Author: Mari

I’m so excited mummy is going to be visiting me for a few days. She’s never been to my house. The last time she was up in DC I was graduating, pre-house, pre-Shaw. If mummy has ever been in Shaw it was to get dragged to Shiloh Baptist Church on 9th Street. Pre-gentrification 80s if that. Visiting family in DC we rarely encountered the neighborhoods, they were just driven through, not experienced.

I hope to give mummy a different experience, I will not keep her in the house, as many a DC relative has done to me and my cousins. No, provided it is not too cold, we will walk around the hood. If it is too cold then, well something inside, and no not the Smithsonian. I figure we may visit the great Shaw sights of the Ghetto Giant, the Shaw/Howard University metro, and possibly Shiloh Baptist. She probably will have little interest in the art houses and I’m thinking the restaurants over in Logan and U Street may be too far out for her. Mummy is from the land where Red Lobster and Olive Garden are considered nice. We could wander over to the bullet-proof KFC on North Cap for dinner, but let me think of something else.

So, the In Shaw blog will go dark this weekend as I entertain the great and all powerful mummy.

I think I have gotten over any second thoughts about entertaining guests over at my pile of crumbly bricks I call home. Sadly have a fair number of suburbanite friends with ‘hood issues. But last night I imported three folks from PG County who weren’t family members (having relatives over for holiday meals does not count as entertaining) for an All Saints Day dinner.

It was fun. Curry was cooked, wine was drank, letters were read, and a good time was had by all. No one’s car was stolen. No one was double parked in… like last time. Guests did not hint at anything unsavory being seen on the way to the house. They found parking on the street near the house. Maybe it is now safe enough to invite the Bethesdites.

Parking is the key. Before there was tons of parking. Then the abandoned houses got occupied, by people with cars, sometimes more than 1 car per house. The other problem was directing guests to where NOT to park. There are blocks where I notice the remains of a busted car window more often than others. The northwest corner of my block, bad place. The corner near New Jersey and R, close to the Africare building, also bad. A guess a good host would have guests steer clear of areas where one’s car is more apt to get broken in. Of course, those spots on the street are usually not available as more people (with cars) move into the area. But as more people move in and clean up blocks, there are other safe places for parking.

…walk 3 miles along the C&O canal in street shoes and no walkman just to buy 2 dozen nightcrawlers for the compost bin. I walked from Georgetown University to Fletcher’s Boat house, not thinking it was so far, because, like, I had passed it a bazillion times before on bike. It was far. But well worth it, and luckily, I was able to find a bus (and taxi) back home.

Why nightcrawlers? Compost. Those suckers eat that stuff we throw in the compost heap, and since my roommie has been cooking and eating a lot of farmer’s market stuff, we got lots of organic waste. I had been trying to get redworms from my own yard but I haven’t seen too many of them and I want my compost to be active. I know that nightcrawlers aren’t the preferred worm but so far those are the worms I could a) get in DC & b) that they were selling.

I know it my fall under TMI, but I cannot describe the joy that leapt into my heart upon seeing one of my nightcrawlers pooping nutrient rich worm poop.

I have a vision. I see a rich garden of tomatoes growing in the back yard, feeding on the compost. I see thyme, peppermint, rosemary, basil (wait why am I growing basil, I don’t use it…) pansies and lemongrass all growing and feasting on chemical free enhanced soil. *smile*

Private Eyes

They’re watching you.

Private Eyyyyyyes

Watching you

Private Eyes

–Hall & Oates

My neighbor and colleague was telling me of a conversation he had with other neighbors on our street about Oktoberfest. He went to tell them about one of cops he was semi-flirting with, while I stood about absolutely uninterested. The conversation between him and the two female neighbors got on to the type of guys they have seen me and my roommate with, and speculation about our preferences. Don’t let the emptiness of our street fool you, the neighbors are watching.

While keeping a eye out for no-goodniks, loud kids, and what not, they also take in who visits what house, what kids belong to what house, and everything else that happens on the block. This has proven to be good for crime prevention in the case of the attempted break-in at B&L’s house. But upon finding out what my neighbors have gathered on their own it reaffirms that if it is out in the street, it isn’t private.

As reported in the Washington Post, today through Saturday Ms. Anu Yadav will be performing “‘Capers” at the DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan (2438 18th St. NW). Donations of $5-$10 is the entrance fee. The play is about the different people invovled with gentrification of the Arthur Capper/ Carrollsburg housing project in SE.
According to the Post article, people have been relocated to other parts of the district. There is a question of if those people will ever come back to the ‘Capers area as their old housing project is supposed to be reborn as a mixed income area. To make something mixed income, you gotta get rid of some poor people and replace them with middle class people.

