The Georgetowner: February 26, 2020 Issue

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW W H O LE F OODS T O R EOPEN M E R G IN G M ET R OB U S R OU T ES H A UTE & C OOL : I N T O T H E B L U E A LV IN A ILE Y GA L A , H EA R T B A L L

IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE

ABOUT THE COVER

The image of Frank Campbell in Louisiana is seen on the right in the cover photo illustration. Courtesy American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society.

UP & COMING · 4 Events Calendar

NEWS · 5 - 7 Town Topics

EDITORIAL/OPINION · 8 Editorial

DOWNTOWNER · 9 Downtown News Community Calendar

BUSINESS · 10 Ins & Outs

REAL ESTATE · 11

D.C. STATEHOOD PASSES COMMITTEE: NOW ON TO THE HOUSE

Out of Many, One

PUBLISHER Sonya Bernhardt

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert Devaney

FEATURES EDITORS COPY EDITOR Ari Post Richard Selden Gary Tischler SENIOR FASHION & BEAUTY CORRESPONDENT DIRECTOR Peggy Sands Lauretta McCoy CONTRIBUTORS GRAPHIC DESIGN Mary Bird Troy Riemer Susan Bodiker Dennis Belmont Allyson Burkhardt Evan Caplan PHOTOGRAPHERS Didi Cutler Philip Bermingham Donna Evers Jeff Malet Michelle Galler Stephanie Green ADVERTISING & Amos Gelb MARKETING Wally Greeves Kate Sprague Kitty Kelley Richard Selden Rebekah Kelley Kelly Sullivan Jody Kurash Shelia Moses INTERN Kate Oczypok Lily Martin Linda Roth Alison Schafer Mary Ann Treger

BY PEGGY SAN D S

COVER · 12 - 13

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton introduces the D.C. statehood bill. Photo by Jeff Malet.

Remember Us

ARTS · 14 - 17

ZOE CALDWELL, WHO PLAYED MEDEA AND CALLAS, HAS DIED

National Geographic’s ‘Becoming Jane‘ Spring Arts Preview

BY GARY TISC H L ER

FOOD & WINE · 18

Judith Anderson (left) and Zoe Caldwell in “Medea.” Publicity photo.

Cocktail of the Month Dining Guide

CLASSIFIEDS · 19

COOK ON A WHIM: DREAMY ORANGE POUND CAKE

Service Directory

HAUTE & COOL · 20

BY AN ITA PAR R IS SOU L E

Into The Blue

Photo by Anita Parris Soule. Courtesy Cook on a Whim.

BOOK CLUB · 21

Kitty Kelley Book Club

GOOD WORKS & GOOD TIMES · 22 - 23 Social Scene Gala Guide

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The Georgetowner is published every other Wednesday. The opinions of our writers and columnists do not necessarily reflect the editorial and corporate opinions of The Georgetowner newspaper. The Georgetowner accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. The Georgetowner reserves the right to edit, rewrite or refuse material and is not responsible for errors or omissions. Copyright 2020.

Please send submissions of opinions for consideration to: editorial@georgetowner.com For advertising inquiries email advertising@georgetowner.com or call (202) 338-4833

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One of our designers got hitched in Thailand to his beautiful wife Amy. Congratulations Troy!

2 FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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UP & COMING MARCH 5

‘UNDER THE RAINBOW’ TOUR AND PANEL

FEBRUARY 29

BERLIN PHILHARMONIC PIANO QUARTET

This year’s chef lineup at Ramen World, which supports the Capital Area Food Bank, includes Katsuya Fukushima, Erik BrunerYang, Kaz Okochi and Alex McCoy, along with Mess Hall members Ness Maneja and Karen Hoefener. Tickets to either session are $90. For details, visit eventbrite.com. 703 Edgewood St. NE.

Dumbarton Concerts will present a performance by the quartet, which unites Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster Daniel Stabrawa, violist Matthew Hunter and cellist Knut Weber with concert pianist Markus Groh. Tickets are $55 ($50 for seniors).

For details, visit dumbartonconcerts.org.

Dumbarton United Methodist Church, 3133 Dumbarton St. NW.

RAMEN WORLD 2020

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Guide Ella Schiralli will lead a tour focusing on the history of the gay community and the struggle for equal rights. A panel discussion at Dumbarton House with Schiralli, archaeologist Jennifer Porter-Lupu and Channing Joseph, author of “House of Swann: Where Slaves Became Queens,” will follow. Tickets are $45, $25 for tour or panel only. Tour departs from H Street and Jackson Place NW. 2715 Q St. NW.

MARCH 7 AND 8

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE SHOW The Washington DC Travel & Adventure Show will feature educational seminars, performances on the Global Beats Stage and appearances by Peter Greenberg, Pauline Frommer and Patricia Schultz. One-day admission is $15 ($11 in advance) and twoday admission is $22 ($18 in advance); free for age 16 and under. For details, visit eventbrite.com. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW.

MARCH 6 TO 8

WOMEN COMPOSERS FESTIVAL GALA Hispanic Theatre is hosting a festival celebrating female composers, culminating in new stagings of contemporary operas “Here Be Sirens” by Kate Soper and “Ana y su Sombra” by Gabriela Ortiz. Tickets are $25 to $80. For details, visit inseries.org.

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MARCH 7

Specializing in contemporary chamber music for percussion instruments, the ensemble will play works by Jason Treuting, Victor Caccese, Lou Harrison and Viet Cuong, Sandbox Percussion’s early-career musician in residence. Tickets are $54. For details, visit doaks.org or call 202-339-6400. 1703 32nd St. NW.

The topics for this “Let’s Talk Dance” panel discussion at the Kennedy Center are Martha Graham, women in dance and dance as activism. Tickets are $15. For details, visit kennedy-center.org or call 202-467-4600.

Kennedy Center Justice Forum.

WOMEN IN DANCE PANEL

Annie Evelyn.

MARCH 7

LECTURE BY ARTIST ANNIE EVELYN As part of the James Renwick Alliance’s Distinguished Artist Series, furniture designer Annie Evelyn will give a free lecture at American University’s Katzen Arts Center. For details, visit jra.org. 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

TOWN TOPICS

Whole Foods in Glover Park Will Reopen

BY RO BE RT DEVA NEY The long lament by Glover Park, Burleith and Georgetown residents over the closure of the Whole Foods Market at 2323 Wisconsin Ave. NW since March of 2017 is over. Whole Foods will be reopening in the same space where it has been since 1996.

The two parties — the grocer and the landlord — settled before the case was to go to trial.

In a statement, a Whole Foods spokesperson said: “We are thrilled to announce that Whole Foods Market will be returning to Glover Park. We will be completing a remodel of the store before reopening our doors, so stay tuned for more details on timing. We look forward to returning to serving the community we’ve been part of for more than 20 years.�

In 2017, the store was suddenly closed “due to a rodent problem.� But the matter grew into a contract and remodeling dispute between Wical Limited Partnership, the owner of the building, and Whole Foods, which was acquired by Amazon that year.

“We look forward to returning to serving the community we’ve been part of for more than 20 years.� — Whole Foods

Last year, D.C. District Judge Royce Lamberth set a trial date of May 26, 2020, to hear the entire matter. The key issue is to determine whether or not the rodent problem was an “act of God.� Lamberth had ruled out a request by all the interests for a summary judgment, a ruling on the merits

or on discrete issues of a case without a trial. “Neither side has shown ‘that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact,’� he wrote.

The two parties reached a settlement agreement on Feb. 10, according to the Washington Business Journal. “Under

terms of the settlement, the landlord will get more than $2.5 million in rental payments that have been held in escrow since the beginning of the legal battle; Whole Foods will get back $246,615.17 of the total in escrow to cover overpayment of taxes,� it reported.

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TOWN TOPICS

Comprehensive Plan Amendments, Language Concern ANC

BY PEGGY SA NDS Fifteen hundred pages.

The District’s five-year comprehensive plan — or, rather, the “proposed amendments to the District Elements of the 2006 Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital” — takes up about 1,500 pages of legalese-style paragraphs.

On Feb. 12, while many Georgetowners were attending midweek Valentine’s parties, a quorum of hearty Georgetown-Burleith advisory neighborhood commissioners literally lugged two thick copies, with dozens of colored tabs protruding from the side, to Visitation School for a two-hourplus session of intense public review and markup.

The commissioners voiced many concerns. As it turned out, the amendments that commissioners were asked to review by the District’s Office of Planning were much more extensive than expected.

“The ANC 2E believes the Office of Planning has understated the scope of the proposed amendments,” wrote ANC Chair Rick Murphy to Office of Planning Director Andrew Trueblood on Feb. 14. “What ANC 2E has been asked to review is much more than a ‘major revision’; it can fairly be described as a completely new plan that has been prepared without the robust process of community engagement that led to the adoption of the 2006 plan.”

There are multiple chapters in the plan, covering every aspect of city development: business, housing, transportation, parks, schools and the like. Commissioners reviewed it all. But what concerned them most was a subtle change in language throughout that would give the Office of Planning more discretion in making decisions or in giving advice to other District agencies on issues affecting neighborhoods throughout the city.

“Specifically the proposed plan deletes the words ‘protect’ and ‘preserve’ when referring to neighborhoods, neighborhood character, and historic resources … and replaces them with the word ‘respect,’”

ANC2E chair Rick Murphy and commissioner Joe Gibbons go over the bulky D.C. Comprehensive Plan. Photo by Peggy Sands.

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“If the proposed amendments are adopted, the Office of Planning and other District agencies would no longer be directed to protect neighborhoods throughout the city.” — Rick Murphy, ANC Chair Murphy writes. “The change may be subtle but it is very important. If the proposed amendments are adopted, the Office of Planning and other District agencies would no longer be directed to protect neighborhoods throughout the city. Instead, the agencies would be given the discretion to approve actions that could negatively affect a neighborhood as long as the neighborhood is ‘respected.’”

