April 16, 1862 was the day that Abraham Lincoln signed a bill “An Act For the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia” which freed all the slaves in the District of Columbia. This marked the first time the Federal Government freed any slaves, and the only time […]
If you’re on the Hill and outside you may have noticed the thick black smoke coming from Hill East and a steady stream of emergency vehicles heading in that direction. At about 4:30 our quiet Sunday afternoon (and my nap) was punctuated by scads of sirens, a helicopter overhead, and a plume of what appeared […]
Several local theaters were nominated for the 2010 Helen Hayes Awards, but it was Folger Theater’s Arcadia that came out on top. This Tom Stoppard play explores the relationships between past and present with a little chaos theory and rules of thermodynamics thrown in for good measure. It was one of the few trips to […]
The ginkgo tree is a thing of beauty with its stick straight branches reaching toward the sky and fan shaped leaves that are a lovely shade of green all spring and summer, before turning to a bright shade of yellow come fall. Well, at least the male ginkgo tree is a thing of beauty. The […]
Welcome to my new regular feature, Ask Nichole, wherein you can ask me for advice on everything from what to buy your sister-in-law-to-be as a hostess gift and where to get it (on the Hill, of course) to how to get your dog to stop pooping in your living room. I don’t know what it […]