Serenading Rockville’s “Unsung Heroes”

>Councilmember Piotr Gajewski presided over the City’s annual presentation of its Good Neighbor Awards tonight. Glenview Mansion was as decked out as the award recipients on this balmy summer evening when honorees, friends, family and their neighbors gathered for a reception and awards ceremony. The crowd cheered for the men and women who improve the quality of life in their communities in big and small ways – from advice and guidance to community activism to leaf raking and snow shoveling for neighbors in need to “creating, managing and implementing memorable community events with good humor and hard work” to reaching out to new neighbors with generosity and kindness “that makes more people willing to move out of our comfort zones” to a network of ten families who together provided food, flowers, clothing, cards, and entertainment for a neighbor who had become wheelchair bound.

The 2008 Recipients include: Wilma Bell of Lincoln Park, Marshall Fisher of College Gardens, Chas Hausheer of East Rockville, Joseph McClane of Cambridge Walk II, Paul O’Brien of College Gardens, Shari Perry of College Gardens, Andreas Vassilas of Twinbrook, James Wilburn of Lincoln Park, and Jack and Priscilla Baublitz, Michael and Jeanine Hartnett, Haywood and Lorraine Hughes, George and Roberta Margolies, Jim and Mary Martin, Jesse and Mary Meneses, Dave and Anne McBain, Gerry McDonald, Gram and Diane Paules, Mildred Shields, and Lois Wilson all of College Gardens who were honored together for their support of an ill neighbor. Rockville Central’s founder Brad Rourke was also honored for launching Rockville Central.

If you know someone who makes your neighborhood a better place, you can nominate them next year through the City Manager’s Department.

Andrea Jarrell Winner In Bethesda Magazine

Congratulations, Andrea!>

Rockville Central contributor Andrea Jarrell won Honorable Mention in Bethesda Magazine’s first-ever short story contest for her story, “Traveling Companions.”

According to the magazine, “Montgomery County residents submitted 128 entries to the first Bethesda Magazine short-story writing contest—88 in the open category and 40 in the high school category.” Here are all the winners.

An excerpt from Andrea’s piece:

The train schedule was on a circular stand that turned round displaying times, track numbers, and destinations. Anna twirled it until she found the train she and her mother had been on. ROMA was in red letters next to it. Rome would be the next stop. Her eyes stung but she wouldn’t let herself cry. She’d cry when she saw her mother again. Immediately below that listing, she saw another red ROMA. She knew she didn’t have enough money for a ticket, just some purple and orange lire amounting to about $9 but she ran toward the listed track.

Her sandals slapped the concrete and she pretended not to see the faces that followed the silly running girl with long yellow hair, who had no purse, no suitcase, only packaged cookies, not even good ones.

Click here to read the whole story.

College Admission Angst — "A Statistical Mirage"

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Calling All Rockville Writers

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Have you ever had a pivotal moment in your life tied to a particular place?

Well, if that place is somewhere in D.C. now is the time to write about it because Hitotoki has come to D.C. The editors tell me the deadline for submissions has been extended. Hitotoki is “an online literary project collecting stories of singular experiences tied to locations in cities worldwide.” In other words, a narrative map of the world that lets readers experience cities through peoples’ stories. (Part of each submission is a Google Map place mark.)

Already in Tokyo, London, and New York, the D.C. launch is scheduled for March. Editors are looking for “short narratives (between 200-500 words) describing pivotal moments of elation, confusion, absurdity, love or grief — or anything in between — inseparably tied” to a specific place in D.C.

Hitotoki is a Japanese word that is often translated as “a moment.” Hitotoki, the site, was launched in May 2007 in Tokyo. One of the things I especially like about it is that it’s beautiful (writers love to be published — beautifully published is a very nice bonus.)

Sunny Morning at the Polls Despite Dreary Day

I confess I’m a feeler. Anyone who has done a >Myers-Briggs test knows what I mean. My first take on things is how I feel about it. So this morning when I went to vote I wasn’t too happy about the curmudgeonly ladies in line behind me who wondered aloud why lunch or coffee wasn’t available given the long lines. They compared the line to waiting for a flu shot and sarcastically predicted “We’ll be out of here by tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help but think about a young university student I met recently who had been conducting election monitoring in Mauritania. She told me that a pivotal moment during her experience occurred when one morning she woke before the sun was up to arrive early at the polls. The polling station was a one-room schoolhouse made out of old wooden boards near the only paved road in town. She was shocked to see an unbelievable turnout — over one hundred men and women dressed in colorful robes from this small village were already quietly in line to vote. She said she was inspired by the Mauritanians’ civic energy and passion and wanted to take it back to the U.S.

