayor Gray and Ward 8 council member Marion Barry. ANC commissioner David Garber who lived in Anacostia for three years stated, “This is a win-win for the city – a real beacon for all of the possibilities as we see more destinations created, adding to the already established Uniontown Bar & Grill, existing art galleries – all things that will bring people to the neighborhood.”

From left: Nikki Peele with ARCH Development Corporation, ANC commissioner David Garber, Charles Wilson, President & Co-founder of the Historic Anacostia Block Association, ANC commissioner Greta Fuller, and Colin Hovde, Artistic Director, Theater Alliance. Photo: Annette Nielsen

The H Street Playhouse Moves Across the Riverby Annette Nielsen


Garber’s sentiment was echoed by DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities executive direc-tor Lionell Thomas at the Monday afternoon press conference, “This will be an amazing cultural hub here in Anacostia – a great exam-ple of how public and private part-nerships can work in underserved areas.”

Adele Robey admires so much about the new Anacostia theater space, “The venue’s expansive ceil-ings and open floor space allow for varying configurations, depending

on the requirements of the differ-ent performances – and over the past decade we’ve galvanized sup-porters with a steady stream of producing theater companies who are ready to be a part of something new and exciting.”

Robey stated that they hope to have a seamless transition, with performances starting at the new location as soon as the lease expires at the H Street location the end of January. And while the H Street Playhouse won’t be keeping its name in the Anacostia venue, they

might open it up to a competition, although she added, “2020 is a cool address.”

Pannell, who works a few steps away from the new theater loca-tion says that he looks forward to working with the playhouse and the possibility of host-ing events in the new space. He noted Black History Month cel-ebrated in February, coincides with the pro-jected opening date.

ANC commission-er Greta Fuller said, “This is the catalyst for Historic Anacostia – let the city and the rest of the world know who we are and what we have to offer.” l

Julia Robey Christian, Managing Direcdtor of H Street Playhouse. Photo: Andrew Lightman

Phil Hutinet, ADC Chief Operating Officer.Photo: Andrew Lightman


At the lowest point, sit-ting in a jail cell, James King never thought he would be a lawyer. He

got out of prison and went on to attend the University of District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, where he served as Student Bar Association President. King graduated May 11, 2012 with a ju-ris doctorate and a job offer from the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, widely recog-nized as one of the premier public defender offices in the nation.

From the NFL to BeggingLawyers to Take His Case

Originally from Detroit, he signed as a rookie free agent with the Cleveland Browns after playing on Central Michigan University’s team. He played football overseas, based in Bergamo, Italy. What in-spired him to change to a career in law, he says, was being charged with a misdemeanor crime that he did not commit. “My life literally got flipped upside down. There is noth-ing like sitting inside of a jail cell for a crime that you didn’t commit,” King, who is 30 years old, said. “It made me switch my passion from trying to be a football player to do-ing something more down to earth and more meaningful.”

As King tells it, several people were injured in a bar fight King was trying to break up. King was arrested and charged with a felony, although prosecutors offered him plea deals. Sure of his innocence, King turned them down. When his attorney urged him to accept one of the deals, King reluctantly plead guilty to a misdemeanor in exchange for no jail time. The judge later refused to honor the deal, and he locked King up for six months on 24-hour lock-down. King was even more frustrated when he

found out that what the judge and attorneys and done was not illegal. “My ignorance of the law cost me my freedom,” King said. He served his time and was released early.

Attorneys once told him it would cost as much as $100,000, for them to represent him. But he had the knowledge of his own in-nocence to keep him going forward. He says he “went from having ev-erything in the NFL to begging lawyers” to take his case. When he finally got out, the experience was the basis for his decision to stay in the justice system – but as a lawyer who could help people in circum-stances like his. And that is exactly what he did. “I always said if I get out of here I am going to help other people in this situation,” said King.

A Decision to Attend Law SchoolA resident of Northeast DC,

King says he chose to attend UDC – starting in 2009 – because of the school’s mission to help people in the community. At UDC, he did hundreds of hours of community legal work, including working at an immigration and human rights clinic and working with co-ops in the District to address their legal problems. Last summer he worked in the office of the Public Defender doing what he dreamed of doing when he got out of prison: helping people without money to pay for their defense.

He remembers one client in particular, an older gentleman in his 60’s who was the primary caretaker for his mother, an el-derly woman with mobility dif-ficulties. They thought they didn’t have money to get a “good” attor-ney. “That’s what they thought,” King said. As he took statements to build their defense, King spent time with the man’s family, eating with them, talking with neighbors

who said the man used to cut their lawns to help them out. When the man won his case with King’s help and went home, it wasn’t just win-ning a case, it was helping an en-tire neighborhood get one of their cherished members back, putting a family back together again. They all celebrated with a cookout.

King said he believes people in the justice system, guilty or inno-cent, still deserve to be treated like people. “I went home every day with

a smile, knowing that I got to help somebody in need without reaching out to help someone with one hand and then reaching into their pocket with the other hand.”

King was at home in January when he got the call about a job of-fer with the Public Defender office of Washington, DC. Out of 80 in-terns who worked out of the office last summer, among them students of Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, American University, and Yale law

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Jail Leads To the LawUDC Grad Transcends Past

by Amanda Wilson

James King (courtesy of Mr. King)

schools, it was King who was offered the job.

A Model For OthersUDC Law Professor An-

drew Ferguson said King had worked hard in class, even serv-ing as a teaching assistant for his class on criminal law, crimi-nal procedure and evidence. He says that although it is rare for someone who has experience on the other side of the justice system to become a lawyer, it is possible. “Part of the reason it is rare is that not everyone who has felt the injustice of an unjust prosecution has had the character and intelligence to do something to improve the sys-tem,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson says that he thinks the legal community and King’s future clients will greatly benefit from his inspi-rational path, one he believes is redemptive – as King was facing the ultimate legal sanc-tion and suffered some real costs of being accused of a crime. “The fact that he over-came that moment in his life is redeeming to the system and to him personally.”

