It was always a delight to be notified of an email from Ann Kessler, who died on August 19th after a long battle with leukemia. It meant that that this dogged and creative chronicler of our neighborhood’s history had dug up something new and fascinating about the people who used to live here, and the […]
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Good deeds make a neighborhood great
by Marlene Berlin A week ago, I headed down Davenport Street on my daily walk. We’d had an inch of rain the day before, and I wanted to see the impact of all of that stormwater. It did not take me long to find some storm-related damage. At the intersection of Davenport and Broad Branch […]
Meet Your Neighbors: The “old lady” and the Jeep
by Margery Elfin It annoys me when I hear people talking about a good used car as an old ladies’ car, meaning that it has hardly been used. Well, maybe not for extended trips, but for trips to the grocery store and the hairdresser, and parked in lots and garages where the car develops a […]
Meet Your Neighbors updates: The artists of Forest Hills and Van Ness
Rose Mosner Rose Mosner, collage artist, teacher and lifelong learner, died in February. She was 95 years old. Mosner taught art at a Queens public middle school for decades, and later, she taught collage art classes to adults through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at American University. Mosner once described her adult students as “vibrant, […]
Restoring Linnean Avenue’s tree-lined splendor took door-to-door fundraising and a lot of digging
by David Falk When we moved to Forest Hills in 1964, Linnean Avenue was shaded on both sides by stately elms, creating a beautiful and cool thoroughfare for spring, summer and fall. Then Dutch elm disease arrived, and one by one our street elms withered and died, exceeding the ability of the District to plant […]
Meet Your Neighbors: A leadership coach writes a book on the difficulty – and necessity – of change
Sandi Stewart, an executive coach and consultant, moved to Forest Hills with her husband Michael Abrams in 2012. She’s been lending her expertise to Van Ness Main Street as a member of its board for the past few years. Stewart is also an instructor with American University’s executive coaching professional program. In her time as […]
Meet Your Neighbors update: An exhibit of watercolors that were a “working antidote” to pandemic isolation
Our updates from neighbor and artist Milton Shinberg over the past two Covid years have been about decidedly non-painterly pursuits, such as his virtual lecture on the intersection of architecture and neuroscience, and his recipe for Passover matzah brei. Now, we are once again getting updates from our local artists about upcoming shows. And they […]
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Meet Your Neighbors: An advocate for children and the homeless takes a neighborhood leadership role
When we introduced you in May to ANC 3F’s Schools and Universities Committee, its chair was James Tandaric. The leadership has changed. Tandaric is now an ANC 3F commissioner and Tvonne Donovan, a founding member of the committee, is now the committee’s chair. Like her predecessor, Donovan is interested in engaging and advocating for the […]
Marjorie Rachlin and the 1970s-80s flight attendants’ fight to be heard
Well-groomed and smiling, the flight attendant of the 1950s and early 1960s played a traditional woman’s role. Hers was one of the glamour careers for women, usually terminated by marriage after two or three years…. Pilots kept a close watch on their “girls” – expecting deference and admiration both on the plane and off…. As […]
Meet Your Neighbors update: “A Second Reckoning” and an ongoing search for justice for all
by Marlene Berlin Since we first met Scott Seligman in 2012, this historian, author and neighbor has written several books about hidden figures of our immigrant history. Seligman tells the stories of the injustices they faced, and at times, their triumphs. He now turns to racial injustice in A Second Reckoning, the story of John […]