November 29, 2010 | 8:43 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Welcome back from all that tryptophan and traffic.
Mask-wearing protestors in D.C. can now be arrested “The D.C. Council has unanimously passed a strongly worded bill to deal with an animal rights group that has been known to wear masks and appear unannounced outside District residents’ homes shouting things like “You should die.” Residents have been complaining to their council members that they felt “terrorized.” Critics of the bill say it’s too broad and limits First Amendment rights.” (Washington Examiner )
For D.C. voting rights, window appears closed “Now, with Republicans set to take over the House in January, the window to move a voting rights bill appears to have closed, and glum supporters are wondering what – if anything – to do next. “I think the best shot we had at voting rights was probably last year,” said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.),” (The Washington Post)
November 24, 2010 | 8:56 PM | By Anna
istolethetv
Lobster dog wishes you and yours a happy, yappy holiday.
Why yes, that is a puppy in a lobster outfit, coordinated for maximum cuteness to distract you, so that you don’t notice we are gone. DCentric is off to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, food and football (Go Lions!)– just like all of you do.
We’ll be back early Monday morning, when we’ll serve up a fresh plate of Tasty Morning Bytes, possibly with the help of kitchen appliances procured at 3am on Black Friday. Happy Thanksgiving!
November 24, 2010 | 3:32 PM | By Anna
Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
Courage the Turkey was the lucky recipient of the 2009 Pardon.
After the President partakes in the Thanksgiving tradition of pardoning two turkeys at the White House, he has some nice plans for the rest of the day:
Later Wednesday, Obama and his family were delivering two turkeys less fortunate than Apple and Cider to Martha’s Table, a local charity that feeds the hungry and provides other community services. A Pennsylvania turkey farm donated the birds.
The Obamas visited the charity last year, also on Thanksgiving eve, and helped hand out frozen turkeys, stuffing and other fixings to people standing in line.
November 24, 2010 | 1:10 PM | By Anna
DCentric
Organic fruit at a D.C. Farmers' Market
I just had a conversation about this with one of you yesterday, about the stark disconnect and borderline shame I felt when I came home after buying cheese, local plum chutney and organic bread for entertaining– and walked right in to a display for a food drive. Newsweek is thinking about food inequality, too:
Alexandra says she spends hours each day thinking about, shopping for, and preparing food. She is a disciple of Michael Pollan, whose 2006 book The Omnivore’s Dilemma made the locavore movement a national phenomenon, and believes that eating organically and locally contributes not only to the health of her family but to the existential happiness of farm animals and farmers—and, indeed, to the survival of the planet. “Michael Pollan is my new hero, next to Jimmy Carter,” she told me. In some neighborhoods, a lawyer who raises chickens in her backyard might be considered eccentric, but we live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a community that accommodates and celebrates every kind of foodie. Whether you believe in eating for pleasure, for health, for justice, or for some idealized vision of family life, you will find neighbors who reflect your food values. In Park Slope, the contents of a child’s lunchbox can be fodder for a 20-minute conversation.
Over coffee, I cautiously raise a subject that has concerned me of late: less than five miles away, some children don’t have enough to eat; others exist almost exclusively on junk food. Alexandra concedes that her approach is probably out of reach for those people.
Continue reading →
November 24, 2010 | 10:48 AM | By Anna
It’s one of the busiest days of the year, but I wish I had a half-hour of quiet and a good cup of tea to sit down and give the City Paper’s front-page profile of Courtland Milloy the attention it deserves. Milloy infamously earned the ire of my laptop-toting peers when he mocked them by calling them “Myopic little twits” in his Metro column for the Washington Post. While my friends of one hue were outraged that the Post would legitimize a point of view they considered backwards, incendiary and racist, a few friends of another hue quietly maintained that he is the only one publicly representing the point of view of many D.C. residents who are otherwise never heard.
In Milloy’s telling, his barbs at D.C.’s creative-class newbies aren’t about lashing out at them because they’re new. He’s lashing out at them because they’re not. As gentrification takes hold of Washington and issues of inequality emerge, it’s not enough to take solace in Obama’s post-racial ideal while neighborhoods acquire a new mono-cultured cast. People who move into changing neighborhoods have a responsibility for what’s going on. Or so Milloy, in his role as the crotchety grandfather they never wanted, wants to tell them.
Milloy sees new Washingtonians as the flip-side of a process that, in his view, involves older ones being pushed out. And if the actual truth behind African-American departures is more complicated—plenty of folks, starting with Milloy, decamped voluntarily—he argues that it’s pretty damned egocentric to imagine that everything is sweetness and light.
“Well, I don’t know why people think I have a problem with the influx itself,” he says. “Not to be deliberately provocative, but that is the white view, it’s white-centered. ‘Why are you opposed to us moving in?’ But nothing about, ‘Why are you concerned about the way black people are being kicked out?’
