District of Columbia Councilman David Grosso has introduced a resolution that Washington’s professional football team should change its racist, derogatory name, the one beginning with “R.” It’s a non-binding resolution, to say the least; the team doesn’t even play in DC anymore.
Removing Native American slurs and stereotypes from sports nicknames and mascots has been a nationwide trend, but the second part of Mr. Grosso’s resolution is a bit arcane, and puzzles lots of folks. He suggests changing the team’s name to “Washington Redtails.” This is in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, African American pilots of World War II. While more people should know about the Airmen, even the few who do don’t know that “Red Tails” was their nickname, unless they saw the flop movie of the same name.
Lady Bird, a 400-foot-long, $30 million, 1,300-ton German-made tunnel boring machine, will soon be carving miles of 22-foot-wide tunnel 100 feet below the Potomac riverbed. It’s part of DC Water’s Clean Rivers Project, the second-largest civil engineering project in DC history (only Metrorail is bigger). When completed in 2025, the $2.6 billion EPA-funded dig will keep raw sewage from flowing into the Potomac and Anacostia when it rains hard. That’s what happens now (it’s called CSO, “Combined Sewer Overflow”).
Lady Bird will be underground and out of sight, but you can follow her on her own Twitter account.
“If you’re a barber in the District, you have to be licensed and regulated by a city board. But if you’re a tattoo artist or piercer, a certain libertarian ethos seems to govern your trade within city limits—currently, the District remains one of the last places in the country in which tattooing and piercing are wholly unregulated.”
More:
“Regulations on Horizon for D.C. Tattoo Artists,” Martin Austermuhle, DCist
Now if Mr. Snyder would only change the racist name of his team, and they would win a few football games, the town might have a team it could be proud of.
Tuesday was Bagel Day at the software development center. I favored Bagels & Baguettes near Stanton Park. There was a line when I got there, around 8:30 AM. The shop is near the Senate office buildings and the Heritage Foundation, and there is a TV tuned to CNN to keep news-obsessed customers occupied.
By the time I got my two dozen hot bagels, the damnedest thing was on the television. An airplane had crashed right into the middle of a World Trade Center tower in New York, and the building was on fire. It was September 11, 2001.
The National Pinball Museum is being bounced from its Georgetown Park location, but it’s flipping up to Baltimore. Look for an official announcement soon and a Charm City museum opening in November.
What it means for you: Free Game! More accurately, free museum admission today through Monday.
National Pinball Museum
The Shops at Georgetown Park
3222 M St NW
(corner of M St NW and Wisconsin Ave NW)
Washington D.C.
Saturday 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM Sunday & Monday (Labor Day) 12:00 Noon to 6:00 PM
Robert Redford’s movie about the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, “The Conspirator,” will premiere in wide release this week. The film depicts historical events that are particularly meaningful for Washingtonians, since they all took place around here.
The conspirators included Mary Surratt, the only woman among the ten who were tried for conspiring to kill the President. The Surratts had a farmhouse in Clinton, Maryland, which they used as a tavern. After her husband died, Mary Surratt rented it out and lived in the family’s house in the District, where she took in boarders. The DC house was where the conspirators met.
Today, you can visit the Surratt farmhouse, now a museum. It’s near Andrews Air Force Base. And the Surratt boardinghouse? It’s at 604 H Street, NW. Try and visit at lunch time. It’s a Chinese restaurant called Wok n’ Roll.
