October 13, 2010 | 9:15 AM | By

Was Metro Mutts the target of hate graffiti?

Window at Metro Mutts

Yesterday, TBD, Prince of Petworth and Frozen Tropics all reported that Metro Mutts, a pet store on H Street NE, had been vandalized with hateful, racist graffiti. Someone spray painted the following on their door:

“Cracker (large penis illustration) get out my city fag”

Since this unfortunate incident involves race, class and gentrification in the District, I wanted to learn more about what I had read, so last night I took my puppy to H Street to visit Metro Mutts and talk to Anna Collins, who has a fantastic name; she is one of the six-month old store’s owners.

Collins said that the door had been vandalized on Saturday night, after Metro Mutts closed at 6pm but before a regular customer walked by and spotted the graffiti at 9. She expressed some surprise at the gay slur since Metro Mutts is “primarily a woman-run business”– they do have one male partner, but he’s not in the store that often. Collins confirmed that the police had taken their complaint and then sent someone who investigates hate crimes (possibly someone from the GLLU).

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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Gentrification, H Street NE, LGBT, Race and Class, Small Business
October 13, 2010 | 7:45 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Michelle Rhee-signs, Cook-off Pictures, Sex Surveys

Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were watching “Glee”, we were trawling for links:

Michelle Rhee to announce resignation “After more than three years in the job, Rhee’s tenure already is the longest of any D.C. chancellor or superintendent of the past two decades. Measures of student performance generally improved during her time in the job but sagged in a round of test results released in August, a month before the primary vote.” (voices.washingtonpost.com)

WaPo Invites Anti-Gay Editorial For National Coming Out Day “The truly galling thing, of course, is that Perkins is happy to share this opinion on any day of the year, but the WaPo thought that this would be a good thing to run on a day specifically given over to the support of the LGBT community. But then, 2010 has been a banner year for anti-gay sentiment at the paper. When the National Organization for Marriage took on Washington, DC’s support for marriage equality, the Washington Post was happy to endorse their chosen emissary, Delano Hunter, in the Ward 5 council race against incumbent Harry Thomas.” (Huffington Post)

Survey Asks DCPS Middle Schoolers If They Are Transgender “On the one hand, there is an argument to be made about the validity of research asking children whether they identify as transgender or whether they’ve ever had sex after drinking alcohol or getting high…Of course, in a city where the HIV/AIDS rate is sky high and a majority of cases are the result of heterosexual sex and drug use, there’s plenty of reason to believe that knowing whether pre-teens are engaging in either would be very valuable information. (DCist)

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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Roundups
October 12, 2010 | 4:49 PM | By

About that TBD correction…

Pink Sherbet Photography

In today’s morning roundup, I included an item about TBD’s Amanda Hess issuing an unintentionally humorous correction to one of her columns:

This blog post originally stated that one in three black men who have sex with me is HIV positive. In fact, the statistic applies to black men who have sex with men.

My Twitter stream contained dozens of references to it, so I’m not surprised that today, TBD called it “The correction heard ’round the world“:

Now that you’ve had your laugh, I hope you’ll also note the commitment to accuracy that this demonstrates.

We explained in a blog post before TBD.com ever launched that “we will be as aggressive in correcting our mistakes as we were in making them. Each article or blog item that includes a mistake will carry highly visible correction… The corrections policy will apply to all errors of fact as well as misspellings of proper nouns and the like. Errors than can be classified as typos will get a pass.”

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FILED UNDER: Media, Roundups
October 12, 2010 | 2:34 PM | By

Bare Shelves at SERVE

Bread for the World

I know that this blog focuses on Race and Class in the District, but as my boss once pointed out, a lot of the people who work in the city live outside of it. With that in mind, I wanted to pass along this plea for assistance, from SERVE, the largest food bank in Prince William county:

SERVE is in immediate need of canned vegetables, pasta, canned tomatoes, and pasta sauce or any other non-perishable food item. Our shelves are currently bare! We are providing food assistance over 500 families per month and will need enough to get us through the next two months. Donated items can be brought to the SERVE Food Distribution Center (10056 Dean Drive, Manassas, VA, 20110) Monday thru Friday from 9am to 5pm. On Wednesdays, we have extended hours until 7:30pm.

That’s from an email I was sent, earlier today. I spoke to someone at SERVE who said their extended hours on Wednesday end at 8pm. Even if you don’t live or work near this facility, you might know someone who does, who’d be willing to help. As soon as I read this, I thought of the boxes of oatmeal and pasta cluttering my kitchen (huzzah for Costco); it’s a good reminder that pantries in the District are probably in need, as well.

