Features

The daisy is a delightful flower that opens each morning — the origin of its name, derived from an Old English term meaning “day’s eye.” So it’s only appropriate that Gloria Torrento Del Cid is known to everyone around her by a twist on…

It’s early morning, and Jose Santos peers at the computer monitor in his basement office at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus on 16th Street NW. On the screen, a blue-and-green diagram corresponds to the water pumps, boilers and air…

Everyone knows Lassie, the heroic collie from novels, movies and TV who repeatedly saves her human from near-death experiences. But in DC, there’s a real-life canine hero, whose companion rescued her from a shelter and trained her to…

Given his joyful nature, it’s hard to believe Imhotep Newsome routinely works 15-hour days between a full-time job and volunteer tasks. Newsome’s job as the language access program manager for the Metropolitan Police Department is all…

When Patty Wudel first arrived at Joseph’s House nearly 30 years ago, she relished the warmth and love she felt from the people who immediately welcomed her into their community. As she prepares to leave her longtime post as…

At the age of 57, Calvin Watson is recovering from a long addiction to crack cocaine — the drug of choice that led him down a path that included time in jail and conversations with disappointed family members. He is a veteran living with…

Mr. Rogers would feel right at home in Brookland. At 1801 Upshur St. NE, plantings on the back deck offer pops of color. (Photo by Susan Bodiker) Just four miles north of the Capitol, the close-knit confines of Ward 5’s Greater…

As the Earth Day Network looks ahead to next year’s 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the event’s mission has remained a constant — "to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide." That same mantra planted a lifelong…

Right after the workday ended, dozens of local policymakers and community leaders convened in the Old Council Chambers at One Judiciary Square for a meeting convened by DC Attorney General Karl Racine. Snacking and socializing, they were…

Though Krista Schlyer’s work as a conservation photographer and writer has taken her all over the country and into Mexico, in recent years she’s been focused on a landmark closer to home: the Anacostia River. Schlyer, who lives in Mount…

An Earth warrior lives among us. Nestled near some thick trees in the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood is the home of Rafe Pomerance and his wife, Lenore. “We’ve lived in the same house since 1975,” Rafe said. Forty-four years, three kids…

Maisha Riddlesprigger, this year’s DC Public Schools Principal of the Year, never set out for a career in education. Although she grew up among a family of teachers in Fresno, California — where her father was a professor at a community…

For Denise Rolark Barnes, the publisher of The Washington Informer, operating the newspaper is family business. When asked if she ever thought she’d be where she is today, she said, “Let’s put it this way — yes, I did. Did I want to be…

Yesim Sayin Taylor never thought she’d work in DC government. Admittedly, she didn’t know much about it. “I just thought it was this crazy, dysfunctional place,” she said. An economist, Taylor came to the United States — and the…

In so many ways Pat McGuire feels her career has been a series of “well-managed coincidences.” A lawyer by training, she never aspired to be a college president. But, this year, McGuire is celebrating her 30th year as president of Trinity…

As the nation grappled repeatedly with the issue of police brutality, 10 teenage girls participating in a Ward 5 after-school program met weekly from 2015 to 2017 to collaborate on a novel, drawing from their own experiences and…

Teaching math classes at DC’s Eastern High, Kareem Farah realized a while ago the traditional mode of instruction — delivering lectures and hoping all students would advance at the same pace — wasn’t working for the diverse range of…

America’s capital city hosts so many significant events that it only makes sense that there are notable historical anniversaries every week of the year of local and national renown. Here are some notable occurrences in and around the…

Local nonprofit Fair Chance builds up other community-based groups to achieve positive, life-changing results for local youth living in poverty, and it’s reviewing applications received by today's deadline for its next set of partners.…