Month: June 2010

Dead body on RI Ave median

I don’t know if anyone from the city still reads my blog, but there is a dead cat on the median of the 600 block of Rhode Island Avenue and today is day 2 of its residence.
Yesterday I called the city 311 number to report the beige beastie, as I noticed it before I went to work and saw it unmoved as I was heading home. As of this morning it is still there. Now once again it was one of those slightly frustrating calls, because kitty had the audacity to die on a median, which the operator seemed very unfamiliar with. I found myself defining what was a median. A median, is sometimes a green patch in the middle of a 4+ lane road. It does not have an address. Because the city sometimes bothers mowing said grass, I take it the city owns the land. No it is not in front of a house. The best address I can give is the closest property that bothered to have address numbers that I can make out.
No it is not on the road it is on the median.
Once again the median does not have an address. It is in the middle of Rhode Island Avenue, which I’m not going to define as a ‘freeway’ as you have as I really don’t want to get into defining different kinds of roadways.
Gaaaah!

Well that explains why kids can’t work in DC

My first regular paid job was as a cashier at the Winn-Dixie when I was 16. I had begun searching after reps from Bob Evans presented several openings at a rally at my high school, looking for dishwashers, bussers, and waiters. Several of us, including me, applied, but I wasn’t chosen. That got me dropping applications at the mall, fast food joints, the dollar store, and the grocery store. During the school year I worked 11-20 hours, mostly weekends when the store was busy. Sometimes at night, cleaning the registers.
Anyway, I have always wondered why I don’t see more teenagers working in DC. Well I got a link from DC Lawyers for Youth (DCLY), and their handbook (PDF). Looking at page 12 it says a kid must be at least 14 years old and can’t work more than 8 hours a day. Fine and good. However the work hours are limited for 16-17 year olds in that they can’t work after 10pm, so they can’t close up at a place that closes at 10PM, and those hours appear to be year round. Also, they would need a permit from DCPS to work. When I was growing up we didn’t need no stinkin’ work permit.
So now I see why teenage employment seems to be limited to DC government sponsored summer programs. That and the flood of immigrant and college student labor.
The job I held in high school was good for me. It taught me how to balance work and school, a very useful skill when doing the same thing in college when you really need the money. It also allowed me to work towards a savings goal of a senior European trip, because heaven knows I wasn’t going to get that money from my parents… and college. Lastly, believe it or not I was able to use my 5 years of cashiering experience on resumes for jobs involving customer service. It has appeared in KSAs when showing that I can communicate verbally with a variety of people.

Flower Power Nominations Due Tomorrow

If you haven’t submitted your paper ballots to 308 P St, there is the on-line option at this link or go to the Bates Area Civic Association’s website regarding Flower Power.

Why nominate your neighbor or yourself? If your, or your neighbor’s yard is chosen for the walk it will give different folks from different parts of the neighborhood an opportunity to slow down and LOOK at streets and blocks they’ve might have never been to in a while. Some of us when we get home just stick to our street or our little corner, this walk is a chance for neighbors to come and check out other streets. Also, it is a chance to share gardening and landscape ideas, to expose neighbors and visitors to the possibilities. Lastly, if you or your neighbor have made efforts to tame a wild yard and invest in plants and dirt, you, or they, should be recognized and acknowledged for that.

What’s the walk for? The walk serves as an opportunity to show off our neighborhood to residents and visitors and raise money for beautification efforts in the neighborhood such as rose bushes in planters. On other ocassions it has been an opportunity for city officials to see what is good and what is needed in our neighborhood.

Where is the Bates Area? It is the ANC 5C01 area. Which is the northern part of Truxton Circle, which is the far eastern section of the old Shaw borders,

When and where is the walk? The garden walk is June 26th from 3-5pm, at 1st and P NW and tickets are $5 the days before the walk, and $6 the day of. If you would like to be a docent and walk folks around please email bacaflowerpower@gmail.com

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 11, 2010 7:57 AM.

Small Scale Canning

“The food that we canned from last summer is gone and I’m busted.”

-Song Busted (sung by various but I’m listening to Ray Charles)

Last year I ran out of strawberry and cherry preserves. I tend to use them to flavor yogurt and top ice cream. So this year I’m trying to make sure I’m well stocked. When I do visit the farmer’s markets I’ll go for the cheaper seconds and the nice pints to turn the produce into a simple fruit sauce.

I do have the big canning operation with the large black pot and the rack and all the fun tools. However, when working with smaller batches I turn to the 4 ½ quart pot I cook rice in and ½ pint jars,which hold about 8 oz. It uses less water and is less of a hassle. This week I picked up even smaller jars at 5th St Hardware that hold only 4 ounces. Now I don’t know the official stance on using a smaller pot, but I have used the small pot for dealing with small batches 2 or 3 cans of tomatoes and other things. I’ve gotten some mixed results. Some things sealed nicely, some other things, no so much and I just put them in the fridge.

