An Anti-Trump “Hands Off” rallies occurred in all 50 states on Saturday. The “Hands Off” rally on the National Mall was centered at the Sylvan Theater but much of the Mall and the grounds of the Washington Monument was occupied by demonstrators. At 2:00pm the rally was scheduled to end and the crowd had begun to thin a little. Organizers had said it might go a bit longer.
There were streams of departing participants lining up to board the Metro at the Smithsonian stop and on Independence Avenue hundreds of people were headed for the Metro. But there was a sea of people still on the grounds of the Washington Monument and speakers were still addressing the crowd.
The crowd in front of the Sylvan Theater was so dense that organizers were stationed to direct people pressing toward the stage that it was too crowded and asked people who were approaching the stage to go back the way they came and climb the hill toward the Monument for a view of the theater.
From the base of the Washington Monument, one could see that the crowd extended toward the Capitol Building.
The crowd was multi-generational and the mood was friendly as people seemed reassured by the willingness of such a large number of protesters to turn out – a crowd much larger than anticipated by organizers. Originally, the number of estimated attendees was 20,000 – projected from the number of responses to organizers’ request that participants register. Later, organizers said the number of attendees was five times the expected number. It was apparent from the large numbers of people still on the Mall at 2:00pm that the expected number had been vastly exceeded.
Some wore costumes – including Abe Lincoln and the Statue of Liberty – or carried protest signs and banners and flew the United States flag as a distress signal.
There were individuals, couples, families, and groups of friends. There were a few people with dogs and a few couples with infants in baby carriages. There were small individual demonstrations everywhere throughout the crowd. Here’s some video of one of them.
Congressional Cemetery held its Spring Fair on Sunday, March 30, featuring more than two dozen vendors, an Introduction to Green Burial in the Chapel, a tour of historical trees and grave sites, and a presentation on Equinox Gardening.
Vendors included HCC Gift Shop, Adopt-A-Plot at HCC, The Roving Hare, Republic Restoratives, Chippin Pet, From Here to Home Essentials, Catalyst Hot Dogs, Second Story Honey, Black Radish Handmade, The Witch Wife Crafts & Treasures, Open to Being, Green Garden Vintage, Earth-Worker, Hands Along the Nile, Rough Seas Productions, Slow Drip Refashions, Paloma Vintage Designs, Amaya Accessories, Amethyst Alchemist Art, One Seed Designs, D’Bohomama, Necos Boutique, Great Mothers Garden, Solutions, and Folger Theatre.
Congressional Cemetery Associate Lily Buerkle presented the introduction to green burial. It involves, no embalming, body shrouded or placed in a casket of natural material, no grave liner or vault, lowering by hand or by device, a natural marker or a traditional head stone. This is an alternative burial for those not wanting a typical American funeral. Those funerals are – according to National Geographic – responsible each year for felling 30 million board feet of casket wood, 90,000 tons of steel, 1.6 million tons of concrete for burial vaults and 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid. The average cost in the DMV area is around $2000 to $4000. Green burials are allowed in any plot in the cemetery which is the only cemetery in DC which offers green burials. A helpful resource is the Green Burial Council: https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/
Sharon Metcalf, also an Associate, conducted a tour of historical trees and sites of the cemetery. One of the stops on the tour was at the memorial for Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, dedicated on September 17, 2022. This is of the back of the Memorial.
And here’s a photo of the monument’s striking front, surmounted by a sculptured raven and skull, referencing Brady’s photo of Edgar Allen Poe and featuring a selection of Brady’s photos.
A photo of the stop at John Philip Sousa grave. Sousa, known as the March King, became U.S. Marine Band leader in 1880 and served in that position for 12 years. He wrote over 100 marches (including the “Washington Post” and “Stars and Stripes Forever”), 10 light operas, and other works. Bands from around the world come to play at his grave.
