Perhaps you heard that the Pope was in town last week? In typical DC fashion, his visit was preceded by weeks of anxiety around how the heck we would all make it to and from work with the rolling road closures and heavy security. Being a car-less, Metro-less commuter, I could blissfully ignore this preamble and go about my merry way. Until my Wednesday morning run. I was headed up Mass Ave on my usual route, when I was stopped by two policemen at the corner of Rock Creek Parkway. “Ma’am, you need to cross here. You can continue north, but not on this side of the street.” “But that messes with my route,” I heard myself say aloud to the cop, as I dejectedly backtracked a block to Belmont. Continue reading
Tag Archives: stew
Finding the Dek
Last week at work, I sat in on a short talk by Christian Caryl. He spoke to a room full of graduate students, all eager to learn the secret to writing well. Have a point, he told us. And get to it quickly. Support it with just the most relevant facts and say it all with passion. All of which, he confessed, is much easier said than done. But then he suggested the following: Start with the dek. The dek is the very brief description immediately following the headline. The dek is your entire story summed up in a line or two. Once you have the dek, the story’s arc is set and you can travel the curve from start to finish, filling in the details along the way. Continue reading
The Matt Chronicles: French Stuff
Matt and I honeymooned in France. We spent the first half of our trip exploring Normandy, including the beaches, cemeteries, and museums that commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives on D-Day. Romantic, no? Well, for us, it was pretty perfect. (Kind of like when we went to Hawaii and spent 5% of our time at the beach and 95% of our time learning about the history and culture of the island.) Lest you think we spent our whole honeymoon entrenched in the study of death and war, don’t worry. We also saw Mount Saint-Michel when the water was high, which was something straight out of a fairy tale. A tiny turreted village with a monastery perched atop and a labyrinth of alleys and doorways weaving their way toward the summit. We explored the Loire valley, touring the chateaux and drinking local wine, and ended in Pairs. Ah, Paris. It was beautiful, perfectly beautiful. Continue reading
Cooking For Sig 