Still Life with Robin: How Was Your Ride?

by Peggy Robin

 

The following question was posted on the Listserv on Tuesday:

 

"Has anyone taken an Uber or Lyft recently? If so, how was it? Did you feel safe?"

 

I was thinking of answering this question on-list, but as soon as I started to compose an email about my Uber trip, I got bogged down. The problem was not anything to do with Uber. My driver was fine, the ride was smooth, and all coronavirus safety precautions were strictly observed. The problem was that the whole day was a series of snafus. Nothing irremediable ....it was just one of those days everything seems out of whack, and I realized that if I told the whole story, it would be a long, rambling, shaggy dog story.....and  it wouldn't be a good answer to the poster's question. But it would be just the sort of thing I'd put in my Still Life with Robin column. So here it is:

 

I took an Uber today .....for the first time in over a year. it was perfectly comfortable and I felt quite safe. The driver wore a mask, There was a sign hanging in the car saying that passengers are required to wear masks, sit in the back seat, and there were a couple of other rules, too. It said the cars are sanitized regularly. But I can't say I had a good trip home. That's because I never intended to take an Uber home in the first place. I have a nice little car, and I was meaning to drive it to Potomac and back, for an appointment that could not be handled remotely. It was supposed to be a quick, simple errand.

My car -- a 13-year-old Hyundai Accent - is admittedly plain and it's got its share of dings. But it's always been serviceable....that is, until a few weeks ago, when I had my first real trouble from it. But let me start with the drive out to Potomac. That went fine. I signed some documents that had to be witnessed, and then got back in my car to drive back to my home in Cleveland Park.

 

I got as far as Bethesda - Wisconsin and Bradley to be exact - when my car's engine started sputtering. and the "check engine" light came on. 

 

Something similar had happened  while driving about three weeks earlier, and the car actually had stalled and couldn't be restarted -- and had to be towed to the Hyundai place in Rockville. This time, it wasn't stalling (yet!), so I was able to turn it around and head north up Wisconsin/Rockville Pike, back to the same Hyundair place that had fixed it a few weeks before. 

 

They took the car in and said they would check it out tomorrow and let me know.

 

The car repair place was just two blocks from the White Flint Metro. I thought I would have a smooth Metro ride to Cleveland Park. When I entered the station, the sign said the next train would come in 13 minutes. While I waited, every few minutes there were very loud but completely garbled, incomprehensible announcements over the PA. I didn't worry about it, and boarded the train when it came. 

 

It went exactly one stop - to Grosvenor. Then, everyone --that is, a total of 10  people on an 8-car train-- was told to get out. That's when I saw the sign in the station that I had overlooked before: It announced the red line is closed between Grosvenor and Friendship Heights for the next TWO WEEKS. Those unintelligible announcements were telling us that there would be a free shuttle bus to take us to Friendship Heights, where we could resume travel by Metrorail.

 

So I followed the line of ten passengers over to the waiting area for the shuttle bus. Only a limited number of people would be allowed on the bus, so that we could maintain social distance from each other. There were already passengers on the waiting bus as we boarded, and it was not clear to me if all the newly arrived  passengers would be allowed to board. I was at the end of the line, but thankfully, the person in charge of counting heads let us all on. To stay as far away from the other passengers as possible, I picked a seat in the last row of the bus.

 

So the bus took off for Friendship Heights. Since I'm in the back of the bus, I know I will be the last one off the bus when it arrives at the station. I could not have anticipated how long it would take to get off this particular bus. Apparently, at the front of the bus, there was a woman with one of those wheeled, wire, fold-up shopping carts. She should have been the first to get off the bus, but she was having some sort of trouble with her cart. I couldn't see what was going on -- and at first I couldn't hear what she was saying, but for whatever reason, she was not getting off the bus. Maybe she was having trouble with her shopping cart. I don't know if anyone up front offered to help her; perhaps the problem was that in the midst of a pandemic, no one wanted to help her by handling her cart. Or maybe someone did offer to help but she did not want a stranger touching her cart. All I could hear is some talk about her cart. Then voices were raised, and a man yelled at her to get off the bus, or move aside and let other people pass. Then she yelled back that he should stop telling her what to do, and be polite. Then some other man yelled back at her - definitely not polite. That made her even madder, and she said she wasn't going anywhere. Then I thought to myself, "Great, it looks like no one will be getting off this bus anytime soon."

 

The shouting went back and forth for a while....maybe five minutes. Probably less, though it seemed to go on and on. Ultimately, I don't know how or why the problem was resolved, but the woman and her shopping cart finally got off the bus, and then the rest of us followed, mercifully released.

 

Now here I am at the entrance to the Friendship Heights Metro. It's Tuesday afternoon, and as I'm about to go back down the escalator to get back on the Red Line to Cleveland Park, when I suddenly remember something important: Earlier this morning, Hurricane Isaias had torn through town. As a precaution in case of flooding, the Cleveland Park metro had been shut down for the day. I had posted the Metro announcement on the listserv myself, the night before. So I thought 'd better check the Metro website to see if the station was still closed. Sure enough, it was. And so was Van Ness. And Tenleytown. I thought about getting out at Woodley Park and walking back up Connecticut Avenue to Cleveland Park. But that's a long uphill slog on a hot, muggy day. I had just been trapped in the aisle of a shuttle bus for some undetermined period of time, listening to a woman screaming at people who were screaming at her for not getting off the bus. At that point I just wanted to get home the fastest way.

And that would be Uber.

 

So I pulled out my phone and hit that magic Uber app. And nothing happened. I hit it again, and saw that it was fading away. Hmm....Apparently, if you don't use Uber for a certain period of time, it disappears. It's use it or lose it. And I'd lost it, and would need to reinstall it. But that didn't happen quickly. So I stood on the street corner, waiting, waiting. And at last the app came back. Once I hit that black-bordered "U" it wasn't more than three minutes till I had a car.  

 

Here's where things start to look up. A clean, well air-conditioned car appears, driven by Johan, who is friendly but efficient. He chooses a good route to get me to my house -- and I'm there about seven minutes later. I tip him in cash because I can't remember how to tip through the app on my phone, leaving the cash on the console, in case he wants to avoid touching anything that has come straight from a customer's hands. 
 

End of ride, end of story. It's nine and a half miles from the Rockville Hyundai place to my house. Google Maps says it takes 21 minutes to drive it, under normal conditions.That trip took me over an hour - under not-so-normal conditions.  

 

You can bet I'm taking Uber, rather than Metro/Shuttlebus/Metro, when I need to go back!
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.

Stay In! And Stay Safe from Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

by Peggy Robin

This week's "Stay In! Column" arrives too late to warn you about protecting yourself from Hurricane Isaias.* (See the footnote for pronunciation). When I turned the "Get Out" column into the "Stay In" column back in March, when the pandemic began shutting down all group activities, my thought was to use the column to highlight all the things you could do at home and not go stir crazy, while you were protecting yourself and others from the spread of the virus.

Now that we’re in the thick of hurricane season, this Stay In column for this week is about another kind of shelter-in-place – the protective behavior we need to put into practice every year during the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.

