C A P I C O S T I A

COMING SOON TO DC's WILDEST HILL... Penn Branch Community Association COMMUNITY DAY and BLOCK PARTY Inhale the Sevenbeeism. See you there, Brancher! Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.

By Mel Dyer Every year, I see people, online and off, speculating what LGBTQA Pride is - gay Mardi Gras, gay Fourth, gay King Day, gay Memorial Day, gay Valentine's...gay Halloween? It's all that and more. Go to an event, introduce yourself, talk to other humans - see for yourself. Learn. I've been the only Catholic in Anglican mass, the first Afro-American at a bar for Cinco, the only Mexican American at a Nigerian birthday gala...the only str8 pal in the drag bar! PRIDE isn't a UFO. Go to a film festival or parade and meet some people! Introduce yourself. See them. Talk to them. Learn. Live. In the celebrations of many cultures, with social justice struggles, ..great JOY has been purchased with great sacrifices and courage. People are posting the documentary film, STONEWALL FOREVER, all over the web, right now, because so many don't KNOW the history. So, if you haven't seen it, want some perspective, ..see it, right here (below), on YouTube! To the struggling,...

By Edgar Miraculous Dyer Some thoughts on the 'Black Lives Matter' Movement. I think... 'Black lives' will really matter, when I can leave my doors unlocked, at night, ..east of the Anacostia, in DC. Afro-American lives will matter, when I can drop my mother and sister off at an old, run-down shopping center in Southeast Washington and not give their safety a second thought, ..while I run errands. We are the only ones, through what we do with, to and for each other, everyday, who can make our lives truly matter, ..to each other and to the world. Until we realize that we are enough, without dashikis or luxury sports cars or the right handbag - that we've always been enough - nothing else we do will matter... And nothing will change. I believe in GREENWOOD. I believe in group economics. I believe in educating our children to be the next generation of job-creating entrepreneurs, institution-builders, legislators...civic and world leaders. I believe that you can't...

by Edgar Miraculous Dyer BETTY WHITE... Right now, I am just saddened, knowing Betty isn't out there, doing her Betty-thing, anymore, because it was pretty special...genius. For writers and artists, White's courtiers and compatriots, the starry firmament just got a little dimmer. White had a penchant for making characters, who were unassumingly oblivious to their own absurdity...even grotesqueness, ..heart-warming and, sometimes, unforgettable. She has been, over the course of a half-century's work in movies, TV and radio, far more influential on other comediennes and comedic actors - she was certainly one of those - than we will recognize, for a long time. WANDA SYKES, one of them, surely - if Sykes isn't the lost comedy-lovechild of REDD FOXX and Betty White, I don't know who is, and her comedic genius goes, where Foxx, White and Moms Mabley ..went, boldly before it. A comedic mastermind in EVERY era, here's Betty White in 'her' 2020s. (from AARP.com )...

Typically, it's this time of year, when Afro-Americans or black people, living in America, generally speaking, ..are asked if we will be celebrating Kwanzaa, this holiday season. While I don't, ..some of us have welcomed into our Christmas traditions, musings on the Sky Father and King of the White Cloth, Obatala, who, when the world began, ..climbed down from Heaven on a golden chain, into a giant tree, to bring mankind the divine gifts we would need to live and thrive, on Earth. While many West Africans, at home and abroad, honor the King of the White Cloth with more formal traditions, like the festivals coming up in January, the rest of us carry on these traditions, very simply. On Christmas Eve, after the children were put away to sleep, we left some milk and FRIED CHICKEN, near the Christmas tree, ..where, if we've been kind, honest and respectful of our elders, the King will reward us, by covering the WHITE CLOTH beneath our trees, with amazing gifts, ..i n the sam...

From the New York Times "...she had been brought in to try the biggest case of her career: the murder of a Black man on a sunny afternoon by three white men just outside a small city pinned to the South Georgia coastline. Despite the evidence of racism she had at her disposal, Linda Dunikoski, the prosecutor, stunned some legal observers by largely avoiding race during the trial, choosing instead to hew closely to the details of how the three men had chased the Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, through their neighborhood. The risks went beyond her career and a single trial. Failure to convict in a case that many saw as an obvious act of racial violence would reverberate well outside Glynn County, Ga. For some, it would be a referendum on a country that appeared to have made tentative steps last summer toward confronting racism, only to devolve into..." Conviction!  Justice,  for the family of slain jogger,  Ahmaud Arbery !  How did it happen? The restraint of Special Prosecu...

