DC Like a Local

If the carousel is open on DC’s National Mall, can the tourists or cherry blossoms be far behind?

The answer is emphatically “No.”

I was down on The Mall recently, and, while there still seems to be a dearth of squirrels, the carousel is open for business.  The carousel was built for Gwynn Oak Park, near Baltimore, MD, in 1947 and moved to The Mall in 1975.  It replaced an earlier carousel constructed in 1922 that was past its prime.

In the midst of all these tourists with children, however, you will find the one place your kiddies will definitely want to see is the carousel.  It is located in front of the Arts and Industries Building (closed for renovation) opposite the Natural History Museum.  If you walk by with kids, you will not escape.  Warning: It’s $2.50 a ride this year!  Additional warning: There may be huge lines during the Cherry Blossom Festival, so you might want to forget to tell the kids about it then and exercise your privilege as parents to use evasive action.  If the kids can hear the oompah music, you are doomed!

I almost hopped on for a spin myself.  Of course, at my age I might have looked a bit ridiculous spinning in circles--or maybe not.  In any event I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my-uh-lunch on something like a roller coaster.

I have no doubt that Spring means well, with the first of our tulips starting to poke their heads up and the Post's annual peeps contest is in full swing. But I'm not buying it, Winter will not let us go quietly. Old Man Winter has been relentless this year, putting us on the ropes and working us over systematically as we try to stagger up. So I'm not going to let my guard down, no matter how many more beautiful, 60 degree days we get. That bag of salt and snow shovel are staying on my front porch until someone brings me the head of Winter for my inspection. I'm taking no chances.

My curmudgeonly ranting aside, at some point Spring will push through, and wind-swept piles of snow will be replaced by even larger mounds of tourists. I'm talking, of course, of the Cherry Blossom Festival, which is scheduled for March 27 th to April 11 th. But wait, there's more! Last week, the Park Service announced their best guess as to the peak bloom date, when 70% of the Yoshino trees will be in bloom. Despite speculation that our heavy snowfall would push the date back, they are estimating peak bloom will fall somewhere between April 3-8, or right about on the average date of April 4. Update you calendars accordingly.

Now, I harrumph over the blossoms every year, and yet I end up going and enjoying myself immensely. They are worth visiting DC for, with the understanding that their is no guarantee, especially for a zen-like experience such as watching the blossoms fall. But if you're looking to make this year your once in a lifetime visit, you might want to hold off a year or two. The best viewing areas, around the Tidal Basin, will be somewhat disrupted by two fairly intense construction projects. The first is the ongoing construction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the second is the long overdue repair of the seawall near the Jefferson Memorial. But if you don't mind a couple of cranes in your shot, come on down.

photo by Andrew MartinIt’s almost time for spring.  In DC we’ve stopped discussing snow and started discussing cherry blossoms and peeps.  Peeps?

I must confess that up until last week I had no idea what a peep was.  For the benefit of those peep ignorant ones, peeps are those gooey marshmallow chicks and bunnies that appear in Easter baskets on Easter Sunday.  Since they don’t appear at the Passover seder with the matzoh and charoses, no wonder I hadn’t heard of them.  Of course, I had seen them before but I had never heard them called peeps.  Insofar as eating the marshmallow gooeys, true confession is that I don't much like them.  Chocolate is better.  It is obvious, however, that peeps are an obsession for some—and not just for eating.

For example, National Geographic Traveler has a contest for peeps in places.  Just take some of those gooey guys along and put them in a photo.  They will feature a different peep photo on their website.  Winners must show in their photos that the peep(s) had a good time.  No, I didn’t make this up.

