Washington DC from the top

Remember when the Washington monument used to look like this? (Washington monument with scaffolding, taken back in November 2013)

Well, if you haven't been in Washington D.C. in any recent months...tada! It's beautifully naked again. It's been pretty gloomy in DC lately...look at that ominous sky.

Anyway, I had the press privilege to go up the monument last Saturday before the memorial opened to the public on Monday. The National Park Service has installed new exhibitions and made repairs to the elevator that travels up and down the 555-ft obelisk. Although, I did hear that it broke down on Wednesday, sending hundreds of tourists down 896 steps from the observation level. The view up top was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we only had about 20 minutes at the observation level because there was another group of press people waiting downstairs. Here's the full story on the NewsHour rundown page.

Street Artist Run-in: EVER

Nicolas Santiago Romero, better known with the name “EVER,” adopted a huge, bare concrete wall erected in the corner of 3rd street and I St NW. For the past two weeks, EVER has been painting the wall and occupying the giant empty parking lot as part of The Mural Project DC. Last Wednesday evening, his public studio turned into an appropriate venue for a lively pop-up party, where spectators watched and celebrated as EVER put finishing touches to his beautiful, mysterious piece of art.


The street artist, originally from Argentina, said that his main inspirations come from two main sources: French philosopher named Michel Foucault and famous Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Foucault’s work focused on the relationship between power and knowledge as a way of controlling the society. 

“The big legs represent power. You don’t know whom the legs belong to because I purposely didn’t put a face on it. And the surrounding environment -- the forest -- represents society,” Ever said, explaining his mural piece by piece.

The face coming out of the water signifies connection between society and an invisible figure of power. To its right, you can identify a face of a beautiful woman, which EVER intended to represent beauty of life.

“It’s the contradiction of life. I try to put everything in metaphorical way. I also want people to take their own interpretation; you could look at the wall and see something different than I do. It can be anything,” continued the artist, as he took a step back to admire his artwork again.

EVER comes from a graffiti background. Although he has been trying to steer away from being boxed in as a graffiti artist, there is something within him that keeps driving him back to his graffiti routes -- and that struggle is visible in his work. Now, he tries to incorporate more of artists’ brush, acrylic, and oil paint.
 
“I often use bright colors and strong brush strokes, which were inspired by Van Gogh’s work. I used to have vision problems as a child, so I had a deeper connection with Gogh’s work,” EVER explained, “when you see my work, you sometimes have to play with your mind a little bit to figure out what it is.”


EVER’s vision behind his artwork is simple and benign: “I don’t sign the murals anymore after I paint it,” EVER said, “whenever I finish a wall, it doesn’t belong to me anymore. It could belong to you, or to anyone else.”

When asked about the name of his mural, he smiled and proudly said that he doesn’t name his artwork until after it’s finished. For him, the last finishing step is always giving his piece of art a name.

After interviewing him, I stuck around for a bit, just watching the artist and his partner/assistant wrap up for the night.

March On Washington, 50 Years Later.

On August 28, 1963, thousands gathered right here in the capital city of the United States under the shadow of the 16th President and managed to pull off a peaceful, nonviolent political rally that would go down in history as one of the monumental fights for civil rights and freedom. "The Great March on Washington," it was called, and reports say that thousands drove to Washington D.C. from all over the country to protest their rights with much hope. They dreamt of equal opportunities to have a chance at being tested for a job, and of getting equal treatment in public places. I simply cannot imagine the hush and emotional movement in the air as thousands quietly listened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s infamous speech.

50 years later, the celebration of freedom and equal rights continue as people gathered again in Washington D.C. to reenact the march. Although I was stuck at work on the 28th and couldn't be a part of the march, several coworkers and I did get to witness some action the weekend before.

Lots of T-shirt selling, lawn chairs, food trucks, reporters and journalism students, OVERFLOWING trashcans, signs and banners, and lingering Trayvon Martin talks as the nation was faced with such tragedy and some serious questions of justice the past year and a half.

Then there are, of course, the ones that busted out a trumpet in the middle of the day at the top of the Lincoln Memorial and serenaded a bunch of confused Asian tourists. We actually ran into an old tourist couple who had absolutely no idea why the National Mall was so dang packed. Nope, it's not like this every weekend - maybe every 50 years or so. ;)

Why I fell in love with Columbia Heights

I had a chance to go to this neighborhood this past weekend to help out a coworker who's writing a story about this app that basically crowdsources cool public art tucked away in corners of neighborhoods that your tour guide book probably won't tell you about. We chose Columbia Heights and U Street, where every corner is stamped with some sort of history, African American history to be exact, because they have been mostly populated by blacks since 1930s and 40s. I wish this area wasn't so gentrified as it is now since the metro station was built in 1999, but it's evidently still Washington's most ethnically and economically diverse neighborhood (but now, hipsters are taking over with their organic brunches and posh greaser fashion).