You coulda fooled me...

From the Baltimore Sun: Race is expected to be a factor in W. Va vote.

"I'm not voting for that n--, and I ain't no racist when I say that either."

-- Anonymous West Virginia Democrat

And I thought the red-state plumbers and builders and blacksmiths or whatever, who don't even know the difference between gross and net income and consequently will vote against their own financial self interest, were ignorant.

West Virginia is now the frontrunner for the "hairy mole on the ass of the United States" award, ousting Alaska. What are we, in 1950? Jesus. Get a grip rednecks. Or lay off the meth. Whatever. Just do something other than confirming the stereotype of your stupidity.

Columbia Heights Circa 1913

From a photography blog called Shorpy I found a little photo retreospective of the corner of 14th and Irving. Where DCUSA and Target now tower over Columbia Heights once stood the "Arcade Market," capable of accommodating hundreds of merchants. It opened in 1910, complete with "a balcony for ladies that overlooks the entire market." The marketplace was formerly a streetcar barn, which accounts for the large arched doors.

The last remaining piece of the original structure is the facade that was preserved on Irving Street and will be home to the incoming Elwood Thomas grocery.

Check out the high-resolution photos of the first two (click on the photos to enlarge, or visit the original source using the links to see ridiculously high-resolution versions of these photos). There are some incredible details captured, like the man changing the lightbulbs on the "Bowling" sign, and the two women looking out the window above the cigar store.

Arcade circa 1910



Arcade circa 1925



Facade in 2004:



Today (more or less):

Impalin' The Truth

"That her performance was considered anything but a
farce doesn't show how high Palin has risen, but how low we all have sunk. "
-- Michael Goldberg, The Guardian

The article is well worth reading. I apologize in advance if the picture gives you nightmares.


Meanwhile, as the Dow continues to plummet, from a Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday entitled Biden's Fantasy World:

"In any case, Mrs. Palin may not know as much about the world as Mr. Biden does, but at least most of what she knows is true."
-- Editorial Staff

What kind of drugs are they taking over there? As their wealth is evaporting under the failed policies of George W. Bush, they continue to justify ignorance and trash experience.

Well, here's one bit of good news: Independent Voters Move Toward Obama. Even if the conservative press sniffs all the glue in every hobby shop from midtown Manhattan to Capitol Hill between now and the election, at least money still talks to the average American. Yep, those maverick, joe-sixpack-lovin', folksy heroes of the Republican army sure screwed ya good! Looks like the curtain may really be coming down this time.

I just hope these events speak louder than a wink and a nod, doggone it.

Columbia Heights Day Pictures

It's all over, and it was a lot of fun. The turnout was good. The tents and activities were pretty busy throughout the day, despite the open field itself seeming somewhat sparse at times. I thought this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, since it meant there was plenty of space for people to relax and watch the music, or play frisbee, or an impromptu game of foursquare. The vibe was good and there were plenty of fun things to do and see over the course of the day. I ran into lots of people from around the neighborhood, both new and old friends, and felt generally that there was a lot of good energy throughout the day.

While I think we did a great job pulling this together, there are definitely some things that could be done differently to make the event even better. Part of this is my own impression from being there, and part of this is from reading some of the criticism that came out on a couple blogs yesterday. One of them seemed to have sparked a little firestorm, which I already made a comment about this under my original post before Columbia Heights Day and I won't say anything more about that here.

From this point forward I think what's important for us to do is take the online feedback from individual attendees for what it is - individual experiences. While myself (and obviously some others) were surprised to read from a neighbor who said she didn't find much interesting going on, the fact that she didn't mention any of the major activities should tell us that we didn't do a very good job of letting attendees know the day of the event what was happening and where.

So lesson number 1 for next time: We should make the events schedule and a detailed map of the grounds more readily available. This could be in the form of large posters at various strategic points throughout the grounds, or flyers available at the door. I think I like the first option better from a waste standpoint.

I have some other thoughts, but we haven't met as a group to discuss how it went for everyone, so I don't want to say anything else here. But regardless of what went wrong, I think there was a lot more that went right and throughout the day I saw hundreds of people laughing, playing and enjoying themselves. So I'll close by sharing a few pictures from the event.

Coverage so far:

Columbia Heights Day - Good Times (Prince of Petworth)

Columbia Heights Day (Creative DC)

Columbia Heights Day - Dull Times (City Desk)

Columbia Heights Day Pulls Community Together (The Hilltop Online - Howard U Student Paper)

All my pictures here on flickr. I have more still to upload.

More pictures from others on Picasa

Free Yoga @ 10 AM with Quiet Mind Yoga



Petting Zoo



Cupcake Eating Contest by Sticky Fingers Bakery



Food line



Foursquare



Early Morning Coordination



Best Buy/DCUSA



Beads