The Circle of Life Tree-henge. The Circle of Life is a recent installation of land art or earth art which celebrates nature’s perseverance. The site comprises a 60 foot circle of linden trees aligned with the points of a compass and serves as an observation site of the sun’s path during solstices and equinoxes. It celebrates and pays tribute the natural environment, invites meditation and reflection, and offers an opportunity to record those thoughts in a journal kept on site. It was created by a group of friends interested in Congressional Cemetery and green burial in partnership with Congressional Cemetery and a testimony to those who choose green burial as a simple and sustainable end to their existence. For more, go here: https://bit.ly/42c1D2O
The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery is a private nonprofit organization established in 1976 and dedicated to the restoration interpretation and management of Congressional Cemetery. It is a predominantly volunteer based organization relying on over 400 neighbors, history buffs, conservators, dog walkers, and armed forces personnel each year to help restore and maintain this national treasure. In 1979 Congressional Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became a National Historic Landmark in 2011. For info on joining the association or to make a donation to help their cemetery, email staff@congressionalcemetery.org or go here: www.congressionalcemetery.org
The Week Ahead….
Tuesday, April 1
MPD 1D Community Advisory Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 6:00pm.
304-308 K Street, NE. Revised application of 304, 306, 308 K Street, LLC for a special exception for the residential use of an alley lot and an area variance from the requirements for creation of a new alley record lot, and an area variance from the lot dimension requirements and subdivide an alley record lot into two record lots, and to construct two semi-detached, two story, principal dwelling units in the RF-1 zone.
313 2nd Street, NE. Historic Preservation Application of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church for concept approval for renovation and expansion of an existing carriage house, razing of two structures (the current Parish Center and a single-vehicle garage), and landscape alterations.
Thursday, April 3
ANC6B Planning and Zoning Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00pm.
Currently at the Rubell Museum. American Vignettes: Symbols, Society, and Satire.
September 27th, 2024 – Fall, 2025. 65 I Street, SW. 11am – 5pm. You can probably find parking on a nearby side street.
American Vignettes: Symbols, Society, and Satire showcases nearly 100 artworks spanning painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and mixed media by over 40 emerging and established artists, all from the Rubells’ collection of more than 7,700 works of contemporary art. Here’s a selection of some pieces categorized as Symbols which address our and the artist’s relationship to flags, emblems, and slogans.
Piotr Uklanski. Untitled (American Eagle). Styrofoam. 79 X 118 in.
“In an untitled American Eagle Piotr Uklanski depicts the eagle used on the American quarter. The eagle is a symbol with layered implications, emblematic of the United States, Uklanski’s native Poland, and many other countries, while also being associated with the Nazi Party and later appropriated by Neo Nazis worldwide. In engaging with such imagery, the artist challenges viewers to recognize and reinterpret symbols across cultural codes, whether political or historical.”
Natalie Ball. Bang Bang. Elk hide, rabbit fur, oil stick, acrylic, charcoal, cotton and pine. 84 X 124 in.
“Bang Bang came from my solo exhibition in New York at Half gallery titled Bad Lucky Indian. … I was thinking through gesture, materiality, complex narratives, form, assemblage, but mostly humor. In the studio I was looking at the great seal of the United States and I started to think about what that seal and its eagle means to me, what it means for our history, and what it means to be a dual citizen: to be a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, of a sovereign nation, but also a citizen of the United States…..I wanted my own seal. The eagle and its symbolism have been appropriated historically. It has a significance in my culture too, and I wanted to bring that forward and honor it in a different way.
Sterling Ruby. Flag. Bleached and dyed fabric and elastic. 174 X 343 in.
Damian Ortega. Transportable Obelisk. Fiber glass with metal base and wheels. 236 1/8 x 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in.
“I am thrilled by the idea of a work that commemorates an imprecise moment, which could be associated with anything, just by the fact of moving the piece to one place or another. This work is a mobile print of reference. It is a point of departure but also a full stop, even though it could change its position.”
