>> See the photo slideshow from the night here! 

What: Walk This Way fashion show.

Where: Liaison Hotel rooftop.

When: October 6, 6 to 10 PM.

Ticket prices: $125 regular admission, $300 VIP ticket.

Who: Washington’s glitterati were out in full force to fight domestic violence. NBC4 sports anchor Lindsay Czarniak, wearing a strapless pink dress and a pearl-illusion necklace, emceed the evening from atop a water-surrounded runway. Redskins running back Clinton Portis cohosted and brought out fellow players Jason Campbell, Gary Clark, Santana Moss, DeAngelo Hall, Albert Haynesworth, and Stephon Heyer to walk the runway. DC United kickers Bryan Namoff, Santino Quaranta, Devon McTavish, and Ben Olsen were seen tossing back drinks. R&B Singer Ginuwine, a ’90s favorite, was out promoting a new album, and K Street Kate blogger Kate Michael was also seen milling about.

Why: To support Becky’s Fund and serve as a kickoff for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Founder Becky Lee’s organization works to combat abuse through educational programs and awareness events and provides assistance to domestic-violence victims.

What’s a dilettante? According to Webster’s Dictionary, it’s “a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge.” In other words, a dabbler.

That’s exactly what the four women behind the blog Dilettante Club consider themselves. They’ve tried lots of hobbies, but none has stuck permanently. And that’s why they formed the club three years ago—to indulge their inner dilettante and give them an excuse to do lots of activities one time only.

Here’s how the club works: Once a month, the group assembles for an activity. The activity must be a one-time event that runs no longer than five hours, cost $100 or less, take place in Washington, and end with a recap over drinks and food. Activities have run the gamut from hula-hoop-making to ceramics to palm reading to self-defense. The group’s successes—and hilarious failures—are then documented on the blog.

The club was formed after a cocktail party when the women discussed their sordid hobbying pasts. Kathleen’s dilettante tendencies led her to hold ten jobs in 15 years. Amanda has dabbled in languages and knows several—but only at a novice-to-amateur level. While Amy became a dilettante for strictly practical reasons—she learned flute, for example, to join the band and avoid gym class in grade school—Nicole has tried lots of activities, such as field hockey and dancing, for the cute uniforms.

We caught up with the dilettantes to talk about—what else?—hobbies. Read on for their favorite and least favorite activities, the strangest thing they’ve ever dabbled in, and one activity they hope they never have to try.

What: Fight for Children golf tournament.

Where: TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.

When: Monday, October 5. There were golf tournament and spa events all day followed by a cocktail reception and dinner.

Ticket prices: $1,000 for a day of golf, $500 for non-golfing events.

Attire: Polos, khakis, and visors galore.

Who: About 100 Washington businesspeople and philanthropists took a swing at the Inaugural Golf Challenge to benefit the Fight for Children organization—better known for its annual Fight Night fundraiser. The event, which raised more than $135,000 for education and health-care programs for local low-income youth, drew a handful of semi-boldface names including former Redskins Brig Owens and Brian Mitchell and actress Gloria Reuben. Musical performances by saxophonist Ski Johnson and the Grammy-nominated R&B singer and DC native Kenny Lattimore closed the night on a smooth note.

When readers turned to page 24 in the October 4 New York Times Magazine, many read this line in the author’s note under the “On Language” column: “William Safire is on hiatus.”

Safire might have found fault with the choice of “hiatus.” Safire, author of “On Language” since 1979, died on September 27. The Times corrected its mistake in later editions.

If we define hiatus as a pause, Safire might be spending his time between events spinning in his grave. Ammon Shea, who penned the first “On Language” column since Safire’s passing, essentially spit on his grave.

Stacie Turner. Photo from stacieturner.com.

A source tells us that Washington-based realtor Stacie Turner has been tapped to participate in DC’s installment of the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives. Asked to comment, Turner said she’s “not at liberty to talk about it,” and Bravo communications director Rachelle Savoia toed the party line, writing in an e-mail, “Bravo has not confirmed the cast of the show yet.”

Still, film crews have been spotted around town, including The Washingtonian’s Style Setters party last week. The Washington Post reported today that cameras were spotted at the Inn at Little Washington the same night, taping Fauquier County winery wife Michaele Salahi and husband Tareq.

Daily newspapers are shrinking, digital news ventures are desperately seeking profit, and Politics Daily features a serialized crime novella on its website? What is Melinda Henneberger thinking? What is she doing with AOL’s money?

“Fiction in newspapers is a tradition that goes way back to Dickens,” Henneberger says. A former New York Times reporter, she has been at the helm of Politics Daily since its start in May. Financed and fed by AOL, it has become one of the most popular political sites.

“People who come to our site are interested in politics—why not political fiction?”

For nine days Politics Daily published a novella in serial form by Washington writer James Grady. It started with a gang shooting in DC; it took readers on a high velocity trip through city streets, populated by thugs and good guys, like Dante Jones, an ex-con trying to make peace between beefing crews. It ended last week. You’ll have to read it to find out whether Rhea, Dante’s woman, got her man back in one piece.

It’s a rite of passage for graduates of top law schools. With offers in hand from prestigious firms, these charmed young legal brains take the bar exam, flit off to exotic locales for the traditional post-exam holiday, then return in the fall to begin their lives as first-year associates with salaries that top those of federal district judges.

Not this year. Hundreds of first-year lawyers were told by firms across Washington that their start dates had been pushed back by as much as a year. Dubbed “deferred associates,” they’re symbols of a legal industry battered by the economy. “A lot of people are really just depressed about the whole situation,” says Joe Records, who had his start date at Wiley Rein delayed until next fall.

The news isn’t all bad. Several law firms, including Wiley Rein, have offered stipends of about $60,000 to deferred lawyers. Some firms are requiring, or at least encouraging, them to spend the coming months at public-interest organizations. Thus, in an odd twist, the deferred lawyers are probably still making more than many attorneys who do public-interest work full-time.