In Washington, it is time for the annual Washington Post peep show.  I didn’t make this up either.  The contest was announced on February 14 ^th and entries had to be submitted no later than February 28th.  The size constraint was that the winning diorama had to be portable by one person.  First prize is 2 nights at The Gaylord at National Harbor and a lot of candy from a peeps store there.  Who knew there was such a store?  Well, it does sell other candy aside from peeps for those who dislike eating peeps instead of playing with them.

photo by Andrew MartinFor newly married self described cathedral nuts, Andrew Martin and Julie Avetta, the contest—and what they created, together with Christine McCann, was a natural.  Andrew got his BA in medieval history (she got hers in linguistics and is a lawyer so those degrees don’t count), they spent an early date looking at gargoyles on the outside of The Washington National Cathedral, and their recent honeymoon visiting gothic cathedrals in France. Andrew is a docent at The Washington National Cathedral;

Andrew, Julie and Christine immediately began brain storming how they were going to do this creation; it was completed in two weeks by spending all their free time on it.  Christine, an accomplished sewer, had many scraps of fabric from handbags she creates and sells.  She made the costumes for each of the 37 marshmallow guys (or gals--whatever they are) from her remnants; she made liberal use of a glue gun so that the peeps did not lose their clothes and attract Peeping Toms; the peeps in the Peep-thedral are, therefore, no longer edible. 

The rest of the work was divided up among the three.  Some materials had to be bought.  Some things, such as the capitals for the main columns were expensive.  Some things were not.  The Darth Vader “gargoyle” is a Pez dispenser purchased for $3 on ebay (including shipping); the other “gargoyles” are erasers from The Cathedral gift shop.  The organ was a dollhouse organ with the “pipes” made out of drinking straws and spray painted.  The space window and creation window are sun catchers from The Cathedral gift shop back lit with halogen lighting; the other stained glass windows are photos.  The Peep-thedral  floor is from photographs taken by Andrew and Julie.  Other materials came from the well known tschotscke chain Micheal’s.

When DCLikeaLocal interviewed trio, they said that the money and time were worth it because they had had so much fun.  DCLikeaLocal does not know if they will win the contest, but, they are already winners because they have just given so many people such pleasure.  Their Peep-thedral site on facebook went up on February 28 ^th and had over 2,300 fans after a week. 

Today the semifinalists were announced and The Washington National Peep-thedral made the cut!  The imaginative marshmallow creation is in the running to be grand prize winner.  There is also a peeple's choice award and all peeple have been asked--in the style of the first Richard Daley--to vote early and vote often.   The grand prize winner will be announced on Easter Sunday.  The Peep-thedral will be displayed in the lobby of The Post if it wins the grand prize.  If not, it will be donated to The Washington National Cathedral. 

Word is that the Bishop of Washington has seen and loves the Peep-thedral.  Certainly, it would be an attraction to the school groups if placed in The Non-Peep-Thedral Cathedral.  Maybe docents could just skip the regular tour and let the student tourists have a peep at the Peep-thedral.   They could certainly see more of Darth Vader in the peep version than they can on the regular cathedral where it is so high up that you need binoculars.

For a complete collection of Peep-Thedral photos, check the Peep-Thedral site on facebook.

Photos of last year's finalists and winners can be found here.  Please note, that, despite the fact that peeps do not appear to be KP (kosher for Passover), number 32 last year was a Peepover Seder.  In the opinion of DC Like a Local, none of the top 40 entries pictured from last year can hold a marshmallow to The Washington National Peep-Thedral.  We haven't, of course, seen the other entries this year, but can there be something funnier?  We doubt it.  And we here at DC Like a Local are never shy about expressing our biased opinions.

Peeps vobiscum.

When last we left him, Marion Barry had been shipped off to the Federal Correction Institution in Petersburg, VA to serve out his six month term. Naturally, he couldn't keep himself out of trouble, so he was transferred to a higher security facility in Loretto, Pennsylvania. But the Man couldn't keep Prisoner No. 14856016 down forever, and on April 23, 1992, six busloads of hundreds of cheering supporters escorted the Mayor-for-Life home.

