November 3, 2010 | 3:45 PM | By Anna
http://twitter.com/bfnh
A riff on Slate's infamous "Brown Twitter Bird", inspired by their “How Black People Use Twitter”-piece.
At any point throughout the day, Twitter lists the ten most popular “topics” being discussed on its micro-blogging service. As soon as they rolled out this feature, I opted to see a more specific list of what was popular in Washington, D.C. vs. a world-wide compilation of hot topics.
This afternoon, I noticed that “African Americans” was trending. Initially, all the tweets I read regarding that topic had to do with yesterday’s election, specifically a rumor that only 4.7% of African Americans voted. There was no source for the statistic and it was on fire, showing up in hundreds of tweets, every minute. There was also some consternation being expressed at the lack of African Americans in the Senate. I chose to focus on the former issue, and collected some tweets:
Continue reading →
November 3, 2010 | 2:34 PM | By Anna
As I mentioned yesterday, The Kojo Nnamdi Show will be in Southeast D.C. this evening, hosting another “Kojo in Your Community” event, at The Arc. Doors open in three hours.
If you read this blog, you’ll probably be very interested in the topics they will be discussing– including the employment gap, how Ward Eight is changing (organic groceries! art galleries!), plus gentrification. The event is free and metro-accessible (Green Line: Southern Avenue Station). The show will air tomorrow, so if you can’t make it tonight, you won’t miss it entirely…but wouldn’t it be much cooler to ask Kojo questions, in person?
November 3, 2010 | 1:46 PM | By Anna
kendrickmeekdotcom
Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek lost in Florida yesterday.
I hadn’t thought of this fact, until I read “America Is So Post-Racial, We Don’t Even Need Black People in Our Senate“:
…I wanted to raise awareness around the rather unbelievable fact that the next United States Senate will not have ONE African-American in its ranks.
As reported by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, all three black Senate candidates, Kendrick Meek (D-FL), Alvin Greene (D-SC) and Mike Thurmond (D-GA) have lost their bids. The only incumbent black senator, Roland Burris (D-IL), is retiring.
Only six black senators have served including Burris: three Republicans and three Democrats, Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL), Edward Brooke (R-MA), Blanche K. Bruce (R-MS), Hiram Revels (R-MS before 1874, D-MS after 1874) and current President Barack Obama (D-IL).
November 3, 2010 | 11:40 AM | By Anna
This is still my favorite Election Day story:
Supporters of a write-in campaign for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), aiming to make the process as simple as possible, have made ink stamps bearing Fenty’s name, which voters can take into the polls to stamp their ballots.
But it wasn’t so simple for one Fenty supporter Tuesday afternoon. That voter, at Precinct 51 at Lafayette Elementary School in the Chevy Chase neighborhood, appears to have used the stamp on the screen of an electronic machine, election officials said.
The stamps, it apparently does not go without saying, are meant to be used on paper ballots only. [wapo]
I promise, no voting machines were harmed during the making of this post. I was surprised that the ink stamps are legal– and that this isn’t the first time they’ve been pressed in to service. Supporters of Anthony Williams used them eight years ago as well!
November 3, 2010 | 8:01 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were waiting for Election results last night, we were out collecting links!
On Forcing Myself to Vote “Hey, I’m a 27 year old Independent voter, and I’m not bummed – I’m pissed. I’m pissed that Democrats and the party faithful seem to have forgotten that the folks who elected Barack Obama weren’t always part of the base. That many of us were Independents, right-wingers for change, first time voters, and newly enfranchised. We aren’t post-racial, and may not ever want to see those days. (I’m personally still waiting for post-racism. Keep the heritage, drop the hate.)…We weren’t dropped – more like taken for granted.” (Racialicious)
D.C. Election Day drama: Scuffle at Shaw voting precinct “Witnesses described what began as a verbal confrontation between the elderly Brooks and Convention Center Community Association president Martin Moulton. The two apparently started getting into it over Moulton’s recent disparaging postings to the Shaw neighborhood e-mail list about oft-controversial neighborhood activist Leroy Thorpe. What happened next is less clear.” (tbd.com)
Straight Dope: Do Those Breast Cancer Pink Ribbons Actually Do Anything? Off-topic, but on so many of our minds: “We’re constantly bombarded with fundraisers and retail products sporting pink ribbons to raise money to “fight breast cancer.” Do pink ribbon campaigns do any good, or are they mainly a way for corporations to fleece consumers by leveraging their fear and sympathy over breast cancer? Where is all the money raised by pink ribbon campaigns going?” (Washington City Paper)
November 2, 2010 | 8:54 PM | By Anna
We are here at Busboys and Poets on 14th street, where Free Speech TV is hosting a panel discussion/dinner during a live broadcast of election night coverage. Interesting tidbits from the panel, below:
Midterm elections = an older and whiter turnout?
