…She might be heading to Webster Girls’ School, at 10th and H Streets downtown. Yes, long before Zaytinya was serving up Mediterranean tapas to lobbyists and lawyers a block away, or “Verizon” even existed as a company let alone a sports center, Penn Quarter was home to a little public school for pregnant teenagers and young mothers. Last time I wandered by the intersection, the nondescript brick building was still there, though it was partially obscured by construction barriers.

I first heard about the school working on a story with DCPS historian and former D.C. public schools student Nancye Suggs. Recalling her own middle school years, Suggs said: “Girls would disappear all of a sudden, and then the whispering would start: WEBSTER.”

I was incredulous. That dumpy downtown building was a black hole of suppressed scandals, tucked-away teenagers, and unmentioned infants?

Then, lo and behold, I found a pamphlet in the sizable “Webster School” file at the Sumner School Museum and Archives. It laid out all my basic questions, then responded to them with stunning clarity.

Why should you attend Webster?

• You will be safer during and after your pregnancy.
• Special health services are planned for you.
• Home study materials and assistance will be provided while you are convalescing after the birth of your baby.
• You will receive the same credits that you would receive in regular school.

(This is a selection of responses.)

Do you have to pay to attend Webster?

• “NO”
• Webster is a public school operated by the D.C. Board of Education.

Who may enroll?

• Girls who attend any junior or senior high school in the District of Columbia may apply.
• All pregnant students should try to get into Webster Girls’ School.

Read the rest of this entry »

Watching the Republican convention this week, I couldn’t help but think in Wolf Blitzer-like racial generalizations: the crowd was so white, and so old. Every single time a reporter nabbed a non-white person to interview, I was impressed. Wow, they found one. I wondered if the few black and Hispanic people in the crowd felt extra pressure to primp before the speeches. The cameras would undoubtedly be scanning the crowd for a variety of different faces. If yours didn’t look like everyone else’s, you’d probably be on cable!

My realization was not a very deep one. There’s been an interesting smattering of information on the state of young Republicania in the press recently.

• Yesterday, the Washington Post published a bang-up article on the subject. But, it took many a paragraph to reach this revelation: “the number of black Republican delegates declined from a record 167 in 2004 to this year’s 36.”
• Esquire magazine’s most recent issue features a story on young republicans gathering for a leadership conference in D.C. Toward the end of the piece there is a selection of head shots and quotes from various attendees. And what do you know? One of the few non-white faces in the crowd is none other than Marcus Skelton, former at-large D.C. council member candidate. As long as you’re on the website, check out this article too.
• A piece in The Root on the state of black conservatives takes a while to get to its main point. So here it is: “Until the Republican Party is ready to renounce the politics of division—opening the door to the lives and views of people whose histories and ethnicities don’t mesh with the traditions of modern Republicanism—the GOP brand will remain damaged goods in much of black America, damaged by the brand managers themselves.”

A few months back, I wrote a story about crews in Shaw and the murder of Deon Peoples in January 2007. Two defendants were being held in connection with the crime. Ben Barringer had been arrested last summer; Jeffrey Bright was taken into policy custody in April. As I was wrapping up the piece, I spoke with a lawyer involved in the case, who said that he believed the murder trial would take place late summer. Well, how time flies! Here we are post-Labor Day Weekend.

Time to check in and see if any sentences had been handed down. I called Leah Gurowitz at the D.C. Superior Courthouse. The answer, it turned out, was a straight “no,” though both defendants’ cases had advanced.

On May 30, Barringer pled guilty to conspiracy and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home. He will be sentenced on September 26 at 2 p.m. As for Bright, his jury trial is scheduled for February 2, 2009. It was originally set for August 11, but mid-July his lawyer asked for it to be continued at a later date.

So, any chatter about crew members re-entering the community should be pushed off at least for a while.

Photo credit: Darrow Montgomery

I’m tempted to do a roundup of just Sarah Palin-related items: Sarah Palin news, Sarah Palin analysis, possibly a Sarah Palin picture or two. A Sarah Palin interview? Couldn’t find it. But, what the hell, first I’ll throw in a few other stories—appetizers to the entree.

