Things to Do

Things to Do in DC This Week (October 15-17): Pairing Poetry and Wine, Arrange-Your-Own Seasonal Flowers, and Virginia Beer History

Popular delivery service UrbanStems says they're already selling out. Photograph courtesy of UrbanStems.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15

FLOWERS Try your hand at arranging flowers at Milk Bar Logan Circle. Learn how to pair flowers with an autumnal color palette at a floral arranging class led by UrbanStems, then take home your confetti bouquet in a milk jug vase. And since sweets can fuel creativity, there will be Milk Bar treats to enjoy while you work. $45, 6:30 PM.

WINE Chicago-based sommelier Regine Rousseau will pair wines with her poetry at a Words & Wine event at City Winery. Rousseau will read from her new book, Searching for Cloves and Lilies: The Wine Edition, while guests feel the emotions in her words on their tastebuds through wines whose flavors are matched with the sentiments in her poems. $45, 6:30 PM.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16

PODCAST The Slate podcast Slow Burn delves into the Bill Clinton scandal with its second season (the first season focused on the Watergate). Host Leon Neyfakh will be in conversation with Washington Post writer Ruth Marcus and Invisibilia host Hanna Rosin at The Hamilton; hear these three reflect on Clinton and Monica Lewinsky from a modern perspective. $30-$60, 7:30 PM.

BOOKS Hispanic Heritage Month technically ends on October 15, but the Library of Congress is keeping the celebration going with a lecture and reading from Mexican novelist Cristina Rivera Garza at the LOC’s Thomas Jefferson Building. Her latest novel, The Taiga Syndrome (El mal de la Taiga), was published in English; she will be in conversation with translators Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana. Free (advanced registration recommended), 4 PM.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17

THEATRE Theater J’s new production Actually opens on Wednesday at Arena Stage. Particularly topical after this month’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings and the #MeToo movement, the play explores consent on a college campus, where what starts as a casual hook-up turns into a very public hearing. Through November 18. $30-$69.

BEER Learn about the history of beer in Virginia from Lee Graves, who will discuss his new book, Virginia Beer: A Guide from Colonial Days to Craft’s Golden Age, at Mad Fox Brewing in Falls Church. Several CEOs and brewers from local breweries will be on hand to discuss their experiences working in the industry; local beers will also be available for tasting. Free to attend, 6:30 PM.

FILM The next film in the Avalon’s French Cinémathèque series, School of Life, follows a young orphan boy named Paul in pre-World War II France. When Paul goes to live with his relative in the countryside, he encounters an idyllic environment that’s a stark contrast to the prison-like walls of his Parisian orphanage. Paul explores this new world with the help of a local poacher who takes him under his wing. $12.50, 8 PM.