Okay public promise.

I will update InShaw before Veteran’s day, because the BACA (Bates Area Civic Association) have put a link up to my site, which I’ve semi-abandoned. So if you see me, ask “Hey, have you updated your site yet?”

1800 Block of 3rd St

Vote. If you don’t like anyone on the ballot, still go to the polls and write in “Nobody”. No one will know who you voted for, but they will know if you went to the polls or not.

If you’d like to inform yourself about who is running where in the District check out the Common Demonimator’s 2004 Voter’s Guide.

Ah, and a note… I’m sick. I am the germy tissue queen and I’m going to take it easy for the next few days. I might post something about the BACA Oktoberfest, but I think I’ll post again after the elections.

I have a feeling I may have written on this before but the problem with a gentrifying neighborhood is that it is too bad for a taxi to search for fares but not bad enough that you try to hail one. When I was at Ella’s I spent a good 10 minutes plus watching a group of three white people trying to hail a cab at Florida and North Cap. They gave up and hopped a bus. Note: don’t try hailing a cab on North Capitol. If you do see a cab, it is usually full. The only place I have sucessfully caught a cab on North Cap is down by Kaiser Permanente.

My cab catching attempts on Rhode Island and New Jersey have been hit or miss. They are not looking out for you. The time I did catch a cab on New Jersey I was hard to miss, I was in a full length evening gown. Other times, nothing.

Calling the dispatcher, also hit or miss. That’s why I was on New Jersey Avenue hailing a cab in an evening gown.

Anyone know of the secret street corner I need to stand at to catch a cab around here?

Via Jim Berry

Neighbors,

It is with pleasure that I invite and encourage you to participate in

Oktoberfest 2004 — an event that is being sponsored by the Bates Area

Civic Association, Inc. and co-sponsored by Council Member Vincent B. Orange,

Northwest Cooperative Homes, the Metropolitan Police Department, Mount

Sinai Baptist Church, the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency,

Soul Day Spa, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Polly’s Cafe, Safeway, Inc., City Year

Americorps, John F. Cook School, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Perry School Community

Center as well as the DC Department of Parks and Recreation.

Octoberfest 2004 will take place this coming Saturday, October 30 2004,

between the hours of 11:00 a.m and 3:00 p.m. at the triangle park

located at First and Florida Avenue, NW. The day’s activities will include a

Chili Cook-Off, games, raffles and prizes. In addition, there will be a

modest flea market, information tables featuring various community services;

there will be a moon bounce for the children, along with face painting, arts

and crafts and a kick-boxing demonstration.

Oktoberfest 2004 is the first of a series of events that are being

scheduled to take place in the triangle park as we continue to make a serious

and a sustained effort to transform this location into the safe space for

children that it was intended to be. Won’t you please join us in this

initiative.

We are in need of plenty of volunteers to make the activity a success.

If you have some time to volunteer on Saturday, please let me know as

soon as possible. That is, if each of us contributes a little, no one will

have to do a lot.

For more information regarding the event, you may visit our website at

www.oktoberfest.bacaDC.org.

Looking forward to hearing from you as well as to seeing you Saturday!

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

(Washington, DC) Stanley Jackson, Director, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), announces the implementation of the American Dream Down-Payment Initiative (ADDI). ADDI aims to increase the homeownership rate, especially among lower income households, and tenants of public and assisted housing. ADDI also seeks to revitalize and stabilize communities.

ADDI will help first-time homebuyers with the biggest hurdle to homeownership: down payment and closing costs. The program was created to assist low-income, first-time homebuyers in purchasing single-family homes by providing funds for down payment, and closing costs. The maximum amount of assistance, under this initiative, per eligible household will be $10,000. Eligible households will receive assistance under this initiative in the form of a forgivable loan.

Eligibility Requirements:

Individuals must be residents of the District of Columbia and must have legally resided in the District of Columbia for at least one year at the time of application

Individuals must be first-time homebuyers. (A first-time homebuyer is defined as an individual and his or her spouse who have not owned a home during the three-year period prior to the purchase of a home in the District of Columbia.)

Individuals must be able to secure a first-trust mortgage from a reputable lender.

Applicants’ income must not exceed the following limits:

1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4 Person 5 Person 6 Person 7 Person 8 Person

$40,250 $46,000 $51,750 $57,500 $62,100 $66,700 $71,300 $75,900

Community-Based Organizations will begin accepting applications for the American Dream Downpayment Initiative on November 15, 2004.

Contact the organization nearest your residence to schedule a pre-qualification interview