This Month
4 Stephanie Deutsch
on Edmund and
Sylvia Jukes Morris
and the seduction
of biography.
7 Book Reviews:
Shirley Cochrane on
Horace Afoot, and
L.F. Skelly on Fools
for Love
10 Books Clubs and
Writers’ Support
Groups
12 Capitol Hill Coffee
Bars
Departments
VoiceMail... ....................3
Ask Judith....................16
Business Bits ..............18
DownLoad....................22
Kids Write....................27
Community Calendar ....32
Crossword ...................31
The Stars say...............32
Classifieds...................34
VOICE
Vol. 1 No. 4 July 16 1999
of
The
Hill
First Annual Fiction Issue
Favorite books,
favorite nooks and
the Hill shows off its
talent!
First Annual Fiction Issue
Favorite books,
favorite nooks and
the Hill shows off its
talent!
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New
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New Listing!
New Listing!
Just Reduced
to our doors. Just one more
thing I love about living on
Capitol Hill!
Your look is really wonderful, and I
especially enjoy the article written by
Judith Capen each month, giving us
tips on maintaining our homes in
the historic district of the Hill.
Keep up the good work, and
here's hoping you have a very bright
future!
MICHELE PAGAN
Dear Voice of the Hill
Just to let you know how great a job
you guys are doing. The "paper"
really has great stuff of interest to
me. It is a clean and no BS. I wish
you a great deal of luck and i know
it will make it.
JOEL SARFATI
Dear Voice of the Hill
Just wanted to say good job with the
online paper (and hardcopy). One of
the best features of your paper is
the up to date information on what
is happening TO the Hill in terms of
new businesses and opportunities.
Now residents can see what is
being planned where they live.
Thanks and good luck.
KIRK STRIEBICH
Dear Voice of
the Hill
I like the newspaper
—and very
much like the website
—but as a new resident of
Capitol Hill, I would like it much
more if you would take pains to
include a street address for the
location of various events listed in
your events and community calendars.
For example, I very much
wanted to attend the June 17
Capitol Hill Restoration Society
meeting that you publicized as
occurring at St. Peter's Church. But
you provided no street address, and
the church isn't listed in the phone
book. The school is—but, as I discovered
after driving around hopelessly
for awhile that evening, the
church isn't located within sight of
the school. So I gave up and went
home. That was a shame in several
respects; I had wanted to meet
Sharon Ambrose and discuss her
rumored efforts to revise the ABC
regs. (I'm a K Street lawyer who had
a fairly horrendous, though ultimately
successful, effort to contest an
ABC application. As a lawyer who
generally works with the FCC, I have
some ideas for making the ABC regulations
simpler, and the process
more predictable, for everyone.)
I'm also a former newspaper
reporter and editor, so I know how
boring it can be to "waste" precious
space on addresses. But now that
I'm on the receiving end of the
media, I have more appreciation for
journalists' attention to these seemingly
mundane details.
Thanks.
ROSEMARY HAROLD
This symbol throughout this issue
indicates a poetry or short fiction
submission from one of our Capitol
Hill neighbors.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 3
Voicemail The Voice of the Hill is published and
distributed monthly to Capitol Hill
residence and business locations.
The focus is on the community and
includes contiguous neighborhoods
from Gallaudet University to the Navy
Yard and from the Capitol to the
Stadium Armory Complex.
Publication and distribution is the
third Friday of each month.
Advertising deadline is the first of
the month preceding publication.
Voice of the Hill
120 11th St., SE, Rear
Washington DC 20003
202-544-0703 Main office
202-544-2557 Editorial
202-547-5133 Fax
www.voiceofthehill.com
bruce@voiceofthehill.com
stephanie@voiceofthehill.com
adele@voiceofthehill.com
Staff
Stephanie Cavanaugh,
Editor
Bruce Robey
WebMaster
Adele Robey
Graphic Design and Production
Tamra Testerman
Advertising
Randy Norton, Schools Editor
Gene Miller, Church Editor
Larry Kaufer, Sports Editor
Shaun Koiner, Circulation Manager
Phoenix Graphics, Inc.
T/A Voice of the Hill
Publisher
Contributing Writers
Judith Capen
Shirley Cochrane
Stephanie Deutsch
Jeanne Eck
L.F Skelly
Duncan Spencer
Contributing Artist
Julia Robey
Memberships
Printing & Graphic Communication
Association
Printing Industry of America
Capitol Hill Association of Merchants
and Professionals
Art Directors Club of Metropolitan
Washington
Barracks Row Business Alliance
VOICE of
The
Hill
Dear Judith of "Ask Judith":
Thank you VERY MUCH for your
answer to my question about mortar.
It will be very helpful. I particularly
appreciate the mortar recipe and
the lead on the book and the CHRS
guidelines.
CRUMBLING
(AKA SUSAN BLOCK)
Dear Voice of the Hill
Although I have never heard it as a
consideration, I would like to propose
that 7th Street at Eastern
Market be closed off to traffic and
become a pedestrian mall. The
restaurants could add extra tables
for outdoor dining (as they do in
Milan, Grand Junction, CO, Tokyo,
etc.). It would add a wonderful "3rd
Space" area for residents to gather,
would be great on market days
(additional vendors could be accomodated),
and foster a greater
sense of community, in my humble
opinion. If parking is a problem,
why not build a garage? What does
everyone else think?
MAUREEN ROSCH
Dear Voice of the Hill,
Just wanted to finally get around to
say what a great job you are doing,
and to offer that we are so lucky to
have not one, but TWO really appealing,
and FREE newspapers delivered
Well, we had no winner for our June Shakespeare contest—and on the
Hill yet, which boasts both the Folger Shakespeare Library and the
Shakespeare Theatre. For shame!
But, this was a toughie. We asked you to identify not
just complete quotes but references as well that were
tucked away in Tamra Testerman’s article on the M
Street Renaissance. Given our audience, these were
deliberately obscure. The answers:
“I am giddy, expectation whirls me round.”
Troilus and Cressida, act III.
“The breeze upon her, like a cow in June, hoists
sails and flies.” Anthony and Cleopatra, act III
“The dreams still here, even when I wake it is.”
Cymbeline, act IV
“ True, I talk of dreams, which are the children of
an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy.”
Romeo and Juliet, act I
“Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back.” Troilus and Cressida, act III
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
4 www.voiceofthehill.com
Hey, it’s summer…
Presenting the first annual
Voice of the Hill poetry and
fiction issue…
With great book
reviews and
interviews…
and other cool stuff
like kids’ poetry.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 5
BY STEPHANIE DEUTSCH Edmund and Sylvia Jukes
Morris love their tranquil,
book-lined townhouse; they
enjoy walks on the Capitol
grounds and puttering for antiques
on Seventh Street. But the real reason
they came to Capitol Hill from
New York (where they have another
home and spend about half their
time) and the reason they stay here
is simple: the Library of Congress.
The Morrises are biographers and
between the two of them they have
logged thousands of hours pouring
over books, letters, manuscripts,
microfilm and photographs in the
vaulted spaces and hidden nooks of
the Library.
“It’s a monomaniacal life, really,”
says Edmund Morris, a tall, slim
man with tidy gray beard and lively
eyes. Monomaniacal, perhaps, but
he was not so single-minded that
he couldn’t interrupt his work on
Theodore Roosevelt to become the
official biographer of Ronald
Reagan in 1985. The Rise of Theodore
Roosevelt, the first part of a projected
three-volume study, won the
Pulitzer Prize and the American
Book Award in 1980. Morris’s 800-
page biography of Reagan is now
just about complete.
Sylvia Morris, petite, elegant and
gracious, adds that the kind of work
they do “takes over your life…you
neglect your family and your
friends.” She spent over ten years
researching Clare Booth Luce,
including traveling to Hawaii,
where Luce was living at the time.
Her Rage for Fame, the Ascent of Clare
Booth Luce appeared last year and a
second volume is in progress. Sylvia
is also the author of Edith Kermit
Roosevelt, Portrait of a First Lady.
Both Morrises grew up British
subjects, he in Kenya, she in
Worcestershire. They married in
England but immigrated to the
States in the early seventies.
Though they retain the accent of
England they are now US citizens
and, as their choice of subjects indicate,
are enthusiastic about their
adopted country.
It was collaboration on Great
Adventures That Changed Our World,
a book for Reader’s Digest profiling
explorers and adventurers, that
spurred their interest in longer
studies. The Bicentennial got them
thinking about the big, quintessentially
American figures in our
history.
Edmund was attracted to
Theodore Roosevelt and began writing
a screenplay about “that damn
cowboy’s” ranching days in the
Dakota Bad Lands with his wife
helping with typing and research.
When they discovered that not
much was known about Roosevelt’s
second wife, Edith, Sylvia began
doing research that led to a fulllength
biography.
Edmund became fascinated, if
not obsessed, with Theodore
Roosevelt and is “dying” to get back
to him. Sitting in their living room,
with a portrait of TR by Adolfo
Muller-Ury looking on with an
atypical, rather wistful expression,
they discuss the Roosevelt’s. “Edith
was a perfect spouse for Roosevelt,”
Sylvia says. “She had a wonderful
mind and she was better read than
he was.”
Her husband was, of course, a
larger than life figure, an overwhelming
personality and, in
Edmund’s opinion, a great man. “It
was a great and patriotic act when
he turned away a third term in
office,” Edmund says, referring to
Roosevelt’s decision not to run for
re-election in 1908. “He believed it
would concentrate too much power
in the president.” George
Washington had served just two
terms and Roosevelt felt that was a
good precedent.
Of course, then he couldn’t resist
jumping back into politics, and did
run again in 1912 on the “Bull
Moose” ticket. Sylvia speculates on
how differently the century might
have turned out if Roosevelt had
been president as the First World
War loomed. “He knew the Kaiser,”
she says. “He was the one who
could tame the Kaiser…The whole
course of history could have been
changed.”
In 1985, when he was deep into
the second volume of Roosevelt’s
life, Edmund and Sylvia were invited
to a dinner of historians at the
Reagan White House. It became
clear to Edmund that if he wanted
it, the job of official Reagan biographer
could be his. “It was seductive,”
he says. “It was just an overwhelming
temptation to chronicle
a presidency as it was happening.”
A few days later he found himself
on a plane flying to Geneva where
Reagan and Gorbachev would meet
for the first time.
Sylvia Morris, meanwhile, had
written to Clare Booth Luce, who
she considers “one of the most
interesting women of the century,”
asking if she could be her biographer.
Luce was initially reluctant
but then relented. Morris became
the first person given access to all
the papers and letters of Luce’s long
and fascinating career as a writer
(she was the author of the biting
play The Women), politician and
seductive personality. It was a huge
amount of material, over 1,000
boxes. As overwhelming as the
amount of primary sources was the
reality of working with a living person
as her biographer. For six years
Sylvia Morris spent a great deal of
time at, among other places, Luce’s
home in Honolulu, and in Rome,
where Luce had served as U.S.
Ambassador.
So, what is easier, they are
asked—writing about a subject who
is living or one who is dead? They
both laugh. It’s a question they
have heard before. Sylvia reveals
that she has a T-shirt made by a
friend bearing the logo “Dead is
Easier.” In the acknowledgement
section of her book on Clare Booth
Luce, Morris promises that “details
of our complex personal relationship
will appear in the second volume
of this biography.”
For his part, Edmund Morris says
finishing the book on Reagan feels
Seduced by Biography
Sylvia and Edmund Morris
…read something!
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
6 www.voiceofthehill.com
Frederick Reuss,
Afoot on the Hill
like “losing 300 pounds.” He found
himself as susceptible as anyone to
the famous Reagan charm and was
saddened by the former president’s
slide into illness. Of course, he says,
part of what makes the writing of
biography so “all-consuming” is
the attempt to unravel the “mysteries
of human character, which we
all know from trying to figure out
our own family and friends.”
Ultimately, it is character, not politics,
that is the subject of his political
biographies. His verdict on the
Reagan character will be out in the
fall.
What do they see for themselves
when their present projects are
complete? “Retirement,” says
Sylvia. “You only have so many
biographies in you,” adds Edmund.
They laughingly mention Arthur
Link of Princeton University who
devoted so much of his career to the
study of Woodrow Wilson that he
began to look and sound like his
subject, a fate from which they
seem safe. For his part, Edmund
looks forward to doing some travel
writing, literature and music criticism.
Reviewing a concert is a nice
antidote to the fifteen-year biography,
he says, an “instant fix” for the
desire to see one’s work in print.
And what, besides the Library of
Congress, do the Morrises enjoy
about life on the Hill? They reflect a
moment. They love their house
which is elegant and quiet and
which gives them what Edmund
BY SHIRLEY G. COCHRANE
Frederick Reuss, a ten-year
resident of Capitol Hill,
lives with his wife and two
young daughters in a house
near Stanton Park that they are
“continuing to fix up as needed.”
