Washington City Paper: Contents for Jan. 20

Honor Roles
School Without Walls' 1996 valedictorian Wai-Ying Chow graduated summa cum laude from George Washington University, worked at the National Institutes of Health, and is now back in school for her doctorate. It's a storybook ending, but not a common one for the District's public-high-school valedictorians.

Cover Story

In high school, Damon Williams and Rachel Rusch couldn’t have been more different.Williams was a rotund black student at almost 100 percent African-American H.D. Woodson Senior High.He and his mother had lived in the same apartment near Benning Road and East Capitol Street for 17 years. Across town, Rusch, a Woodrow Wilson Senior High student, was a self-described “little white girl who did theater and grew up in this great neighborhood in Upper Northwest.”

Despite their differences, Williams and Rusch had at least one thing in common: They each graduated as valedictorian of their respective classes.Along the way, they enjoyed the spoils that befall high-achieving scholars, culminating with acceptances to the colleges of their choice, George Washington University, on a full-ride scholarship, for Williams and Yale University for Rusch.

But that’s when their stories, chronicled in newspaper clippings and their senior yearbooks, stop.For all the attention heaped upon the valedictorians, school officials know precious little about what happened to Williams, Rusch, and their valedictory cohorts once they finished their graduation speeches. The assumption is that they walked off into the sunset of elite colleges, their entree into worlds of comfort and privilege. ... Continued

Issue of Jan. 20 - 26, 2006

News and Features

Honor Roles
School Without Walls' 1996 valedictorian Wai-Ying Chow graduated summa cum laude from George Washington University, worked at the National Institutes of Health, and is now back in school for her doctorate. It's a storybook ending, but not a common one for the District's public-high-school valedictorians.
Cover Story By Huan Hsu
The Short Goodbye
A law meant to retire bad cops snags some good firemen.
The City By Arthur Delaney
908 French St. NW
Price Pick of the Week
Seller's Market By Brian Beutler
St. James Restoration Apostle Church of Christ in God Logan Circle
Rating D.C.'s Houses of Worship
The City By Aaron Leitko
It Takes a Villain
The Mail By Kip Brown
Casa Nostra
The Mail By Linda Sun
We've Only Just Begun
The Mail By Alex Martin
Outsider Act
The Mail By Bob McLaughlin
Swann Song
The Mail By Elizabeth Karl Eckert
Correction
Correction

Columns

Leaving the Band
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Teaching AIDS
City Desk By Ryan Grim
Black Balled?
City Desk By John Metcalfe
Vinny's Way
Loose Lips By James Jones
Savage Love
Savage Love By Dan Savage
Channel Serf
A week of subsistence in TV's vast wasteland
Television By Mario Correa

Eats

The Washington City Paper Dining Quiz
Young & Hungry By Mike DeBonis and Chad Molter

Movies

How the West Was Wan
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Grit and Polish
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
The British Evasion
Talking Pictures By Mark Jenkins

Music

Think Globally, Act Yokelly
Music Review By Shannon Zimmerman
Girls With Glasses
Partyline
Music By Rachel Beckman

Theater

Raven Images
Theater Review By Bob Mondello
Driven to Distraction
Theater Review By Trey Graham

Arts and Events

Bound for Glory
Artifacts By John Metcalfe
Chekhov the List
Artifacts By Anne Marson
Club Med
Go to H2O for upscale entertainment. Stay for the health care.
Show & Tell By Chris Shott