DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! It’s breakfast link time:

No More Washington Wives, and It’s Our Loss “Today, the club, long ago renamed Senate Spouses in a nod to the growing number of women in Congress, meets about once a month, and fewer than a dozen attend. “A lot of the Senate wives don’t live here,” explains Proxmire, “so it would be harder to have a weekly meeting.”…This phenomenon has ramifications far beyond absent parents and poorly attended First Lady Lunches. It’s another component that portends a new level of Capitol Hill gridlock. Real legislating—the compromises and dealmaking that distinguish politics from posturing—happens only among people who know and respect each other.” (newsweek.com)

The poster says: “Keep DC a Chocolate City! Stop DC’s War on the Black Community” “I chose to live in Anacostia for the same reasons that my non–white neighbors have in the past couple of years: affordability, short commute to work, the views of the city, and the friendliness of the people that live here. People say hello to each other here, we greet each other, we still take time to really talk with our neighbors. Maybe I have taken these posters too personally, but in a city that just elected Vincent Gray as Mayor with a mission statement of “One City”, I am dismayed and angered by these blatant words of racism plastered in my neighborhood. I like to think that all of the many varieties of chocolate can be equal, including white.” (anacostianow.com)

D.C. wants to teach juvenile delinquents Yoga, Tai-Chi “Late last month, Holman e-mailed the agency’s staff to see if they have “hidden talents that might be tapped to further our work with the young people in our care.” In the e-mail obtained by The Washington Examiner, Holman said his primary interest was in finding among the staff an instructor certified in yoga, tai-chi, or another “mind-body connection discipline.” The agency is coming off a controversial year during which more than a dozen of its wards were charged with murder and at least a half-dozen were killed. A heavy focus on rehabilitation programs for city youths was blamed by critics for the soaring violence.” (Washington Examiner )

Washington, D.C., is a city of things inaccessible “Justice Breyer protested the shuttering of the Supreme Court’s front entrance last year, and Justice Ginsburg joined. Breyer, a former student of architecture, said that the original design “created a choreographed, climbing path symbolizing a progression toward justice. The columns, sculptures, 1,300-pound bronze doors, Great Hall and finally the courtroom are meant as a journey to that ideal.”…Strange how the steady erosion of individual liberty in the United States appears to be reflected in the treatment of architecture, too.” (Washington Examiner )

Adrian Fenty signs with speakers bureau as ‘education advocate’ “Former D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has signed with a major speakers bureau, which is marketing him as a “national leader in the area of urban education reform” — another sign that Fenty is looking to capitalize on his school-overhaul efforts in his life after the mayoralty. Fenty has “exclusive representation” by the Greater Talent Network, a Manhattan agency that also represents dozens of high-profile folks including actor Danny Glover, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, writer Christopher Hitchens, filmmaker Michael Moore, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.” (voices.washingtonpost.com)

Could transit benefits attract zoo members? “Any avid “zoogoer” will tell you that becoming a Friend of the National Zoo (FONZ) is a no-brainer. For car owners, one perk stands out among the generous benefits: free parking. A quick cost-benefit analysis shows why drivers appreciate the free parking benefit, in particular. Up to three hours of parking in the zoo lots would cost $15…Drivers receive free parking. For those who travel to the zoo by transit, bike, or foot, what kind of perk could the National Zoo offer that would create equally compelling reason to join?” (Greater Greater Washington)