Isaias makes landfall

Just as so many of us have learned the hard way how risky it can be not to strictly observe social distancing and wear protection against the coromavirus, every years thousands experience the catastrophic consequences of not taking a hurricane forecast seriously. 

Here's a photo round-up of storm damage and flooding around the District, Maryland, and Virginia:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/photos-and-videos-tropical-storm-isaias-unleashes-damage-on-dc-maryland-and-virginia/2381150/

In Queens, a man sitting in a parked car was killed by a falling tree:

https://gothamist.com/news/man-killed-falling-tree-queens-isaias-whips-through-nyc  

The National Weather Center is warning us that 2020 may be the most active hurricane season ever. We've already had nine named hurricanes or tropical storms - the most ever this early in the season. The next named hurricane or tropical storm will be Josephine. Before the next one comes around, you should review the rules to protect yourself and your family. They're actually a lot simpler than the rules about protecting yourself from the pandemic....but they're somewhat similar, in that they call for people to stay in and avoid doing anything known to be risky:

1. Pay attention to the weather forecast.

2. Secure any loose items outside before the storm comes in.

3. Have supplies on hand in case of loss of power.

4. Once the bad weather starts, stay in!

5. If you driving when the storm comes through and you encounter water covering the roadway, do NOT assume you can drive through it safely. Turn around and get to safety.

6. After the storm, stay away from downed power lines. Report them immediately.

Here's a storm preparedness guide from Pepco, with all of the above advice:

https://www.pepco.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PHI1000_17_P_ERIP_Handbook_WEB.pdf

And if anyone needs a reminder why the Cleveland Park Metro has to be closed whenever heavy rains/flash flooding is predicted, here's the video from 2016 showing what can happen when it floods: 

https://www.popville.com/2020/08/dc-wmata-closed-cleveland-park-metro-flood/

Scroll down to the second video on the site for the really dramatic time lapse footage.

Thanks to the Popville blog for the look back....and no, those drainage problems have NOT been fixed!

---

* If you have been wondering if you're pronouncing the Hurricane's name correctly, you can listen to an audio of it on CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/01/weather/hurricane-isaias-how-to-pronounce-trnd/index.html. If you don't want to bother to click on the link, then just say, "Ees - ah - ee - yas."

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The Stay In! (formerly known as the Get Out! Events Column is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays. 

Still Life with Robin: Isolate on a Island

Triskelion Flag

by Peggy Robin

Earlier this week there were some posts on the Cleveland Park Listserv (#161324  and #161338  ) asking about emigration to other countries. It’s not hard to understand why people are dreaming of living in some remote, pristine part of the globe right now - remember "Bali H'ai" from "South Pacific"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81NROmUb7o0)    

Of course, the question right now is, who will take us? Where can we get in? Here are some helpful hints from Forbes Magazine (whose motto is “Capitalist Tool”) – about finding places where, for the right price, you can take up residence, even at this moment of global pandemic:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/07/28/escape-america-countries-buy-citizenship-second-passport/#655d36b07f74    

And here’s a companion piece with some practical advice about making the move:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/07/30/live-work-remote-move-abroad-coronavirus/#3fcd9a783381  

What if you’re just dreaming? Or what if you’re so rich you can buy the island of your dreams? Here are a couple of websites that may have just what you’re looking for:  https://www.christiesrealestate.com/lifestyles/private-islands  and  https://www.privateislandsonline.com/     

Not a billionaire? Here are some islands available in the six-figure range. Some of them, to be perfectly frank, are best described as fixer-uppers – but then if you are going to be doing the Robinson Crusoe thing, you will have time on your hands! https://www.jetsetter.com/magazine/affordable-private-islands/     

Not looking for so much solitude? How about a move to a tiny,quasi-independent island -- with links to Britain but having self rule, including the oldest continuously operating parliament in the world. It’s the Isle of Man, which sits in the middle of the Irish Sea: https://manxnationalheritage.im/visit/about-the-isle-of-man/    

Here’s where to find it: https://goo.gl/maps/jU3bAxHAdkWZaz968  

If you moved there permanently, you would become a Manx! (that’s what the people are called, as well as the tailless cat). 

No, you don’t need to learn to speak Manx; the everyday language is English -- but how cool would it be if you did? The last native speaker of Manx died in 1974 but there’s an active Manx revival movement, with schools on the island that teach this ancient form of Gaelic. You can be a part of this noble effort! You could do your bit to keep this language from going extinct:  https://www.learnmanx.com/beginner_lesson_index.html

Another good thing about living on the Isle of Man: You would raise the greatest flag ever designed! All hail the Triskelion! https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-the-Isle-of-Man. And learn more about the symbol here: https://manxnationalheritage.im/visit/about-the-isle-of-man/three-legs-of-mann/

Every July 5th, you would be able to celebrate Tynwald Day, the opening of the Tynwald, the oldest continuous parliament in the world. It's an open air ceremony performed in front of thousands assembled on Tynwald Hill, starting with a procession by the members of the Tynwald up to Tynwalk Hill, where they’re seated outdoors on chairs arranged in hierarchical order. Once all are seated, then begins the “Fencing of the Court” -- that is, calling the assembly to order, after which they hear the Proclaiming of the Laws – by a minister called the First Deemster, who reads the laws in English, followed by the second Deemster, who reads the laws in Manx. The Lieutenant Governor then invites anyone with a Petition for Redress to present it. With all petitions presented, the Tynwald is officially open to consider legislation for the year.

This democratic institution has been functioning since 976!

If this sounds good to you, here's how to emigrate: https://www.manninvest.com/immigration/

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays. 

Get Out! And Go On A Scavenger Hunt

Peirce Mill in Rock Creek Park - National Park Service

by Peggy Robin

The "Get Out" column for this week has just one event – but it’s something that anyone can do – keeping socially distant from all others – or do it in “pods” or family members/prescreened friends. It’s fun for all ages, and it includes its own rewarding sights. And of course, it’s FREE!  

It the DC Historical Society’s Scavenger Hunt: https://bit.ly/39F2qgN   

It’s the simplest of games. Click on the link and you will get to the Scavenger Hunt game page. Fill in the name of your neighborhood and then scroll down to see a list of ten things you will set out to find. You can go out to find them in eight different walks or try to find them all in one walking adventure.  

The first thing is “Find a view of a major DC Landmark.” The landmark that’s easiest to spot from within Cleveland Park is the National Cathedral. But the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is also on the list – and if you’re in the right spot (that is, at the end of Ashley Terrace, at the top of the “secret stairs” that lead down to 30th Street, and you are looking out over the city on a clear day, the dome of the Basilica all the way over on Michigan Avenue in Northeast DC, can easily be seen from Cleveland Park.  

No more hints!  

