Rates
Dear Raters:
I knew it. I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned Rep. Steve King’s
comparison of the rates of violent death in Iraq and DC (themail, June
4). As I write repeatedly, themail is about local life in DC, and we don’t
debate international or national issues here, but several people were
furious that I should have quoted the figure of 27,000 civilian deaths
by violence in Iraq over the past three years, and insistent that they
should be able to challenge that number in themail. Even though Rep.
Marcy Karpur, a liberal, antiwar Democrat, used the same number in her
floor speech on the same day as King, and even though the main source
for the death rate estimate is the antiwar group Iraq Body Count, now
that King has used the estimate, the number has to be a lie, a dirty
Republican trick. And I’m a dirty, deceptive, lying, Republican-lover
for not insisting that the true number of civilian deaths in Iraq has to
be much higher. That’s another good reason to limit discussion in
themail to local issues; since Republicans are an extinct species here,
we don’t have to blame them for everything.
A second complaint about the comparison of violent death rates was
that Iraq is a whole country and the District of Columbia is a city, so
it’s not fair to compare the two. The rate of violent deaths in the
United States as a whole, these correspondents insist, is dramatically
lower than the rate of violent deaths in Iraq. That’s true, but
irrelevant to me. We don’t live in peaceful Iowa or Kansas; we live
here, and the rate of violent deaths that is important to us is the one
we face in this city. The same argument about an unfair comparison is
made when DC’s schools and the test scores of DC’s students are
compared to those of states. The assumption underlying the argument is
cities can’t be expected to educate their children as well as suburbs
and rural areas do.
I don’t understand the reasoning behind either argument. I don’t
see why we should find it acceptable that the rate of violent deaths
should be so much higher here in DC than it is in a country that is at
war and under siege by terrorists, just because DC is a city. Cities
aren’t inherently violent, and we shouldn’t accept it as normal that
they are. In fact, historically cities were created as peaceful refuges
from the violent countryside, secure places to which to retreat from the
chaos outside their walls. Similarly, we flatter ourselves that because
we are urban, we are much smarter and more sophisticated than our
country cousins. If that’s true, why are our children so much dumber
than the children of all those boobs and rubes and hicks who live in
areas that smart, sophisticated people like us shun? Why shouldn’t DC’s
schools be much better than Iowa’s, and why shouldn’t we be much
safer and secure than people who live without our high levels of
policing and protection? Why should we accept less?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Office of Baseball: Spending Never Stops
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com
From http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2006/05/office_of_baseball.html:
“In the council’s breakfast this morning, Williams asked for
$750,000 for a new . . . Office of Baseball, [to] ‘assist and advise
the Mayor in the review, planning, coordination and oversight of the
construction and development of the new ballpark and the surrounding
mixed use district and to coordination [sic] the development activities
on the ballpark site and in the surrounding area among the affected
District agencies and instrumentalities in order to maximize the
benefits of the public investment in the stadium complex.’” Just
when you thought the baseball brigade had run out of ways to spend
taxpayer money on the ballpark, we get this doozy! (And of course, it’s
DC citizens and businesses and not the owner, the developers, or MLB who
would be footing the bill for the creation and future growth of this
needless bureaucracy.) One would think that the DC Sports and
Entertainment Commission and the fist of the mayor’s office known as
the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation would yield enough government input
and impact, but apparently not. The council had its chance to make its
stand on baseball by truly capping costs and choosing a site the city
could afford, but caved to the Brigade (even after the Brigade had been
thoroughly declawed when the true spending numbers came in) because of
the council’s inferiority complex that has them wanting to please the
Herb Millers of the world — who are not pleased unless you serve up
sweetheart boondoggles that no responsible government would even
consider. Instead of getting the peace they craved by their appeasement,
the council will get more headaches out of this boondoggle than ever.