James King also does mo-tivational speaking, telling his story to at-risk teens. “I think they have a lot to learn from not only picking the right crowd of people, but being more conscious of their envi-ronment and places to go or not to go. I sit down and talk with them about things they should steer away from and things that would behoove them to stay on the right path.”

James King can be reached with motivational speaking inquiries at [email protected] information: The Public Defender Service for the Dis-trict of Columbia, 633 Indiana Ave. NW # 220 Washington, DC 20004, (202) 628-1200, http://www.pdsdc.org/ l


ANC 7A held a pub-lic meeting on July 10, 2012. Despite the ab-sence of Commission-

ers Martha Kent, Latese Gilbert, Eboni Rose Thompson and Shahi-dah Hamlett, Chairman Villareal Johnson along with Commission-ers Sheila Carson Carr and Evie Washington provided attendees with timely updates.

Requests for BlockParty Support

Dominique Little, Director of Deux Faces, Inc. seeks funding for her neighborhood block party to be held in the parking lot of the Safe-way (Minnesota and Benning Road SE). The Commission agrees to con-sider Little’s request provided that she can demonstrate that the block party has an impact on residents lo-cated in 7A. Any DC residents can determine 7A geographic boundaries by visiting anc.dc.gov, dc.gov (DC

guide), calling 311 or DC Board of Elections at 202-727-2525 or the Advisory Neighborhood Commis-sion 202-534-6673.

Jackie Holmes and Vernetta Jones seek a letter of support to en-able them to coordinate a block party on August 4 or August 11 to benefit the residents of the Benning Road Cooperative. The event will be held at the 4400 block of E Street SE (between Alabama Avenue and Ben-ning Road and Falls Terrace).

Friends of Fort Dupont Seek Volunteers and Funding

Friends of Fort Dupont made a formal request for 7A funding for website improvement and additional volunteers to assist with program-ming. The Fort Dupont free Summer Concert Series kicks off on July 9. This year, no alcohol will be allowed in the park. Reserved seating for all shows is available ($30 for individu-als; $50 for a family of 4). Headliners include: a performance from the Boys

& Girls Club of Greater Washing-ton’s Teen Arts Performance (T.A.P.) group, violinist Chelsey Green, Regi-na Belle, The Manhattans, Zapp, The Bar-Kays, and Mandrill. Contact Friends@Fort Dupont.org for more information.

Grade DC GovernmentSandra Lee from the Deputy

Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood En-gagement announced that residents can now rate the effectiveness of De-partment of Parks and Recreation (@dcdpr), Department of Public Works (@dcdpw), District Department of Transportation (@ddotdc), Depart-ment of Consumer Regulatory Af-fairs (@dcra), Department of Motor Vehicles (@dcdmv) and the Mayor’s Office (@mayorvincegray) by send-ing a tweet directly to each govern-ment agency. Additionally, residents may now submit service requests through 311 or via each agency’s website. www.gradedc.gov

Chairman Johnson UpdatesCommunity Conversationon Education

7A is joining the DC Schools Quality Education Community En-gagement effort by leading a Com-munity Conversation in order to address ways to improve quality and access to education for DC’s Ward 7 school students. The Ward 7 Com-munity Conversation will take place Saturday, August 11 at Kelly Miller Middle School, 301 49th Street NE, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch and childcare will be provided. To carry out this initiative, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education is part-nering with Public Agenda, a nation-al non-profit, non-partisan, research and public engagement organization.

As an incentive to encourage lo-cal residents to attend, 7A will dis-tribute Back-to-School supplies at this Community Education meeting. www.anc7a.com. l

ANC 7A Reportby Mariessa Terrell


A line forms early outside the DC Department of Employment Services (DOES) offices on Minne-

sota Avenue, NE. One man says many of the people are waiting for the One Stop Center’s doors to open so they can file clams for unemployment, speak to counselors, or access computers.

It’s a sign of the times. Unem-ployment in Wards 7 and 8 has been historically high and, in these reces-sionary times, that’s more true than ever East of the River (EOTR).

DC DOES unemployment sta-tistics for May 2012 show Ward 7’s rate to be 15.0% and Ward 8 with a 22.5 % joblessness rate.

Not far from DOES is the Mar-shall Heights Community Develop-ment Center (MHCDO) on Ben-ning Road NE. There, people file in a side door for the twice-a-month Job Readiness Orientation Class that

starts at 9 a.m. An air conditioner’s hum and

the occasional remarks between a husband and wife break an uneasy silence. Then, the appearance of Deborah Dews and Patrina Swinson breaks the stillness.

MHCDO’s Job SeekerOrientation

Ms. Dews, with over thirty years experience as a job placement coun-selor, is the survivor of a layoff herself.

Ms. Swinson purposely wears a bright pink jacket to demonstrate what not to wear to an interview. She’s a former job readiness fa-cilitator with the United Planning Organization, the community ac-tion agency in DC which oversees many programs to help low-income residents, including MHCDO’s own job orientation sessions and work-force development program.

Ms. Swinson’s involvement in job counseling stems from her service as president of a local PTA and witness-ing parents fail to obtain needed jobs because they lacked skills such as the proper style for an interview.

Job Seeker Orientation ClassesMs. Dews talks about MHCDO

and its programs promoting home buying and helping homeowners to avoid foreclosures, and in providing transitional housing to displaced peo-ple. MHCDO also offers GED classes.

Too many job seekers, she notes, fail to take advantage of the resources that can provide childcare, health in-surance, even clothing suitable for job interviews.

Then, as job seekers fill out a form to determine whether they are at risk, Ms. Swinson takes over.

“I’m stable, but not as stable as I’d like to be so you’re talking to someone who’s your counselor, and you’re talking to someone who’s been in your shoes,” she tells the job seekers.

She explains the importance of pa-tience and persistence in obtaining a job as well as how to project a positive impression in an interview. ”If you’re

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Finding HopeMarshall Heights’ Job Readiness Orientation Class Can Help Ward 7 and Ward 8 Residents Find Work

by Stephen Lilenthal

Marshall Heights workforce development counselors Patrina Swinson, Deborah Dews, director, and Carl McAllister search for job leads.

not working, you should be volunteer-ing,” she urges.

