Orange Line: Court House (Farmers Market)

An orange line treat: the Arlington Farmers Market. I've been going every Saturday morning since early February and this is the first new-to-me crop: Brussels sprouts!

This afternoon, I'll reference the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook and will let you know how they turn out. And later on today, I've roped Eric into watching Ingredients, a documentary about the slow food movement in America.

My idea of a good weekend.

Orange Line: Foggy Bottom (Kennedy Center)

A week or so ago, while on Florida furlough, I attended the symphony with my mom and dad. It wasn't until today that I realized it would make a good "orange line" post. All you have to do is take the orange line to Foggy Bottom and then catch the free shuttle bus to the Kennedy Center. This pic was taken before the performance began, even before the lights went down, but I was chastised for having a camera and had to pocket my iPhone. All in all, it was a very lovely evening.

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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2700 F Street, NW

Washington, DC 20566

Orange Line: Smithsonian (Holocaust Museum)

Today Eric, his daughter, and I went to the Holocaust Museum. It's been open for a while but I have neglected going, in part because I was afraid it would be too disturbing. While there are moments when you hold your breath inside one of the rail cars, smelling the cedar, and not being able to comprehend what it must have been like standing there with a group of people on your way to a concentration camp, overall the exhibit was a celebration of those people who lived and suffered, some surviving and others not.

There is a three-story enclave filled with photographs of people in happier moments and a lower wall dedicated to non-Jews who risked their lives to help others emigrate or hide during the war. When you first enter the museum you are given an Identification Card, a small booklet with the story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust. Each card is different and the transaction immediately makes the visit more personal. Here is Sophie's story:

Name: Sophie Weisz

Date of Birth: February 23, 1927

Place of Birth: Valea-lui-Minhai, Romania

Sophie was born to a prosperous Jewish family in a village near the Hungarian border known for its winemaking and carriage wheel industries. The village had many Jewish merchants. Her father owned a lumber yard. Sophie loved to dance in the large living room of their home as her older sister, Agnes, played the piano.

1933-39: My father believed in a Jewish homeland and sent money to Palestine to plant trees and establish settlements there. When I was 10, I was sent to a school in nearby Ordea because our village had only elementary schools. I missed my family, but studied hard, and swam and ice skated for fun. Though we heard about the roundups of Jews after the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, we felt safe in Romania.

1940-44: Hungary annexed our region in 1940; by mid-1941 they'd joined the German forces. We were forced into the Ordea ghetto in May 1944, and then deported to Auschwitz. In August my mother, sister, and I were moved hundreds of miles north to Stuffhof on the Baltic coast for forced labor. The prisoners were asked to entertain the German soldiers at Christmas; I danced to the music of the ballet Coppelia in a costume fashioned from guaze and paper. I earned extra food for this, and shared it with my sister Agnes.

Sophie and her sister escaped while on a forced march in February 1945. Her mother and father perished in the camps. In February 1949 Sophie emigrated to the United States.

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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW

Washington, DC 20024

Within walking distance of the orange line's Smithsonian stop. For more stories, click on the personal histories link above.

Orange Line: Ballston (Home Base)

A year ago tomorrow, I went to closing and shortly thereafter moved from my Washington, DC studio apartment into a small one-bedroom condo in Arlington, Virginia. I made the decision to buy in Ballston for a number of reasons with cost and proximity to public transportation being the most important considerations, and only then did I look around to see what the area might have to offer me.

After living in Adams Morgan, a true urban neighborhood with gunshots and everything, Ballston seemed a little slow and uneventful. I was bored out of my mind, quite frankly. I had plans to visit the Washington Capitals Ice Rink directly across the street from me, both to skate and watch the players practice, but have yet to do anything more than pick up a schedule. And the Ellipse Arts Center, just around the corner, suddenly closed right when I set out to see their Crossing Glances photo exhibit.

While I miss the vibrancy of Adams Morgan, I have adjusted to my new life all the same. I’ve been sailing and camping, and will go kayaking for the first time this holiday weekend. I have a great boyfriend, a relationship that might not have worked out as easily had I continued to live in the city (no parking, you understand), and just this week, for the first time, I went to Ballston’s big 12-screen movie theatre at the Mall. I’ve even found a nail salon I like. While I don’t see myself living in Ballston forever, for now, I’m doing just fine. See links for recommendations.

Orange Line: Farragut West (Corcoran College of Art + Design)

posting this photo early in the hopes I can get over the hair and not be all distracted tonight when I listen to Stanley Hainsworth speak at the Corcoran.

... A friend of mine recently asked me if I prefer IFC film or Hollywood movies. My response, which unfortunately bordered on the dissertation length, said the following:

"Hollywood movies are just too formulaic, and exist just to feed the big hollywood machine ... they have to have the big set, the big costumes, the extra-special effects so everyone gets paid ... the music rises just at the right moment so everyone feels what they are supposed to feel and then they push us all out into the street and no one really thinks about what they were just told."

Insert the word SOLD for told and you have my summary of tonight's lecture. Stanley Hainsworth is the equivalent of Hollywood in the design world. Will it affect my emotional connection with Starbucks? Not one bit. What do I take back to the office tomorrow? I need to figure out this step in the process called a brief.

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Corcoran College of Art + Design

500 Seventeenth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Within walking distance of the orange line's Farragut West stop.

Orange Line: Smithsonian (National Gallery of Art)

I've done a lot of off-line whining lately about how bored I am out in the suburbs and finally decided today to "pick myself up" and do something about it. In addition to my earlier book challenge, I'm going to blog about the orange line and what this easy-to-access mode of transportation has to offer me (and perhaps you). This afternoon, I'm meeting a friend at the National Gallery of Art to take in a series of Robert Frank photos.

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National Gallery of Art

4th and Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington DC 20565

Within easy walking distance of the orange line's Smithsonian stop. For exhibition information, go here and to buy the companion book, go here.

Post-gallery note: The National Mall doesn't have one spec of grass or gravel left! I guess that's what the feet of two million people will do to a place!