I just got this awesome email. I encourage everyone to support this noble cause. I thought their previous venture to rename RFK stadium was brilliant but this one takes the cake. I also love that the DCOC Chairman and Curling Team Captain is a guy I vaguely knew in college:
Last year, you helped strike a blow for democracy by supporting the effort to rename RFK Stadium, "Taxation Without Representation Field at RFK Stadium." We didn't win that battle (yet), but we got a lot of attention for DC's lack of representation, and put the issue in front of new audiences in the process.
To continue this fight, we're proud to announce that we are launching a much bigger and bolder effort: District of Columbia Olympic Committee (DCOC)
That's right. We've started the process of getting Olympic teams for the District of Columbia. We figure if other territories that have a single, non-voting delegate in Congress like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands can have their own Olympic teams, why not DC? If we can't have representation in Congress -- then we should at least have representation in the Olympics.
We've even put together a curling team -- it was the only sport that fit our collective athletic prowess, plus nobody wanted to wear the tight body suits for the luge. (We're pretty sure you didn't want to see that either.) The DCOC even has an offcial sponsor, Labatt Beer.
We're going to need your help in pleading our case to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Please join us and send a message to the IOC today. Tell them to "Let DC Play!"
You can learn more about this effort at http://www.dcolympicteam.org/. Visit the site, join a team, and send a message to the International Olympic Committee. You'll be helping make the case for democracy in DC.
Please spread this to your 10,000 closest friends -- especially any who are reporters, have blogs, or just like to talk a lot .
Thanks,
Mike Panetta & the DC Olympic Committee
(aka, the Taxation Without Representation Stadium Crew)
Last year, you helped strike a blow for democracy by supporting the effort to rename RFK Stadium, "Taxation Without Representation Field at RFK Stadium." We didn't win that battle (yet), but we got a lot of attention for DC's lack of representation, and put the issue in front of new audiences in the process.
To continue this fight, we're proud to announce that we are launching a much bigger and bolder effort: District of Columbia Olympic Committee (DCOC)
That's right. We've started the process of getting Olympic teams for the District of Columbia. We figure if other territories that have a single, non-voting delegate in Congress like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands can have their own Olympic teams, why not DC? If we can't have representation in Congress -- then we should at least have representation in the Olympics.
We've even put together a curling team -- it was the only sport that fit our collective athletic prowess, plus nobody wanted to wear the tight body suits for the luge. (We're pretty sure you didn't want to see that either.) The DCOC even has an offcial sponsor, Labatt Beer.
We're going to need your help in pleading our case to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Please join us and send a message to the IOC today. Tell them to "Let DC Play!"
You can learn more about this effort at http://www.dcolympicteam.org/. Visit the site, join a team, and send a message to the International Olympic Committee. You'll be helping make the case for democracy in DC.
Please spread this to your 10,000 closest friends -- especially any who are reporters, have blogs, or just like to talk a lot .
Thanks,
Mike Panetta & the DC Olympic Committee
(aka, the Taxation Without Representation Stadium Crew)
This is, above all else, a blog about DC. More specifically, it's about a DC that the residents - you know, the people who actually have to live and function in this town - would like to see. Nightlife. Food-life. Transit-life. Politics-life. Life in DC, how it should be.
About our name:
As all you DCers know, and as most of you non-DCers don't know, there is neither a West Capitol Street nor a J Street in the District. There's no West Capitol Street because that's where the National Mall is. It's part of the design.
But why no J Street? When I moved to town in 2000, one of my friends explained that the theory he heard (which, to be fair, he presented as an urban legend) was that Pierre L'Enfant had a grudge against John Jay supposedly due to some malfeasance with a woman. Out of spite, when L'Enfant named the streets, he skipped over J.
Other theories suggest other forms of animosity between the two, mostly over some treaty or some other slight L'Enfant felt America had done upon France.
The most likely story, according to both The Straight Dope and Snopes, is much more mundane. Back in the day, the letters I and J were used somewhat interchangeably. It would be somewhat akin to us having a C Street for the "s" sound C can produce, and another C Street one block away for the "k" sound. Having I and J together would just be confusing. Hence the newer letter, J, was omitted.
West Capitol and J is an intersection that doesn't exist. This blog is about a DC that does not exist, but one we'd like to see.
About the authors:
Jambro is a semi-retired director in the theatre, and was co-Artistic Director of The Theatre Conspiracy until 2000. She is currently occupationally slumming it for a think tank in Dupont. She currently enjoys Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD (TV series), and really All Things Whedon, in addition to Lingo (and really, All Things Woolery). She's hot, taken, and has her own blog.
Checkypantz is the other writer here. He's underemployed and looking. He currently enjoys All Things Cybertronian and All Things Constitutional. He's somewhat less hot than Jambro, and also has his own blog.
A sidenote: If there were a "West Capitol Street" and a "J Street", and they followed the conventional taxonomy of the rest of DC (i.e., they go where you would expect them to go), they would never intersect. It's the one failing of the name, really. This is all stuff that we'd want to see in DC, stuff that's possible, and even likely. "West Capitol and J" just has the benefit of being clever.
About our name:
As all you DCers know, and as most of you non-DCers don't know, there is neither a West Capitol Street nor a J Street in the District. There's no West Capitol Street because that's where the National Mall is. It's part of the design.
But why no J Street? When I moved to town in 2000, one of my friends explained that the theory he heard (which, to be fair, he presented as an urban legend) was that Pierre L'Enfant had a grudge against John Jay supposedly due to some malfeasance with a woman. Out of spite, when L'Enfant named the streets, he skipped over J.
Other theories suggest other forms of animosity between the two, mostly over some treaty or some other slight L'Enfant felt America had done upon France.
The most likely story, according to both The Straight Dope and Snopes, is much more mundane. Back in the day, the letters I and J were used somewhat interchangeably. It would be somewhat akin to us having a C Street for the "s" sound C can produce, and another C Street one block away for the "k" sound. Having I and J together would just be confusing. Hence the newer letter, J, was omitted.
West Capitol and J is an intersection that doesn't exist. This blog is about a DC that does not exist, but one we'd like to see.
About the authors:
Jambro is a semi-retired director in the theatre, and was co-Artistic Director of The Theatre Conspiracy until 2000. She is currently occupationally slumming it for a think tank in Dupont. She currently enjoys Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD (TV series), and really All Things Whedon, in addition to Lingo (and really, All Things Woolery). She's hot, taken, and has her own blog.
Checkypantz is the other writer here. He's underemployed and looking. He currently enjoys All Things Cybertronian and All Things Constitutional. He's somewhat less hot than Jambro, and also has his own blog.
A sidenote: If there were a "West Capitol Street" and a "J Street", and they followed the conventional taxonomy of the rest of DC (i.e., they go where you would expect them to go), they would never intersect. It's the one failing of the name, really. This is all stuff that we'd want to see in DC, stuff that's possible, and even likely. "West Capitol and J" just has the benefit of being clever.