Some people need anger manage-ment classes to better control their anger. Some need coaching to address criminal backgrounds or past addiction problems. Others need to understand they have a responsibility when hired to fulfi ll the employer’s expectations.

Later, former Benning resident, J.D. Moore, talks about how he found success after serving time in Lor-ton and lets attendees know they can contact him if they have an interest in sales.

By the end of the orientation, the mood of the attendees appears more positive. George Gillespie, a customer service worker before being laid off , calls the motivational speeches “good” because “they keep up the reinforce-ment.”

After the session, another MHC-DO counselor, Carl McAllister, dis-cusses problems shared by the people he helps. He states that education is a “direct stem to the unemployment” besetting Wards 7 and 8, with another major problem being a lack of com-puter skills.

Mr. McAllister runs off the top six mistakes job-seekers make including: not researching a company adequate-ly; dressing too casually or fl amboy-antly for an interview; not arriving on time for an interview; not turning off a cellphone during an interview; fail-ing to bring more than one resume to an interview since several staff mem-bers usually participate in interviews; and exposing potential employers to inappropriate voicemail messages (all ringtones are inappropriate).

Success StoriesEven in these tough times,

MHCDO clients have been able to fi nd work. Th ere are success stories. (See sidebars).

“Th e majority of our clients take guidance, they follow up, enter into GED or training programs. I drill the point that you not only need a job but you need certifi cation,” says Mr. McAllister. If people accept that and do what it takes,” McAllister says, “there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Stephen Lilienthal is a freelance writer who lives in Washington, DC. l


Donnell HarrisMs. Donnell Harris worked as an accountant be-

fore raising three children as a single mother. As her children grew older, Ms. Harris, now 44, wanted to re-join the workforce. She had taken courses in computer engineering but, lacking an appropriate degree, was receiving a cold shoulder from tech companies. Soon after attending a job fair at MHCDO, Ms. Harris started working part-time at Safeway as a cashier, hold-ing the job for approximately eight months. Staying in contact with MHCDO helped Ms. Harris to obtain a full-time job with Metro Access. Now, she works the early morning to early afternoon shift and, as a “people person,” likes helping the elderly and disabled.

Safeway may not have provided fulltime hours, yet Ms. Harris says it “was a stepping stone” and it “helped build my confi dence” after her frustrating search in computer engineering.

Tony BlueTony Blue had a career as a facilities/utilities tech-

nician but became unemployed at age 56. Acting on a tip from the DC DOES, Mr. Blue attended the job-seeker orientation class.

“It was very impressive. It got my attention,” says Mr. Blue, crediting the class with imparting a “deeper understanding of interviewing skills” when it came to dress and body language.

Mr. McAllister urged Mr. Blue to revise his resume to make it more presentable and continued urging Mr. Blue to follow up with the places he had applied for work. At the same time, Mr. Blue studied to obtain his GED. Eventually, a position with So Others Might Eat opened up, and Mr. Blue is now a Night Man-ager at one of their facilities, dealing with security and record keeping. What he likes about it is that the posi-tion can lead to advancement, possibly even a service technician position.

Mr. Blue credits MHCDO for its outstanding as-sistance and, particularly Mr. McAllister, for urging him not to give up.

George WareAn electrician by training, George Ware was work-

ing in his brother’s business. Th en, the economy fal-tered and Mr. Ware found himself “facing the most serious disease a black man can have: long-term un-employment.” He was on the verge of facing serious problems, but MHCDO found Ware temporary jobs. Eventually, MHCDO found a training program run by construction fi rm Hensel-Phelps that will prepare Mr. Ware to work a well-paying job as an electrician helping to construct a new Marriott. Mr. Ware now splits his time between the training program and work performing unskilled labor.

“Marshall Heights consistently sought out jobs and employers willing to hire DC residents,” says Mr. Ware. Job counselors Dews and Swinson provided useful ad-vice about how to interview ranging from appropriate dress to proper introductions that are more crucial than many jobseekers realize.

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Before January, South-east residents Nina Anderson, 9, and her brother Kevin, 7, had little formal music training. They were not

exposed to the Caribbean culture in the Washington metropolitan area, and they never visited the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the birthplace of the steelpan.

Yet both children confidently played the rhythm for the popular “Lion King” song, and other calypso music as if they were natural born West Indians. Both play for the East of the River Police Boys and Girls Steelband.

“It helps me experience a differ-ent kind of music on the steelpan,” said Nina who played the double seconds pan at a recent practice at the Benning Road Boys and Girls Club. “It helps me with how I read the notes of the music.”

Her brother chimed in, “I like the pan. I like the music it makes.” Kevin

plays the guitar pan.The children’s mother, Candice

Anderson, said initially she was con-cerned when she took the children to their first practice.

“But they caught on right away,” she said. “This is something they enjoy. In fact, they ask me every week when is practice.” Anderson, who lives in the Benning Heights neighborhood of Ward 7, said she likes the bond of the close-knit group and all the young people seem to be friends.

This bond was by design. This East of the River Steelband is the brainchild of Dr. Gladys Whitworth Bray who founded the group in 1993 on a simple premise of keeping East of the River youth engaged, out of trouble and fo-cused.

“All of our Black children are at risk, aren’t they?” asked Dr. Bray, 79, when asked if this program was cre-ated for so-called at-risk youth. Bray, a former biology teacher at the Duke El-lington School of the Arts, founded the

steelband as a substance abuse preven-tion program, but it has become much more to the families involved and to the wider community.

Ward 7 resident Rita Dozier’s now 23-year-old son, Edward, joined the band when he was 11. Her two daugh-ters, Ayana, 14, and Aisha, 13, have fol-lowed his footsteps. Dozier is the band manager, plays the drum set, and chap-erones the group. One of the require-ments is for parents to become actively involved, including instilling discipline at home.

“I like that the kids are involved in this as it helps to make them well rounded and deeper in their thinking,” said Dozier. “It gives them a better out-look when they are exposed to different places, people and things. They think outside the box.”

A Success StoryScores of District of Columbia

youth have participated in the East

of the River Steelband. The program works with youth, ages 7 to 19, living east of the Anacostia River. Besides training in steelpan music, the program offers tutoring, mentoring, life skills training and exposes young people to education and cultural activities.

