Haitian Embassy To Host Survival Kit Drive

As former president Bill Clinton says, what is most needed for Haiti right now is money — the >Red Cross is a worthy recipient.

But plenty more is needed too, and Rockville Central reader Alice Liu passed this announcement along by our friend Lori Aratani at the Washington Post:

The National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (NOAH) will be conducting an earthquake survival kit drive Sunday, Jan. 17 at The Haitian Embassy, 2311 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. The event will start at 11 a.m.

Items being collected include:

• Baby formula (dry/powder)
• Baby wipes
• Baby bottles
• Diapers
• Baby clothes
• Toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothpaste)
• Hand sanitizer
• Vitamins
• First aid kits
• Over the counter medicines
• Socks
• Blankets
• Mosquito repellent
• Flashlights
• Batteries
• Candles
• Flip flops
• T-shirts, pants, lightweight jackets
• Non perishable food that’s not in cans (examples include: seal-paks of tuna or sardines)

POTD: Beige

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This is the final in the Fire Hydrant Glove series. The glove itself is the least enticing of the three, but for some reason that adds to its mystique and this one is my favorite shot of the set.

Programs Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here’s the happenings around Rockville in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Please let us know in comments if you know of any other commemorative events around Rockville.>City of Rockville

The Rockville Human Rights Commission, along with the Mayor and Council, will host the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration at noon on Monday, January 18 at Richard Montgomery High School. Last year I attended this annual event and was impressed with the entertainment, speakers and an extensive reception buffet.

Claiborne Douglass Haughton Jr., president and CEO of The Haughton Group LLC, a motivational speaker and EEO/diversity consultant is the big speaker this year. The roof will be raised by Soul in Motion and Body Moves Contemporary Dance Co., Richard Montgomery High School Jazz Combo, Richard Montgomery Gospel Choir, and CityDance Select and Conservatory.

Two awards, the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Award (for students) and the F. Michael Taff Award (for individuals, businesses or organizations which have made a contribution to improving the lives of people with disabilities) are always presented during the program.

Montgomery County

The musical celebration and tribute to Dr. King, “Honoring Heritage, Inspiring Change,” takes place at the Music Center at Strathmore at 4:00 PM. There are no more tickets to this free event (but chances are that you could get in). The show will pay tribute to the life and works of Dr. King and its present day impact. ChoirBoyz; Li-Ly Chang & James Xu, and Sigiri Lalanavo from Sri Lanka will be performing.

Strathmore will open up the doors to non-ticket holders beginning at 3:45 p.m. hall until all seats are filled. Non-perishable food donations will also be accepted at Strathmore.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville

Our friends at UUCR have passed along this information about their programs honoring the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and observing Black History Month.

Sunday, January 17, 10:00 a.m. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sunday. Harriet Tubman: Leading Toward Freedom. Reverend Lynn Strauss will offer a sermon on the life work of Harriet Tubman. How might each of our lives lead toward freedom? How has our Unitarian Universalist movement contributed to freedom? Our guest musicians will be a Jazz band.

Wednesday, January 20, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. The Civil Rights Struggle in Montgomery County. Rev. Dr. James G. Macdonell, Pastor since 1961, and now Pastor Emeritus, of Saint Mark Presbyterian Church, Rockville, will speak of his role as a civil rights leader in Montgomery County, including as a member of the local organizing committee for the 1963 March on Washington. In 1965, he was one of 25 Washington-area clergy who were the first responders, along with Jim Reeb and other area UU ministers, to MLK’s call to march in Selma, Alabama. Rev. Macdonell received the Civil Rights Leadership Award by the Interfaith Council of Greater Washington. In 2004, he was elected to the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame. He and his wife Nancy live in Rockville.

Sunday, January 24, 10:00 a.m. How To Be A Prophetic Church by guest preacher Paula Cole Jones, a member of All Souls Unitarian in Washington, D.C. Ms. Jones is a workshop facilitator on issues of diversity and inclusion. She leads Jubilee Workshops and encourages congregations to assess their journey toward wholeness on issues of race and other diversities.

Wednesday, February 10, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Lincoln and African Americans: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama, a lecture and PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Alonzo Smith, Professor of History at Montgomery College, Rockville. Changing and diverse views on Lincoln reflect the diversity of the African American experience, as well as the influences of historical factors on how we choose to remember the past.