He is the author of an acclaimed
first novel, Horace Afoot, which was
on the New York Times Notable
Books of 1998 and Barnes &
Noble’s “Discover Great New
Writers” lists. It received favorable
reviews in the Washington Post and
the New York Times, to name just
two publications, and is now out in
a Vintage paperback edition.
Reuss did not go the writing program
route. His degree is in philosophy
from Antioch College. “I
never wanted a real job,” he says,
but instead does free-lance writing
and is a researcher in the anthropology
department at the
Smithsonian. He maintains an
office in his home, and his proximity
to the Library of Congress is a
special boon. “I’m not much of a
hobnobber,” he says; and on
Capitol Hill, where “most people
are interested in politics,” he can be
“really anonymous.”
Nor is his protagonist in Horace
Afoot much of a hobnobber. He
never reveals his real name, having
assumed that of the Latin poet
Horace. Earlier in his history he
went by the name of William Blake,
and later tries to switch his legal
name from Horace (Quintus
Horatus Flaccus) to that of another
Latin writer, Lucian of Samosata.
He chooses the Midwestern town
of Oblivion in which to retreat
from the world and is content in
his shabby cottage with birds nesting
under the eaves and a wood
stove for heat. But he is a classicist
dropped into redneck country, and
is looked upon with suspicion by
townspeople and law enforcement
officers alike. Uncompromising,
scorning conventions, he becomes
a suspect in a crime and is given a
stiff fine on another trumped up
charge. Innocent on both counts,
he refuses to modify his behavior or
explain his actions.
And those actions are varied and
often bizarre. He dials phone numbers
at random and makes harmless,
non-threatening conversation
with a variety of citizens, most of
whom are surprisingly responsive.
His most frequent topics range from
love, to names, to the nature of
happiness:
“Horace here.”
“Hi Horace. How’s it hanging?”
“You sound cheerful.”
“It’s called alliteration. When
you, like, begin each word with the
same letter?”
“What’s it like?”
“Alliteration?”
“No. Being happy?
“Being happy?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s hard to say. A little like
alliteration, maybe. Who is this,
anyway?”
“Horace.”
“Do I know you?”
“No. But it doesn’t matter.”
Then, he pays a young boy a dollar
for every worthwhile news item
he brings him, whether local or
international. He tolerates the
friendship of a carrot-eating dog,
and nurses a wounded grackle back
to life. His diet consists mostly of
rice and beans, and he drinks quantities
of red wine. By his own admission
he has “denied all...erotic
impulses,” yet is alternately repelled
and attracted to Sylvia, a woman he
had rescued after she was assaulted.
Through fights, gun threats, police
suspicions, and the discovery of an
unearthed corpse, he remains
detached.
Events and outcomes do not fall
neatly into place. Reuss tends to
overturn reader expectations. Some
readers have wondered, for example,
how Horace manages to live –
describes in his book on Roosevelt
as “that sense of calm seclusion a
writer most prizes.” They both like
the walks—the Arboretum, where
they saw a bald eagle, and the beautifully
landscaped areas around the
Capitol. Edmund says the view
from the west front of the Capitol,
down the Mall, to the Washington
Monument and to the Lincoln
beyond that, is “one of the great
views of the world. It’s that view
west,” he says, “west, west, west…”
And then, warming to the subject,
Edmund adds three more
favorite images of life on Capitol
Hill. “I love the smell of the wax
magnolias about this time of year,”
he says. “I like the fact that people
say ‘good afternoon’ when you
meet them on the sidewalk. It’s
very southern.” And, finally, one of
his favorite Hill experiences is the
Friday night Parade at the Marine
Barracks. He was invited by a friend
who told him to be prepared, that it
was “better than the Grenadier
Guards.” And, not really expecting
to be impressed, Mr. Morris found
that, indeed, from the “heart stopping”
parade to the “spine chilling”
silent drill, it was a spectacle not to
be forgotten. “It’s one of the great
All-American experiences,” he says.
“And it’s free and it’s every damn
week.”
Stephanie Deutsch is a Capitol Hill
based writer.
The Library of Congress was the main reason for the Morris’s move to Capitol Hill.
Edmund adds three more favorite images of life on Capitol
Hill. “I love the smell of the wax magnolias about this time
of year, I like the fact that people say ‘good afternoon’ when
you meet them on the sidewalk. It’s very southern.” And,
finally, one of his favorite Hill experiences is the Friday
night Parade at the Marine Barracks.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 7
Our Hero
BY PAUL SINGER
With a resounding thump, the
pallet came down — loaded with
bags of sand, freed with a snap
from the cable that had bound it
to the crane that had been erected
between the sidewalk and the
large dirt pit that was to be the
basement of a shimmering new
office tower, that would house
hundreds of city employees
including the recorder of wills,
the commissioner of zoning and
the medical examiner, who in a
moment would hurry out of the
dingy office he currently inhabited,
a dark little room stacked too
high with files and old newspapers
so thick he could barely get
out from behind his desk to rush
thankfully out of his office, out
of the yellowing building that
they all would be leaving forever
and out into the sun to leap in
his car and speed to the site of
the new building where they
soon would be moving to look
under the pallet that had fallen
from the crane as it swung free of
the truck that delivered the sand
that would be used to mix mortar
to lay the cornerstone of the
new building, an event that the
mayor would host and the council
would come and they would
give speeches and the press
would be there and of course
there would be pictures, but not
the first pictures, oh no, those
would be taken today by the
medical examiner who rushed to
the site to be the first one there
to look under the pallet which
with a resounding thump had
come down — on the head of
our hero and killed him.
Paul Singer writes slightly longer
stories for Voice of the Hill and
other publications around town.
between Mohr’s active homosexuality
and Horace’s suppressed heterosexuality
– Mohr’s sexuality ended
by death, Horaces possibly belatedly
aroused.
Reuss is presently in an enjoyable
“pre-publication state,” anticipating
the appearance of his second
book, Henry of Atlantic City. Sixyear-
old Henry, who has a photographic
memory, is being reared, at
least intermittently, by gamblers,
thieves, whores, and priests in one
of America’s most notorious sin
cities. But from time to time he
seems to believe that he is living as
a saint in fifth-century Byzantium.
As in Horace Afoot, the new novel
describes the labyrinthine terrain in
which we shape our identities and
search for meaning.
Children, Reuss feels, are born
with intuitive knowledge. (One is
reminded of Wordsworth’s “trailing
clouds of glory.”) Henry of Atlantic
City is tragi-comic; Reuss calls the
narrative point–of-view “alienated
first person”—third person but in a
voice compatible with a child’s
mind and feelings. A child’s psyche
is “a fascinating place to be,” he
says and takes pleasure in “recapturing
that innocent wisdom.”
Reuss has high praise for his publisher
—MacMurray & Beck Fiction,
an independent house based in
Colorado that will also be bringing
out editions of his second book.
August 1 is publication date for the
hardback. Whether your venue of
choice is Trover’s of Capitol Hill or
Amazon.com, Henry of Atlantic City
should be there.
Shirley Cochrane has lived on Capitol
Hill for 42 years. Her poems, short stories,
memoirs and personal essays have
appeared in numerous publications
and in over 25 anthologies. Three
books of her poetry have been published,
and she has won several literary
prizes. Her short-short story “Twenty
Years After,” appears elsewhere in this
issue.
where his money comes from. But
having an answer is not important,
Reuss maintains. Horace’s financial
situation is a given, and the reader
learns to accept this and other
unexplained facets of his life.
His one real friend is Mohr, a terminally
ill gay librarian and
archivist, arguably the most memorable
character in the book. He has
lived on well past his predicted
death date, wears natty clothes,
drives his car (with Horace a frequent
passenger), and continues his
archival work at the local library.
Once he explodes at Horace in frustration
at his way of life, but the
friendship quickly mends.
When Horace sneaks into the
hospice, where Mohr has finally
had to go, and finds his dead body,
he experiences what might be
called an epiphany—described with
some of the best writing in the
book:
“The muscles of my abdomen
begin to tighten and roll, and an
anguish I have never felt before
breaks over me. I begin to cry. And
then, as though a tiny, disengaged
part of me is standing off to the side
observing...I give in to the rolling
tide, and the room collapses around
me so that even the dead Mohr disappears
and all that remains is me,
alone....People begin to approach
from distant places, people I once
knew and whom I recognize. My
other selves....They are smiling as if
to say everything is all right, that I
should purge myself of my self. And
this uncomprehending, curious
sympathy makes me cry....Then it is
over....The room reassembles
around me. Former selves clatter
back into remoteness. They are
gone. The sadness is gone. And I am
alone...and across from me the vitrified
body of Mohr the librarian.”
After Mohr’s death, Horace
embarks on a more even-keel life.
He gets a job at the library and finds
to his surprise that he enjoys the
routine work; gets along with the
head librarian who had once irritated
him; and likes the library’s visitors,
including a little girl who has
memorized lines from Horace. It is
hard to imagine his life becoming
ordinary, but he is slowly coming to
terms with the world around him.
Although Horace Afoot can be
satisfying strictly on the narrative
level, there is subtext here for the
reader who makes the effort to
explore it. What, for example, lies
beneath Horace’s frequent name
changes—some posthumous rebellion
against his parents? Then there
is the parallel between his motherloss
(she took her time about killing
herself with drink, he confides to
Mohr) and that of Tom, his relentless
young enemy, who as a small
child witnessed his own mother’s
suicide. More obvious is Horace’s
choosing a town named Oblivion.
And finally, there is the contrast
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
8 www.voiceofthehill.com
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C A P I T O L H I L L
“Do you know how long that
took me? Just to do that stretch of
crown molding in the corner?”
“No.”
“Three months,” he said. “I
worked on it every night for three
months.”
“Well, it — looks nice. I guess it’s
worth it.”
“Oh, I do it because I love it. This
is sex for me. If it adds to the
house’s value, all well and good, but
I do it because it’s sex, you know?”
Bayard speaks of his story as a
quest, and a novel of manners.
Patrick and his frenetic guide Seth
travel all over Washington in a
search for fulfillment, a mission to
find a lover who will “take the sting
out [of life] and walk you into
dreamland.” Washingtonians, and
especially Hill residents, will delight
in visiting familiar haunts — including
Sherrill’ s Bakery and Eastern
Market—as they follow the hunt.
As a novel of manners, Bayard
pokes fun at his wacky cast: Pat’s
loveable father George, who comes
for a week’s visit and stays for
months; his best friend Marianne,
who’s a fool for love; and his violin
teacher, Sonya, who’s hell-bent on
having a baby. Like the dreaming
protagonist, all the characters are in
some way asleep. They wake to find
the object of their affections in surprising
ways; reminding us that our
dreams—as foolish as they may
seem—will lead us to our happiness.
A 1985 graduate of Princeton
University, Bayard learned his craft
from Joyce Carol Oates, who directed
his senior project, a collection of
short stories. After graduation he
went on to earn a masters in journalism
before moving to Capitol
Hill. Though Fool’s Errand is his first
published novel, his work has
appeared in magazines like Genre
and Ms, and in the Washington Post
and The Washington Blade.
He lives near Eastern Market with
his partner Don Montuori and their
cat Roscoe, and enjoys the diversity,
openness and friendliness of the
neighborhood. He also prefers the
quiet life, and writes of what he
knows. When one of the characters
discovers that Patrick lives on
Capitol Hill, he says “I lived there
for a while 10 years ago. I found it a
bit sleepy.”
If you’re expecting the kind of
gay novel that includes all-night
parties, buffed and shaved beach
bodies, you’ll find Fool’s Errand a bit
sleepy too. This novel is far more
inclusive and traditional. The relationship
between father and son,
their friends, spouses and partners
is our common domestic lot: where
the extraordinary is found in the
ordinary, for those brave enough to
search. Louis Bayard has taken on a
challenging quest of his own—to
tell a universal story in terms that
everyone can understand.
L.F. Skelly is a Capitol Hill freelance
writer and teacher
New summermenu!
BY L. F. SKELLY
Would you like to read something
set on Capitol Hill which is not a
political memoir or a salacious transcript
tell-all (that will leave you
wondering if there isn’t something
in your closet in need of dry cleaning)?
Hill resident Lou Bayard’s
hilarious first novel Fool’s Errand,
may be a gay-romance, but it offers
more than a little something for
lovers of every stripe.
Fool’s Errand is a kind of Hillbased
Tales of the City, the collection
of stories about San Francisco in the
seventies that was turned into a PBS
mini-series a few years ago. But
unlike Armistead Maupin’s books,
no one is murdered and no one discovers
that her landlady is really her
long-lost father. The cast of character’s,
like Maupin’s, are both gay
and straight, zany and endearing.
