V.w.verweij

We're so accustomed to symmetry in the face that when nature throws an eye-color curveball, the effect is pretty striking.

This week’s Pet of the Week is Winston, another friendly frenchie who loves discovering all the adventures Arlington has to offer a small dog.

Winston is still a puppy and, like most puppies, enjoys exploring the outside world, especially around his Clarendon neighborhood. From picking up the best sticks on the block to visiting his favorite stores, Winston just wants to have fun and make new friends.

Here’s what Winston’s parents had to say about their snuggly, snorting pet:

Winston is a three-year-old French Bulldog clown who is convinced that he is part human. You may have seen him strutting the streets of Clarendon inspecting every tree patch, sitting on the corner people-watching, or stopping in the local stores just to say “hello” — and to see if there are treats on hand! If you are one of the many to stop and say hi, you will surely be greeted with a “frenchie” kiss.

Winston loves both his canine brethren and any human bearing treats or willing to give scratches. He’s a stick enthusiast and often asks to go outside just to circle back to that perfect stick he saw on his walk. He’ll make sure everyone sees how proud he is of his prize as he takes it all the way home, often carrying them for several blocks. Once inside, he loves to “zoomie” around the apartment. Despite a bit of stubbornness when he wants to stay put, you can’t help but smile at his face.

His nightly routine includes wrestling with his dad, Kris, and snuggling with his mom, Jennifer. In the morning, he asks to be picked up in the bed so he can get in a quality 30 minute snuggle before he starts his day.

Winston is truly a one-of-a-kind dog and we look forward to all the years he’ll be snorting and snoring with us. If you see him out be sure to say hello! He’ll love you — seriously — forever!

Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email arlingtonnews@gmail.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.

Photo courtesy Peppermint Pony

From a press release:

“Constellation Theatre, “A must see destination,” according to the Washington Post, will be hosting a Pony Pop Up this Sunday, January 17.

The Pony Pop Up, happening on the sidewalk in front of the building [1835 14th Street, NW], will take place between 12pm and 3pm, where passersby will get a chance to pet and feed a pony and a miniature horse. The event is presented in partnership with Peppermint Pony and is a promotional event for Constellation Theatre’s upcoming performance of the play, Equus, running January 13 to February 14^th at SOURCE (tickets available for $20-$45 at http://www.constellationtheatre.org/equus.html).

Equus tells the story of a troubled teenager whose dangerous obsession with horses leads him to commit an unspeakable act of violence. Ritualized worship and sexual ecstasy entangle in this theatrical masterpiece featuring a chorus of human horses.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Bossi

If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“Thor during his very first car ride on the way to his forever home in the Southern Ave Area!”

And Here’s the very first Christmas Photo of Ruthie and Thor in the Southern Ave Area.”

“Jill found a new spot to sit.”

In December, Cosby was arraigned for indecent assault. [ more › ]

The Plume Report has released what they are calling 'the first worldwide air map'. This will obviously come as a bit of a surprise to the World Air Quality Index, whose own real-time air pollution map has been around for a few years now. The Plume Report Map is also a live real-time map of air pollution around the world. The claim that this is the first worldwide map rests on Plume's ability

Achewood strip for Friday, January 8, 2016

If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“Palin in Petworth not yet in the holiday spirit”

“Gypsy from Hill East, thinking he is still a kitten, obviously.”

A Hooded Merganser drake.

     Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) are among the handsomest of diving ducks. They are also the smallest of our 3 mergansers (referred to as "Sawbills" and "Fish Ducks" by hunters due to the serrated edges of their bills used to catch fish and other creatures). Hoodies are about 18" and weigh less than 2 lbs. Indeed only the Eurasian Smew is a smaller merganser. The scientific name is derived from the Greek "lophos" for "crest" and "dutes" for "diver." Their specific name "cucullatus" comes from the Latin for "hood." Their distinctive crests or hoods are a signature field mark and also gives them other names that are sometimes used: Hairy Heads or Puffy Heads.

Some Hooded Mergansers, both drakes and hens, show why they are also called "Hairy Heads" or "Puffy Heads."

