C A P I C O S T I A

WHO'LL LEAD SEVEN BEE INTO THE FUTURE IN 2024? Will it be Candidate For Ward 7 City Council... WENDELL FELDER? http://www.wendellforward7.org Take your Sevenbeeism to the polls on June 4, 2024! See you there! 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.

[Based on thoughts expressed in "To Fight Another Day", published here, 1/30/10] We are  good people , Brancher. In spite of those who would prey upon and destroy us — of those, who cruise our tree-lined hills with jealousy and contempt for the peace our parents and grandparents have worked so hard to give us — we ought to go right on  being  good people. We live in a place, where you can look straight up into the sky on a clear, starry night and see a flurry of golden, shooting stars raining like gold coins from the heavens ..or the International Space Station pass overhead, looking very much like a traveling planet. We live in a place, where our children carelessly play outside, well after nightfall, and summer lovers steal kisses in the shade of dogwood trees, ..bewitched by the fragrance of Concorde grapes on a passing breeze—where old, silver-haired friends look back on harder times from the cool comfort of a brick patio ..and laugh out loud! We live in a truly bless...

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

  "...The move follows months of speculation in the Russian media about whether Putin will attempt to stay in power beyond 2024 without changing the constitution or forming a unified state with friendly neighbor Belarus. Critics have suggested he is considering various options to remain at the helm, including by shifting power to parliament and then assuming an enhanced role as prime minister after he steps down in four years. Another option often mentioned is his heading a state council, a body that Putin said Wednesday he thought should be given more powers under the constitution..."   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-government-resigns-putin-seeks-constitutional-shakeup-n1116176

by Mel Dyer I am not a fan of proposed D.C. statehood, as I do not presently think Wards Seven and Eight are poised to benefit from it, ..but imagine the possibilities for a new River East! Ever wonder what would happen to our River East neighborhoods, if Washington, D.C. became a state...was it Douglass Commonwealth (DC)? Will our eight wards become eight, new  counties?  Will the Advisory Neighborhood Councils, within those eight wards, become distinct and exciting, new  towns? Let's start, right here, ..with Seven Bee.  Presently, we're a cluster of obscure neighborhoods, between historic Anacostia and Capitol Hill, with no unifying culture, civic relevance ..or identity. Imagine us, suddenly, our own municipality, ..just like Washington, DC. What would we call ourselves? 1.  Davistown, DC - taken from historic Fort Davis 2. Hillcrest  City , DC  - named for historic first neighborhood of ANC-7B 3....

by Mel Dyer Time-travel! Of all the great super-powers I can dream of waking up with, THAT is the one that I would find most useful, ..for awhile. If only I could turn back time... If I could turn back time, every time I was about to eat something sweet, buttery, fried or fatty, ..I would just pop myself back there and knock it out of my pudgy, little hands! If only I could go back in time ..and avert the cosmic disaster of my ever becoming  fat. Seriously, ..no slice of cheesecake (my favorite), pile of Doritos, cup of coffee (my second religion), steak, ribs, Mama's spaghetti, Daddy's Dungeness crabs, a pizza, an enchilada, soul food (ALL of it) - none of it is worth the crapload of misery that comes from touching these things. I would send every morsel back to the kitchens. If you're feeding your kids this stuff, before they even know what a good life, in a fit, attractive body, has to offer them, may God have mercy on your souls... Especially, if you're f...

by Mel Dyer A 'Capicostia' blog?  Again? Kinda trying this on. Feeling it out. Capitol Hill + Anacostia = Capicostia?! I think River East needs a blog that speaks to the frustration and quiet hysteria of what it's like to live here, but, sometimes, feel some small part of you might belong on the other side of the river, ..where political intrigue and urbanity slink down the sidewalks, stopping for the occasional latte or imported beer. Mmmm...I'll cop to the angst. Even if you won't. There's something about living here, ..in Penn Branch, Fairfax Village, Pope Branch, Dupont Park, Twining, Hillcrest, the Randall Highlands and probably Fairlawn, too, ..that's different than living in other parts of River East, and the culture-angst is something only we can understand. When you think about it the only thing separating us from Capitol Hill and everything the Hill represents--sophistication, culture, history, relevance, style--is a stupid bridge and ...

