Culture

Beneath the buttoned-down surface of the city, DC is full of history, diversity, joy and life.

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July 13, 2011 | 11:41 AM | By

The Pressure to Follow ‘Traditional’ Careers

jasleen_kaur / Flickr

Earlier this week, we noted that the number of Indian Americans pursuing creative jobs has doubled over the previous decade. And a number of South Asian readers joined the conversation, sharing stories about familial expectations and jobs.

Commenter Anupama Pillalamarri writes “there was a lot of pressure on me to pursue a traditionally brown person career until I had a meltdown.” I followed up with Pillalamarri to find out more. She wrote to me:

My interest was in politics and history, but when I mentioned majoring in either of those, my mom told me to pick whatever engineering I liked best and major in that. Another time I told her I was taking a film class and she told me they “weren’t paying blah blah dollars a year for me to watch movies.”

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FILED UNDER: Culture, The People, Jobs
July 12, 2011 | 1:25 PM | By

More Pho Options in D.C.

Joshua Rappeneker / Flickr

Pho, delicious pho.

D.C.’s food truck scene just got a little more diverse with the start of Phonomenon, the city’s first pho truck. Look out, San Francisco!

The prevalence of the Vietnamese noodle soup in the District-proper has grown in recent months. Pho DC opened its doors in Chinatown this past winter, and Instant Noodles, which serves pho in addition to other dishes, opened this month in Adams Morgan.

Most of the District’s estimated 1,600 Vietnamese residents reside in the Columbia Heights area, where Pho 14 and Pho Viet are located. But those searching for a plethora of Vietnamese restaurants and businesses may find themselves leaving the District — Fairfax County, Va., where an estimated 26,000 Vietnamese reside, is also home to Eden Center, a large Vietnamese shopping center and self-proclaimed “heart and soul” of the East Coast Vietnamese community.

FILED UNDER: Restaurants, Eden Center, Pho, Vietnamese Americans
July 7, 2011 | 4:04 PM | By

DCentric Picks: Evolution of the Go-Go Beat

Looking for an event that relates to race or class in D.C.? DCentric will be regularly posting event listings we believe will be of interest to our readers.  If you have an event you think we should feature, email dcentric@wamu.org.

Chris Graythen / Getty Images

Chuck Brown is considered the “godfather of go-go,” helping to create D.C.’s genre of music.

What: “Evolution of the Go-Go Beat”

When: 1 p.m., Saturday.

Where: Anacostia Community Museum (1901 Fort Place, SE).

Cost: Free.

Why you should go: Go-go is the music of D.C., even though shows are increasingly being pushed to the suburbs. Get a history lesson on how the genre began and where it’s headed. Musicians Gregory “Sugar Bear” Elliot and Sweet Cherie are among the speakers, and Faycez U Know will perform.

Other events to consider: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival wraps up Monday. The free event at the National Mall focuses on Colombia, rhythm and blues and the Peace Corps. Also, La Clínica del Pueblo is hosting a screening of “The Other City,” a documentary on racial and class disparities among D.C.’s HIV/AIDS patients. Tickets cost $15 and the event takes place 6:30 p.m., Tuesday at GALA Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th Street, NW).

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Culture, Museums, Anacostia Community Museum, DCentric Picks, Go-go
July 5, 2011 | 12:00 PM | By

Touring Shaw’s Gentrification

Daniel Lobo / Flickr

D.C. is a city full of tours, from riding around on Segways to learning about ghosts. But it’s also a city divided over issues of race and class — and whether what’s happening is gentrification or revitalization — so why not have some tours on that, too?

Enter ONE DC “Shaw Gentrification & Resistance Tour,” which takes place at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday. Participants will walk around Shaw and learn about the neighborhood’s history. They will also hear the organization’s perspective on D.C.’s changes: that development has negatively impacted longtime residents. The self-described progressive group aims to address the “structural causes of poverty and injustice” with a “deep analysis of race, power, and the economic, political, and social forces at work in Shaw and the District.” Anyone wanting to participate in the tour is asked to contribute $10, with the proceeds going to the Asian/Pacific-Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project.