Fool’s Errand is also a farcical quest,
a romantic comedy, a post-modern
comedy of manners, and a mystery
— replete with red herrings and
hairpin twists. While Bayard’s
ambitious narrative is too long at
486 pages, it is told in short, often
rollicking, episodes. Bayard’s voice
is crisp and fresh and his dialogue
sparkles with wit. At a fussy brunch
in Adams Morgan the host asks
Patrick Breton, the protagonist:
Fools for Love
Lou Bayard Finds the
Extraordinary in the Ordinary
The author, Lou Bayard
The relationship between father and son, their friends, spouses and
partners is our common domestic lot: where the extraordinary is found
in the ordinary, for those brave enough to search.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 9
JEANNE M. ECK
Those with a passion for
reading and those who
write, whether for a living
or as a form of self expression,
can’t do otherwise.
To ask them to stop is akin to suggesting
they cease breathing. The
Hill is alive with book clubs to help
sate the appetite of those who love
to read, and writing classes for
those who dream of mastering the
craft. There’s even a professional
writer’s support group, a life line for
those sentenced to the solitary confinement
of putting together words
that average people, as author Anais
Nin observed, “ …can say but…are
unable to say.”
Food for Thought
People join book clubs for the social
interaction as well as the intellectual
stimulation. Avid readers and
Capitol Hill residents David and
Adrienne Umansky, belong to a
couple’s book club. David recalls
that the idea for their group was
born after a night at the movies
with friends. “The wives were talking
about books. They complained
that they didn’t have anyone to talk
to about what they’d read and
Adrienne said, ‘why don’t we form
a book club?’” Today, five couples
meet each month for a dinner hosted
by one of the couples. “There’s a
lot of emphasis on eating and
drinking,” observes David wryly,
“sometimes we talk about the book
for as much as twenty minutes.”
This month, in celebration of
Hemingway’s 100th anniversary,
“our selection is For Whom the Bell
Tolls.We’ll probably have paella.”
Adrienne is also a member of a
woman’s book club that meets
monthly. Unlike their couples
group, says David, Adrienne’s club
“really talks about the books.”
For the past six years, Jeanne
Harrison, Director of Catering and
Convention Services at the
Washington Court Hotel, has
belonged to a thirty-somethingyear-
old women’s book club. Two of
the four original group members
were college classmates — the other
two were married to alumni.
They’ve had as many as eight members,
but currently there are five.
Our selections are “definitely literary,
not trash,” she says. Some of
their recent selections include, The
Bone People and Pope Joan.
“Everyone brings suggestions and
makes a plea for their choice, at the
communal monthly dinner meeting.
When we first started, we were
really, really, really good about
spending the whole time talking
about the book . . . now we spend
thirty minutes to an hour talking
about the book, but it seems to
interweave into the conversation.”
The club, she says, “was the best
thing that ever happened to me
because it gave me the opportunity
to reconnect with old friends.”
Mary and Steven Pressnall’s co-ed
book club meets every two months
on a weeknight for—you’ve got it—
dinner. Lately, they’ve tried to make
an effort to read books that have
won a Pulitzer or other prize. The
club has “broadened my horizons,”
says Mary. “Whenever you’re discussing
a book, you get to really
know people. You talk about things
that you might not naturally talk
about at the beginning of a friendship,
like your childhood. In addition
to reading things I wouldn’t
have normally read before joining a
book club, the greatest thing about
being in one is that I always had
this ‘one hundred page’ rule. If I
didn’t like a book after the first one
hundred pages, I’d put it away.
Now, I have the responsibility of
reading the book. As a result, I’ve
discovered books I really like.
Sometimes you didn’t like the book,
but by the end of the meeting, after
everyone’s talked about it, you walk
away with a different slant or opinion.”
In addition to adult book clubs,
there’s also an adult Children’s
Book Club that meets regularly at
the SE library to talk about the children’s
books the members have
read. The group is open to new
members. For more information,
call Ellen Costello at 544-8273.
Starving Artists
If you’re a professional feature
writer, Steve Ackerman’s group
meets monthly at locations on and
off the Hill. The group is a gold
mine of information. Over refreshments,
members talk about potential
markets for their work, pay
scales and the experiences members
have had with different publications
and editors. You must be a
professional feature writer to participate.
By the way, Steve’s also very
involved with the National Writers
Union, a must join if you’re concerned
about your rights as a writer.
He can be reached at 547-6323.
Recent Hill resident, Malcom
Shute, was so delighted by his own
experience with the teaching philosophy
of University of Massachusetts
professor, Pat Schneider,
that he founded “Writer’s Way
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10 www.voiceofthehill.com
Workshops” which he runs out of
his 12th Street, SE apartment. You
can sign up for a ten week session
(the first one is free) at a cost of
$20.00 per session. “We get together
once a week for ninety minutes. I
give a writing exercise and the
group writes for a while.” Then
each member reads their work out
loud and the other members share
their opinions about what worked
and what was positive about the
piece. Shute says that he helps writers,
“develop skills by emphasizing
the positive vs. the negative.”
Rather than having the work “dissected
by the class and the writer
going off to follow the dictates of
the group in their next assignment,
we focus on the positive elements
in the work.” This technique allows
the author to “come away with the
knowledge that his effort has
touched other people.” While some
of Shute’s students are published
authors, others are people who simply
like to write. Classes are open to
anyone at any level in any genre.
Shute may be reached at 547-3506.
The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop’s
new director, Jeffery Watson, is anxious
to add writing classes and book
clubs to the list of offerings at the
center, and is already working on a
group for playwrights. He’s done it
before. The Church of the
Reformation’s former Director of
Worship, Music and the Arts,
helped launch WISOAN (Writer’s in
Search of a Name) after several
church members shyly requested
that he read their poetry. The group
just published their first collection
of spiritual poetry, Rush of the
Mighty Wind. “It,” a poem from the
book by group member Judith
Mangubat, was selected for this
issue of The Voice. For more information
on WISOAN, call the
Church of the Reformation at 543-
4200. If you have an idea for a class
or group you’d like to see at the Arts
Workshop, you can reach Jeffery at
547-6839
The Capitol Hill Poetry Group is
probably the oldest writer’s group
in the area; members have been
meeting weekly since 1975 – and
celebrated their twentieth anniversary
with the publication of a collection
of their work, The Other Side
of The Hill. One of the poems from
the book, “How Many Times Do I
Have to Tell Y’all? Delonta Ain’t
Here?” by Keith Yancy, is reprinted
in this issue of The Voice—and
Shirley Cochrane, one of the
group’s co-founders, has contributed
an interview and a short
story. Sorry budding poets, the
group is no longer taking new
members. But take a look a Shirley
and Keith’s work—it might inspire
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How To Start Your Own Book Club
• Call friends who like to read and ask if they’d be interested in starting a
book club.
• Post flyers at the SE or NE library and ask if they’d start a sign-up a list
of people interested in joining a group.
• When your group is formed, decide what kinds of work you’d like to
read.
• Decide how titles will be chosen
• Decide where you’ll meet—at a local restaurant, the library, or in
members’ homes.
• If you meet for dinner, who will provide the food? (Jeanne Harrison
says it’s important to talk candidly about food allergies and dietary
preferences.)
A Selection of Books Capitol Hill Book Club Members are Reading
The Bone People, Keri Hulme
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Pope Joan, Donna Woolfolk
Memories of a Geisha, Arthur S. Golden
Midwives, Chris Bohjalian
A Man in Full, Tom Wolfe
The Reader, Bernard Schlink
Widow for a Year, John Irving
you to form a group of your own.
By the way, our Ward 6 Council
member, Sharon Ambrose doesn’t
just write legislation. She was an
original member of the group!
Jeanne M. Eck is a Capitol Hill-based
freelance writer.
Mike McGill, Chief of Staff for Senator Diane Feinstein, enjoys a Sunday afternoon
reading with Martha (or maybe to Martha?)
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 11
The scene is not Paris,
Vienna or Seattle, but
Capitol Hill. From
Eastern Market to Union
Station, folks are flocking
to cafes and coffee bars.
Espresso, latte and ice tea flow.
Often, patrons linger as coffee
houses double as reading and writing
rooms and even impromptu
offices. Term papers are researched,
newspapers scanned, diaries updated
and song lyrics written. Laptops
clack and cell phones jingle.
On a drizzly Monday in mid-
June, Bread & Chocolate, at
Seventh and Pennsylvania Ave. SE,
is doing a fairly brisk lunchtime
business. Singles, couples and
families straggle in. Some are students,
others are Hill residents and
nearby office workers, a smattering
are obviously tourists. Lisa
MacColeman, Hill dweller and part
time student at Johns Hopkins
School of Advanced International
Studies, is drinking hot tea while
poring over an IMF report on the
Asian financial crisis. She takes
cream in her tea, a habit she picked
up while living in England. A wedge
of quiche Lorraine and salad arrive.
“I usually come here on Sundays
with friends, but since I’m not
working this summer I thought I’d
stop by during the week,” she says.
Formerly employed by an USAID
contractor called the Academy for
Educational Development,
MacColeman is taking the summer
off to attend the Johns Hopkins
classes. When asked what AED
does, MacColeman explains that
one of the organization’s programs,
Hands on DC, was responsible for
the colorful murals painted in the
library of Hine Junior High School
just across the street.
Bread & Chocolate has come a
long way from its old days as
Kresge’s variety store, when senior
citizens shopped for notions,
munched on very good, crispy fried
chicken and chatted with neighbors.
“It’s the new face of Capitol
Hill,” one B&C patron commented.
“It’s great having coffee bars and
upscale restaurants, but in some
ways I miss the old Hill,” mused
one regular as he spooned his spicy
goulash soup.
By now it has stopped raining;
the sun is peeking out and the
whole world seems to be strolling
by. Quaffing iced coffee on the outdoor
patio at Roasters on the Hill is
Tom Kelly, who has lived on the
Hill for a long time, a very long
time. In fact, Kelly, well-known
journalist and author, was born in a
house at Fourth and Constitution
NE almost 76 years ago. “Tom’s the
memory of the Hill,” declares
another Roasters customer. This
time Kelly is not reading; instead,
he is visiting with passersby.
“Roasters is a good place to walk to
during the week when it’s not too
crowded,” Kelly says, adding that
locally-operated Roasters has a different
ambience than that of
Xando, which is part of a national
chain based in Connecticut.
A pair of Roasters’ regulars —
Judith Wilson and Mike Giguere —
are finishing their lunch at the
brightly colored, tile-topped counter.
Both dwell on Capitol Hill.
Giguere, who lives at the nearby
Marine Barracks, frequents Roasters
to read the newspaper or a book or
maybe write letters to his buddies.
Wilson, on the other hand, skips
the reading material and gets right
down to basics: Coffee, a bagel and
maybe juice every day. “I come here
for coffee and conversation,” she
says, adding that she “loves the
people who work here.”
Seated over by the window, pedi-
Full of Beans
Capitol Hill Coffee Bars are
Not Just for Java
B Y C E L E S T E M C C A L L
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
12 www.voiceofthehill.com
a diplomat. “I would love to go
back,” he says. For now, Neher
comes to Xando once or twice a
week, “when I get the time.”
Other patrons slip inside.
Upstairs, in Xando’s living roomlike
dining area, photographer
Mark Noecker is busy writing a
paper on compensation for atomic
veterans, people who have been
exposed to nuclear fallout. “ It’s a
big topic these days,” says Noecker ,
who works for the National
Institute of Health. A Hill resident,
Noecker, 31, is a regular at Xando.
“It’s great, a nice place to work,” he
says. He then points out his photographs
on the wall, depicting
scenes from Russia, the Czech
Republic, India, Portugal and a sunset
in Seattle. A self-taught photographer,
Noecker is an avid traveler.
Xando showcases work from local
artists, and displays rotate regularly.
The “Senate” side of the Hill may
not offer much for the sidewalk set,
but it still has some choice sipping
spots. Cups & Company is a small,
cozy hangout at Second and D, NE.
Perched at the narrow bar is Leyton
Pitzer, surrounded by a flurry of
newspapers. As he finishes his panini
sandwich and “mocha breeze,”
Pitzer, who works at the Joint
Economic Committee, is perusing
the Monday business section of The
Washington Post. “It’s pretty interesting,”
Pitzer says, chewing his
“Milano” panini of smoked ham,
Genoa salami, provolone cheese
and fresh basil. Cups’ friendly staff
and good food attract Pitzer about
three times a week. “It’s also quiet
most of the time,” he adds, as he
half-listens to the soft rock background
music.
atrician Karin Kent is finishing her
turkey sandwich and drinking Fresh
Samantha fruit juice. The Silver
Spring resident is working on her
patient schedules. She “loves this
place.” Fellow employees Lamai
Perry (who lives on Bolling AFB)
and Carleen McCarley (from
Northeast Washington) opt for
Roasters’ friendly sidewalk cafe. It’s
McCarley’s first visit to Roasters, but
Perry arrives a half hour before
work every day to sip her tea.