“We focus on academic enrich-ment, arts training and the performing arts, and HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy and substance abuse prevention,” Bray added.

Trained under Trinidadian com-poser and arranger, master pannist Roger Greenidge, the strength of the musical training is evident by the band’s invitations to a number of pres-tigious performances. Premiere events have included the Anacostia River Jazz Festival, Wolf Trap Park for the Per-forming Arts, Battle of the BBQ, the Cherry Blossom Family Day, and the 1996 Olympic Soccer Games. Each year, the band makes an annual cultural Gullah tour, which includes perfor-mances in Beaufort and Charleston,

East of the River Police Boys and Girls Steelband20 Years of Success With Southeast Youth

by Michelle Phipps-Evans

CLOCKWISE from RIGHT

1. Founder and executive director Dr. Gladys Whitworth Gray has headed up the nonprofit organization for almost 20 years.2. The most current members of East of the River Police Boys and Girls Steelband. In the front are Nina and Kevin Anderson Jr. (photo by Leigh H. Mosley)3. East of the River Steelband at a past performance.4. Several members of the band are engrossed in a life skills lesson in this 2009 photo.

Photos courtesy of the East of the River Police Boys and Girls Steelband

S.C., and Savannah, Ga. Past interna-tional performances included visits to Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Its most recent performances in-cluded the July 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival when the band had four performances at “Citified: Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River.”

“It was great and it was hot as the dickens,” Bray said. The band will perform for free at several venues in August: Aug. 4 will be Six Flags in Maryland; Aug. 5 at the reopened Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum; and Aug. 7 at the Anacos-tia Public Library during the National Night Out celebrations.

A North Carolina native and Ward 7 resident, Bray created the program to teach young people steelpan music, an acoustic instrument invented in Trini-dad and Tobago in the 20th century. Since the early 1980s, Bray, who holds a doctorate in education, was involved in a summer arts program that includ-ed African dance, drumming and steel-band. She sought a project to connect young people to their heritage.

Initially she wanted to create a con-nection to the continent that included travel to different countries. However, cost prevented this. But one year she took a vacation to visit Trinidad and Tobago with her sister, Barbara James, and her niece, Bianca, and fell in love with the steelpan. She decided to devel-op a program involving the Caribbean instead, which, like the United States, has large populations of people from the African Diaspora due to its con-nection to African slavery. She worked with the Trinidadian ambassador, other District officials, and hammered out an exchange arrangement with the Police Youth Clubs of Trinidad and Tobago with the District’s Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club. The nonprofit or-ganization relies substantially on grant funding and fundraising to ensure sus-tainability.

“This is a success story introduc-ing children in this country to the pan, and the larger community to a differ-ent aspect of Black culture,” said Baba Lumumba, one of Bray’s early backers, and owner of Umoja House, a cultural center in Northeast. “It’s a credit to Dr. Bray that these African-American children are playing Trinidadian songs and arrangements that Trinidadians will recognize. I continue to support

her and help her.” Like Freeman’s sup-port, Bray enjoys the longtime support of performance coordinator, Clarence James, her brother-in-law. He is in charge of logistics and sees that the drums are packed, the band gets per-formances at different gigs, and are physically there on time.

For the past 16 years, master pan-nist Greenidge is the fourth Trinidad and Tobago native serving as musical arranger and music director. Greenidge, who is from a musical family that in-cludes world-renowned Robert Greenidge, arranges for Pan Masters Steel Orchestra, a professional steel-band in the DC area.

“Roger is a really good musician. He really knows how to arrange the music and he was one of the biggest factors in my steelband career,” said Nicholas Evans, a 19-year-old tenor pan player with the band since age 11, who is now at Fayetteville State Uni-versity in North Carolina.

Changing and Influencing LivesIt is a warm Tuesday afternoon in

July at the Boys and Girls Club. Nina and Kevin Anderson are learning the different beats of the African drum. Francis Thompson shows a technique and the children replicate it. Kevin gig-gles in delight as he catches on.

Thompson, a percussion teacher at Duke Ellington, said he is helping with “basic auditory skills,” and “fundamen-

tals of reading” the music. He is here twice a week during the summer for two-hour sessions tutoring anywhere between three to seven children at a time.

Bray relies on these teacher-artists and mentors to work through the pro-gram’s after-school, summer and Sat-urday line-ups. She expects the youth who went through the program to re-turn to mentor others, especially those who attend college. The most recent of the band’s alumni now attend the Uni-versity of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Fayetteville State University; and the University of the District of Columbia.

The success stories she is especially proud of include Albert Strong IV, Bi-anca James and Gary Fisher. In 2009, the band released its third recording, “Pan in DC.” At its release concert, “A Taste of Pan Concert” at THEARC on Sept. 26, 2009, these alumni returned as guest pannists. All three are gradu-ates of Duke Ellington and each credit their involvement in the steelband and especially Bray for elevating them to where they are today.

“East of the River’s rigorous re-hearsal schedule was a deterrent from getting into trouble,” said Strong, a mu-sic instructor at St. Augustine’s College and an adjunct instructor of trumpet at Shaw University and his alma mater, North Carolina Central University. He said the ability to perform and travel both locally and abroad served him

well when he became a professional musician and educator.

Many alumni do return as mentors and embrace the life lessons learned.

“I try to show my appreciation for the training I received, and I volunteer as an instructor in East of the River’s Saturday and summer camp programs when time permits,” said James, a tenor pannist with the Pan Jammers Steel-band in the District. She has a degree in recreational therapy from Hampton University and is the lead dancer with the Afro-Cuban Alafila Dance Com-pany.

Fisher uses his band background as a music instructor at Eastern Senior High School.

“I am able to instill in young people an understanding and appreciation for music that goes beyond popular music and to see the interrelatedness of hip hop and classical symphonies,” said Fisher, who holds a master’s in music theory from the University of Missis-sippi, Oxford.

20th AnniversaryNext year, the organization will cel-

ebrate its 20th anniversary. According to Bray, she plans to have a commemo-rative concert with the band’s alumni next summer.

