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Permalink Reply by Lisa Gold on July 12, 2009 at 1:03pm

Synchronized Swimming Hits Washington’s Hottest Venue!

Washington Projects for the Arts, in collaboration with the Rubell Family Collection + Conner Contemporary Art, announces the first-ever synchronized swimming performance competition featuring Washington area artists at the Capitol Skyline Hotel pool.

In the spirit of WPA’s past inventive performances and artist actions, we are proud to present this opportunity for Washington area artists to express their creativity in the city’s hottest new setting for contemporary art and events.

On Sunday, July 19 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, selected artist teams will perform a 2-4 minute synchronized performance accompanied by music in the Capitol Skyline Hotel pool. Typically, synchronized swimming demands advanced water skills and requires great strength, endurance, flexibility, grace, artistry, and precise timing, as well as exceptional breath control when upside down underwater. However, at the WPA SynchroSwim, creativity and effort are the main criteria for evaluation. “While we aren’t anticipating Olympic-level swimming performances, I do believe that our artists will exhibit outsized creativity in their presentations. It should be an entertaining evening and I look forward to seeing what the artists bring to the event,” says Lisa Gold, WPA Executive Director.

A panel of experts and art aficionados, including Won Kee Moon (Director, International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics), Spike Mendelsohn (Top Chef contestant and founder Good Stuff Eatery), and Philippa Hughes (Founder, The Pink Line Project), will judge the performances. Prizes donated by the Capitol Skyline Hotel will be awarded in three categories: best performance, best visual spectacle, and crowd favorite. Immediately following the WPA SynchroSwim, attendees are invited to swim in the pool, enjoy drinks and food served poolside, or watch a selection of swim-themed videos in the lounge.

Free admission to the event begins at 6:00 pm.
Please contact Lisa Gold at 202-234-7103 x3 with questions.

Attachments:

• WPASynchroSwim_PressRelease.doc, 507 KB

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Permalink Reply by pb on July 15, 2009 at 12:46am

Dear Meymo,

I have heard little about this story, with the exception of some good but limited treatment of the subject in the Washington Post, and so did some research myself, as follows:
- 1,700 under-achieving DC kids from failing public schools are offered a $7,500 scholarship voucher as part of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, to use for enrolling in private schools in the District. The progam is federally controlled and financed. http://www.washingtonscholarshipfund.org
- The Dept. of Education studies the program and finds these kids to be outperforming their peers in the public school system (primarily in reading, less so in math), which is costing taxpayers ~$27,000/year per pupil. http://www.washingtonscholarshipfund.org/news/news/pr_04_03_09.html and http://ies.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=NCEE20094050
- The program comes up for renewal, at which point a school teachers union (the National Education Association) threatens Congressional Democrats if they allow the program to continue "We expect that Members of Congress who support public education, and whom we have supported, will stand firm against any proposal to extend the pilot program. Actions associated with these issues WILL be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 111th Congress." http://www.nea.org/home/30906.htm
- Students rally and seek local support, to no avail as even Eleanor Norton also turns against them. http://www.washingtonscholarshipfund.org/PDF/rally.pdf
- Obama has the last word and agrees to grandfather the kids in the program until they complete their education, but along with Congress, elects to shut it down

So a program which actually saved public school funds and was an educational savior for some of the lowest-performing kids from the worst schools in the city was shut down due to political patronage. It seemed to me like political grandstanding when I read that the chair of the Black Republican Association had called on the Democratic Party to apologize for racism and the "politics of poverty" (keeping blacks poor and dependent) http://www.examiner.com/x-9345-Baltimore-County-Republican-Examiner..., but these actions prove her point completely.

The hypocrisy of Democrats (and Obama who sends his kids to the most expensive private school in the city) ending the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program while pretending to help the weak and the poor should be a national scandal.

But it would also be newsworthy to also report that at least some Democrats are letting their conscience get the better of their political aspirations - vouchers are now gaining a national following from all sides, who I suppose are impatient for the comprehensive nation-wide education improvement overdue for at least the last 30 years. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-05-12-school-vouchers_N...

(Feel free to find a good story about Republican Party racism too - I'm not partisan, just principled.)

Thanks for the consideration.
pb

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Permalink Reply by SM on July 20, 2009 at 5:53pm

On July 30 at 6:30 p.m., the Reginald F. Lewis Museum (Baltimore, MD) partners with Maryland Public Television (MPT) to screen "Song in a Strange Land," an inspiring performance hosted by Baltimore's own Darin Atwater, founder and artistic director of the Soulful Symphony.

Soulful Symphony is a 75-member ensemble, primarily African American, comprised of some of the finest instrumentalists in and vocalists in the country. As a composer, conductor, and pianist, Mr. Atwater is regarded as one of the leading artists of his generation. His skills in the idioms of classical, jazz and sacred music have earned him a distinguished international reputation. Mr. Atwater will introduce the film and be available for a post-screening Q&A session. For more information, visit www.africanamericanculture.org or www.soulfulsymphony.org.

Attachments:

• SoulfulSymph_Final.pdf, 23 KB

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Permalink Reply by Kalen Pruss on July 23, 2009 at 3:01pm

My organization, Avaaz.org, is staging a unique street performance tomorrow, Friday morning, at 8:10 am. Youth environmental advocates will be dressed up as a superhero version of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking her to reject the construction of a cross-border oil pipeline and commit the US to bold climate leadership. Secretary Clinton will fight off the atrocious Tar Sands monster and save the US from ongoing dependence on dirty fossil fuels.