Vaugn Spann. Dark Days Bring New Hope (Never Forget). Polymer paint, pulp, mixed media, terry cloth, canvas on aluminum stretcher bars. 160 x 220 in.
“This painting centers around the idea of hope but also around the idea of gloom or even doom. Dark days bring New Hope (Never Forget) is from Flag series. The series is a postmodern idea of how we might take these symbols, our relationship to these icons, and splice new meanings into them. The totallity of the piece is about the idea of claiming space and holding on to that proximity to the flag to interpret it on my own. In the painting the flag is very dark; it’s a gloomy flag because there’s a lot of darkness and trauma we as a nation are perpetually working through.”
Glenn Lignon. Condition Report D. Iris print and iris print with serigraph, each 35 x 26 in.
“The text displayed on both panels of this diptych derives from protest placards from the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, specifically the Memphis sanitation workers strike in 1968. During this strike, over 1000 African American men went on strike for better pay and safer working conditions. Martin Luther King Junior went to Memphis to march with these workers and make speeches in support of their strike. He was assassinated in Memphis the following day. Ligon first created a painting of the protest placard in 1988, untitled (I Am A Man), which the print on the left directly mirrors. For the right panel, Ligon gave his painting to an art conservator to create a condition report with handwritten annotations, which was in turn made into a print. In addition to the historical depth of the text presented, Ligon allows the object to be reinterpreted in a new context.”
The Week Ahead….
Highlights:
Friday: CM Charles Allen holds community office hours at Quill & Crumb at the Folger Shakespeare Library (see below).
Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday: (See Free DC Events under “Capitol Hill Corner Would Also Like You To Know About” below)
Monday, March 24
ANC7D 7D01 Hold a Special Virtual Meeting to confirm election/voting details for filling Single Member District 7D01 seat at 6:30pm.
Discussion of the renewal of a Class C restaurant license with entertainment and summer garden endorsements at Granville Moore’s, 1238 H Street, NE.
Discussion of a new Class C Restaurant license with extended holiday hours, carry out and delivery endorsements at Tapori 600 H Street NE, located within ANC6C.
Discussion of the status of the application for a new medical cannabis license for Proper Exotic, 313 8th Street, NE.
Friday, March 28
CM Charles Allen holds community office hours at Quill & Crumb at the Folger Shakespeare Library from 4 to 5:30pm. RSVP here: http://charlesallenward6.com/calendar
Capitol Hill Corner Would Also Like You To Know About:
Free DC Event – Tuesday, March 25
Members of Congress Office Visits: Encourage House Reps to pass the DC Local Funds Act – 10:00am to 3:00pm .
Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington, DC,
Memoirist Kat Chow Discusses Her Bestselling book Seeing Ghosts in Conversation with Jung Yun. Kat Chow is a reporter, teacher, writer and the author of Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir, named a Notable Book by The New York Times.
Sponsored by Hill Center Private Events. Local organizations will be present to share how you can help them meet their mission. Find the right fit for your talents as we build a better community.
Last week, Congressional Cemetery wrapped up a month long series of Death Doula Pop Ups held inside the cemetery’s chapel. These “Mortality Tea Rooms” were an extension of the “Death Café” program sponsored by the cemetery. The “Death Café” is a loose knit international movement to facilitate regular discussions about death over food and drink with a dozen or so participants.
This series was coordinated and hosted by Congressional Cemetery’s Death Doula in Residence, Laura Lyster-Mensh.
A visit to one on the events last week found Lyster-Mensh offering tea and information through a series of exhibits illustrating a death doula’s mission and her own approach to her practice.
And that’s what death doulas do – provide information about end of life choices both for families and individuals and support for terminally ill persons and their families.