From Eater.com "... The Trump International Hotel will get a new “identity” as a Waldorf Astoria without the Trump name attached...Miami-based investment firm CGI Merchant Group... to take over the hotel’s lease for a reported $375 million..." Trump International Hotel, Washington, D.C. (From Wikipedia) Read the article, here, ..on EATER. Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.

Krystan of the Capitol Hill area has a SERIES of healing, self-empowering and affirming videos (free), ..waiting to be discovered by YOU! They are videos waiting to fill your life with fearlessness, mindfulness, joyful ambition ..and the wealth of LOVE, in all its forms. Browse "Make Love All The Time" and check this space for more life-changing videos, from Krystan, right here, on ... C A P I C O S T I A!

From Washington, DC's Naylor-Dupont district - Capicostia - proudly East o'the River, ..to America's great Men and Women in Uniform, past and present...God bless you for all you have sacrificed to fight for our beloved country, on this VETERAN'S DAY, 2021... The Airmen of America's Fighting 332nd, in a briefing, in 1945 - World War II - Capicostia honors, and is honored by,  ..YOU!  Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.

©  Mel Dyer 2013 I think First Mondingo is probably equal parts Phantom, Black Panther and Batman ...a kooky, right-leaning allegory for what I'll call Greenwoodism, and that's visually reflected in his costume's colors. 1st Mondingo Bank will always 'look like' it's burning - that's non-negotiable - but, not because some racist psychopaths set it, afire. Too woke, for Halloween? Too Booker T. to be woke? Probably. Ha! Happy Allhallows, anyway! Edgar Miraculous (Mel) Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.

From MSNBC, on YouTube "When are we going to have the guts to finally level the playing field for working people and take on China?" Rep. Tim Ryan (D) of Ohio Just heard the singular BEST pitch and justification for President Joe Biden 's Build Back Better agenda--how it empowers, uplifts the American working-middle and rallies Co America to action, ..and Ryan only scratched the surface. My God...a Hill Dem, who sounds, like a MAN and knows what the hell he's talking about? Rallying! Urgent! Forcefully masculine! Why do so many Dems sound, alternately like Southern Baptist ministers or whisper-mumbly NPR Sunday talk-show hosts? ["You're listening to Liberal, Postwar, New Age, Himalyan Basket-weaving, ..with Journeyman Hushmeyer...Tamer Goodwoodsman..."] Who's telling our politicians to do this, with America so culturally divided and looking for inspiring leadership? Yes, it may be entirely superficial, but, I'm totally down, with the Ryan tone. ...

From Newsweek, on MSN.com "...Almost immediately, two large rats can be seen scurrying from one side of the kitchen floor to the other - but it gets worse. Two more are witnessed running across the floor while at least six can be seen climbing a cable on the restaurant kitchen's wall up into a visible cavity in the ceiling. At one point the man bangs his hand against the stainless steel work counter, prompting yet more rats to go dashing in every direction. The video then cuts back to the man, who asks viewers: "You still love that chicken from Pop..." Not all of us East o'the River types go to Popeyes, just for the chicken, ..apparently. I'm just saying. People tell me things. From the Capicostia Desk: We East o'the River folks have seen this movie, before. Eighth Street, from the Eastern Market Metrorail on Pennsylvania Avenue, all the way down to the Marine Barracks, ..is quite literally lined, with restaurants. Do you really think the bloody  Popeyes...

From MSN.com "...On a normal day, “The Awakening” statue depicts a giant struggling to break free from the earth.  The figure appeared to be fighting to escape the rising tides...If this ain’t a sign of the times, what is?... The statue, which includes 5 pieces that stand up to 17 feet tall, was first installed in the D.C. area in 1980, then moved to National Harbor in 2008, according to the Smithso..." What do you think the NEW reflecting pool, at National Harbor, is reflecting ..about us? Read the full story, here, ..on MSN.

