‘Highly Motivated and a True Leader’
A 26-year veteran of the Fairfax County Police Department, MPO Ray Ordonez is the Sully District Station’s and its Citizens Advisory Committee’s 2013 Officer of the Year. He was honored as such last Wednesday, March 12, at the station, and every one of his roll-call officers turned out for the ceremony.
Cub Scout Pack 2011 At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Scouts from Centreville’s Cub Scout Pack 2011, Owen Proper and Jonathan Faupel, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while den leader, Col. Tom Faupel, U.S. Army (Retired) and Connor Gary watch on with the rest of the Pack.
STEMtastics: Inspiring Middle School Girls to Pursue STEM Careers
Fifty McLean students from Longfellow and Cooper Middle Schools joined students from 35 other schools on March 8 at STEMtastics, a career day event designed to educate and inspire the students to consider careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
Loving Pi and Pie
The 16-year-old McLean resident Kira Becker created a video about why students and teachers love Pi Day.
March 14 means two important things to both students and math geeks: a time to recite the digits of pi and eat even more pie.
Del. Comstock Accepting Applications To The Young Women's Leadership Program
Del. Barbara Comstock (R-34) has officially launched the second year of her Young Women's Leadership Program, which provides young women enrolled in middle school and high school the opportunity to meet and interact with women in leadership positions in government, politics and business. Through this program, young women will be able to learn about career opportunities in various fields, develop their leadership skills, identify their strengths and interests and practice effective communication with others to help realize their future educational and career goals.
Letter: GFCA Appeals for Greater Citizens Involvement
In recent weeks several letters have raised questions about the construction of the Walker Road "Diet Plan," which is reshaping the road between Great Falls’ two shopping areas.
Great Falls Historical Society Seeks Nominations for Jean Tibbetts History Award
The Great Falls Historical Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the area, invites community members to submit nominations for the Jean Tibbetts History Award, an annual award that honors outstanding contributors to the research, articulation, dissemination and preservation of the history of life along the Potomac River corridor from McLean to west of Dranesville and south through Herndon.
Great Falls Citizens Association Talks Ticks and Trails
Town Hall Meeting addresses ‘Deer Management’ and the future of ‘Trails, Paths and Sidewalks’ in the village.
Braving frigid gusts of wind that left some of them without power at home, residents came out in force for the Great Falls Citizens Association (GFCA) Town Hall Meeting on the night of Wednesday, March 12. The agenda consisted of only two topics – "Deer Management" and the future of "Trails, Paths and Sidewalks" in the village, but there was enough material and discussion to fill the three hours allotted.
On CBS: Chicken Broadcasting System?
Bill Geist, host of CBS Sunday Morning, came to Potomac on Monday, March 10, to interview Tyler Phillips and Diana Samata, owners of RentaCoop.com, a business that rents egg-laying hens and everything needed to gather eggs. The segment is scheduled to air on Sunday morning, March 23 at 9 a.m.
Editorial: Income Gap Alive and Well
Statistics make life in the area sound idyllic, but many families are left out in the land of plenty.
Northern Virginia is a place of wonder and plenty. So says the New York Times this past week in, "Income Gap Meet the Longevity Gap," (March 15, 2014).
No Know. No Problem.
I felt a bit of a dope this week when, after reading last week’s column, "Whew!", multiple friends called to inquire specifically as to the "Tony-the-Tiger Great" news I wrote that I received from my oncologist, and I couldn’t answer them in any detail: shrinkage, less fluid, "partial stable remission"? Nothing. And though I tried to get my oncologist to explain to me exactly what was so encouraging about this most recent CT Scan – compared to the one I took three months ago (as opposed to the one I had nine months ago which was mistakenly compared to this most recent scan and resulted in the "Some better, some worse. I’ll explain more on Friday" e-mail I received from my doctor and talked about in "Whew!") – I was rebuffed. Rebuffed in the best possible way: being told instead how great I was doing, how great my lab results were (for this most recent pre-chemotherapy) and how I could live a long time like this (presumably continuing to be infused with Alimta) – it was almost disconcerting; especially when you consider the original e-mail assessment we received and our less-than-positive interpretation of it. Moreover, the oncologist’s exuberance and smiling countenance, along with his offer of a congratulatory handshake led me away from the missing facts and immediately into these new-found feelings.
How To Prepare for New SAT
Local experts say working hard in class is the best way to be successful.
Linda Mitchell and her 15-year-old daughter, Alexis, say they don’t really know what to expect when Alexis sits for the SAT college admissions exam in 2016, but they’re not too worried at this point. Two years is a long time.
