Photo by PoPville flickr user julianne’s
Happy Earth Day everyone! It’s Amy from Free in DC happy to be back with you here at PoP posting highlights from my site! Below you will find a list of free and low cost events happening this Thursday – Sunday. Hope you get to enjoy some sunshine today and some of these events over the weekend! Continues after the jump. (more…)
Thanks to a reader for sending this alert from Washington Post:
“Authorities are no longer confident that they have a strong case against a 14-year-old boy accused in a drive-by shooting that killed four people in the District, and they might move to dismiss the charges against the youth, law enforcement and D.C. government sources said.”
Yesterday’s Judging Restaurants post reviewed the Sauca food truck. While there were mostly positive comments, my favorite one included a link to a New York Times article about about a Lobster Roll truck coming to DC:
Susan Povich, a proprietor of the pound, which in addition to live Maine lobsters sells prepared lobster rolls at the Brooklyn Flea and at its storefront operation on Van Brunt Street in Brooklyn, said that the company would be starting its southern strategy on April 30 at the Azalea Garden Festival in Bethesda, selling lobster rolls from a tent.
Ms. Povich and her husband, Ralph Gorham, have purchased a truck from which to sell rolls in the District, Ms. Povich said, and they will be starting that business in early June, as soon as the vehicle is “totally tricked-out.”
I can’t express in words how happy this makes me.
But if you can’t wait until June H Street, NE’s Liberty Tree currently serves a terrific lobster roll.
Photo by Danny Harris
Danny Harris is a DC-based photographer, DJ, and collector of stories. In September, he launched People’s District, a blog that tells a people’s history of DC by sharing the stories and images of its residents. Every day, People’s District presents a different Washingtonian sharing his or her insights on everything from Go Go music to homelessness to fashion to politics. You can read his previous columns here.
“I have been carrying my city swag since I was 8. To me, that is walking with purpose and not showing fear. I went to John Eaton Elementary School in Cleveland Park. My Mom and I were living in Shaw, but she had a friend who lived near the school and we used her address so I could go there. As everyone knows, D.C. does not have the best schools. In the 80’s, they were even worse, especially in Shaw. I come from a family of teachers and my Mom was insistent that I get a good education. John Eaton was a diverse school and most of the kids that I knew at school did not live in the neighborhood. I don’t know if everyone was using someone else’s address to go there. After school, a bunch of the latch key kids would trek across town after school by ourselves. Every day, I took a metro and two buses to get home.
“Ironically, my Mom is a social worker and worked in the child protection section of Children’s Hospital. Because she had strange hours, I ended up on my own a lot and had to grow up very quickly. After I made the trip from school to home, I was to stay in the house until she got home. I could not go out, so I would just look out the window at the street outside. Because of that, I was not really able to develop relationships with kids in my neighborhood. Shaw was a very drastic change from Cleveland Park. There was a lot of PCP, or Love Boat as it was called, in the neighborhood. I always thought that the name was interesting because I watched the Love Boat and I never saw people stripping off their clothes and running down the middle of the street naked and high on drugs. And I certainly never saw Captain Stubing, Isaac, and Julie around our neighborhood.
“When I was 10, I got a babysitter from around my way who was 16. I was so excited because she would meet me at my house after school and I could hang out with her. She would take me everywhere she was going. Through her, I learned what boys on my block were hustling and saw people go to jail. I used to think that jail was like a gym because when the boys would come back, they’d be full of muscles. I probably saw a whole bunch of stuff I was not supposed to see. At the same time, I used to go to my friend’s houses from school who lived this very sheltered life on the other side of town. Their Moms would always be home with snacks and they had lots of bedrooms and yards. It was very fairytailish and the kids seemed kind of naive to me. Continues after the jump. (more…)
Sticking with the hallucinogenics theme:
Ed. Note: Every morning this week, PoP will feature photography from students involved in Critical Exposure, leading up to their opening reception on Thursday (see below). Thanks to Critical Exposure for sharing the photos and info.
Critical Exposure is a DC based nonprofit that teaches youth how to use the power of photography and their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change. Through partnerships with youth programs and advocacy organizations, we seek to create a connection between art and advocacy using a three-pronged approach that focuses on youth empowerment, public engagement and policy change. Over the past 5 years, Critical Exposure has worked with more than 800 students in DC, Austin, Albuquerque, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Pennsylvania.