Wednesday, February 24, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Faith and Reason: Race, Justice, and American Political Life. A DVD showing of the keynote address to the 2009 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She challenges us to pause in the moment of American racial transformation and ask about how faith and reason can guide our politics toward more just ends. Yes, that’s her smart, smiling face on the cover of the Fall 2009 issue of The Crisis.

Montgomery County Volunteer Center

You can also find a ways to volunteer to honor MLK, Jr.

Fuel Tanker Fire On Montrose At I-270 Prompts Closure, Traffic Snarls; I-270 Reopened

At 4:45 this morning a fuel fire caused by an overturned tanker prompted authorities to close both Montrose Rd. and I-270 in order to get the fire under control. As of 9:00 am, I-270 is now reopened but Montrose remains closed.Closure of these two major arteries has created traffic snarls throughout Montgomery County, with traffic slowed to a crawl along MD-355 through Rockville.>According to WTOP:

It took almost two hours for the interstate to reopen. It reopened at 6:37 a.m., then authorities periodically shut it down.

Westbound Montrose Road remains closed between Seven Locks Road and Tower Oaks Boulevard.

Eastbound Montrose Road is open at Seven Locks Road, so you commuters can access I-270.

“Most importantly, the driver was not injured,” says Montgomery County Assistant Chief Scott Graham. . . .

The driver was out of the vehicle by the time firefighters arrived.

POTD: Green

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Second in my Fire Hydrant Glove series, a series that I am sure will go down in history. This one is called “Green.”

Looks a lot less perky than yesterday’s, methinks.

Free 150th Anniversary Magnets And All The Other Ways To Celebrate

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Special commemorative magnets displaying the Sequessentenial logo are now available for free in Rockville City Hall. At last Monday’s Mayor and Council meeting, staff said they would work on a plan to distribute them from community recreation centers, but right now the only place to grab one is the reception counter on the main floor.

Looking ahead, here’s the current Schedule of Events to celebrate Rockville’s incorporation as a City on March 10, 1860:

January 10 – February 2, 2010
150th Photography Exhibit Glenview Mansion Business Hours

March 10, 2010 – TBD
Official 150th Anniversary Event Rockville Town Center

March 14, 2010 at 7 PM
150th History Lecture and 150th History Publication Release and Signing by Eileen McGuckian at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre

April 17, 2010 at 10 AM
East Rockville Walking Tour East Rockville

May 8, 2010 from 1 to5 PM
Homes and Hospitality Tour of Rockville

June 27, 2010 at 2 PM
Women in Rockville’s History Walking Tour Red Brick Courthouse

October 30, 2010 at 5 PM
Candlelight Cemetery Tour

Other Ways You Can Get Involved for our 150th:

• Plan your own commemorative event.
• Visit a restaurant for a specially-designated meal or drink.
• Plan official 150th anniversary flowers in your garden.
• Design and paint a fire hydrant in Town Center.
• Register for the Memorial Day Parade.
• Attend an event like the photo opening!

As you might have noticed, I’m looking forward to all the special ways we can do something a little different to have a good time and celebrate. The flowers picked by the 150th Task Force are our City’s colors of red and blue and it will be fun to see where they sprout up. I’m sure the restaurants will have very creative Rockville drinks and meals. Who doesn’t want to paint a fire hydrant?

All the details will be updated at www.rockvillemd.gov/events/150

Wootton High School Houses DNA Teaching Lab

As >Rockville Central readers may have noticed over the years, in my view one of the major problems facing the nation is our citizenry’s lack of basic numeracy and understanding of science concepts. (For instance, even a quick look at the “balloon boy” story should have shown authorities that there was no way that a boy could have been on the floating “UFO” but instead they wasted a huge amount of resources on a wild goose chase . . . but I digress.)

So, I was delighted to read this morning in the Washington Post about an effort to ensure Montgomery County public high school teachers stay up to daye when it comes to biotechnology. I was even more delighted to learn that the program is housed at our own Wootton High School!

Here’s the deal from the article:

In many school districts, teachers have to take it upon themselves to keep up to date with late-breaking research and translate it into their classrooms; in Montgomery, they get help. . . . The school system’s DNA Resource Center has developed nine lab experiments that teach biotechnology concepts. The center is funded by six-figure annual grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, managed by a handful of part-time staff members and housed at Thomas S. Wootton High School in a supply room filled with pipettes and flasks. The center staff trains teachers to use the lab activities in their classrooms and delivers all of the equipment and consumable materials that the exercises require.