‘Oh Dad, Poor Dad’ To Debut in Arlington
The American Century Theater is presenting the Arthur Kopit farce, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” March 21-April 12 at Gunston Arts Center, Theatre Two, in Arlington. Described by the playwright as “a Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition,” this antic, absurdist black comedy about the most dysfunctional family imaginable was an Off-Broadway sensation in 1962 and a hardly-watched 1967 film starring Rosalind Russell, Barbara Harris, and Jonathan Winters. A farce in three scenes, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad …” tells the bizarre tale of wealthy, domineering mother Madame Rosepettle, who travels to a luxury resort in a Cuban hotel, bringing along her stuttering son, a man-eating Venus Fly Trap plant, a piranha, and her deceased husband, preserved and in his casket.
School Notes
Fairfax County Public Schools named 64 students to the 2014 Virginia All-State Band, and 86 FCPS students have been named to the 2014 Virginia All-State Orchestra. Both groups will perform at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, at the new Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Fairfax County Public School students from 22 high and secondary schools were named to the band or orchestra. Centreville High School: Alison Dettmer, Flute; Edward Chung, Violin; Joy Kim, Violin; Yehyun Kim, Violin; Joshua Pak, Violin; Jihun Yom, Violin. Westfield High School: Chandler Comer, Tenor Trombone; Daniel Park, Violin.
Commentary: Will Supervisors Honor Compact with the Community?
Former publisher of the Chronicle Newspapers A move by EnviroSolutions in South County, including Lorton and parts of Fairfax Station and Springfield, to extend the life of its construction debris landfill by 22 years and dramatically increase the facility’s size has led to a growing controversy. The core issue is whether residents can trust the Board of Supervisors to honor and enforce the terms of a past agreement that was made between a corporation, the local community, and the Board of Supervisors.
Sledders Enjoy the Snow
Sledders of all ages took to the hillside beneath the George Washington Masonic Temple on Monday, March 17, enjoying the newly fallen snow.
Art Educators, Galleries Celebrate Youth Art Month
Experts say art can teach valuable life skills.
Brightly colored self-portraits, landscapes dotted with spring flowers and hand-carved sculptures fill a gallery at the McLean Project for the Arts in McLean. All of the art was created by local school children. Meanwhile, in Alexandria, parents and tots dip their fingers in glue, clay and paint to create collages, sculptures and paintings.
Letter to the Editor: Historical Society’s Role in Arlington
I wish to commend “Arlington Connection” for the excellent article by Steve Hibbard (“Exploring Arlington History,” March 12-18) about efforts to capture and relate the history of Arlington County. The attention to the Arlington Historical Society (AHS), as well as the Center for Local History (CLH) at Central Library, the Black Heritage Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, and the County Office of Historical Preservation will benefit all Arlingtonians by letting them know what is going on and where to find out more about programs. It is worth mentioning that the Arlington Heritage Center, originally intended as a “one-stop” introduction for visitors to Arlington, could become a reality if space were to be found in the planned County building that will be part of redeveloped Courthouse Square.
Synetic Theater Stages “Hamlet”
Synetic Theater is remounting Shakespeare’s “Hamlet … the rest is silence,” the abstract and wordless show that struck gold for them in 2002 when it debuted in Washington. This silent rendering stars Alex Mills, 24, as Prince Hamlet, Irina Tsikurishvili as Gertrude, Iraakli Kavsadze as Claudius and Irina Kavsadze as Ophelia. To help celebrate the Bard’s 450th birthday this year, Synetic took an abstract approach to the tragedy set in Denmark by using sparse sets, minimal props (originally by Georgi Alexi-Meskhishvili), dramatic lighting design (by Brittany Diliberto), minimal black-and-white costumes (Claire Cantwell) and intense sound design (Irakli Kavsadze). Synetic is best known for fusing the classical elements of drama, movement, mime, dance and music. The storyline of “Hamlet” centers on the revenge the grief-stricken Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering Hamlet’s father, Claudius’s brother. He succeeds to the throne and takes his wife Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. The play explores everything from incest to revenge to madness and corruption.
Democrates in the 10th District Nominate John Foust
The field of GOP contenders vying for retiring U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf’s seat is still crowded, but the Democratic pool of political hopefuls dwindled to one on Monday: Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville). The Tenth Congressional District Democratic Committee (10th CDDC) announced Monday, March 17, it had cancelled its April 26 convention after Foust became the only candidate to file to seek the Democratic nomination for Congress. “To win this race in November we needed to avoid a costly primary and coalesce around a nominee as soon as possible,” said Committee Chairman Charlie Jackson in a statement regarding the decision. “We’ve done that and we couldn’t be happier that John Foust will become our nominee and have the ability to hit the ground running right away as our standard bearer.”