“Service is always excellent,” she
says. “Sometimes we fail to tell the
employees that.”
Not far from Roasters, Giorgio’s
also attracts coffee hounds, nibblers
and bookworms, even to the extent
of providing a rack full of paperbacks
by the entrance. Giorgio’s
inviting, living room atmosphere,
with its sofas and easy chairs, has
proved a popular site for the Capitol
Hill Restoration Society’s monthly
“Preservation Forum.”
At the corner of Third and
Pennsylvania Ave., SE is Xando
Coffee and Bar. Though it’s usually
packed, today the shiny outdoor
tables and chairs are just partially
occupied. University of the District
of Columbia law student and summer
law clerk Jim Meher is taking a
break from his studies. Over an iced
tea, he’s reading “Spanish Stories—
Cuentos Espanoles” 13 tales printed
in their original Spanish and translated
into English on the opposite
pages. “I read the Spanish version
first, and underline words I have to
look up. Then I check myself by
reading the English translation.”
Neher, 41, learned Spanish as a high
school student in the Dominican
Republic, where his father served as
“Cups is popular with Hill workers,”
says manager Kathy Chung,
adding that as many as 90 percent
of her customers work for the
House or Senate. Most opt for carryout
service, while a handful like
Pitzer prefer lunching at the counter
or at Cups’ handful of outdoor
tables. Come fall, Pitzer and other
Senate staffers will not have to commute
so far for lunch; Cups plans to
open a spin-off in the Dirksen
building.
A few blocks away is Union
Station, which some consider the
“anchor” for the burgeoning restaurant
business along Massachusetts
Avenue NE. Occupying a sizeable
section of Union Station’s teeming
food court is Bucks County Coffee
Co. In its decade or so of existence,
Bucks County has grown from a
modest stand to a long counter
slung along the section near the
movie theaters. Bucks dispenses
everything a coffee lover could
desire, and more: all sorts of coffees
(whole bean and by the cup),
bagels, Danish, muffins, lusciouslooking
fruit tarts, and yogurt-covered
pretzels. Bucks is especially
popular with commuters—area residents
using Metro as well as travelers
catching the Metroliner or other
AMTRAK trains.
Fitting into the first category is
Marc Henderson, who is seated at
the long, glossy wooden bar. The
bar’s unusual feature is a series of
glass-covered “windows” which display
roasted and unroasted coffee
beans. Henderson, a 38-year-old
Bethesda resident, is finishing his
lunch while sipping Bucks County
iced coffee. No, he’s not a regular,
Henderson says. He just wanted a
place to have a quick bite and finish
his newspaper before returning to
work.
Bucks employee Fatima Stubbs
pauses between customers. “People
come here from all over because
they like to try all the different
kinds of coffee,” she says. Nodding
toward customers engrossed in
newspapers, Stubbs adds: “Bucks is
like an information booth.”
On Union Station’s upper level,
far above the hustle and bustle of
the food court, is Cafe Renee
Coffee & Cuisine. At the four-sided
bar, would-be songwriter-entertainer
Ann Crews is scribbling furiously
in her journal. Once engaged in
conversation, the self-proclaimed
coffee fan is eager to chat. “I always
come here to write when I’m not
working,” Crews says. (She’s
employed at Kramerbooks & Afterwords
at Dupont Circle.). “Later
this afternoon, I’m going to another
coffee shop (Jolt N’Bolt in Adams
Morgan). There, I’ll probably work
on my song writing. Song writing?
When asked to elaborate, Crews
explained that her music was
“rock— sort of.” As for now, Crews
has polished off her Danish and
mocha. “It’s my breakfast and
lunch,” she says. A passing server
laughs fondly. “Ann’s our starving
artist.” “I love coffee shops,” says
Crews. “But I never drink regular
coffee, just mocha. I practically
never sleep.” Crews, who lives on
Capitol Hill with her sister, moved
to Washington last year from New
York, where she performed with a
band. “I still go back there every
other week,” she says. “I love
Starbucks in New York; I have a
friend at every Starbucks from
Fourth Street to 103rd!”
That’s a lot of java. No wonder
she doesn’t sleep! As for Capitol Hill
brew, Crews also favors the mocha
at Roasters on the Hill. “When I
first moved to the Hill,” I used to go
to Roasters all the time,” she says.”
When this reporter says that she
finds Crews a fascinating interview
the young woman chuckles, “you
don’t know the half of it.”
Celeste McCall is a Capitol Hill based
free-lance writer
The Sunday crowd at Bread and Chocolate.
Photographer Mark Parascandola at
Xando.
Jim Neher, UDC law student and summer
law clerk reads Spanish-English
stories over coffee.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 13
dance with. Lightly he held her,
leading with his mind and fingertips.
Then afterwards—your place or
mine? Usually hers, since his wife
who had filed for divorce in a fit of
pique, then changed her mind,
might call long distance from
Akron and plead with him—how
much she loved him back in their
grad school days, and now they had
three fine daughters ready to be
launched and he not there to help.
Come home, she urged. She’d never
dreamed he’d go so far when she
had shooed him out.
What she, the other woman in
this triangle, now remembers most
vividly after all these years is
swirling in the striped silk strapless
dress past the shades-hidden band
leader, her lover’s fingers working
her back as he hummed the old
tunes he’d tipped the band to play;
“I wish You Love” his favorite. Did
he hear those lyrics, how what they
really said was Good-bye?
She herself had not heard the
message then, there on the dance
floor. But later the song echoed in
her head and became his final word
as she stood in the Casablanca twilight
and watched his white plane
mount the sky.
Shirley Cochrane teaches at
Georgetown University’s School of
Continuing Education and at the
Writer’s Center, is the author of two
books of poems, and a founding member
of the Capitol Hill Poetry Group
Clothes Encounters
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202-546-4004
on the rocks. “I should say it’s 75%
percent my fault.” He had three
teen-aged daughters, exactly the
number she had now, her youngest
twelve, oldest fourteen—Speed
Queen she’d been for sure, having
those babies. The middle one had
the same name as his oldest—
Elizabeth, no nickname in either
case. Pure coincidence, that naming.
Hers named for her mother-inlaw.
But back to their dancing. He was
the only man who
ever made her feel
like the perfect
dancer. He
said the
same of
her—
only
woman
I could
ever
BY SHIRLEY COCHRANE
Even now, she thinks of their
Saturday nights—she in her striped
and strapless gown, he in his icecream
suit with pastel tie—-swirling
past the bandstand, the band leader
in impenetrable shadow and looking
slightly Mafioso.
Were the band leader’s eyes
behind those shades trained on
her? She sometimes wondered. He
seemed to turn his head to watch
her. But she could never have asked
her lover, for he was plagued by
jealousy, a trait which amused her
except that time he went up on the
rooftop of their building and sat on
the ledge, legs dangling over the
city.
Banal, her oldest daughter would
have called their romance if she’d
ever heard about it. He, older
married man, she younger
woman just out of college on
her first job. They’d met on a
rainy Sunday—laundry
room of their apartment
building. Speed Queen
washers—“Speed Queen”
became his nickname for
her. She’d admired his
initialed silver flask, and
he poured her a drink
into the silver cup
that doubled as a
top. Undiluted
bourbon. She took
one sip, made a
face.
He had invited her
out to dinner that same evening
and told her that his marriage was
Twenty Years After February
in Miami
BY SHARON NEGRI
Two o’clock sun unable to speak,
a muted chill,
a blond woman dives
into a diamond shaped pool
with flawless form.
a man hired to tend the ferns
stares at her from behind,
knows he does not
speak her language
but watches
her legs opening and closing
like parts of his life
scissored and slipped
into a worn leather wallet.
He thinks of the dark legs
of a lover left behind
who brought him warm tortillas
and a warmer tongue
under a sky that struggles
exactly like this one.
The woman swims and swims,
she does not speak his language,
her strokes are perfect
but she will never see
the feather of pink
heating the horizon of his
homeland,
never know kisses
laced with hibiscus,
the lush percussion
of afternoon rain,
she will live among the ferns,
well-tended.
Sharon Negri’s poetry has appeared in
several poetry journals and three
anthologies. Her first book, The Other
Side of Now, was published in 1989.
Her book, Ruby and Other Lives, was
published in 1996. She is currently finishing
her second full-length book.
Sharon is also the director of The Hill
Preschool.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
14 www.voiceofthehill.com
BY KEITH YANCY
Two-thirty in the morning they call.
“Is Delonta there? Have you seen Delonta?
“No, I ain’t seen no Delonta.”
It’s early afternoon now. She can
Hardly get anything done in the narrow duplex
Mashed between two others just like it.
The cinder block walls are painted pale green.
She is on her knees cleaning out the kitchen
cabinet, the one under the sink, where pots
And pans stand in a tottering tower.
Amid the music of dented tin, they come
knocking. “Is Delonta here?”
“You know what? Y’all about some ignorant
somebodies. I told y’all Delonta ain’t here.”
A bouquet of plastic flowers, some missing
bulbs, graces a scar-pocked coffee table.
A black belt coils like a snake. A beeper
attached is hissing.
She frowns up her face as if suddenly she
got a whiff of some smelly thing. With one
hand still clutching a pot by its stem
she leans over and shuts the stupid thing off
then goes back to her pots-and-pans music.
A door in the adjoining hallway slowly opens.
A spindly figure in boxers and bow legs
bounces off the door frame while rubbing his eyes.
“Grandma, can you fix me some eggs?”
“Look, Delonta, I ain’t nobody’s
slave. Fix your own self some eggs.”
Retired DC Fireman Keith Yancy’s work has appeared
in the African American Review and other poetry
journals. He is a member of the African American
Writer’s Guild and has been a member of the Capitol
Hill Poetry Group since 1988. This story/poem is
reprinted From the Other Side of the Hill, a compilation
of works by the Capitol Hill Poetry Group.
How Many Times Do I Have to Tell Y’all?
Delonta Ain’t Here!
It
BY JUDITH MANGUBAT
Occasionally, as a child, I would receive a “too
fine” present. Too easily soiled. Too fragile. Too
costly. Too complex. Too mature. Too likely to be
misused. Deemed inappropriate for me, in some
way.
There was a closet filled with these gifts. Each
one was put away with a promise, “someday you
can have (wear, play with, read, use) this; but not
now.” When you get older...When you learn to
take proper care of your belongings...When you
behave the way you should...When you understand
how...
I longed so much for some of those presents. I
tried hard to study and grow and behave correctly,
so that I could become deserving enough. But
not one of those gifts ever came out again, except
to be rewrapped and given to someone else, or to
be boxed up and donated to charity.
After a while, it seemed that I wanted to have,
or to become, many things which, I was told,
would never be available for me. I’m disqualified
by (check all that apply): age, heritage, weight,
IQ, EKG, gender, complexion, history, other
(please describe)—therefore, “It ain’t gonna happen.
Nothing can be done to change it. Get over
it.” In numerous ways, the message was repeated
that certain things are too good for me; that pursuing
them is foolish and futile.
However, there is one stunning exception. The
surpassing “too fine” gift.
I will never deserve grace. Yet certainly the
giver will never withhold this from us. We can
ask for as much as we want.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken,
Gather us in, the blind and the lame;
Call to us now, and we shall awaken,
We shall arise at the sound of our name.
With One Voice, hymn 718
Judith Mangubat is a DC native, working with the
U.S. Customs Service. She traded long duty hours as a
supervisory inspector for perpetual time demands as a
computer systems specialist. It is reprinted from The
Rush of a Mighty Wind: Words for the Pentecost
Season, published by the Lutheran Church of the
Reformation
Cool Summer
Morning
BY RON MARTIN-ADKINS
You arrive hidden on the routine June visitor,
the key to my cell
carried past the brutal guards -
named hazy, hot and humid -
and the warden of DC summers.
Like contraband smuggled
through the scanning eye
of a scorching sun,
you bring relief
from oppressive measures.
You bring the unexpected inheritance
from that remote relative
who lived secreted in northern Maine,
so cool, crisp and clear—
a cause for celebration.
Now I recognize you
through the disguises,
beneath the make-up, subtle
tricks and playful surprises.
Hello, Grace.
New to the Hill, Ron works at the Children’s National
Medical Center and spends spare time writing and
trying to keep up with minister wife, two teenage children
and dog Cinnamon.
Unanswered
Questions
J. GARRAWAY KELLY
I have unanswered questions that are plaguing me
About loyalty, commitment and serenity
About truth, denial, freedom and life
And ethics, growth, what makes a good wife
Of intimacy, and distance and honesty and trust
How to keep peace and where to put lust
What is God and who is wise?
Explain motivation. Talk of surprise
Fear, failure, lack of ambition
Dedication, equality, roots, tradition
Pick a topic, I’m pondering them all
No answers have I. Not a thing to recall.
The best I can do is continue my quest
Remembering occasionally to “give it a rest.”