The DNA Resource Center, which dates to the 1980s, has primarily served Montgomery County’s high schools. Beginning in the spring, it will expand into middle schools. Seventh-grade teachers will be trained in biotechnology concepts and activities, such as DNA gel electrophoresis, that once were reserved for advanced science courses.

How cool is that! I am excited to hear that this program is being expanded so that middle school teachers can stay on top of latest biotech developments too.

POTD: Red

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What is it with the gloves on top of fire hydrants? All around my neighborhood, I see them everywhere. It prompted me to do a little study of them. Here is the first in a small series. “Red,” I call it for obvious reasons.

It looks kind of jaunty to me.

Free Workshops for Job Seekers

The Division of Workforce Services reports that 20% of the job seekers seen at >Montgomery Works from 7/1/09 to 11/30/09 were from the Rockville zip codes 20850 and 20851. Meanwhile Rockville only makes up about 6% of the population of Montgomery County. We have lots of people seeking employment help while the Montgomery Works Centers are located at a distance in Wheaton and Germantown.

That’s why workshops held nearby in Rockville are so helpful. The Jewish Social Services Agency’s (JSSA) Employment and Career Services will be holding workshops at the Rockville Library on January 13 and February 10, 2010 from 10:30 to 11:30 AM.

They will be providing information on how to expand contacts and more successfully market yourself. They’ll also be going over the “Do’s and Don’ts of Your Resume” and the Keys to Mastering the Interview Process.”

To register, call 301-610-8380.

Mayor And Council Planning Session Set For January 15-16 At Glenview Mansion

Every two years, the Mayor and Council holds a “planning session,” which is typically a facilitated conversation where they can set overall direction for the upcoming term. It is arguably one of the more important meetings, since it establishes overall strategic goals.

While it is an open meeting (as all meetings of the full Mayor and Council are and must be, if they plan to discuss any substantive business), details about the meeting are sketchy-to-nonexistent on the City of Rockville website. We are certain there are a number of citizens who might be interested in observing the proceedings, so here are the details.

The overall goal, from the agenda (>available here, it was shared with us by a member of the Council) are:

• “[P]rovide/define perspectives on the current state of the external environment, the City itself, and the Council and analyze for implications”
• “[I]dentify the most important elements of Rockville that must be preserved or pursued in order to achieve the City’s ideal future and its strategic position”
• ” Develop a set of specific Priorities to achieve the Mayor and Council’s Vision and desired strategic position”
• ” Define appropriate roles for the Mayor, Council and City Manager and discuss any changes in the manner of working together that may enhance effectiveness”
• ” Identify next steps and/or assignments for implementing the Mayor and Council’s Vision and strategic position, Priorities, and operations/relationship agreements”

When: January 15, 2010 4:00 pm — January 16, 2010 6:00 pm
Where: Glenview Mansion

We are told that the Mayor and Council voted 3-2 against videotaping the meeting. I think that may not be the best course of action. While TV cameras can and do lend a certain amount of formality to any meeting, this is an important meeting and transparency has been a repeated issue on the minds of many citizens. Rockville Central reader Joseph Jordan, for instance, has often taken the Mayor and Council to task for what he saw as a lack of transparency.

Choosing not to videotape the proceedings may just raise that issue again.

It seems especially short sighted given that any citizen can audio- or video-tape a public meeting of the Mayor and Council. In fact, if any readers do happen to do such a thing, we’d be happy to post the results here at Rockville Central.

POTD: On Top Of The World

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I shot this shortly after The Blizzard of 2009. I was at Fallsgrove shopping center running errands and my eye kept getting drawn back, again and again, to this scene. Just something about it. “What is this thing doing there?” I kept thinking.

Max van Balgooy: Three Top Washingtonian Restaurants In Rockville

>Rockville Central friend Max van Balgooy, whose “Max For Rockville” blog is increasingly required reading, has a nice spotlight today on three Rockville restaurants that made the Washingtonian’s “top 100″ list: Cava, Spice Xing, and Addie’s.