     Hoodies are also only indigenous to North America, rarely straying off the continent as they're relatives occasionally do. The term "merganser" comes to us by way of several languages. "Mergus" is Latin for "diver" while "anser" means "goose." Meanwhile "meer" is Germanic for "sea" and "ganser" refers to a "goose." All mergansers are are diving ducks, tend to be large, usually have crests, and have thin, serrated bills useful in catching prey. Hooded Mergansers are not only smaller, but frequent fresh water much more than any of their other native cousins. It is uncommon to see them in even brackish water as they favor fresh water almost exclusively.
     Although Hooded Mergansers are extremely good divers (their legs are set so far back on their bodies that they are clumsy on land) and are quite adept at catching fish (perhaps better than their cousins), they also ingest more vegetable matter than other mergansers. In general, ducks that feed on vegetation are said to be much better tasting than ducks who feed on fish and other creatures.
     But while Hoodies are considered the least "fishy" tasting and best eating of the mergansers, they are rarely hunted. Indeed there is very little hunting for any type of merganser. I've had friends try and eat Hooded Mergansers and they tell me that they are quite horrid, no matter how you prepare them. So despite being legal to hunt during the regular duck seasons, no one really hunts them and there is very little hunting pressure for any other merganser either.
     Winter is the best time to see Hooded Mergansers in the DC area. Many overwinter with us, staying this far North as long as there is open water. They form small flocks of about 6-12 birds before pairing up by the end of winter. Drakes (males) do not attain their black and white "Hairy Heads" until the second year and do so only from Fall through the breeding season. First year birds look females, with a disheveled-looking crest, except for having dark bills and yellow eyes. Adult breeding displays are neat to watch, with males showing off their crests, flipping their heads back as they try and convince hens (females), which are often in short supply, to pair up with them. 

A Hoodie hen.

     For a short video of them displaying, please check out this short YouTube video from the Capital Naturalist Channel:

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNXpfM_Spy8 

Two Hoodie drakes displaying against each other with a hen nearby.

     Once they pair up, hens look for cavities to nest in (drakes take no part in rearing young as in most waterfowl), mostly North of our region, but a few hang around and attempt to nest. For quite a while, Hooded Merganser numbers have been low due to loss of habitat, particularly large enough trees with cavities for the hens to use. Some resort to nesting on top of stumps and as far away as half a mile from water. Shortage of suitable sites also results in their dumping their eggs into the nests of not only other Hoodies, but Wood Ducks and occasionally other waterfowl. Since they often are out competed by Wood Ducks for the same accommodations, it was a while before their numbers rebounded. 
     However, their numbers now appear secure. They likely benefited from nesting boxes put out for Wood Ducks and other conservation efforts. They also occasionally will share nesting cavities with Wood Ducks, laying their eggs among the Woodies' eggs and sometimes even taking turns brooding them. 

Hooded Mergansers with hoods both up and down.

     Hoodies can swim and dive right away after parachuting from their nest. This is helpful since so many predators are willing to eat them. The females lead the young around until they fledge about 70 days later. She will sometimes conduct a "broken wing act" to lure any potential predators away while the young dive and hide. This consists of her pretending that she is hurt and splashing around just ahead of the danger until she has led it away, before she miraculously recovers. 
     These handsome ducks are very good at taking flight off the water, not needing the long pattering along the surface that many other divers need. Every year I look forward to going to my favorite sites to watch them court one another, flipping their "hairy heads" back and chasing one another. They are not only among the prettiest of ducks, but also among the more interesting in the way they behave. 

Mapping the Second Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1940 is an animated timeline map showing the rise of klaverns in the United States between 1915 and 1940. The Virginia Commonwealth Library says that the first 'Klan of Reconstruction' and the third 'Klan of the Civil Rights era' were both mainly concentrated in the Deep South. This animated map shows how the second Klan spread across the United States.

Woodley Park.

politemetallyrics:

Motörhead

12 ways to make Christmas Mass more fun

buy this print!

Just a little one, from my trusty book of manners. I don't know about Americans, but I love puttin' my feet up! I won't do it on your kitchen table though.

Well I have had a very busy year. I finished two books, and published two books, and toured them with four different publishers. I'm writing to you now from my new Nova Scotia home, where I moved to at the end of December. Farewell Toronto! I will miss all my lovely comics friends. If you go to Toronto, be sure to take in The Beguiling comic store, or the Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF) in May.