  There's a reason Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, newly born son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, won't properly be 'His Royal Highness', ..and it's got nothing to do with his mother being a commoner or a biracial African American woman. And so long as he's 'Prince Archie' to you and your aunties, ..does it matter?   What does any of this have to do with living, between bloody Capitol Hill and Anagoddam'costia? Absolutely nothing. TownAndCountryMag.com breaks it all down for us, here. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a27421887/archie-harrison-mountbatten-windsor-title-prince-charles-king/

by Mel Dyer Just finished browsing  DCLofts.com  and found one--ONE--converted loft property in Southeast, on Capitol Hill (of course) called the  Bryan School Lofts , ..which are all  sold out .  The Bryan School  was done by award-winning  Abdo Builders , and probably cost a vital organ AND a limb to own. Frankly, they are a little too polished for my tastes--scrubbed of all the rugged, Industrial Era charm that ought to be evident in converting an old school, garage, trolley car barn or factory into functional living space. These Abdo lofts look like the  Sex In The City  ladies hang out there. They're sissy lofts, and I hate'm. Lofts used to be the large, unattractive, slate gray ruins of an obsolete industrial era that no style-conscious yuppy would be caught dead in. In the 1950's, lofts were places, where a  large , lower income, working class or struggling immigrant family could stake a claim in the steamy, jazz-scored urban e...

It's really small, not very informative ..and boring. Like Naylor Dupont ...sometimes. Have a look.

For the people...is it, really? [Photo from the the51st.org] by Mel Dyer I have very good reasons, being a resident of Ward 7 and ANC-7B, both in River East, to oppose DC statehood.  I'll try to state them, as plainly as possible, here. Ward 7 simply isn't ready to be a city/county.  Nor is ANC-7B. Neither have the commercial development or subsequent REVENUE to build strong enough economies to successfully sustain a city or county--to support public works, police, EMS, good schools and to attract subsequently necessary growth.  I see people Downtown, some from Wards 7 and 8, raving about DC statehood, and I continue to ask them how it would benefit Seven Bee and the rest of River East--no answer.  So long as we, east of the Anacostia, have no means of creating industry, DC statehood remains something for affluent people in thriving neighborhoods, like Capitol Hill, NoMa or Georgetown, .. west of the River. There must be s...

  Surprised and delighted to find live music and cafe life, just past the D.C. state line and sitting next to an art gallery, in Mount Rainier, Maryland. Seriously. I am not imagining this. When I recently learned that the  Urban Eats Arts and Music Cafe has just celebrated two years in business, at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue (Mount Rainier, MD), ..I was thrilled! As I'm always looking for places like this, away from the bustle of Downtown Washington and Capitol Hill, and rarely finding them, ..clearly, I have been missing out. There's a cafe area, with charming, little tables for two or three, and a couple of larger, roadhouse tables for small meetings, over coffee. There's the prerequisite, cozy, little lounge area - a coffeehouse standard - with cushy sofas and loveseats, ..where a good buddy of mine reads his comics, while locals soak up the FREE WI-FI on their laptops. The lounge area gives you a fro...

By Mel Dyer Yes! Penn Branch has an urban legend. That of the Big Bird Witch  or Hawk-woman, who haunts our wild, emerald hills... If you're over 35 and grew up in the Southeast D.C. neighborhood, Penn Branch, in the mid-1960s, ..you've probably seen or heard of this creature, at one time in your life. You probably thought you were imagining things ..or that it was just crazy-talk. You may have even heard that it had a woman's head and white, bulging eyes, ..or that it was a witch. While I don't believe that part, I've seen the creature that might have inspired this urban legend, with my own disbelieving eyes, ..perched menacingly on a rooftop, at Carpenter Street and Highwood Drive! ...One neighbor recently told me that this thing, ..which she described as a witch in black feathers, with a chalk-white face and large, staring eyes, ..glided over a backyard family gathering, back in the mid-70s, and scared the hell out of their guests! An electrician, who no ...