The other nine things to find in your neighborhood are:

1. A national park.
2. The street naming pattern – and name three streets that fit the pattern.
3. An old building that was built for one use, now repurposed to be something else.
4. A historical marker, plaque, sign, or statue.
5. Two houses or buildings side by side that exemplify two different styles of architecture. (In eclectic Cleveland Park, there’s probably a street with three or four houses side by side, each in a different style.)
6. Wildlife. The Scavenger Hunt says you should find a bird, a rabbit, a squirrel, a deer, or a fox – but if you spotted a raccoon or a coyote, that would certainly count!
7. A Metro station, bus stop, or trolley stop.
8. A place where you can listen to music. It could be a concert venue, a church, a pub, or even a street corner where someone’s playing an instrument.
9. Something in the neighborhood you’ve always wondered about. When you submit your final results, you will be posting the “What is this?” entry for others to identify and explain. And you will be able to view what others have posted as their mystery place or objects, and see if you can shed light on what it is.

You can also share your results on your social media pages and tag the DC Historical Society’s  Twitter, Instagram or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dchistory

Don’t forget to wear your mask while you are out on your scavenger hunt! In some far-flung future, you can bet that one of the instructions people on scavenger hunts will receive is this: “Find a face mask from the great Coronavirus pandemic of 2020.”

This will be something that your children will one day be telling their grandchildren about…..

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The “Get Out!” column is published on the Cleveland ParkListserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.   

Still Life with Robin: Nat's What I Call Cookin'!

by Peggy Robin

If you’re like me, you’ve been doing a lot more cooking at home than you used to do back before the pandemic hit and put an end to normal restaurant operations. You may have used your extra at-home time to sharpen up your cooking skills. I know I have. I used to take a lot of short cuts in cooking, seldom making things from scratch. Now I realize there's nothing you can get out of a jar that won't taste a lot better if you make it yourself from fresh ingredients.

This isn't a thought that came to me out of the blue. It's the philosophy – and the basis of all cooking instruction – of the phenomenally popular, worldwide cooking sensation known by the single name of, Nat, whose series of cooking videos on Youtube are all under the title: "Nat's What I Reckon."

Nat usually begins each video by demolishing a jar of sauce or some other industrially packaged food –unleashing a torrent of blistering profanities in the process. 

Here are five of his biggest hits:

Make a basic tomato/basil/garlic sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OEDjDKV038

Make a simple chicken curry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uBDNhe6Gkk

Make mac’n’ cheese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk2wjrYXSlo

Make pasta with carbonara sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KthvXIFhcc

Make chili con carne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9sjrjr06K4

You will immediately notice that almost every third word he speaks is an expletive delivered in an almost impenetrable Australian accent – but the thing is, these are actually GOOD cooking lessons While he swears like a sailor, he is organized like a fleet admiral: he shows you what you need, what you do in what order, and what you can feel free to vary as you like, and when you must stick with the program. It’s ridiculously easy to follow along – although you may need to pause the video if you start laughing too hard.

Just a quick but necessary warning: These are NOT good videos to watch with your six-year-old….unless you are prepared to have your child shout at you in an imitation Ozzie accent, anytime from now through the end of high school, anytime you might venture to open a jar of any commercially prepared sauce: “NO MORE F*****G JAR SAUCE!”

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays. 

Get Out! Or Stay In! See the Zoo Either Way

Photo by Smithsonian National Zoo

by Peggy Robin

The Zoo is opening up tomorrow.

If you’ve been missing the animals and you are up for a masked and socially distanced visit with them, you can find all the instructions you need to arrange your outing at  https://nationalzoo.si.edu/visit/welcome-back-zoo.

Get your timed entry passes (walk-in or drive-and-park) here:

https://www.etix.com/ticket/o/6270/smithsonians-national-zoo

You might be pleased and surprised to learn that the animals have been missing you, too. Well, maybe just a few of the more social ones. Read this City Paper article to find out which ones: https://bit.ly/2ZUEP8K – but it’s no big spoiler to reveal that the cats at the zoo (of all sizes) do NOT really care if you show up or not. Still, you may be surprised to learn there are some animals that crave an audience.

However, if you think you are one of those who would be better off waiting a while longer before spending time at a place that attracts visitors from far and wide – even though everyone there will be masked and kept at a safe distance –you can still see the animals at the National Zoo….on the internet. 

Here’s an option that’s been here all along: Zoo-Cams! Click on the links below and to check in on our  camera-ready stars: (with supplementary material to liven things up, in case there's not much happening on the live-cam).

1. Giant Panda Cam. Pandas are number one in popularity at the zoo. And here’s some lively background music for you while you watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_3O7lL4Us8&list=RDiogY8GqcsZw&index=2

2. Naked Mole-rat Cam. Mole-rats are a specialized taste, to my way of thinking. If you pop in on the the naked mole rat world and find there’s not much going on at the moment, you can watch this video that provides a much more action-packed view of their lives: https://bit.ly/3ht5KhU  

3. Lion Cam. As City Paper noted, the big cats have NOT missed you! Here’s a soundtrack to go with the Lion cam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQlByoPdG6c

4. Elephant Cam. These marching Disney cartoon elephants might just trump the real thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrQQZuLru9s)

5. Black-footed Ferret Cam. Are you a ferret fan? Do you know who isn’t? Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, that's who! If you’ve never heard his unhinged anti-ferret rant, now hear this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l7d_3rkaX4)

Of course, the trouble with cyberspace is that once you get used to seeing things in VR that can easily top what you can see IRL, you start expecting too much. You want to watch a panda do more than sleep or chew bamboo? Wish you could actually pick up one of those cheetah cubs? And wouldn't it be great if those kittens could talk! When you start thinking along those lines, that's when you get the urge to hop over to Youtube and look for talking animals. And not just parrots! How about a cat who says NO!

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMESRatAG04&t=34s

And now a whole clip-reel full of non-humans saying and doing some unexpected things:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCZFmfjsQlc

And now a song to play us out from dear old Rex Harrison as Dr. Doolittle, singing, "If I Could Talk to the Animals":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOvlKgoeP4s

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The "Get Out!" or "Stay In!" column is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.

Still Life with Robin....and 99 Other Birds

Robin - Photo by Charles J. Sharp via Creative Commons

by Peggy Robin

The ”Still Life with Robin” column is meant to be about strictly local things – but I do so much want everyone to visit the Audubon Society’s Top 100 Bird Photos of 2020 that I will go to great lengths to tease out a local connection. There are 100 phenomenal photos of birds in this collection, and that includes exactly one taken in Washington, DC. It’s #10 as you scroll down the page at https://bit.ly/2CH5o8p -- and it’s the red-tailed hawk (a/k/a redhawk). Serendipitously, that’s the one that’s become perhaps the leading contender to become the new name/mascot for the Washington Football team. Now, instead of seeing what the bird looks like as a stylized logo, you can see what one looks like in real life – its image captured in the city, framed by a "V" formed by two red brick walls. Magnificent!

As you look through all the other images of birds, you will notice one of the most photographed – and photogenic – species is the owl. There are great horned owls, gray owls, snowy owls, short-eared owls, burrowing owls, and many more. Be sure to scroll all the way down to photo #79: It’s a barn owl, photographed in Fauquier County, VA. That’s close enough to home. It makes me think we may have passed up a chance at another great avian-themed name: The Washington Owls. Just think how great it would be to have an owl as our team's iconic animal. It’s a local species. And owls are known for their swiftness, agility, strength, and prowess in the field. According to ancient folklore, they are wise. Dignified, too. If it’s not too late, someone should get a logo design for The Washington Owls over to Dan Snyder!