J. Garraway Kelly the “other founding mother”—
along with Linda McMullen—of Clothes Encounters.
“We were next door neighbors out on Kentucky
Avenue near Lincoln Park. She had an antique shop
and was bored; I was making great money in sales
downtown and was bored. That’s basically how it
started. Had to beg, beg, beg her to start that business
with me. Look now!!! It’s an institution, isn’t it?”
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 15
I no longer faint
BY LAURA MITCHELL
I no longer faint when I see my cat paint.
While it is unexpected, I no longer reject it.
What she does with her paws elicits my awes.
In my cat’s gallery there’s no piece of s
hill-shallery.
Each work is a mastery, no feline catastrophe.
Her painting of Cubans looks like a Rubens.
Those black and white lines could be Franz
Kline’s.
The sprays and the dollops could be Jack
Pollock’s.
And that portrait aglow could be a Van Gogh.
I show my friends these works of art.
How soon they wish they could depart.
I see surprise in their eyes.
“How nice,” they say to disguise
their apparent skepticism
of my cat’s pointillism.
Laura Mitchell is an alto in the Capitol Hill Chorale.
Although she has a doctorate in history, she frequently
flees the facts and writes fiction and poetry.
To the Poet and
the Artist
BY TERESA RUSSO
I thank the illuminated Florentine
and the divine artist of that same valley.
One spoke the words of God through a lady;
The other illustrated the beauty of His creation
from Delphi to the prophets
They pointed to the stars,
revealed the celestial lights:
An unconditional love for His children to
embrace.
Man can stand alone or follow the bright
diffusion from the sun.
Their arts opened my eyes and penetrated my
soul.
My blindness has been cured.
Knowledge has entered my mind.
Teresa Russo is an artist whose work was most recently
displayed at the Wilson Gallery. She also teaches
oil painting to at-risk high school students for the
Shakespeare Theatre’s Southeast Project, an educational
outreach program.
April Evening,
Capitol Hill
BY SALLY MURRAY JAMES
Forget that the day fit together
like sharp, clear pieces of glass,
the sky a bigger blue
than any prize brought home
from any beach.
Forget how the new leaves
moved like slow, insistent fingers
among the blooms
and forget the brilliant non sequiturs
of the azaleas.
Leave this day. Let the evening
sink down to smudge
brick houses, iron rails and gates.
Let the wisteria
forsake its lavender and wander white
like an old ghost
along the garden wall. Forget
everything but night
and let us settle in
among the dark’s unfolding fans
with our imperfect words
and our own,
less patient hands.
Sally Murray James is an editor and designer at Cutting
Edge Graphics in the District. She has lived on the Hill since
1986.
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16 www.voiceofthehill.com
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Dear Judith:
My house has real, operating wood shutters, but
they keep falling apart. I feel like my kid’s college
fund is being eaten up in repairs. I love the way the
house looks with shutters, but after living with
real ones I can’t see nailing fake ones up. Should I
just take the old ones off?
SHUDDERING
Dear Shuddering:
Good for you! Fake is fake and decorating the outsides
of our houses with imitations of elements
with functional purposes is silly—or dishonest—
depending on how violent I feel.
Just removing the old wood ones and storing
them somewhere in the house (or the carriage
house, basement or attic) is your least expensive
alternative. You don’t want to throw them away
because if they are original to the house, or just
old, you want to keep them so that some future
generation or owner can restore or reinstall them.
If you want to fix the shutters one more time,
the secret to extending their lives is a piece of
flashing at the top of the shutter. Most wood shutters
are made so the end grain of the vertical stiles
is exposed on the top—as well as the joint
between the top rail and the vertical guys. This is
an invitation for water to get into the wood and
the joint and rot your shutter. If you put a little
piece of aluminum flashing on that top edge, you
have just eliminated one of the major sources of
deterioration.
You can restore each shutter: disassembling and
consolidating deteriorated wood, filling holes,
reassembling and re-gluing. Then paint them,
install the flashing, and re-hang. This should
extend their life—at least until the kids are out of
college.
Dear Judith:
We’re selling our house because we bought one
across the street. Our realtor advised us to paint
the outside of it white or light yellow to get it to
sell faster. But, we got a price of $4,000 from a
painting contractor and wonder if it is really
worth it.
BLANCHE
Dear Blanche:
Congratulations for staying on the Hill! We have
so many houses of so many sizes and styles and
types that I feel like people can always find a bigger
one, smaller one, quieter one, closer one—
right here.
About painting. Don’t paint it white or light yellow.
If the brick is the original dark red, pressed
brick with the fine (“butter”) joints don’t even
think about painting it! If your house is already
painted, and you really want to freshen it up for
resale, your color selection depends on several
things.
Though this may appall your realtor, if your
house is painted pressed brick (as above), I would
not advise putting any more paint on it. The new
owner may want to restore it, and you will have
made the job far more difficult.
If the house is common brick (the softer,
rougher brick with larger joints) you have two
choices. You can paint it brick color on the
assumption that it was originally unpainted. Or,
since we now know that some of our common
brick houses were originally painted, you can
select a color.
I personally think painted facades were the
result of 19th century ideas of providing curbappeal,
since the same house probably has an
unpainted backside. You can get an idea of
whether your house was painted by hiring a historic
paint analyst for a couple of hundred dollars.
You’ll find out how old the first coat of paint is,
and what the first color was. If you find that it was
originally painted in the 19th century, you can
restore it to the original color or select a color
scheme that would have been recommended by
the taste-makers of the era. Or, since it is your
house, you can decide to paint it according to
what you like, as of the late 20th century.
You might also just decide to leave the house
alone and let the new owner make the decision –
while you spend your money and energy on your
new old house!
If you’re interested in what the style mavens of
the 1880’s thought about color, a great source is
Century of Color: Exterior Decoration for American
Buildings 1820-1920, by Roger Moss.
Dear Judith:
I love living on the Hill and I love Mission furniture.
What do I do? I’ve been dreaming of a little
bungalow....
GUSTAV
Dear Gustav:
You’re in luck. The Hill has lots of houses built in
the time period of 1900 to 1930, the same time
Mission style furniture was popular. Bungalows,
Craftsman or Arts and Crafts movement, and
Mission style furniture were all apart of the same
aesthetic. Houses on Capitol Hill built at that time
(and built by the thousands all over the city), are
the porch front houses with the mansards. Buy
one and fill it with Mission or Stickley furniture
and stay right here!
Judith Capen, AIA, practicing restoration architect is
the author of many of the Capitol Hill Restoration
Society’s award-winning guidelines for work on
Capitol Hill Homes.
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 17
One Curmudgeon’s Opinion
BY DUNCAN SPENCER My eyes were opened to the Hill’s fantasies
by Jose Canales. He’s the genial
Salvadorian with a toothy grin who
runs one of Eastern Market’s mainstays
—Canales Deli—where there are 47 different
kinds of sausage. But Canales was
looking not at sausage but at a food
service magazine and particularly
at a picture of a modern indoor
market.
“It would be nice,” he sighed, “if
we could have something like
this.” The picture showed gleaming
cases filled with food, tiled floors,
bright lighting. Cabinets were steel,
sleek and shining. Design was modern,
a soft industrial look.
Being a true believer in the Hill’s
peculiar Disneyland view of life, I was
appalled. “You mean,” I remember
saying, “you don’t like the market?”
Canales wearily wiped his neck with a
towel and rolled his eyes to the overhead
fan swirling above his stand.
I have been a captive for years of one
of the central Capitol Hill myths: that
the crumbling old Eastern Market
Building, built in 1871 and cruelly
neglected by its landlord, the District,
was something of an ideal because it
was funky, run-down and odorous, but
real.
Fantasy I—That the Eastern Market, which we
believe is operated by fiercely loyal merchants
during the week and peopled by humble, genuine
farmers on the weekends, is the only real, unsullied
farmer’s market in the city.
The truth is that, not to name names, there are
only two real farmers on the farmer’s line, and
many of the “farmers” get their vegetables at
Florida Avenue wholesalers or elsewhere and
mark them up, short-cutting the tedious business
of tilling the soil, and at the same time adding the
pleasant visual of earthy yokels carting in the
fruits of their labor for our delectation.
In the cold light of comparison shopping,
Eastern Market offers little variety (compared with
say, Fresh Fields. Shoppers Food Warehouse, Dean
and Deluca, or a suburban Giant), and is supported
by a wealthy, close-in community that uses it
more for amusement than nourishment. It is, in
fact, a food theatre.
Market Sub-Fantasy—That the ruthless, octupine
Glasgow family reaps millions from the Market in
rents and gouges more in a near monopoly of
stalls.
The truth is that in spite of the fact that the city
has almost ruined it by neglect, the Market could
not exist without the city subsidy of a nominal
$10,000 per annum rent.
The truth is also that the Glasgows, after helping
rescue the Market in 1963 when the city had
plans to tear it down for parking, have proved to be
uninspired businessmen, unwilling to try new
concepts such as advertising, festivals or other
promotions for what has now become a major
Washington tourist attraction.
But then, the Glasgows want the market to
remain a food market, and rightly so. They
don’t believe tourists buy food—and they
might be correct. Their main fear now is that
new Eastern Market legislation, which is
itself so complex that only a dozen
lawyers in the whole city understand
it (and I am not one) will rob their
three family businesses of sales value.
Fantasy II—That this is a friendly, liberal,
accepting community, a wonderful
“village” behind the Capitol Dome.
Disney could certainly work with this
one. In fact, Hill residents are clannish,
suspicious types, forever spying
on their neighbors and reporting
them to the police. Petty jealousies
between rich and poor, between black
and white, between business and residential,
between those in the Historic
District and those outside it, between
renters and owners predominate.
Roving and ever-changing groups of social vigilantes
swirl through the Hill, each with an agenda.
Guess what? The Hill is no better or worse than
any other self-absorbed nit-picking small town
where the people in charge of local institutions
are those with little else to do. And the fact is that
most residents who have been here for a long time
love it this way. Want to see Hill faces light up?
Mention a good zoning fight, a liquor license
application, a building plan, a school closing—or
much more recently, a beer festival.
Fantasy III—That the Hill is “diverse.” This, the
most often heard bit of fantastical self-congratulation,
does not stand up to any honest demographic
study. The history of the Hill over the past 30
years has been that of steady “gentrification” by
wealthy, predominantly white people pushing eastward
and northward from their original stronghold
near the Capitol.
Want proof? The close-in voting precincts of the
Hill are among the strongest Republican enclaves
in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. And
another fantasy about diversity: D.C. is no longer
“Chocolate City” as Washingtonian memorably
dubbed it. The racial majority that African-
Americans enjoyed in the 1970s has slipped from
75 percent to a current 61.2 percent, according to
a recent survey published in Washington Business
Journal.
To give the Hill full credit, however, we welcome
all people of all types—as long as they are rich, or
if not rich, utterly orderly and law abiding. The
idea of Hill diversity would be to have a diverse
group of millionaires, each in his or her lovely row
house.
Fantasy IV—That the Hill, overall, has a relatively
minor crime problem. This fantasy is actually close
to reality—if you happen to live on the Hill’s “Gold
Crust” which is the rim of streets and mini-neighborhoods
closest to the Capitol Campus.
Congress, with a police force of 1,300 or so for a
population of about 500 Very Important People
(compare with the city police force of 3800 for
500,000 not so important people), plus various
minor police forces attached to the Library of
Congress, the U.S. Park Service, Metro Police and
others, has seen to it that it’s workplace is very,
very safe. That safety zone runs clear out to 7th
Street SE and NE, an area covering the residences
of many Congressmen.
But go east of Lincoln Park and crime is very
much alive and well. The fact is that the Hill is surrounded
with and riddled with social service agencies,
residential facilities, and public housing projects;
poor and jobless people, not surprisingly, are
responsible for most of the city’s crime. And Chief
Charles Ramsay, wizard at the press conference
that he is, has not changed the overall picture.
Fantasy VI—Shopping is easy and convenient for
Hill dwellers who don’t have to drive long distances
to suburban malls. If only this myth was
true! In fact most dutiful Hillites slink off the Hill
to Pentagon City or other venues offering food
warehouses, Price Clubs or other mega-retailers.
Shopping on the Hill is a disaster. One major
bookstore (Trover). No men’s clothing. No
Furniture (except the weekend flea market). No
jewelry. No five and dime. One bicycle store. One
auto parts store. Where we are strong: drugstores,
corner markets, hairdressers and dry-cleaning,
dry-cleaning, dry-cleaning. And at Frager’s
Hardware, 1115 Pennsylvania, we have one of the
best (and most expensive) hardware stores in the
city.
Fantasy VII—Most Hill dwellers would leave if they
could, but they cling grimly to their rowhouses
hoping for the bubble of ‘89 to reappear.