Many details of balancing decisions by city officials with neighborhood needs were noted during the evening. The commissioners suggested additions as well. In particular, Commissioner Anna Landre added, to almost every chapter, suggested amendments that would benefit handicapped residents and visitors. “Almost 13 percent of the D.C. population is considered to be handicapped,” she noted.

“It’s incredible that the comprehensive plan doesn’t recognize their needs.”

The ANC strongly urged the Office of Planning to state its priorities clearly so that consequent budget discussions could be aligned with the top planning goals. Two of those priorities, according to commissioners, were affordable housing and small business incentives. Georgetown needs a thoughtful small area plan, commissioners agreed.

“ANC 2E urges the Mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia to defer action on the proposed amendments and to instead initiate a robust campaign of public engagement, including the formation of a Plan Revision Task Force, or a similar body made up of members who represent a broad cross-section of the residents of our city with the goal of preparing an entirely new Comprehensive Plan,” Murphy concludes in his letter.

Five of the eight commissioners attended: Murphy, Landre, Joe Gibbons, Gwendolyn Lohse and Elizabeth Miller. About 10 Georgetown residents also participated (and one reporter). “Everyone there should be given combat pay,” a Georgetowner editor remarked.

The tennis courts at Montrose Park are being reconstructed — details in the next issue of The Georgetowner. Photo by Peggy Sands.

Georgetown Bus Service Reductions Planned

BY PEGGY SAN D S The major bus lines serving Georgetown — the D1, the D2, the D6 and the G2 — are set to be rerouted, rescheduled or eliminated in the District’s fiscal year 2021 budget.

Route D1 (Glover Park-Franklin Square Line) would be eliminated. Routes D2 (Glover Park-Dupont Circle Line) and G2 (P Street-LeDroit Park Line) would be consolidated. And Route D6 (Sibley Hospital-Stadium Armory) would lose some late-night trips.

“But nothing will be decided until the public has a chance to make their voices heard,” Ian Jannetta of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s media staff told The Georgetowner on Feb. 20.

Public input on bus service changes will close on March 2, but Jannetta said that online comments are welcome anytime. A public meeting with the WMATA board is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. at the agency’s headquarters, 600 5th St. NW. “I will be going down there for the fourth time in three months,” Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kishan Putta wrote to constituents on Feb. 17. “In my neighborhood, residents rely on the D1 & D2,” Putta wrote, noting that, in the new budget, the rush-hour D1 would be cut and the route combined with the G2.

“I appreciate the connection to the Logan Circle, Shaw, and Ledroit neighborhoods, but that should not come at the cost of cutting vital rush hour service in half.”

Putta concluded: “I would request that they extend the deadline. ANCs should have a little more time to meet, vote, and submit

input. Community organizations as well.”

The changes would also have a significant impact on students at Georgetown University. Although nearly all of the roughly 7,500 undergraduate students at the university have university housing on campus or within a block or two, the buses are their main link to Dupont Circle and downtown D.C. “The university is a transit desert, or an area where the demand for public transportation is greater than the supply because most students do not have personal vehicles or the financial means to frequently use ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft,” noted an article in the Feb. 14 issue of the Hoya student newspaper. “The proposed changes would cut service and move the bus stop from in front of the campus west gates to five blocks north on Q Street.”

“The university is working with community and student leaders to ensure our voices are heard on WMATA’s proposal,” GU Vice President for Governmental Relations and Community Engagement Christopher Murphy wrote to the student newspaper.

The WMATA board — which former Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans chaired until last year — is expected to vote on the proposal in late spring, according to Jannetta. “It is rare when they reject a proposal or decide to keep something the old way,” he told The Georgetowner. “But there are dozens of proposals before the board and I would be surprised if they said yes to them all. In the past, many proposals are reintroduced another year.”

GU to Divest from Fossil Fuels

BY KATE OC ZYPOK Georgetown University’s board of directors approved a policy of phasing out the university’s endowment investments linked to fossil fuels within 10 years, including divesting from publicly traded fossil fuel companies within five years.

University President John DiGioia announced the plan — which also prohibits

future investments in fossil fuel companies and encourages investments in renewable energy — in an email on Feb. 6, the same day students overwhelmingly voted in a nonbinding referendum to call for the school to divest. The decision was a victory for student-run campaign GU Fossil Free.

TOWN TOPICS

Georgetown Businesses Eligible for Grants

BY PEGGY SA NDS Reimbursement grants of up to $5,000 are available to dozens of Georgetown businesses whose owners apply to Georgetown Main Street by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 6.

To qualify, applicants will have to document expenses they have incurred or intend to incur for approved operational and/or physical enhancements during the period from October of 2019 to Sept. 15, 2020.

Small businesses in Georgetown along the mile-long Georgetown Main Street corridor — Wisconsin Avenue between K Street and Whitehaven Parkway NW — are eligible to apply. According to Executive Director Rachel Shank, the new online form makes applications easier than before.

Projects eligible for Storefront and Interior Improvement grants include: façade and storefront improvements, including repairs to masonry, glass, woodwork or other façade components; awning and canopy repairs or replacements; exterior lighting; signage, including signs, mounting brackets and other hardware and window lettering; and interior improvements such as repairs

to brickwork, plaster, HVAC systems and furniture and interior decorations including murals, lighting and paint.

Among the projects funded for Business Operation Improvement grants are: business planning, management training, government regulation assistance, marketing and branding assistance (social media, website, storefront/on-site, Yelp reviews, etc.), tax preparation and accounting assistance, legal assistance and one-on-one or collaborative business assistance.

“In 2019, we gave out 14 grants,” Shank told The Georgetowner. “We hope to have many more in 2020.”

Approved grant projects must be completed and paid for by Sept. 15.

Georgetown Main Street is one of 24 independent nonprofit units of the DC Main Streets program, supported by the Department of Small and Local Business Development to “revitalize communities by retaining and recruiting businesses, improving commercial properties and streetscapes, and attracting consumers.”

Grant applications are available at georgetownmainstreet.com.

Female Ginkgos May Be Acquitted

BY PEGGY SA NDS The fate of some of Georgetown’s female ginkgo trees, which drop thousands of stinky, gooey, slippery pods every fall on sidewalks and driveways, creating a public safety hazard, is a top issue in Georgetown.

For the past few months, heated discussions at the monthly meetings of the Georgetown-Burleith advisory neighborhood commission revolved around how residential blocks can apply for District funds to have them removed and replaced by the male variety.

But the remove-and-replace idea hit an androgynous snag when it was revealed that some male ginkgos can evolve into females, proceed to bud and drop the stinky fruit after all.

So, the discussion took a different tack at the ANC 2E meeting on Feb. 3. Betsy Emes, president of the venerable Trees for Georgetown organization — part of the Citizens Association of Georgetown — urged an acquittal.

“TFG is offering to support a pilot effort to hire professionals to clean up the fruit in two locations in the fall of 2020,” Emes announced. “The service would likely include vacuuming and/or sweeping on a daily basis, preferably in the early mornings, throughout the one-to-two-month fruiting period.”

TFG will pay for the cleanup, out of its regular annual fundraising or through a

A female ginkgo tree at 27th & O Streets NW was cut down last year. Georgetowner photo. special fund to be set up for this purpose, according to Emes. “The goal of this pilot is to test this approach and ideally demonstrate its feasibility — combined with the annual city spraying — as an alternative to cutting down the highly valued ginkgos in our community.”

Emes continued: “Future TFG support will be decided once the pilot has been concluded and its impact reviewed. Until this time, the program presupposes that there will be no petitioning in 2020 by neighbors to the city to remove female ginkgos in the targeted locations.”

The proposed target of the test program includes four ginkgos on the west side of the 1300 block of 27th Street, between N Street and Dumbarton Place, and four trees on Avon Place.

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EDITORIAL

After Wild Debate, Dems Ponder

BY PEGGY SAN D S Send Your Feedback, Questions or Concerns, Tips and Suggestions to editorial@georgetowner.com or call 202-338-4833

D.C.’s War on Cars?

Is the District of Columbia perpetuating a war on private cars?

Among the goals of the District’s new comprehensive plan are to lessen or restrict the number of cars and to encourage more mobility options (and walking). Dozens of parking spaces are being replaced by bikeways, scooter corrals, even miniparks.

D.C. parking fines were cited by AAA as the nation’s highest. Yet options for residential parking in Georgetown are shrinking as the number of cars owned — especially by the expanding population of families with children — grows.

Commercial trucks are parked everywhere. Dumpsters are seemingly planted on every other block, sucking up more parking spaces. Drivers are on constant alert for sudden stops by Lyft and Uber vehicles.

Nearby bus lines are being considered for elimination or merger. And e-scooter riders

charge down sidewalks, through red lights, across grassy parks and in and out of traffic.

Georgetowners enjoy the low-scale urban density and walkability of their historic town. Still, most own cars to drive elsewhere in the area and for emergencies, some types of shopping and, increasingly, to chauffeur children. Then there are the Georgetown retailers, who serve not only residents but “out-of-state” customers who drive to Georgetown from Arlington, McLean and Bethesda, for instance.

The District Department of Transportation is working to find solutions, according to Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Joe Gibbons. Georgetown residents should take Gibbons at his word and be proactive about the transportation problems impacting daily life in our neighborhood.

We’re all in this together, and we all know the unoriginal but ever-pertinent truth: It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

Black History’s Gift of Memory Slavery has always been with us. It’s been called the original sin of our nation, the world’s oldest continuous democracy.

The inability to directly confront the existence of slavery at the inception of the United States led to a cataclysmic and wounding Civil War, which — while it saw the freeing of the enslaved and abolition of slavery — in the end kept its inherent inequities and divisions. A willful refusal to see slaves and their descendants as equals and as individuals endured.