Cherries are coming into season and I will can a bunch and toss a bunch into a jar of vodka. Yes, my other form of preservation.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 10, 2010 7:57 AM.

Mobility and gentrification

I did a phone interview today with someone doing research on gentrification. I think I overwhelmed them with too much historical information or background. The devil is in the detail.
Anyway one of the popular aspects of gentrification to focus on families and individuals being displaced. The problem with that view is that Americans (and maybe other people) are very mobile, so it is hard to say if ‘genrtrification’ could bear the blame, or is the chief reason a person or a family moves. considering people move all the time. I tried to illustrate the mobility of city residents to the interviewer, but didn’t do such a great job.
Here’s one example. in cleaning up some data from the 1900 census I was looking for a Chinese’s fellow’s address. The Census taker must have been drunk because towards the end of the page he was listed a bunch of people with different street addresses (usually there is a block of addresses) and it was barely legible. So I figured I’d fine Mr. Woon(?) in the city directory. In the directory, there were 2 male Woons of the same name in DC neither of them living in the Enumeration District I was researching. He wasn’t the only one. When I couldn’t read the sheet I would refer to the directory which was 2 or so years off from the Census, and it wasn’t helpful because the people tended to live at a completely different address on a different street.
I’ve lived in Shaw going on 10 years, and compared to others that’s not much time, but I’ve seen neighbors come and go for all different reasons. Renters may leave because they graduated college, because it was a health danger, because their landlord was an ass, or because their landlord decided or sell or the bank decided to foreclose. Owners leave because of job re-locations, marriage, divorce, separation, illness, family changes, desire for something different, taxes, frustrations with neighbors, or because the good Lord decided to call them to eternity. In that gentrification plays a part in the owners’ motivation in selling to cash out and maybe taxes. All the other reasons I’ve observed, family breakup, professional moving on and death have very little to do with the neighborhood and more to do with the individuals.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 8, 2010 11:09 PM.

Church Announcements

First, Shaw Main Streets and Emmaus Services for the Aging is putting on a ‘Shaw Gospel Music Explosion.’ Yup, explosion. Call Homeland Security. Anyway, if you want to witness this musical bang it is being held at Shiloh Baptist Church on 9th Street, August 7th, at 2pm and tickets are $10. The money raised will go to help seniors services and outreach programs. Contact Emmaus Services for more info at 2/ 745 1200.

Second, know of a non-profit looking for new digs? Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church has a vacancy next door to it’s offices and is seeking a renter in the townhouse. The occupant must be a non-profit for tax purposes. It is located a block from the Washington Convention Center, is close to the Mt. Vernon Sq. metro and not too far from the Shaw metro. Contact their office for more information.

Lastly, it is nice to see the 7th Day Adventists doing a kind of outreach that doesn’t involve door to door literature drops. No seriously, the Fourth Street Friendship SDA Church does a pretty good Sunday feeding program that doesn’t have a negative impact on the surrounding community. Sometimes the music has crept out but participants don’t loiter long and there isn’t much of a trash problem. Anyway, they are sponsoring a few programs that seem directed more at the middling classes. One that caught my eye was a workshop on Vegetarian Cooking. This workshop is to be held Monday June 21st facilitated by Mark Anthony. According to the blurb I found on the flier, “Mark makes regular appearances on T.V. including regular appearances on the 3ABN Network. He will present the topics of Plant Based Health & Nutrition, Vegetarian and Vegan Cooking. As a bonus, Mark will prepare a healthy and delicious meal for all!” The workshop is free but they are asking for a free-will offering, so treat it as a pay-what-you-can event. If one is interested call A.S.A.P. (that’s what the flier says) 2/ 797-9255 to reserve or R.S.V.P.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 6, 2010 7:50 PM.

Flower Power and the Treebox thing

Yesterday, Caryn of the BACA blog sent out an email calling for more treeboxes to be signed up for the June 5th event. Not enough people have signed up. I mentioned it to a neighbor on my street, he’d heard of it but didn’t think his treebox needed any more plants. My side of the block several treeboxes are still coasting on what was planted in the Fall of last year. But still, more participation is needed, if your ANC is Anita Bonds you’re in the BACA area and if yours or a neighboring treebox can do with some plants (or dirt or mulch) please sign up at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGhjbFdWNUxPWnE0ZjZWWFVlZjdPd0E6MA to pick up the items on June 5th. It is asked that you take a before and after photo. In the Fall our block managed to get a new tree out of the deal.
Also with low participation, so far, are nominations for Flower Power. Of course the deadline for nominations is two weeks away.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 1, 2010 8:19 AM.