Urban Parenting

Passion or Passing Phase

Figuring out when to take an activity to the next level

Claire was four when she first asked for ballet lessons. She, like many other little 4-year-old girls, loved to dress up and pirouette around the house. She would watch Angelina Ballerina and try to stand on the very tips of her toes, as if she was on pointe. After she asked, I researched some options and settled on a program at a D.C. Rec Center. I wanted something laid back that wasn't too expensive in case she didn't really like it and it seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I took her once a week, with her other siblings in tow. At times, it required a lot of prodding to get her to go. The class was more of a movement class with a little bit of ballet thrown in. She had fun while she was in class but otherwise complained. After finishing …

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Urban Parenting

Keeping It Simple

Just visit the local library and let a kid be a kid!

A few months ago, I received a pamphlet from a nearby school. It was for a Toddler Summer Camp. I had been thinking about this particular school for my two-year-old so I thought this might be a viable option. She could go to their two week summer camp and we could "test the waters" for this school. I looked at the curriculum (well, as much of a curriculum as a two year old can have anyway!) and it seemed pretty cool. Then, I looked at the price. It's a two-week (10 day) camp from 9 to 11:45 a.m. and it's $600! Really?? $600 for 10 days?? And not even three hours a day? Believe it or not, I actually considered it. I asked a few moms and they told me this was not an unreasonable price for a DC summer camp. I figured if she absolutely hated …

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RG3 Era Begins With Confusing Quarterback Pick

The Redskins used a valued selection on a luxury item and inadvertently opened the door to a potentially awkward training camp.

Addressing the receiving corps in free agency and drafting multiple guards count as positive steps in the new Robert Griffin III (RG3) era. Passing on a needed tackle, running back or safety in the fourth round for another quarterback – Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins - in RG3’s first season does not. From the moment the Washington Redskins shipped three first-round picks plus a second-round selection to the St. Louis Rams last month, the plan should have been — and in the eyes of the staff, presumably is — to maximize their new asset’s potential. I am stumped how adding another passer does that. As always, team comes first and smart organizations draft talent over need, but within reason. In this case, special consideration should have gone…

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URBAN PARENTING: Books to Remember

Stories I have remembered to forget!

My daughter is certainly old enough to read on her own now. In fact, she is reading some of the books I read at school like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. She is also reading books that I only read as an adult, like The Invisble Man. But I do remember the days of reading to her. Laying in her narrow bed with the butterfly spread, her warm body draped on me and strands of her hair tickling my check. I knew that reading to my child was supposed to be virtuous, but I did not really understand why until now. I believed her elementary school when they encouraged parents to read to their children for thirty minutes each night. And when they circulated a list of suggested books by age. I took her to the library storytimes. I listened…

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Letter to the Editor: Doctors, Patients Need Not Fear Medical Marijuana

Steph Sherer, executive director for Americans for Safe Access, responds to Patch's recent article, 'D.C. Doctors Not High on Medical Marijuana.'

Dear Editor, Doctors should never prescribe or recommend medications with which they are unfamiliar, so it is a relief to hear that the doctors quoted in your recent article (“D.C. Doctors Not High on Medical Marijuana”) will not be telling their patients to use cannabis. If one of the many physicians who understand the therapeutic properties of cannabis had been consulted, readers might have learned something meaningful instead of being subjected to a litany of myths and misinformation.   For instance, it is becoming increasingly common knowledge that smoking is but one delivery method for cannabis. At the beginning of the 20th century, cannabis medications were commonly manufactured and distributed by US pharmaceutical companies as …

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Urban Parenting

Oh, the Places She'll Go!

How Dr. Seuss inspires generations.

When I was 21 years old, someone gifted me Dr. Seuss’ book Oh, the Places You'll Go! when I graduated from college. I remember reading the following lines: OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights. Those six lines changed me forever. I read them and knew I was starting a new and exciting phase in my life. They pushed me to try something new, take risks and become independent. I thought it was just a kid’s book but it proved to be so much more. Every single word in that book has proven to be true. There are times when you soar and times when you crash. There are times when you make very good decisions and times when you make very bad ones. You …

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To Censor or Not to Censor

Books, Movies, Media and Kids

“Have you done your reading log yet?” I asked Zack after school one day. “No, not yet. I don’t have anything to read.” He had just finished the Harry Potter series and was at a loss for what to start next. “We have a million books in this house,” I said. “Find something to read.” He lazily walked over to the bookshelves and perused for a while. Then, he went down to the basement. About 15 minutes later, he emerged with "The Odyssey," the Robert Fitzgerald translation—not a kid’s version. Flopping down on the couch he said, “I think I’ll start this.” Thinking of Circe and of Sirens, I almost said no, but held my tongue. I remembered slogging through "The Odyssey" in college and figured that he would read the first few pages and get bored. …

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Review: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at Duke Ellington School of the Arts

'Color and sex are insignificant when listening and empathizing with others.'

Confusion, anger, and gunshots cloud the 1992 streets of Los Angeles: mobs breaking into stores, people being brutally beaten, and houses set on fire flash onto the screen of every news channel. Civil unrest is at its worst as violence consumes the city. This is the setting of Duke Ellington School of the Arts’ haunting production of “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.” Originally written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith, the play is a collection of authentic interviews she conducted with victims and witnesses of the tragic L.A. riots of 1992. Nominated for best play at the Tony Awards in 1994, the show’s first hand interviewees come from every race and gender that experienced the uprisings. What makes Duke Ellington’s version of the show so …

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Speak Out: Should the D.C. War Memorial Become the National WWI Memorial?

The D.C. War Memorial is the District's the only local memorial on the National Mall.

The D.C. War Memorial on the National Mall remains at the center of a controversy between those who want it to remain a monument to the District's troops and those who think it should become the national memorial for World War I. Proponents of nationalizing the memorial suggest calling the rededicated structure, the "District of Columbia and National World War I Memorial." The memorial just received a $3.6 million makeover. District leaders, including Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, adamantly oppose the efforts to co-opt the District's only local memorial on the National Mall. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Norton said: "The city has come together and unified to strongly oppose any attempt to confiscate a memorial paid for by …

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Letter to the Editor: 'Unacceptable Behavior' from Students Using Boathouses

Patch welcomes letters to the editor. Email letters to shaun@patch.com. We reserve the right to edit for accuracy, clarity and brevity.

The following letter was submitted to Georgetown Patch on Saturday. Links and photo added by Patch. Well, I think we need to talk. Yesterday at about 3:30pm, hordes of students were left off by bus on 27th Street and Virginia Avenue, NW. I live in the neighborhood and was taking an afternoon walk in the marvelous weather. The sidewalk is quite narrow on that stretch of Virginia Avenue and difficult to allow more than two persons walking side by side. The students, however, bunched and walked in a line of four to six on their way to the Potomac boathouse...unable to let anyone by. Nor did they make any effort to do so. Since I was going in the other direction, I waited for them to see me and then leave me room to pass. They refused to yield…

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