Years of Jim Crow, years of civil rights battles, years of revelation, followed.

Slavery — though confronted through literature, history, biography and popular culture — seemed the handiwork of other generations, disconnected from the present.

As noted in our cover story, things changed in the 21st century, even in the hallowed halls of Georgetown University, where documents showed that the school’s Jesuit administrators “bought and sold slaves.”

This expanded awareness led to searches for the names of the 272 enslaved persons sold by the university, and to their descendants.

The GU272 Memory Projects became a tool for enrichment, because they were about more than the slave trade and its acknowledgement. They were, as a New York Times writer said, about “real people with real names and real descendants.”

In Georgetown, and in Washington, D.C., as a whole, these efforts underscore what makes our neighborhood and city significant in terms of black history.

There’s always been a coexistence, separate but rarely equal. What the GU272 Memory Projects do is add another layer of lives lived on a daily basis, connecting us to individuals with names, families, offspring and full-length stories.

In Georgetown, where three historically black churches flourished along and around P Street, serving working-class and middleclass congregations, black culture was alive and well, with folks from the large Jackson family, with folks like Eva Calloway, who lived past 100. At The Georgetowner, we told the stories of some of those lives and participated in honoring their passing. Our own lives were enriched by their presence.

The Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, Feb. 19, with six candidates taking part, was being described by the news media the next morning as “spirited,” “fiery” and “lively,” a messy free-for-all and a biting (the Washington Post called it “devastating”) brawl that sizzled with animosity.

At the Woman’s National Democratic Club, the audience of about 50 gen X-ers and seniors — about a quarter of whom were men — munched popcorn and cookies, sipped wine, filled out WNDC debate bingo cards and gasped, laughed, occasionally applauded and mainly mouthed the equivalent of OMGs throughout.

As they were leaving, close to midnight, most were reluctant to declare a winner This was a significant contrast from the first debate, on June 26 and 27, which The Georgetowner also covered at the WNDC. On the debate stage for two nights, nearly two dozen candidates who had met the Democratic National Committee requirements regarding single-donation numbers and placements in national polls at that time, crowded the stage.

In June, the tone was competitive, the candidates mainly attempting to establish a memorable brand for themselves (Beto O’Rourke began his comments in Spanish).

But they were respectful to each other, reserving their fire and scathing remarks for President Donald Trump.

The audience at the WNDC on those two summer days numbered in the double digits.

Participants wore hats, pins and T-shirts, touting the party and their favorite candidate.

Groups of supporters for Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders (many of them 20-something millennials, both men and women) and for Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris (most gen Xers and seniors) clustered at tables. They screamed and applauded in approval when their candidates spoke, pumping their fists in the air when they blasted Trump.

On Feb. 19, the crowd was more subdued, serious, intently listening. Some took notes.

They talked quietly among themselves. There were no exuberant reactions for Warren when she took on Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg early on, nor for Sanders during his snarky exchange with the former New York mayor.

In fact, Sanders seemed unscathed by the many attacks on him, to which he responded almost immediately. When confronted with his refusal to produce full medical records after his heart attack last summer, Sanders retorted: “That’s like asking for Obama’s birth certificate.” Turning to Bloomberg, he grinned (okay, leered) and said: “We were in the

same hospital.” “That was five years ago,” Bloomberg shot back.

Nor did anyone in the audience really react to the extended attack on Bloomberg for not posting his tax returns online. “It’s complicated. It takes time,” Bloomberg said, partially echoing Trump. “I’ve been fortunate to earn a lot of money and now I’m giving it all away — a lot to Democrats.”

In this debate, it seemed that the MSNBC moderators and the candidates had agreed to discuss more substantive questions about issues that Democrats — especially Latinos in Hispanic-heritage-heavy Nevada — are said to care about: more accessible health care and good jobs.

But there was no focus on addressing gun violence, a big interest of D.C. and Virginia Democrats attempting to change gun laws in the area, considering that Las Vegas was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history (in which 58 people were killed and 413 wounded by a single shooter, with the ensuing panic bringing the injury total to 869).

But no one referred to that October 2017 event during the debate.

As in all the previous debates, there seemed to be no clear winner. While the lead has changed over the months (currently, it’s Sanders), all of the candidates have advantages in one state or in one demographic or another.

Some say Warren was the winner. Some CNN commentators gushingly called her “a badass woman.” Many of the women at the WNDC agreed that the winner should be a woman this time. But they winced, too, when they admitted that they weren’t sure America could elect a woman after 2016 (off the record, many of the club members revealed that they themselves did not support Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary, voting for Obama instead, and voted only reluctantly for Clinton in 2016).

But a number found themselves increasingly impressed with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), especially as a vice president.

She would balance any of the more fringe and East Coast candidates on the top, they noted.

There’s one more scheduled debate, on Feb. 25, four days before the African Americandominated primary caucus in South Carolina on Feb. 29. Then comes Super Tuesday, March 3, when 14 states hold primaries — including California, with the largest number of delegates, the majority of whom are expected to vote for Sanders. Predictably, Sanders said during the Feb. 19 debate that the nomination should go to the candidate with the highest number of delegates.

The underlying consensus, however, was there was one probable winner of the Feb. 19 debate: Donald Trump.

How else could Georgetown University atone for its involvement in slavery?

YOUR OPINION MATTERS. Post your response.

Facebook.com/TheGeorgetowner 8 FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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The Feb. 19 debate was lit. Courtesy NBC News.

DOWNTOWNER

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

BY KATE OCZ Y P OK

PHASE 2 OF WHARF DEVELOPMENT UNDERWAY

The second phase of the Wharf development in Southwest D.C. is proceeding, adding new residences, retail and amenities to the waterfront neighborhood. Opened in October of 2017, the first phase involved the construction of three hotels, two office buildings, four residential buildings, three live-music venues and numerous restaurants. This phase is due for completion in 2022.

WOMEN’S HISTORY MUSEUM ON NATIONAL MALL?

On Feb. 11, the House of Representatives passed a bill to create a Smithsonian Women’s History Museum on or near the National Mall, the location to be chosen by the Smithsonian Board of Regents. One of the bill’s lead sponsors, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-New York), said: “For too long, women’s history has been left out of the telling of our nation’s history.”

STAFF CUTS AT NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

The National Building Museum will reopen on March 13 after a three-month closure to replace the floor of the Great Hall and construct a new visitor center and classroom. Unfortunately, revenue loss during the closure and other financial challenges led the museum to lay off seven staff members. The museum is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

agreement with management.) A Feb. 19 rally outside a Southwest D.C. Safeway had workers chanting: “Safeway, Safeway, rich and rude. We don’t like your attitude!”

MILD WINTER WON’T SPOIL BLOSSOMS

With this winter one of the mildest since the 1970s, Washingtonians are worried about spring flowers — the cherry blossoms in particular. If they bloom too early, a March cold snap could damage the blossoms. Fear not: the National Park Service said the Yoshino trees (the majority of the population) are on track. The blossoms we’re seeing are on the Higan cherry trees, which bud and flower off and on during a warm autumn or mild winter.

GEORGETOWN VILLAGE

Bill Plante will moderate “Breaking the Retirement Mold,” a panel discussion by Georgetown Village members and AARP representatives, at 6:30 p.m. at St John’s Parish Hall, 3240 O St. NW. A reception at 6 p.m. will precede the panel. For details, visit georgetown-village.org or call 202999-8988.

Assistance Grant program will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Georgetown Inn, 1310 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Grants of up to $5,000 are available. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. on March 6. For details, visit georgetownmailstreet.com/ grants or call Rachel Shank at 202-6564427.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

OLD GEORGETOWN BOARD

MONDAY, MARCH 2 ANC 2E

METRO RIDER GIVEN CPR THANKS HELPERS

A woman who went into cardiac arrest on Metrorail last month delivered a speech to thank the bystanders who saved her life.

Arielle Baker, 29, might have died at the Columbia Heights Metro station were it not for two riders who performed CPR. DC Fire and EMS held an event on Feb. 15 to give Baker an opportunity to thank her helpers.

GO-GO IS NOW D.C.’S OFFICIAL MUSIC

Mayor Muriel Bowser signed legislation making go-go music D.C.’s official sound.

She made the announcement on Feb. 19 at Culture House DC, a former church turned arts venue in Southwest D.C. After she signed the document, the mayor handed out pens to musicians and to the daughter of Chuck Brown, the godfather of go-go.

FRANKLIN PARK CLEARED OF HOMELESS PEOPLE

Despite a mild winter, the cherry blossoms are on track. Photo by Kate Oczypok.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27

Authorities ordered the homeless men and women living in D.C.’s Franklin Park to leave, removing unclaimed possessions by truck. Verbal warnings were reportedly given, but there were no posted signs. The U.S. Park Police carried out the Feb. 5 operation with the National Park Service and a homeless advocacy group. The park will close in April for a major renovation.

The Georgetown-Burleith-Hillandale Advisory Neighborhood Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. at Georgetown Visitation School, 1524 35th St. NW, second-floor Heritage Room. For details, visit anc2e.com.

MARCH 4

SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS An information session to review eligibility and requirements for the Georgetown Main Street Small Business Technical

The Old Georgetown Board–Commission of Fine Arts will meet at 9 a.m. at 401 F St. NW, Suite 312. For details, visit cfa.gov.

MONDAY, MARCH 23 CAG DEBATE

The Citizens Association of Georgetown will hold a debate among Democratic candidates for the Ward 2 seat on the District Council at St. John’s Parish Hall, 3240 O St. NW. The program will follow a reception at 6:30 p.m. For details, visit cagtown.org.