Again, I have everyone here to thank for my books coming off of any bookstore shelf in the first place. Thank you for sticking with me, and my work, all this time. Here's a cheers, to many more years together. *Clink!* (that was two wine glasses)

xoxo

kate

For those who wait until the last minute to finish their holiday shopping, NBC’s Today Show has compiled a list of 40 gift ideas. This year, a local author’s book is included on that list.

Arlington resident Liz Lord’s first self-published book Oscar Takes Off! The Eco-Adventures of “Oscocopter” is an illustrated story written for readers ages 3-8 but has a message for all ages about protecting the environment.

On Today’s list — which had its own segment on the show Thursday morning — the story is described as follows:

A kids book that even adults will love. This teaches kids about climate change and the environment in a fun way. Kids will love Oscar and parents will love the lesson he imparts.

A synopsis of the story sent to ARLnow describes the main character as Oscar, an octopus who discovers he can fly like like a helicopter and uses that skill to go on “the first of many global eco-advenutres” after unwelcome debris settles in his ocean home. The story is meant to encourage readers to become environmentally conscious and friendly.

A Kickstarter campaign launched in March successfully funded the book, including illustrations, design and publishing. Oscar Takes Off! was put on Amazon about a month ago, and more than 150 copies have been sold.

The story’s message isn’t the only way the book tries to help the environment. All royalties the book earns are donated to Oceana, an organization working to protect oceans around the world.

As a last-minute holiday gift or otherwise, the book is available online for $6.99.

A man was arrested early Sunday morning after allegedly doing lines of cocaine off of a table at Goody’s restaurant in Clarendon.

The incident happened just before 3 a.m. Police say 26-year-old William Donovan of Vienna, Va. was sitting by himself at a table in the tiny pizzeria, snorting cocaine. A uniformed Arlington County police officer who was standing nearby witnessed the alleged drug use and went to arrest Donovan.

At that point Donovan, who police say was highly intoxicated, defiantly said something to the effect of “I’m going home tonight,” and took a “fighting stance,” according to ACPD spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

Donovan began kicking and punching the officer, prompting a witness to jump in and help restrain him while additional officers sped to the scene, Sternbeck said.

Donovan was charged with possession of cocaine, two counts of assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, according to Sternbeck, and is being held without bond.

He “eventually apologized while being transported to jail,” Sternbeck noted.

If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“Olive Gold is a one year old female Shichon (shitzu bichon). Chinatown”

“Oliver Queen of North Cleveland Park, doing his part to help the Rebel Alliance.”

“Finn (the corgi/reindeer) and Chulo are ready for the holidays (and treats)!”

In 1857, radical conservatives of the "Know Nothing" party in Washington, imbued with contempt for Roman Catholics, mounted an extraordinary attempt to forcibly prevent the naturalized citizens of Washington from voting in local elections. The result was the infamous Election Day Riot on June 1 at a polling station just south of Mount Vernon Square. The New York Times called it "one of the most daring insurrectionary riots of bloodshed and murder that ever disgraced a city." Six people were killed by a Marine detachment that was called in to quell the disturbance. While the troublemakers ultimately failed in their attempt to prevent voting by Catholic immigrants, the incident was deeply embarrassing for 19th century Washingtonians and gave them a tangible sense of the tragic consequences of religious intolerance in political affairs.

Marines firing on the mob at Northern Liberties Market, from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 29, 1857. (Source: Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Vol. 24, 1922).

Upheaval overseas—including the Irish potato famine and the Revolution of 1848 in Germany—led to large numbers of Irish and German immigrants to the United States in the 1840s and 1850s. These desperate people, willing to making the arduous journey to America in hopes of a better life, would enrich the country immeasurably in years to come, and many were happy to see them come. But to Anglo American "nativists," they were foreign transgressors bent on destroying American society as the Anglos knew it. The nativists pointed to the increasing numbers of destitute and homeless immigrants crowding the nation's cities—Washington's notorious Swampoodle was an example—as evidence that the newcomers were bringing the country down. They began organizing themselves in secret to resist the immigrants and all they stood for, especially their predominant religion, Roman Catholicism. Supposedly if a member of this secret group were asked anything about the organization, he was supposed to reply "I know nothing," and so they became known as the Know-Nothings. Secretly calling themselves the "Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner," the group foreshadowed the growth of the Ku Klux Klan later in the 19th century.

