YOU KNOW HIM as Dwight Schrute — that bumbling, plotting, pompous beat farmer with a passion for paper and uptight blondes, but surprisingly versatile actor Rainn Wilson cares about other stuff, too.
This Sunday, he talks about acting and his work on NBC's "The Office," all to benefit a cause much more important than Dunder Mifflin's Web site sales numbers — the Tahirih Justice Center, an organization providing legal service to women fleeing violence.
» George Washington University, Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW; Sun. 2-4 p.m., $35; GW students: $15; 800-551-7328. (Foggy Bottom-GWU)
Written by Express contributor Jason Koebler
TALK ABOUT wrapping yourself in the flag! In "Stars and Stripes," the Luther W. Brady Gallery presents charming and egregious examples of the American standard used as a campaign device throughout history. The flags are on loan from the collection of Mark and Rosalind Shenkman for the political season.
Photo courtesy Luther W. Brady Gallery
IT'S ALWAYS MORE fun to see a hometown band than some out-of-towner, and while Jukebox the Ghost has relocated to Pennsylvania, these three G.W. graduates still have a healthy following here.
They sound ... well, they sound a lot like Ben Folds. It had to be said. But in a good way! Enjoy strong, interesting melodies and lyrics that make sense after the lengthy explanations the band delivers before each song.
» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; 9 p.m., $12; 202-667-7960. (U St.-Cardozo)
GET EXCITED, Y'ALL! It's National Poetry Month! And the National Endowment for the Arts decided the best way to get kids to like poetry was to make them learn it in school. 'Cause kids always love things that are forced on them.
Anyway, through the Poetry Out Loud program, high school students memorize and recite poems by the likes of Langston Hughes, E.E. Cummings and Maya Angelou. Throughout the day on Monday you can see the finalists from every state perform, and at Tuesday's finals the winner gets crowned Top Poetry Reciter. Or something. Plus, the top three get money for college — including $20,000 for the first-place finisher.
It's actually very cool — and let's just say you won't truly appreciate T.S. Eliot's "Preludes" until you've heard it recited by a stentorian, Stanford-bound 17-year-old.
» Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW; Mon., all day, free; Tue., 7 p.m., free; 202-994-6800. (Foggy Bottom)
YOU WOKE UP on Sunday and saw the rain pouring down and thought "Well, I can't go to Earth Day now."
Sure, you were all set for the free concerts, like the one on the Mall — and maybe you were even going to wear this old tie-dye shirt you got that one time from your friend who went to Burning Man, and it was gonna be sweet, man. But the rain. The rain! Mother Earth herself was thwarting you. She couldn't have expected your attendance, not with all that rain.
Well guess what? You are not off the hook. Earth Day is officially today, suckers, and the sun is shining. No excuses. Just think to yourself: What would George Clooney do?
(Answer: he'd buy another hybrid car and sit in it and pretend it's a spaceship and that he is Clark Gable, Space Cowboy. Like he always does. But I digress.)
Anyway, it's Tuesday, and the Earth still needs your love and attention. Wondering what you can do? Here are some ideas.
Continue Reading "They Say It's Your Earth Day: Events Tonight" »
JUST TWO YEARS AGO, the George Washington men's basketball team won the regular season conference title and was a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing to top-seeded Duke in the second round. Last year, the Colonials won the Atlantic-10 tournament and were a No. 11 seed in the big dance. This year, they won't even play in the A-10 tournament.
Saturday night's 67-63 loss to Massachusetts did not have much at stake. GW (9-17, 5-10 A-10) was eliminated from the A-10 tournament for the first time since 1974 when Fordham won just before the Colonials took the court. GW had dropped to 13th in the conference after a loss to Charlotte on March 6, and only the top 12 of 14 teams get a chance at the tournament, which starts Wednesday.
"I'm a little disappointed the season has come to an end," coach Karl Hobbs, the A-10 coach of the year in 2006, said after the last loss. "I'm just starting to reflect on the rebuilding process now."
Continue Reading "Sports Talk: GW's Trying Season Ends Too Early" »
THE CURRENT GROUP of seniors on the George Washington women's basketball team has won 98 games in the last four years and has captured a share of the Atlantic-10 title every season — part of a seven-year streak for the Colonials. But a quick look at their track record shows one glaring hole: an A-10 tournament title.
"We want to win the A-10 tournament title," senior guard Sarah-Jo Lawrence said. "This is our senior year, and we haven't cut down the nets yet. That's what we want to do."
The four seniors — Lawrence, A-10 Player of the Year Kimberly Beck, Whitney Allen and Lora Mitchell — were very close to winning the tournament crown in their freshman and sophomore seasons, falling to Temple in the championship game both years. Last year, the Colonials went undefeated in conference play during the regular season, only to be upset by Saint Joseph's in the tournament semifinals.
Continue Reading "Sports Talk: GW Seniors Look For 1st A-10 Title" »
LOCAL JOURNALIST ELLIE WALTON, after completing documentary film studies abroad in 2005, came home to find a city in transition. A development boom had improved the District economy but had also unleashed a surge of gentrification.
Moved by the shockwaves rippling through the social landscape, Walton was led to tell a D.C. story "beyond the monuments."
"Chocolate City," co-produced with British journalist Sam Wild, focuses on the residents of two Southeast neighborhoods uprooted to make way for new mixed-income housing on behalf of a revitalization plan called HOPE VI.
Continue Reading "D.C. Locals' Long Wait For Hope: 'Chocolate City'" »
THE STORY OF SWASTIKA SCRAWLINGS at George Washington University has a new plot twist.
After university officials barred from campus a student who they said was connected to a series of incidents involving the writing of racial epithets and the drawing of swastikas in residence halls, another student has accepted responsibility for drawing the Nazi symbol on her own dorm room door.
As The Post's Valerie Strauss reports, the unidentified student was caught drawing swastikas on her own door by a hidden camera, which was installed after she complained to university officials when the symbols first appeared. The student in the second case will not face judicial action.
» "Student's Swastika Claim Unravels" [WaPo]
OFFICIALS AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY have banished a student from its campus after a surveillance camera caught the individual scrawling swastika on a residence hall door. Both the university and the FBI have been investigating a series of incidents involving Nazi swastikas and insensitive words discovered on campus.
Says university spokeswoman Tracy Schario in a statement:
The suspect has been barred from campus, will face student judicial action, and a determination will be made as to whether District of Columbia and/or federal laws were violated. In compliance with federal privacy laws the university will not disclose the name of the student.» "GW Student Charged in Swastika on Dorm Door" [WT]Meanwhile, the investigation continues to determine the source or sources of earlier incidents involving the drawing of swastikas on two other residence hall doors. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest any connection between the suspect charged Saturday night and the incidents still under investigation.
» "Statement from The George Washington University Regarding Suspect Caught in Incidents In Which Hateful Words and Emblems Were Posted in One GW Residence Hall" [GWU]
Addison Road