“What the mayor is saying here is that although the DC Sports
Commission is overseeing the stadium construction and the AWC is
overseeing the creation of the entertainment district and the Lerner
Group is now in place as team owners, the groups must communicate and
not fight, as they have over parking garages.” This communication
breakdown, which purportedly would be solved by throwing money at more
consultants and a central committee (in an obvious ploy to get
continuous taxpayer money from the MLB project since the Brigade is
seeing enough of it thanks to the giveaway) was supposed to have been
covered by the DCSEC and all of the point men paid to centralize efforts
from embattled DCSEC Chairman Bobby Goldwater to Bavasi Partners
(remember that one?) to Mark Tuohey. Yet all parties have remained on
separate pages because the DC government was so paranoid about losing
the team to Virginia that it listened to its favored ownership group,
the Malek Gang, and developers (Herb Miller, et al.) on critical
elements like stadium siting, resulting in the choosing of Malek/Miller’s
preferred site closer to downtown over the early preference of the DC
government (including even the mayor) for the RFK Stadium site. In fact,
Virginia had a baseball commission, whose planning in conjunction with
their preferred owner weighed so much in their favor that it prompted
the Brigade to forward the blank check of a sweetheart deal that has
caused the current mess. Too bad it took until June 2006, after the
rotten ballpark deal was set in stone, for this “communication”
effort to take place.
The time for a baseball commission was back then, when it could have
done some good. As it is, the parameters are laid out in full, with the
ownership’s piece of the pie and DC’s piece laid out clearly, and
there is no way a toothless and redundant city baseball commission is
going to change that. Wasting more money with a commission that can’t
do any more than make suggestions and hold meetings is pointless,
especially as those objectives can be easily covered by the existing
DCSEC structure. Then again, this is the body that paid Goldwater
$250,000 plus perks galore to be the point man for DC on baseball, only
to be secretly paying Bavasi Partners $10,000 plus who knows how much in
expenses for eighteen months to be the point men for DC on baseball. On
it goes.
[The real purpose of duplicating the duties of the DCSEC in a new
Office of Baseball is to create a golden parachute — a big pay raise
and a job that will outlive the Williams administration — for Williams
crony and college roommate Steve Green. Green played a big role in
promoting the baseball stadium boondoggle, was the principal staffer in
the Office of Mayor in charge of baseball, and is now in line to head
the Office of Baseball. — Gary Imhoff]
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When even the mayor’s general counsel won’t help enforce high
ethical standards, we’re in trouble. Len Becker, in a report to City
Administrator Robert Bobb about personnel infractions at the Department
of Parks and Recreation (DPR), proposes a slap on the wrist for someone
who knowingly inflated her resume and lied about it. In a May 18
memorandum, Becker recommends that the DC Office of Personnel (DCOP),
headed by Lisa Marin, and the DPR, headed by Kimberley Flowers, be
instructed to take administrative action against Roslyn Johnson, deputy
director for programs at the DPR. This is like asking a fox to punish
another fox for breaking into the hen house. Further, Becker recommends
that the Inspector General be asked to conduct an audit of the personnel
office’s handling of rules governing the city’s Temporary
Appointment Pending Employment Register (TAPER).
Bobb could not be reach to determine if he will act on these
recommendations. A management audit of both agencies is warranted, with
special attention to the DCOP, which aided and abetted the flagrant
violation of District personnel laws. The consequences of personnel
infractions at DPR are that a multimillion dollar agency is being
mismanaged by people who cheated their way to the top, and District
residents are not receiving the quality of services they deserve for the
money they’re paying.
Complaints are coming in from all over the city about DPR. Last week,
Laurie Collins of the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance said the DPR’s
failure to respond in a timely manner is jeopardizing the group’s
annual Music in the Park Series. At Turkey Thicket, one resident, who
has been volunteering at the center, was banned from the facility after
a female staffer charged him with harassment. A report was never filed
with the police; the charge has never been substantiated. But the
resident has had his picture plastered around the center as if he is a
criminal, says Mary Baird Currie, an advisory neighborhood commissioner
who has repeatedly requested that the DPR hold a hearing into the
matter. DC Councilmember Kathy Patterson also endorsed a hearing. To
date, none has been held. Former employees have accused Flowers of
discriminating against whites and men and creating a hostile work
environment that has caused many of them to leave. Councilmember Vincent
Gray says he has received complaints from DPR employees who feel they
have been denied promotions.