Barry promptly moved to new digs in Ward 8, which had been the only part of the city to support him in a failed at-large bid in 1990, and ran for Councilmember for that district, bumping off Wilhelminia Rolark in a 3:1 victory. He ran, apparently without irony, under the slogan "He may not be perfect, but he's perfect for DC", reinforcing our low bar for political leaders. While at the time he professed no desire for the mayor's seat, people had long since stopped believing him and no one was surprised when he ran again in 1994, defeating Republican Carol Schwartz with 56% of the vote, making Carol's 42% he highest percentage ever for a Republican in the District.

Unfortunately for DC, Barry had failed to pick up any new administrative skills in the joint, and his mismanagement led to a Federal takeover of Washington, DC in 1995, thereby giving real weight to the unfortunate argument that DC can't handle our own affairs. Barry's decision not to run for re-election in 1998 was greeted by a sigh of relief by many Washingtonians, who hopped he would fade gently into that good night.

Well, of course we all must have been smoking crack, because Barry would not be kept down. He announced plans to run again in 2002 for an at-large seat on the Council but they came to a halt when Barry was caught with $5 in crack and a "powdery substance" on his nose in his parked Jaguar in Buzzard's Point, SW on March 23, 2002. While he flung the usual accusations of police entrapment and racism, Barry did resign from the Council race for personal reasons. His fourth wife had just left him, perhaps because a young "campaign worker" had been with him when he was stopped that night.

With an attempt to win a District-wide seat in tatters, Barry fell back to Ward 8 again. Being the only place that would have him at this point, he displaced incumbent Sandy Allen, who joined the long list of folks who have felt betrayed by Marion Barry. This is the seat he holds today.

Just a year or so into his new term came news that he had failed to file income taxes in like, forever. He pled guilty to misdemeanor tax charges on October 28, 2005 and as part of the terms of his release while he waited to be sentenced, he was required to submit to drug screening, which of course he failed. This caused some speculation/wishful thinking that this would be the end of Barry's political life, but he only received three years of probation. Nor was any action taken the next year when he again failed to file taxes. Makes me wonder why I bother paying mine.

In early January of 2006, Barry spent some time talking to police as a crime victim instead of his usual position as a suspect, which I can only imagine would be a refreshing change for him. After helping him load his groceries into his apartment on the 2600 block of Douglas Place SE, two young men from the community held him up. Interestingly, Barry seemed more shocked not that a mugging would take place in his high-crime neighborhood, but rather that he personally would be a target. "There's sort of an unwritten code in Washington among the underworld, the hustlers, and these other guys that I'm their friend." he claimed. Who are we to dispute that?

A few weeks later, Barry decided to join a new church, leaving Union Temple for the 12,000 member Temple of Praise. Barry had been feuding for some time with Union's Rev. Willie Wilson, most memorably after "Barry called a press conference to unveil a giant machine, which he says turns garbage into electricity and drinking water, in the parking lot across from Wilson's church." Yes, you read that correctly. 

The hits kept on coming for Barry in '06. In May, he was sited for a light night fender bender where he hit a car when pulling out of a parking spot. By all accounts he was sober at the time. On September 10, 2006, the Secret Service pulled him over for running a red light a block from the White House. They noticed he  He was also cited for by the Park Police for driving too slowly in a separate incident at 25th and Alabama Ave., SE. He would be acquitted in both incidents. And, my personal favorite, On September 28, 2007 a "break-in" at his new apartment on Orange St., SE robbed the Councilmember of his five Rolexes, seven Omegas, eight Seikos, and 50 assorted cuff links, many of which were acquired while Barry was not filing his income taxes. Assuming they existed anyway, Barry was curiously reluctant to have MPD investigate the "crime". Oh, and he continued to escape jail time while repeatedly violating his probation.

And then, most recently, on July 4th of last year, a Park Police Officer stumbled upon Barry and his girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt having an argument in Anacostia Park. While the charges of stalking wouldn't stick, subsequent investigation revealed that Barry had been awarding Watts-Brighthaupt earmarked city contracts and receiving kickbacks from her. And, as always, Barry continued to treat his girlfriend with his traditional gallantry ( see clip 10, NSFW).