“We hope to revive the exchange program with the Police Youth Clubs of Trinidad and Tobago as well as plan a visit there in 2013,” Bray said, adding that another goal would be purchas-ing new pans as some are in such poor condition they cannot even be tuned. Bray said she continues to stay true to the mission of the steelband program when it began almost 20 years ago. It is still a prevention program.

“We’re not an intervention pro-gram, we’re about prevention,” she said. “It attempts to enhance the lives of those most at risk of not becoming healthy, productive adults.”

For more information on the East of the River Police Boys and Girls Steelband or to contribute funding, contact the or-ganization at the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club #14, 4103 Ben-ning Rd. NE, Washington, DC 20019. Call 202-584-6023 or 202-299-6023 or 202-397-CLUB Ext. 8220. Visit www.EastoftheRiversteelband.org or e-mail Dr. Gladys Bray at [email protected] or Clarence James at [email protected]. l


Nina and Kevin Anderson at a recent practice at the Benning Road Boys and Girls Club.


History came alive last month as W.E.B. Du-Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Frances Ellen Harper and

Septima Clark graced the stage of St. Stephen’s church in Northwest during the performance of the play “The War in the Classroom.” These historical fig-ures were among the many portrayed by students from all over the city. Over the past year they have gathered every Saturday afternoon to learn their his-tory, unencumbered by the usual con-straints of time, topic and scope. This community history class is where chil-dren learn about African history, not just in the United States, but all over the world. This learning then becomes the backdrop for the historical figures they portray on stage.

Obi Egbuna, Jr., a veteran teacher and long-time community activist, is

the creative force behind this play and several others, which he calls an impor-tant vehicle for exposing children to historical topics and figures that they would not ordinarily access.

“It made sense to come up with the concept of historical theater for youth in order to infuse our history in our community,” says Egbuna, Jr. “What this approach enables one to do is not teach history to our children, but through our children. Teaching history through our children is rooted in an as-pect of African tradition that says chil-dren are equally as responsible as adults for educating the society.”

Egbuna, Jr., whose Nigerian fa-ther is also a playwright and important historical figure of the Black Power Movement in England, says that his work is a continuation of the work of those who came before him. According

to his research, W.E.B. DuBois wrote a play called “The Star of Ethiopia” and his wife Shirley Graham DuBois was the first woman in this country to write an opera called “Tom Toms” chroni-

cling the plight of African-American people. Egbuna, Jr., says that the great African writer and freedom fighter Franz Fanon also wrote plays and used historical theater to intensify his en-

EAST WASHINGTON LIFE

History Comes to LifeChildren’s History Theater Group Bring ImportantLeaders to the Stage

article by Monica Z. Utsey | photos by Renee Flood-Wright

Yeshayah Tsalmiel portraying Mangaliso Sobukwe in “The War in the Classroom.”

gagement with and exposure to our community. “They were able to use cultural expression to reinforce the point they were making through their political activism,” says Egbuna, Jr.

Egbuna, Jr.’s first play was “Af-rican Liberation Day for Our Chil-dren” performed by students at Roots Public Charter School in DC in June of last year and twice by students in Selma and Tuskegee, Alabama. In February of this year students learned about Cuban doctors who have been working in Africa during their per-formance of “Cuba’s Greatest Army: A Tribute to Cuban Doctors.” “The Sally Mugabe Lives Forever” play commemorated the 20th year of her passing and the most recent play, “The War in the Classroom,” was a tribute to Dr. Adelaide L. Sanford and Dr. Mary Hoover.

“Dr. Adelaide Sanford, who is 87 years young, and the former Vice Chancellor of the State University of New York’s Board of Regents, dedi-cated her whole life to changing the educational landscape for African children throughout the Diaspora and Dr. Mary Hoover, who taught at Howard University, developed the concept of Saturday school to use it as a bridge to teach our children history,” says Egbuna, Jr.

Egbuna, Jr., sees his work as a historical obligation. The ideas for his plays come from years of study and years of activism, coupled with the desire to share with young people who may not have had ex-posure to these people or concepts. He believes that history theater can empower children. “What we have seen in this process is that these plays enhance children’s vocabulary, help them with expression and im-prove self-esteem.”

Parents, who also consider

themselves students in the class, agree. “Our son’s have partici-pated in several of Obi’s plays and attended classes for the past year where they have learned about their own culture in a very positive format,” says Te-resa Price, parent and mother of two sons ages 15 and 18. “Not only did they perform in two of the plays but they had to study their character for deeper un-derstanding to bring that person to life. This class has provided an

opportunity for real education and critical thinking which is very im-portant to us. Obi understands our children and what they face and re-ally cares about them and for that we are truly grateful,” says Price.

Alan Price, Jr., portrayed Ro-mare Bearden in the most recent play and performed a violin ren-dition of “Seabreeze,” a composi-tion written by a man most famous for his work as a collage artist. “Through this experience, I was able to learn and expose myself to extraordinary individuals and I was able to integrate my art forms in-cluding violin and visual art, which allowed me to really live my char-acter,” says Alan Price, Jr.

Egbuna Jr.’s belief that cultural and political expression must be synonymous is echoed by a par-ent who helped get the commu-nity African history classes off the ground. “Baba Obi has created an opportunity for our family to be creative and learn in a unique way. It is imperative that we support his mission at a time in our culture where arts and creative expression have been given the lowest priority in our school systems,” says Renee Flood-Wright, mother of SiaLi, age 8 and Raseph, age 11, who have been attending classes from the start.

Egbuna, Jr., is busy working on two additional children’s history theater plays for the year while the Saturday history class is on summer break. The Community African His-tory class for ages 5 and up will re-sume in late September.

For more information about Saturday history class and children’s history the-ater, call 202-615-6310. l


OPPOSITE PAGE: CLOCKWISE from TOP

1. Obi Egbuna, Jr. and cast thank the audience at the end of the play.

2. Attiyah Jenkins portraying Septima Clark in the “War in the Classroom.”

3. Nabila Abdul-Malik portraying Sister Clara Muhammad in “The War in the Classroom.”

4. Zachariah Bryant portraying Walter Rodney in the “War in the Classroom.”

5. Adia Gill portraying Frances Ellen Harper in the “War in the Classroom.”


East of the River Writer Calls all EnglishStudents and Journalism Club Members

Your assignment: Write a great article about an individual or group doing something really innovative or entrepreneurial in your commu-nity. Is there something new in: Music? Dance? Art? Clothing? Food? Technology? Science?

