D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier lured by tuition benefits

Washington, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Jan. 15, 2014/Patricia Leslie

Cathy Lanier was a single mom and working as a secretary and a waitress, enjoying her jobs but wanting to go back to school. Once she "got common sense" after her "turbulent" teen years, her mother told her daughter that if she wanted to get ahead, to get an education.  

Chief Lanier took her mama's advice.

Last week at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, D.C.'s popular police chief talked about her past and the changes at the police department for the church's Lafayette Fellowship.  One man said he came from New York City to hear her talk.

Her motives for joining the police force were not totally altruistic, she said, and she didn't think she'd stay too long when she was hired in 1990, but the tuition benefits the department offered were mighty attractive, and she was anxious to get back in school.

Washington, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Jan. 15, 2014/Patricia Leslie

 

Now, a few years later, she has a B.S., two master's degrees, and is a graduate of the FBI's National Academy.

In the department over the years she advanced up the ranks until 2007 when Mayor Adrian Fenty appointed her police chief. She was 39. (Her present five-year contract ends in 2017.)

Speaking "off the cuff" without notes, she paced back and forth in front of the audience of about 100 who sat quietly in the pews and later asked questions. She talked quickly and enthusiastically. It is quite obvious she loves her job.

She spoke proudly of the reduction in the number of homicides in the District which fell 53% between 2008 and 2012. The lowest number of murder cases in recent history was recorded in 2012 (88) after a high of almost 500 a year.

She hated that Washington was known as the murder capital of the world and has tried to inspire the force with "can do" thinking and and show "what we can accomplish" instead of perceptions of what can't be done.

Before she became chief, she was bothered by the department's attitude about murders. Within the ranks some homicides were considered more important than others, but to the chief: "personally, I think they all [murders] are important….every murder really matters," a belief she has fought to instill within the force.

Critical to her are closing old murder cases which are now happening at the rate of 18 to 20 "cold cases" a year, some going back to the 1990s.

The department has been aided by the addition of new technologies and tools, making Washington "the most technically advanced police department in the country," she said. "We've come a long way."

She noted that Washington's nighttime and daytime populations are now about the same. The District is one of the fastest growing cities in America, meaning there's lots more work for law enforcement.

The district force works closely with Homeland Security and Capitol Hill police, in addition to police and troopers in Maryland and Virginia. It's essential to be able to get along well with others and have a positive attitude if you want to achieve common goals, she said.

Since she's on the news so much, seemingly for every major crime story, does she have any free time? Answer: yes, but no hint about what she does with it.

Has she ever considered or been asked to run for public office? Demurely, Chief Lanier said she didn’t think she had the temperament. Some might say she speaks too truthfully and tells it too much like it really is.

When asked for good advice for citizens, she said: "Please don't walk around with your mobile device in your hand. They sell quickly." Property crimes are the vast majority of crimes in the District.

She answered questions about gun control, race v. class divisions within the District, the influx of millennials moving back to the area and how it affects crime, and promoting more women within the police department.

The chief comes from a family of public servants: one brother is a police officer and another brother is a firefighter like her dad was. Her mother acts as consultant for her daughter, dispensing advice. Mothers are always right.

 

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'Urinetown' is a blast at Dominion Stage

Urinetown's Ensemble at Dominion Stage/photo by Jessica Sperlongano

 

It may not be a "happy musical" but it's a daffy musical, a frolicking musical, one which entertains, and whizzes by with precise timing.

It's a comedy tonight!

Chris Christie and the bridge debacle, water problems in West Virginia and now other states, the French president and his three amours, and the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI are just some of the current news stories which come to mind. 

Where there are politicians, can greed, lies, money, and deception lie far behind?  And provide plentiful content to satirize on stage? 

Welcome, scandals!

And what's love got to do with it? Or, the poor? Pity.

"Darling," says Senator Cladwell exquisitely played by Michael Bagwell, to his daughter, Hope (Melissa Berkowitz): "What do you mean by 'love'?" 

If you are like me, you have been intrigued by the title, Urinetown, for a while, but don't let it fool you. It is not all "bathroom humor," as the program states. Far less than I imagined, and children, one as young as six or so, were present at the performance I attended, and laughed as much as the rest of us who love dancing (choreographed by Rikki Howie and Patrick M. Doneghy, also the director) and songs and whimsy and fun and lots of action and n'er a dull moment for your mind to wander. 