Which is where we stand today. In the wake of the overwhelming evidence the Council report came to the "conclusion that Mr. Barry's conduct not only created an appearance of impropriety, but was in fact improper". Barry was censured this week in a unanimous vote and stripped of his committee assignments. While this would no doubt be the end of any ordinary politician, the rousing reception he received in the recent State of Ward 8 address indicates that those residents seem perfectly happy with their representation. For their sake, I hope that crowd is not indicative of voters there.

photo uploaded to flickr by dbking

No story about Marion Barry is more famous, of course, than the joint FBI-MPD bust of him smoking crack in the Vista Hotel (now the Westin Washington on M ST NW). The video became synonymous with Barry, and his famous line "Bitch set me up" continues to ricochet through his current shenanigans. Personally, my favorite part is when, after being arrested, he's asked if he needs medical attention; to which he responds "You mind if I, I have a quick drink ...." Perhaps nothing else epitomizes his lack of remorse or awareness of the seriousness of his transgressions. If you stay in the Westin, be sure to ask for room 727.

The raid was a result of a year long grand jury investigation of the Mayor's behavior. On December 22nd, 1988, Metropolitan Police Department officers were preparing to make an undercover drug buy from a Barry friend and former DC employee (of course!), Charles Lewis, in Room 902 of the Ramada Inn Central (now the Hotel Helix). Having just received a tip from a hotel maid that Lewis was offering cocaine to her, MPD detectives were en route to the hotel to set up a drug buy when they were pulled off. The reason: Marion Barry was at that very time in the same room with Lewis. With MPD apparently having problems catching the Mayor, the FBI persued the case. They arrested Lewis in the Virgin Islands for another drug offense and brought him back to the DC area. After spending three months in the Alexandria Detention Center, Lewis agreed to cooperate.

For those who choose to stay at the trendy Hotel Helix nowadays, you would be shocked to see that in 1988, one of Barry's many excuses at the time was  "What I'm guilty of is . . . going to a bad address. The Ramada Inn is just considered a bad address in terms of how people look at things."  And he wasn't wrong.  The nearby 14th ST corridor was awash in prostitutes and drugs, and a young man had overdosed in room 1002 just a few days before. He would know, it was a few blocks away from "This is It", the strip, er excuse me, erotic club, we mentioned yesterday.

The Ramada incident captivated Washington, DC throughout 1989.  Speculation run rampant as the FBI and MPD's Internal Affairs division continued to build their case behind the scenes. While the arrest at the Vista Hotel would soon overshadow this affair, at the time the Ramada was at the tip of everyone's tongue.  Barry even went so far as to change his reservations at a Birmingham, Alabama Ramada to avoid negative association with the name. Incidentally, the reason for his visit?  To speak at the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, where he remarked in a panel discussion, "Unless we get rid of this scourge of drug abuse, we can forget about the 21st century."

However, on January 18th, 1990, this incident would be all but forgotten when Marion Barry was caught red-handed smoking crack on video. Admitting nothing more than a "weakness", Barry gave a tearful address from St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, across the street from his house at 3607 Suitland Rd a few days later. It would be the closest Barry would come to a public apology for his behavior. On February 15th, the grand jury would hand down the first indictments, and on June 13th, Barry would elect not to run for a fourth term as Mayor.

At the trial, numerous allegations about Barry's drug use, sexual indiscretions, corruption, and general filthiness came to light. Barry's former girlfriend, Hazel Diane "Rasheeda" Moore was the star witness. In addition to her starring role as "the Bitch" in the video of Barry smoking crack, Moore testified that she had used cocaine "at least 100" times. Moore first used drugs with the Mayor at a Southwest DC Condominium, She would purchase cocaine from a dealer known only as "John" at Florida Avenue near Howard University, deliver them to Barry's fifth floor office at the Reeves Center, and get high after budget meetings.  This continued until ended at the Grand Hyatt in June of 1988 when Barry beat her when she refused to have sex with her. According to her, Barry gave the somewhat limp defense, "I haven't hit a woman in 20 years. You bring out the worst in a man." Kudos to Barry for going 20 whole years without hitting a woman!

