Washington, DC this weekend was a city of magical realism. We caught a glimpse of a pink dragon going up 14th Street with a merry band of revelers on board. A gaucho on a horse brought traffic to a crawl on my street. I suppose when the going gets tough, the tough think magically. Every [...]
If the National Mall is considered the “prime time” for rallies, then Comedy Central was not ready. I can’t say what happened, what was funny, or what was what on the stage where Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert MC’d because I couldn’t SEE or HEAR anything. Since there was no way to get past the [...]
The Historic Charleston City Market has an interesting story as well as an interesting entrance: the Daughters of the Confederacy Museum. Sweet grass basket makers set up their stands right at the entrance. I asked one of the basket makers about the African American history of the market. Apparently, prior to Emancipation, enslaved Africans sold [...]
Eclectique916 is in Charleston, SC y’all guest blogging this grand culinary tour led by Eatonville Restaurant’s new chef (it’s a company secret), and restauranteur Andy Shallal. You can read the updates of “Food Stories: In the Kitchen” at www.eatonvillerestaurant.com/blog. It’s like creating a game board — “Mystery Chef.” And so far, it’s delicious. Photo: Chocolate [...]
Locomotion at the Kennedy Center I saw Jennifer Nelson this weekend at the Arena Stage Home Coming Day brunch and ribbon cutting for the new Mead Center for American Theater. Jennifer is at Ford’s Theater heading special programs. People may know her for penning the Elizabeth Keckly walking tour led by Mary Todd Lincoln’s African [...]
The great divergence: Since the late 1970s the America I knew has unraveled. We’re no longer a middle-class society, in which the benefits of economic growth are widely shared: between 1979 and 2005 the real income of the median household rose only 13 percent, but the income of the richest 0.1% of Americans rose 296 [...]
This was a big month for DC’s young artists. This week, the President’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities awarded Young Playwrights Theater a Youth Program Award. Young playwright Mariana Pavon Sanchez received the award on behalf of YPT from First Lady Michelle Obama. Mariana is the author of the play, “Mariana’s Wish” about a [...]
In 2008 I started a Community Organizer Hall of Fame, a series of profiles of persons who are doing selfless work for the benefit of others. Yesterday Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20-year-old mother and student of criminology was sworn in as sheriff of Praxedis G. Guerrero, a small border town caught in the crossfire of [...]
I always loved this song – “Spooky” by Classics IV (1968). Get your trick or treat on this month. Eatonville Food & Folklore Tuesday, October 26 at 6:30 PM Eatonville Restaurant 2121 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 Osunyoyin Alake, an African American anthro-photo-journalist, initiated priestess of the Yoruba River Goddess Osun (in Osogbo, Nigeria) [...]
Winning this fight will not depend on government alone. It will depend on the innovation of American entrepreneurs; on the drive of American small business owners; on the skills and talents of American workers. These are the people who will help us grow our economy and create jobs. But government still has an important responsibility. [...]