As elsewhere in the northeast, the Know-Nothings were ascendant in Washington for a brief period in the mid 1850s and found odd ways to express their xenophobia. One particularly infamous episode occurred in March 1854, when late one night a band of Know-Nothings stormed the shed next to the unfinished Washington Monument and seized a beautiful polished marble stone that had been donated to the Monument project by Pope Pius IX. Attacking the stone with hammers and chisels, they damaged and defaced it, then threw it into the Potomac. (The stone was later recovered and carved into an obelisk, now in the National Museum of American History.) To round off their mischief, the Know-Nothings subsequently maneuvered to gain legal control over the privately-organized Monument project and through their incompetence stopped any further construction work. The result of their actions was that the stub of the monument languished uncompleted for decades to come.

Mayor William B. Magruder, an Anti-Know Nothing. (Source: Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Vol. 16, 1913).

The political power of the Know-Nothings peaked in 1854, when their candidate, printer John T. Towers (1811-1857) was elected mayor of Washington. Towers reign was short; he declined to run for re-election in 1856, setting up a bitter confrontation between the Know-Nothings' subsequent candidate, businessman Silas H. Hill, and the opposition candidate, William B. Magruder (1810-1869). Magruder was supported by a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and former Whigs known as the Anti-Know Nothing Party, and he carried the day by the slimmest of margins, winning 2,936 votes to Hill's 2, 904. Bitter over a narrow defeat they attributed to the votes of recently-naturalized Washingtonians, the Know-Nothings resolved to use force to ensure that they carried the mid-term elections in 1857 for other local government offices.

With election day set for June 1, tensions ran high. City officials assumed the Know-Nothings would find some way to try to terrorize voters, and their worst fears were soon realized. That morning members of a gang of pro Know-Nothing Baltimore street toughs known as the Plug Uglies boarded an early train for Washington and were soon on city streets looking for trouble. Afterwards it would be discovered that the Plug Uglies' train tickets were purchased with a 100-dollar bill that had been obtained at the Metropolitan Bank on 15th Street—but no one ever knew precisely who made the purchase.

The Baltimore Plug Uglies hooked up with two Washington gangs, the Chunkers and the Rip-Raps, to form a formidable mob of at least several dozen rowdies, perhaps many more. By around 9 am they were focusing their harassment on a line of Anti-Know Nothing voters stretching down the street from a polling station opposite the Northern Liberties Market at Mount Vernon Square. After some shoving and pushing that didn't have much effect, the group departed briefly, returning a short time later in larger numbers and armed to the teeth. "One man was armed with a large blacksmith's sledge; another with a horse pistol of large dimensions; a third carried a miscellaneous assortment of revolvers, bowie knives, billies, an iron bar; while a fourth carried, besides a side pocket filled with convenient stones, brickbats, &c, a large billet of oak wood of sufficient weight to fell an ox," The Daily Evening Star reported.

With cries of "Wade in, natives!" the rioters charged into the crowd and attacked anyone who looked like a recent immigrant. The newspaper reported that "A terrible scene now ensued, in which the entire crowd participated. Stone and pistols were rapidly discharged and men trampled to the earth, beaten, stamped on, and severely wounded." Police officers on the scene tried valiantly but were unable to contain the violence, and several of them were among the 20 or so victims of the attackers. "An Irishman was so dreadfully mutilated that his features were entirely undistinguishable, and his head and shoulders were covered with blood. The polls were torn down by this imported gang of Baltimore villains, the pavements were strewn with stones, clubs, and other missiles.... The buildings in the neighborhood were damaged, the doors and windows being broken in on all sides...."

Soon everyone except the Plug Uglies and their allies had scattered from the scene. Police took a few of the ringleaders into custody, but the violence had effectively shut down the voting, and the remaining rioters started looking for trouble at other city polling stations. At around 11am they attacked a station at 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, firing more revolver shots and leaving several more would-be voters wounded.

President James Buchanan dithered about slavery but acted decisively to call out the Marines in Washington on March 1, 1857 (author's collection).