Becker’s recommendations follow a series of articles that have
appeared in themail about Flowers’ hiring shenanigans. Flowers created
three new positions when she joined the agency last year, and then
filled those lots with cronies from Baltimore. Johnson is one of them.
While one employee, Shawniqua Ottley, DPR’s acting director of human
resources, may ultimately lose her job in a related matter, Johnson is
allowed to keep her post — although she admitted to Becker that her
first application signed on July 9, 2005, included the resume on which
she inflated her salary as Regional Director of Studyworks. She claimed
she earned $101,000 in that position. She was subsequently hired at DPR
with a salary of $101,893. In fact, Johnson’s base salary was at
Studyworks was only $55,000, and even with bonuses never reached the
level she reported on her resume, according to Ron Hinchliss with
Studyworks who supervised Johnson and who spoke with me in April 2006.
Becker says on September 16, 2005, Johnson revised her resume, and
dropped her Studyworks salary to $84,637. But that resume appears only
in the DPR files, not in the official DCOP files. Something smells here;
but Becker’s olfactory system isn’t working. Arnita Bonner, an
employee with the DCOP who handled Johnson’s application, admitted in
an interview with Becker that she allowed Johnson to revise her resume
to elaborate on her experiences at the Baltimore recreation department
so that Johnson could qualify for the higher salary she was seeking.
(Raise your hand if you’ve ever applied for a job, and the human
resources director personally called you and asked you to resubmit your
resume with a few more things on it so we can hire you for the job.)
Becker suggests that because Johnson held the position at the
Baltimore recreation three years prior to coming to the District, the
inflated salary was not material. In fact, Johnson held the position for
less than three years at the time she was hired by the District. Had
Becker not taken the lazy way out, and had he spoken with Johnson’s
employers, he would have learned this. Had he spoken, for example, to
Regina Williams, DPR spokesperson, he would have learned that she was
present when I interviewed Johnson by telephone and that Johnson
admitted to other misrepresentations on her resume. Instead, it appears
Becker spoke with only two individuals — Johnson and Bonner — both
of whom had the most to lose if the truth about this issue were told.
The two had conspired to break the rules to ensure Johnson got the job.
Bonner was DPR’s former human resources director before joining the
DCOP. She and Ottley worked together. Becker makes no mention of this.
He does note, however, that because Johnson’s position was newly
created it should not have been available as a TAPER; and that the
position should have been subject to open, published competition rather
than closed with notice given only within the DPR. None of this occurred
with either Johnson’s application or two other positions held by Kay
Sibetta or Tawanna Kane.
Despite this information that the DCOP broke its own rules, Becker
doesn’t recommend that Johnson and the others whose hiring followed
the same pattern, even if they didn’t inflate their resumes, should be
removed from their positions and made to reapply, doing it the right way
this time.
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Last week I created a public forum for my daughter’s school, Hardy
Middle School. It rapidly became a place for parents and students to
post and tell what going on with their school. In a week’s time the
boards are soaring and it has really been opening parents eyes to what
the students are going through, in their own words!
I have had many requests from people outside Hardy asking me to
create a forum for their kids schools. So I did. I have created a
general forum for DC’s Public . . . middle schools, junior high
schools, and senior high schools. The list can be found by going to one
of the following links: http://www.DCPSParentForum.com
or http://www.DCPSParentBoard.com.
Try to direct people to those addresses, if they are not directly
involved with Hardy. The forum for Hardy on DCPSParentBoard.com will
give this address: http://www.HardyMiddleSchool.com.
That will not allow people to post messages there; they will have to go
to Hardy’s page to post messages.
Suggestions are always welcome. I am not getting paid for this and it
is actually costing me time and money to run. Please keep that in mind
when you send suggestions and comments my way.