This isn’t the first such tour on gentrification in D.C. Does anyone know of a revitalization tour focused on the flip side?

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Culture, Gentrification, Shaw
June 30, 2011 | 11:49 AM | By

DCentric Picks: Ethiopian Heritage Festival

Karen Bleier / Getty Images

The D.C.-area is home to the largest Ethiopian immigrant community in the U.S.

Looking for an event that relates to race or class in D.C.? DCentric will be regularly posting event listings we believe will be of interest to our readers.  If you have an event you think we should feature, email dcentric@wamu.org.

What: The First Annual Ethiopian Heritage Festival.

When: The weekend-long event starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and at noon on Sunday. Children under 13 are free on all days.

Where: Friday’s events will be held at Georgetown University’s art department building (1221 36th St. NW). Saturday and Sunday events will be at the university’s Multi-Sport Facility (3700 O St. NW).

Cost: Friday is free, Saturday admission is $10 and Sunday admission is $15.

Why you should go: The D.C.-area is home to the nation’s largest Ethiopian community, and this is the Ethiopian Heritage Society’s first festival, so why not be a part of history? Organizers want the event to be a place where “Ethiopians from all different background[s], ethnicity, religions, beliefs, values, and political opinion[s] gather and celebrate our common heritage and home – Ethiopiawent.” The weekend will feature food, music, poetry readings, coffee ceremonies, concerts, a soccer tournament and cultural shows.

Other events to consider: “A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk On Race)” takes place from 5 to 7 p.m., Sunday at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St. NW). This installment of the monthly discussion, which seeks to provide a space for honest discussions about race, will focus on “what actions we can take to undo race-based oppression.”

FILED UNDER: Culture, Busboys and Poets, DCentric Picks, Ethiopian Community, Race
June 24, 2011 | 10:33 AM | By

Why Black Men are Wearing Prison Jumpsuits in Chinatown

Courtesy of Aaron Ginoza

An employee of the National Museum of Crime & Punishment hands out coupons to pedestrians in Chinatown.

Pedestrians in Chinatown are inundated with advertising and gimmicks, from free burritos to digital billboards. And joining the marketing blitz on a recent sweltering Saturday afternoon was a group of young black men handing out coupons — wearing orange prison jumpsuits.

They were employees of the National Museum of Crime & Punishment. Some passersby politely took the coupons; most ignored or avoided them. But given the stereotypes associated with black men and crime, others took offense at the sight of black men being hired to wear the jumpsuits.

“It’s got kind of a rough edge to it,” said Wes Brown of D.C., who first saw the men last year. He said they’re dressed “like criminals” and “people see them and probably think that.”

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Brown, who is black, said.

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FILED UNDER: Media, Museums, Crime and Punishment Museum
June 23, 2011 | 10:29 AM | By

DCentric Picks: ‘The Gentrification of Chocolate City’

Looking for an event that relates to race or class in D.C.? DCentric will be regularly posting event listings we believe will be of interest to our readers.  If you have an event you think we should feature, email dcentric@wamu.org.

Flickr: Carlos Martinez

What: The Thursday Network‘s general body meeting tonight is on the theme “The Gentrification of Chocolate City: Reality versus Perception.”

Where: NPR Building, 635 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

When: 6:45 p.m., Thursday.

Cost: Admission and parking is free.

Why you should go: Attend if you can’t get enough of elevated discussions about gentrification, or if you just want to get a sense current and future development in D.C. Panelists include Jalal Greene, former director of D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, and  Veronica Davis, Ward 7 activist and Nspiregreen partner.

Other events to consider: Joy DeGruy, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, will discuss the “unique kind of stressors African Americans are trying to cope with,” coping mechanisms they’ve developed and special challenges faced by children and youth. She begins her talk at 5 p.m., Sunday at RFD Washington (810 7th St. NW).