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POLICE SHOOTOUT FOLLOWS CHINATOWN MURDER

A fatal shooting in Chinatown resulted in a shootout with D.C. police. The incidents took place near the National Portrait Gallery at 8th and F Streets NW. Jaykell Mason, 20, shot Terence Dantzler Jr., 29, multiple times during the 5 p.m. rush on Feb. 13. Mason was injured in the shootout.

Dantzler was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

Ask about our special discounts and services for local residents.

SAFEWAY WORKERS MAY STRIKE

Without a deal by March 5, thousands of union workers at Safeway supermarkets will go on strike and area stores could close.

(Giant workers recently came to a tentative

A man was fatally shot near the Portrait Gallery.

GMG, INC.

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

9

BUSINESS

INS & OUTS

OUT: LOCAL MEDITATIONS POPS OFF

BY RO B E RT DEVA NEY

IN: PADDYWAX CANDLE BAR LIGHTS UP

Paddywax Candle Bar, an experiential retailer that teaches customers how to make candles, opened in a 2,111-squarefoot second-floor space at 1065 Wisconsin Ave. NW, above South Moon Under. The store — the company’s 11th location — serves beer and wine as amateur chandlers mix the scented wax to make their own customized products. The DIY candlepouring experience and gift shop was born in Nashville.

IN: NEW SPOT FOR GEORGETOWN CARPET

Georgetown Carpet has opened at 1815 Wisconsin Ave. NW, near Safeway. It had been in Glover Park since 1981 at 2208 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Ben Tabar vacated the Glover Park building, now part of a 40-unit condominium project. His new space was previously occupied by Noodles & Company.

Candles are being made by hand at the shop near Wisconsin & M. Courtesy Paddywax Candle Bar.

IN: ORANGETHEORY UP AND RUNNING

Orangetheory Fitness has opened next to Georgetown Carpet in the former space of men’s clothier Jos. A. Bank at 1815 Wisconsin Ave. NW. All about high-intensity interval training and 60-minute workouts, the company began in Boca Raton in 2010.

Now with 1,230 locations worldwide, it offers an ambitious promise: “Between the inspirational coaches, mind-blowing science, and cutting-edge technology, it will be unlike any workout you’ve ever experienced before and one you can’t live without.” Ask about its founding membership specials.

CBD shop Local Meditations, co-founded by community-minded duo Tanya Duckett and Shara Gibson, has left its Georgetown location at 1631 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The two thanked Georgetown residents and businesses for their support and understanding. Their business remains online and will open another storefront elsewhere in March.

CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a nonpsychoactive compound in cannabis responsible for many of cannabis’s benefits — indicative of antioxidant, anti-inf lammatory, anticonvulsant, antidepressant, antipsychotic, antitumoral and neuroprotective qualities. Products include oils, topicals and ingestibles.

OUT: LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST FOR ROMEO’S

Cafe Romeo’s, the pizza parlor and hookah lounge at 2132 Wisconsin Ave. NW, has closed. After several citations for health code violations, the Glover Park spot called it quits after 15 years.

OUT: ECCO WALKS AWAY

Ecco, the shoe retailer at 1227 Wisconsin Ave. NW, between the Apple store and Vineyard Vines, has closed up shop.

Founded in Denmark in 1963, the familyowned business sells in 99 countries from more than 2,250 stores of its own.

USED BOOKSTORE STAYS — BUT HAS PROBLEM TENANT

Hamid Savojbolaghi, who has owned the building at 1660 33rd St. NW for almost 22 years, took it off the real estate market last year after trying to find a buyer. In the middle of 2019, he sold at steep discount or gave away almost 1,000 books, thinking he would soon vacate the space. After deciding to stay, Savojbolaghi kept his beloved basement Book Hill bookstore as is, renting the first and second floors to Mr Nice Guys, a CBD smoke shop. But Mr Nice Guys was raided by the Metropolitan Police two times within three months. Co-owners Greg Wimsatt and Damion West went to court on suspicion of selling cannabis (that is, marijuana) at the shop, which is illegal. For his part, Savojbolaghi told The Georgetowner that Wimsatt and West said they were opening a gift shop.

BE YOURSELF

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REAL ESTATE

Out of Many, One A GEORGETOWN ROW HOUSE WITH A STORIED PAST COMES INTO ITS OWN. SUSAN BODIKE R

The serene Federalist at 1431 33rd St NW is a jewel box of a house with an unusual pedigree. Built in the early 1820s, it was gifted to several generations of the original owner’s (somewhat litigious) family and eventually became a multiunit apartment building. Through the tasteful ministrations of Cecchi Homes and Boxwood Home Staging, it has been extensively renovated and restyled to a new level of glory.

The once-again single family home now offers 5148 square feet of living space on four levels and includes six bedrooms, each with an ensuite bath, one half bath, two gas fireplaces, flagstone rear patio and fauxboxwood covered garage, roof deck and an elevator with access on every floor. It is on the market for $5,450,000.

Builder John Cecchi had visited the house often and knew he could bring it back to its former beauty. On the main level, at the front, are the formal spaces--living room and dining room– which lead down a long gallery hall to a step-down kitchen and family room. The living room features a transitional grey marble fireplace and elegant cove and picture frame molding, which, like the decoratively patterned wide-plank wood flooring, runs throughout.

Working with Cecchi, stager Sammy van Blommestein selected a neutral color palette and furnishings with traditional but clean lines that “reflect the classic flavor of Georgetown” yet add a contemporary flair of their own.

In the kitchen, a very large (128”-wide) island occupies center stage and is topped with bookmatched Calacatta marble and waterfall edge. Extensive white paneled cabinetry are adorned with Restoration

A serene exterior opens into a stunningly renovated home. Courtesy of HomeVisit.

A statement tub and then some. A chrome clad tub sits in a fluted niche. Courtesy of HomeVisit.

Hardware knobs and textured pulls that gleam like jewels. (They also repel finger prints.) Chef’s grade appliances and finishes include Waterworks fixtures; SubZero French door refrigerator and wine cooler; ASKO dishwasher, and Wolf fourburner range, microwave and double oven.

A variegated grey marble interlocking tile backsplash brings it all together.

The kitchen flows into the bright and airy family room accented by wide shiplappaneled walls (so not “Fixer Upper”), corner windows and French doors that open onto the rear patio.

Upstairs, on the second level, there are two large bedrooms with walk-in closets and marble and glass baths. The master suite boasts two enormous walk-in closets fitted with custom shelving and a grand master bathroom with a chrome-clad double-slipper soaking tub, frameless glass steam shower with multiple shower heads and two separate marble-topped vanities.

One floor above, there are two more bedrooms (one with a marble fireplace that could serve as a library or office), marble baths and wet bar fitted with an L-shaped

Entry hall-Taking the long view. From the entry way, you can see all the way back to the rear garden.

Courtesy of HomeVisit. marble counter, ice maker and wine fridge.

French doors reveal a spacious eastfacing roof deck with views overlooking northwest Washington.

The fully finished lower level features herringbone tiled floors, a large rec room, bedroom with marble bath, extra storage and laundry room with stacked Electrolux washer and dryer and paneled cabinets.

Offered at $5,450,000, the newly restored six-bedroom, six-and-a-half bath home at 1431 33rd St NW is listed with Washington Fine Properties. For details, contact Nancy Taylor Bubes, 202-386-7813 or nancy.taylorbubes@wfp.com. For a visual tour, visit http://spws.homevisit. com/hvid/274936.

Photo credits: HomeVisit

If cleanliness is next to godliness, this is its temple. Courtesy of HomeVisit.

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FEBRUARY 26, 2020

11

COVER

Remember Us

GU272 MEMORY PROJECTS — GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CONFRONTS ITS LEGACY OF SLAVERY

BY RO BE RT DEVA NEY

“The affair gave many here a reason for speaking badly about us. No one does this but bad people, as they are dealers of Negroes, who care for nothing except money ... the slaves who were under my care conducted themselves well ... if they did need to be sold, they could have been sold without scandal and clear danger of losing their souls.”

Dr. Linda Mann interviewing a GU272 descendant. Photo by Claire Vail. Courtesy AA-NEHGS. So wrote Dutch Jesuit Peter Havermans grimly in October 1838 of the sale of more than 272 enslaved persons from Maryland plantations, owned by the Society of Jesus, due to mounting debts that included small Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. Those 272 — from infants to the elderly — departed on a ship from Alexandria to New Orleans, where they would work sugarcane fields and endure cruel conditions. Lost (almost) to history were the souls that feared for their lives and their Catholic faith.

AN AWAKENING

In the 21st century, an awakening dawned at Georgetown University, after similar

acknowledgments by Brown, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Virginia, that administrators had bought and sold slaves.

Georgetown’s slaveholding reckoning would be different, because its sale involved such a large number of people — and because the documentation, both available and to be tracked down, was more than ample.

In 2014, Georgetown student Matthew Quallen wrote an account of the Jesuits’ 1838 sale in the Hoya student newspaper.

He urged the university to strip the names of Georgetown Jesuits Thomas Mulledy and William McSherry from buildings named for them because of their involvement in the sale. (It should be noted that university records and history books told of the slavery story.)

In the months that followed, which saw student protests, Georgetown professor Adam Rothman, a member of Georgetown University’s Working Group on Slavery, Memory & Reconciliation, summed up the process then beginning: “It seems to me that the story of Georgetown and slavery is a microcosm of the whole history of slavery.”

The university renamed those two buildings for Isaac Hawkins, the first slave listed in the ship’s manifest, and to Anne Marie Becraft, the founder of a school for black girls in Washington, D.C.

ATONEMENT — AND REPARATIONS?

The university and the Society of Jesus formally apologized for their involvement in slavery and for the sale that shattered families and sold them down the river. It was an emotional day for many when hundreds of descendants gathered for the apology at

Antoinette Beshears Baines. Photo by Claire Vail. Courtesy AA-NEHGS. Gaston Hall and later planted a tree in the Quad, adding soil from Louisiana.

