Bulletin Board
Email announcements to gazette@connectionnewspapers.com. Deadline is Thursday at noon. Saturday/March 30 Collection. 1-5 p.m. at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, 8531 Riverside Road. Donate new or lightly used baseball and softball equipment on behalf of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. Collected items will be given to disadvantaged players in the Baltimore area.
Lucky dog animal rescue adoption event
Megan is hugging her new dog bud during the lucky dog recue adoption outside dogma dog bakery in shirlington on sat. march 16. Volunteers from lucky dog animal rescue come to shirlington once a month for local residents to adopted a rescue dog. Most dogs rescued by from lucky dog animal rescue are from S. Carolina.
Letter: Let There Be Light
To the Editor: For those who are unaware, the tree lights along King Street are scheduled to be turned off March 31 just as Alexandria's tourist season begins. I am an advocate to keep those lights on as long as is reasonable because lighting up our city to market it as illuminated, friendly and safe is the message they send for me and many businesses as well as citizens.
Hybla Valley Elementary Celebrates Vernal Equinox
On the first day of spring, the Hybla Valley Elementary School community celebrated with an international festival at the school. All seven continents were feted. A Mariachi band, an Irish dance group along with student and family cultural performances drew crowds into the gym, the World Stage.
Week in Fairfax
The first-ever 5K walk dedicated to crime victims in Fairfax County will be held in honor of the 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. This free event is slated for Sunday, April 21, at 4:30 p.m., at Fairfax Corner. It’s hosted by the Victims Services Section of the county Police Department and the Fairfax County Law Enforcement Foundation. Area residents may join the professionals who support local victims of homicide, trauma, sexual and domestic violence, child physical and sexual abuse, stalking human trafficking and suicide as they walk together.
Love Keeps You Grounded
Hub Theatre presents "A Man, His Wife and His Hat."
Fairfax's professional Hub Theatre continues to delve into delightfully complicated aspects of love by playwrights often new to the D.C. area. Now the Hub is bringing on Lauren Yee's play described as a "klezmer-inspired love triangle between a man, his wife and a hat."
Fundraiser for Fairfax Girl, Age 8
Tara Sankner, an 8-year-old Fairfax resident, was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, and the local community is rallying ’round to show its support. She and a fundraising and support team called “Pray for Tara” wore special, pink T-shirts and participated in last Saturday’s, March 23, Rev3 Run Rogue 5K and 1K at the Fairfax Corner Shopping Center. Tara ran and walked in both events and also had a donation table there.
Fairfax to Present Spotlight on the Arts
28th annual festival runs from April 19 to May 6.
Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts, featuring more than 40 Fairfax-area events showcasing local performance and visual artists, announced its schedule for the 28th annual festival that runs from Friday, April 19, to Monday, May 6. This year’s Spotlight, themed “An Artistic Kaleidoscope,” features not only artists from established arts groups familiar to Spotlight fans, but also artists from nontraditional arts and cultural groups from the area. Spotlight’s wide-ranging event schedule reflects the depth and diversity found in Fairfax’s cultural community.
Happy Feet
West Springfield Dance Team wins fourth consecutive NDA National Championship.
Despite being three-time national champions, the West Springfield Dance Team coaches weren’t taking anything for granted going into the 2013 NDA Nationals competition. “We didn’t think we’d win Nationals,” said coach-choreographer Tara Perez. “We’re very critical of our routines and every year is a completely new place.”
West Springfield Wins State Championship for Drama
West Springfield High School won the state championship for drama last month at the Virginia High School League One-Act Competition Finals in Charlottesville. This is the first state drama title for West Springfield in 15 years. The theatre department presented “The Other Room,” by Ariadne Blayde, which tells the story of Austin, a high-functioning autistic teenager who tries to connect with a female classmate while battling the voices in his head.
Connolly’s Art Contest Deadline April 5
High school students residing in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District are encouraged to participate in Congressman Gerry Connolly’s annual Congressional Art Competition, An Artistic Discovery. Connolly is accepting artwork entries at his Annandale and Prince William District Offices until April 5.
Fairfax Adult Softball Continues to Support Special Olympics
Participants, family, friends and supporters of Fairfax Adult Softball, Inc. (FAS) united together on Jan. 27 for the 13th Annual Bowling Tournament to benefit Northern Virginia Special Olympics and Fairfax County Park Authority field improvements.
Fairfax Animal Shelter Undergoing Renovation, Expansion
The county is renovating and expanding the Fairfax County Animal Shelter at 4500 West Ox Road to provide state-of-the-art intake and adoption services for the animals that it cares for each year. The addition section was completed in December 2012, with an estimated completion date for the entire project set for July 2013.
Protecting Both Gun Rights and Public Safety
It was an historic year in the Virginia General Assembly. We passed a once-in-a-generation transportation funding bill and laid the foundation for 400,000 thousand Virginians to gain health insurance through an expansion of Medicaid that will create nearly 30,000 new health care jobs.
Muslim Women Encouraged to Explore STEM
Six women share their success story at the Lorton Library.
The Nubian Benevolence Association was the official sponsor for the Muslim Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) presentation at the Lorton Community Library on Saturday, March 23, but there was little doubt that Hajjar Ahmed, daughter of the organization’s co-Founder Hossam Ahmed, was the driving force behind the event.
Woodson Graduate Directs Award-winning Film
Nicole Rosen’s 16-minute “Toy Soldier” will show at the GI Film Festival in May.
When Nicole Rosen sets out to make a film, she doesn’t shy away from sensitive subject matter—she pursues it. One of her first projects in high school was called “Life Chronicles.” “Basically I shot people who were dying, suffering from terminal diseases,” Rosen said. “They wanted to film their lives for their families. I think it really hit something—my first really intense experience in filmmaking.”
Newlyweds Now in Business
Burke couple moves to NOVA, buys a gym and launches business.
From the time he met her six years ago when the two were serving as Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco, Tom Dannan knew that Michelle Connelly loved working with children. Just before joining the Peace Corps, she’d spent two years as the director of the My Gym Children’s Fitness Center in Annapolis, Md., and always talked about how much she wanted to open a children's gym someday.
Editorial: More Obstacles to Transparency
General Assembly puts more information out of public reach, but other factors also limit access.
The first paragraph of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, passed by the General Assembly in 1968, states that all public records "shall be presumed open." It doesn’t add, “except when we don’t want to,” although that provision does seem to be available in many cases. Individual government entities have a variety of ways of making it hard for the public to access public information.
Column: 14.8 Percent
That is the percentage of diagnosed lung cancer patients who survive beyond five years, according to The National Cancer Institute’s SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009, in a graph published in the Feb. 26, 2013 Washington Post’s weekly Health & Science section. As a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survivor beginning his fifth year post-diagnosis, charting my prospects in such a cold and impersonal manner is both chilling and arguable. “Chilling” in that facts speak for themselves and are hardly made up of whole cloth, to invoke one of the late Jack Kent Cooke’s more famous quotes. And “arguable” in that charts, statistics, etc., may very well measure the mean, but it sure doesn’t measure the man (this man, anyway). Meaning, from my perspective: sure, the chart is scary as hell, but I’m not sure I’m on it, if you know what I mean? (I know you know what I hope.)
Better Training, More Technology
The bipartisan commission released findings, recommendations regarding long lines on Election Day.
"The commission has identified a variety of improvements and efficiencies to ensure access and convenience for voters in future elections.” —Sharon Bulova