Lyster-Mensh conducts a tour of her Mortality Tea Room exhibits:
Impermanence
Every day, she starts a new nature mandala – a geometric shape made of things in nature picked up on the cemetery grounds by visitors to the chapel. She says, “People are shy about things associated with bodies – so I’ve invited people to be part of building this geometric shape as a study of impermanence. At the end of the day, I wash it away – and we start over the next day.
Community Mourning
She references the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead and said that that on the Day of the Dead last year an ofrenda was set up in the chapel. (Ofrenda means “offering” in Spanish and refers to the colorful altars set up to honor deceased loved ones on the Dia de los Muertos Mexican holiday.) She says that it displayed “hundreds of objects and photographs and flowers. It was just splendid – a way of introducing ancestors and a way of talking about the past.”
Choose Your Corpse’s Adventure
She moved on to what she called her pet project, a game called Choose Your Corpse’s Adventure. She says, “Most people don’t think about what happens to their body after they pass – that causes expensive chaos. So I set up toys to show people their options – how much money will it cost you to die and how much carbon will it take? I get them to think – if you have as much money as you want and as much carbon as you want, how much do you need? I ask them to think about that. Given options such as water cremation, human composting, or fire cremation, what is the actual cost financially and environmentally? And the party – what about the party you might have after you’re gone? By end of the game, people have gotten a better idea of death’s costs and impacts. The real thing is the conversation, especially with couples. That’s my goal – to get people talking and to think about their behavior in these terms.”
Library and Life Planner Area
Lyster-Mensh has a lending library including books and life planners. She lends them out and people bring them back. She wants people to organize and think about the chaos the day after they die. She adds, “There are so many kinds of organizers – some are funny and some are serious. I hand them a stack and let them go through them.”
Immortality
Lydia-Mensch doesn’t talk about immortality, but she alludes to it by giving away plant cuttings.
She says, “All living things come from something that has died. The cuttings are all from my mom’s plants. It’s a symbolic thing – I encourage people to think about taking my plants home; they will live or die and all these are coming from my mom’s plants which come from other plants and I like that idea. Snake plants, Swedish ivy, tradescantia, spider plants – I love the idea that they are going out into the world.”
Last February was the first month-long mortality workshop – which she says is a completely new way of encouraging contemplation of end of life scenarios – “It happened because the chapel was open for the month of February, and I asked to do it. Last year, I did individual appointments. The year before I did weekly gatherings and events.” She says the cemetery will probably repeat the experience next year.
Asked what motivated her, Lyster-Mensh says, “I’ve always had an interest even as a kid. As I get older and lose more people and get closer to death the ‘eye-rolling’ (encountering people’s annoyance or reluctance to take the issue seriously) motivates me. When I sit with dying people – and I’m with dying people a lot – their families and friends are often too frightened to be there and so they’re alone and that doesn’t have to be. So I feel that death awareness is a way to bring people back to being more loving and taking care of each other rather than just leaving people to suffer in fear and isolation.”
Mirrors for Princes: “How To Be A Power Player – Tudor Edition” at the Folger Library
by Larry Janezich
Posted February 24, 2025
Just inside the entrance to the exhibit entrance one is struck by the deep purple color scheme – reminding us that wearing the color in Elizabethan England was a privilege reserved for members of the nobility ranked earl or above. An Earl is third in the British peerage system, below a Duke and A Marquess.
Washington is filled with people who are attracted to power and who strive to capture the attention of its brokers. This is a reality of governance that is reflected in the practices of power players throughout history. According to Heather Wolfe, Folger’s Curator of Manuscripts, the term “Mirror for Princes” is a metaphor which would have been known and commonly understood in the Elizabethan era and refers to a literary genre of political writings – playbooks – which offered instruction or rules on how to join, maintain, or advance one’s position at court. They were “mirrors;” if the reader saw him or herself in the text – which might describe the consequences of an action or behavior in terms of success or failure in governance or court – they could modify their behavior accordingly.