FILED UNDER: Food, Non-profits, Poverty
October 12, 2010 | 1:30 PM | By

How to Track Food Trucks without Twitter

One of you asked me how to find food trucks in D.C. without using Twitter, the micro-blogging service which serves up news, views and naval-gazing over-sharing in 140 characters or less; that’s a fair question. Not everyone wants to deal with Twitter, even if it’s the primary way these trucks communicate their locations.

One option is available via the Best Bites blog from Washingtonian magazine, which says “Every morning, we’ll let you know where the area’s food trucks are rolling.”

Handy! The feature even tells you which trucks are taking the day off from slinging treats– today, those would include EatWonky (sure to be beloved at American U), Fry Captain and TaKorean.

Me? I’ll just be happy when the trucks show up near Columbia Heights or Tenleytown, since I tend to miss them because they go everywhere else. Sigh. If only Curbside Cookoff happened monthly. A hungry blogger can dream, can’t she?

FILED UNDER: Culture, Delightful City, Food, Food Trucks
October 12, 2010 | 11:02 AM | By

One of these things is not like the other.

Jon Haynes Photography

In today’s Washington Post, Petula Dvorak points out that like their disadvantaged peers, privileged children are stressed out, too, in “No class boundaries to childhood stress“:

Three in 10 living in the nation’s capital are feeling the weight of adult problems every day.

Those kids rarely have a carefree moment. The pressure of their situation squeezes them constantly, putting the joy of a simple exhale beyond their reach.

But wait a minute. Isn’t that almost exactly what we hear from many of their more privileged peers?

They describe a life in which they aren’t given the time to just go out back and play. They are crushed by their obligations and crippled by stress.

I’ll give it to Dvorak– this column could have been grating. It’s not exactly gracious to compare the problems of the haves with the have-nots, but she carefully avoided that pitfall.
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FILED UNDER: The People, Children, Money, Schools
October 12, 2010 | 7:45 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Where’s Muhammad, Unwanted Undershirts and Comical Corrections

Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some links?

Carla Cohen dies; co-founder of D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose “During Mrs. Cohen’s period of unemployment during the early 1980s, she watched a movie about the violinist Isaac Stern. Afterward, she turned to her husband, inspired. She recalled that moment in an interview with The Post in 1999, when Politics and Prose was recognized by Publishers Weekly as bookseller of the year. “If I could only be like Isaac Stern and do something in my life that would bring nothing but pleasure to other people,” she remembered saying. “And that’s how I feel about what I do now.”" (The Washington Post)

Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks So THAT’S how they get by on those salaries: “At least 72 aides on both sides of the aisle traded shares of companies that their bosses help oversee, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers for 2008 and 2009.” (Wall Street Journal)

What happened to the ‘Where’s Muhammad?’ cartoon that should’ve been in WaPo? “Style editor Ned Martel said he decided to yank it, after conferring with others, including Executive Editor Marcus W. Brauchli, because “it seemed a deliberate provocation without a clear message.” He added that “the point of the joke was not immediately clear” and that readers might think that Muhammad was somewhere in the drawing. Some readers accused The Post of censorship. “Cowards,” e-mailed John D. Stackpole of Fort Washington, one of several who used that word.” (The Washington Post)

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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Roundups
October 8, 2010 | 1:35 PM | By

Food Truck-palooza ends today, at 8pm.

Gautham Nagesh

You don't even need cutlery for most Curbside noms.

If you were looking for something fun to do today, you may want to head to the Curbside Cookoff at 11th and H Streets NW. Although the “most popular Food Trucks in D.C.” have been serving everything from sandwiches to sweets since 11 am, this evening, from 5-8pm there will be live dance performances and music.

Trust me when I say that you will be grateful for the distraction, as your food is prepared. That’s how I felt yesterday, when I waited for a delicious District Taco.

I was in line for about thirty minutes, which flew by because of all the people watching– the event was packed. Once at the front, I  was told that our tacos would be made to order and considering how slammed they were, that might take a little while. It all seemed so festive, I barely cared. I took my number and wandered over to the stage and watched hand-dancing, break-dancing and finally line-dancing.

The best thing about Curbside Cookoff is how it took on the feeling of a neighborhood block party– in the middle of buttoned-up, downtown D.C. By the time the dancing was over, my tacos were ready– and well-worth the almost year-long wait. I have seen some complaints on Twitter about the lines (true) and the lack of vegetarian options (not true– I could’ve had pizza, Sauca, Indian food and more if I didn’t want tacos). The lines are long; there’s no denying that. But this is a one-off event meant to celebrate Food Trucks, so it’s not comparable to trudging out of your office during a regular work day to grab something portable, to go.
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FILED UNDER: Culture, DCRA, Delightful City, Food, Food Trucks