Faith-related? Poetry? Theater? Or a new way to solve a community problem? Is this a new busi-ness started by an individual or group? As long as it’s new and good, it counts! Just write an in-teresting 2-3 page article and be sure to inter-view the innovator(s) to get some good quotes. And take pictures, too!

The East of the River Writer project is jointly

sponsored by the Museum for Black Innova-tion and Entrepreneurship (mbiedc.org) and THEARC (thearcdc.org) as a way to engage young people in sharing and celebrating exam-ples of innovation and entrepreneurship in the community. Each article must include the au-thor’s name, email address, telephone number, age, grade, school, the date, and a title for the

KIDS & FAMILY

Kids enjoying the action on the ice. Photo: Courtesy of Fort Dupont Ice Arena

Kids On Ice Program at Fort Dupont Ice Arena Deadline ApproachingThe Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena, Inc. is home to Kids On Ice, a community ice skating program for children ages 5-18, offering free lessons with all equipment provided. Now in its sixteenth year, KOI serves over 7,000 children annually. Instructors include qualified volunteers under the direction of professional figure skating, ice hockey and speed skating directors. The Kids On Ice Program has six components: Basic Skills, Speed Skating, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Schools Skate for Fitness and Freestyle Practice Sessions. Deadline for sign-up is Aug. 24. You can find registration forms online and you can pick one up in person at the arena. Registration forms with a

parent’s signature must be mailed in or delivered in person. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. NE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org

Kids & Family Notebookby Kathleen Donner

article. Unless otherwise notified, the author retains all copyright ownership of the submitted work. Selected articles will be published in local newsletters, newspapers, and web sites. Authors of the best articles selected by a panel of com-munity members will be awarded the East of the River Writer Prize. Send completed articles by email to John Whitman, [email protected].

Fort Dupont Trail Ambassador Program for Teens

The overall goal of the Fort Dupont Trail Ambassador Pro-gram is to act as the first link between park and community, while giving more opportunities to high school students trying to earn community service hours. Community service hours help build students’ academic resumes. The program also offers the com-munity a group of talented young people with a solid education in natural history and outdoor re-sources. It will put positive feet on our National Historic Trails. Posi-tive feet, means that the ambas-sador will promote the park. The Trail Ambassador, with the help of experienced Park Rangers will maintain and encourage park edu-cation by experiencing all the park has to offer first hand. They will go on hikes and ride NPS bikes to some of the most beautiful places in the city. At the end of service, each student will receive recogni-tion and proof of community ser-vice hours and walk away with a positive life changing experience. This program is designed to get kids outdoors and have fun, NOT to set at behind a desk answer phone calls!

This is a year round program. They usually meet every Saturday and some weekdays. They are flex-ible and willing to accommodate the student’s schedule. If you’re interested, call Jermain Robinson or Thomas Safranek at the Fort Dupont Activity Center. 202-426-7723. nps.gov/fodu

Showtime Tuesday at THEARCTHEARC Theater presents

Showtime Tuesdays, a showing of free movies each Tuesday through Aug. 14. This year, there will be a special story time with Cola Lew-is before each showing. There will also be a healthy snack provided courtesy of Walmart. The Aug. 14 movie is “The Adventures of Tin-Tin.” This event is free and open to the public. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org

Children’s Defense FundLaunches Freedom Schoolwith Boys and Girls Clubs

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington’s (BGCGW) George Ferris Jr. Clubhouse Six part-nered with the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) to launch a Freedom School program, which began on June 25 and ended on Aug. 3. The program stimulates high-quality academic enrichment, civic en-gagement and social action, fam-ily involvement, intergenerational leadership development, and nu-trition, health and mental health. The CDF’ Freedom School ac-commodates 50 members between 5-13 and is free to all participants which maintains BGCGW’s goal to help those who need the most, despite financial restraints. The six-week program utilizes an In-tegrated Reading Curriculum, which is comprised of 80 of the country’s best authors and illus-trators that are approved for youth between the ages of 5-18. The cur-riculum is reinforced by the reoc-curring book themes, I Can Make a Difference in: My Self, My Fam-ily, My Community, My Country, and My World with Hope, Edu-cation and Action.

One of the largest academic hurdles for today’s youth is sum-mer learning loss, which is an extended break in the academic routine. George Ferris Jr. Club-house Six was an ideal destination for impactful summer education


Community ChildDevelopment Center

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Two Locations


programs due to its location in the District. According to the Office of the State Superintendent of Educa-tion there has been a 20 percent de-cline over the past two years in high school graduation rates amongst the District youth. These gradua-tion rates also reflect a 16.4 percent gap below the national average. bgcgw.org

Children’s Summer CinemaJoin them Mondays at 4 p.m.

through Aug. 20 for weekly movie screenings! Related books, puzzles and popcorn to be provided. Ages 5-12. Francis A. Gregory

Neighborhood Library, 3660 Alabama Ave. SE. 202-698-6373. dclibrary.org/francis

Youth Open Mic at Busboysand Poets

On Aug. 18, 5-7 p.m., come and be captivated by young poets speak-ing about their experiences, heart,

and minds. Join this collaboration of the Anacostia Community Mu-seum, poet Kenny Carroll and Bus Boys & Poets Restaurant for an evening of spoken word. $5. For reservations, call 202-633-4866. Busboys and Poets, 5th and K Sts. NW. anacostia.si.edu

High Achievement CentersNeed Volunteers

Higher Achievement is in need of mentors and study hall aides at

six of their Achievement Centers in DC and Alexandria. The com-mitment is one evening per week, Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday; study hall aides, 3:30-6:15 p.m., mentors-6-8:15 p.m. 96 percent of Higher Achievement graduates finish high school and 76 percent graduate from college. In a city where 59 percent finish high school and only 9 percent get a college de-gree, these results are astounding – and desperately needed. Higher Achievement is creating lasting

KIDS & FAMILY

National Museum of African Art Presents “African Cosmos: Stellar Arts” Starkid 2007, Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 240 cm (59 1/16 x 94 ½ in.)

