South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association

In the space provided below the calendar on the right, give us your best word(s)—using 15 or fewer letters—for this Silver Spring landmark. Give us fanciful words or sensible ones, scientific words or artistic ones, esoteric words or words old and familiar.

THANK YOU for your words.
JoAnne Growney, japoet@msn.com

Interested in helping make SoPo vibrant and alive?!

Join us tomorrow night at Gateway's Heliport Gallery: 8001 Kennett St.

Here is the agenda for our meeting Wednesday, 2/21 at 6:30pm

6:30-6:45: Welcome, settle down (Start thinking of a name for the block party!)

6:45 – 7pm: Block Party overview (David F.)

7 – 7:45pm: Break out into ‘Blocks’ for strategy sessions.

-- Each group will begin plotting out an execution strategy for their specific block.

7:45 – 8:15pm: Report out

-- Each group will give a brief report out of their progress.

Blocks and their Block Heads! Think about which one you'd like to work on.

Block 1: Entertainment Recruitment: Paul Mackie (Eastern Village) – Paul is a composer (he wrote a musical!) and leader of a local band

- Musicians, dancers, clowns, poets etc

Block 2: Children's Play Area: Suzy Lane (Eastern Village) – Suzy is ‘artsy’ and has a beautiful daughter Ella aka Ellagator.

- Arts & crafts, street artists

Block 3: Art Happening: Safori (8045 Newell) – Safori is a gifted artist and operator of House of Safori in Silver Spring’s A and E District

- Local artists and vendors showing off their goods

Block 4: Business and Food Vendors: Evan Glass (Aurora) – Evan is President of SSSNA and media maven for CNN

- Local businesses with goods to sell.

Block 5: Marketing: Jason Gedeik (Aurora), Janet Owens (8045 Newell) – Jason has years of marketing and PR experience and Janet was one of the first SoPo community members to volunteer to help!

- Getting the word out.

Our neighbors at Eastern Village will be hosting the next SSSNA meeting on Monday February 26th at 7:00pm.

Eastern Village is a secure building, so arrangements will be made for all attendees to enter through the main entrance (through the courtyard) at 7981 Eastern Avenue.

Remember that this important meeting will largely focus on crime/safety issues with Silver Spring Police Commander Betsy Davis and two representatives from Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin's office. This is a great opportunity for us to figure out how to proceed with the security needs of our own buildings and discuss possible solutions as a community.

Silver Spring author Mary Kay Ricks will discuss and sign Escape on the Pearl: The Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad on Saturday, February 17th, 4:00 p.m. at Borders Books, 8518 Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring. For more information call 301.585.0550.

The book recounts the unsuccessful 1848 flight of 77 slaves from Washington, DC aboard the "Pearl."

Downtown Silver Spring played a small part in this story. Abolitionist William Chaplin, who was involved in the escape attempt, was apprehended after a dramatic shootout with slave catchers that took place two years later on historic "Main Street" Georgia Avenue in the vicinity of today's Jesup Blair Park.

A historic marker at Jesup Blair Park noting the Chaplin arrest site was recently dedicated and is well worth a visit. The marker is to the right of the Georgia Avenue entrance just north of Blair Mill Road in south Silver Spring.

Due to the icy conditions on the roads, we're postponing tonight's planned panel discussion to Thursday March 15th.

From David, Jessica and Nekko!

In conjunction with Convergences Please join us March 15, Thursday, 6:30-8:30 pm at Gateway's Heliport Gallery: 8001 Kennett St. Suite 3

State department officers and their spouses who have served in and thought about the Middle East over the past 50 years will hold a panel discussion about their time in the region. Audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions about how diplomatic initiatives can support an agenda of peace…

RSVPs are encouraged, but not required, to David Fogel : david@gatewaycdc.com or 301.562.1400

Panelists:

Lora Berg:

Ms. Berg holds a double masters degree from Johns Hopkins University in international relations and poetry, and has specialized in cultural diplomacy. Lora is currently on sabbatical under the auspices of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation to join her husband Karim Chaibi in exploring convergences in Muslim and Jewish culture.

Kenneth Audroue:

Mr. Audroue is a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer with experience throughout the Middle East, from North Africa to the Gulf. He has recently taught Middle Eastern Area Studies. In addition, he has continued to study and research classical antiquity, comparative literature and languages, from an earlier academic career.

Maria Petringa :

Born in Boston, a graduate of Harvard and the Sorbonne Nouvelle, Ms. Petringa has spent her adult life in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East as a diplomatic spouse. She has worked as a teacher and translator, and is now a writer and journalist. She is the author of the new biography, Brazza, A Life for Africa, and writes art reviews for the Arab News.

Moderator:

Rev. Dr. Louisa Davis is the Convenor/Coordinator of Greater Washington Allies in Reconciliation, a new interfaith antiracism alliance committed

to "building a just and inclusive greater Washington in our lifetimes" based on the common religious values of compassion, justice, peace and human solidarity. She has a PhD in Religious Studies (UVA) and has taught religion and philosophy courses at Montgomery College for the last five years while also a United Church of Christ clergywomen with strong Quaker roots and over twenty years of experience in community activism on behalf of youth, the homeless, peace and racial justice in this area. She is a resident of Silver Spring and member of Eastern Village Cohousing.

Please remember that the Convergences exhibit opens tonight, Friday February 9 at six.

See below for local news coverage:

www.washingtonjewishweek.com
www.gazette.net
www.examiner.com

I want to invite you to the next South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association meeting on February 26 at 7:00pm (place tbd).

This will be a very important meeting to primarily discuss crime and safety issues within our community.

I have arranged for Silver Spring Police Commander Betsy Davis and community services officer Joy Patil to attend, as well as two representatives from Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin's office. An invitation has also been extended to the owner of the Days Inn & Travelodge motels.

As many of the apartment buildings are dealing with budgetary issues concerning hiring their own security personnel, we all know that residents are only as safe as their neighborhood. Commander Davis understands this and wants to work with us to develop common sense solutions to our criminal problems.

With time permitting, we will also discuss pedestrian safety issues (Councilwoman Ervin sits on the Transportation Committee) and update all on the May 20th block party.

So mark you calendar for Monday February 26th at 7:00pm. We need everyone's support to make this community the best it can be.

Stay warm!

Evan

Greetings all,

The 'Entertainment' committee for May Block Party is rolling. If you're in a band, dance troup, want to recite poetry or some other kind of performance art on the 'main stage'...we're searching for talent! Please e-mail webmaster@southsilverspring.org if you're interested or for more information!