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Articles
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In Your Neighborhood
| Not just a wisenheimer |
VOICE writes, "By Joshua Gray
“You’ll recognize me from the column,” says Gene Weingarten, chuckling, as we set up our interview. “I look just like the drawing, only fatter.”
With a thicket of mostly dark hair, wire-rimmed glasses, his signature bushy mustache, and just the suggestion of a paunch, he’s easy to pick out. Slouched over an espresso at Port City Java, he was just around the corner from his Eastern Market home.
For thousands of readers, The Washington Post columnist Weingarten is a familiar voice, even if they don’t connect it with his face. Weingarten’s nationally syndicated humor column “Below The Beltway” is the first stop for many readers of Sunday’s Post. But Weingarten takes off the jester’s cap two or three times a year, scripting longer features on more serious subjects.
Last spring, his article “Pearls Before Breakfast” chronicled eminent classical musician Joshua Bell performing in a Metrorail station during rush hour. No mere stunt, it was a serious meditation on the scant space we leave for art in our busy, metropolitan lives. Accompanied by video and broadcast on The Post Web site, the article took on a life of its own, transcending the local angle. On April 7, Weingarten was rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize.
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Posted on Apr 25, 2008 20:39pm.
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| No longer ‘retired and restless,’ Darryl Dillingham goes back to work at 71 |
VOICE writes, "BY JOSHUA GRAY
Darryl Dillingham may be retired, but he’d rather be rocking out to Eric Clapton than rocking on the front porch. At 71, Dillingham may look the part of the dapper retiree, but he confounds expectations when he confesses his fondness for the ‘60s-era work of the English guitarist (who himself turned 63 recently).
Dillingham is among six national winners of AARP’s “My Dream Job” contest. He entered on a whim, after seeing a promotion in the AARP The Magazine. Entrants submitted essays in a number of categories, competing for a package that includes career coaching, a laptop computer and gift certificates. Dillingham won in the “Retired and Restless” category, which seems appropriate for the high-energy, Union Station-area resident as he seeks to renew his media career.
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Posted on Apr 20, 2008 14:27pm.
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| Transportation Department’s new chief engineer makes her home on the Hill |
VOICE writes, "By Joshua Gray
As the newly appointed chief engineer for the D.C. Department of Transportation, Kathleen Penney has risen to the ranks of those who need insulation from the press. A public-relations minder hovers on the sidelines throughout our exchange, held in the blandly efficient Reeves Municipal Center on U Street NW.
In spite of the public-relations veil, Penney is largely unaffected, casual and candid — as much a long-time Hill resident and parent of two school-age children as an upper-echelon government functionary.
From her new post, Penney is well positioned to preside over major projects that could spell real change to D.C.’s roads. She cited the planned renovation of the 11th Street bridges — a key element in the District’s Near Southeast waterfront development scheme — as the front-and-center issue confronting her office. But these dry facts of city planning could be part of anyone’s curriculum vitae. It’s Penney’s back story that sets her apart."
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Posted on Mar 01, 2008 14:52pm.
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| Feeding appetites, and a community |
VOICE writes, "BY JOSHUA GRAY
Growing up on Corbin Place in Northeast, Furard Tate and his brother, Atif, used to race their bikes to the Murray’s discount supermarket on H Street.
“With a large family, you need to be able to get a lot of food for not a lot of money,” Furard says.
Today, the brothers are feeding a much larger family. Their business, Platinum Catering, brings their brand of health-conscious, soul-inspired food to H Streetand beyond. Talking with Furard at Platinum’s modest carryout counter, it’s clear that their mission goes beyond filling empty stomachs."
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Posted on Dec 20, 2007 20:35pm.
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| A dog’s best friend |
VOICE writes, "BY JOSHUA GRAY
On a dismal, rainy evening,Jane Altenhofen’s home near Capitol South is a haven for warmth and hospitality. And dogs. Definitely dogs.
Though the aroma of wet pooch is blissfully absent, Altenhofen’s four-legged housemates still make a strong first impression. Lizzie, Angel and Pixie greet visitors with joyous yips, full-body wags and leg-nuzzles. It’s an appropriate introduction to their mistress, the woman neighbors call “The Puppy Lady.”
The greeting party at Jane Altenhofen’s house is just the tip of the iceberg; in the last 14 years, Altenhofen has played foster mother to around 200 dogs, mostly puppies. "
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Posted on Dec 14, 2007 15:19pm.
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| Gabriel Brow and Ready to Work Making a clean sweep |
VOICE writes, "
Gabriel Brow and Ready to Work Making a clean sweep
BY JOSHUA GRAY
Gabriel Brow isn’t wearing his cape to the interview on Pennsylvania Avenue, but it’s easy enough to pick him out from the lunchtime crowd. Even without his signature accessory, Brow stands apart in button-down D.C.; he’s the hyperkinetic bundle of energy in the blue jumpsuit. Brow’s head is shaved, studs sparkle in each ear and his eyebrows are trimmed into an arch of permanent marvel.
I must be the only person on Capitol Hill who doesn’t already know Gabriel Brow. The tape of our interview is interrupted regularly by salutations, shouts out, sly jokes and quick banter. “Hey, hey, what’s up?” calls Brow. “Alright, lookin’ good!” He shakes hands, slaps backs, high fives. Patti Brosmer, executive director of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District created the position of Quality Control Ambassador especially for Brow, and he seems born to the role."
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Posted on Nov 09, 2007 20:05pm.
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| Jacqueline Dupree and Elise Bernard |
VOICE writes, "Bloggers with a sense of community
BY JOSHUA GRAY
Not much has changed since 2005 for Jacqueline Dupree. She still works for The Washington Post, she still lives at Third Street and South Carolina Avenue, SE, in the house she and husband Bill Walsh bought in 1995 and her blog, JDLand, (www.JDLand.com/dc/) still charts the progress of change on the Near Southeast waterfront.
JDLand itself, however, has changed, at a pace far exceeding even the most bullish predictions.
When Voice of the Hill visited JDLand two years ago, Near Southeast re-development was a hatchling project. Now, even Dupree is overwhelmed by the transformation.
"In 18 months, it's like a gold rush," she says in a mid-afternoon moment stolen away from work. "Everything that I was thinking — back in the day — would take 10 to 20 years, a lot of it is happening in five.""
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Posted on Oct 11, 2007 19:18pm.
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