People's District

Heather on Helping a Stranger

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Keith, Heather, Lily, and Darius Coleman

“It has been over three years since that day. I am still trying to understand what happened on October 3, 2008. I feel like I am putting a puzzle together, and with each piece, I am healing. I want to know what happend along the highway, and why people were kind enough to stop and help me.

So many cars just drove by that day, but a few people stopped. I want to know why they did, and thank them.

“That day, I had to attend a funeral of a co-worker’s mother. I am not a religious person, but woke up feeling like God was speaking to me. I saw signs of his presence everywhere, little things like a car with a bumper sticker saying, ‘Follow Me.’ At the funeral, I thought the service was speaking directly to me. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I felt like I was a special person and God had chosen me to save the world.

“Later that day, I was driving home, and started to really lose it. I was having crazy thoughts from movies, driving in the breakdown lane, and having phone conversations with my husband thinking he was the devil and I was God. My husband realized that something was wrong with me, but he didn’t know where I was because I would not tell him.

“I started driving towards water, and ended up on a bridge along the Potomac. I don’t really remember all of it, but I got out of the car, and started taking off my clothing. A couple of people stopped because they found me running naked along the side of the highway. At that point, I was completely delusional and thought the world was ending. I wanted to be baptized in the river before it did.

Topics: Fort Lincoln,NE,Neighborhoods,SE — Tags: Faith, Family, Health, Help, KidsDanny @ 10:04 am

Wafa on Home

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

“To me, Bahrain is home, but I still think of myself as someone from D.C. I really love this city, and know more about it than I do about my own home. Sometimes, I find that when I talk, I say, ‘We’ or “People like us.’ I can’t vote, and if I break the law, I can be deported, but this is just as much my city as anyone else who comes here. I feel like I belong in D.C.

When I am here, I miss home. When I am home, I miss here.

“Part of why I love it here so much is because of how international it is. When I came to the United States for the first time for boarding school, I lived in the middle of nowhere in Connecticut for two years. It was definitely a culture shock for me. When I came here to go to Georgetown, I was so happy, and it felt so comfortable. My friends are from all over the world, and I am one of the few people I know who only has one passport.

“While many of the international people just come and go, I want to stay here after finishing my Master’s. I feel like I know this place. I know where to go and what to do here. When my friends come, I can show them around. I take them to Georgetown, but to the real Georgetown! Even if my friends want to go to Georgetown Cupcakes, I tell them that it is over-rated and we should go to Baked and Wired instead. Then, I take them to my favorite hole-in-the-wall spots and the other little places I have come to find.

Topics: All Stories,Arts & Leisure,Family & Friends,Georgetown,History & Politics,Neighborhoods,NW,Work & School — Tags: Immigration, School, TourismDanny @ 9:12 am

David on What We Can Learn From Chess

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

“Over the last twenty years, there have been a lot of chess games played within these walls. In truth, I am less interested in the games than in seeing how kids develop because of them. I like to think that learning chess helps children grow up to be good people and contribute something to society.

I like to think that learning chess helps children grow up to be good people and contribute something to society.

“While a few of the kids who train here go on to be very talented players, many just come to learn and have fun. Chess is a game of creativity, and kids can engage in competitive imagination. I realized the potential of the game when I was a high school teacher in the 70′s. I found that teaching kids to play chess had a profound, and almost instantaneous impact on their academic performance and social skills.

“By the 1980′s, I thought about creating a facility to teach chess. In the 90′s, it became a reality when we opened the U.S. Chess Center. Now, we teach 2,000 kids a week. And, I remember a time when it was not cool to play chess! Fortunately, the game has crept into youth culture, which I think is a move in the right direction.