Tonight is Joni Mitchell‘s Gershwin Prize concert at DAR Constitution Hall. The Gershwin Prize is presented each year by the Library of Congress to a living person who has made lasting contributions to popular music. The concert is free, but most tickets go to VIPs. So the audience features Supreme Court justices, members of Congress,Continue reading “Joni Mitchell and Friends in Concert Tonight”
Category Archives: Politics/Government/Current Events
Dreams of Italy
I am going back to Italy. I recently read a series of memoirs by an Irish writer named Rosie Meleady, about buying a decrepit villa in Umbria and moving her family there to fix it up and run a wedding planning business. As I read, I kept thinking this was a writer I would loveContinue reading “Dreams of Italy”
Another Sexist Troll
Just when I thought it was safe to go back on Facebook…. Some guy told me this week that men are better than women at art, cooking, engineering, architecture, and sports. But he says it’s good for women to have “their own space” where they can dabble in such interests without getting in the wayContinue reading “Another Sexist Troll”
52 Ancestors, Week 8: I Can Identify
It’s Week 8 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, created by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. And for this week, the theme is I Can Identify. I have a story about identifying my grandfather’s face in a newspaper photo. I was doing some research on John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, and came across aContinue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 8: I Can Identify”
My Grandfather and the President
I just realized that today is the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who was shot in Dallas, Texas, on 22 November 1963. I’m not old enough to have any memories of that day. But my grandfather knew JFK; he was treasurer of his presidential campaign for the state of Pennsylvania. ResearchingContinue reading “My Grandfather and the President”
How Many More?
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the shooting this week on the campus of my undergraduate alma mater, the University of Virginia. A student who was on the football team for a short time his freshman year shot and killed three students currently on the team, and injured two other students, one ofContinue reading “How Many More?”
Election Day Hypocrites
Inarticulate and hypocritical GOP idiots hung these signs on an overpass over the Capital Beltway today. Disgusting. And these are the people who want to ban from school libraries books that they say are vulgar?
Throwback Thursday: My Mother, the Pinup Girl
I mentioned recently that my mother let me borrow a lot of old photos from her side of the family, so I could scan them all. This one is a treasure. This is my mother, back when she was a pinup girl. A newspaper on an Air Force base published her picture one month asContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: My Mother, the Pinup Girl”
We Voted. Have You?
We voted this week! Early voting has been open in Virginia since September 23, but I was holding off until this week, because I knew my son would be home for Fall Break and wanted us to vote together. If you haven’t voted yet, or are waiting until November 8, it’s not too early toContinue reading “We Voted. Have You?”
Throwback Thursday: Playing Soldier
I am still working on scanning all of the old family photos my father and stepmother passed on to me this summer. This is one of my favorites. This photo shows my father’s family, and was almost certainly taken in Pennsylvania, where they lived — most likely in 1944, judging from the apparent age ofContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Playing Soldier”
The Petrini Page 