‘Dhoonya’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

For those of you who have been looking for ways to get your Bolly on but who are allergic to crossing the river, Dhoonya Dance is offering a 4 week crash course in the basics of Bollywood dance Wednesdays starting August 4. The class will be held at the DC Jewish Community Center. It’s $60 if you’re not a JCC member, and $48 if you are, so if the nasty heat wave we’ve been suffering from is discouraging you from outdoor exercise, it might be time to spend some time on indoor physical activity.

‘SALE’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

When I talk about how much I love living in my beautiful urban neighborhood in the District, suburb residents will often say that they love the city too but just can’t afford to live there.  Well, according to the Washington Examiner, they can’t afford not to.  According to a new study released by Montgomery County, when transportation and housing costs are combined, it’s a lot cheaper to live close to transit. For example, those who live in non-transit-accessible Potomac spend twice as much on transportation as those in transit-friendly Silver Spring.

There’s definitely a level of sticker shock when you first see how high rents in this area are, but when you factor in the ability to sell a car, take transit, and/or walk or bike to work, moving closer to the city is a wise financial decision.

‘Fojol Bros. of Merlindia’
courtesy of ‘Dave Kleinschmidt’
El Floridano is closed today due to last night’s epic storm and District Taco is making a rare appearance in Ballston – adjust your lunch plans accordingly!
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‘Nats Dogs’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Over the weekend, ESPN’s Outside the Lines looked into the health status of stadium concessions around the country. The results weren’t pretty, but standing out among some of the results (in the bad way) was Chinatown’s Verizon Center. 100 percent of the vendors inspected had some sort of critical violation, with at least ten of the stands cited for the presence of mice droppings, an automatic critical offense. That might make you think twice about eating before you get to your next Caps game or concert.

Other parks and stadiums in the region fared better – not exactly a challenge, though. Nationals Park had critical violations at 25 percent of vendors inspected, while 36 percent of FedEx vendors were in critical shape.

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courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Daniel Schorr, 93, passed away this morning at Washington Hospital Center. Schorr has been one, if not the, most senior reporting journalists in the United States. His career dates back to the 1950s, when he reopened the Moscow bureau of CBS News, and in 1963 he had the first foreign interview with Nikita Khruschev. He was on Richard Nixon’s list of enemies in the 1970s. He went to work for NPR in the 1980s, and had not officially retired.

I loved his voice and his demeanor. He was unafraid of telling you not just what happened (in excruciating and omnipotent detail), but what it meant. That sort of insight is largely absent from our modern blowhole media, where the cable news networks blather on without context or history. I will miss Daniel’s presence on my radio on Saturday mornings.

Though Studio 2A at NPR is named in his honor, I would hope that NPR might do more to honor the legendary journalist, whose career should stand as monument to all who work in the space today, and in the future. Put his name on your front door, NPR. Remind yourself every day that you’re not Fox or MSNBC, and that you’re proud of that. Do that for yourselves, and for the memory of one of DC’s finest journalists.

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courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

As mentioned earlier this morning, DCPS was soon expected to pink slip a number of teachers. Well, the tally is in: 226 241 teachers will be let go, effective August 13th. The Washington Post reports that the firings will be contested by the Washington Teachers’ Union.

Another 737 teachers were rated “minimally effective” by Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s new IMPACT evaluation system. These teachers will have one year to improve classroom performance before they too face possible dismissal.

Not surprisingly, debate over IMPACT has been reignited by today’s announcement. Critics say teachers were not adequately prepared for the program’s new set of expectations, and that test scores are a poor measure of teacher performance. Proponents view it as a bold, progressive move to overhaul the city’s failing schools.

Since this is IMPACT’s first year in place, it’s hard to tell whether these ugly numbers will lead to beautiful things for DCPS. But with test scores on the rise, the promise for positive change is most certainly there.

‘dolores park popsicle’
courtesy of ‘apasciuto’
Have you heard? It’s supposed to be really, really hot this weekend. And what’s the best way to deal with the pain of an unimaginable heat index? Frozen booze.

Lucky for us Washingtonians, we have plenty of options. At Cafe Saint-Ex, you can see if one of their Poptails will cool down your core body temp. Made with St. Germain, sparkling white wine and lemon simple syrup, it just might be refreshing enough to distract you from the humidity. Might. Right now they only have one flavor, but mixologist Jonathan Fain hopes to roll out more in the near future. Another restaurant in the popsicle game is Potenza, where you can sample three frozen treats based on some of their most popular cocktails. I’m most excited to try the Orvieto, made with fresh strawberries and balsamic syrup, lime, basil and vodka.

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