Despite these and other admissions, on August 10th of that year, the nation would be not at all shocked that a DC jury at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthousewas unable to convict Barry on 13 of the 14 charges against him (with 1 acquittal and 12 deadlocked). Ironically, the only charge that would stick was a possession charge that had taken place at the Mayflower Hotel, not the Vista. Jury member and DC employee (of course!) Valerie Jackson-Warren even went so far to insist that the substance that an FBI chemist testified was 93 percent pure crack was in fact sugar, because, according to her, crack is yellow and not white. Fellow juror Johnie Mae Hardeman speculated perhaps that it might be baking soda instead.  Barry's defense attorney had not contested the fact that it was crack cocaine.  Interestingly enough, although the "not guilty" voters were all African American, the jury seemed to be split along age lines, and not racial ones. The older jurors, perhaps with more personal memories of segregation, held to their interpretation that Barry was set up, despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt and none that the FBI or MPD had acted improperly.

Sentenced to six months in a Federal Penitentiary, surely this would be the end of Marion Barry's political career, no? Join us tomorrow when we see what happened next (Spoiler alert: it's nowhere near the end!).

View Mapping Marion in a larger map

Most residents of Washington, DC have long since stopped being amused by the antics of former "Mayor For Life" and current City Councilmember Marion Barry. There's nothing that makes me cringe more when I get the almost inevitable question from a visitor as "Marion Barry, isn't he your Mayor?". And it goes beyond simple embarrassment; our long fought and way overdue struggle to achieve a modicum of political rights is inevitably hampered with the response; "Statehood for DC? Why, then Marion Barry would be a Senator!" A fair, if frustrating and unlikely point, although I should point out even if he was, he'd hardly be alone in embarrassing that august institution.

But it does me no good to fight it. While once again my city is embarrassed as yet more disgusting revelations poor forth about Mr. Barry, I've decided to take a little stroll back through his reign in DC. Pretending the residents of Ward 8 will rise up and rid us of him has been fruitless, hoping he will go away fails to work, so let's just admit the man has a certain cachet and let's take a look back through the many places he's graced us in the last three decades.

We should start out by noting that Barry didn't appear out of thin air. He wasn't always the long running joke he is today, and we should remember the conditions that allowed him to achieve power and ultimately hold political office. Washington, DC in the early seventies was just beginning to work itself out after centuries of racial tension, with the 1968 riots following the assassination of Dr. King still fresh in everyone's mind. The two very separate, and not at all equal, worlds of white and black Washington were making the very first outreaches towards each other, amidst a legacy of mistrust and outright hate. The old older was dead, but the way forward was hardly clear.

Into this chaotic brew stepped a personable civil rights leader, former chemistry teacher, and Eagle Scout; Marion Shepilov Berry, Jr. Avowedly anti-establishment, he had added the middle name in college as a homage to Soviet propagandist Dmtiri Shepilov. He moved to DC as head of the local Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and got off to a strong start by organizing a boycott of DC Transit, Washington's bus system, in protest of a 5 cent fare increase. He would soon quit the SNCC, which was becoming increasingly militant, as opportunities started to open within city government. Barry was elected to the DC School Board, the only form of local democracy permitted the residents of Washington in 1971, and, when Home Rule changed that in 1974, he won an at-large seat on the new City Council. Slowly but steadily he moved up the ladder of DC politics, working more within the system and attacking it less from outside as time went on.

