It’s Cold Out There!
Hello Neighbor,
I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend!
So, What Should You Do Jan 18 – 23?
For your convenience, this newsletter includes emojis to help you during these unprecedented times:
- The 🛋 indicates an event is happening in-person inside.
- The 🌲 indicates an event is happening in-person outside.
- The 💻 indicates an event is happening virtually.
- The 💉 indicates an event requires proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test.
- And lastly, the 🆓 indicates an event is free.
Top Picks of the Week
1. MLK Jr + voting rights. 🗳 Enjoy a showing of “Selma” (Wed, free, 🛋/💉, Kennedy Center) or learn about the Memphis Sanitation Strike at various showings of “I Am A Man” (Wed, free, 🛋/💉, Penn Quarter). Attend a conversation with award-winning journalist Karen Gray Houston (Thurs, free, 🛋/💉, Penn Quarter), discussing her new book, “Daughter of the Boycott: Carrying on a Montgomery Family’s Civil Rights Legacy.”
2. Jewels of light. ⛪ Decode the symbolism and stylistic evolution of the National Cathedral’s stained-glass windows on this behind-the-scenes tour (Sat and Sun, $30, 🛋/💉, Cathedral Heights).
3. Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week. 🍽 Kicking off this week, enjoy $25 brunch and $40 or $50 dinner menus from restaurants all across the DMV. Here is a round-up of new destinations to try, by Washingtonian food editor Anna Spiegel.
4. Danger Will Robinson. 🤖 Wonder about the role of robots in the future? Hear from the maker of the RoomieBot (Thurs, free, 🛋/💉, National Mall).
5. Have you ever considered curling? 🥌 Get ready for the Olympics by practicing your stone-throwing technique at the Wharf. Spots are sold out for this week, but sign-ups open Thursday (curl on Wednesdays, free, 🌲, The Wharf) for an opportunity to curl next week!
Everything Else This Week
- Art exhibit openings. 🖼 Watch a duet of motorized piano and hyperreal projections at Artechouse’s new exhibit, “Transient: Impermanent Paintings” (ongoing, $24 for adults, 🛋/💉, The Wharf). “Inheritance of White Silence” (starts Wed, free, 🛋/💉, Rockville) by Hannah Brancato explores internalized racism and complicity in the system of white supremacy through embroidering and cutting-out phrases in linen napkins. There’s an opening reception for “Reign” (Thurs, free, 🛋, Ballston) by Briana Hertzog; the exhibit features fanciful paintings of queens and their subjects. The Pancakes & Booze Art Show (Thurs, $20, 🛋/💉, Park View) will feature over 100 local artists, unlimited pancakes, and body painting. There’s also the opening of “Deaf Geographies” (starts Sat, free, 🛋, Hyattsville) which invites visitors to have a deeper understanding of the complexities of deaf life through art.
- Mother Nature, but virtual. 🌍 Learn about the natural forces (Tues, free, 💻) combating climate change with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. For those planning trips, maybe take a virtual tour of Yosemite National Park (Tues, free, 💻) with REI.
- Twenty-one years ago. 🤑💘 Learn the choreography to JLO’s 2001 song “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” (Fri, 💻,$20 or 🛋/💉, $30, Friendship Heights).
- Is outdoor karaoke the cousin of caroling? 🎤 I don’t have the answer, but join metrobar for their monthly outdoor hot cocoa karaoke party (Sat, free, 🛋/💉, Edgewood).
- Wine all about it. 🍷 Gather your own drinking buddies for a “Drink The District” wine festival (Sat, $69+, 🛋/💉, Park View) at Hook Hall or a South Africa wine-tasting lecture at home (Fri, $75, 💻). Or meet others at this seminar about Dry January (Thurs, 🛋/💉 $10).
- Japan 🤝 basketball. 🗾🏀 The Wizards will be hosting a Japanese Heritage Night (Fri, $25+, 🛋/💉, Chinatown) where attendees will be gifted a limited-edition Japanese heritage scarf.
- The new year of the trees. 🕍 Celebrate by crafting your own Tu B’Shvat seder with Sixth & I (Wed, $12, 💻).
- Celebrate drag all week. 🌈 Take part in a RuPaul’s Drag Race Watch Party (Fri, free, 🛋/💉, Union Market). Celebrate local performers with Superstar: A Variety Drag Revue (Sat, free, 🛋/💉, Union Market) at Songbyrd or All Purposes’ Monumental Drag Brunch (Sat, $20, 🛋/💉, Navy Yard).
- Flowers + plants. 🌿🌻 Find new plant friends at 3 Stars Brewing Co.’s plant swap (Sun, free, 🛋/💉, Lamond Riggs). Or learn some new techniques at She Loves Me’s flower arranging class (Wed, $80, 🛋/💉, Eckington) or the US Botanical Garden’s winter wreath–making demo (Fri, free, 💻).
- A self-defense workshop. ⛔ Become familiar with different techniques of self-defense (Sat, $22, 🛋, Alexandria) at this workshop hosted at Lost Boy Cider.
- “The Black Joke.” Join a book talk about this ship, which patrolled the western coast of Africa as part of the British Royal Navy’s anti-slavery squadron (Thurs, free, 💻) and played a significant role in the fight to end the transatlantic slave trade.
- Crafting corner. 🧶 Uncover a new pandemic hobby at DC Library’s sewing machine (Tues, free, 💻) seminar. Join a cocktail + paint-your-pet (Thurs, $20, 🛋/💉, Union Market) workshop with Sarah Paints Rappers and Last Call. Bend, hammer, and solder silver at a couples ring-making workshop (Sat, $165, 🛋, Alexandria). Make your own dinosaur and unicorn soaps (Sat, $45, 🛋, Alexandria) or a beaded bracelet (Sat, $20, 💻).
- For those with little ones. 🧸 Travel to the island of Sodor with the National Children’s Museum’s new exhibit “Thomas & Friends: Explore the Rails!” (opens Fri, $16 for adults, 🛋, downtown). See the story of “Corduroy” (Sat, $28, 🛋/💉, Bethesda) come to life at Imagination Stage–there’s a Planet Word Day where children attending will receive a copy of the book. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the DC Public Library has activity kits (pick up until Feb 4) as well as origami dove-making (Tues, 🛋, 💉, Chevy Chase).
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of this newsletter,
Jade Womack (@clockoutdc)
Jade Womack is an energy economist by day, and an events blogger by night. She started her blog, Clockout DC, when she was moonlighting as a bartender in 2019. She grew up in Arlington, and currently lives in Adams Morgan with her dog.