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Funding Homeland Security and Schools
Ed T Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
I’m sure I’m in the minority but I’m convinced that we are not
one whit more secure from terrorists than we were before the formation
of the WPA of this decade, Homeland Security. The 40 percent proposed
cut in Homeland Security funding for DC will only reduce the paranoia
embraced by the police and other so-called security personnel here in
DC. Folks I know who work in the Homeland Security Administration tell
me that it is the most dysfunctional and inefficient, ineffective
bureaucracy they have ever worked in. Less funding equals less paranoia.
Meanwhile, the mayoral candidates are all jumping on the bandwagon to
improve education in DC schools. How are they going to do this? And how
much will it cost? How will additional monies be spent? Orange says he
wants to increase the salaries of those on the school board. That’s
just throwing money down the rat hole. If you want to improve education
in the school system you need to start with talented leaders in each
school. That means hiring the best principals and then hiring the best
teachers. Get rid of the old guard that have burned themselves out (if
there was ever anything to burn there) and pay the best teachers a very
good salary. Add bonuses for those teachers who exceed the high
standards set by good school principals. If any mayoral candidate can
show how he can override the onerous and dumb-down effects of the
Teachers Union then he, or she, will get my vote.
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Letting Judges Run Our Schools
David Sobelsohn, anc6d02-at-capaccess-dot-org
Many Americans seem to believe that, if you want a result with all
your heart, just pass a law commanding that result, then leave it to the
courts. This philosophy underlies virtually all our drug laws, as well
as the move to recriminalize abortion. Write a law that says “Thou
Shalt Not,” and people won’t. Courts will take care of the laggards.
The notion of law as magic, along with the impulse to entrust governance
to judges, has ancient roots. The Bible even has a book called
“Judges.” In more recent times, the tendency to trust judges hardly
belongs exclusively to the right. Witness Ed Dixon, who keeps pushing a
DC Charter amendment proclaiming a legal “right” to “free
high-quality public schools.” Forty-eight states, he writes, have
similar provisions in their constitutions. I await evidence that having
similar language in their state constitutions has produced equally
“high-quality public schools” in Mississippi and New York. And who’s
to decide the meaning of, let alone how to achieve, “high-quality
public schools”? A web site to which Dixon links insists that defining
this phrase would still be “the responsibility of the school system
and elected leaders.” But that’s not part of the proposal. It would
be odd if courts found implicit in the charter amendment some bar to
their deciding its meaning. Anyway, if the amendment would let “the
school system and elected leaders” define and decide how best to
achieve “high-quality” public education, what would it actually
accomplish? Do some DC councilmembers currently argue in favor of
low-quality public education?
Dixon notes that DC already “has had plenty of lawsuits regarding
education,” in which “hundreds of millions of dollars are going over
the transom.” This seems an odd argument for a proposal that would
invite more litigation. But heck, what’s a few more hundred million
“over the transom”? DC needs more rich lawyers! Dixon cites lawsuits
involving school discrimination based on race and disability, and
seeking to equalize spending between school districts. But
discrimination presents issues far less complex than deciding how to
achieve “high-quality education.” And the charter amendment says
nothing about equal funding. The amendment would permit spending twice
as much on Ward Two schools as on Ward Eight schools, as long as both
met the standard of “high quality.”
Dixon attacks councilmembers for supporting “city financed
modernization” of private schools and for reducing “taxes on the
rich,” thus forcing funding cuts for public education and indirectly
increasing funds available for private schools. Well, sure. Stop
subsidizing private schools. Raise taxes on the rich. But leave DC
education policy to an elected school board, or at least to school
officials appointed and removable by politicians we can vote out of
office. Let’s not turn our schools over to DC Superior Court judges.
We have no control over any of these judges. We shouldn’t trust them
with the future of our children.