Mayor Magruder soon turned to President James Buchanan for help, imploring him to send out a detachment of U.S. Marines to restore order. Buchanan quickly complied. Around mid-day, two companies of marines—115 officers and men—marched out of their barracks on 8th Street SE and headed to City Hall on Judiciary Square to receive Mayor Magruder's instructions. All along the way they were accosted by rioters "hooting and yelling, threatening and insulting them at every step," according to the Star. By this time the rioters had obtained a small brass cannon from a firehouse near the Navy Yard and began marching their prize up 7th Street to the Northern Liberties Market where the polling station was still shut down. Brandishing their revolvers and clubs, they vowed to defend themselves with their cannon and threatened to kill all of the marines called out to disarm them.

Magruder sent the marines to Mount Vernon Square to disarm the Plug Uglies and reopen the polling station. By the time they arrived, the rioters had set up their cannon and were threatening to fire it at the soldiers. The gun was loaded with "about half a pound of powder, sixty or seventy rifle cartridges (tied in a handkerchief), eight large stones, and several pounds of shot," according to a later grand jury report, and could have inflicted catastrophic harm on the marines if it had been fired. But Brigadier General Archibald Henderson (1783-1859), Commandant and "grand old man" of the Marine Corps, was on hand to intervene and save lives. Henderson was not formally commanding the small detachment and was unarmed, save for a cotton umbrella. He stepped up directly in front of the small cannon, bracing it with his body so that it could not be aimed at the Marine contingent, and admonished the demonstrators not to fire. As he did so, the Marines advanced, and the rioters fled from the gun.

General Henderson urging the rioters not to fire (Source: Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Vol. 24, 1922).

The Plug Uglies didn't give up without a fight, of course. They fired their revolvers as they withdrew,  and the "pistol shots now rattled around like hailstones," in the words of the Star. One shot hit one of the Marines in the jaw, seriously wounding him. With one of their own down, the young marines, many of whom were raw recruits, finally responded by shooting into the crowd. (A later inquest found that neither Henderson nor any of the officers in charge ordered the troops to fire.) The wild volley of the marines sent bullets flying in all directions, and the worst casualties of the day resulted, including several of the day's recorded deaths. Francis M. Deems, a clerk in the General Land Office, was viewing the riots from a second story window with a co-worker, Col. William F. Wilson. Deems was killed, while Wilson was shot in the arm. Other fatalities included Archibald Dalrymple, a brakeman from the Washington Branch Railroad; constable D. H. Alston; Ramy Neal, an African American waiter at Walker & Schadd's restaurant; and Christian Lindig, 16-year-old German immigrant.

The show of force by the Marines dispersed the crowds in a mad scene of chaos and bloodshed. The Plug Uglies headed back to the train station, where many were arrested. Reinforcements who were heading down to Washington from Baltimore turned back when they heard that government troops had been called out to fight them. The Election Day Riot was finally over. In the following days, there would be much soul-searching in the press about what happened, and much justifying of the action of the Marines. The standard line was that the disturbances were caused by outside elements (implying that Washingtonians on their own would never be so violent) and that the threat they posed was so overwhelming that the only possible response was to call out Federal troops.

Mount Vernon Square, home to the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., as it appears today (photo by the author).

The Election Day Riot had a profound psychological impact on Washingtonians of its day, something akin to the terror of 9/11. "In the name of all that is dear to us as Americans how long is this state of things to be tolerated?" beseeched the Evening Star on the day of the riot, reacting as much to the affront to democracy as to the violence that had ensued. Both democracy and the rule of law needed to be protected from terror, yet it was not soon achieved. The following year, a Senate Committee concluded that Washington had become a lawless place. "Riot and bloodshed are of daily occurrence. Innocent and unoffending persons are shot, stabbed, and otherwise shamefully maltreated, and not infrequently the offender is not even arrested."

The lawlessness of 1857 certainly began to turn supporters away from the Know-Nothings, who soon disintegrated politically as the divide over slavery quickly overshadowed all other issues. If it had not been for the Civil War, the memory of the Know-Nothings perhaps would not have been so quickly forgotten. In any event, firsthand witnesses of the 1857 riot couldn't help but feel uneasy about the possibility of terror and violence in future local elections. According to historian George Rothwell Brown, many were not unwilling to give up their local voting rights in 1874 when Congress abolished the city's elected offices and established the commissioner-based government that would continue for much of the next century. It's impossible to know for sure how people felt, but there's little doubt that the Know-Nothings' xenophobia, religious intolerance, and contempt for democracy had a terrible impact on Washington.