The university announced a legacy designation of admission for descendants of those enslaved and sold, similar to the extra attention given to children of GU alumni, teachers and others. Most recently, an annual fund of $400,000 to support projects and groups in the descendant community was initiated.

In contrast, the Georgetown University Student Association and the GU272 Advocacy Team put together a plan for reparative action. The referendum they proposed called for a fee of $27.20 to be added to each student’s yearly tuition for the benefit of the descendants. Last spring, students voted to approve the referendum. It was the first proposal of its kind in the United States, displaying support for the continuation of reparations.

(Separately, some descendants have called for a $1-billion reparations fund.)

“This is not a disembodied group of people, who are nameless and faceless.

These are real people with real names and real descendants.”

— Richard Cellini, Georgetown Alumnus

Georgetown College, circa 1838. Courtesy Georgetown University.

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COVER

First page of the GU272 Bill of Sale, dated June 19, 1838. Courtesy AA-NEHGS. Avoiding the word “reparations,” Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia has said: “We embrace the spirit of this student proposal and will work with our Georgetown community to create an initiative that will support community-based projects with Descendant communities … The University will ensure that the initiative has resources commensurate with, or exceeding, the amount that would have been raised annually through the student fee proposed in the Referendum, with opportunities for every member of our community to contribute.”

FINDING THE ANCESTORS

Still, the sorrowful question persists: Who were these good, Catholic people that were betrayed and cast off? And where did their descendants live on and prosper?

“What we so often lack is the perspective of enslaved people themselves,” Rothman has noted.

As it turns out, Georgetown has an array of genealogical tools to offer those looking to trace connections between past and present.

“A great deal of the credit for discovering the descendants goes to Patricia Bayonne-

Johnson, a descendant of Nace and Biby Butler, a husband and wife who were sold

by Thomas Mulledy to Jesse Batey in 1838 and transported to Louisiana,” according to Georgetown University. “Bayonne-Johnson … discovered her connection to Nace and Biby Butler while researching her family tree in 2004. Using documents from the Jesuit Plantation Project, and with help from Louisiana genealogist Judy Riffel, Bayonne-Johnson learned of the story of the 1838 sale and uncovered additional documents, including the manifest of the Katherine Jackson.

“After Georgetown president Jack DeGioia formed the Working Group for Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation at Georgetown University, we created the Georgetown Slavery Archive to replace the defunct Jesuit Plantation Project website and publish additional documents from Georgetown’s archives relating to the university’s relationship to slavery and slaveholding in the Maryland Province, and to the fate of the people who were sold to Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey in 1838.”

Soon enough, Georgetown alumnus Richard Cellini took on the task of researching the GU272 descendant community with his independent Georgetown Memory Project, aided by contributions from fellow alums.

“This is not a disembodied group of people, who are nameless and faceless,” Cellini told the New York Times, which published major stories on the Jesuits’ slave sale four years ago. “These are real people with real names and real descendants.”

As of this month, Cellini lists persons identified and located: 227 ancestors; 9,269 direct descendants.

Another website was created last year to assist the search. “The GU272 Memory Project marks the first time that genealogical data about the GU272 will be publicly available. It’s a milestone in online resources for African American family history,” said Claire Vail, director of creative and digital strategy, American Ancestors & New England Historic Genealogical Society.

“The GU272 Memory Project was a natural fit for us,” said Vail, who added that they “traveled to Louisiana to capture oral histories from the largest group of descendants. We spoke with at least

Photos of GU272 descendent Donna Comeaux’s family. Photo by Claire Vail. Courtesy AA-NEHGS.

“We spoke with at least 30 descendants living in Baton Rouge, Houma and New Orleans, for a total of 50 interviews to date across many families.” — Claire Vail, American Ancestors & New England Historic Genealogical Society 30 descendants living in Baton Rouge, Houma and New Orleans, for a total of 50 interviews to date across many families.”

Vail commented that finding and digitizing the available documents — “and making it searchable and making it public — is a vitally important task, both for descendants and for historians. Identifying enslaved people is a vital step in gaining a better understanding of America — past and present.”

Four years ago, Cellini phoned Maxine Crump in Baton Rouge with the revelation that her great-great-grandfather Cornelius Hawkins was one of those slaves sold by the Jesuits to the Louisiana plantation. “Oh my God,” she cried. “Oh my God.” That was Neely, buried in the only Catholic cemetery in the area. “Now they are real to me,” Crump told the Times. “More real every day.”

DESCENDANTS BECOME HOYAS

Old Sharecropper cabins in Raceland, Louisiana. Photo by Claire Vail. Courtesy AA-NEHGS.

Among the first descendants to matriculate at Georgetown are Elizabeth Thomas and Shepard Thomas, the children of Sandra Green Thomas, great-greatgranddaughter of Sam Harris and Betsy Ware Harris.

“In the mid-1990s, I lived within walking distance of Georgetown. I was pushing my babies around in a stroller, going on campus, without knowing anything about the connection,” Thomas recalled in a Times piece. “I read The New York Times, and I saw the story there. I saw the photo

of the cemetery, and I saw Maringouin, La. I went to the website of Georgetown’s slavery archive and saw the names of my relatives … I find it somewhat comforting and amazing that the immediate family remained intact after being sold … When I first read it, I was just looking at the facts.

But when you start thinking about it, it is really horrific.”

As if to complete a particular circle of life, Georgetown graduate Elizabeth Thomas is now an ABC News reporter. Last year, she and another descendant student, Melisande Short-Colomb, went to the Jesuit cemetery on the university’s main campus. In front of the tombstone of Thomas Mulledy, S.J., who coordinated the slave sale, they told him: “Look at us now.”

No doubt, there will be more arguments about reparative action by the school and more programs and memorials to follow.

Meanwhile, this sinful chapter of Georgetown University and of America is leading to something of a miracle: those once lost to history and are now among us — and remembered.

TO LEARN MORE, VISIT: slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/ descendants georgetownmemoryproject.org gu272.americanancestors.org gu272.net GMG, INC.

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

13

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

BECOMING JANE

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S

BY R ICH ARD S E L DE N Jane Goodall is 85. When she showed up at Tanganyika’s Gombe Stream Game Reserve in the summer of 1960 — with her mother as chaperone and a cook named Dominic — she was 26.

As many of us learned as animalloving youngsters, Goodall had gone to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) to observe chimpanzees in the wild. What came to be a 60-year calling began with a suggestion from paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, who, with his colleague and wife Mary, was finding and studying fossils of human ancestors. Goodall had sought out Leakey, the son of missionaries in British East Africa, three years earlier.

“Becoming Jane,” an immersive exhibition about Goodall’s remarkable life and career — created in partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute, a conservation organization based in Vienna, Virginia — opened last November at the National Geographic Museum. It will remain on view through the summer, then travel to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and other venues.

In addition, the famed primatologist, since 2004 a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, will be celebrated in D.C. this spring with a series of public events.

On March 13, filmmaker Bill Wallauer, the Jane Goodall Institute’s scientific advisor, will lead a virtual-reality journey through the forests of Gombe (National Geographic boasts the world’s largest VR theater).

This year’s Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital will conclude on 14 FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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March 21 with a world-premiere screening of “Jane Goodall: The Hope.” And on March 23, Sara Manco and Karen Cerka, National Geographic’s photo archivist and film archivist, will conduct a Goodallthemed “Into the Archive” program.

The March events will all take place at National Geographic headquarters, as will a one-day Jane Goodall Film Festival, running from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on May 9.

Goodall herself will make an appearance on April 6, three days after her 86th birthday, at DAR Constitution Hall.

“We’ve been telling her story since 1960,” noted Kathryn Keane, executive director of the National Geographic Museum and vice president of public experiences at the National Geographic Society.

Keane called Goodall “gracious” during the planning process for the exhibition — which required a lot of custom voiceover work — but “also very outspoken and firm about things that she wanted.”

Visitors to the exhibition get a taste of multimedia right at the start, when blowups of three National Geographic Magazine covers switch to video. The star of the show greets them (“Hello, I’m Jane Goodall”), then a chimp escapes from the famed yellow frames.

“Becoming Jane” offers “a lot of things to see and do and play with,” said Shawn Sweeney, the Jane Goodall Institute’s senior director of community engagement.

That’s an understatement. At “Chimp Chat” booths, for example, one can practice speaking chimp. At an “Observation Station,” augmented-reality characters

appear in binoculars, along with a narration.

But this visually appealing show strikes a balance between stations that make use of interactive and immersive technologies and traditional displays of one-of-a-kind artifacts. To name two of the latter: Jubilee, Goodall’s stuffed chimp from childhood, named for the baby born in 1935 (the year of George V’s jubilee) to Boo Boo, a chimp at the London Zoo; and a four-page letter home written by the 22-year-old Goodall while on a three-week ocean voyage to Mombasa on the Kenya Castle.

A bit farther along, visitors are welcomed to Chimpland — Goodall’s name for her Gombe camp — by a hologram of the young researcher. Later, theater doors open and one dons glasses for a stunning 360-degree experience, during which Goodall describes the moment when chimps she named Goliath and David Greybeard preened near her for the first time, unafraid: “Without any doubt, this was my proudest moment.”

Goodall enrolled at the University of Cambridge from 1962 to 1965, earning a Ph.D. in ethology, the study of animal behavior. The paradigm-changing, fiercely challenged observation in her thesis, “Behaviour of Free-Living Chimpanzees,” was of chimps making and using tools.

Man (that is, humans) could no longer be uniquely characterized as “the Toolmaker.”

Early film footage of Goodall interacting with chimps — a practice that is no longer sanctioned — was shot by Hugo van Lawick, a photographer and filmmaker born in Indonesia to Dutch parents. Also directed to Gombe by Leakey, van Lawick

married Goodall in 1964 and they had a son, Hugo Eric Louis, known as Grub, three years later (the couple divorced in 1974 and van Lawick died in 2002). Goodall has two grandsons, Merlin and Nick, and a granddaughter, Angel.