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A Colonial Mindset
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com
The contentious issue with the Education Rights Act seems to arise
over the issue of “high quality.” Can DC provide high quality public
schools? Mind you the question is not how DC can provide high quality
public schools, but rather whether it can. This delineation is where the
colonial mindset over DC is strong at play. There is little doubt among
Wilson Building regulars that DC should get a vote on the Hill in line
with the city’s right to self-determination. But whether or not DC can
provide high quality public schools does not stimulate the same response
from the Wilson legislative crew as a whole.
The distinction between these two goals is important because it shows
that the goals of self-determination for this city vary in striking
ways. If the idea of getting a vote on the Hill is a good one, than why
are not high quality public schools? Who is that vote for after all?
Shouldn’t the future citizens of the District have the wherewithal to
make sound decisions in their government? High quality schools would
ensure that enlightened approach to democratic governance.
Unfortunately, some big city legislators and their big business
backers are not looking for well educated voters. Well educated voters
are also well educated workers -- something that not all businesses want
to hire. Not only do they tend to cost more per hour, but they provide a
transparency that even open meetings laws can not. When politicians and
business exclude the public interest from the discussion, the agenda
becomes colonial. Public schools are the anvils of citizenship. When
they are used to trounce students’ aspirations and hopes in terms of
finding work, there is little hope for a free society. Every Wilson
building regular should step out of his or her colonial mindset and
demand high quality public education.
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ANC Commissioners and the Hatch Act
David Sobelsohn, anc6d02 -at- capaccess -dot- org
It’s hard to know where to begin in correcting Thomas Smith’s
posting to themail (“Ward Council Races,” May 31). Smith writes:
“Because ANCs are supposed to be politically nonpartisan, the Office
of Special Counsel has issued an opinion that ANC commissioners may not
run for an elected partisan office without first resigning from the
ANC.” OSC does indeed think the Hatch Act prohibits ANC commissioners
from engaging in certain types of political activity. But that’s
hardly “because ANCs are supposed to be politically nonpartisan.”
Many elected officials around the US, including (for example) the mayor
of New Orleans, are nonpartisan, or at least (like ANC commissioners)
not listed on the ballot by party designation. The Hatch Act applies to
virtually none of them. The mayor of New Orleans could run for any other
office he likes without first resigning as mayor.
The reason OSC thinks the Hatch Act covers ANC commissioners is much
more technical: because of a 1993 amendment, the Hatch Act now covers
anyone “holding office” in “the government of the District of
Columbia.” In its 1993 amendment Congress specified several exceptions
(e.g., DC’s mayor and city council). But they neglected to except ANC
commissioners. Why? I asked Erica Stern of OSC’s Hatch Act Unit. She
has no idea. As far as she knows, the legislative history of the 1993
Hatch Act amendments has no references whatsoever to ANC commissioners.
She also admits that OSC didn’t look very carefully at the history of
those amendments. Personally, I think Congress just forgot us. Probably
no one in Congress takes us any more seriously than does anyone else who
receives a government paycheck (which we [ANC commissioners] of course
do not). Stern also admitted that the Hatch Act has never been used to
oust a democratically elected officeholder, nor to oust an unpaid
volunteer. She concedes that, since we’re all unpaid but
democratically elected, and since the Merit Systems Protection Board
typically enforces the Hatch Act by firing the employee and withholding
his or her paycheck, applying the Hatch Act to ANC commissioners might
encounter what she delicately calls an “enforcement problem.”
By contrast with Thomas Smith’s ridiculous contention that ANC
commissioners who run for city council should first resign in the name
of “good government,” having the Hatch Act cover ANC commissioners
makes no sense. It almost certainly violates multiple rights under the
US Constitution, including the right to run for political office and the
right to vote. When the Supreme Court most recently upheld the Hatch Act
(in 1973 by a 5-4 vote), Justice Byron White (no First Amendment
champion) explained for the Court that “partisan political activities
by federal employees must be limited if the Government is to operate
effectively and fairly, elections are to play their proper part in
representative government, and employees themselves are to be
sufficiently free from improper influences.” He noted that the Hatch
Act did not “interfere” with “anyone’s vote at the polls.” Of
course, ANC commissioners are in no sense “federal employees”; we
have only an advisory role even in the DC government, and applying the
Hatch Act to us does indeed “interfere” with people’s right to
“vote at the polls” — namely all those who voted for us. Let’s
hope reversing OSC’s wrongheaded opinion doesn’t require another
presidential election, or another Supreme Court decision.
