There was a parade this morning at Franklin Square to celebrate Emancipation Day -- not that anyone much noticed, what with Pope Benedict XVI's visit taking up all the attention. But indeed today is an important District-wide holiday, as it was on this day in 1862 that President Abraham Lincoln freed over 3,000 slaves in the District with the declaration of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which came eight months before slaves were freed throughout the......

Happy Almost Holidays, Washington. With both Monday and Tuesday counting as a holiday for the federal government this year, most of D.C. is staring down a nice, long holiday break today. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, federal holidays are great for a lot of other reasons besides a day off - you don't have to feed parking meters, for instance. But The Examiner reports that that fact isn't stopping people from shoveling coins into......

>> Congress has taken away D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi's pay raise in the wake of the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. Happy Holidays, Mr. Gandhi! [WaPo] >> What kind of person steals a wheelchair? [NBC4] >> Free holiday EP from Vandaveer. [You Ain't No Picasso] >> Marvin is already expanding. [Prince of Petworth] >> Christopher Hitchens sings at the Reason Secular Christmas party. [via City Desk] Photo by AlbinoFlea......

I love holiday photos like this, warm with just a hint of sparkle, rather than the garish no-holds-barred plastic Santa light display preferred by those with the festive spirit in overdrive. DC Jeff took this postcard perfect image somewhere on the Georgetown campus. Happy holidays indeed. Have you submitted your application for DCist Exposed 2008 yet? No time like the present! The 2007 winners are all over the place: mark your calendars for 6......

Living in the Nation's Capital, with so many free events going on year-round, it might seem silly to spend a princely sum of money for the privilege of becoming a Member of a local arts organization. But there are a number of good reasons to think about becoming a member -- maybe you're interested in a particular subject that's only shown at a pay-for museum, maybe you're an artist looking to grab a foothold in......

Is everyone already leaving town for the holidays? Our calendar here at Reader, Meet Author is looking a little lonely right now. If you have any tips or complaints that we're not posting all the awesome poetry readings, feel free to email us. MONDAY: Caroline Kennedy will be at Politics and Prose to share the Christmas prose most dear to her. It's all in her latest book, A Family Christmas, which includes tributes to Irving......

The winter holidays are a big time of year for family. You take photos, somebody always wears a dumb sweater with a reindeer on it, you eat together, shop together, and so on. It's also a big time for couples — do you go to one person's parents' house? Spend time together on the big days? Or purposefully avoid spending it together? And sometimes, even the smallest details take on a lot of symbolism. Quote......

It is truly the most wonderful time of year — for caterers, that is. D.C. knows how to feast. Between all the holiday/non-denominational/winter solstice parties for every single nonprofit/government/lobby/press room in town and our own personal holiday events, the humble art of bringing a homemade dish to any event has fallen by the wayside. Personally, I’ll be bringing a dozen Krispy Kreme jelly doughnuts to a Hanukkah party this weekend. On the other hand, there......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

Seeing A Tuna Christmas is like going home for the holidays. Not because my family clan is anything like the wacky clan of characters who make up Tuna, the third smallest town in Texas. But because the sense of humor, silly and pun-tastic, is exactly like my Dad's. And while I can't say it isn't amusing, it's kind of nice that I only really have to deal with it for extended periods of time when......

Good morning, Washington. It's Columbus Day, the least observed of all the federal holidays -- or is that Veterans' Day? Unless you work directly for the government or your job is absolutely dependent on it being open for business, odds are about even you're sitting at your desk at the usual time this morning, as a trade-off for getting to take the Friday after Thanksgiving off. It's also, of course, a controversial day, and is......

Written by DCist contributor Angela Olson. Ballet Folklórico de México finishes an engagement at George Mason University Center for the Arts Concert Hall today. The Mexico City based dance company has long been a must see for travelers attracted by their colorful and energetic performances. The dancing exemplifies the spirit of Mexico, and the company puts on a great show for all ages. With six foot tall headdresses, carnival costumes and a live Mariachi band,......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

We've come a long way, baby. The archetype of the dysfunctional family may go back farther than anyone can remember. But for the longest time, people just had to cope with passive aggressive animosity. At best, you could have lots of alcohol available to make the proceedings easier. The pharmaceutical companies, however, are always looking out for the best interests of you and yours. Their first success? Numbing emotional response to the point where no......

>> Today is Ice Cream Soda Day. We're just going to start making up our own holidays at this point. Tomorrow is National Pedicure Day, and the day after that is Give A Stranger a Teddy Bear Day, OK? [Freakonomics Blog] >> A man who tried to force a co-worker into a sex act with a knife was only arrested because he's such a good employee. [City Desk] >> More on whether those beer......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

In a city of monuments to great Americans, it's easy to think that the more recent monumistas began the trend of honoring foreign heroes. But for nearly a century, a statue of Polish freedom fighter Casimir Pulaski has made its home at 13th St. and Pennsylvania Ave., in what is now known as D.C.'s Freedom Plaza. The plaza, designed in 1980, is mainly a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement,......