What is referred to as Goodall’s “Damascus Moment” came in 1986, when she published “The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behaviour” and spoke at a conference in Chicago. Just as she then adopted a more holistic approach, focusing on the protection of animals through environmental conservation and sustainable human practices, the exhibition shifts in midstream to a wider lens.

Four threats — habitat loss, disease, trafficking and hunting — are flagged, and ways to combat them identified. Background is provided on the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program, which works to motivate youth throughout the U.S. and in some 50 countries, and its communitycentered Tacare approach.

Finally, at Trees of Hope kiosks, visitors pledge to make a change in their routines: Use Less Plastic, Avoid Palm Oil, Take A Walk.

Compared with Goodall’s lifetime of devotion, it seems a small thing to ask.

BECOMING JANE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MUSEUM 1145 17TH ST. NW OPEN DAILY, 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M. ADMISSION: $15

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW JOHN SINGER SARGENT: PORTRAITS IN CHARCOAL

V I S UA L A R T S

BY ARI POS T

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Feb. 28 to May 31

“The Curtain,” c. 1880. Edgar Degas.

Courtesy National Gallery of Art.

DEGAS AT THE OPÉRA

blockbuster 2017 show “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” this new exhibition will affirm Kusama’s legacy within the museum’s collection and art history with three significant new acquisitions.

“One with Eternity” will showcase the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection of works

by Kusama — including two of her “Infinity Mirror Rooms,” her first and one of her most recent — while honoring her distinctive vision by exploring its development across multiple media. Note: Free same-day timed passes will be distributed daily at the museum starting at 9 a.m.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

JANET ECHELMAN’S 1.8 RENWICK

March 1 to July 5 Edgar Degas (1834–1917) is the premier painter of dancers, a subject that dominated his art for nearly four decades. His renowned images of the Paris Opéra are among the most sophisticated and visually compelling works he created. Celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Paris Opéra’s founding, this exhibition will present 100 of the artist’s best-known and beloved paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculptures.

Degas explored both the public spaces of the Opéra — auditorium, stage and boxes — and more private ones, including dance studios and backstage. He was friends with many of the people he depicted in his paintings, from dancers, singers and orchestra musicians to the formally dressed subscribers. The Opéra also fueled some of Degas’s most daring technical innovations, including his first monotype and his iconic wax sculpture “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,” which revolutionized the medium.

“Infinity Mirror Room — Phalli’s Field,” (1965).

Yayoi Kusama. Courtesy Hirshhorn.

ONE WITH ETERNITY: YAYOI KUSAMA IN THE HIRSHHORN COLLECTION HIRSHHORN MUSEUM April 4 to Sept. 20 “One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection” is a tribute to the life and practice of Yayoi Kusama (b.

1929), a visionary artist whose revelatory practice has captivated audiences around the world. Building on the Hirshhorn’s

“1.8 Renwick,” 2015. Janet Echelman.

Courtesy SAAM.

In 1907, at the height of his success as a portraitist, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) astonished the transatlantic art world when he stopped painting portraits in oil. Switching to charcoal, Sargent produced several hundred portraits of individuals recognized for their accomplishments in fields such as art, music, literature and theater.

Organized by the National Portrait Gallery and the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, “John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal” will be the first exhibition of Sargent’s portrait drawings in over 50 years. This once-in-a-lifetime assemblage of master drawings will feature compelling depictions of an international network of the Gilded Age elite.

A projection in the “Age Old Cities” exhibition.

Courtesy NMAA.

AGE OLD CITIES: A VIRTUAL JOURNEY FROM PALMYRA TO MOSUL NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART (FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES) Through Oct. 25 In the recent past, Iraq and Syria have suffered profound upheavals that have destroyed many significant cultural and religious sites, leaving little of the rich historical past. Using groundbreaking digital installations, “Age Old Cities” takes visitors on a virtual tour of three ancient cities: Palmyra and Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

Organized by the Arab World Institute in Paris, “Age Old Cities” was created in collaboration with Iconem, which specializes in digitizing cultural heritage sites in 3D, and in partnership with UNESCO. The exhibition offers an immersive experience, inviting visitors into the heart of each of the three cities with large-scale projections of dynamic imagery and 3D reconstructions of damaged monuments.

The projections shift gradually from destruction to progressive reconstruction.

In this way, the exhibition highlights the devastation of these sites — all cornerstones of world culture — but also offers hope for their reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Several videos feature interviews not only with archaeologists and curators, who work at great personal risk to protect and preserve these sites, but with residents.

Others explore unique parts of the cities, such as the markets of Aleppo or the Tomb of the Three Brothers in Palmyra, an underground burial chamber turned into an ISIS base of operations.

RENWICK GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM Opens April 3 This colorful fiber and lighting installation

by Janet Echelman (b. 1966) examines the complex interconnections between human beings and our physical world, also revealing the artist’s fascination with the measurement of time. The work, a volumetric form suspended from the ceiling, was inspired by the data recorded following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that rippled across the Pacific Ocean toward Japan on March 11, 2011. This geologic event was so powerful that it shifted the earth on its axis and shortened the day by 1.8 millionths of a second, lending the work its title.

Echelman’s knotted meditation contrasts the forces we can understand and control with those we cannot, while setting the concerns of our daily existence against the larger cycles of time. Shifting light will cast projected shadow drawings in vivid colors that will move from wall to wall, enticing viewers to lie down on the carpet and contemplate the work.

“Sybil Sassoon,” 1912. John Singer Sargent.

Courtesy NPG.

Untitled, Mexico City, 1969–72. Graciela Iturbide. Courtesy NMWA.

GRACIELA ITURBIDE’S MEXICO NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS Feb. 28 to May 25 For the past 50 years, Graciela Iturbide (b. 1942) has produced majestic, powerful and sometimes visceral images of her native Mexico. One of the most influential contemporary photographers of Latin America, Iturbide transforms ordinary observation into personal and lyrical art. Her signature black-and-white gelatin silver prints present nuanced insights into the communities she photographs, revealing her own journey to understand her homeland and the world.

“Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico” is the artist’s most extensive U.S. exhibition in more than two decades, comprising 140 photographs organized around nine themes. Her photographs that document the Seri, Juchitán and Mixtec societies offer compelling insight into the daily lives and customs of indigenous men and women. Iturbide demonstrates her deep awareness of complex cultural symbols through representations of processions honoring the dead, as well as lavish, exuberant fiestas that highlight Mexico’s pre-Hispanic and Spanish heritages. Her depictions of animals, birds and plants are rendered with as much sensitivity as her images of people, calling attention to the relationship between human presence and nature.

The exhibition will also feature Iturbide’s haunting snapshots of personal items that painter Frida Kahlo left at her home, la Casa Azul (the Blue House), after Kahlo’s death.

These photographs connect Iturbide to Kahlo, another of Mexico’s most celebrated artists, as two women who have used their craft to grapple with and transcend the hardships and tragedies of life.

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SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

RIFFS AND RELATIONS: AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS AND THE EUROPEAN MODERNIST TRADITION THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION Feb. 29 to May 24 “Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition” will present works by African American artists of the 20th and 21st centuries together with examples by the early 20th-century European artists with whom they engaged. The exhibition will explore the connections and frictions around modernism in the work of artists such as Romare Bearden, Robert Colescott, Renee Cox, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Hank Willis Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems.

European modernist art has been a complicated influence on black artists for more than a century. The powerful pushand-pull of this relationship constitutes a distinct tradition for many African American artists, who have mined the narratives of art history, whether to find inspiration, mount a critique or claim their own space. “Riffs and Relations” will examine these cross-cultural conversations and present the divergent works that reflect these complex dialogues.

“The Amen Corner.” Courtesy STC.

“And She was Born,” 2017. Janet Taylor Pickett.

Courtesy Phillips Collection.

PERFORMANCE B Y G A RY TISC H L ER AN D R I C H A RD SEL D EN

THEATER If you want to know what’s up at the Shakespeare Theatre Company under new Artistic Director Simon Godwin, you can get a fair idea with two current productions: “The Amen Corner,” a rousing gospel play

by James Baldwin, directed by Whitney White, at Sidney Harman Hall (through

March 15); and Godwin’s directorial debut, the rarely performed Shakespeare tragedy “Timon of Athens,” at the Michael R. Klein Theatre, formerly the Lansburgh (through March 22). Chocolate-infused musical comedy “Romantics Anonymous,” written and directed by Emma Rice, with music by Michael Kooman and lyrics by Christopher Dimond, will follow at the Michael R. Klein (April 7 to May 17).

Speaking of Shakespeare, Folger Theatre’s production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” director by Aaron Posner, is the last “at-home” production before the Folger Shakespeare Library closes for a major renovation (through March 1).

The August Wilson Festival winds up at Arena Stage with “Seven Guitars,” one of the finest plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle of 10 — one per decade, this one about the 1940s — depicting African American life in a corner of Pittsburgh (April 3 to May 3). In a somewhat similar but later vein: Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over,” directed

by Psalmayene 24, at Studio Theatre (March 4 to April 12).

At Woolly Mammoth, “There’s Always the Hudson” by Paola Lázaro, directed

by Jess McLeod, concerns a sexual abuse support group (April 6 to May 3).

“The Wanderers” by Anna Ziegler, directed by Amber McGinnis at Theater J, is about an arranged marriage in the Satmar Hasidic community (through March 15).

Then Mark St. Germain’s “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” as in Westheimer, is due to return (March 27 to April 19).

Round House Theatre, in its renovated Bethesda home, will present “Cost of Living,” directed by Artistic Director Ryan Rilette, in which Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok interweaves two narratives of disability (April 1 to 19).