[David’s right: the Hatch Act is designed to prevent politicians
from using the governmental bureaucracy in their partisan political
efforts, and to protect government employees from being pressured to
support partisan political campaigns. Neither purpose is served by
bringing ANC commissioners under the umbrella of the Hatch Act.
Commissioners are elected officials themselves, not members of the
bureaucracy; and they are unpaid, so they are by definition not
employees. The Hatch Act shouldn’t apply to them, and the OSC should
reconsider its opinion. — Gary Imhoff]
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Physician Heal Thyself:
Diversion Wastes Time!
Samuel Jordan, samunomas@msn.com
I authored a commentary that appeared in themail on May 28 entitled
“Physician Heal Thyself: HUH In Denial.” My argument is that the
National Capital Medical Center (NCMC) debate has obscured what should
be considered, I believe, a threshold matter, the viability of Howard
University Hospital (HUH). HUH is in trouble. Its financial viability
has been challenged by serious operating deficits over the past few
years — years that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) must
review if HUH is to qualify NCMC for financing endorsement by the
agency. Key academic and instructional programs have received poor
ratings from accrediting associations. Recent comments from students,
faculty, and staff have disclosed a growing dispute regarding the
direction of the institution: is the university the development engine
for the community or should it focus on its core functions, including
medical instruction and health services delivery?
In an odd, surely unintended manner, a riposte to my commentary
appearing in themail on June 1 entitled “NCMC Critic, Get Your Facts
Straight” is not a riposte at all. Although posing as a rejoinder, it
left the gravamen of my comments without response. Where I addressed the
viability of HUH, the riposte’s correspondent, Ms. Dixon, dedicated
the critical core of her retort to a discussion of Greater Southeast
Community Hospital (GSCH). This is the use of the rhetorical device
known as substitution or diversion, by which device an altogether
different subject is held out as the “real issue.” Those who employ
substitution or diversion, hope that the audience doesn’t notice that
they’ve been asked to overlook the issue at hand: HUH is in trouble.
Ms. Dixon’s riposte did not address HUH’s financial deficiencies,
including a $150 million loss in FY 2004 that remained on the books for
a year before being “corrected” to a $1.2 million gain — just in
time for a reported $17.3 million loss for FY 2005. This, in spite of a
$30 million federal subsidy Nor did her riposte acknowledge that several
accreditation issues of significance have yet to be resolved. No
response was forthcoming on the transfer of unfunded pension liabilities
from HUH to NCMC. Ms. Dixon is silent on the questions actually
addressed in my commentary. Instead, she admonishes us that Greater
Southeast Community Hospital is in trouble. Greater Southeast has not
proposed a National Capital Medical Center. HUH has.
Ms. Dixon counsels that HUH is not seeking “charity.” Perhaps
that is the next step. She chooses not to acknowledge that HUH receives
a noncompetitive $30 million annual federal subsidy not available to
other District hospitals. Even so, the hospital’s performance during
the last decade, large losses against modest gains of $1.5 million to
$3.0 million, doesn’t promise to absorb the $15 million to $20 million
operating deficits forecast for each of the first five to seven years at
NCMC. Silence in the riposte. Perhaps Ms. Dixon is saying that since
Greater Southeast Community Hospital has received such “bailout”
help, it isn’t far fetched that HUH receive a bailout too. In my
testimony before the DC council on March 13, I averred that HU/HUH has a
tremendous store of political capital that assures the existence of a
constituency amenable to a fully disclosed request for public
assistance. The sooner requested, the better. Ironically, the campaign
for the NCMC has exposed weaknesses at HUH that would not otherwise have
been the subject of public discourse
Then there is the matter of the “five most pressing health care
problems” as referenced by Ms. Dixon. The advocacy community is hoping
that the Mayor’s Task Force will do just that — establish a
mechanism that will identify the “most pressing” health problems and
set a strategy into motion that will resolve them. Merely saying that
NCMC will address these issues is not to address them within the context
of a comprehensive health strategy for the District of Columbia, which
comprehensive strategy is yet to be formulated. NCMC is not a wand.