*City Paper alum Rachel Beckman is mad at her Facebook page, which silently taunts her with advertisements coercing her to lose weight. “Muffin Top?” asks one. “Do you want to be a fat bride?” inquires another. “I averted my eyes and tried to remember that saying about rubber and glue. I didn’t spiral into a body-image crisis, nor did I start to diet. But there’s got to be some kind of psychological toll wrought by so many weight-loss images each week,” she writes in the Washington Post.

*The Washington Post’s Jane Black heads out to San Francisco to cover the Slow Food Nation conference, and guess what she finds? “Prius-driving, Whole Foods-shopping, latte-loving liberals with plenty of time and cash on hand.” In addition, there was also “a troupe of Hmong children who performed a traditional harvest dance.”

*NPR reports “Brenda, Kelly Return in Updated ‘90210′” Need I say more. Click now! Click now!

*Finally, Sarah Palin time: The New York Times writes about the potential, one-heartbeat-away “First Dude” Todd Palin, and his wife’s political history in Wasilla, where she was mayor. The Washington Post writes about the vetting process, and Palin’s late-in-the-game interview. Slate’s Jack Shafer discusses how the news media is receiving Palin. His colleague Troy Patterson praises her TV appearances. Politico reports how John McCain’s campaign plans to defend and bolster support for Sarah Palin with advertisements, speeches, and interviews (read to the bottom; there’s an interesting McCain memo).

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a condominium for sale in this multi-unit townhouse in Petworth or “Columbia Heights East,” as a listing described it. The piece was for our Buyer’s Market feature, which examines properties that have undergone significant price reductions. As of mid-August, the unit—located at 735 Rock Creek Church Road NW—was priced at $325,000. It originally was listed at $442,500. The seller was an investor, who’d been able to get rid of his two top units. All that remained was the basement, home to some lovely high highfalutin appliances, a stylish exposed brick wall, and, at one point, quite a bit of flood water, according to listing agent Roger Neely. After the piece went up online, a few people posted their thoughts and feelings about the property. They were not entirely positive: Read the rest of this entry »

Personally, I thought Barack Obama’s speech last night was a tad humdrum. He got a little feisty, for him. But, the challenges to his opponent—”John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time”—still seemed staid. He said what he need to say, but for some reason, the deliverance fell, mmmm, I don’t know, dare I say it, okay I will: flat.

‘Happy, proud American Obama’ spoke with the same tone and demeanor as ‘Enough is enough, fed-up with the status quo Obama,’ and it just wasn’t working for me. Plus, the fascinating life story doesn’t pop as much the three hundredth time around. Not his fault. But true nonetheless.

When it comes to oratorical ability, I’m throwing my full support behind Pam.

Oh Pam, how you wooed me with your mama-don’t-take-no-shit-from-no-one attitude, disillusioned Republicanism, and undaunted appearance in front of 85,000 people. Pam’s story definitely fit squarely in with the democratic narrative. She is from Pittsboro North Carolina. She and her husband raised four children together, both worked, and led generally content lives. Then, her husband lost his job and, consequently, the family’s medical insurance. Hard times fell on Pam and Mr. Pam. (Her last name is actually Cash-Roper.) It was time to speak out for CHANGE. “I am a lifelong republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Bush, but I can’t afford four more years like this,” she told the crowd. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!”

Anyway, just watch the video. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wish you could hug Pam through the youtube video. (And for more info on Pam, check this out.)

-Check out the Washington Post’s convention coverage for updates on Denver. However, if you’ve visited City Desk any time in the last two days, then you know Loose Lips is the hardest working man in Colorado right now. Check out his posts here.

-And now we honor one of our City Paper forefathers, David Carr, who has paused his promotional book tour and talk of snorting coke and slapping up bitches in the 1980s, to do some fine video reporting work from Denver. Find his video somewhere on this page in the next day or so (after that, I don’t know where it’s going to be.)

-The New York Times offers a few reasons why you should not open a restaurant: your home, your savings, your general contentment—they could all go, if your new joint is a flop. “So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I’ll have a job where I’ll do what I love,” Mr. Rainsford said. “They don’t realize how hard a job it is, both financially and physically.”

-Aw gee shucks, “ol’ Joe Biden,” he’s making the people at the Wilmington train station proud. And sad. The man’s not going to be boarding his usual Delaware to D.C. ride too often anymore. The Post paints the scene.

