Wake to Washington

Too Hot? No Sweat! Fall Leagues Are Here

Registration for fall leagues is open TODAY. DC Fray is here to make fun possible for you, your crew, and your work fam. Sign up, we know you’re ready to play.

Who knew the Smithsonian even had enemies?

The National Portrait Gallery may have taken a hard pass on exhibiting artist Julian Raven’s giant mural of Trump, but that doesn't mean he’s going to go quietly. Raven’s bizarre three-year crusade against the museum and its director escalated from fiery letters to a federal lawsuit doubling as a political manifesto—all to give this strange-ass painting a home. 

DC Jail Book Club gets televised

The Free Minds Book Club gathered yesterday to read and discuss “The Things They Carried” with DC Jail inmates, and CSPAN recorded the meeting. Writer Clint Smith was part of this week’s visiting group, and you can get involved, too: The Book Club also hosts a weekly writing workshop.

Vroom vroom motherfucker

Twas only a matter of time—shared mopeds are coming to DC. DDOT announced a four-month pilot program with a fleet of up to 400 vehicles (rollout timeline TBD). The mopeds would be capped at 30mph and require riders to wear a helmet and possess a valid driver’s license. 

Paging Nurse Ratched

A new report alleges severe abuse of patients by staff at St. Elizabeth's, the District's oldest (and only) public psychiatric hospital. Disability rights advocates want an investigation into the hospital’s frequent use of "last resort" methods like violent restraint and seclusion; such incidents increased dramatically in the past few years, particularly after the Dept. of Justice stepped back oversight in 2014. 

Also || Dulles Silver Line ETA July 2020, we have more rats than Baltimore does, from Deaf Republic: “silence is an invention of the hearing”, Silver Spring demos “protected intersection”, Nats add Asdrubal Cabrera

Vacation-themed sing-along at DC9

If you close your eyes and belt lyrics loud enough about the top-down, wind in your hair, sunsets, lakes, and other vacation imagery, you just might forget you’re with a crowd of people on the second floor of DC9. Or maybe not. No harm in trying tho, right? (7:30pm)

Walk the streets of Moscow

If you’re looking to disavow your trashy Netflix queue for the night and watch something foreign and artsy, go see the classic Russian romcom, Walking the Streets of Moscow, at Suns! Criterion Collection ain’t got nothin on you. (8pm)

Playwriting workshop at The National Portrait Gallery

An early morning in Chinatown focused on theatre, specifically dialogue, the main way that most plays tell their stories. It is one of many writing “Strike a Prose” workshops the Smithsonian is hosting over the next two weeks. You’ll have to show up right at 9:45am because it’s before hours at the gallery. (9:45am-12pm)

Reminders from the Weekly Scheduler

• The annual Night Out for Safety and Liberation is all about reimagining what safety means for our community that’s been going on nationwide since 2013, partly as a response to the murder of Trayvon Martin. Childcare, ASL interpretation and food will be provided. (5-9pm)

• Every Tuesday, you can head to the Josephine Butler center and learn to triple-step, triple-step, rock-step. Come for a free class, stay for the social dance. (8pm)

Also || Eat Pray Love outdoors | people’s choir: vacation | data & education | landscape design | Immigrant Artist Appreciation Happy Hour | 21 savage | social anxiety & networking