Happy Valentine’s Day
Hello Neighbor,
Happy Valentine’s Day!
So, What Should You Do February 14-20?
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. National Geographic Museum reopens. 🏔 The museum reopens this week with two exhibits, including the breathtaking “Once Upon a Climb: Stories from Everest,” which transports visitors to Everest’s legendary slopes (starts Wed, 🆓 timed passes required, 🛋/💉, Dupont Circle).
2. Mother Tongue Film Festival. 👄 Highlighting linguistic diversity, this Smithsonian-sponsored film festival showcases a variety of films in languages such as Tzʼutujil Maya, Ojibwa, Anishinaabe, Olelo Kanaka Niihau, Haitian Creole, Gujarati, and Inuit (Siberian Yupik). Director discussions complementing the film festival start next week (starts Thurs, 🆓, 💻).
3. Boat party inspired. 🎨 The Phillips Collection will be opening an exhibit with op artist Bridget Riley, who was inspired by work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (ongoing, $, 🛋/💉, Dupont Circle).
4. Pilobus. 💃 Turning 50, this morphing performing arts show returns. See dancers transform into objects or various forms of expression (Sun, $30+, 🛋, Fairfax).
5. Have a laugh. 🤣 Hideaway from the Sunday scaries at a Sunday Funday Comedy Show (Sun, $25, 🛋/💉, Georgetown). Enjoy a show for the comedic resistance (Wed, $20, 🛋/💉, The Wharf) or a comedy open-mic night (Mon, 🆓, 🛋/💉, Truxton Circle). And well, I’m not sure if reading your adolescent diary entries (Fri, $20, 🛋/💉, 14th St.) is a comedy show, but there’ll probably be some (nervous) laughter. Find love or laughter at a Valentine’s Day-themed comedy show (Mon, $20, Arlington).
Everything Else This Week
- Get Your best butt ever. 🍑 Join Outdoor Voices to lift and shape your hottest asset (Mon, 🆓, 🛋/💉, Georgetown).
- Wrapping up Valentine’s Day. 💘 There’s a lecture all about Love (Mon, $13, 🛋/💉, Dupont Circle), a Rock & Roll Dance Party (Mon, 🆓, 🛋 /💉, 14th St.), a floral arranging class (Fri, $50, 🛋/💉, Park View), and a Galentine’s Day Calligraphy class (Tues, $75, 🛋/💉, Union Market).
- Spring is coming. 🌳 There are a lot of nature and science talks this week including one on how diseases shape the course of human history (Tues, 🆓, 💻), the comeback of the Chesapeake’s underwater grasses (Tues, 🆓, 💻), the trees of the boreal forest (Wed, 🆓, 💻), and our earliest human ancestors (Thurs, 🆓, 💻). For those seeking something closer to home, the DC Library is hosting a talk about how climate change and urban development is affecting DC’s nature and ecology (Tues, 🆓, 💻).
- The art section. 🎨 Celebrate the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi (Wed, 🆓, 💻) or discover women and art in the Gilded Age (Thurs, $35, 💻). Attend the opening reception of “Pantone Black” (Sat, 🆓, 🛋/💉, Truxton Circle) at 11:Eleven gallery. Stop by Gallery Y for their new exhibit, “IMPACT: resilience of the Black community” (debuts Sat, 🆓, 🛋/💉, Columbia Heights) or visit the recently opened “The World In My Mind” at The Ven (ongoing, 🛋, Dupont Circle).
- Embassy events. 🇪🇸🇫🇷 Head to the Embassy of France for a showing of the film “Proxima” (Tues, $5, 🛋/💉, Glover Park) or the former Residence of the Ambassador of Spain to hear from Spanish comic artist Anapurna (Wed, 🆓, 🛋/💉, Columbia Heights).
- February 19 marks 80 years since the signing of Executive Order 9066. 💔 Join the National Museum of American History for their National Day of Remembrance program, which underscores the legacy of the wrongful incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II (Fri, 🆓, 💻).
- Craft it up. 🧶 Learn how to knit (Sun, $65, 🛋/💉, Union Market), needlepoint (Sat, $45, 🛋/💉, Georgetown), or sew (Tues, 🆓, 💻).
- Food glorious food. 🧀🍫 Make some Bánh Xèo, or crispy Vietnamese Rice Crêpes (Fri, $55, 🛋/💉, Capitol Hill) or brisket (Wed, $12, 💻). This class sounds like heaven: a cheese + chocolate tasting (Thurs, $50, 💻).
- What’s your Wordle score? 🧩 Planet Word is hosting a lecture on the power and playfulness of language games (Tues, 🆓, 💻).
- Pinoy Things. 🇵🇭 Join for a screening and a Q&A of the “Fabulous Filipino Brothers” (Fri, $25, 🛋/💉, Chinatown), which tells a story about a Filipino American family preparing for a wedding.
- For those with little ones. 🧸 Meet Elsa and friends at Disney on Ice: Let’s Celebrate (starts Thurs, $, 🛋/💉, Chinatown). Or join the National Gallery of Art’s Sketchbook Club for an exercise on Edward Hicks’ The Cornell Farm (Wed, 🆓, 💻). Also as an FYI, the Tudor Place’s Eggstravaganza tickets are now on sale.
- Black History Month. 🤎 Shop Black at Black Rock Star Super Hero Marketplace (Sun, 🆓, 🛋/💉, Lamond Riggs). Or hear from Black writers such as Marlon James (Wed, $12+, 🛋/💉, Chinatown) or a panel on the future of Black poetry, comics, and Afrofuturism (Fri, 🆓, 💻). Join Mahogany Books for an author discussion about the criminalization of Black youth (Wed, 🆓, 💻). Hanging in the Great Hall of the MLK Library, the “MLK Mural” by Don Miller is an iconic memorial dedicated to the life of Dr. King; learn more about the “The Making of the King Mural” (ongoing, 🆓, 💻).
- A few fundraisers. 💰 There’s a drag queen bingo fundraiser hosted by Red Bear Brewing Co for APA |DC (Tues, $25 suggested donation, 🛋/💉, NoMA). Or learn about how you can take a polar plunge for the Special Olympics (Wed, donation, 🌲, Navy Yard) at a happy hour hosted by the brig.
- Cherry blossom season is happening soon. 🌸 For those interested in participating in Petal Porches, registration has already opened. There’s also many ways to get involved including volunteering.
Your Neighbor,
Jade (@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.