One might say that the riposte was affirming in the sense that not
one issue raised in my commentary met with any rebuttal, critique, or
supplemental information — the same modus operandi employed by the HU
panel before DC council in March. Only the issues I didn’t raise got
much attention. By this standard, it could be argued that the
correspondent agrees with my principal thesis: HUH is in trouble and we
as a community should deal with it now.
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TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG
If it ain’t broke. . . .
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One of the best things about themail is that it is a nicely bundled,
compiled/edited set of messages in one package. And everybody seems
about equal. In a blog, it basically appears/feels to be just the
bloggers opinions, with comments as peripheral. Keep themail as it is.
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And thanx . . . You do a great service.
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Strongly urge you to leave themail format alone. There is a real
difference between the essay format and open-ended conversation (and/or
chatter). Why not simply endorse some of the current blog sites for
continued banter on certain repetitive subjects? themail is unique and
serves a very good purpose just the way it is.
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There is room on the Internet for all types of forums and you have
created a good and worthwhile one that is based on your editing. Please
do not convert this into a blog (to be spammed by Rees and others). You
add value by moderating and editing it, and that value should not be
lost to the community.
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I would recommend leaving themail in its present format.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Registration for Guy Mason Recreation Center
Classes, May 22
Toni Ritzenberg, taritzdc@aol.com
Registration for summer ’06 classes at the Guy Mason Recreation
Center (3600 Calvert Street, NW) began on Monday, May 22, with classes
starting the week of June 12th. The Center is offering classes in Move
It (formerly Dancersize) and integral and rock-and-roll Yoga. Those over
fifty can participate in senior momentum. There is Art I (studio with
critique on Saturdays), Art II (introduction to art practice on Tuesday
evenings), and Art III (intermediate studio on Tuesday afternoons).
Three music classes are now being offered covering a range of ages. For
parents/adults with children from birth to four years of age there is
Music Together, for persons twelve years of age and older there are
piano lessons and voice lessons.
Winter will be here before you know it, so why not make your own
holiday gifts or that special mug, platter or pot for your own use by
taking a pottery class. Or, to have something beautiful in your
possession, there are copper enameling workshops. Intermediate French is
being offered this summer with beginning classes returning in the fall.
For specific program start dates, visit the Center’s web site at http://www.guymasonstudioarts.com.
To register online, visit http://www.dpr.dc.gov
and click on Activities Program Registration and follow the
instructions. For further information and/or to register in person,
visit the Center at 3600 Calvert Street, NW, Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-10
p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m., or call Robert Haldeman/Caryl King at
282-2180.
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Visions: solo artist exhibition featuring the art of Afrika Midnight
Asha Abney . Ellington’s on 8th, 424A 8th Street, SE. May 31-June 30.
Curated by Prelli Anthony Williams. Sponsored by Ellington’s on 8th.
For more information contact Afrika Midnight Asha Abney at Aashawarrior@aol.com
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Pride at Work Awards Reception, June 9
Krissi Jimroglou, kjimroglou@yahoo.com
Join Pride At Work, DC, as we honor three local progressive heroes
for their work in resisting the war in Iraq, expanding rights for
transgendered DC citizens, and fighting for the rights of immigrants.
Third annual awards reception, Friday, June 9, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.,
AFL-CIO Gompers Room, 815 16th Street, NW. Food/wine/beer served. $25
donation at the door; $10 for students.