Coming up at GALA Hispanic Theatre: José Zayas directs “Tía Julia y el Escribidor (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter),” by Caridad Svich, based on a novel by Mario Vargas Llosa set in the Peru of the 1950s (April 23 to May 17).

“Inherit the Windbag,” a Mosaic Theater Company production directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, centers on a volatile political debate in 1968 between the liberal, tart, acidic Gore Vidal and the conservative, tart, acidic William F. Buckley. Washington familiars John Lescault and Paul Morella star as Buckley and Vidal, respectively, in this world premiere by Washington Post

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SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

humor-and-politics columnist Alexandra Petri (March 11 to 29).

Tennessee Williams is back. Avant Bard has mounted “Suddenly Last Summer,” directed by Christopher Henley, at the Gunston Arts Center. The film version is still remembered for Elizabeth Taylor in a white bathing suit (through April 5).

Ford’s Theatre is bringing us Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” with Bueka Uwemedimo as Sky Masterson (March 13 to May 20). More musicals: Rice and Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the Kennedy Center Opera House (April 14 to 26) and the Tony Award-winning musical “Bandstand,” from “Hamilton” choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, about the return of American soldiers from World War II, at the National Theatre (March 3 to 8). Later on, the National will have a fling with Sting (yes, that Sting), as playwright and director of “The Last Ship” (March 27 to April 5).

OPERA Bass-baritone Ryan McKinny will portray the libidinous antihero in Washington National Opera’s production of “Don Giovanni,” one of Mozart’s most ambitious, defiant and powerful works, with a libretto

by Lorenzo Da Ponte, conducted by Evan Rogister in the Kennedy Center Opera House (Feb. 29 to March 22). Also in the Opera House: Saint-Saëns’s “Samson and Delilah,” with rising star J’Nai Bridges as

Delilah and Roberto Aronica as Samson (March 1 to 21). In the second half of March, in the Eisenhower Theater, Kenneth Kellogg will star in “Blue,” a tale of a black Harlem police officer whose son is killed by a white police officer, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a libretto by Tazewell Thompson (March 15 to 28).

Washington Concert Opera’s spring production, conducted by Artistic Director Antony Walker in George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, is “Simon Boccanegra,” Verdi’s political-historical opera about a doge (chief magistrate) in 14th-century Genoa. The singers are baritone Lester Lynch in the title role, soprano Marina Costa-Jackson, tenor Kang Wang, baritone Musa Ngqungwana and bass Andrea Silvestrelli (April 25).

The In Series brings us something traditional — Verdi’s “Rigoletto” — in a totally new and different way, decked out in an immersive circus production at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Victoria Gau of Capital City Symphony will conduct (April 11 to 19).

JAZZ, POP, ROCK AND HIP HOP Blues Alley will present some of the best guitarists in jazz this spring: Kevin Eubanks (March 19 to 22), Lee Ritenour (April 2 to 5) and John Pizzarelli (April 30

Boys will land at The Anthem (April 7) and Strathmore will welcome Tony Bennett (March 15) and Lea Salonga (April 17).

DANCE Kevin Eubanks. to May 3). With the Embassy of Italy, the famed Georgetown club will also host an Italian Jazz Series (April 20 to 24).

Returning in June, as always, all over town: DC JazzFest (June 12 to 20).

Spring highlights at Wolf Trap: Ladysmith Black Mambazo (March 16 and 17), the Fifth Dimension (March 20), Joan Osborne (April 16 and 17) and Jim Messina (April 21 and 22).

The Birchmere keeps making it hard to choose, with acts like The Oak Ridge Boys (March 6), Graham Nash (March 10), 10,000 Maniacs (March 20), Rosanne Cash (March 31 and April 1, sold out), Kathy Mattea (April 5), Sinead O’Connor (April 7, sold out), Jonny Lang (April 21), Shawn Colvin (April 30) and Ann Wilson (May 12).

Five-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill and the DMV’s own Alice Smith will perform as part of the Kennedy Center’s Black Girls Rock! Fest (March 6 and 7).

A few more people you’ve heard of: Celine Dion (March 11) and Billie Eilish (March 18) are coming to Capital One Arena, the Beach

This spring, The Washington Ballet will dance “Swan Lake” in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater to live performances of Tchaikovsky’s classic score by the Washington Ballet Orchestra. Additional staging and choreography by Artistic Director Julie Kent and Associate Artistic Director Victor Barbee will meld with the original choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov (April 9 to 19).

Spring performances by Bowen McCauley Dance in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater will feature an expanded collaboration between choreographer Lucy Bowen McCauley and Turkish composer Erberk Eryilmaz (March 27 and 28).

Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company will present “Reflections of Sargent,” exploring the works and life of painter John Singer Sargent, at the National Portrait Gallery (April 5 and 7; May 10).

Anchors Aweigh! Diane Coburn Bruning’s Chamber Dance Project will hold its 2020 gala on two yachts anchored at the Capital Yacht Club at the Wharf (March 29). The company’s “New Works 2020” program, including four world premieres, will be presented in the Michael R. Klein Theatre (June 18 to 27).

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Dining Guide

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BY JOD Y KU R ASH Pho, egg coffee and beer hoi — some of the most popular gastronomical delights sought out by visitors to Vietnam.

Pho, a fragrant, piquant noodle soup, is practically the national dish of Vietnam.

Beer hoi refers to street-side stalls where tourist and locals alike hunker down on kindergarten-sized plastic stools and enjoy beers for as low as 5,000 dong (about 22 cents). Conversation flows as freely as the beer.

Egg coffee is a delicacy consisting of a white, meringue-like egg topping with robust Vietnamese coffee underneath.

According to the Guardian, it was “invented in 1946 at Hanoi’s Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel. At the time, milk was scarce in Vietnam so whisked egg yolk was used as a replacement for café au lait and cappuccinotype drinks which were in demand by the French occupiers.”

Egg coffee remains a national pride to this day. The son of its inventor still makes it from the authentic recipe at his popular Giang café.

If you are looking for adult versions of Vietnamese cuisine, pho-inspired cocktails can be found in various bars in Hanoi, including the renowned one at the Unicorn Pub. As for a loaded egg coffee, I was pleasantly surprised to find an interesting variation combining Vietnam’s love of beer and coffee in one glass.

The discovery came while visiting one of Hanoi’s most famous Instagram sites, Train Street, where, instead of pavement, a single train track runs through the narrow corridor. Passing diesels roar by, inches from homes and shops. Everyone packs up and ducks inside until they pass. The routine repeats throughout the day.

In between the locomotives’ scheduled arrivals, tourists pose for photos. An abundance of cafés serve drinks and food.

So, when my Instagram-crazy friend Ben Whittaker came to visit, this was one of the first places I showed him. It was there that I noticed on a menu, along with a selection of local brews, an entry for egg beer that intrigued me.

Ben was given his bottled beer immediately, while I waited in anticipation.

I heard the sound of beating eggs first, followed by an electric mixer. I watched the woman in the café diligently working

like a Christmas elf as her bowl filled with a frothy white substance and the smell of sugar cookies filled the air.

She carefully spooned the fluffy, cloudlike mixture into a big mug and placed it on my trackside table along with a Hanoibranded beer. I watched as she delicately poured the beer to top off the mug without destroying the billowy foam.

The result was a large floating island of meringue; the beer settled nicely on the bottom. It was so thick and fluffy, I needed a spoon to scoop a piece off the top.

The flavor of condensed milk and vanilla melted in my mouth. As I titled my glass to take a sip, some beer poured through the feather-like meringue to create a silky taste.

The flavors were paradoxical — bitter, hoppy and fizzy followed sweet pastry dream — but together they mingled for a gleeful taste, akin to having a beer with your birthday cake.

I continued to enjoy my sweet and sharp treat until I was signaled by the owner to move off the patio. Seconds later, I heard a rumble, then felt a breeze passing through my hair as a train sped past me.

Without delay, the cafés began returning tables and chairs to their places and tourists started snapping shots of the last car riding off in the distance. Another typical day in Hanoi.

Making egg beer (or coffee) at home is not difficult, but requires a strong arm or an electric mixer.

Egg Beer Cocktail 1 egg yolk 1 oz. sweetened condensed milk Dash of vanilla extract 1 beer (your choice) Put the egg yolks, condensed milk and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Whisk with electric beaters for at least 5 minutes or until pale and foamy. Spoon mixture into a large beer mug. Pour beer slowly while tilting the glass to avoid disturbing the egg foam.

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HAUTE & COOL

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INTO THE BLUE 6

BY A LL Y S ON B UR K H A R DT Let’s welcome the Pantone Color of the Year: Classic Blue.

This is the shade of the deep seas and darkening skies. It is believed to instill faith during uncertain times. This color symbolizes optimism and brings peace and tranquility to the body and soul. When placed in the home, it supports clear communication. Reflective blue stones are believed to promote healing. Blue is even considered to be an appetite suppressant, as it is rarely found in foods. Who knew?

The Pantone Institute may be regarded as a color forecaster, but in actuality it is an authority on color. It analyzes global expressions of color and determines its influences on society. Once Pantone designates a color of the year, we begin to see it manifest in a wide range of consumer products and marketing campaigns, most notably in the fashion and interior design sectors.

Color can be complex, but blue is a universal favorite. In fact, it is the most popular color in the world. After seasons of stimulating shades like Bright Tangerine, Zesty Green and Living Coral, we can embrace the calm, cool hue of Classic Blue. So let’s celebrate 2020 as we move into the blue!

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KITTY KELLEY BOOK CLUB

The Club Savors ‘This Is Happiness’

BY KITT Y KE L L E Y

“I appreciated being taken back to the soft ringing of bells in Ireland and the escape to an eccentric little town as enchanting as Brigadoon” — Sarah Gorman, Book Club Captain In sharing the experience of reading Niall Williams’s latest novel, “This Is Happiness,” a Georgetown book club also shared the pleasure of their friendship.