Sources included George Rothwell Brown, Washington: A Not Too Serious History (1930); Constance McLaughlin Green, Washington A History of the Capitol, 1800-1950 (1962); Tom Lewis, Washington: A History of Our National City (2015); Arthur Meier Schlesinger, "The Significance of Immigration in American History" in American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 27, No. 1 (1921); Rachel A. Sheldon, Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War (2013); Washington Topham, "Northern Liberty Market" in Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Vol. 24 (1922); and numerous newspaper articles.

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The following letter to the editor was submitted by Bob Meyerson, a former Arlington resident, regarding development in the county and government spending.

I am almost 70 years old. I grew up in Arlington. I was last in Arlington in October for a reunion of (if you can believe it) the Woodlawn Elementary School Class of 1958, and recently before that I attended the W-L class of 1964 50 year reunion.

My purpose in writing is to express my utter shock and dismay at how Arlington has been destroyed, and for no good reason that I can discern, except for greed. There is no reason that so many people and hi-rise buildings should have been jammed into, as your publication proclaims, the smallest self governing county in the country. Why couldn’t the county have been left as it was in the “old days,” i.e., with predominantly single family home neighborhoods, albeit perhaps upgraded, renovated or replaced with more modern structures?

And commercial areas, i.e., Ballston, Clarendon, etc., rejuvenated without creating these New York City type ant hill like colonies with people jammed together? Why, I can’t even find my way around most of the county any more!

When I was in the first grade at John Marshall Elementary, I remember riding the school bus by an old house on Military Road with a milk cow in the front yard! And, when I was older, I remember a newspaper story of an old woman who lived on a small farm just off Glebe Road near Chain Bridge, who was evicted from her property for her inability to pay inflated taxes on a property she had lived on for most of her adult life…just so developers could build a bunch of (even for those days) McMansions. Also, I’d be really interested to know how much money the county and its residents have had to expend over the years on larger government, larger numbers of county personnel, greater numbers of emergency vehicles, larger structures to house county government and other inflated county expenditures. In Tuesday’s issue of your publication, there are stories about Arlington spending $637,500 here, and a million dollars there, like it was chump change!

I am not saying Arlington should have remained in the 1950s and 1960s (although I do miss that time period there). I am saying Arlington could have remained a successful, serene “bedroom” community adjacent to Washington, D.C. Instead, it is a place I can’t even recognize or claim as my home town anymore. Sadly, I would no more move back there (even if I could afford to) than I would move to Manhattan, New York City.

Bob Meyerson
Formerly of N. Woodstock Street and N. Quebec Street

ARLnow.com occasionally publishes thoughtful letters to the editor about issues of local interest. To submit a letter to the editor, please email it to arlingtonnews@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for content and brevity.

Photo by USDA via Wikipedia

Image files are here if you want to print them yourself.

This week’s Pet of the Week is Gus, a fawn french bulldog who just turned two years old over the Thanksgiving holiday.

He’s still a puppy and likes to show it, chewing on items that aren’t meant to be chewed. It’s a sign he has a lot of energy, proven by his love for exercise and spending time outdoors around Arlington.

Here’s what Gus’ owner had to say about the sometimes stubborn but incredibly friendly pup:

Hi there!

I’m Gus, and I’m a fawn frenchie with a big personality. I was born in Arkansas, but raised in Arlington with my mom and dad. I love road trips to Virginia Beach to visit my grandparents and running free in their backyards since I don’t have one of my own. My parents hope we’ll get one soon.

I LOVE eating tissue, whether it’s toilet paper or Kleenex, as well as any kind of paper lying around. My favorite things to chew on are the remote controls and the bottoms of my beds. I’m pretty sure my parents are on their seventh remote control and I’m on my fourth bed (but who’s counting anyway?). My parents say I snore and fart a lot too, but I can’t help it since I’m a “bully.”

I like to lounge around outside on a nice sunny day — especially around Iwo Jima — and I just have to say hello to everyone. My parents claim I have more friends than they do. Whenever I want to say hello to a fellow dog, I won’t move and, as my parents call it, I will “pancake” out wherever I am. Again, that’s just the stubbornness of the “bully” breed in me!

So, if you ever find yourself around the Iwo Jima area and see me lying around, come say hello! I’m sure I’d love to meet ya!

Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email arlingtonnews@gmail.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.