His piece begins:

The January 2010 issue of Washingtonian magazine lists a couple restaurants in Rockville among the “100 Very Best” in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. They are part of an exclusive club that includes Komi (#1), the Inn at Little Washington (#11), and 2 Amys (#28). We’re delighted that the restaurants in Rockville are being recognized and that a few of them are meeting an extraordinarily high standard for quality.

Thanks for this, Max!

Enter The Bethesda Magazine Short Story And Essay Contest

Some time ago we were delighted to announce that >Rockville Central contributor Andrea Jarrell was a winner in the first ever Bethesda Magazine short story and essay contest. It looks like it went well for the magazine, as it is now an annual thing and they are mounting a similar contest this year!

There are two contests: a short story contest and an essay contest. All the details are here. Deadline is February 26.

Here’s the messzage from Susan Coll, the magazine’s fiction editor:

Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Urban Partnership are partnering to sponsor a short story and essay contest, and we are now accepting submissions.

This year the short story contest is open to residents of Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as portions of Northwest Washington, DC (ZIP codes 20015 and 20016). There is a separate category for high school students who live in this same region. Stories may not exceed 4,000 words, and should be sent as a Microsoft Word document to shortstory@bethesdamagazine.com.

The essay contest is open to residents of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. The topic is “What is your approach to life? Reveal your personal philosophy.” Essays may not exceed 500 words, and should be sent as a Word document to essay@bethesda.org.

Photos Are First for The 150th Celebration

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The banners and signs are noticeably furled around the City and even though Rockville won’t officially be 150 years old until March 10th, the celebration began yesterday with the opening of a photo exhibit at the Glenview Mansion featuring 43 photos submitted by residents along with a Then and Now photo retrospective.

You might think we are looking back to celebrate our sesquicentennial but the exhibit is an energetic new eye on Rockville which leaves you squinting for more. Dena Balistock’s Window on Town Center ($600) takes an unique shot through the window of the delivery bike often parked outside Taste of Saigon. Evan DeFoe’s Jefferson Plaza ($85) turns my favorite building into an artwork on the edge. Sally Guardia’s Fireworks Over New Mark Lake (NFS) combines a fountain and firework moment I’ve never experienced. Allen Melser’s Flow of Geese ($150) captures a smirk as the flock waddles through Federal Plaza. The exhibit will freshen your outlook on the familiar.

I love seeing how places used to look and as I wandered through the second floor gallery listening to people surmise and remember, I realized I’m not alone. Seeing the Wire Hardware building through time, a steam engine instead of metro train, the Congressional Airport instead of today’s mall, and the old main street instead of our Town Center, turned into a real treat. Oh yes, wasn’t Rockville coolest during the 70’s with that new mall and those funky cars?

A board detailing the history of the Civic Center Park and one room filled with gowns worn by Irene Smith Lyon from 1917 to 1953 add a sense of place to our shining centerpiece of civic participation. If you don’t know who she is then you really must head over to Glenview Mansion.

As you can see, the house was packed for the concert by the U.S. Navy Band Chamber Players who played different instrumental combinations including guitar and sax for Body and Soul by Johnny Green and the full brass treatment for a Suite from the Soldier’s Tale by Igor Stravinsky.

Unfortunately I was at my son’s Musical Theater Center performance of the Pajama Game and could not make the opening festivities. (Let me interject that MTC did an amazing job with these talented middle school students in the production, really first rate.) Max van Balgooy attended the opening ceremony and you can read Max for Rockville and see his photos to get the scoop on who attended at the beginning of the event.

The photo exhibit and retrospective will be open to the public daily through February 2, 2010 and it’s free. Glenview Mansion is open 9 AM to 4 PM Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 9 AM to 9 PM Tuesday and Thursday.

Get Involved for our 150th:

• Plan your own commemorative event.
• Visit a restaurant for a specially-designated meal or drink.
• Plan official 150th anniversary flowers in your garden.
• Design and paint a fire hydrant in Town Center.
• Register for the Memorial Day Parade.
• Attend an event like the photo opening!

The details will all be posted at www.rockvillemd.gov/events/150

POTD: Juncos

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This wonderful shot is by Rockville Central friend Janet Brown. Of it, she says: “You know it’s winter when you see the Juncos (aka Snow Birds). They like the easy access placement of my thistle seed feeder – Juncos are primarily ground feeders.”

What a sweet shot.