I had many "favs" among the large cast of characters (large casts are often more enthralling, don't you think?): Little Sally (Dana Robinson) and Miss Pennywise (Katherine Lipovsky) both exaggerating in exactly the right amounts; certainly, the narrator played by Christopher Guy Thorn, who as Officer Lockstock begins and ends the show with special  messages to the audience in his cop uniform with perfect cop sunglasses and assiduous mannerisms, assisted by the wild and wide-eyed Officer Barrel (Steve Custer).

Another who drew lots of laughs whenever he pranced (he did) on stage was Ian A. Coleman, McQueen, a dashing assistant, among one of his roles.  Several actors shouldered multiple parts.  More applause.

For a non-profit, the acting continues to embellish Washington's reputation as a growing theatre hub. And not a

big fan of musicals, I nonetheless found Urinetown engrossing and amusing.

The singing was fine, and not only will you hear gospel a cappella, but rock and roll trickles in and whiffs from Broadway like Lez Miz, West Side Story (dig that finger popping scene!) and was it my imagination? The Wizard of Oz?

Kevin Diana led a six-piece orchestra to enrich the night's presentation.

My only complaint is the mustache and wig for Old Man Strong (Matt Baughman) are a trifle overdone.  Costumes, lighting, and sets are well designed, and set changes occur in shadowy, silhouetted spaces without noisy accompaniment.

The program says the idea of this farce came from writer Greg Kotis's actual experience in Europe in the late 1990s when he ran out of money which he needed for a public urinal, circumstances which begged him to inquire of others:  "Spare any change?" 

The auditorium at the Gunston seats 426, and there is no reserved seating nor a bad spot in the house, so you have nothing to worry about. If you take children, proximity to the stage is all important, and their pupils may enlarge to match Officer Barrel's.

The remaining cast members: Michael Bigley, Teresa Danskey, Willie Garner, Ian Hoch, Kyle Keene, Lauren Kuhn, Matt Liptak, James Maxted, Larissa Norris, Joelle Thomas, Leslie Walbert, and Erica Wisniewski. The show is produced by Shawn g. Byers and Richard Isaacs. Christine Farrell is the stage manager.

Plot?  You need plot?  Just go, darling, and enjoy.  There is too much to write.  This only won three Tonys?  It must have been a competitive year.

"Yes, WEE can!"

Urinetown is your town is our town is "you are in town?"

What: Dominion Stage's Urinetown: The Musical

When: 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through January 25, 2014

Where:  Gunston Theater One, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206

How much: $20

For more information: 571-377-4697

Language:  G (Oh, there are a couple of "damns.")

 

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Civil War sculpture at the National Gallery of Art trumpets African-Americans' valor

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Shaw Memorial (1900), Jarek Tuszynski/Wikimedia Commons, 2009

It is not the solitary figure on horseback for whom the sculpture at the National Gallery of Art is named that draws the most attention.

It is the figures and faces of the 16 black soldiers who follow and precede him in unison, carrying bayonets on their shoulders, marching on Beacon Street on May 28, 1863 before 20,000 who came to send them off, to fight Confederates hundreds of miles away.

Listen carefully and you can hear the sounds the drummer boy makes as he leads the procession.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Shaw Memorial (1900). The model at the National Gallery of Art is on long-term loan from the National Park Service, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, N.H./Patricia Leslie

The work, called the greatest American sculpture of the 19th century, is well known as the Shaw Memorial, named after the aristocratic white colonel, Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863) who commanded the first black brigade from the North, one of the first groups of black soldiers to fight for the Union Army. 

Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society. From the Natiional Gallery of Art exhibition, Tell It With Pride

Massachusetts' Civil War black community originally objected to the white officer's leadership, however, the goals to defeat slavery and earn full citizenship took precedence.

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment left Boston and sailed for points south. In July about 600 members assisted other Union forces in attacking Fort Wagner, a guardian of Charleston's harbor.

Members of the 54th included sons of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Charles and Lewis, and men from northern states, southern and border states, Canada, and some runaway slaves.

