Writer, editor, translator, community builder/ Queer, white, first-gen, Jewish/ Read me @wcp @theatlantic @foreignpolicy Newsletter sign-up link 👇
Washington, DC, Ward 5
Joined March 2009
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I wrote about Odessa for my Washington City Paper column and will be talking about her at an event this Friday in DC, just blocks from her U Street nightclub. I would love to see you at the film screening and discussion! Get tickets and details here: eventbrite.com/e/hidden-in-p…
Did you know that the wealthiest Black woman in 1930's DC made her money from gambling, drugs, & liquor?! 😵
Learn about ODESSA MADRE at a film screening & discussion *tomorrow* at the 14/V @busboysandpoets.
Details and tickets: eventbrite.com/e/hidden-in-p…
Imagine 1930’s DC, deep in the Jim Crow era of segregation, when department stores refused to serve “persons of color.” Then picture a Black woman marching through the front entrance of the luxurious Garfinckel's shop, demanding to see their most expensive fur coats.
ALT page from Ebony Magazine, article "Lady Racketeers," with full height photo of Odessa Madre
My brilliant friend Tresha Ward:
"When I learned of Chancellor Kamar Samuels’ vision for integrated NYC schools, I was thrilled, energized and eager to support — and I still am. But I’m perplexed by the lack of progress more than nine months into his tenure."
A recent essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones has revived the conversation about school integration and access to excellent schools in New York City. But what is the city doing to reach those goals? buff.ly/1d7aitl
a background check process for a teaching gig is requesting a copy of my HIGH SCHOOL transcript
i graduated over TWO DECADES AGO 😂
This weekend, the fascists fascist-ed, the climate climate-d, & the fireworks polluted. Here's a list of good stuff to check out in DC that's non-fascist, non-polluting, and pro-Black, pulled together by Natalie Hopkinson: washingtoncitypaper.com/arti…
If you want to know how smart folks across DC are thinking about this fucked-up time we're all living through: washingtoncitypaper.com/arti…
If you are organizing DC-area alternative programming for America's 250th, will you let me know? Think: people's histories, local activism, volunteer opportunities, indigenous and Black stories, anti-fascist events, etc.
Tanya Paperny Таня Паперная retweeted
“Mom doesn’t hear well. But the explosions she hears. Even when there are none.”
Translation by @tpaperny
lithub.com/life-in-wartime-u…
#Ukraine #war
via @lithub
Tanya Paperny Таня Паперная retweeted
The Star launches in June with dramatically expanded coverage of Washington politics and policy — and new coverage of D.C. itself. The District isn’t just the place where politics happens. It’s home to the people who pull the levers of power. It’s where they live and work and commute and eat and vote and navigate the unique intersection of politics and real life.
The Star will cover all of it, from Donald Trump’s stamp on the District to the ambitions of its first new mayor in more than a decade. Who’s wielding power in D.C.? What’s driving them? What impact are they having on housing, schools, transportation and the District’s neighborhoods? What’s next for Home Rule? For statehood? And will the Nationals ever be good again?
We’ll do it with the same rigor we bring to our coverage of national politics and policy, and we’ll do it with the best local reporting team in D.C. We’re excited to announce the start of that team today — veteran journalists you know and trust, plus newcomers who will bring fresh eyes to the vibrant and sometimes vexing place we all call home.
In the 1940s, notorious "underground queen" Odessa Madre ran a nightclub where she dealt in drugs, women, and drink. I got to write about the building, which is now D.C.’s only Black-owned LGBTQ club.
Read today's piece in @wcp (plus it's #localnewsday!): washingtoncitypaper.com/arti…
Hat tip to editor @mitchryals, photographer @Darrow_M, and @dcpl for being THE best research supporters!
...and I think this is a good thing! Read my story of an unusual alley horse stable which served as a Black queer arts space in the 1980s:
washingtoncitypaper.com/arti…
Thank you @wcp for including my column in your roundup of 2025's best reporting! Photo by Darrow Montgomery.
washingtoncitypaper.com/arti…