Under African Skies Free Planetarium ShowDiscover the wonders of the African skies in a special presentation compiled by staff of the National Air and Space Museum. Fea-turing astronomical objects that can be seen in different parts of Africa, the program will be shown in a temporary planetarium at the National Museum of African Arts. It complements “African Cosmos,” an exhibition exploring how inspiration from the sky is reflected in African art. Shows run continuously on Aug. 18, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sept. 15, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; Oct. 20, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.;

Nov. 17, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW. 202-633-4600. africa.si.edu

change in the lives of youth – and you can be a part of that change in the DC Metro area! For more information or to fi ll out an appli-cation, go to higherachievement.org/volunteer.

Kids Free at Newseum Through Labor Day

Up to six kids (7-18) are free with each paid adult or senior admission through Sept. 3. Th ese tickets are regularly $12.95. Chil-dren 6 and under are always free. Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 888639-7386. newseum.org

Teaching Inquiry Science to 3, 4 and 5-Year-Olds

Th e National Air and Space Museum will be off ering a free, live webcast for early childhood educators, parents, and enthusi-asts to learn how to teach inquiry science to 3-5 year-olds. Using hands-on, recyclable and easily found materials, early childhood museum educators Ann Caspari and Lizzie Cammarata will give teachers the confi dence to teach science to young children. Th ey will provide lesson plans, activi-ties for the classroom, and clearly defi ned science goals that are age-appropriate for young learners. Th e theme of the two-hour web-cast will be Light and Shadows–so get ready with your fl ashlights to learn some science and have fun too! Aug. 22, 10 a.m-noon. Regis-ter at smithsonianconference.org/inquiryscience.

DC Children and YouthInvestment Trust Corporation Funds Dozens of DC Programs

Nearly 80 organizations are providing enriching summer ex-periences to more than 3,000 youth in the District of Colum-bia before they return to school, thanks to funding from the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. Th e Trust has

awarded grants for this summer totaling $2.5 million. Programs are off ering children diverse op-portunities that will help them build academic success, create their own arts, explore future ca-reers, become fi nancially savvy and stay healthy. Selected pro-grams include those from areas targeted by the One City Summer Fun Initiative—an inter-agency collaboration to provide high-quality summer programming to DC youth—for factors including teen pregnancy rates, academic profi ciency and obesity.

Th e DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation is the primary resource for develop-ing partnerships that expand and improve services and opportuni-ties for children and youth in the District of Columbia, especially during their time out of school. Th e partnerships include public schools, city agencies, and em-ployers, including non-profi t pro-viders. Since its inception in 1999, the Trust has provided grants, technical assistance, youth worker training, capacity building, learn-ing opportunities, convenings, and policy support in the District. For more information, visit cyitc.org. l


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“We tried that, but it didn’t work. Now, we’re gonna...”

One of a group of inventors, aged 7 to 9, is explaining the group’s effort to create a balloon-popping inven-tion. Similar trials, with their own failures, are taking place around this Southeast classroom. No one seems disappointed. All ideas are encouraged, even if they don’t work out as originally hoped. Risk is an essential part of the process at Camp Invention.

“If they’re really stuck, I’ll help,” says one Camp Invention teacher at Friendship Chamberlain, 1345 Potomac Ave SE. At the moment, though, she is simply ensuring that all students wear protective eye gear before they attempt to pry apart pieces of equipment. Without her intervention, several rapid strat-egy discussions ensue and hands fly across the table, until the team suc-

ceeds with Plan B – or was it Plan C or D?

Another group of inven-tors are momentarily at a loss. “OK, let’s think ahead. How do we want this to look?” asks their teacher.

Expanding Inventive Thinking

Launched in 1990, Camp Invention is designed to foster creative, inventive thinking and problem-solv-ing skills through hands-on STEM (Science, Tech-nology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities. It encourages participants tra-ditionally underrepresented in engineering and science, including girls, minorities, and low-income families. Through its scholarships, made possible by a variety of donors, Invent Now was able to reach 10,000 under-served students in 2011.

Camp Invention is one project of the non-profit In-vent Now, sponsors of the national Collegiate Inven-tors Competition and after-school Club Inventions. In-vent Now honors pioneers of innovation and invests in future generations “by giv-ing them the tools and con-fidence to invent, innovate, and create.” The organiza-tion encourages students and teachers to “explore STEM and their own innate creativity.” In doing so, In-vent Now seeks to improve both students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward science and to expand views of who does science. Students in one Chamberlain classroom ex-plored Edwin Land’s work on instant print cameras, for example. And Camp Inven-tion participants know, from their own experiences, that girls can do chemistry.

The camp is currently offered in 49 states and the District, serving 80,000 stu-

dents in grades one through six. With new activities each year, stu-dents can profitably participate year after year.

This summer, Friendship Pub-lic Charter School’s second with Camp Invention, 251 students on four campuses participated. Or-dinarily offered as a one-week, full-day program, Camp Invention designed a two-week, half-day ver-sion to dovetail with Friendship’s existing Summer Learning Acad-emy. The camp hopes to expand its District offerings, including DCPS sites, next year.

A Real Difference“I see a real difference in the

way children work during Camp Invention,” says Lanika Womack, who coordinates summer and af-ter-school activities at Friendship Chamberlain. “I see real teamwork. You hear a lot of ‘Let’s try this.’ There’s no negativity. They learn problem solving. In a strict lesson, we might get some of what you see here. But with Camp Invention, we get it all in one program...and the students are excited to come.”

According to an outside evalua-tion, Camp Invention has as much impact on instructors – over 72,000 teachers and counselors have par-ticipated over the years – as on stu-dents. One evaluator for last year’s program wrote: “[Instructors] also expressed an interest in incorpo-rating some of the Camp Inven-tion program’s team building and creative problem solving methods and activities to foster the shar-ing of ideas with their future stu-dents...Many expressed the wish that mainstream schools adopt this approach to learning as a means of increasing creative problem solving and inventing.”

