Have you ever wanted to punch any of us in the face? Tomorrow's your big chance! Here's the schedule for ed-staff appearances at the City Paper booth for tomorrow's crafty fair.
Read More "Editorial Bastards at Crafty Bastards" »

Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a somewhat hungover Fringe Friday! Your intrepid blogger, after much good-natured cajoling, ended up at last night's Fringe kick-off in Chinatown. Boy oh boy, did I have fun! I met Wrath, Gluttony, and Greed from The Sin Show, and according to all the cards I found in my back pocket this morning, I met lots of other friendly people, too! My only regret is the tequila! Trey Graham posted some photos from the launch party (he calls them "Fringe Fotos"--so fun, changing ph's to f's in honor of Fringe!) at the Fringe and Purge blog, which you should all bookmark and check regularly, for the hobbit references, and because a whole bunch of us will be bloggy-bloggy-blogging there nonstop until Fringe ends.

Why the whole world loves/hates the Washington City Paper, Michael Jackson's immortal soul, and some Friday zen, after the jump.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Shrimp and White Wine" »

Good morning, City Desk readers. Did you miss me? Dave didn't--dude told me to "bring it hard" this week, and I will. I'll start by saying all this love for Michael Jackson seems pretty fucking bizarre. Last time this guy was in the limelight, 2/3 of the country was outraged that he got away with child molestation. Now MJ kicks the bucket and all we can talk about is Off the Wall and Thriller? What about the wine? The touching? The kids-only ranch?
Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Let The Michael Jackson Idolatry Begin" »

Roque Gerald has served as the acting director of the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) for less than a year. In that short time, however, he has learned an important lesson about management. Say nice things about your underlings, that is.

In a youth conference today at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Gerald said that his staff was "the wind beneath my wings."

That wind, indeed, has generated some altitude for Gerald. Via the hard work of CFSA employees, Gerald cut the backlog of CFSA cases from 1,800 ten months ago to zero by December 2008. His agency also had a 25 percent staff vacancy rate, which he has slashed to four percent---more wind beneath his wings!

Gerald made clear that his agency still has some tough numbers to fight. Sixty percent of the kids in CFSA's care are 13 and up. Though clients have complex problems, Gerald insists they "have a right to a future." One of his primary objectives is to reduce the amount of home-hopping that the kids do. "Too many children are shuffled around in too many placements," he said. "Every time they move, we injure their future."

Reporting by Jason Cherkis

Happy Wednesday, D.C.! You might remember City Paper's kind-of-a-big-deal Inauguration Photo Contest, whereby we elicited "dope" photographs from readers across the land. Two weeks later, we announced the winners. Recently, we even decided to send the winners their super-special swag, inspiring fourth-placer Aziz Y. to photograph his pooch in our delightful knit cap (above right). I think Beaujon's was more of a statement, natch (above left)—but hats off to Aziz and his BFF, regardless.

Newsier stuff below the jump.
Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Front Pooch Edition" »

Staffwriter and Obaman Jason Cherkis reports he's been walking for two hours and is not happy about his progress. He's at M and 19th Streets and trying to get home to Mount Pleasant. Cops and "army dudes" (going to go out on a limb here and say they were Army National Guard soldiers) are giving people bad directions "because they don't know the city" and, at one point, one man in cammo "threatened us with pepper spray." Cherkis said the man said, "We have cops and they have pepper spray" and also shouted, "Soldiers! Man your posts!"

Old people were stranded. People walked up and down Independence trying to find a way out.

"They dumped a lot of people in Southwest, which isn't the easiest grid to master," says Cherkis, who had a good spot at 3rd and Independence during the ceremony. He left right after Obama's speech. Since then, he's found crowds and security to be less than orderly. People are "off-roading it" wherever they can, he says.

Cherkis, losing his sense of hope, appears to be gaining a sense of crankiness.

Flickr photo by justpat

Last week, Wikipedia rolled out its first-ever Frank Winstead spread, which includes a précis of the glorious "Connecticut Avenue ping pong battles of 2008."*

In profiling the former ANC Commissioner's one-man crusade against rapscallions, racket sports, and most known forms of fun, Wikipedia draws significantly on the intrepid reporting of Amanda Hess, whose "Frank Winstead Gone Wild: The Recordings" post includes incendiary audio from the ANC meeting in question.

Read More "Frank Winstead, City Paper Reunited on Wikipedia!" »

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Delaney Projections Done Right:

I thought of all my friends from one end of the country to the other and how they were really all in the same vast backyard doing something so frantic and rushing about.

—Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Read More "The Road to 1: Capitol Hill" »