While serving as a Council-member, Marion Barry would be vaulted into nationwide prominence by a chaotic and deadly terrorist attack. A group of American-born Muslims, styling themselves as Hanalfi, seized three buildings in Washington, DC: the headquarters of B'nai B'rith on Rhode Island Avenue; the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Ave; and DC's City Hall (now known as the Wilson Building) on Pennsylvania Avenue. In the chaos of the attack, Marion Barry was hit with a ricocheted shotgun pellet in the chest, although he was relatively lucky with a superficial wound. WHUR-FM reporter Maurice Williams was killed in the attack (the fifth floor press room has been renamed for him) and DC Protective Service Police Officer Mark Cantrell died a few days later of a heart attack. The subsequent publicity would be enough for Barry to win the Mayoral election over incumbent Walter Washington.

Mayor Barry was initially of the darling of Georgetown. Liberal whites were attracted to his fiery personality and he actively courted the gay vote by helping to pass the 1978 DC Human Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination based on sexual identity. They were willing to overlook his demands that white owned businesses leave after the '68 riots, his 1970 call for residents to shoot Police Officers executing no-knock warrants, or his urging of African Americans to boycott the celebrations surrounding the Apollo 11 mission. And he got off to a good start, breaking the logjam of a housing development project on Bates Street NW, 15 blocks north of the Capitol and seeming to genuinely attempt to address the concerns of residents. His Summer Youth Employment Program is still fondly remembered by many of the thousands of youths now grown who were provided jobs. He even would occasionally put his Masters in Chemistry to use, substitute teaching at Fletcher-Johnston Educational Center in Capitol Heights.

However, cracks were starting to appear in the facade. On December 22, 1981, Barry attended a Christmas party at "This is It?", a downtown strip club, and allegations soon surfaced that he had either used cocaine, or witnessed others do the same. At the time, a police investigation revealed nothing, which in turn sparked an inquiry by the Justice Department about the inability of DC's police to properly investigate the Mayor. Years later, the owner of the club, Hassan H. Mohammadi, would testify in court that Barry had, in fact, used cocaine here.

Marion Barry's antics would become more and more public throughout the 1980s as his cocaine (and occasionally marijuana) use became an increasingly open secret. Join us tomorrow when they all come to a crashing halt (and you know how that'll happen).

Normally I would cede this subject to Tim— our resident squirrel expert-but he is busy concocting pieces of more importance.

After the snowstorms of February in DC, it was one of my neighbors who asked: What happened to the squirrels?  Everyone worries about them because those rats with fur are “so cute”—or as Tim would say, they have a good press.  Good press?  I had them in my attic and had to get rid of them.  They were into my wrapping paper for their nest and made a huge mess.  They were, quite definitely Jewish squirrels as the Chanukah paper—rather than the Christmas paper—took the hit.  I had to spend $41 on a dang blasted trap and more on the wildlife removal guy after one of the residents took the peanut butter bait.  One squirrel  can, by the way, make a lot of noise—and even more once the trap slams shut.  The attic access that allowed the noisy furry rats in had to be slammed shut to prevent another round.  All that was done the second week of January.

Maybe I should have waited a couple of weeks for them to be snowed under.  Natural causes might have done them in.

During the spate of recent snowstorms the squirrels entirely disappeared from my neighborhood--as well as from The National Mall.  I haven’t seen any in my suburban Virginia neighborhood since the back to back snow storms in February which left DC reeling under 3 feet of snow.  I did notice 3 of them around the Vietnam Wall last week downtown, but I didn't notice which color they were.  I just thought, "Drat, the furry rats are back."  I can’t personally report on the squirrel situation over at

I went googling on the internet to see what I could find on the subject and—wouldn’t you know-- The Washington Post had written a piece about the crash of the squirrel population on February 8 ^th, so my idea for this piece had been preempted.  In the true spirit of not reinventing the wheel, some of what follows is shamelessly stolen from the piece.