We gather to celebrate the seventh anniversary of our chapter,
announce plans for the year ahead, and honor three leaders for workplace
dignity and LGBT equality in the capital-area community. Please plan now
to be with us and kick off Pride Weekend in style.
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2006 Shaw Freedom School, June 10
Melissa S. Johnson, intern@onedconline.org
ONE DC, Organizing Neighborhood Equity, will hold its annual Shaw
Freedom School on Saturday, June 10, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the
Immaculate Conception School (711 N Street, NW). This year is all about
human rights. Dialogue with your neighbors and participate in skills
building workshops about the right to housing, community, education, and
employment. Breakfast, lunch, and a celebration dinner are included free
of charge for all participants.
For more information, please contact Melissa (intern@onedconline.org)
at 232-2915 or visit us on the web at http://onedconline.org.
Translation in Spanish and Cantonese will also be available. Join us as
we explore human rights and find ways to protect them!
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The 2006 Capital Catwalk Salon will be held on Sunday, June 11, 4:00
p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at the Four Seasons Hotel, Georgetown. Mariessa
Terrell White, executive director of the High Tea Society, created the
Capital Catwalk Salon in 2004 to showcase Washington, DC, as not only
the nation’s capital but also a fashion capital. The Capital Catwalk
Salon celebrates international and national style icons whose social
grace, business acumen, and personal panache inspire others to
greatness. It is a fashion showcase inspired by the epochal Battle of
Versailles and will feature celebrity guest designer Stephen Burrows.
Audrey Smaltz, CEO of the Ground Crew and Ebony Fashion Fair’s
famed commentator, will serve as the Catwalk’s commentator. Maureen
Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary and
The New York Times op-ed page columnist, will introduce Mr. Andre
Leon Talley. The Honorable Anthony Williams, mayor of the District of
Columbia, will present Mr. Andre L. Talley with a special proclamation
at the event. The Catwalk will recognize Mr. Talley, editor-at-large, Vogue
magazine; Ms. Darlene Mathis, interior designer and owner of
Collectibles Gallery; and Dr. Dorothy Height, chair emeritus of the
National Council of Negro Women and recipient of the Congressional Gold
Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom).
The event will benefit the Washington High Tea Society, a unique
mentoring program for DC public school girls aged 10 to 18 that stresses
the importance of academic prowess and social grace. The High Tea
Society was founded in 1997 by the Honorable Judge Mary Terrell and
utilizes a three-pronged approach: mastery of social graces along with
cultural and educational enrichment. “Exposure,” Judge Terrell says,
“is the key that allows a person to feel comfortable not only in their
house but also in the White House.” That is the mission of the High
Tea Society. For more information, see http://www.highteasociety.org.
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Silver Spring Heritage Day, June 24
Jerry A. McCoy, sshistory@yahoo.com
An exhibit of “Vintage Silver Spring Photographs by Robert B.
Davis” (who worked at the Silver Spring B&O railroad station from
1945 to 1987) will be on display from noon to 4:00 p.m. At 1:00 p.m.
Takoma Park musician Joe Uehlein, of the roots-rock band The U-Liners,
will perform railroad songs in the train station’s restored 1945
waiting room. Author Jerry A. McCoy will sign copies of “Historic
Silver Spring.”
At the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, 8100 Georgia Avenue (at
Sligo Avenue), Silver Spring, MD. Free. Information 301-537-1253, sshistory@yahoo.com,
http://www.sshistory.org.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Rolled-arm, camel-back sleeper sofa, $325. Covered in gold and red
stripped cotton. Mint condition. Simmons mattress underneath. Measures
80" w x 34" d x 15" h (32" with full cushion).
Carved Victorian antique club chair, $325. Beautifully detailed
antique chair has a curved arm design, which is shown off well by its
soft blue fabric. Reinforced stitching. Measures 29" d x 31" w
x 24" h.
Folk Americana side table with drawer, $275. Table/desk with side
drawer. Turned legs and hardwood mahogany finish. Measures 28" d x
29" h x 42" w.
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