-NPR commentator and screenwriter John Ridley is peeved about the portrayal of minorities (or lack thereof) in this summer’s roster of movies. “Well, that’s it. Summer’s about over. Hope yours was good. How was mine? Thanks for asking. Well, I’m not given to absolutes, so I’m gonna say in terms of what Hollywood gave us, this was just the demi-most offensive summer ever at the multiplexes. Offensive, if you happen to be a person of color whom Hollywood in turn mocked, lampooned or humiliated … that is, when we weren’t just being completely ignored.”

This week, students began classes at Gallaudet University, the nation’s preeminent school for the deaf, and probably the most mispronounced institution in the city.

Yes, little acknowledged fact about Gallaudet—nearly everyone (hearing people included) says the name incorrectly.

So, your friends pronounce it this way. And your boss. And the people that mention it on the street. That still doesn’t make it right.

It’s not Gal-yoo-det. It is Gal-luh-det.

“I usually try to correct people,” says Karen Evans from the university’s public relations office. Evans, who has worked at Gallaudet for roughly six months, says that she mispronounced the name during her first week or two on the job. She majored in deaf studies in college, but says that she “knew about Gallaudet for a long time before I ever heard it spoken.”

Gallaudet is located in Northeast D.C., off of Florida Avenue, wedged between Eckington and Trinidad. As of fall 2007, the university’s student population was 1,633, including undergraduate and graduate students.

In a way, the mispronunciation makes complete sense: “It’s because people who are in charge aren’t running around correcting how hearing people talk,” says Judy Termini, associate professor of communications, and Director of the First Year Experience, who has worked at the university for 33 years (and, disclosure, is a family friend).

“People who work here, who are hearing, pronounce it correctly. But we don’t do a lot of voice talking on campus,” she says. “You can’t mispronounce the sign. There’s only one sign.”

But, can she provide absolute irrefutable proof that her way isn’t the flawed way?

“How do I know it’s right? I don’t know,” she says, then directs me to the university’s public relations office. Right there, on the department’s webpage, there’s a link entitled “Commonly Mispronounced Names.” Number two reads: “Gallaudet - gal”udet’ or [gal-luh-det]“

This weekend’s Post tackled one of my biggest pet peeves—when politicians use “Washington” as a disparaging euphemism for the national political scene, in which they willingly participate. The topic, covered by Dan Zak in the Sunday Source section, has been ripe for the plucking for years. But, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a story on it.

And Zak’s piece could not come at a better time, as he points out right away.

“The hating will reach a pinnacle in Denver and St. Paul., Minn., this week and next. At the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, we’ll get soaring speeches about how awful Washington is. How it is a quagmire of corruption. How it does nothing for anyone. How it needs to change.”

Yes, we’re about to be pummeled by a bipartisan bunch of bullies. All the politicians will try to inform the good, decent, humane, wholesome citizens of America that Washington D.C. is a place where the bad, corrupting, manipulative, power-mongering people of the District seek to destroy their integrity. (Though their integrity is of course fully intact, even though they spend all day surrounded by the evil inhabitants of this sinful place.)

“‘The city of Satan,’ John McCain declared to a crowd in Nevada.

The place where people ‘boil all the hope out of” you, Barack Obama warned in Akron, Ohio.

We are all condemned. And you know what, it’s sloppy oratory…is what is!

Let’s take for example a few quotes from the candidates, and consider some edits. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you brush your teeth twice daily, but they never feel clean? Are you wondering why you have three cavities after a lifetime of healthy pearly whites? Is your longtime allegiance to Colgate starting to peter off, and it’s making you question everything that’s holy?

Well, you too, might be a victim of New York City’s brazen toothpaste scam! Man, D.C. criminals are so BO-ring! The last press release from the United States Attorney’s office in D.C. about any sort of fraud is about bribery at DMVs in Brentwood and Georgetown. The case’s defendant, Patricia E. Gonzalez, 39, of Takoma Park, Maryland, made $10,000.