The truth is, more and more people want to live
here because the Hill is both beautiful—and
unique. And its future grows brighter because,
after all, this is the seat of this company town. Real
estate is getting hard to find, and entrepreneurs
are moving in with new ideas for small offices and
build-ons to existing structures.
Why? Because there is no other neighborhood
like it for access to the legislative branch of
Congress, or for the constant flood of bright
young people who come thirsting for access to
politics and power or journalism or law. In spite of
all the negatives, the frustrations, the squandering
of money, the foolish schemes, the crime, and
the schools, and the hassles, people still flock to
Washington and increasingly to the Hill. That, at
least, is no fantasy.
Duncan Spencer is a freelance writer and regular
columnist for The Hill.
Who Needs Disneyland When
You Live on Fantasy Hill
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
18 www.voiceofthehill.com
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“So what’s this year’s hot color?”
“Grey. It’s the new black”
“I thought gray was the new black last year.”
“No, last year brown was the new black.”
“Oh.”
Actually, never mind about new colors.
Try as the fashion magazines do to sell us
on replacements for our shrouds, and as
much as we think we’d like to try...pink,
when we go out to get something special to put on
our backs, what do we end up buying? Black. So
says Marjorie Tuttle, the spiky haired, awesomely
energetic owner of Art and Soul, Pennsylvania
Avenue’s bastion of wearable-art and fine crafts.
Though it’s just two years old, Art & Soul feels as
though it has been around forever. In some ways it
has been. When Sharon McCarthy announced
that she was closing Moon Blossoms and Snow,
which had previously occupied the space, she set
off a minor earthquake among the Hill’s most
fashionable. Over the years her boutique and craft
gallery had become more than an institution, it
verged on a cult. It was also a welcoming place to
hang out, experiment, and always find something
unique. That, it most assuredly, still is.
At the same time Sharon was closing up shop,
Marjorie Tuttle, who had owned a small craft
gallery in Old Town for three years, was scouting
for a second location. The Hill wasn’t even on her
map. She was actually considering Bethesda. But
when she heard that Moon Blossoms was closing,
she saw a terrific opportunity. “Of course,” she
says, “there was that huge fear of fitting into
Sharon’s shoes,” but there was also the lure of
“sliding into something that had a strong foundation,
purchasing the fixtures, a mailing list, and
maybe stealing the manager.” (Which she did).
This is not to say that Marjorie wasn’t familiar
with the Hill. Twenty-some years ago she started
the Saturday crafts fair at Eastern Market along
with John Harrod. In those days it was called
“Fresh Art.” At the same time she also taught modern
dance on the Market 5 Gallery stage. This
Washington native started out as a dancer, studying
at the Mary Day’s Washington Academy of
Ballet, and performing in New York, Baltimore
and here on the Hill at the old Asta Theater on 8th
Street, SE—which she remembers as “a fabulous
little black box theater.”
From her exposure to crafts at Eastern Market
she moved on to museum programming at the
Smithsonian, then the museum at SUNY
Purchase, and then spent 8 years running the arts
agency at the University of Massachusetts, focusing
on large-scale public art projects, and meeting
many craftspeople along the way. She frequently
traveled around the country for UMass, and began
taking the work of various artists around to galleries.
“I absolutely fell in love with crafts,” she
says, “they became my personal passion.”
Which brought her back home, to a shop of her
own in Old Town. About that location she says she
“did a little research, studied demographics, and
spoke with economic development people. I
couldn’t have opened then in DC. I didn’t have
the capital. Out of all the potential sites, Old Town
seemed to have the most. I chose upper King
Street—which came into its own just as I was
opening up. Now it’s a haven for all types of destination
shoppers.”
Though Alexandria continues to be swell, her
experience with the Hill has left her amazed that
more retailers don’t set up shop. “There is a
tremendous weekday population,” she says.
“Between Congress, and the Library of Congress
there’s an absolutely huge built-in audience in
this two block area (which no one has discovered
yet... and if you can find space). Trover is mobbed,
I have fabulous traffic. What does that show you?
Getting it On at Art & Soul
It’s worth staying home from the beach...
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VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 19
Jackie
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Anyone who had a brain would do anything they
could to come in here.”
Though crafts are hardly new to Marjorie, wearable
art is. The clothing line was added because
Sharon McCarthy was famous for it. Marjorie
actually hired Sharon to work with her for several
months and lead her into that part of the business.
As it turns out, she found they had similar
tastes. Marjorie kept some of the old lines, then
began adding her own discoveries, and brought
them into her Old Town shop as well.
One wall at Art & Soul holds a completely mesmerizing
collection of long floating silk cloaks,
swirled with muted colors. They’re made by
Carter Smith, who Marjorie calls “one of the
fathers of the contemporary art movement in this
country.” Smith’s specialty is shibori dying, a
Japanese technique of dying onto silk. And these
pieces are to die for. As Marjorie puts it, “You have
to be bold if you want to wear Carter Smith,
because you walk in and the whole room stops.
There’s a little hush...” Smith’s work is at the wayhigh
end of clothing available at the shop, his
pieces run between $700 and $800. The price
range is unusually broad. You can find plenty of
things to walk the dog in or, as one woman was
doing as we were wandering around the shop
fondling things, something for a wedding.
What’s coming in for fall? Marjorie laughs, “I
feel like I’m sitting in the House of Chanel. I’m
trying to bring in as much color as I can, but
there’s lots of gray [remember gray?] coming. And
Capital Children’s
Museum
Summer
Camps
we have lots of wonderful millennium party dresses.
We figure people will be millennium partying
from September and October on.” And what’s a
millennium party outfit? Really dressy stuff –
dressy, but artsy. Everything from a little bit funky
to very sophisticated.” As for non-party wear,
there’ll be a lot of Berber and fleece jackets, sweatshirts
and coats coming in. “Other than that, it’s
the usual wonderful mix.”
Then there’s jewelry, Marjorie’s number one
passion. The store features baubles from both
American and European artists. One of her personal
favorites is Terri Logan, who crafts her pieces
from satiny river rock and oxidized sterling.
Logan’s work is “primitive, earthy, “ says Marjorie.
“It makes a statement, but it’s not flashy.”
That’s a statement that holds true for much of
the jewelry, clothing and crafts available at Art &
Soul. These are distinctively beautiful things that
set you apart from the crowd. In fact, the shop is a
one (or two, maybe three) of a kind shopping
experience. You won’t find these wares at Macy’s
or Nordstrom. Nothing is mass-produced, and
much of it is hand-made. In just a few short years,
Marjorie Tuttle and Art and Soul have had quite
an impact on the Washington jewelry, craft and
wearable-art scene. This fall she and the shop will
be featured in Niche Magazine, a bible for the
American Crafts industry.
By the way, Art & Soul’s summer sale has just
begun. Says Marjorie, “we like to say it runs until
we get rid of the stuff, but people can expect to see
spring and summer clothing, and some crafts and
gifts on sale through maybe August. It just dwindles
and dwindles and dwindles...that’s all.”
Art & Soul is at 225 Pennsylvania Ave., SE. 548-
0105.
James van Sweden Rakes Them In. James van
Sweden can really pack a garden. He can also pack
a house. Despite one of those rain storms that
seemed like God had upended a bottomless bucket,
van Sweden’s mini seminar-slide show on
townhouse gardens played to a standing room
only crowd at Giorgio’s Cafe on June 29.
Hill based landscape architect, and partner in
Oehme and van Sweden, was the featured speaker
at the Capitol Hill Restoration Society’s last
Preservation Forum of the season. Though he and
his partner, Wolfgang Oehme, have been responsible
for some of the most spectacular public gardens
in the city, including green-space at the
Treasury Department, the National Gallery and
the Francis Scott Key Garden, and are equally
known for opulent spreads like the 85 acre
grounds that surround the home of the original
(and that’s a lot of pound cake) Sara Lee, the team
consider themselves experts in small gardens.
Van Sweden’s own Georgetown garden is but 17
feet wide and 55 feet deep, and plays a featured
role in the two books he’s written for Random
House (a third will be out next summer). Some of
his pocket-sized work can be seen on the Hill. The
old bank building at 9th and East Capitol owned
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
20 www.voiceofthehill.com
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So many of Oehme and van Sweden’s concepts
have wandered into common gardening language
that it’s hard to recall that they were revolutionary
when the team began 25 years ago: combining
tall, wild looking, native grasses with more common
plants, shrubs and trees; creating a gardenscape
that’s interesting throughout the year; and
viewing the garden as a room, an extension of the
house. But, as is often the case, there are tricks to
making the vista magical.
Says van Sweden, “create drama, mystery, so
you don’t see everything at once.” Visually dividing
your space with water, lattice, and trees makes
a trip through the garden an exercise in discovery.
In a long narrow Old Town space, a serpentine
path punctuated at front, mid-way, and rear with
trees, creates a ramble. The main entry to van
Sweden’s own garden is up several steps from the
terrace outside the kitchen door, forcing you to
climb into the space to see it all.
A variety of levels add to the drama. A gentle
slope up to the rear of the garden exaggerates perspective.
Soil excavated to build a pond creates a
hillock for planting. A rectangular lily pond built
upon the terrace floor and surrounded by a wide
stone ledge is perfect for sitting. And use “borrowed
scenery.” Take advantage of interesting
views beyond your garden walls and frame them
with plantings.
Then there is bringing the outside in, or the
inside out. In van Sweden’s garden, similar sculptures
adorn both the living room and the terrace,
and the kitchen and the patio beyond are united
by the use of the same paving. Another Old Town
installation features a fountain placed so it is visible
from the entry to the house, drawing the eye
to the drama outdoors.
Give creative thought to paving, and “hardscape”
too. A simple walkway can be given the feel
of a dry stream bed by combining broad smooth
stones and river rock to evoke a dry stream bed,
the effect reinforced with a burbling fountain.
Make a “rug” of herringboned brick trimmed with
straight-layed brick at a garden entry or juncture.
Along similar lines, separate limestone squares
with rows of brick-ends. Moss and other natural
growths add texture and color to surfaces and
ornaments.
Add water. It needn’t be much, very complicated,
or very expensive. Van Sweden’s own water
element is small, the lid of a Japanese lantern that
fills with rainwater and sparkles in the sun. But if
you have the space and the resources, go for a bigger
splash. He says “the bigger the water feature,
the better the garden.
Think winter. Create a wonderful view that
changes with the season. “Winter” says the garden-
meister, “can be as beautiful as any other season.
A dried bouquet.”
If you’re tackling your garden yourself, van
James van Sweden at the final
Preservation Forum at
Giorgio’s Café on 7th Street
imparts some tips on making
your garden vista magical.
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Sweden advises you to “measure, do a drawing
and then plant or install your large elements first.”
Those bones will stay, but plants can be moved. He
and his team of 20 architect’s shift plants constantly,
so often the final design looks nothing
like the original sketch. And think big. “There’s
nothing worse than too skimpy,” says van
Sweden, “in elements, or plants.”
It’s Flue Season Already. The condition of my fireplace
has been about the last thing on my mind
these past few weeks, but it’s been on the front
burner for a surprising number of area residents.
David Benway, president of Winston’s Chimney
Sweeps, says his 11 full-time employees are being
kept hopping this summer installing wood-burning
stoves, pre-fab fireplaces, restoring and repairing
existing fireplaces and chimneys, and scrubbing
away the cob webs and creosote. What’s driving
this scurry? Y2K. Recent reports say that DC is
woefully unprepared for the turn of the century –
and Benway says customers are telling him that if
they “can’t control the computer driven power
plants, gas services, and utilities, at least they’ll
know they’ll have heat this winter.”
Winston’s has been in the chimney business for
25 years, and they know their stuff well enough to
be called in as consultants for both Channel 9 and
Channel 4 News. They’ve done special reports for
both stations, were featured on a PBS kids show
called “Looking for Santa Claus,” and often give
talks at local schools about the history of chimney
sweeps. They’re also available to give presentations
on fireplace safety to homeowners groups.
Benway says fireplace cleaning and maintenance
is nothing to be sneezed at. Between burning bad
wood and careless handling blockages can occur
that allow carbon monoxide to build to hazardous
levels. That flue, says Benway, “should be cleaned
to within an inch if its life.”
If all this has made you break out in a sweat, you
can reach Benway at Winston’s Chimney Sweeps,
301-571-8546. (Yes, they are located in
Kensington, but they work regularly on Hill
homes, federally owned properties, and most
recently, the Navy Yard).
Bundle Up! Starpower, a joint venture between
Pepco Communications, a subsidiary of Potomac
Electric Power Company, and RCN Corporation, a
full service telecommunications company, will be
bringing a bundle of services to Capitol Hill
homes this fall.
The company, which has been around since
1997, has until recently been focused on providing
cable, telephone, and high-speed Internet access
to office buildings, apartment houses, and
schools. Now they’re expanding to private homes,
and service may be offered on the Hill as early as
September.