Although they did not win at Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, and half of the 54th Regiment were wounded or killed, along with Lt. Shaw, their heroism and dedication became part of America's legacy, to be brilliantly remembered and portrayed in the masterful bronze made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) which was unveiled at Boston Common on Memorial Day, May 31, 1897 where it stands now.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Shaw Memorial in Boston in a state of disrepair (1973).  From the Natiional Gallery of Art exhibition, Tell It With Pride

The National Gallery's 54th memorial model is gold leaf patinated plaster, modified by Saint-Gaudens after the original was completed, and submitted in 1900 to international competition in Paris where it won the Grand Prize.  The sculptor made changes on the plaster model to soldiers' faces, the horse, and the allegorical figure at the top, commonly perceived as an angel who carries an olive branch and poppies.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the soldiers' bravery, the National Gallery hosts with the sculpture an exhibition through January 20 of photographs, letters, documents and other original material.  Two galleries of information outline the background and the making of the sculpture which took Saint-Gaudens 14 years to finish. When asked what took so long, he said it wasn't the execution of the piece but "the thinking about it," according to the catalogue.

Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863) may have used this sword at the Battle of Antietam where he was wounded.  It and other original materials are on display at the National Gallery of Art through January 20, 2014/Patricia Leslie

The name of the exhibition: Tell It With Pride comes from an anonymous July 31, 1863 letter to Col. Shaw's parents conveying the horrible news of their son's death in battle: "The black soldiers marched side by side with their white comrades in arms to the assault.  (Tell it with pride to the world.)"

Rather than having only their son captured in art, the Shaws wanted the sculptor to express the mission of white and black soldiers together, all heroes united in their dedication to the cause.

The sculpture includes a Latin inscription, suggested by Lt. Shaw's father:  OMNIA RELINQVIT SERVARE REMPVBLICAM, variously interpreted as "He relinquished everything to save the Republic," "He left behind everything to save the Republic," and "He forsook all to preserve the public weal."

The same year the memorial won the Grand Prize in Paris, Sergeant William H. Carney, a Norfolk, Virginia native and member of the 54th, was honored as the first African American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, 37 years after Ft. Wagner.

Sergeant William H. Carney, c. 1901-1908,  the first African American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Photo by James E. Reed, American, 1864-1939, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

Carl Cruz, the great-great-great nephew of Sergeant William H. Carney, with a photograph of Sgt. Carney, the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor.  Mr. Cruz said he and his siblings often played with the medal as children, not knowing its significance.  Another relative got Sgt. Carney's uniform, now "lost to the ages," Mr. Cruz said/Patricia Leslie

Instead of the elaborate ceremonies with the president in the White House which honor Medal of Honor recipients today, Sergeant Carney received his medal in the mail. 

Although severely wounded at Ft. Wagner, he managed to carry the flag upright throughout the conflict:  "Boys, I did but my duty; the dear old flag never touched the ground."

 The sculpture and event have been the subjects of articles and books, a movie (Glory), a song, and poems by many, including Robert Lowell and Paul Laurence Dunbar*, the first African American to gain fame as a poet and for whom Washington's Dunbar High School is named.

As a youngster growing up in the century after the conflict, Marine Lieutenant Timothy Fallon remembered the movie and the sculpture he saw with his family on a visit to the National Gallery of Art.  In 2011 with special Gallery permission and in a private showing with members of his family present, Lt. Fallon was permitted to touch the sculpture and recall its magnificence.  Blinded by an explosion in  Afghanistan,  he can no longer see it in person. Afterwards, Lt. Fallon wrote:

This piece should kindle pride in any officer who has led men into battle….The Shaw Memorial depicts only one officer, and the rest of the figures are the men who must do the majority of the fighting, bleeding, and dying….It has been 150 years since the Civil War, but this memorial to freedom fighters and the man who led them is as relevant today as it might have been the morning after the failed but determined  assault on Fort Wagner.

Assisted by survivors of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the Union attempt at Ft. Wagner was eventually successful.

*Robert Gould Shaw  published 1903 by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Why was it that the thunder voice of Fate
Should call thee, studious, from the classic groves,
Where calm-eyed Pallas with still footsteps roves,
And charge thee seek the turmoil of the State?
What bade thee hear the voice and rise elate,
Leave home and kindred and thy spicy loaves,
To lead th' unlettered and despised droves
To manhood's home and thunder at the gate?

