21 May, 2008
bare carpet core heart home improvement raw real renovations roots sleek stripped wash
Just trying to drive web traffic, also “lindsay lohan” “free” “naked”
But seriously folks…. today, in the ongoing saga of my cooperative renovations, I came home to a ripped up carpet. I mean completely barebones gone.
Wow this is ugly, I thought glaring at the yellow tape, peeling paint, staples, long winding cracks meandering like veins between my apartment and my neighbors’ homes.
It is ugly, glaring, in the modernized streamline that is our beaaaaautttiful DC home. but…
on second thought,
it is also real.
With the carpet gone, voices echo, loudly. You can see bits of carpet gone by (blue and and frayed, black and tightknight), a veritable family tree of the hallway that was. You can feel the floor, including it’s ripples, cracks, and bumps beneath your feet. You can hear the click of heels across it, what gets dropped, what gets picked up, the rhythm of different feet.
It is raw, real and I like it. Not quite enough to be sad about the coming new sleeker, modder new brown and tan carpet, mind you, but still. I have seen the core of my building and it is a good one.
16 May, 2008
alert arlington busted dc fox funny government humor misspelling pandemonium panic poor grammar spelling wash
from Arlington alerts:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Arlington Alert
Date: Fri, May 16, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Subject: Rapid Fox
To: Arlington Alert Subscribers
A fox that bit a woman in south Arlington has tested positive for rabies, Arlington public health officials have confirmed today.
————————
No word yet on if this fox is THE quick brown fox that jumped over the lazy [edit 5/25, thanks to many, many, many smart cookie readers – ahem, “some guy named me” ] river DOG [/edit], but I’m guessing the folks at Arlington Alerts could use the typing as well as the spelling class. Also, word is this incident actually happened a week ago. BUT STILL!!!!
Special thanks to my Arlington bureau for this report!
15 May, 2008
ache beauty candlelight vigil courage dc duty fallen officer fallen officer memorial good guys grief honor judiciary square line of duty mourn mourning national law enforcement officers memorial national police week officer officers killed overheard pain police police officer police week tribute wash WW friends
It’s National Police Week, which means Judiciary Square, and its Fallen Officer Memorial are glorious. 
I don’t have a particular connection to police officers but I do have a connection to this place and the painful beauty it reverberates in memory, in mourning but in celebration for lives lost too soon. These were the true good guys – you can see all over the faces of those they left behind, who come to remember.
Judiciary Square, this memorial in particular, are always gorgeous: the squared off green of the lush, full trees; the majestic cool of the stone lions, the waves of names that roll on and on with stories and Read the rest of this entry »