From MSN.com "...The statement described some of the alleged murders in horrifying detail, saying Wanjala “squeezed dear life out of the innocent children.” In one case, where the victim was identified as 12-year-old Purity Maweu, police wrote: “The young girl was kidnapped from Kiima Kimwe in Machakos and her blood sucked by the killer, before being left for dead.” Authorities said that Wanjala’s victims, all aged between 12 and 13 years old, were “stupefied using a white substance in powder and liquid form, which [they] were either forced to drink or sprayed with before being executed.” The statement also claimed that Wanjala informed detectives that he “derived a lot of pleasure from..."  Jamie Ross for  The Daily Beast Read the full story, here, ..on MSN .

By Edgar Miraculous Dyer Capitol Hill + Anacostia = Capicostia?! In the past, I've described living here, in Southeast's Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor (region between historic Anacostia and Capitol Hill -  Penn Branch, Fairfax Village, Greenway, Westover, Twining, Hillcrest, the Randall Highlands, etc) , ..as feeling different, than living in other parts of Wards Seven and Eight - known here, as 'East o'the River'. The snootiest (most bougzey)  of us express feeling unfairly characterized, as less intellectually sophisticated and less cultured (appreciative of history and the arts), than our Capitol Hill neighbors. Others, less pretentious, like myself, understand that we have shared the same civic struggles, as have bordering neighborhoods, whose crime and drug problems regularly dominate local newcasts. However, ..we also feel that Downtown (DC Government) and the Media unfairly lumps us in, with those troubled communities. There is a  culture-angst  in the air, h...

by Edgar Miraculous Dyer Ward Seven and the Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor (region between Capitol Hill and Anacostia) needs an off-ramp, from 295 South onto East Capitol Street - East. Presently, folks travelling on 295 South, heading (or returning) to our Corridor neighborhoods, have TWO wasteful, environmentally destructive options. One: get off 295 and take pothole-ridden East Capitol, over the Anacostia River, a mile around RFK Stadium and  back over the river, to get to a tiny loop that spits you out, a block from Minnesota Avenue, ..in Fort Dupont. The other: stay on 295 South and ride it [God help you, in rush hour traffic!], all the way, nearly two, potholey miles,  ..down to Pennsylvania Ave. The resulting air pollution, clutter of traffic, wasted time, commuter stress and wear and tear on East Capitol Street (East and West) and that mile-plus on 295 South ..is utterly ridiculous. It's an environmentally wasteful, mile-plus haul on 295, from East Capitol Sou...

by Edgar Miraculous Dyer A woman was murdered, in front of  Planet Fitness, on the lower level of the Southeast Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor' s newly renovated Penn Branch Center. This happened, right here, in Seven Bee. It happened, right here, in what the people, Downtown, call our Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor. This happened, in our home. Shouldn't that mean something to us? Penn Branch...heart of Southeast's Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor. Nikeisha Thomas was killed, on the lower level. Someone looked at our calm, tree-lined streets - our newly, renovated Penn Branch Center - and felt safe, as we all have, ..for a while. Filled with hope for better health and new possibilities for herself, someone was inspired to join our Planet Fitness, on the lower level of Penn Branch Center. I think about that, about how safe and assured we all feel, here, in Penn Branch, most of the time, ..and I feel connected to her, in some small way... Like a neighbor. That doesn't make mu...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wendy-s-at-center-of-dc-s-dave-thomas-circle-to-close-tuesday-mayor/ar-AAOBNuK?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

by Mel Dyer "Great coffee, delicious food..." That is the slogan for The Highlands, an Ethiopian-owned café, - a coffeehouse AND restaurant, stylishly smooshed together - slated to open, this summer, in River East's best neighborhood, ..my own Penn Branch. Penn Branch and surrounding ANC Seven Bee presently has no full-service restaurants, coffeehouses or gathering places of any sort for its middle, upper middle and working class residents - no place to celebrate a little league softball victory, a graduation ..or a promotion. When the urge to  power-gab overwhelms us, clusters of Branchers drift into the middle of our quiet, tree-lined streets. Sometimes, we lean into each others' cars, while we are, out there. We obstruct afternoon strolls, with chatty clots, along our sidewalks. We hobble into each others' homes, ..crippled by the strain of standing in a driveway, for HOURS, having deprived our legs of healthy circulati...

"Alone, before a pack of wild, hungry dogs...", take their measure, stand your ground ..and, if you are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rip up a State of the Union speech.