No doubt some of the squirrels died, but many simply have remained in their nests.  While they busily stuff themselves in times of plenty, they eat less and move less when there is less food around.  They adapt.  So, no worries, the squirrels will be back (although hopefully not in my attic).  It would take weeks of cold weather and snow to kill them off.  Squirrels, by the way, can live up to 20 years in captivity.  The Eastern Gray reproduces twice a year.  So, while some may have died in the snowstorms, some survived.  There will be more squirrel babies who survive because there will be more food for them if some of the adults perished.  Squirrel Central will be up and running in no time flat as some people find it amusing to feed them and others of their kind hit the trash cans for “goodies”.

The dearth of squirrels is temporary.  They'll be back.  If you want to learn everything about the Eastern Gray, just click here.

This exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors at the National Geographic Museum, 1145 17th Street NW, closes March 31 ^st.  Adult tickets on weekends are $12.00.  However, discounted tickets are available at $6.00 if you are willing to go during the week at 2:00pm or later.  To get these tickets, go to Ticketplace. com or Goldstar.com.  If you want to avoid the annoying fees from those two services, however, just show up at the Museum and/or call them at 202-857-7700 during regular business hours; mention the code “Daytime Warrior” to get the deal; I just walked over to The Geographic on February 23 ^rd and had no problem.  The Geographic is discounting tickets after 2:00pm during the week because not many people are going then.  I would not wait until just before the exhibition closes because all the procrastinators are bound to show up then and it will again be crowded.

The Terracotta Warriors, in case you have been living in a closet, were found buried in Xi’an, China, in 1974.  There are various pits around Xi’an.  The warriors were buried almost 2,000 years ago as part of the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi.  He conquered all of what were called the “Warring States”.  His empire did not last long and was undone by his weak heir as well as his successors.  In short order a new dynasty replaced his.  The mound thought to be the tomb of the emperor himself has still not been excavated and the exhibition said there are currently no plans to do so.  Wouldn’t we all like to know what is in that mound?

The first emperor was obsessed with his afterlife; he also was obsessed with his safety, as he had survived various assassination attempts.  The Terracotta Warriors were created to guard him in the afterlife. In addition to the warriors, there were other attendants buried with the emperor to serve him--even a strongman to entertain him.  Each statue is individual with different facial features and clothing.  The explanations at the Geographic were superb. The show also contains some impressive models of chariots built at half scale.  This archeological find certainly provides a window into China's remote past and we are fortunate to be able to sample it now in Washington, DC.  Interestingly, though, none of the statues were of women.

To tell the truth, I was not anxious to see the show because I had seen one of the same name in Vienna, Austria, in 2007.  I assumed it was the same disappointing show.  I was wrong!  This show is wonderful.  Who knows if I will ever get to China to see the burial pits?  At least I could get an idea of this wonderful archeological find from the Geographic show.

For anyone interested in history, this show is a must.  In fact, due to the explanations, I would even suggest it to those who had traveled to China or preparing for such a trip.  Just a great show.

The hours on the show are 10:00am to 6:00pm on Weekdays with extended hours on weekends and on Wednesday evening.  Check the website for further details.  The website has good videos and articles that will prepare you for your visit.  At the Geographic there was also a special information sheet to help children enjoy the show.  Most weekend days are entirely sold out.  The show is in two parts, so make sure you see both parts.  There is the usual museum shop with tschotskes from the show (and, of course, souvenir t-shirts). 

If you want a laugh, see the warriors rapping!

According to the Arlington Cemetery count of Jewish graves, as of December 7, 1995, there were 1,996 Jewish veterans interred at Arlington.  However, Ken Poch who has made it his life’s work to catalogue and count the Jewish graves, gives a higher number—claiming 2,500.  How he determined this number, I do not know, as who is Jewish cannot always be determined by whether a Jewish star is placed on a grave or someone’s last name.  The exact number will have to be left to the “experts” to fight about.

Since most of the Jews buried in Arlington are not on anyone’s list of famous people, DC Like a Local will just detail the history of some of the most famous.