The holidays are over. We're as sad to report it as you are to hear it, because next week, for the first time in over a month, we have to work a full five days. Some of you who had less lenient schedules may be primed to tell us to quit our whining. Those of us who spent the past month stringing together vacation days and holidays to make a patchwork of leisure time punctuated......

By Amanda and Ben Page This week, we took the phrase “Eating In” very seriously. With those pesky credit card bills from the the holidays rolling in, we decided to forgo dining out for inspiration and turn instead to the cold hard cash in our wallets. We gave ourselves exactly $10* to purchase ingredients for a delectable meal for two. We wanted three components (protein, vegetable and starch) on our plates. And we still intended......

It looks like a lot of folks have been using the holidays to post great photos to the DCist Pool. We're looking forward to posting more of them over the course of the week. To get things started, we picked one full of holiday cheer while it's still vaguely topical. On that note, check out Eye Captain's shot of a lightstravaganza near Baltimore (EXIF). Those who take a strict view on post-Christmas protocol will......

DCist is taking the day off to celebrate Christmas in our usual manner (passed out on the sidewalk in a pool of eggnog), but allow us to say Happy Holidays to all of our fantastic readers, and especially our regular commenters, without whom we'd certainly be nothing. We hope your holiday is just as merry as you want it to be. WPIX Yule Log via YouTube.......

Happy Holidays! Chances are, you're reading this the day after Christmas, back at your day job after all-too-short a holiday, and the last thing you want from us is stuff about the holidays. But that's just too bad. Because, see, here in the Ist-A-Verse, we do things ahead of time. It might be December 26 for you, but that's what you get for not checking your Favorite Local Blog on Christmas Eve. Austinist is......

My mother has her own non-profit "recycling project." It's called the holiday gift closet, filled with girly lotion sets and hand-held electronic poker games, ready to re-gift. It's perfect for those fake friends who are clearly not worth the shopping trip. These are just the kind of age-old holiday traditions that Washington Improv Theater wants to know about for their annual show, Seasonal Disorder. Each December, Washington Improv Theater hosts the yuletide-themed spectacle Seasonal Disorder,......

'Tis two days before Christmas, when all through D.C., not a creature is stirring, except maybe Marion Barry. And who knows what he's stirring anyway? Whatever it is, it's probably not Splenda or non-dairy creamer. By the way, did you know that Marion Barry's middle name is Shepilov? I read that Marion's father Julian named his son after Dmitri Shepilov, the Soviet foreign minister under Khrushchev. But unless Julian Barry knew Shepilov personally, that can't......

We're all guilty of it. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in all the things we have to do to get ready for the holidays, that we begin to cast ourselves as the bright center of the universe that everyone else is trying to block out. Every parking space just missed, every biker riding in the road adding thirty seconds to our commute home, every shopper taking the last Wii off the shelf just before......

If you're from D.C., like me, the one great thing about the holidays is that you never have to travel, and all your old friends come to you for a week or two, and that week or two turn into dozens of debaucherous, memory-filled nights, telling stories about the times you used to hang out at Amphora Diner in Vienna (anyone else? Anyone?). Unfortunately, I had one of those nights last night, so you're......

This piece was written by DCist contributor Cynthia Rockwell. Sure, you could bask in the seasonal spirit and check out the classics this weekend, but if you're looking to escape the incessant holiday cheer, here are a few ideas for cinematic diversion: >>Attention Cate Blanchett fans, we have not one but two films starring the willowy beauty opening this week. First is the slick black-and-white espionage thriller The Good German, Steven Soderbergh's homage to film......

It seems that with the coming of the holidays, folks in D.C. are a bit too busy to head out with their cameras and submit tons of great shots to the DCist photos pool. Which is all well and good; I'll take this opportunity to head back in the archives and pick a photo of something I'd love to see right now: ambib's lovely shot of Rock Creek Parkway blanketed in snow. Maybe January......

Sorry for the late arrival of this week's agenda, but you see, I work in Tysons Corner and I was stuck in traffic. Now on to our picks! TUESDAY >> If you don't think there is such a thing as hardcore klezmer music, Gogol Bordello are in town to prove you wrong. These Eastern European transplants to New York serve up Slavic ska, polka punk, and lots of other funky fusions, but those were the......

>> As you've all no doubt heard, we're all Time magazine's Person of the Year. Unless you've never authored a blog post, a comment, or even submitted a loosely-sourced tip to a blogger who would irresponsibly publish it. Then you're nothing. [Time] >> Thieves rob hipster bar, police shrug. It's Christmas, after all. [City Desk] >> Police have responded to a shooting on the 1200 block of U Street that took place around 4 p.m.......