DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! And now, for some links:

Gray cronyism probe sparks call for reform “D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh plans to introduce legislation next month that reduces the number of political appointees afforded the mayor, calls for proper screening of appointees and sheds light on their qualifications.” (Washington Times)

On Interracial Dating – The White Panel “A white high school friend dated a black guy, and her brother immediately asked her if she was going to turn into ‘one of those girls who wears her hair in a slicked-back tight ponytail’ — a class signifier, where I’m from, of being “trashy.” White women who dated black men (and to a slightly lesser extent, white women who dated Latino men) were definitely marked as low-class; the same wasn’t true of white women with Asian men.” (Racialicious)

Earthquake Safety Myths: DC Area Residents Not Sure What To Do “Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Washington as soon as the first tremors of Tuesday’s earthquake were felt. As it turns out, the commonly held belief that you get out of a building as soon as an earthquake strikes is not just wrong but potentially dangerous.” (WUSA Washington, DC)
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Conversations About Race: There’s a Limit “As many of us know, quite a few white people do not ‘get it.’ Maybe most of them don’t. It’s why we think of race as a ‘complex’ topic, of the sort where blacks are to speak and whites are largely to listen. This is what people really mean by America’s needing to have a conversation about race, for example.” (The Root)

Quake was a teachable moment “In Anacostia, several parents and grandparents whom I interviewed expressed worry that schools were slow to evacuate after the quake. ‘A lot of people were taking their time getting out,’ Kevin A. Thomas, 44, a car wash employee, said. ‘These buildings over here are old. If we get another one, they could come right down.’” (The Washington Post)

On Interracial Dating “Asking me to switch to Cheerios – just because the corner bodega ran out of them – when I’ve been eating Raisin Bran my entire life wouldn’t work either. This binary solution for black women – stay single or date outside of your race – approach needs to stop. Also – can we please STOP acting like Tyler Perry’s version of the blue collar brother actually exists! It’s just an awful fantasy.” (Racialicious)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are the five links we’re reading, right now:

D.C. Public Schools expand salad bars “Over the summer, [nutrition chief Jeff Mills] tested more than 30 local greens in search of the best roughage for the salad bars. Ingredients in the traditional cafeteria meals have been freshened up, as well. Next month, students will be offered locally grown nectarines, mushrooms, watermelons, tomatoes, arugula, squash and spinach. Mills has high hopes that the salad bars will help students develop ‘natural palates’ without a taste for added salt, sugar and fats.” (The Washington Post)

CNN discovers go-go “While the package sticks to the expected go-go talking points — the sound is dependent on percussion and call-and-response, it’s unique to D.C., it never went ‘national’ — it’s still pretty cool that a CNN camera crew took a trip out to Takoma Station.” (tbd.com)

Too many markets or not enough farmers? “True farmers markets can and should proliferate — but the fact is that they are a very particular beast and don’t on their own represent the “answer” to food system reform. In a healthy food system, there need to be many outlets for fresh produce and humanely, sustainably raised meat…demand for fresh, local food is growing fast. That’s excellent news. It also means that we have to get serious about growing more farmers and more infrastructure along with growing more farmers markets.” (grist.org)
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