Looking over all of the photos, I see just one more bird photo taken in the general vicinity of Washington DC: It’s # 44, the tree swallow – and I never knew we had such a brilliantly colored species in our area, where most of our birds are drably feathered to blend in with the woods. This shot of the electric blue head of the male peeking out his home in a tree overlooking the Rappahannock in Virginia is well worth a look!

And for the grand finale of this “Still Life with Robin,” I give you…..the Robin! Go to photo #5, taken in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada. (Though the photo was taken in Canada, it’s still an American Robin.) And I’m sure it’s hoppin' and boppin' and singin' this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLF3YZIjucs

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.   

Get Out! And Watch Comet NeoWise

Neowise over Stonehenge (NASA)

by Peggy Robin

Finally, something safe you can do outside with the family! All you need is a clear field - best to find one far away from the city lights and any trees or houses that would block the horizon. Oh, and you need a cloudless night. But you don't really need a telescope. A good pair of binoculars will be fine.

 

Up in the sky.....what is it? Is it a bird, a plane? 

 

It's Comet Neowise!

 

Watch this 2 minute and 12 second video from the Capital Weather Gang and you will be all set to catch a view of the comet about 45 minutes after sunset in the northwest sky on the next clear night:  https://wapo.st/2CtbJEn   

 

The best night could be July 22, the point at which it passes closest to earth. But you have until the end of this month to see it. You don't want to wait too long.....or you will have to wait another 6,800 years until it comes back around this way again.

 

Don't you love that mystical name NEOWISE? It's actually an acronym for "Near-Earth Objects Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer" - that's the name of the instrument that first spotted the comet.

 

Want to know more about NEOWISE? Go to the Space.com blog for some higher level space-nerd talk and technical detail: 
https://www.space.com/comet-neowise-visible-evening-sky-july-2020.html

 

Want a lower level of talk, including some of the cultural baggage surrounding comets - the superstitions, myths, and historical gossip? Comets have long been taken as heavenly heralds. Or harbingers of doom. But  the meaning of the comet all depends on which side of the battle you're on. When Halley's comet appeared in the sky before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror, who was to defeat the Anglo-Saxon armies and be crowned King of England, took the comet as God's promise of his victory. You can see the depiction of the comet in the Bayeaux Tapestry, commissioned by William to publicize his side of the story. But for the English and their king, Harold, slain on the battlefield, that comet was most definitely a sign of BAD times.

 

You can read more about comets in history and culture at  https://www.mpg.de/research/comets-cultural-history

 

As for the portents signified by Comet Neowise now......???? 

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The "Get Out!" column (or its alternate, the "Stay In!" column) is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.

Still Life with Robin: Hail to the Somethings!

Photo by Keith Allison
licensed by Creative Commons

by Peggy Robin

The times they are a-changin’…..and the names, they are a-changin’, too! 

Last Saturday in this space I took up the case of the impending Wilson High School name change – and at close to 6,000 words, it was the longest column I’ve ever done. I looked at over 65 different name suggestions to use in place of the segregationist Woodrow Wilson, and that took a while! Now I am rested and ready for a new challenge. This is a familiar one for me – what to call the Washington Football Team after they drop the racist slur, Reds***s – as I have already done THREE columns on the subject, all in 2013.

1. “Hail to the Reds***s, Part 1 (Feb 9 2013) http://alllifeislocal.blogspot.com/2013/02/still-life-with-robin-hail-to-reds.html
2. “Hail to the Reds***s, Part 2 (Feb 16, 2013) http://alllifeislocal.blogspot.com/2013/02/still-life-with-robin-hail-to-red-part.html   
And then half a year later (August 10, 2013) this one announcing that the Cleveland Park Listserv would no longer post messages that used the slur for the team’s name:
3. http://alllifeislocal.blogspot.com/2013/08/still-life-with-robin-no-more-reds.html   

Back when I posted those columns, I was under the apprehension (which, of course, turned out to be extremely premature) that the team owners would not be able to resist the tide of change, they'd recognize it was time to rename the team, and it would be over in a matter of weeks -- a few months at the most. Well, here we are, seven years on, and we’re still waiting. 

But in that time, I’ve been mulling it over, and I’m no longer so enamored of my top name picks back in the day. In those days, I liked the idea of using “Red White & Blue” as a collective team name (kind of like “Utah Jazz” or “Orlando Magic”)  

On the same flag theme, I also liked The Washington Stars & Stripes, which could be shortened to “Stars” or maybe retain the "red" and call them "Red Stars".   

But now I’m thinking that’s not a good direction to go. Better to have something simple -- a single image -- and a name that rolls off the tongue. I’m also thinking, after all the historical and psychological analysis over the meaning of “Reds***s,” let’s have something without layers of meaning. No double-entendres, no puns, no literary allusions, no satirical digs at politics or bureaucracy or anything that could be taken in a partisan way.   

And of course, we should stay miles away from anything touching on Native American peoples or their culture.   

That means NO to any of the following:  

Washington Monuments
Washington Senators
Washington Presidents
Washington Federals
Washington Bureaucrats
Washington Gridlock
Washington Potowmacks
Beltway Bandits   

Let’s stick with animals then. Here are the top choices:

Washington Redtails. Refers to the redtailed hawk – but it’s also a tribute to the Tuskeegee Airmen of World War II – and their planes, called Redtails.
Washington Redhawks. Same as the redtailed hawk, but shorter…..but are Redhawks too much like Seahawks?
Washington Hogs. That was the nickname for the offensive line – back when we had a team with an effective offense. But is “Hog” too close to “Pig” (a name that is unmistakably an insult)?
Washington Red Wolves. Refers to a species of wolf once plentiful on the eastern seaboard, but now critically endangered. Will that lead to extinction jokes whenever the team is eliminated from playoffs?

If you would like to see a list of the most popular choices, you can find them in this The Washington Post article on July 6:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/06/redskins-new-name-redtails-warriors/  

You can also see the results of the Post’s Readers’ Poll here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/redskins-name-change/f20c89cd-edbb-4395-8809-a26215dc2b91_poll.html

I suppose it’s too late to offer up a new contender…..but lack of practical impact has never stopped me before. So here's my own candidate for a new team name and mascot:
The Washington Sharks.   

It ticks all the boxes. It’s an animal. It’s simple to say - just one syllable! Sharks are fierce, fighting animals. They’re fast, constantly on the move. And they’re an apex predator. But, as we’ve learned from the worldwide popularity of the song Baby Shark – they can be fun and winsome, too! That Baby Shark song sure did give a boost to the morale -- and maybe even the performance --of our baseball team last summer. And for those who would still like to have some sort of “Washington insider” reference, “shark” is a term for an aggressive negotiator, whether in politics or in business. When lawyers are called sharks, it’s rather a double-edged compliment, but I’m sure if we called our football team The Sharks, it would be taken in a good way.  

So that’s my new name proposal, and I’m sticking to it:The Washington Sharks – doo doo dah doot de-dooo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdiEKfft87o
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.   