CAPICOSTIA HEAT is a video series that will take you straight to the streets of Washington, D.C.'s historic Naylor Dupont district, to talk to the people, who live here. I've just finished editing 'Part One' of a brief video tour of Seven Bee, shot way back in 2012. Covering Dupont Park, Fort Davis, Fairfax Village, Hillcrest, Naylor Gardens and Fairlawn, it is one of the most comprehensive looks at our River East neighborhoods that you will find, ..and here it is.  

 

  I just saw, for the second time, the most facinating and INSPIRATIONAL film on LINK TV, ..and it is ALAMAR, by Mexican filmmaker, Pedro González-Rubio! In the film, we a fisherman raising his son, on and beside the ocean. We see a father, who involves his child in the immediately relevant work and economy of their family, ..giving his son a TRUE sense of self-esteem, ..in ways an endless string of meaningless, irrelevant, organized activities (Ancient Tibetan basket-weaving, hip-hop yoga, Israelli bagel-painting, etc) NEVER could.  We see a father, who plays in the natural world with his son ..and a child, who never stops being excited about learning. We see a child, who knows his place..and, trusting that it is a cherished, loving and protected place, has no need to constantly and wastefully question and challenge authority, ..growing up without the subsequent uncertainty, insecurity and life-crippling anxiety that so many of our American kids are experien...

Union Square at 941 North Capitol Street, NE, currently hosts the Office of Tax and Revenue Customer Service Center (photo from Wikimedia Commons) Since the early 1960s, the once bright and modern shops of  Penn Branch Center - bank, drugstore, barber shop, liquor store - have sat at the corner of Pennsylvania and Branch Avenues, in the Capitol Hill area of Southeast Washington, DC. My once very strong desire to see them renovated into a small 'town center', with condos, has ..evolved. There was a time, when I could imagine a new shopping complex resembling newly renovated Fox Chase in Alexandria, Virginia, ..and I still can, truthfully. Though, I am not sure that would best serve Penn Branch and surrounding areas. I simply do not think that, with new developments on the horizon, like Capital Gateway (also in Ward Seven), promising to fatten the city's coffers with more annual revenue than Penn Branch can presently generate, that having a...

By Mel Dyer All of the speculation about Skyland Town Centre is very exciting. For those of us, who remember when Skyland gave us a movie theatre, a Sears & Roebuck  department store, a Safeway AND a Giant, a drugstore, a gentlemen's club, Discount Mart, Gussini Shoes, Blockbuster, law offices, a  diner ...[Sigh] it's especially exciting, because we remember when Skyland was our commercial center! Trust me, ..the excitement and the optimism is justified. Should this new Skyland be Seven Bee's town center again, and is that neighborhood, ready? Can it be? Here are some selections from our latest poll... 1) The new Skyland should be 7B's town center, and the neighborhood is ready.   2) The new Skyland should be 7B's town center, but, the neighborhood is NOT ready.   3) The new Skyland should NOT be 7B's town center, and the neighborhood is NOT ready!   4) We sheeple of 7B don't need a 'town center' and should continue t...

  The new name of the blog may be Naylor Dupont, but, the spirit's still pure, unadulterated 'CAPICOSTIA', ..and the same  optimism that got us through the worst of times, into these great neighborhoods,  still keeps us flying. We will never forget it.

The Santorini Islands, rumored to be lost Atlantis. I looked EVERY-where! [Wikipedia.org] Since re-focusing this blog, about a month ago, I've been desperately searching for two things: the lost continent of Atlantis ..and the Naylor Dupont Advisory Neighborhood Commission 's official website. Neither has proved easy to find; so, this afternoon, I did some digging on ANCFinder.org and made some phone calls about it. I found out that Seven Bee has a new website, and, like Atlantis... It's not in Anacostia . Can you tell I am really sick of West Bankers calling us 'Anacostia'? Is that showing, just a little, tiny bit? I sure as hell,  hope so. Anyway, ..have a look.