Standing in my own line in Montgomery County, listening to the ladies’ complaints about no coffee, I realized she had. As I moved from line to table to voting booth to friends and neighbors still waiting in line I was transported to that brilliant sunny morning in a village faraway and a kindred energy and passion for civic responsibility made me feel great.

A Neighborhood’s Best Friend

Anyone who saw “>I Am Legend,” the top box office draw this past weekend, knows a beloved dog plays a pivotal role. Ironically, she is the humanizing glue in a story about humanity hanging on by a thread. Writers of these post-apocalyptic stories often offer dogs as a small sign of hope – think “Terminator” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” Perhaps it’s because they live in neighborhoods, as I do, where neighbors might not know each other’s names but they know the names of each other’s dogs, as we discovered at last summer’s neighborhood block party.

One thing that makes my West End neighborhood particularly dog and people friendly is that it’s walkable thanks to sidewalks. Even on the coldest days our dogs draw us out of our houses. They glue us together in ways we might not be aware of – I silently mourned the loss of a neighbor’s lab after the dog was noticeably absent from her daily walks. They may even make you do something you’d never do otherwise. As I struggled to carry my injured 40 pound mutt up Nelson one summer afternoon a woman passing offered me a ride home. We knew without the dog in the mix neither of us would ever have offered or accepted a ride to/from a stranger.

In a world that sometimes feels on the verge of apocalypse I’m grateful our neighborhood has gone to the dogs – MacGregor, Porky, Maisy, Molly, Peanut, Mocha, Java, and Trixie to name a few.

Share your favorite Rockville dog walking routes, groomers, boarding and shelter services here, in the comments section of this post.

Tis the Season to Give Teacher Presents

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I remember a beautiful beehive honey pot tied in gold ribbon my mother chose for my third grade teacher. I always trusted her to know just what to give my teachers, who were always female and about my mother’s age. I knew figuring out how to select these gifts – Jean Nate body splash, gourmet honey, scarves – was just a small facet of the feminine wisdom my elegant mother would pass along to me one day.

Of course that was 1970 when kids had one teacher on whom to shower such annual holiday affection. Today, my two children have a total of 12 teachers, some of whom they only see once a week. This year, as once again I try to convince my 9 year-old that his teachers would prefer a Starbucks card over a big box of cheap chocolates I confess that neither inherited wisdom nor my pocket book have prepared me to show the appreciation our family feels for these people in my children’s lives.

So far we’re leaning towards Starbucks cards and homemade cookies in an attempt to straddle the useful (but crassly labeled dollar amount) and the heartfelt. Hmm, a tough straddle that cannot compare with the pride I felt walking into school with a beautifully wrapped honey pot – one of my first lessons in the joy of giving, rather than receiving.

How do you handle the teacher gift-giving season? What do you think?

Congratulations Andrea!

>Congratulations to Rockville Central contributor Andrea Jarrell, whose moving essay, “Neighbors Can Be the Strangers Next Door,” appears in today’s Washington Post, where she asks: “[I]f someone is drowning and calls out for help, you save them. But what if they jump in of their own accord with rocks in their pockets? Do you try to save them anyway or just let them slip under quietly?”

Way to go!

Serenity, Sweat and Wish Fulfillment in Rockville

> I admit I’m one of those people who gets a high from exercise. Since grade school running, hiking, dance, aerobics, stepping, biking, pilates, or swimming has factored into my life to lift my spirits and tone my form. But two years ago I found food for my mind, body and soul like nothing I’d ever experienced before — it’s called Bikram Yoga. With studios all over the world, we are fortunate enough to have our very own Rockville studio owned and run by Diana Kang.

On Cloud 9 in Rockville

Anyone who knows me well knows I like to shop. So, needing a lunchtime break from the workday, I decided to check out Cloud 9 — a new clothing store in our very own Rockville Town Center (on Gibbs Street near 5 Guys and Giffords). I was on a mission: a new dress for a business meeting next week.>

Having done my homework I learned the store is part of a Baltimore chain that according to reviewers is a little slice of heaven for your average fashionista. Even though I knew Cloud 9 was likely to be too casual for work I was game to see if maybe a cute tailored shift or Pucci knock-off was among the racks.

Feeling very virtuous (and knowing that weekday parking is nearly impossible) I eschewed my car and walked from home killing two birds with one stone: an errand and some exercise.

If you like Anthropologie, you’ll like Cloud 9 and the prices are a comparative bargain (I didn’t see anything over $100.) Styles are definitely on the young side — perfect for teens, twenties and thirties — but 40- somethings like me will still find party-worthy dresses, special tops — and fabulous accessories. I saw several things I would have been happy to snap up — two handbags ($50 each), a statement-making necklace ($33) and a bangle ($18) — but I need that dress first!

While Cloud 9 did not deliver this time around it is a very welcome addition to the neighborhood. I’m sure I will find myself floating among its racks again and again.