Stay In! And Watch Hamilton!

by Peggy Robin

It’s another “Stay In!” column. We’re still not ready for a “Get Out!” listing of events taking place IRL. So it’s yet another week of recommendations of things to do cyberspace. Today’ it's just one thing: Watch Hamilton!

It was supposed to be here at the Kennedy Center all summer long…..and you don’t need me to tell you it’s not here, and there’s still no date for the postponed show dates, either.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t watch it. You can….on the Disney Channel. It will cost you $6.99 and you will get to watch the original cast, Lin Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, Philippa Soo, Jonathan Groff, et al., playing their original parts on stage. If you have a big-screen TV, well, it’s still not like watching them perform live in a theater….but for 7 bucks (as opposed to $300 or more), it’s not a bad deal.

To get Hamilton at that price, you will need to sign up for the Disney channel -- and if you're not a fan of other productions of  "The Mouse" (as embittered former Disney employees sometimes called the company), you must remember to cancel as soon as your first month is done. There's no refund for a partial month's use. Disney used to give a seven-day free trial, but that ended before Hamilton was on offer. Disney's betting on keeping a lot of the new subscribers who signed on just for Hamilton, but might stay to have access to the old classics like Dumbo and Pinocchio, and other treasures in the Disney trove. 

There's more about Hamilton on the Disney Channel, including a preview and a spoiler-laden review at CNET.com: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/disney-plus-review/

The CNET article includes a link to sign up, or you can go directly to Disney Plus and click on "sign up": www.disneyplus.com

You don't wanna miss your shot!
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The Stay In! column is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and All Life Is Local on Thursdays. 

Still Life with Robin: 65+ Replacement Names for Wilson HS

Name  To Be Determined High School

by Peggy Robin

As the push to rename Wilson High School gains momentum, it’s starting to look like this is going to happen! Close to 20,000 people have signed the petition to change the name. Civic groups, student groups, and community leaders are all lining up behind it. I can’t think of anything that will hold back this fast-moving train.…..Oh, except for maybe one teensy, tiny little detail. We don’t have a replacement name lined up. And you can’t remove a name from a school and leave it as No-Name High. So it’s time to get cracking on a name that fits the bill.

Plenty of people have ideas on this subject. You can see a list of over SIXTY-FIVE nominations at: https://renamewilsonhs.org/a-new-name.

Way too many choices! What we need is a way to winnow down the number to a handful of strong contenders. And then we need to take a close look at the finalists and see if we can create a consensus around one name that passes muster, after due consideration of the following important factors:

1. Enough time has passed. The honored person needs to have been dead long enough to allow sufficient time for the legacy to be evaluated and appreciated. I would propose abiding by the federal standard used for putting someone on a postage stamp – five years.
2. Enough honors. If the person’s name is already on a DC area school, it’s confusing to have the same name on yet another one. Also, if the person’s name is on a major airport, or there are already statues, museums, institutions or monuments for that person, that makes the naming of this high school seem like overkill.
3. Too obscure. This one I’m calling the “Who’s that?” test. If I have never heard of the person before (and I pride myself on being something of a local trivia expert!) and I had to resort to Wikipedia to find out the most basic facts about the person – frankly, they’re just not famous enough.
4. No special connection to DC. Lots of people on the list are highly accomplished….for contributions to the arts, science, social justice, peace…..but they simply did not do any of their lauded accomplishments here in our city. They weren’t born here and did not grow up here, either. There’s no shortage of people who do have that local DC connection – so let’s stick with our own local talent.
5. Can of worms/mixed legacy. The movement to remove Wilson’s name comes from his decidedly mixed legacy. He was a great leader for global peace – and deservedly honored for that role – but his record when it comes to racial justice, especially toward the African American government employees right here in DC – is nothing short of abysmal. In renaming the school, let’s not trade one badly mixed legacy for another. So we should set aside the nomination of anyone known for some great things but also widely reputed to have done some awful ones…..like poor treatment of the women in their lives, or violence toward family members, or financial hanky-panky. It’s not that hard to find good people who managed to live their lives without any major instances of bad behavior that would be difficult to ignore as high school students are learning about the life of the person whose name graces their school.
6. Not another DWEM (Dead White European-origin Male). There’s no shortage of schools and other public buildings and structures named for DWEMs. They proliferate around the city -- so many statues of marble, limestone, and bronze. It’s long past time for more recognition of African Americans and other people of color, as well as women, and LGBT leaders. 

Now let’s dive straight into that 65+ member list at https://renamewilsonhs.org/a-new-name and start knocking them off.  

1. Not enough time has passed.

• Ruby Bridges – still alive
• Warren Buffet – still alive
• Elijah Cummings – died in 2019
• Angela Davis – still alive
• Mae Jemison – still alive
• John Lewis – still alive [updated: died July 17, 2020]
• Eleanor Holmes Norton – still alive
• Barack Obama – still alive
• Michelle Obama – still alive
• Oprah Winfrey – still alive

2. Enough honors. The following already have an DC metro area school named in their honor – or a statue in a prominent place in DC, or they’ve got a major institution, airport, structure, or even their own museum here or someplace else in the country.

• Muhammad Ali – has an airport and a museum in Louisville, KY, lots of statues in various places, a shopping mall in the Philippines, and he’s been on a postage stamp.
• Ralph Bunche – the Nobel prize-winning diplomat has FOUR designated historic houses bearing his name, over a dozen schools, a building at Howard U. and one at UCLA, plus several others at various institutions and universities – no room to list all the honors here.
• George Washington Carver – probably the most famous African American scientist – can’t count all the schools that are named for him. Has a museum, multiple parks, historic houses, bridges, navy ships and even a submarine!
• Shirley Chisholm – the first African American woman elected to Congress and the first one to run a credible campaign for her party’s nomination for President, she is already honored with a state park in New York, and a memorial to her is currently under construction in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
• Frederick Douglass – the great abolitionist and orator is honored here and around the US with schools, statues, institutes – and of course there’s the Frederick Douglass House and Museum, a National Historic Site in Anacostia.  
• El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (better known as Malcom X) – over a dozen schools, a DC park (AKA Meridian Hill Park), streets, avenues, boulevards with his name – and don’t forget he was played by Denzel Washington in the 1992 Spike Lee movie.
• Julius Hobson -- one of the founders of the DC Statehood Party, a civil rights activist, local fair housing advocate, campaigner for school reform, former member of the DC Board of Education and later, an At-Large member of the DC Council – and someone who already has a school named for him in the DC school system: Julius. W. Hobson Middle School, which in 1986 was combined with Stuart Middle School to become Stuart-Hobson Middle School. In addition, there's a housing complex and plaza with his name at New York Avenue & 1st Street, NW.
• Langston Hughes – the great poet of the Harlem Renaissance – there are schools bearing his name all over the US, his house is a registered national historic landmark – and he even had a Google Doodle in his honor on his 113th birthday in 2015. Now that’s recognition!
• Helen Keller – the most famous disabled person who ever lived – and undoubtedly the most honored  – schools, streets, medical institutes. She’s been on a postage stamp and on the Alabama state commemorative quarter. Her statue in the rotunda of Congress represents Alabama.
• John F. Kennedy. The Kennedy Center, JFK airport. Schools out the wazoo. ‘Nuff said.
• Nelson Mandela. He stands in bronze in the center of London’s Parliament Square. He’s on a pedestal in front of the South African embassy on Mass Ave. His name is on schools all over the world. He doesn’t need another one.
• Thurgood Marshall. We already have a Thurgood Marshall High School in DC. Not to mention having his name on one of our three major airports.
• Ida Tarbell – Pioneering investigative journalist, women’s suffrage advocate. Her house in Connecticut is a national historic landmark. She’s been on a postage stamp. I couldn’t find any schools bearing her name, but if there are any, they should be in Pennsylvania, where she lived her early years and was educated, or in New York, where she lived during her most active years as a journalist, or in Connecticut, where she spent her final years.
• Sojourner Truth. According to Wikipedia, there are 6 statues, 7 monuments/markers/stones, one library, one museum, two historic houses, one portion of an interstate (I-194), one asteroid (#249521), one Mars Pathfinder Rover called “Sojourner”, a postage stamp, and the Google Doodle of Feb 1 2019. The Wikipedia entry noted that there are schools – but did not list them (probably would have taken up too much space).
• Madam C.J. Walker – The first African American female millionaire/entrepreneur. Has two landmarked properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a theater center, and a business center. And she’s been on a postage stamp.