Small potatoes. Read the rest of this entry »

-Barack Obama still hasn’t announced a VP, but Ralph Nader knows who it is. Apparently, people aren’t asking him. But, he’s still talking! “The smart pick, according to Nader, is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nader phoned into Politico Tuesday afternoon to offer his prediction that a surprise nod to Clinton is actually what Obama has in store—never mind the talk of mistrust between the Clintons and Obama.”

-Shut the hell up about this whole VP “drama,” says Slate’s Jack Shafer.

-If you want a real roller coaster ride, watch a politically-themed movie. NPR asked the candidates and political reporters for their faves.

-Washingtonian sneaks some peeks at a few new restaurants: Tyson Corner Center’s La Sandia, and Alain Ducasse’s Adour in the St. Regis Hotel.

-The Washington Post lends credence to an old excuse for students not doing their class reading: textbook costs. “Estimates of how much students spend on textbooks range from $700 to $1,100 annually, and the market for new books is estimated at $3.6 billion this year.”

-The Washington Post reports that two D.C. area pilots circled the globe in 12 days, probably breaking the world record. Good for them. Unfortunately, the paper can’t resist this bit of lameness: “Around the world in 80 days? Jules Verne’s got nothing on these guys.”

In my weekly search for properties for Buyer’s Market (our feature on homes with major price drops in the DC area), I look at a lot of real estate listings, Craigslist advertisements, and random webpages. This image is by far the wackiest thing I’ve ever stumbled on. I can’t say it really came with much explanation. But when you click on the image—found on Craiglist—it links to this website.

On Aug. 25, D.C. Public Schools will kick off another school year. As has previously been reported many, many times, Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 24 principals, and later 22 assistant principals in two distinct waves this Spring. (I must admit, I don’t know the total numbers of administrators let go over the course of the year.) Now, today, twelve days before classes start, comes news that principals have been chosen for all of the systems 121 schools. Forty six people are new hires. Roughly 700 applicants, up from 200, were considered. The press release and a full list of principals is after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

*If you’re not watching the Olympics, you’re missing some pretty spectacular moments.

*”Declare the District’s urban-cool inferiority complex officially over,” states the Washington Post. What makes us so hip? So with it? Such a trendsetter? SmartBike DC, apparently. The program will allow riders access to 120 bikes at 10 self-service racks mostly in the downtown area. “Today the city will join the ranks of Paris and Barcelona with the launch of the first high-tech public bike-sharing program in the United States, forcing such cities as San Francisco and Chicago to look here to see chic alternative transportation in action in America.” I’m sure you feel cooler already.

*Savor the dog days of summer with free ice cream…if you live in Arlington, Alexandria or Bethesda. Nope, nope, and nope. Drats! DCist delivers the location-specific good news.

*The latest “Oh D.C.,” head-shakingly ridiculous moment of bureaucratic incompetence: a report detailing the mismanagement of the Department of Employment Services’ summer jobs program for youth.

*Some 900,000 votes later, FishbowlDC announces the city’s “Hottest Media Types.” Wait, what’s that you say? Only other journalists care and none of us are good-looking anyway? Very well.

*And, finally, the best damn Estonian mineral water commercial you’ve ever seen.

There’s really nothing more ominous than a circling police helicopter. Action movies are to blame: for immediate drama intensification, just show a chopper cutting across the sky, or better yet, zipping between skyscrapers. Works every time. When I saw a helicopter in Columbia Heights on Saturday night around 11 p.m., I immediately thought the worst. With its spotlight beaming, it made several tight rotations in the area. On Girard Street, the block between 13th and 14th was closed off, and there were several parked cop cars. Soon, rumors were circulating amongst onlookers. There was a murder! There was a drug bust!

Wrong, and wrong. Of course, these were realistic options. And, for the record, at the moment, the homicide count in D.C. is up from last year’s numbers: 112 today, as compared to 106 on August 1, 2007, as stated on MPD’s website. But those figures are not part of our story. Apparently, the helicopter was called over to Columbia Heights after checking out a fight reported around O Street in Southwest, according to Marco Santiago, the third district’s community relations coordinator. Then, a call came in describing sounds of gunshots on Girard Street. A black revolver was recovered from an alley on the above-mentioned block. Then, the helicopter flew directly west where a rifle was recovered at 1620 Columbia Road, said Santiago.

Image by Mr. T in DC.