“Race is always a huge factor in the United States.”
The racial divisions that existed before Obama was President, existed after…and in some ways, are worse.”
If 2008 was the year of Obama, is 2010 about voters “demanding a recount”?
Discussion of how Obama built a movement around himself in ’08, but not in ’10, when some may have hoped to ride his coattails.
Is America a Center-Right nation?
– they are taking a break. a panel has been lowered…over the panel. –
Panel now discussing whether Obama was progressive enough. “He could be FDR or he could be Bill Clinton…he chose ‘Bill Clinton’”.
Continue reading →
November 2, 2010 | 5:59 PM | By Anna
Need plans for tomorrow night? How about some Kojo?
WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi will be hosting a “Kojo in Your Community” event tomorrow, at The Arc in Southeast D.C. Come hang out with the man whom the Washington Post calls “Maybe the best interviewer in town”. The Arc will be open at 5:30 and the event goes until 8pm. I’ve been told that plenty of parking is available.
Address: 1901 Mississippi Avenue Southeast
Metro: Green Line- Southern Avenue Station.
November 2, 2010 | 4:52 PM | By Anna
Hillicon Valley
This is neat. According to Hillicon Valley, a popular location-based social network is getting in the spirit of Election Day:
FourSquare, an application that allows people to broadcast their whereabouts to their friends, doles out an “I voted” badge to users who “check in” with the site when they arrive at their voting place.
But, wait! There’s more!
…swing by elections.foursquare.com to watch America vote in real-time throughout the day, with all the check-in data from polling stations across the country. Navigate the map to see where foursquare voter turnout is happening, and all the details about how and where our country performs its civic duty. [4sq]
That’s a screenshot of how many D.C.-users have checked in (plus what gender they are). Some may ask why badges or “checking in” to polling places matters for Election Day; considering how Foursquare tends to alter its users behavior, I think it’s significant. Foursquare power-users are motivated to play the game constantly– and now they’ve been given a special incentive to get out the vote.
November 2, 2010 | 1:15 PM | By Anna
Elizabeth Thomsen
Precinct 36: Latin American Youth Center, 1419 Columbia Road, NW
Just wandered down to my local polling place and heard that out of 5,333 registered voters, a total of 505 have participated in the democratic process.
There were no lines, and it was fairly quiet, which makes sense because it’s after lunch. This morning it was busy and they’re expecting traffic to pick up again at 4pm, when the apres-work crowd arrives.
If you don’t know where your polling place is, DC’s BOEE has a very useful site which asks for your address and then tells you where to go. You have until 8pm tonight, to vote.
November 2, 2010 | 10:21 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers. Due to technical difficulties, your breakfast links are a bit late. We apologize for that.
ANCs aren’t perfect. Here’s how to make them better. “ANC issues are apparently too small to attract the notice of the city’s paper of record (the most the Post could muster this time around was a generic piece that said nothing of use about ANCs except that those running wanted to “improve their communities”). But neighborhood representative bodies can be perfectly paired with the burgeoning crop of blogs that have been covering them in a fair amount of depth. Some of the healthier and better-run ANCs are in places where blogs…communicate to the broader public what happened at each meeting.” (Washington City Paper)
DC9 liquor license hearing: Board continues suspension of club’s license for 30 days “…not previously released audio recording of an ambulance crew radioing ahead to Howard University Hospital. A male EMT can be heard on the tape saying that he was bringing a 45-year-old male in apparent cardiac arrest to the hospital after what he described as a “bar fight.” He also tells the hospital that the victim only became unconscious after police arrived on the scene, contradicting an affidavit filed in court…” (tbd.com)