General manager Tony Peduto says residents
will be able to receive cable, telephone and highspeed
Internet access from a single connection,
eliminating the need for additional phone lines.
Starpower brings a single line to the house and
hooks it into an interface box, free of charge. You
select the services, and the more you take the
lower the package price. For instance, Peduto says
their basic cable service offers 94 channels
(including Disney, the Independent Film
Channel, and Home Team Sports(channels that
are offered as premium services by other cable
providers) for $31.95 per month. If you use
Starpower for local telephone service, which
Peduto says is 5% below Bell Atlantic; they’ll
reduce the cable tab by $2. If you add on long distance
service, at 9.9 cents per minute, the cable
bill is reduced by another $2. High speed Internet,
which Peduto says is 100 times faster than standard
modem speed, costs $39.95 per month. That
sounds steep, except that you no longer need a
second phone line for access. And, says the boss
man, “anyone who has seen it, can’t live without
it,” since you can download tons of information
in mere seconds.
For more information, you can visit the Starpower
website at www.starpower.net, or call them at 1-877-
starpower.
Hot Spot. Sizzling Express, the upscale buffetstyle
restaurant, opened for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner on Tuesday, July 15 – and is providing a
bright new anchor for 600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE.
This is the third location for the popular restaurant.
They’ve been doing, dare we say, a sizzling
business at their K Street and McPherson Square
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
22 www.voiceofthehill.com
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locations for more than a year – and a fourth
eatery is already in the works. The extremely varied
menu includes over 150 dishes each day, an
array that includes everything from sausage and
eggs, to sushi, salads and other vegetarian dishes,
sandwiches and freshly carved turkey and roast
beef. All of which is available for sit-down, carry
out, and delivery. Sadly, though the owner hoped
it could be otherwise, plans for an outdoor cafe
have been tabled, at least for this year.
Opening night hitch. A complaint lodged with
the ABC board just before the restaurant’s opening
party KO’d the bar, at least for the evening.
Seems someone (yet again) got out his or her tapemeasure
and ruled that the restaurant is within
400 feet of Hine Jr High. There was no resolution
at press time. We’ll be giving you the follow-up on
www.voiceofthehill.com.
Chill Out. Bluestone Cafe will be open this month,
finally and at last. Promise. The build-out of 7th
Street’s old Post Office building is in its final
stages, the menu is being primped, and we should
be sipping those virgin margaritas on the patio in
just a matter of days. Says Robin Rains, co-owner
and spokesperson for the beleaguered cafe, Pepco
has been the latest hitch. Seems the heat wave has
got the power company working full-steam trying
to keep what exists in this town functioning, so
their delays in installing the restaurants lines have
stretched to weeks.
Welcome to Amyland. Yes! Natural Gourmet is
opening their third DC location this Fall in Amy
Weinstein designed digs at 645 Pennsylvania Ave.,
SE (adjacent to another Weinstein project, 666
Pennsylvania (home of Bread & Chocolate and
the Michelle Taylor Gallery), which abuts on its
7th St side another Weinstein project (Ben &
Jerry’s/Bluestone Cafe), which is next door to
what will be—no doubt—be another Weinstein
project (the imminently closing Oggi Hair Salon),
and that happens to be diagonally across the street
from another Weinstein project (The National
Association for Home Care).
Though Weinstein’s the architect, the developer
is Stanton Development, the team of Frank
Reed, Kitty Kaupp and Ken Golding which
brought us all of the above mentioned. Frank
Reed, president of Stanton Development says that
they’ve been negotiating with Yes! since January,
but the deal has just been finalized. Weinstein’s
designs have passed muster with Historic
Preservation Review, and build-out will soon
begin. Yes! should be up and running early this
fall.
Our Yes!, we’re told, will be similar to the
Woodley Park shop. In addition to a wide selection
of health foods, plans include a juice bar, featuring
fresh squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, a
deli, organic produce, bulk spices and herbs, vitamins
and cosmetics.
It’s Either a Feast or Famine. Suddenly the Hill
has an elegance of food shops. This month we’re
watching for the opening of Groceries, Greens
and Other Things on 8th Street, SE. This is a new
venture by Marsha Martin who also owns the
charming cafe Ellington’s on 8th (which is closed
for renovations for a few weeks). We’re expecting a
lot from this ex-New Yorker. She should know
from food.
Swanky Lunch. So where does senator Mary
Landrieu cozy up for a little noon time tete a tete?
That ultimate in exquisite dining, Jimmy T’s on
East Capitol Street. The Louisiana democrat was
recently spotted holding court with what
appeared to be several staffers and what was,
unmistakably, a passel of tots. Our informant, by
the way, wasn’t sure at first that it was she, he
“thought she looked too young and pretty to be a
senator.”
Yes! Natural Gourmet comes to the old Sampan. This
vintage photo dates back over half a century.
Sizzling Express is sizzling at 600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
www.voiceofthehill.com 23
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A Fresh Fields for the Hill?
The Latest Survey Results, and Our Status Report
Back in May, when we published the first responses
to our on-line survey about bringing a Fresh
Fields to Capitol Hill, we ended by urging you to
continue filling out the questionnaires. Though
we had collected over 100 responses, we felt a few
hundred more would prove more inspirational to
the grocers. You responded, almost to the number.
As of July 5, we received 301 responses, representing
the shopping habits of 569 adults and 97
children. Not bad for a query without a prize, a
whim that may not bear any (organic) fruit.
While our first wave of responses seemed to
indicate that Hill residents were hungry for a better
source of vegetables—particularly organic vegetables
and “healthier” foods—comments from
our larger sampling indicate widespread dissatisfaction
with our local Safeway, and resentment
over being bypassed or ignored by “upscale” retailers.
Though residents truly seem to want a Fresh
Fields, it is because the grocers represent quality
merchandise and service; commodities in short
supply up on 14th Street.
Background (skip this if you’ve been
following the story):
To recap briefly: In the April issue of The Voice
we told the tale of the neighbor who saw a note on
the bulletin board at the Arlington Fresh Fields,
“How about putting a Fresh Fields on Capitol Hill.
We need you!” Under the note was a follow-up
from the management. Something to the effect
of, we’re looking at the Hill right now. We followed
up immediately with Sarah Kenney, the
marketing coordinator in Fresh Field’s regional
office in Rockville. Sadly, she said, whichever
manager posted the note was incorrect. As of now,
there are no plans for a Hill store.
But Kenney offered that the company is in
“expansion mode” and they’re actively seeking
out new locations. Further, encouragement from
residents carries a lot of weight. In fact, she told us,
the store now being built on P Street, NW came
about because of intense residential lobbying. So
we created a survey in hopes of collecting enough
responses to move the grocer to consider the Hill.
New Stuff:
Since then we’ve had several conversations with
Kenney, and are in the process of setting up a
meeting to share our findings with the chain’s
president. Though they hold out no promises,
they are most definitely impressed with the outpouring,
and curious to read what you’ve said.
Slamming Safeway:
One of our poll-takers said “I think it’s safe to say
there’s a lot of resident disappointment with the
Capitol Hill Safeway, and I’ll bet a lot of people
leave the District whenever it’s convenient (or
even if it’s not convenient) to shop elsewhere. I
look forward to seeing if your survey proves this
hunch—based on tons of anecdotal evidence—
true.”
There does seem to be real evidence that dissatisfaction
with the Capitol Hill Safeway is widespread.
Though 2/3 of respondents do shop there,
it doesn’t please many to do so. Another 1/3
choose to leave the Hill altogether.
“I would be thrilled to have an alternative to the
Capitol Hill Safeway—something fresh and with
tempting appetizers for parties and picnics.”
“Selection and service at the Safeway are poor.
A Fresh Fields would get much of their business
from all of the dissatisfied customers.”
“Safeway could use some competition, especially
for produce, wine, ethnic foods and
seafood...Quality comes first and Safeway, on the
Hill, lacks quality.”
Better than a quarter of respondents avoid the
Capitol Hill Safeway altogether, heading off the
Hill to a Fresh Fields, another area Safeway, Giant,
or other large grocer.
“I make special trips to Virginia or stop on my
way home just to have some decent food — I never
shop at the Capitol Hill groceries because the food
is just so awful...”
“Fresh Fields seems a good fit for the Hill...[I]
refuse to shop at the Safeway which is a disgrace to
the chain.”
Safeway had only one defender in this new
batch — if you want to call this a defense:
“I think it’s important to support local businesses...
and for that reason I continue to shop at
Safeway. That said...if Fresh Fields established a
presence on the Hill, I would be a regular customer...”
Where Would We Put It?
It would be nice if the powers that be at Fresh
Fields took a look at our stack of surveys and said,
“whoa, look at this mate, we’d better start building
next week.” But we all know that’s not going
to happen. Or do we?
Said one writer, “I would be so happy to have a
Fresh Fields, I’d even settle [for one in] Pentagon
City. I just can’t imagine where a Fresh Fields
would fit on the Hill.” Well she couldn’t, but plenty
of others could, skipping the part about “will
they” and moving right along to planning the
where:
“We’ve been scouting for a location...the parking
lot at 13th and Pennsylvania looks perfect!”
“Undeveloped land at the intersection of 19th
and Independence...”
“Please make it in North East...the rent would
be inexpensive on H Street.”
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
24 www.voiceofthehill.com
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6 School Board representative—a full 15 months
before the election—the crowd gathered at
Ellington’s on 8th clapped and hooted their
approval when Cymrot took a swipe at Duncan
Spencer’s ANC rips in the June Voice. Well, as
Spencer says, you either “love ‘em or hate ’em” but
either way, they do spark controversy (as does
Spencer, which is why we use him).
Shortly after the June issue of The Voice
appeared, ANC6A Commissioners Frank Withrow
and Gregory J. Ferrell, and ANC6B Commissioner
Kenan Jarboe, fired off letters to the editor. Both
were posted to www.voiceofthehill.com. We
reprint them here, along with a response from a
resident, Mark Eckenwiler, who shares his view of
the last meeting of ANC6A. NOTE: These letters
are absolutely unedited.
From: Kenan Jarboe
I must take exception with Duncan Spencer’s
analysis of the ANC System He attempts to paint a
picture of the commissioners as a group of amateurish
busybodies. A quick look at the life of the
late Dennis Dolinger, Commissioner for 6B12,
should be enough to dissuade anyone of that
view. Dennis’ service on the ANC was about building
a better community, not about petty politics.
While Dennis was exceptional, he was not the
exception when it comes to dedication to service
by ANC members.
Mr. Spencer also attempts to frame the dynamics
of the local ANCs as pro versus anti development.
That is an overly simplistic view. Capitol
Hill is a mix of residential and commercial areas.
That is why we live here — at least why I have lived
here for almost 15 years. The mix can create a tension
within the community, a tension that is
reflected in the ANC process, as it should be in an
elected representative body.
He is also incorrect when he states, that “seldom,
if ever, did the ANC formulate a policy that
was good for the neighborhood as a whole.” Mr.
Spencer, who has covered the local scene for years,
should know better than to make such an unsupported
generalization. He may disagree with the
actions of certain Commissioners and some of the
actions of the ANC’s as a whole. But such a sweeping
condemnation can only be described as ludicrous.
In fact, I have been impressed with how
mightily ANC 6B strives to ensure that its policies
and actions are good for the neighborhood as a
whole as witnessed by the recent agreement
makes it impossible to use as full-service grocery.
Still others felt Eastern Market is the answer to
nothing. As the biggest grinch put it, “ Fresh Fields
should take over the abysmal Eastern Market,
where rats run around even in daylight, and produce
is mostly inferior.”
As For the Rest of the Stats....
Tripling the number of responses didn’t have
much of an impact on the statistics we published
in May. Most of the respondents are still couples
without children and singles. Most everyone
shops for food at least once a week and at a variety
of places on and off the Hill. Nearly half spend
$100-$150 per week on groceries, with a third
spending less.
Three-quarters say they already shop at Fresh
Fields. Though most go once a month, nearly 20%
say they make a weekly trek—with Virginia stores
more convenient for most. Three quarters say that
if we had a Fresh Field on the Hill they would shop
there weekly.
Heads up restaurateurs! 178 people answered
the dining out question, which was added after
the first spurt of responses. We do eat out a lot it
seems, the average number of restaurant visits is
better than 6 per month. And over 20% say they
eat out 10, 15 or even 20 times a month.
The food co-op question was also put on the survey
late—after several people contacted us saying
they use co-ops regularly and thought we might
want to concentrate on attracting one to the Hill.
Though it is possible that a Capitol Hill co-op
might prove to be popular, only 4% of respondents
indicate that they shop at one now.
So.....
As soon as our meeting with the president of Fresh
Fields is over, we’ll post the news to www.voiceofthehill.
com. What can we expect? Maybe something,
maybe nothing. But if we get a total no go,
watch for another survey. If Fresh Fields isn’t interested
we’ll roll our shopping cart stuffed with statistics
to your second choice. And thank you all for
responding, this is fun, and it might even end up
being productive.