“I loved reading this book because, in our current political turmoil, I appreciated being taken back to the soft ringing of bells in Ireland and the escape to an eccentric little town as enchanting as Brigadoon,” said Sarah Gorman, the book club captain.

Noting that the biggest problem the residents faced was the arrival of the electrical grid, she said she found the book a sheer delight — “despite all the rain.”

The group laughed recounting all of the book’s numerous raps and rhapsodies about rain. “It was either sleeting or sprinkling or pouring or pinging or soaking or misting,” said Carey Rivers, who mentioned that Williams’s previous novel, “History of Rain,” had been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2014.

“Well, you probably couldn’t have a novel about Ireland without a little rain,” said

Stephanie deSiboar, who had chosen the title and hosted the club’s monthly dinner.

“I admit the rain must’ve been oppressive, but I became so involved with the story I felt like I was living in Faha [the fictional town in County Clare].” She said she finished reading the book in two days.

Others said they took longer because the narrative pace was slow — “so very, very slow,” said Laura Rivers, a paintings conservator with the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, who had flown in to spend the holiday weekend with her mother. “So slow I still haven’t finished it.”

“The language was just too luxurious to rush,” said Kit Krents, recently retired administrative director of law firm Cleary Gottlieb. “I savored every sentence and can’t remember a story that has moved me as much. But, be cautioned,” he added, “you can’t pick up this book if you’re in a hurry and want a fast read.”

Susan Burrows, a law library professional, agreed. “The writing is so lush that I began reading paragraphs out loud to my husband.

Drove him crazy, but the words are so rich, the language so luscious, that I just had to share them.”

“The characters in this book are not looking for change, which disturbs things and upsets their routines. They’re happy as they are,” said Gorman. “Hence the title.”

The verdict that evening was a unanimous rave for “This Is Happiness,” the story of an old man looking back on his youth as an orphan. Having left the priesthood and gone to live with his grandparents in an Irish town that time had almost forgotten (until the arrival of electricity), he’s writing out his memories “because at the end we all go back to the beginning.”

His look backwards forms the loose plot of the book, which all agreed is carried by strong writing and vivid characterization; this is a book club that prizes fine writing.

“In fiction, most of our choices are Man Booker prizewinners or runners-up,” said deSiboar. “We don’t read sci-fi or mysteries or fantasies.”

“In nonfiction, we’ve tended recently to World War II authors like Erik Larson and Lynne Olson,” said Rivers, “but …

Before she finishes her sentence, the group begins listing their favorite books over the years. They collectively attempt to come up with their top five, using “A Gentleman in Moscow,” a 2016 novel by Amor Towles, as their gold standard.

Everyone agrees the list should include Barbara Kingsolver’s 1998 novel “The Poisonwood Bible,” Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch” of 2013 and Christine Sutherland’s 1984 historical work “The Princess of Siberia.” “That’s got to be in the top 100 books of all time,” said the captain.

But then the group diverges, offering a literate inventory that includes the 2015 novel “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara, Viktor Frankl’s 1946 “Man’s Search for Meaning,” the 2011 novel “Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes and Wallace Stegner’s “Angle of Repose” and “Crossing to Safety,” from 1971 and 1987, respectively.

By 9 p.m., the captain announces the hardest part of the evening, which, she explains, is selecting the next book to read: “The choice usually goes to whoever shouts the loudest.”

Georgetown resident Kitty Kelley has written several number-one New York Times best-sellers, including “The Family: The Real Story Behind the Bush Dynasty.”

Her most recent books include “Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick’s Iconic Images of the Kennedys” and “Let Freedom Ring: Stanley Tretick’s Iconic Images of the March on Washington.”

At the book club: Sarah Gorman, Stephanie deSiboar and Kit Krents (front row); Laura Rivers, Carey Rivers and Susan Burrows (back row). Photo by Robert Devaney.

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GOOD WORKS & GOOD TIMES

Alvin Ailey: Finding Soul in Dance

BY CH RIST INE WA RNK E Devoted followers of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater were ecstatic watching the mystical feeling come alive on stage through extraordinary dance expressions at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House Feb. 4. Performances, included the new “Ode” and Ailey’s “Revelations,” brought the entire audience to its feet. Gala-goers joined the Ailey dancers for a late-night dinner dance in the Terrace Theater, where attendees danced to their hearts’ content.

John Franklin and Paxton Baker.

Photo by Robert Devaney.

Performers of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the post-performance gala.

Photo by Robert Devaney.

CAST OFF THIS MARCH ON A YACHT ON THE WHARF Join us for a special VIP reception on a yacht at the Capital Yacht Club. Enjoy cocktails, appetizers and live jazz. We will present our dancer & choreographer, Christian Denice, in a preview performance and demonstration. There will be a silent auction with unique experiences to bid on and a paddle raise. The evening supports Chamber Dance Project’s June Season and Community Matinee.

ANCHORS AWEIGH GALA SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020 • 4:00PM - 7:30PM CHAMBERDANCE.ORG/GALA • DIANE COBURN BRUNING, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 22 FEBRUARY 26, 2020

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Christian Denice in performance. Photo by Ismael Arrieta.

Ari Fitzgerald, Lyndon Boozer and Tony Lewis. Photo by Robert Devaney.

Carol Melton and Ami Aronson.

Photo by Robert Devaney.

GOOD WORKS & GOOD TIMES

Sports-Themed Heart Ball Scores

BY CH RIST INE WA RNK E The Greater Washington Heart Ball was held Feb. 22 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and scored at least three touchdowns with the sports-themed, black-tie dinner, dancing and special guests — including Redskins great Joe Theismann. More than 500 physicians, corporate, health care and community leaders celebrated the mantra — “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” The evening’s speakers empowered people to improve their heart and brain health, as the only important statistic in life is the final score.

Roquell Wyche, M.D., and Stephen Narcisse.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess.

Photo by Jeff Malet.

Dance Tribute to Marian Anderson

BY M ARY BIR D

Lauren Bodamer and Matthew Flynn.

GALA GUIDE FEBRUARY 26

TEACH FOR AMERICA GALA

Carol and John Boochever and Olga and Scott Jaeckel are chairing the Leadership Changing Lives gala to support Teach For America leaders, whose efforts pave the way for educational equity for all children.

Ritz-Carlton. Email Cierra Hinton at cierra. hinton@teachforamerica.org.

MARCH 7

CHILDREN’S NATIONAL’S A VINTAGE AFFAIR

The Board of Visitors of Children’s National Health System will host this opportunity for wine lovers to taste fine wines and enjoy elegant cuisine while bidding on fine wines and experiences.

Proceeds support the board’s annual grants and major gifts programs. Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. Contact Kathie Williams at kwilliams@boardofvisitors. com or 202-660-1428.

Gita Joyce and Michelle Whitescarver.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was the guest of honor at the National Portrait Gallery as the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company debuted “A Tribute to Marian Anderson” to honor the legendary opera singer and civil rights icon on Feb. 3. The exhibit “Marian Anderson One Life,” curated by Leslie Ureña is on view through May 17. Burgess is the gallery’s first choreographer-in-residence. Company dancers in a Johannes Brahms suite were joined by Canadian soprano Millicent Scarlett and pianist Jeffrey Watson. The program concluded with “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” As a cultural envoy for the U.S. Department of State, the company has toured nationally and internationally and performed at the White House.

MARCH 10

MARCH 15

The chairs of the gala are Hillary and Tom Baltimore and Erika and A. Scott Bolden. N Street Village is a nonprofit that empowers homeless and low-income women to claim their highest quality of life through shelter and a variety of programming. Marriott Marquis. Contact Stuart Allen at sallen@ nstretvillage.org or 202-939-2085.

The 39th Daffodils & Diamonds event — a fashion show provided by Lord + Taylor and a luncheon emceed by WJLA-TV Anchor Alison Starling — supports the National Foundation for Cancer Research, focusing specifically on breast and ovarian cancers.

Columbia Country Club. Visit nfcr.org.

N STREET VILLAGE GALA

MARCH 11

VITAL VOICES GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AWARDS

The awards program honors women leaders standing on the frontlines of change, building and amplifying local solutions to global issues. Kennedy Center. Email mariadavis@vitalvoices.org.

MARCH 12

LATINO STUDENT FUND GALA

The evening begins with cocktails, Latin music and a silent auction, followed by dinner and a live auction. LSF provides opportunities for underserved students of Hispanic descent in pre-K to 12th grade to get a strong academic foundation.

Washington National Cathedral. Visit latinostudentfund.org.

DAFFODILS & DIAMONDS LUNCHEON

LEVINE’S GALA

The evening begins with cocktails and includes a performance and a seated dinner.

Proceeds support Levine Music’s outreach program and scholarship fund, which last year provided more than $500,000 worth of music instruction to more than 650 children.

Arena Stage. Visit levinemusic.org.

MARCH 28

SIBLEY CELEBRATION OF HOPE AND PROGRESS

Sibley Memorial Hospital relies on the support of the community to maintain a standard of excellence in public health services, including cancer research, maternal services and joint replacement care. Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.

Contact Kristen Pruski at kpruski@jhmi. edu or 202-660-6814.

CYSTIC FIBROSIS BREWER’S BALL

The event will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which funds research and drug development, promotes individualized treatments and ensures access to highquality specialized care. National Building Museum. Contact Chelsea Director at director@cff.org or 301-657-8444.

MAY 16

CITYDANCE DREAM GALA

This event, chaired by Paul Wharton, will feature a show-stopping performance and an after-party with the artists. The DREAM program provides dance training for youth in low-income D.C. neighborhoods. Lincoln Theatre and the Smith. Email dreamgala@ citydance.net or call 202-347-3909.

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