Continue reading →
November 24, 2010 | 8:31 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Enjoy some links before you start your busy day:
Why Does IHOP Qualify as a Small Business in D.C.? “Even with all that assistance, Jackson says he couldn’t have afforded market rate rents in DCUSA. Which raises the question: When a sure-fire franchise can qualify for a mandated “small business” set-aside, why would a developer ever go for an actual independent entrepreneur? Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham says he’s been trying to lure IHOP since 2002, when he proposed a location at 10th and U streets NW. He doesn’t see a substantive difference between a franchise like the Jacksons’ and something homegrown, and has been entirely sanguine about other chains opening on his turf.” (Washington City Paper)
Row houses in Georgetown.
The Story of How Georgetown Found it Grid “While the physical structures hadn’t filled in the street grid by the 1790s, Pierre L’Enfant nonetheless concluded that Georgetown was too developed with its own town plan to be incorporated into his Baroque plan for the city of Washington. This design independence has survived to the present day as Georgetown lacks the circles and radials of the rest of downtown Washington. What didn’t survive was the separate street naming scheme. With the exception of a few streets, Georgetown’s streets were renamed to be consistent with the Washington street naming scheme when it was merged with Washington city in 1872.” (georgetownmetropolitan.com)
Continue reading →
November 23, 2010 | 6:52 PM | By Anna
One of you asked about a post from last week which “disappeared”. It was about “Privilege Denying Dude”, a meme consisting of an image of a white man posing between lines of text which expressed things like “If racism still exists– how come the President is black?” and “Poor people are just lazy. My dad worked hard to pay for my college education.” Here’s what happened:
If you missed out on the short-lived but prolific Tumblr page of Privilege Denying Dude (PPD), you missed the beginning of a genius appropriation of a popular meme (or internet trend) that shoveled smarm back in the face of the privileged cluelessness that litters YouTube and social-justice blog comment threads alike (not to mention IRL). What started as a simple trend went viral, with thousands of submissions (all with their own unique manifestation of privilege!) coming in (see some classic examples on Jezebel.). But due to a terms of violation with the image used, Tumblr shut down the site last Friday. [link]
November 23, 2010 | 3:42 PM | By Anna
Mozul
Washingtonian has a great roundup of opportunities for giving back, this Thanksgiving. I’m doing the first event on the list, the Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger which benefits So Others Might Eat. It’s a 5K which supports “services for the homeless and hungry, including the thousand-plus meals served on Thanksgiving Day”. Here are three more ways to volunteer or make a donation:
Central Union Mission
We know that time is precious during the holidays—help Central Union Mission with the click of your mouse by sponsoring a table for only $1.98 per meal or $19.80 for a “table” of ten people. Click here to make a donation.
Capital Area Food Bank
Donate to Bringing in the Birds With Bucks, which provides Thanksgiving meals to low-income seniors. Each meal ($15) contains turkey, cornbread mix, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, green beans, and corn. The group hopes to serve 2,500 people this year. Click here to make a donation.
Martha’s Table
Martha’s Table is hosting a community Thanksgiving dinner Sunday, November 21. There’ll be turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh veggies, and more. Call 202-328-6608 to ask about volunteer opportunities. The next day is the annual Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway, where the Obamas put in some time last year. To learn more or to donate food, click here.
More information is here.
November 23, 2010 | 1:20 PM | By Anna
Obama-Biden Transition Project
The Obama family volunteering at a food pantry, Thanksgiving 2008.
Two days before a holiday which results in, if not celebrates overeating, I’m reading the Washington Post’s “5 Myths about hunger in America“. The dissonance I feel is like a bucket of ice water to the face:
The person most likely to be hungry is a single, working mother. Federal programs ensure that low-income children can get free meals at school, but their mothers – many of whom are single and work low-paying jobs in the service sector – often have to make tough choices between food, rent, gas for the car, health care or new shoes for their kids. Millions of American women who face this predicament will feed their children and go without meals themselves.
Another tragedy in America is the rapidly growing number of seniors who have to choose between food, medicine and utilities. Though few of our elders will admit to needing help, a 2007 study by Meals on Wheels indicated that as many as 6 million are going hungry. Meanwhile, that free food-delivery service has waiting lists in many cities. The 80 million baby boomers approaching retirement are expected to live longer than any previous generation, but not all have set aside enough resources for their final years. When that silver tsunami strikes, hunger will come with it.
November 23, 2010 | 11:06 AM | By Anna
This picture was taken at 9am this morning, when people were already in line for free pancakes from the new IHOP in DCUSA. There were jugglers, clowns, balloon artists and what looked like a giant, stuffed pancake strolling down Irving street, entertaining the crowd, who started chanting “Pancake, pancake!” during the opening ceremony, which featured members of the City Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty. Council Chair-elect Kwame Brown tweeted this amazing photograph of the Mayor, Council member Jim Graham and himself wearing blue IHOP cardigans. What a festive way to start the day, in Columbia Heights.