Critical Exposure’s current youth photography exhibit, “5 Years, 5000 Images,” celebrates our first half-decade of work, and features more than 100 photographs from our students. The exhibit reception is on Thursday, April 22nd from 6-8:30pm at the Edison Place Gallery (702 8th St. NW), and will be on display through the 30th. More information about the event can be found here. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].
THE HOLE THAT GREW
Robert (11th Grade), Youth Education Alliance, Washington, DC
“When this chipped area in the wall first started it was not bigger than a cat eye. And now, due to no one fixing the wall when it first started, it has grown.”
*This photograph was taken during our inaugural DC project, which focused on increasing funding for modernizing school facilities. In February 2006, students used their photographs to help convince the City Council to approve the School Modernization Bill, which now provides $200 million per year in new funding for school repairs and modernization.
A VISION SO CLEAR WITH A SOUND SO FAINT
Byron (12th Grade), Spingarn STAY Senior High School, Washington, DC
“I put a photo of my brother on the keys of an open piano, and I took the picture. To me it represents what my brother stood for. My brother graduated, so it says “Graduation Picture 2006,” and it also captures the music side of him that is also in me. I feel like this piano in the background in the photo, along with the photograph, really represented my brother in a way that words can’t. I took this photo while I was at school in the auditorium. He graduated from Spingarn STAY, the same program I’m in. He graduated in 2006 before he got killed.
I’m going back to school because of my brother, actually. He got shot and before he got shot he graduated from high school. I made a promise to him that I was going to graduate from high school so I enrolled in the same program as him in 2006. But, later on that year, while I was in school, he got killed. So I dropped out of school, I lost my focus, I couldn’t really concentrate. And now, the 2008-2009 school year, I’m just getting back in here because I know he wanted me to finish school, and I made him a promise that I would finish school and walk across that same stage that he walked across. And I’m going to make sure that I fulfill my promise–my word is my bond.”
*Since 2008, Critical Exposure’s programs have focused on documenting the causes, consequences and solutions to the dropout crisis in DC schools. We have worked with students in different schools around the city, including Spingarn STAY Senior High School, a night school for students who are returning to school to complete their high school diplomas. Byron graduated from school in June 2009.
I get emails from time to time about scooters getting stolen so I thought I’d throw this info out there:
“On 4/17/10, Fifth District Officers recovered two scooters in the Trinidad area, both appear to be stolen, however, there is no report for them…and hence no way to return them to their owners.
The first is a black and silver “VIP” scooter. It has “Peace Sport” on the side panels near where the rider’s feet would be placed.
The other is a silver scooter with “Silver Fox” in blue and purple stickers.
Any help would be appreciated.
Officer J. Bagshaw
Fifth District Auto Theft
Office: 202 698 0173″
Photo by PoPville Flickr user fromcaliw/love
Hello PoP fans! It’s Amy from Free in DC happy to be guest posting here for the fourth week. Hope you all have been enjoying this new feature. I’m psyched to share with you low cost and free things happening in DC each Thursday for this eve through the weekend. Lots of great things going on tonight and this weekend is also looking pretty good. Hope you enjoy some Here are some things for you to choose from this eve and this weekend!
Highlights for Thursday April 15th – Sunday April 18th
Tonight…
So much to choose from, all of which are Free! WVSA ARTiculate Gallery and Touchstone at this month’s Third Thursday Art Event at WVSA 16th & L St from 5:30 – 7:30pm. You can also stop by the Kick-off Party for “Dance is the Answer” Festival at Busboys and Poets 5th & K St, 6:00pm. Tonight is the monthly “Third Thursday” event in Mid City, participating shops in the area will be open ’til 9:00pm and there’s a special Art Opening at Mid City Caffe featuring works by local Mid City Artists from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Those interetsed in politics and DC issues, you may also want to stop by the Kalorama Citizen’s Association Meeting tonight at 7:00pm, where Mayoral Candidate Vincent Gray will be in attendance. Interested in living a more eco-friendly life? Stop by Greater Goods on U St for a free Green Your Home workshop at 8:00pm.
Friday-Sunday after the jump. (more…)
Photographer Jonathan Thorpe took this group portrait in Takoma Park. Join the LOOKDC pool.
Saba and the Gang © 2010 Jonathan Thorpe
Portrait of Otto Stowe, member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins by DC photographer Kevin Koski. Join the LOOKDC pool.
Otto Stowe, 1972 Dolphins © 2010 Kevin A. Koski