This new Folger exhibit opened last Friday. It consists of more than 60 objects from the Library’s collection and focuses on 13 of the rules gleaned from several Renaissance playbooks including Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier. Wolfe said that the number is arbitrary, limited by the number of display cases in the Stuart and Mimi Rose Gallery.
Modern names have been given to the rules to make the period more accessible and each reflects a skill you needed to thrive and survive in Queen Elizabeth I’s court. Like Washington today, the court is the place to do business and power players follow rules without thinking about them.
The 13 cases are each labeled with a rule and hold playbooks, the texts of which illustrate the rule displayed.
Here are some of them:
Study the Play Books (e.g. Bend the rules to get what you want, i.e., “the end justifies the means,” and “it is wiser to be feared than loved”) Pictured is a 1584 copy of The Prince.
Get on the Gift List (e.g. Not to receive, but to give to the queen on gift day – the 12 foot gift list of 1579 pictured here details who gave and what was given, including jewelry, clothing, books, gloves and delicacies.)
Hang on to Your Head. (e.g. The traitor list – Thomas Cromwell, Robert Devereaux and Walter Raleigh – featuring execution records)
Die a Noble Death. (e.g. A celebrity funeral. To help relieve the repetition of the static display of texts and objects, the exhibit continues in an adjacent room with a screen that depicts scrolling images of a series of 32 large detailed engravings of the funeral of Sir Philip Sidney, considered the ideal Renaissance man, who died in battle at 31 and whose procession featured hundreds of mourners.)
Wolfe says, “I hope visitors see the parallels between Tudor England and today. Cancel culture, brand management, nepotism, power dressing, and the idea of ‘fake it ’til you make it’ were all a part of life for people seeking a position in the queen’s inner circle. When I was selecting items for the exhibition, I was continually struck by the similarities between the self-help books for managers and leaders today and the how-to books for aspiring power players from the 16th century.”
The mirror forming the “O” in the word describing the theme of the exhibit is inscribed with a quote from Richard II: “O flattering glass, like to my followers in prosperity, thou dost beguile me.” A close look at the mirror reveals it does not return a true reflection, perhaps speaking to a deeper truth than the one perceived by the observer. Asked to comment on this presumed artistic license, Wolfe remarked that the slight distortion of the mirror’s reflection was not intentional.
ANC6B Committee on Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration met last Tuesday to consider a Restaurant License for Acqua al 2.
Acqua al 2 Update
by Larry Janezich
Posted February 8, 2025
Restaurateur Ari Gejdenson is returning to Eastern Market to reopen Acqua al 2 (AA2). The Italian menu will be the same, but the upstairs speakeasy – Jack Black’s – is gone. His aim is to convert the speakeasy space to a dining and dancing event space for which Gejdenson envisions hosts selling tickets (fund raising tickets?) – which would technically meet ABCA criteria for a cover charge. Gejdenson also wants to enclose the front sidewalk patio and extend dancing to that area with hours outside the same as those inside, 2am Sunday – Thursday and 3am Friday and Saturday. He would also add carryout and delivery service.
Last Tuesday night, ANC6B’s alcohol licensing committee met to discuss the liquor license application with the request for the expanded operation. Much of the discussion involved concerns of across-the-alley neighbors who have had ongoing issues with the restaurants facing 7th Street on the block.
Gejedenson had generally been a good neighbor during the first incarnation of AA2. After it closed, it was succeeded by Harvest Tide, whom the neighbors found unresponsive to their concerns about trash, rodents, and delivery trucks blocking the alley and preventing access to their garages.
Responding to neighbor complaints, ANC6B negotiated a new and more stringent Settlement Agreement with Harvest Tide. (A Settlement Agreement is the mechanism agreed to between the ANC and the restaurant which governs its operations – trash, rodents, parking, hours, etc.) Neighbors say that Harvest Tide continued to be a bad neighbor despite the new Settlement Agreement. Gejdenson said that was largely because the city was lax in enforcing the Agreement.