3. Not famous enough -- meaning, I did not know a single thing about them until I looked them up on Wikipedia….but I learned a lot of great stuff. Hope you will, too!

• William D. Chapelle, American educator and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, president of Allen University, an historically black university in Columbia, South Carolina. Great-grandfather of Dave Chapelle, stand-up comedian.
• Anna J Cooper, educator, sociologist, speaker, scholar, writer, Black Liberation activist – sometimes called “the mother of Black Feminism.” She died at the age of 105 in Washington, DC. Very glad to have learned about her – and it would definitely be worth having a DC school named in her honor – but it really should be in LeDroit Park, where she lived for so much of her life and did so much of her writing. Surely, there’s at least one school in that neighborhood that could be rededicated in her honor.
• Archibald Grimke - a lawyer, journalist, and diplomat, who became national vice-president of the NAACP, as well as president of the Washington, DC branch. There would be a certain poetic justice in renaming Wilson HS in Grimke’s honor – as Wikipedia notes: “Grimké led the public protest in Washington, D.C., against the segregation of federal offices under President Woodrow Wilson, who acceded to wishes of other Southerners on his cabinet. Grimké testified before Congress against it in 1914 but did not succeed in gaining changes.” However, there’s one strong reason NOT to name the school for him: High schoolers are prone to make fun of the sounds of names – and “Grim Key” would leave them to vulnerable to any number of stupid taunts from kids at rival schools.
• Hubert Harrison. Wikipedia tells us he was a “West Indian-American writer, orator, educator, critic, and race and class conscious political activist and radical internationalist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by activist A. Philip Randolph as ’The father of Harlem radicalism’ and by the historian Joel Augustus Rogers as ‘the foremost Afro-American intellect of his time.’” Toward the end of his relatively short life (he died after surgery at the age of 44), he backed separatist movements and called for the founding of "a Negro state" in the US. Mainly NY-based, I did not see any indication of a particular connection to DC.
• Shirley Horn, American jazz singer and pianist. Wikipedia says “She collaborated with many jazz greats including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others.” She was born and raised in Washington, DC. Here’s one of her best-known songs:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YY1b-d4WxA
• Edna Jackson was the first African American to be hired as a teacher at Wilson (1954). While beloved by many of her students (almost all of whom were white), she also endured much ill-treatment from racists and bigots. Former students are the ones who have advanced her name as a fitting replacement for Woodrow Wilson. She has no Wikipedia page.
• Mary Jackson, one of the “Hidden Figures” celebrated by the movie of that name. An American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (which later became NASA), she worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career. Just a couple of weeks ago, NASA named its headquarters building after her.
• Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Johnson has been honored on a plaque at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, is a prominent figure in several murals depicting gay history, and on February 20, 2020 had the East River Park in Brooklyn rededicated as the Marsha P. Johnson Park, at a ceremony conducted by Governor Cuomo. Also, she was featured in the June 30 2020 Google Doodle.
• Margaret Lawrence, pediatrician and child psychiatrist –  “the first African-American woman to become a psychoanalyst in the United States, according to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where her career began” –quoted from her New York Times obituary. She died in December 2019 at the age of 105.
• James Lincoln Beill – I came up totally blank on this one. Either the name is spelled wrong, or he never did anything famous enough to rate a Wikipedia entry.
• Dovey Johnson Roundtree, was “an African-American civil rights activist, ordained minister, and attorney. Her 1955 victory before the Interstate Commerce Commission in the first bus desegregation case to be brought before the ICC resulted in the only explicit repudiation of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the field of interstate bus transportation by a court or federal administrative body.” (Wikipedia). Lived and worked most of her adult life in Washington, DC, where she was the first African American woman to be admitted to the DC Bar. Couldn’t find any schools named for her. Seems like she’s overdue for some posthumous honors. I see a bit of a handicapm though, in the form of a name like “Dovey Johnson Roundtree.” Doesn’t roll off the tongue – or combine all that well with “Tigers.” Would current Wilson football players want to be known as the Roundtree Tigers? At formal ceremonies, when the full name of the school is invoked, will “Dovey Johnson Roundtree” get the respect it deserves?
• Assata Shakur. Still alive. Also, a fugitive with multiple criminal convictions, including murder. Wikipedia tells us that “Assata Olugbala Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army, who was convicted of being an accomplice in the first-degree murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973.” So….no.
• Lucy Diggs Slowe was “The first black woman to serve as Dean of Women at any American university and the first Dean of Women at Howard University. She was one of the original sixteen founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, the first sorority founded by African-American women.” (Wikipedia.) She has a dorm named in her honor at Howard, and she used to have a DC elementary school named for her, but it closed in 2008 and was re-opened as a charter school named for Mary McLeod Bethune. There is a historic marker for her at her hometown in Berryville, VA.    
• Mary Church Terrell was “one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree, and became known as a national activist for civil rights and suffrage,” according to Wikipedia, which goes on to note that: “she was the first African-American woman in the United States to be appointed to the school board of a major city, serving in the District of Columbia from 1895 until 1906. Terrell was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909).” She’s had two elementary schools named in her honor: one in SE Washington, that was closed in the school consolidations of 2013; the other in New Orleans that was so damaged by Hurricane Katrina, it had to be torn down. She’s been on a postage stamp, and her house in LeDroit Park is on the National Register of Historic Places, and Oberlin College named its main library, “The Mary Church Terrell Main Library.” Good enough?
• Elizabeth Proctor Thomas, a free woman of color and a farmer who owned the property that became Fort Stevens, the key fort protecting the capital of the Union throughout the Civil War. Her land is now part of the African American Heritage Trail, maintained by the US Park Service, and her story is preserved and presented to the public at the Fort.
• William Monroe Trotter. Wikipedia says he was “a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He was an early opponent of the accommodationist race policies of Booker T. Washington, and in 1901 founded the Boston Guardian, an independent African-American newspaper he used to express that opposition….. In 1914 he had a highly publicized meeting with President Woodrow Wilson, in which he protested Wilson's introduction of segregation into the federal workplace.” Poetic justice, if Wilson’s name were removed and replaced with Trotter’s! But, think…. “The Trotter Tigers.” Would high school athletes like that? Would their rivals talk about "getting the Trots"? Besides, Trotter is very much a Boston-based figure, using his newspaper to promote his causes. Boston is where you will find an elementary school bearing his name, where his house has historic landmark status, and the research institute for the study of black history and black culture at the University of Massachusetts is named for him.
• Ralph W. Tyler. I read through the entire Wikipedia entry, which begins: "Ralph W. Tyler (1902–1994) was an American educator who worked in the field of assessment and evaluation. He served on or advised a number of bodies that set guidelines for the expenditure of federal funds and influenced the underlying policy of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Tyler chaired the committee that developed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)." Even after I got to the end of a relatively brief but still tedious account of his life, I could not figure out why anyone proposed renaming Wilson High School after him. But if you think you know what makes him worthy of that honor, please....don’t enlighten me! It just does not sound that interesting.
• Gladys West. She’s an American mathematician, who is “known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of the satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS)." (Wikipedia.) And she is still alive.
• Harriet Wilson – the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. “Her novel ‘Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black’ was published anonymously in 1859 in Boston, Massachusetts, and was not widely known. The novel was discovered in 1982 by the scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who documented it as the first African-American novel published in the United States.” (Wikipedia.) There’s a monument to her in New Hampshire’s Bicentennial Park. She lived and worked in New England all her life. The main benefit to choosing Harriet Wilson is that the school could keep all the signs and paraphernalia that say “Wilson.”
• Jackie Wilson, American soul singer and performer. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jackie Wilson No. 69 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. His biggest hit was “Lonely Teardrops” which reached number 7 on the pop charts and number 1 on the R&B charts in 1958. On the plus side, name the school for Jackie Wilson and you can keep the name Wilson on things. On the decidedly minus side, he seems not to have been a very nice guy. Singer Patti Labelle in her autobiography accuses him of sexually assaulting her. Wilson also got into a number of  violent scrapes over the years, the worst of which ended with his near-fatal shooting by a girlfriend who caught him with another woman. No one was charged in the incident.
• Jud Wilson, “nicknamed 'Boojum,' was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro League baseball. He played for the Baltimore Black Sox, the Homestead Grays, and the Philadelphia Stars between 1922 and 1945. Wilson was known for possessing a unique physique, a quick temper, and outstanding hitting skills. One of the Negro leagues' most powerful hitters, his career batting average of .351 ranks him among the top five players. Wilson was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006, one of 17 black Negro League or pre-Negro League players inducted that year.” (Wikipedia.) Although he’s yet another nominee with the last name of Wilson, there’s not a whole lot of DC connection there. He played for teams in Baltimore and Philadelphia; still, he did retire to Washington, DC, and he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
• Teddy Wilson was a jazz pianist of the Big Band Era – played with the greats, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. But I don’t see one bit of a DC connection. He grew up in Austin Texas. He studied music at the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama. He lived most of his adult life in New York City or one of its suburbs – Hillside, New Jersey or New Britain, Connecticut (where he was living at the time of his death in 1986. There are other, more relevant Wilsons – if that's  the way we want to go.
• William J. Wilson is an American sociologist and Harvard professor and author of works primarily dealing with race and class issues. From Wikipedia: “Laureate of the National Medal of Science, he served as the 80th President of the American Sociological Association, was a member of numerous national boards and commissions. He identified the importance of neighborhood effects and demonstrated how limited employment opportunities and weakened institutional resources exacerbated poverty within American inner-city neighborhoods.” And he’s a Wilson. But he’s also still alive.