Taking Issue with Spencer
When silver-tongued Steve Cymrot introduced
ANC6B Commissioner Tommy Wells at the June
30th kick-off party for Wells’s campaign for Ward
“Consider the area around 2nd and G, NE.
Right now it’s just an old school and a parking
lot.”
“How about the old Safeway building on 7th
Street south of Pennsylvania, Ave.?”
“The Navy Yard/M Street redevelopment area
would be perfect.”
One thing we’re pretty much all agreed on. We
want a Fresh Fields and we want it now.
But What Would Happen to Eastern Market?
Eastern Market, which is a regular shop stop for
2/3 of our sample, came in for quite a few careful
comments. Some were concerned about what
would happen to the Market if competition
arrived.
“It would be very bad to undercut Eastern
Market,” said one. “We have an invaluable
resource with those merchants...it is disappointing
to read that people say they would go to a
mass-merchandiser such as Fresh Fields as
opposed to a personable, enjoyable, fresh experience
such as we can get at Eastern Market daily...as
well as in the farmer’s line on Saturday. If people
want organic food they should make their wishes
known; some farmers on the Saturday line do
bring in organic foods and the merchants
inside...will do everything in their power to provide
what we want, providing that we ask them.”
But others stressed that though they love
Eastern Market, and would continue to be regular
customers, the 6PM closing makes it difficult to
use as a regular food source, and the selection
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agenda that we want to bring to the table. The
unpaid Commissioners should have a loud and
clear voice in the councils of government. I have
not met a Commissioner who did not have the
interest and often the support of the community
behind them.
I suggest that The Voice of the Hill would serve
the community better by taking a commission
and profiling individual members. Who are they?
Where did they come from? What are their talents?
What do they believe they will achieve?
If you do not consider it a conflict I would be
willing to write such an article on ANC6A.
From Gregory J. Ferrell:
Mr. Duncan Spencer’s article possibly expressed
the views of what I assume to be the opinions of
one disgruntle former ANC Commissioner,
Virginia Gaddis and perhaps the young progressive
whites who have relocated to the near northeast
community.
ANC 6A ‘s boundary extend from the South to
East Capital, Street N.E., North on Florida Avenue,
to the West on 4th Street N.W and East to
Oklahoma Ave. N.E. ANC 6A’s compositional
membership is very diverse with divergent views
and social economic backgrounds. His views
clearly proffers a particular races and age group
ideals and failed to offer the readers a contrasting
opinion or other views from our ANC 6A community.
Your article has offended many in the Black
community and perhaps Mr. Duncan lacks the
maturity to understand the importance of inclusiveness.
Our elderly, youth, young adults and
middle age are just as important to our
Commission as young transit whites. Many individuals
currently residing in the Near North east
community are native Washingtonians and have
lived in their homes for over thirty years. Do their
opinions on this matter count?
Mr. Duncan never interviewed Commissioner
Pernell nor I to elicit our comments for his opinionated
article. His misdirected statement that
our Chair is “clinging to his Chairmanship” supports
the opinion from many that Mr. Duncan is
suffering from illusions and his article only fosters
racial division in our community. ANC 6A’s newly
elected commissioners produced a quorum at
each of the last six regular meetings. There is no
bribery investigation underway about Mr. Pernell.
between Heart & Soul and its neighbors that the
ANC helped facilitate.
Is the ANC process messy? Of course!
Democracy is messy. And local democracy, where
the issues affect people directly can be the messiest
of them all. But, as Winston Churchill
remarked, “democracy is the worst form of government
except for all those other forms that have
been tried from time to time.”
I would also point out that, at least in the case of
ANC 6B, the electoral process is alive and well. In
the past election, two incumbents were defeated
for re-election and a number of new commissioners
elected. I, for one, tried to make clear my positions
in a letter to my neighbors during my campaign.
If Mr. Spencer thinks that getting elected is
as easy as handing out a few printed cards, he
should try it some time.
It is very easy to see a broken system when one
is looking at the problems. Mr. Spencer’s job as a
reporter is to point out the problems. But, it is
both unfair and incorrect to generalize from a few
problems to a system-wide conclusion, as he does.
I will try to avoid making the same error. I can
only speak from my experience with ANC 6B.
Based on that experience, I stand strongly behind
my statement in Mr. Spencer’s article: “I think it
does a remarkably good job in fulfilling its role.”
From: Frank Withrow
Let me congratulate you on your paper and electronic
services. I find them useful and well done.
However, I am concerned with Duncan Spencer’s
article on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
I decided to run for the ANC because in its finest
moments it is the essence of participatory democracy.
To abolish it as Congress proposed last year
would be a disservice to the community. The
nature of political discourse is a passionate advocacy
by the representatives perceived interest of
his or her constituents. The role of the ANC is to
foster a better community for all. ANC6A is an
interesting community ranging from neighborhoods
that are on the upscale side to neighborhoods
that are in decline with buildings boarded
up and abandoned. In such a diverse cross section
of interest there is no question that different and
passionately different opinions will be taken.
Like all humans the Commissioners bring their
own talents and baggage to the Commission
meetings. Each of us in his or her own way have an
At a special meeting held May 4, 1999,
Councilman Harold Bazil with the full support of
the Commission chaired the meeting and heard
the facts, evidence and the allegation pertaining
to Mr. Pernell. With over seventy-five community
members in attendance Mr. Pernell was able to
successfully resist the attempt to remove him from
office. By majority vote, the Commission refused
to adopt the allegations outlined in resolution 99-
11 because the facts and evidence did not support
the changes; rendering the resolution moot.
Clearly Mr. Duncan’s journalistic style is regressive
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handed a diploma, feel that they’ve been educated.
This, Wells feels, is “immoral.” It is not only
unfair to the children, it is unfair to employers
who expect a certain level of skill, and to the taxpayers
who are subsidizing the system.
There’s another group of kids that Wells wants
to focus on, the “11th and 12th graders that no
one wants to talk about.” He says, “The sense is
that there’s not much we can do about them.” The
focus now is on bettering the situation for
younger children, but “we have a 40% dropout
rate for our teenagers. We need to invest in their
health, give them a safe environment, and prepare
them for jobs. If we can prepare them, they’ll
be seen as assets and not be feared.”
Wells will most likely face-off against current
School Board representative, Ben Bonham, in
November 2000.
Hill Businesses Throw Lemons at
Pepco
Power outages have been a problem on Capitol
Hill for years, but a string of failures that began in
late June have brought business tempers to the
boiling point. A meeting with Pepco CEO John
Derrick was called after 3 outages in 16 days shutdown
restaurants and other businesses along
Pennsylvania Avenue, 8th Street, and at Eastern
Market. Between Friday, June 25, and June 28,
when the meeting was held, three more power
crashes occurred.
As a result, nearly 40 restaurant and business
owners packed the back room at Hawk and Dove
on June 28, to hear from Derrick, Councilmember
Sharon Ambrose, and representatives from the
Public Services Commission.
Lynn Breaux, owner of Tunnicliff’s Tavern came
very well prepared, as did every other merchant
that attended. Says Paul Meagher, manager of the
Hawk and Dove, when Derrick said they had never
had a problem like this one, Breaux replied “I had
9 outages in February 1996 during the ice storm.”
Stuart Long, owner of Hawk and Dove and other
commercial property on the Hill, was particularly
impressed with the support of Councilmember
Ambrose. He says that when Derrick tried to minimize
the situation as an “aberration,” Ambrose
jumped in and said “this ain’t no aberration.”
Pepco has been told to prepare a three-year study
of outages, what caused them, and what the company
has done to solve the problems. The report is
to be presented to the group at a follow-up meeting
to be held on July 14.
In Stuart Long’s opinion, Pepco has done about
nothing. The group was told that the June woes
were caused by a “50-year-old breaker that didn’t
kick-in and a fire started.” Though most of the city
has redundant service, the Hill is kept alight with
antiquated systems. Says Long, “they’ve never
invested money in this neighborhood because
downtown is paying the bills.”
The Arts Workshop Makes Lemonade.
While power outages have been disastrous for
most businesses, they spawned a new art form at
the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Says Workshop
executive director Jeffery Watson, one of the
blackouts occurred just before a performance of
Sam Schwartz’s new play, leaving theater-goers
milling about on the sidewalk waiting to see if the
show could go on. When director, Jeffrey Keenan,
VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
and suggests that Blacks are unable to govern
when Whites decide to move into the neighborhood.
And from Mark Eckenwiler
ANC 6A Commissioner Gregory Ferrell’s recent
letter to you is yet another bad joke in an overlong
comedy routine. Instead of responding directly to
Duncan Spencer’s criticism, Ferrell attempts to
defend the sorry state of ANC 6A by—what else?—
playing the race card.
Alas, no matter how many empty platitudes
Ferrell mouths, it can’t change the fact that the
Commission under Ferrell’s and Chairman
Pernell’s “leadership” has made itself essentially
irrelevant. The meeting on June 3 was attended by
3—that’s right, three—people aside from the
commissioners. More tellingly, the room was
filled for the PSA meeting held immediately
before, largely by the African-American residents
whose views Ferrell purports to represent. Ferrell’s
supposed constituency showed its devotion to
him by walking out as soon as the PSA meeting
was over. So much for “the importance of inclusiveness”
Ferrell claims to foster.
Of course, it didn’t matter much that no citizens
were there, because the ANC didn’t accomplish
anything. Matters that should have consumed
mere minutes—approving minutes of the
prior meeting, receiving the treasurer’s report,
and the appointment of a delegate to the Eastern
Market Commission—took up a full hour with a
combination of bumbling slapstick and mindnumbing
tedium. A good five minutes were devoted
to the treasurer’s apparent inability (since
February!) to cancel service to an ANC telephone
number or to pay Bell Atlantic the accrued charges
and mounting penalties. Votes were taken and
retaken as most of the commissioners’ minds
wandered, presumably to matters more pressing
than the ANC.
True, there are a few commissioners who seem
to be paying attention, and who exhibit an inexplicable
interest in addressing local residents’ concerns
(instead of defending their own malfeasance).
But Ferrell’s letter to you—laced with evasions
and thinly veiled race-baiting—only offers
further evidence that the commission’s leadership
both grossly disserves its constituents and
richly deserves the criticism leveled in Duncan
Spencer’s article.
Back to Tommy Wells.
All of the above has nothing to do with Tommy
Wells and his bid for the School Board. The incident
at his campaign kick-off gave us a lead-in for
the ANC exchange that we just couldn’t resist.
Tommy Wells has been a respected ANC
Commissioner since 1994, and is an experienced
and knowledgeable child welfare advocate who
has served as the executive director of the
Consortium for Child Welfare since 1991.
Wells says that the reason he’s
starting his campaign so many
months before the election is
that “he wants to enter into the
debate about the future of our
school system now, when issues
like charter schools, testing, and
even whether we’re going to
have an elected school board are being discussed.”
He also feels that by time the election comes
around, there’ll be “so much energy around the
City Council races,” that people won’t be focusing
on the School Board issues, and these are too
important to become an afterthought.
As for his vision for our public school system,
Wells sees charter schools, most of which average
140 students, as good for our younger kids. These
small neighborhood based schools are more
responsive to the children and to their parents. He
is also an advocate of “Standards Based” teaching,
which let kids know “exactly what they should be
doing at each grade level.” He says that when “we
graduate kids from our high schools, they should
feel prepared to go to college or into the working
world.” Too many of them now graduate from our
weaker high schools and, since they’ve been
26 www.voiceofthehill.com
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VOICE of the Hill / July 16, 1999
heard that there was an Italian tourist in the
group, a woman who was on the last night of her
vacation in the US, he didn’t want to disappoint
her. Keenan and company rapidly discussed —
and rejected — moving the play to a variety of outdoor
locations, then just moved the minimalist
set to the Workshop’s second floor where the
dying sunlight and a couple of over-sized flashlights
illuminated the action for a delighted audience.
And so, “Flashlight Theater” was born.
Summit Held on the Hill’s “West
Bank.”
Spurred by the Washington Gas Company’s plan
to develop their 10ish acre (the actual size of the
parcel seems to waffle with every press release or
discussion) plot of land at 12th and M Sts SE, city
officials, National Park Service planners, and private
developers at the Navy Yard in late June to
discuss the greening of the western shore of the
Anacostia.
Ideas bandied in the “visioning session” included
converting the two Department of Public
Works buildings under the 11th Street bridge to a
community water sports center, similar to the
boathouse near the Kennedy Center. Offerings
would include kayaking, canoeing and rowing.
Also in the planning is a hiking and biking path
along the riverbank. This last would require some
changes to three of the four private boat clubs that
nestle at the shore. We understand that the
Mayor’s deputy, Lamont