DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Pour yourself a cup of coffee– your daily distraction from work dose of links is here!

About those Georgetown Students charged for manufacturing DMT in their Dorm On one of the suspects: “A little socially awkward, but a really wonderful kid with a good heart, and very intelligent. One of the most genuinely nice guys I’ve ever met. Obviously made a REALLY bad choice. But seriously, these are smart boys who made a really dumb decision to do something ‘badass’ and possibly make some money in broke college times. They aren’t drug lords trying to support their brothel or anything like that.” (blog.georgetownvoice.com)

The tea party warns of a New Elite. They’re right. “The more efficiently a society identifies the most able young people of both sexes, sends them to the best colleges, unleashes them into an economy that is tailor-made for people with their abilities and lets proximity take its course, the sooner a New Elite…becomes a class unto itself. It is by no means a closed club, as Barack Obama’s example proves. But the credentials for admission are increasingly held by the children of those who are already members. …how relentless this segregation would be.” (The Washington Post)

Museum of Unnatural History, 826DC open on Saturday “…I’d forgotten all about the faux-museum’s purpose as a storefront for 826DC, the non-profit writing center that’s been running programs in D.C. public schools for the past two years, serving more than 1,000 students. Only now, though, does the center have somewhere to call home, an ample retail space sandwiched between a Pollo Campero and FroZenYo in Columbia Heights Plaza.” (tbd.com)

‘Natural is the New Light Skinned’: A Rebuttal “…it has made me realize how much one has to love themselves, possess self-confidence, and have high self-esteem to rock their hair natural. There is still a stigma about curly, kinky, beautiful Black hair in its natural state. People will come at you sideways because they think you need to “comb your hair.” Everyday I question if I am making the right choice, knowing that appearance is heavily attached to women’s success in certain fields in NYC. In addition, Black women have the burden of worrying if White employers will see their hair as some type of pro-Black political statement.” (clutchmagonline.com)

On Multiculturalism: Germany’s Age of Anxiety “Germany’s multicultural bargain of the 1980s involved allowing immigrants to enter society while retaining the integrity of their own culture. The government would not bestow the rights and responsibilities of German citizenship, and the immigrants could lead their lives in Germany while preserving their ties to their home countries. The result was supposed to have been a great carnival of cultures, the introduction of color into a monochrome society. But it proved a failure.” (Foreign Policy)

Church Got Lots of Empty Land? Build Housing. “On Monday, St. Martin’s Church at North Capitol and T Streets NE will officially open its new residential development, The Summit at St. Martin’s, with 178 units of affordable housing, 51 of them reserved for formerly homeless people who graduated from transitional housing programs.” (Washington City Paper)

7-Eleven Begins a Dialog with Foggy Bottom Community– Again. “Along with many of you, FBN is a frequenter of our neighborhood 7-Eleven opened nearly 30 years ago and have noted the quiet friendliness of two long-time employees, Sam Bahrami and Deb Bassu. Sam and Deb are just like family and their upbeat presence is reassuring in an era of constant change. When 7-Eleven was ready to open in 1981(?), franchise owner Shala Bahramhi set up a meeting with the Foggy Bottom Association to discuss the store and its impact on the community. (The FB 7-Eleven is only one of a handful nationally not open 24 hours.)” (savefoggybottom.com)