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Culture, History, DCentric Picks, Gentrification
June 22, 2011 | 12:58 PM | By

When Names are ‘Americanized’

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Last week, I wrote about my decision to drop my “Americanized” name in favor of my Persian birth name, and a number of you chimed in about the perils and pitfalls of having a foreign name in the U.S.

The choice to drop or legally change such a name can be complicated. For some, birth names don’t match the common name structure in the United States. Commenter Curtis Alia writes that U.S. officials documented the wrong last name for his Arab father when he immigrated to the U.S. due to misunderstanding the Arab naming structure:  “When I was born, I was given that same incorrect last name, and only until 1994 did we finally change our names to the actual family names from back home.”

Some immigrants make the decision to legally change their names rather than adopt an informal nickname, and marriage presents a convenient opportunity to do so. But that decision could mean losing a meaningful connection. Commenter island girl in a land w/o sea, who is an immigrant with a Spanish name, writes:

When I got married, I changed my name to my husband’s more “American” family name — a choice that i still struggle with. At the time, I was tired of people mangling my last name and making assumptions based on it. Yet now that my parents are gone, I sometimes wish that I had retained my father’s name, or at the very least, come up with some sort of compound-name compromise.

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FILED UNDER: Culture, The People, Identity, Immigration, Maz Jobrani
June 17, 2011 | 10:40 AM | By

DCentric Picks — Race: Are We So Different?

This week, we recommend attending the Saturday opening of “Race: Are We So Different?” at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum.

We got a sneak peak of the exhibition this week and took some photos, which you can see below. A long room in the museum is devoted to exploring the scientific, historical and and societal assumptions and theories around race. The exhibition aims to educate and challenge assumptions around race, but also solicits attendees to contribute their thoughts on their own experiences. If you’re looking for a good way to start an in-depth discussion about race, you can find it here.

The nationally touring exhibition, part of an American Anthropological Association project, is free to view and will be on display until Jan. 2, 2012. A number of talks and other events are scheduled throughout its time at the museum, so check the calendar for more information.

FILED UNDER: Culture, Museums, DCentric Picks, Natural History Museum, Race
June 15, 2011 | 11:59 AM | By

On Abandoning ‘Americanized’ Names

Flickr: Scott Catron

Can difficult-to-pronounce Arabic names be as American as apple pie?

The Washington Post series about life for Muslim-Americans started off with the profile of a Palestinian-American who ditched his “Americanized” name for his legal one. His decision made me think about my own struggle in reclaiming my given name.

Fawaz Ismail grew up in Texas where he asked everyone to call him Tony, a name that “put people at ease.” He remained Tony after he moved to Northern Virginia, where he helped expand his family’s flag business. But Ismail dropped his nickname after the backlash against Muslims in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Now, a decade later, his name is a daily message to his fellow Americans: They must deal with him for who he is — a Muslim who loves his country and proudly sells its banner.

“A lot of people use a nickname to make it easier for Americans to pronounce,” he says, “but now, I don’t care. They’re going to have to pronounce my name. It’s not that hard — Fah-wahz.”

Many immigrants and second-generation Americans go by nicknames rather than their legal names for a number of reasons. I’m one such example. I grew up up in a small, rural and mostly-white Maryland town, and my parents decided I should go by the nickname Ele rather than my real, very Persian name: Elahe, the Arabic word for goddess (pronounced Eh-la-heh). They went by “Americanized” names themselves in an effort to make life easier, to assimilate as quickly as possible in a foreign land. And for 21 years, I was Ele (pronounced Elie). It wasn’t until after college  that I decided to make the switch to my real name, both in my personal and professional worlds.

My decision was like Ismail’s; why must I accommodate or change my identity to convenience others or make them feel more comfortable?

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FILED UNDER: Culture, Media, Second-generation