Far better the slow blaze of Learning's light,
The cool and quiet of her dearer fane,
Than this hot terror of a hopeless fight,
This cold endurance of the final pain,-
Since thou and those who with thee died for right
Have died, the Present teaches, but in vain!

Tell It With Pride is organized by the National Gallery of Art and will be on view at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, a major lender for the exhibition, from February 21 – May 23, 2014.

The people of the United States are grateful to GRoW of the Annenberg Foundation and the Trellis Fund for making the exhibition possible. 

The catalogue, written by the National Gallery's Sarah Greenough and Nancy Anderson, assisted by Lindsay Harris and Renee Ater, is a history of the memorial and its making, and told in photographs and images with a list of the 1,500 members of the 54th regiment, their hometowns, ages, ranks, and whether they fought at Fort Wagner.  It is available in the shops.

I can't wait to return and see the exhibition again.

What:  Tell It With Pride:  The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial

When: Now through January 20, 2014, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. 

Where:  Main Floor, the West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.  On the Mall.  

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Shaw Memorial (1900)/Patricia Leslie

At Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington is another Augustus Saint-Gaudens' sculpture, the Adams Memorial with a replica at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

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Movie review: 'Inside Llewyn Davis' is dark and depressing

Oscar Isaac and Cat in Joel and Ethan Coen's Inside Llewyn Davis/Photo by Alison Rosa ©2012 Long Strange Trip LLC

All right, already.

Yes, it's the Coen Brothers.

Yes, I loved Fargo and O Brother, Where Are Thou? but this?  This?

You gotta love folk music to enjoy Inside Llewyn Davis, and I am not a big fan.  The looooong songs to the finish were excruciating.  Pure agony.  This movie is for folk music fans and sadomasochists who like to stick themselves with pins, eat liver, and sleep on rocks.

I mean, did anything go right for him?  Anything?  Except the cat. 

What went right for him?  Oh,  There was the couple who welcomed him again into their home after he tore it apart.  This was real?

The sun didn't shine once.  I don't need this kind of down and out melodrama.  Life is melodramatic enough without having to endure more pain.

Girls just want to have fun and this ain't got any.

Actually, I know a guy who matches Davis in almost every respect, even looks, and he used to live in New York.  So negative and dark about everything.  Expects the worst of everybody and every circumstance, and you know what?  That's what he gets.  A vicious circle/cycle/whatever/ round and round he goes.  

Attitude is everything, baby.  He ain't got the right one.  Consider whom Davis "loved."  You would love something that spews this constant venom?  (Carrie Mulligan's performance was the best of the lot.) On your menu, self-inflicted wounds coming right up.

Actually, you may think your life is a lot better after witnessing this.

Llewyn Davis reminded me of all those fellows who hang out and play guitar on the streets of lower Broadway in Nashville.  At least, their attitude is right.  They think they have a future, and some of them do.



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Free stained glass windows concert at St. John's, Lafayette Square, Jan. 8

The Great Altar Window, the Last Supper, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, given by Katherine B. Steele in honor of her mother, Annie E. Steele.  The left panel was given by the children of Julia McLane Lockwood in her memory, and the right panel, a gift from the wife and children of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes in his honor.

 

This Blog

The public is invited to attend a free noontime organ concert on Wednesday at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square featuring music improvised from some of the church's stained glass windows by the associate director of music at the Basilica of the National Shrine, Richard Fitzgerald.

He will play Allegro Maestoso from the King Window; Variations on Sine Nomine, the Hagner Window; Scherzo on Basque Carol, the McCants Window; Adagio - Meditation, the Great Altar Window; and the Finale, the Smith Window.

Richard Fitzgerald

 

Last October Dr. Fitzgerald won first place in the Annual Competition in Organ Improvisation. A composer, recitalist, and vocalist, he has taught organ improvisation at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and has performed in concerts throughout the U.S.

The featured concert windows were designed and crafted in Chartres, France and installed at St. John's between 1883 and 1885.  They depict the life of Jesus, the Gospel of St. John, and the Apocalypse.  Seven modern windows were added to the church from 1933 to 1987.