“What if we used a nail and a magnet?”

Students and teachers will find out together.

Invent Now can be reached at www.invent.org or at 3701 High-land Park NW, North Canton, Ohio 44720. 571-272-0095. l

KIDS & FAMILY

Camp InventionExpanding in DCStudents and Teachers Explore STEM and Creativity

by Virginia Avniel Spatz

Young inventor at Camp Invention, held at Friendship Chamberlain Public Charter School.

A team of Camp Invention participants collaborate on balloon-popping invention.

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Changing hands is a list of most residential sales in the District of Columbia from the previous month. A feature of every issue, this list, based on the MRIS, is provided courtesy of Don Denton, manager of the Coldwell Banker offi ce on Capitol Hill. The list includes address, sales price and number of bedrooms.

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Bids due by 8/31/2012Manna, Inc. is seeking CBE subcontractors for the rehabilita-tion & modernization of 31 apartments. Trades being consid-ered are: Demolition, Plumbing, Electrical, Elevator Modern-ization, Historic Window Replacement, and Interior fi nishes (drywall & painting, ceramic tile, carpet). Plans & specifi ca-tions are available to view for bidding purposes beginning

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With August ending, I’m praying baseball will be more than a summer love.

I want to be seduced by the playoffs and maybe married to a World Series – forever. That how I feel

watching the Washington Nationals right now. I fell in love with this team after being a New York Yankee fan since

birth. Sports in Washington can break your heart. I can’t believe I once owned a Wizard’s cap. Talking heads for a moment, it’s easy to measure the wonderful success of the Nationals by simply counting the number of African Americans around the city wear-ing red caps with a curly W. Remember when this head gear was code for being Republican and a Bush supporter? No way one could hustle those red caps in some of our wards. The poet Jody Bolz gave me a red one last year and I only wore it while working in my yard. Today I swear allegiance to the Nationals and my hat is on a peg near the front door.

D.C. needs good baseball. I want life to be decided now and then by one pitch. Who doesn’t’ cheer for a rally after staring at a small paycheck? There is something about the game that encouraged me to return to it after I turned 50. Almost every evening this summer, I’ve found myself turning on the television in order to catch a game. I immediately became a Bryce Harper fan. “The Kid” for a spell was the straw stirring the drink, at bat, on the bases and in the field; he made things happen. His pres-ence was not a promise or a tease. It has been a date with success and fulfillment.

Winning is not simply contagious, it’s addictive. This summer I found myself becoming slightly depressed after a National’s loss. How quickly one relies on a relief pitcher to get the job done, and when they fail it’s like Pepco telling you about your power. You’re angry and ready to kick anything, even a tree. When a player suddenly stops hitting, it reminds me of a child not listening any-more. Just swing. Take a pitch. Clean your room.

Why do I have to keep repeating myself ?I prefer watching baseball at home alone. I’ve never been a fan

of sports bars. I’m very selective with who I attend a game with. It’s like dating and realizing by the third inning one’s tongue has nothing in common with another person’s lips. But I’m a roman-tic and need to see the ball park several times a year. I’ve always been curious about old black men who sat near street corners or in front of their apartments and homes. What are they thinking about when the sun starts going down? At 61, the game of base-ball has slipped back into my life like a funny knuckleball thrown at my head. I’m amazed and dazzled by how it floats and dips. I’m surprised by how much enjoyment it brings and this makes me

proud and happy for our city.There are those moments between pitches when there is noth-

ing to do but wait. Maybe the batter has stepped out of the box or the catcher wants a new ball, or the pitcher wants a new sign. This is what one sees at weddings. Heads turning around waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle. Or a lover waiting near the altar. Baseball is what you learn to cherish when you hear the crack of the bat and it lifts you from your seat. What happens next is why you take vows and say prayers.

I want to see a few miracles this year. I want to witness some-thing amazing. In 1969, I was a student at Howard University go-ing crazy in Cook Hall as the New York Mets defeated the Bal-timore Orioles in five games. Nets manager Davey Johnson was playing second base for the Orioles and made the last out in the series. Where have you gone, Donn Clendenon? It would be nice to feel that excitement again; to be a city where champions reside. I want the ball park to bring us together. I want to celebrate this American pastime under the sun and the night sky. I want to turn and high five a stranger’s hand, stare at the scoreboard and count the outs needed for another win. This is the game I wanted to play while growing up; this is the game I continue to watch while growing old. This is baseball. This is life.

In my office at home there is a ball that I caught in the late Six-ties at Yankee Stadium. I never thought of myself as being lucky. But maybe there were moments in my life when I was and never thought about it. A few years ago I caught a second ball at RFK Stadium.

How many people attend more games than me and never come close to catching a ball?

Once at the Nationals ball park a man dropped his child while attempting to catch a baseball. I was in the crowd surrounding him and everyone was shocked by what he did.

Was a baseball worth risking the safety and well being of a love one? What was the man thinking? What is it about the game that intoxicates us? What pulls us even backwards to catch a foul ball or a home run?

This is why I’ve started writing more about baseball . I think there are questions and answers in wild pitches, stolen bases and errors. I think a dropped ball, a missed tag or a sacrifice fly be-comes a metaphor for the mysteries that surround us. Baseball is the “beautiful wonder” every generation embraces.

E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist and author. His last book is a second memoir The 5th Inning.It was the first book published by Bus-boys and Poets. Mr. Miller is also the board chair of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank located in Washington, D.C. www.eethelbertmiller.com l

The Nationals, A Love Affairby E. Ethelbert Miller

MIDCITY

FA G O N C O M M U N I T Y G U I D E

Anacostia Library • 1800 Good Hope Rd., SEBenning Library • 3935 Benning Rd., NECapitol View Library • 5001 Central Ave., SEDeanewood Library • 4215 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave., NEFrancis A. Gregory Library • 3660 Alabama Ave., SELangston Library • 2600 Benning Rd., NEParklands-Turner Library • 1600 Alabama Ave., SEWashington Highlands Library • 115 Atlantic St., SW

Pick Up Your Copy of East of the River at your Neighborhood Library

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