State is treating the approval of the pipeline as a simple procedural action rather than a controversial policy decision that will continue to feed America's addiction to oil. The performance will creatively portray the global youth's response to this U.S. investment in a crude oil as costly and toxic as tar sands. Please contact for more information.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Wedge on July 23, 2009 at 8:37pm

The First US Youth Boat Attends World Yngling Championships in Sweden.

Three sailors from Alpena, Michigan will be representing the Alpena Yngling Fleet and the United States at this year's Yngling World Championships in Sweden starting July 25. This will be the first time that a youth boat from the United States will be participating in the Youth World Championships and the Open Worlds.

For more information, please contact timothywedge@yahoo.com.

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Permalink Reply by Cassandra Gaither on August 5, 2009 at 6:29pm

One of 1,000 House Parties Nationwide to Take Place in Arlington

On Saturday August 15, 2009 the latest phenomenon in “buzz” marketing will be on display right here in the DC/MD/VA area. I’m hosting a House Party – one of a thousand households in towns across the U.S. on the same day – to let my friends and neighbors know about Children International.
www.HouseParty.com/party/148956

Through my party, my neigbors, colleagues, friends and family will be able to learn about what Children International does to help needy children throughout the world. People are becoming immune to traditional marketing media – like television commercials and magazine ads – so more and more companies are looking for ways to connect with people on a more personal, one-to-one level. My House Party is a fun way for (literally) thousands of people to socialize with one another and have fun, as they learn about how they can help a poor child who lives in crushing poverty. Plus they instantly become part of a truly national consumer movement, just by attending my event.
This event unites regular people, like me, and allows us to create an exclusive experience with our friends and associates and share the experience with the larger party community at www.HouseParty.com/childreninternational.

I would love for a reporter from WAMU to join us on Saturday August 15, 2009 at 3pm at my Children International House Party. I want to know if there is interest in possibly covering the House Party marketing movement here in DC.

Thanks!

-Cassandra

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Permalink Reply by Aisha moore on August 6, 2009 at 10:43am

There was a story this morning about local DC businesses distributing condoms. I am the President of the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association and we are the ones responsbile for getting the condoms to those businesses. Every third saturday of the month we conduct street outreach in Ward 8 and deliver condoms to those businesses. We order condoms and materials and from DOH and make sure the residents have access to them.

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Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on September 10, 2009 at 9:39am

Jason we should probably pin thsi one to the home page like the commentary page is pinned

Meymo here is one for you. Metro closed all those stations this weekend and sent out many great press releases on how theyhh finished their work and life is good. So why are we getting these alerts from Metro?

(ID 59375) Disruption at Braddock Road in both directions. Trains are traveling at reduced speeds between Braddock Road and Pentagon stations as a result of this weekend's track maintenance. Expect delays in both directions.
http://www.wmata.com/opt_out.cfm

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Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on September 10, 2009 at 9:53am

BTW Meymo, you rock. WAMU has the best local reporting out there. Better than TOP and any DC radio stations that is for sure.

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Permalink Reply by Meymo Lyons on September 10, 2009 at 12:12pm

Dear John,

Your kind words have made my day !! By now you know the Metro Braddock road delay is the result of a Metro employee being hit by a train.

Best,

Mem

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Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on September 10, 2009 at 12:22pm

Meymo, Metro has been sending out that email all week so no that has nothing to do with the worker hit by the train. So the question remains, three stations were closed for three days for a maintenance blitz so why are the trains running at reduced speed? Note the email references the weekend maintenance.

that said another employee struck has to raise some issues. five years ago this was unheard of so what is happening on the Metro?

Meymo Lyons said:

Dear John,

Your kind words have made my day !! By now you know the Metro Braddock road delay is the result of a Metro employee being hit by a train.

Best,

Mem

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKnight on September 18, 2009 at 11:02am

You wrote on June 19, 2009 at 8:47pm

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

I have a great idea to solve the health care issue. PUT THE SHOE ON THE OTHER FOOT! WIN WIN situation?

Instead of the lawmakers being led by deep pockets of lobbyists, let the experts themselves come up with a plan. Maybe they can spend their lobby money more effectively and transparently to come up with a viable solution rather than lining the pockets of Senators and Congressmen.

Put the emphasis on the industry to come up with the solution to present to the administration and lawmakers. The rules will be as follows. Everyone must be covered. It must be affordable and a choice for options of payment of the program. Necessary procedures will not be denied! Tort reform in some sense will be enacted!

Everyone is an expert and has ideas but most really don't know what to do. Lobbyists can focus their efforts rather than in the halls of Congress, but within their own industry, think tanks, harvesting their own expertise to come up with a proposed solution, rather than just objections to everything you propose. Let the ball fall in their court rather than the halls of Congress. They can form a National Committee of all the players to brainstorm.

Give them the opportunity to solve the problem covering all the rules and objectives. This should satisfy the GOP that capitalism must make it work. Let all the insurers, hospitals, Doctors, lobbyists come up with the plan for presentation to you and congress. Have them put their money where their mouth is for the solution. Give them 4-6 months ONLY!

They may have to look at some of the things that now are acceptable practices. Industries that contribute to the high long term health costs would have the industries pay proportionately more. Cigarette smoking, alcohol, fats and unhealthy foods that cause obesity. Make industry responsible and part of the solution. Let people have choices as they have now but for every product sold that is known to have long term unhealthy effects a cost will be included.

The bone for the industry would be and additional fifty million people. The incentive would be, if you can't or won't make it work with all of your expertise, WE WILL let the non experts decide for you!

Industry needs to buy in and have ownership or it will never work. The ways of yesterday and profit being the only motive to act for what we value for our people is unacceptable. We value the people of the United States of America. They should also.

Thank you for the opportunity to write.

Richard McKnight
rqtguru@gmail.com

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