For reasons I do not know former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and former Chief Justice Earl Warren are buried in Section 21—and not on Justice Hill.  The two, who were good friends, are buried next to one another.  Goldberg qualified for Arlington because he served as a Colonel in the Army during World War II.  Although some Supreme Court justices who were not veterans have been given exemptions, Goldberg certainly did not need one.  He served as Secretary of Labor in the administration of John F. Kennedy and then became a Supreme Court Justice.  Later Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the United Nations as the US Ambassador.  He resigned from the Ambassadorship over frustration about the Vietnam War and finished his career in the private practice of law.

After the Challenger exploded on the launch pad on January 28, 1986, some remains of the astronauts were comingled and unidentifiable. The families chose to have those comingled remains interred under the Challenger Memorial in Section 46 (just across from the Memorial Amphitheater—which is near the Tomb of the Unknowns).  Some of those remains were those of mission specialist and astronaut Judith Resnick.

Perhaps the most unusual grave is that of Moses Ezekiel.  He was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute at the time of the Civil War.  The cadets formed a battalion and fought as a unit.  After the war, Ezekiel graduated from VMI and went to Europe to study art and became a well known sculptor. He was the sculptor of the memorial to honor Confederate veterans in Section 16.  Upon his death in 1917, he was buried under the sculpture.  Jews fought on both sides of the Civil War.  Approximately 3,000 fought for the Confederacy and 6,700 for the Union. There were only 150,000 Jews in the United States at the time.

I never did, by the way, get to give the tour of Arlington that inspired these pieces.  You heard about the snow we had recently?  It sort of killed the tour business for a bit; you can't give tours when you can't get off your street, can you?  Hopefully, the couple will reschedule, but, in any event, I certainly will use the information I found on future tours.

Stories are always finding us at DC Like a Local.

I am the last of the great readers and it is not uncommon for me to read over 100 books in a year.  You read that correctly.  I read very fast.  I read unusually fast.  I put up so many book reviews on my facebook page that I stopped publishing them.  I thought it might annoy people.  When it rains on a vacation (and people are always telling me “You should have been here last week.”), I curl up with a book and am perfectly content.  You know that snowstorm we had recently?  I knocked off a 700+ page book on Richard Nixon.  A day spent reading is never a wasted day in my opinion.

Neither is a day spent doing research.

The couple wanted a specialized tour of Arlington focused on sites not usually visited in the average tour.  Normally people go to Arlington and do pretty much the same tour—t he Kennedy graves and the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb.  Some might stop in Arlington House (currently empty of furniture as it is being renovated); the view there is nice.  Then it’s on to somewhere else.

Tim, who founded DCLikeaLocal.com, is a fan of Arlington and so am I.  To find stories there, you just have to do a little research.  It developed that the couple wanting the tour was Jewish and so am I.  So the reservation for the tour was made and I began to research Jewish people buried at Arlington because I wanted to do something special for the couple.  Those of you who read this blog, will recall, I researched Finns for a Finnish tour and got a story out of it on DCLikeaLocal.com.

Well, one doesn’t normally think of Jews when one thinks of Arlington, does one?  They are not supposed to be “big” on serving in the military.  Well, my Dad fought in the Battle of the Bulge and I always point out the name of that battle when I visit the World War II Memorial in his honor; no, he is not buried at Arlington.  My ex husband served in Vietnam—not out of any enthusiasm for the war, by the way, but because he was drafted.  It was what you did.  Plenty of other Jews served as well.  After World War II, my Dad was very active in the Jewish War Veterans.  I remember going to the conventions in the Catskill Mountains north of New York City as being an annual event.  There is even a National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington, DC.

So I decided to take a leaf from my Finnish research and find out some information about Jewish graves at Arlington.  Accofding to the Arlington Cemetery website, there are almost 2,000. Tomorrow I will tell you about some of them.