Page 2
Hyattsville Life & Times | April 2014
FromTheEditor
Columnists provide a foundation for small-town paper to flourish by Rosanna Landis Weaver
A recent article in the Washington Post described the nowdefunct Manasses News and Messenger as having “survived Reconstruction, multiple recessions and depressions, assorted wars and the dismantling of Jim Crow laws throughout Virginia and the South. But the Internet was another matter.” The Hyattsville Life & Times
A community newspaper chronicling the life and times of Hyattsville Mailing address: PO Box 132, Hyattsville, MD 20781 http://issuu.com/ hyattsvillelifeandtimes http://facebook.com/HyattsvilleLife http://twitter.com/HvilleTimes Hyattsville Life & Times is published monthly by Hyattsville Community Newspaper, Inc., a 501c(3) nonprofit corporation. Editors welcome reader input, tips, articles, letters, opinion pieces and photographs, which may be submitted using the mailing address above or the email addresses below. Executive Editor Susie Currie susie@hyattsvillelife.com 301.633.9209 Managing Editor Rosanna Landis Weaver rosanna@hyattsvillelife.com 301.277.5939 Production Ashley Perks Advertising advertising@hyattsvillelife.com 301.531.5234 Writers & Contributors Amanda Alley, Katy June-Friesen, Lauren Kelly, Gray O’Dwyer, Molly Parrish, Scarlett Salem, Fred Seitz Board of Directors Joseph Gigliotti - President and General Counsel Chris Currie - Vice President Susie Currie - Secretary Peggy Dee, Karen J. Riley, Valerie Russell, Gretchen Brodtman, Debra Franklin, T. Carter Ross Rosanna Landis Weaver - Ex Officio Circulation: Copies are distributed monthly by U.S. Mail to every address in Hyattsville. Additional copies are distributed to libraries, selected businesses, community centers and churches in the city. Total circulation is 9,300. HL&T is a member of the National Newspaper Association.
has a different story. We must be one of only a handful of print papers to begin after the Internet age, and approach our 10th anniversary this year. With the help of amazing, talented volunteers, we expect to unveil a new website shortly, allowing easier online reading and sharing of articles, as well as an archive of past issues. In the meantime, the print issue continues to flourish. On January 1, we put out a request on the local listserv encouraging anyone with a New Year’s Resolution to do more writing to reach out to us. The response was marvelous, and while the consistency of commitments has varied — it always does with such resolutions — it has introduced new writers and columnists to our fold. This the third month we’ve had a “Parenting Perspectives” column, and we hope new writ-
ers will continue to volunteer for this rotating column. (Because we’ve discovered that parents don’t have time to write consistently!) This also marks the second time we’re running the column “Secondhand News,” by Lauren Kelly, a Hyattsville bargain treasure-hunter sharing her secrets. We are fortunate to call architectural historian Gray O’Dwyer a regular contributor. Her column, “Bricks and Mortar,” will continue to explore issues related to architecture, preservation and development in our historic city. This issue also represents the beginning of a new series, a project begun by Katy June-Friesen, who is creating a Hyattsville Voices Oral History Project to illuminate the city’s history and the lives of people who live or work here. She will conduct interviews
with a diverse group of local residents and transcribe them. The point says June-Friesen, is not so much to produce a “comprehensive” record of Hyattsville experience as to find a way to preserve stories. She hopes to create a project website where people can read full transcripts and listen to recordings. While we’re excited about the new additions to our roster, we are also seeing less of some familiar faces. A new policy, adopted in January by our board of directors, dictates that columns must be either local or placed within the context of Hyattsville and its surroundings. As regular fans and readers know, award-winning columnist Hugh Turley’s interests are varied, and often “Hugh’s News” took readers to places far from Hyattsville. We are glad to report that he has agreed to write
when a Hyattsville topic occurs to him. Next month we say goodbye to Molly Parrish, who has written “Auntie Diluviana” since it started in 2012. We are in discussions with a writer who may take up the column, which is the compiled wisdom of Hyattsville Aging in Place members. (The title is a play on “antediluvian,” which translates to “before the Flood” but is used to describe someone or something that is very old or old-fashioned.) We wish our departing writers well! And remember, writers and photographers, it is never too late to make a New Year’s resolution. We would welcome more diversity of perspectives, so please contact us at susie@ hyattsvillelife.com or rosanna@ hyattsvillelife.com.
Hyattsville hosts cross-cultural mentoring The gathering was part of TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership program, a cooperative program between the U.S. and Japanese governments, created to encourage entrepreneurial skill-building. It focuses particularly on young women working in the region devastated
by Rosanna Landis Weaver
On Sunday, March 23, women business leaders from Hyattsville traded tips with women from the other side of the world, a place where “leaning in” is more likely to mean bowing than seeking promotions.
Brookland
by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. A total of 25 participants — young women in their early 20s — joined six mentors for the eight-day program in the United States. Hyattsville was the first stop after a short orientation. The gathering was designed to
Hardware
3501 12th St NE, Washington DC • (202) 635-3200
Awarded “Best Hardware Store” by Washington City Paper!
We our customers!
Products • Paint & sundries • Radiator enclosures • Window shades • Plumbing/electrical • Lawn & garden • Housewares • Appliances • Hand & power tools
Services • Tool rental • Lamp repair • Key cutting • Glass cutting • Paint tinting • Window/screen repair • Pipe threading & cutting • Propane exchange • Sharpening service
15%
off your purchase with this ad (excluding sale items)
“We specialize in personal service” — Howard Politzer, owner
Monday - Saturday, 8 am - 7 pm www.truevalue.com/brookland
help the Japanese participants feel more comfortable in engaging in conversations with Americans. Dan Ewett, vice president of Cultural Vistas, the international exchange organization that facilitated the trip, reports that the travelers received a “gregarious welcome” from the participants the city had invited. “We have a long-standing relationship with the city,” noted Ewett. “They’ve hosted other participants of [our] program [and] others.” Attendees, who answered questions on a range of topics, included ArtWorks’ executive director Barbara Johnson; Pizzeria Paradiso founder Ruth Gresser; Ann Marie Binsner, of Court-Appointed Special Advocates of Prince George’s County, Principal Julia Burton from Hyattsville Elementary School; Wanda Ramos, of the MarylandNational Capital Park & Planning Commission; and Victoria Clark, from the Mall at Prince George’s. Entertainment was provided by Hyattsville resident Cynthia Way on ukelele. Way led the crowd in singing, “This little light of mine, From Hyattsville to Tokyo, I’m gonna let it shine.”