support this play: Capers by Anu Yadav

click the image for a larger view fo the flyer

2006 Mayor's Arts Award Finalist for Outstanding Emerging Artist Anu Yadav's Capers a solo play about forced relocation and the human right to housing.

Pay-What-You-Can Tues & Wed Jan 10, 11 2006 7:30pm
General Admission $10 Jan 12 - Feb 5, 2006 Thurs, Fri, Sat @ 7:30pm, Sun @3pm

Written and performed by Anu Yadav. Based on the housing struggle of Friends and Residents of Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg Directed and developed by Patrick Crowley.

Flashpoint Mead Theater Lab 916 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 (1 blk from the Gallery Place/Chinatown metro). For reservations, contact tickets@caperstheplay.com or 202.315.1340

Weaving together theater, documentary and activism, 'Capers is a one-woman show based on the stories of families at the Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg public housing projects -- also known as 'Capers -- in southeast DC who protested the government-funded relocation and demolition of their neighborhood. Solo performer Anu Yadav portrays nearly a dozen characters in this moving portrait of families struggling to fight for their community and their human right to a place to live. www.caperstheplay.com www.flashpointdc.org 'Capers is produced by Bare Stage Productions, LLC and funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Flashpoint, a Cultural Development Corporation project, is funded in part by the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, Gilbert and Jaylee Mead and the Max & Victoria Dreyfus Foundation.

around my way...

Land Sale Possible To Fund Stadium
Development Could Help Cover Project Overruns

By David Nakamura and Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 28, 2005; B01

District officials are considering selling development rights on land adjacent to a baseball stadium to the Washington Nationals' new owner or development companies as a way to help cover potential cost overruns on the ballpark project, D.C. Council members said yesterday.

The proposal is part of an effort by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) to win more support for a critical stadium lease agreement between the city and Major League Baseball. Council members have expressed concern about the rising costs of the stadium project.

Last week, Williams and council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) delayed a council vote on the lease deal because it lacked enough support among the 13 members. Major League Baseball has threatened to take the city to arbitration if the lease is not finalized by Saturday, although Williams's aides said they believe baseball will allow the administration a few more weeks to try to resolve the deadlock. Click here to read more

around my way...

Barry Acted to Block Stadium
Ex-Mayor Says He Had Been Negotiating Deal

By David Nakamura and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; B01

D.C. Council member Marion Barry accused Mayor Anthony A. Williams yesterday of "fumbling and bumbling" the debate over a new baseball stadium and claimed credit for rallying a majority of the council to block the mayor's ballpark plans.

Barry (D-Ward 8) said he had been negotiating his own deal late last week that would have ensured the council's support of the lease, but that plan fell through after the mayor's office botched it. Barry said, he then recruited a council majority to vote against the ballpark lease agreement. Late Monday, Williams (D) asked the council to postpone the vote.

"I'm standing strong to say whether the vote is tomorrow or whether it is later, there are at least seven of us on the Council who remain strong and will still block this horrible . . . agreement," Barry said in a written statement.

To some on the council, Barry seemed to be exhibiting more leadership than Williams or council Chairman Linda W. Cropp. Still, his involvement in the negotiations appears to have further complicated an already politically perilous campaign to approve the stadium lease agreement. Click here to read more

OMAR & W. Ellington Felton in BKLYN

OMAR
with
W. Ellington Felton
DJ Neil Nice
produced by: Somaya Oveslati
Saturday, December 17
$15 / 9PM
>> buy tickets here

Family Upset Over Soldier's Body Arriving As Freight: War Dead Sent To Families On Commercial Airliners

Family Upset Over Soldier's Body Arriving As Freight
Bodies Sent To Families On Commercial Airliners

Go here to see video comments by the family
http://www.10news.com/news/5504608/detail.html

POSTED: 4:46 pm PST December 9, 2005
UPDATED: 10:19 am PST December 12, 2005
SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.

A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.

Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo. Click here to read more

around my way....

It's All About the Pitch for United
Team Takes Stadium Appeal to SE Residents

By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 12, 2005; B01

The audience of 500 in Ballou Senior High School's auditorium wanted to know one thing from the president of D.C. United: How would a soccer stadium benefit them?

Kevin Payne had prepared for that question, so he had quick answers as he talked about displacement, jobs and contracts, offering assurances that the $1.5 billion project in Southeast Washington would have something for everyone. There would be a hotel, job training center, community soccer fields and housing -- including a percentage for first-time home buyers and preference for local residents. Payne said the project would rival the entertainment district that has sprung up around MCI Center.

"The ball, the sport will bring a stadium," he told the crowd, as he held up a soccer ball, "a stadium that is an integral part of a new neighborhood." Click here to read more