The (ABCA Committee – per comment below) want Gejdenson to sign the same agreement they had with Harvest Tide. Gejdenson is resisting signing the more stringent agreement saying he is unwilling to “assume additional risk” by signing commitments which could allow neighbors to put on him things that should be the city’s responsibility.
After two contentious hours of discussion, the committee agreed to designate temporary committee chair Commissioner Anna Krebs and Commissioner Jerry Sroufe to meet with Gejdenson and his attorney in hopes of reaching an agreement on a Settlement Agreement before the full ANC meets on next Tuesday. If not, the parties can request a two week extension to negotiate. Gejdenson hopes to open within the next 30 to 90 days.
Design team rendering of the new DC Jail at 1900 Massachusetts Avenue, SE.
Last Thursday night, Meridith Moldenhauer, Zoning Counsel for the DC Correctional Treatment Facility Project, presented current renderings of the new jail being built in Hill East to ANC6B’s Planning and Zoning Committee, chaired by Commissioner Vince Mareino. The new jail is in Ward 7, but Ward Six and ANC6B border Ward 7 so it has a say in how the new jail will affect the Ward 6 community. The correctional campus is located at 1900 Massachusetts Avenue, SE.
Moldenhauer’s task was to present a request for zoning waivers having to do with the setback from the property line and use of materials on the exterior façade of the structure.
This rendering shows the main entrance to the institution on Massachusetts Avenue. The renderings in Moldenhauer’s PowerPoint presentation included here are those presented to the Zoning Commission in preparation for a hearing on the project’s design and zoning changes scheduled for March 17. But those drawings from the design team of CGL Companies, CORE architecture + design and Neoscape, Inc., are currently being revised in response to a critical review by the DC Commission on Fine Arts (CFA) last November.
CFA was critical of the design for not fitting well enough into the neighborhood (specifically the materials of the exterior) and for looking too much like a carceral institution.
Currently, the façade has three layers – a security barrier, an opaque window wall system, with the exterior covered by a decorative perforated screen or “scrim” of pre-weathered Corten steel panels. Moldenhauer said the intent was to make the façade look like “leaves and trees with a ‘scrim’ over the top.” One of the critiques from CFA was that the Coren steel might darken over time presenting a more threatening visage to the community.
Here’s a schematic of the footprint of the new structures. What will emerge on the opposite side of Massachusetts Avenue remains to be seen, since that will be up to private developers.
The timeline for the project anticipates construction beginning in 2027 and completion in 2034. So far, only the first phase of the project has been funded by the Mayor’s budget, at $463 million. An estimate for the final cost of the project has not yet been released.
For an earlier CHC report, go here: Update & Timeline for New DC Jail and the Correctional Treatment Facility https://bit.ly/3XG5T9J
Rumsey Aquatic Court at 635 North Carolina Avenue, SE
Update: Modernization of Rumsey Aquatic Center – First Community Meeting on Dec 12
By Larry Janezich
Posted November 26, 2024
The Department of Parks and Recreation has scheduled the first of several community meetings on the demolition and modernization of the Rumsey Aquatic Court for Thursday, December 12, at 6:00pm in the North Hall of Eastern Market. It is anticipated that the design/build team will take part in the meeting.
The project, at $37 million, is the largest of the current 9 DPR projects in Ward 6 (see below) . The current Rumsey Center will be demolished and a new center will be constructed . Besides the new pool, locker rooms, and changing rooms, the plan calls for additional amenities, including:
A senior center with a tech lounge
A business incubator space
An indoor fitness center
DPR is just starting on the design phase and the date for starting construction is TBD. DPR anticipates that there will be several community meetings to solicit community input regarding the design, noting that since this is a significant project in a historic district, there’s a lot to talk about.
Here are the locations of eight other DPR projects in Ward 6. A ninth project – renovation of Cobb Park at 200 H Street, NW, is not shown.
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 