The story that comes to mind when reading Haleh Esfandiari’s memoir of wrongful arrest, surprise raids, puzzling interrogations, and solitary confinement in Ahmadinejad’s Iran is Franz Kafka’s dystopian novel The Trial. Yet unlike the fictional bank clerk Joseph K., Esfandiari—who runs the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Middle East Program in DC—survived her ordeal, including four months in Iran’s Evin Prison on trumped-up charges, to deliver a taut, jolting narrative that describes how life in the Islamic republic is stranger—and darker—than fiction.

Esfandiari, who fled Iran in the winter of 1978, had been visiting her mother in 2006 when Iranian police forced her cab off the highway outside Tehran, swiped her passports and plane tickets, and disappeared into the night.

Interrogations follow. Esfandiari pleads her innocence. An investigator with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence twists her testimony. The story, a snapshot of Iranian paranoia in response to the Bush administration’s rhetoric, is also a luminous panorama of Iranian life. In prison, Esfandiari befriends the female guards, whose dark chadors disguise worldly concerns about body weight, love, and the future. In the juxtaposition of these women with Esfandiari and the generation that came of age before the revolution, the book channels another Kafka story, The Metamorphosis. As Esfandiari’s tale proves, Gregor Samsa’s transformation from man to insect is no more frightening than Iran’s from homeland to prison.

DCBeer began as Mike Dolan’s personal blog—he’d post updates every now and then, but he lacked a real focus and regularity. Wanting to start a blog about the local beer scene, Dolan relaunched his site in June as DCBeer, and he and his friends Andrew Nations, Mehan Jayasuriya, and P.J. Coleman began posting about local craft brewers, homebrewing, bartenders, and more. They even started an e-mail newsletter and a homebrewing club, and they’re teaming up with bars to host tasting events; the second one is tonight at the Black Squirrel.

The site is geared toward beer drinkers, brewers, and bartenders, but you don’t have to be a connoisseur to get something out of it. In fact, the writers don’t even consider themselves experts: “I’m a beer enthusiast,” says Dolan. “But I guess I’ve read enough and tasted enough to at least pretend to be an expert.”

We caught up with the self-proclaimed beer nerds to find out what they’re drinking this fall. Read on for where they go for a good beer selection (not Brickskelller!), their favorite beer that comes in a can, and their ordering tips for beer virgins. Sláinte!

Dahlia Lithwick is Ben Brad­lee’s kind of woman. She’s got the Yale undergrad and Stanford law degrees, the talent to pen brassy features about the Supreme Court, a sense of humor, and an eye for the jugular. Back in his day, Bradlee might have roped her into a beat on the Washington Post Style section alongside Sally Quinn.

Lithwick doesn’t write for Style—you have to read Slate, the Washington Post Company’s online magazine. Covering legal affairs since 1999 and now also writing a serialized chick-lit novel, Lithwick is a Don Graham kind of woman.

The Post Company head adores Slate. The Post in print is his albatross, a newspaper that loses millions; Slate represents his digital dream, with the potential to do great journalism and make a profit.

“Slate itself is now a good business,” says Jacob Weisberg, the New York–based chief of the Slate Group. No one will provide proof, but word is that the magazine will make money this year.

Slate is also a good place for Grahams to work. Washingtonian has learned that Laura Graham, 32, one of Don and Mary Graham’s four children, has been hired as director of product development and strategy. She will work out of Slate’s Arlington office. She becomes the second member of the third generation of Grahams to work at a Washington Post publication. Her cousin, Katharine Weymouth, is Post publisher and head of Washington Post Media.

>> See more photos from the gala in our photo slide show here 

What: Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala

Where: Harman Center for the Arts and the National Building Museum

When: Sunday, October 25, 6 to 11 PM

Ticket prices: $750 per person, $15,000 per table

Why: To fundraise for the center’s outreach and educational programs (fans of the Shakespeare Free for All, say thanks), to honor British actor Sir Ian McKellen (known to many as X-Men’s Magneto) with the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre, and to give the Sidney Harman Award for Philanthropy in the Arts to Heidi and Max Berry.

The Agenda: Theater patrons walked up the red carpet and into the Harman lobby for drinks and socializing an hour before curtain. At 7, guests were ushered into the theater for award presentations and a series of scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Actors from the Shakespeare Theatre Company cracked highbrow jokes between Synetic Theater’s goblinesque, eerily unspoken “That Shrewd and Knavish Sprite” performance, Step Afrika’s powerfully rhythmic Zulu dance number, and a surprise appearance by Mickey Rooney. The actor—who at age 15 played Puck in the 1935 movie version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—received a standing ovation for his revival of the Fairy King’s jester. Ian McKellen’s acceptance speech—peppered with smart quips, a soliloquy from Sir Thomas More, and a flawless English accent—was met with similar enthusiasm. After the show, guests followed a wood fairy through the crisp autumn evening to the nearby National Building Museum for a sit-down dinner, drinks, and dancing.

>> See more photos from the event in our slideshow here

What: 1869 Society Fall Fete: “A Nautical Affair”

Where: Corcoran Gallery of Art

When: October 25, 8 to midnight.

Ticket price: $100 regular admission; $150 VIP; $200 “captain” pass.

Who: The latest collection of young, bright, beautiful things Washington has to offer, dressed in—for the most part—beautiful gowns and suits. “Who ever said DC is Hollywood for ugly people never attended this party,” we heard a photographer exclaim. In keeping with the night’s nautical theme—a nod to artist John Singer Sargent’s current exhibit at the museum—plenty of guests donned sailor and captain hats. We also saw some designer boat shoes and plenty of navy blue on dresses, accessories, and ties.

Organized by the museum’s 1869 Society—which targets young professionals between ages 25 and 42—the Corcoran’s Fall Fete drew hundreds of Washington’s next wave of politicos, power players, socialites, and wannabes. We also occasionally spotted the older guest trying to, um, get down with the kids.

In an era when some baseball players try injections or supplements to gain an edge, it’s comforting to know that fans can still root for a loser.

Teddy Roosevelt has become Washington’s most endearing mascot, emerging during the fourth inning of every Nationals home game with three other Rushmore-style Presidents to race around Nationals Park. Teddy’s winless streak remains unrivaled in all of professional sports since the race’s 2006 inception. Of course, losing every race requires some creativity. Our favorites from the 2009 season:

While Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke shepherds the nation through a financial storm, his wife, Anna Bernanke, is quietly navigating her own full-time project—to open a new private school.

The proposed school, Chance Academy, will offer an arts-oriented curriculum to prepare inner-city students for college. It was intended to open this fall at Joe’s Movement Emporium, a community arts center in Mount Rainier. Those familiar with Bernanke’s proposal say the building contract fell through at the last minute and she’s looking at other options for a site. According to these sources, the launch is being funded by the Bernanke family’s own money.

Apparently, a dinner more than a year ago with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend helped plant the seed: Townsend, a former Maryland lieutenant governor and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, told Anna Bernanke about Touchstones Discussion Project, a nonprofit that aims to help students think independently.