4. No Special Connection to DC: Only three names fell into this category but not any other:

• Chief Kicking Bear. Wikipedia says: “Oglala Lakota who became a band chief of the Miniconjou Lakota Sioux. He fought in several battles with his brother, Flying Hawk and first cousin, Crazy Horse." There is one episode that has to do with Washington, DC: “In March 1896, Kicking Bear traveled to Washington, D.C. as one of three Sioux delegates taking grievances to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He made his feelings known about the drunken behavior of traders on the reservation, and asked that Native Americans have more ability to make their own decisions. While in Washington, Kicking Bear agreed to have a life mask made of himself. The mask was to be used as the face of a Sioux warrior to be displayed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. “ OK, so his face is on display in the museum here. Wouldn’t it be better to return the mask of his face to his people in South Dakota? And shouldn’t that be the place where there’s a school that bears his name?
• James Baldwin. The novelist/essayist is definitely having a revival, one that was kicked off in 2017 with the release of the Netflix documentary about his life: "I Am Not Your Negro." Whether writing pointedly about Black rage or tenderly about gay relationships, James Baldwin is still very much a man for our times – now perhaps more than ever. While he's now been gaining honors and attention that he should have had when he was alive, he's still rightly seen much more a man of the world than as a man of our city. If he's associated with any specific places, it's New York City....and of course, Paris.
• Nina Simone – world renowned singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. “Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.” (Wikipedia.) She grew up in North Carolina and then her family moved to Philadelphia. She got her career start by playing the piano in cocktail lounges in Atlantic City. She became a civil rights activist and performed many pieces written to protest injustice and racial discrimination. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, she left the US, and lived  abroad for the rest of her life. Countries of residence included Liberia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and France (she died at her home in Aix-en-Provence). Her ashes, as she directed, were scattered in several African countries. I did not see Washington, DC mentioned even once in her Wikipedia entry. 

5. Can of worms/mixed legacy. Taking into account the not-so-good along with whatever they did that is worthy of honor, we grapple with:

• Marion Barry Jr. was convicted of tax evasion, in addition to the infamous “bitch set me up” arrest for cocaine use. Anyway, he’s already got a larger-than-lifesize statue in front of the District Building. 
• Petey Greene, talk show host, advocate for prison reform and racial justice, he is someone who turned his life around after conviction for armed robbery and a long time spent at the Lorton Reformatory. He went from being a DJ on the prison radio station to having his own show, “Rappin’ with Petey Greene” on commercial radio in DC, and then hosting his own TV talk show, "Petey Greene's Washington," from 1976 to 1982. That’s where you’ll find  a lot of stuff that you really don’t want today’s kids to emulate. To take just one example: he invited “shock jock” Howard Stern on the show and they both thought it was a funny to have Stern appear in blackface. Not sure what other antics could turn up on those old 70s and 80s videos, but it they move to name the school after him, I'm afraid we might find out. 
• Marvin Gaye. He was born and brought up in Washington, DC, and attended schools here, including Spingarn and Cardozo High Schools. But he dropped out, enlisted in the Air Force, and doesn’t seem to have kept up any connections with our city after that. He had a string of huge chart-toppers, including “What’s Going on?" and "Sexual Healing." But he came to a terrible end – shot to death by his own father, while trying to stop his father from attacking his mother in his own house. This is a compelling story, a human tragedy….but is it the sort of thing we want our children to learn when they research the person for whom their high school is named?
• Wilson Pickett. This time the name Wilson comes in the form of a first name. But there’s little or no DC connection for the singer/pop star who was born in Alabama, grew up and recorded in Memphis, Muscle Shoals, AL, and Motown, and lived in towns like Englewood, NJ and Reston, VA. Even if the lack of DC connection doesn’t rule him out, then his multiple drunk driving convictions will do the trick (including one incident in 1992, when he struck (but did not kill) a 92 year old pedestrian. He also was charged at least twice with assaulting his live-in girlfriend. Not exactly role model behavior.
• Vincent Reed was the chancellor of the DC public school system from March 18, 1976 – December 31, 1980 – and before that he was the principal of Wilson HS. His tenure as the head of DCPS was stormy – marred by a teacher strike, the loss of 700 teacher jobs, and frequent, sharp clashes with the school board over his quest to create an elite academic high school, which ultimately became Benjamin Banneker (something that was continuously blocked during his time as Chancellor). Vincent Reed still has his fervent champions – but if the school were to be named for him, we’d be sure to see all his old detractors come out out of the woodwork.
• Paul Robeson, world-famous singer, actor, civil rights activist – a towering figure in his time – and also one of the most craven apologists of the Stalin’s regime ever to return from a Soviet-guided tour. Among his honors is the 1952 International Stalin Prize. If the untold millions of Stalin’s victims could speak, they would cry out to us not to honor Robeson in this way.

6. DWEM. Judge Skelly Wright is the only one of the nominees who fits this category. He was a prominent federal judge who issued a landmark ruling against "tracking" in schools, which he found had compromised the "right to equal educational opportunity" for the District's poor and disadvantaged (1967). Judge Wright is also remembered for a 1972 ruling barring eviction by landlords as a retaliatory action against tenants who raised housing code violations to authorities. Though often on the side of the dispossessed, Judge Wright is still another DWEM – and thus in an over-represented category when it comes to honors, statues, and commemorative names on our buildings.

Now that we’ve knocked off 57 names from the list of nominations, who's left? Ten names – a nice round number. Let's take them in alphabetical order:
 

1. Marian Anderson. Her great Washington story is of the time she was barred from singing at DAR Constitution Hall due to her race – and Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for her to sing for everyone from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And what a glorious concert it was! Although she's been on a postage stamp, and she's got two buildings associated with her life on the National Register of Historic Places (her house in Philadelphia and her recording studio in Connecticut), she would certainly be an inspiring figure to name the school after.
2. Julian Bond, a longtime resident of Chevy Chase, DC, he was both a national civil rights leader and a local leader/statehood advocate. He already has one small memorial – a bench bearing his name, on Connecticut Avenue. Naming the school for him would be even better.,
3. Chuck Brown was known as the "Godfather of DC Go-Go" -- the city's own unique style of music. There is already a Chuck Brown Park (20th and Franklin Streets, NE) and a Chuck Brown Day that takes place on a Saturday around the middle of August – but Chuck Brown HS would probably be a popular choice with the kids.
4. Fannie Lou Hamer – Legendary African American civil rights leader, who braved arrest and police beatings for the right to vote. Her life story is one of enormous courage – and why it hasn't been made into a big budget Hollywood biopic, I don't know. But certainly it's a thrilling and dramatic story, and definitely one that high school kids should study. Which they might well do, if they went to Fannie Lou Hamer High.
5. Richard and Mildred Loving. The married couple, barred from living together due to a racist law in Virginia that made interracial marriage a crime, found refuge in DC. But they always made the point that they were country people, who were forced to live in the city, and as soon as they won their landmark case at the Supreme Court, they were able to move back to the community they loved – in rural Virginia. In other words, they were not great fans of this town! Great people, though! I like the idea of naming a high school for the Loving couple; still, they might have been even more honored to have a school named for them in their own home town.
6. Yarrow Mamout was a freedman, a businessman, a resident of Georgetown in the early 1800s. He was born in Guinea, Africa where he was kidnapped and enslaved, and shipped to America in 1752. He achieved his freedom at the age of 60, and became so successful that he had his portrait painted by Charles Wilson Peale – and this painting now hangs in the Peabody Room of the Georgetown Branch Library. Hyper local! Hyper historical!
7. Hilda Mason was a DC Council Member, and before that, a member of the DC Board of Education. But she is best remembered as a founding member of the DC Statehood Party and a tireless advocate for the movement to make DC the 51st state. The Law Library at UDC is named for Hilda Mason and her husband, Charles Mason, but I was surprised to learn that there is not a school named in her honor. It's long overdue!
8. Bayard Rustin – African American civil rights hero, labor leader – and far ahead of his time – an out-of-the-closet gay man and advocate for gay rights. While he never lived in DC, he was here time and again to organize marches and campaigns and work for equality and social justice. He has a school named for him in his hometown of West Chester, PA, and there's the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice in Princeton, NJ – but it's really a little shocking to learn there's nothing named for him in the Nation's Capital.
9. Walter Washington was the first elected African American mayor of DC – and yes, they did name that great behemoth of a convention center for him. But it's a giant white elephant. A high school would be a warmer and far more fitting tribute to our first mayor under Home Rule. 
10. I'm saving the best for last (OK, he comes last, alphabetically) – but let me say, this one is the perfect choice. It's John Wilson, who as chairman of the DC city council wrote DC's human rights law, which is a model for human rights legislation around the country and around the world. Before he was on the Council, he led the push for Home Rule. If you're thinking, hasn't he been honored enough by having his name on the District Building?...the answer is no. We all still call it The District Building, don't we? I don't think that really counts for much. Anyway, what makes him the top contender is not just what he did for DC but what he brings to the renaming of Wilson High School – and that is, of course, the ability to keep calling it Wilson....but this time, we've got a good and honorable man who did right by the people of this city. What more could you want?

What more? Well, I won't end here, because there is actually is something more that some people have asked for – and that is an end to all this fine-tooth combing over so many candidates' characters and histories (just as I've done above). You see, everyone is flawed. They all have skeletons in their closets. And the way to deal with that (some say) is to stop naming buildings after flawed people. Honor the site, and the whole community around it. 

There are two ways to do that. The first is to name the school for the current name of the community, Tenleytown. Call it Tenleytown High. It's simple. It's accurate. Why would anyone object to that?

The second solution is to acknowledge the history of the site, by choosing the name of the African American community that was there before there was a Wilson High. It was called Reno City, and it formed around Fort Reno. The community had its own school for African American children, the Jesse Reno School, built in 1903. You can read about it here:  https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/910. In the 1930s when there was an influx of many white, middle class families, the  government chose the Reno City site to build a a new, whites-only school – what would become Wilson High – and so all the Black families were forced out to make way for the new building. You can read about that here:  https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/910. And you can make the case, with a great deal of historical justification, that the fair and proper thing to do would be to restore the original name of the community –  as well as give a nod to the current name of the park across the street –  and rename Wilson: Fort Reno High School.

How about it?

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays (or in this case, in the wee hours of Sunday morning).