According to notes provided by Richard Grimmett, the King Window was a gift of Mary Rhinelander and her husband, John Alsop King, the president of the New York Historical Society from 1887 until 1900 who helped direct the selection and installation of the Lorin windows from Chartres. 

The Hagner Window was given in honor of Peter Hagner, a founder and member of the first vestry at St. John's, and his wife, Frances Randall Hagner, by their family.

Marion J. McCants gave her family's window, the first modern style stained glass window at the church, around 1933 in memory of her mother, Tallulah Mounceaux McCants, who was devoted to the mission of St. John's Orphanage.

The Smith Window was given by the family to honor Rear Admiral Joseph Smith who helped develop the first ironclad vessel commissioned by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, the USS Monitor, and who served as the St. John's senior warden for several years before he died in 1877.

St. John's hosts First Wednesday concerts every month from October through June. It is known to many Washington residents and visitors as the welcoming yellow church at Lafayette Square, the “Church of the Presidents.”  President James Madison, who served as president from 1809 to 1817, began a tradition for all presidents who have either been a member of or have attended services at St. John's.  A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

 

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Patricia Leslie

 

Other St. John's First Wednesday concerts, all starting at 12:10 p.m., are:

February 5: Soloists from St. John's Choir perform baroque music for Valentine's Day

March 12 (2nd Wednesday): Virtuoso Organist Dongho Lee performs Charles Ives's Variations on "America" and other works

April 2: The U.S. Air Force Strings conducted by 2nd Lt. Shanti Nolan, with Michael Lodico, organist, perform Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto

May 7: Easter music for trumpet and organ with A. Scott Wood and Benjamin Hutto

June 4: Organist Alan Morrison

 

Who on January 8:  Richard Fitzgerald, organist and composer

What:  First Wednesday Concerts (the second Wednesday in January)

When: 12:10 p.m., January 8, 2014

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks: Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.
 

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Movie review: 'American Hustle' is one of the year's best

 

Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Jennifer Lawrence in Columbia Pictures' American Hustle

So many good things have already been written and said about it and what more can I add except it's a really great film with so much comedy and fantastic music and excellent performances that you really must hustle and get to see it and find out what everyone's talking about.

I did not know Robert De Niro was going to be in the film, but his appearance was a nice surprise, and he is perfect for the part.  (I mean, who else would they get for the role?) 

Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale in American Hustle

That was Christian Bale?  The IMDB trivia site says he gained 40 pounds for the role.  Gulp!  He did.  With a little hustle, he reminded me physically of Marlon Brandon in the Godfather.

The movie is "loosely based"on the Abscam scandal of the 1970s and 1980s, and after reading the Wikipedia account, the film contains more truth than expected. 

I loved the way the injuries lasted and were not immediately wiped clean (?).  I loved the convincing few moments played by Patsy Meek, Richie's  mother.  Jennifer Lawrence was perfect as the jilted wife. (Someone's going to jilt her?)  

Hair design deserves kudos for making male hair more significant and attention grabbing than the women's which were basically the same (Amy Adams and Lawrence).
Consider how inauthentic Bradley Cooper (did you know he graduated from Georgetown with an honors degree in English?) would have been without the curls which the trivia site says were suggested by the wearer himself. 

Jeremy Renner's mane is several inches high.  (I wish I knew the name of the hairspray they used. They could sell that in the lobby and make more profit.) He had a 1950ish Elvis "come hither" look, leading me to wonder if the stylists got the decades mixed up.  He did handle a guitar. Wait... Elvis died in 1977.  Whatever.

The trivia site (is interesting) says some of the movie was improvised on the set and Amy Adams suggested the lesbian kiss (for Ben and Eric who crave that stuff).

It's the third film with De Niro, Lawrence, and Cooper together on screen, and their mix is great composition.  "You do it your way and I'll do it mine, and that's what life is all about."

Attention, Obscenity Police (like me):  The F-bomb plays a major role (the movie is rated R), however, it is not the gratuitous usage we heard in, say, Her. 

I really have no qualms about any portion. It was all thoroughly entertaining. You'll have fun. Now, go, go, go.

Herewith, Oscar nominations:

Best Picture

Best Director: David O. Russell

Best Actor: Christian Bale

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence


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