When David Glasgow Farragut yelled, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” he probably didn’t think it would propel him into history. Actually, given the circumstances, it might not even have been the smartest of orders. But sure enough, Farragut’s ballsy command helped the naval commander get a huge statue and two metro stops plus a square named after him. It was December 12, 1862, and the ship at the front of the formation, the USS…

With the opening of its ongoing Exploring the Early Americas exhibit today, the Library of Congress marks the beginning of a transformation that by the Summer of 2008 will “merge cutting-edge technology with the knowledge and inspiration embodied in the Library’s unparalleled collections and curators.” The exhibit features some of the 3,000 items representing the “beginning” of America (that is, the beginning of European documented America), that Jay I. Kislak has been collecting for more…

The Edmund Burke statue on Massachusetts Avenue and 11th Street NW is a perfect case for the Revisiting Series. Not only is the face on the bronze statue unfamiliar, but even if a passerby—vehicular or pedestrian—did somehow recognize Burke’s mug (or could catch a glimpse of the “BVRKE” on the base), they would still most likely be curious as to why one of history’s most vocal anti-revolutionaries has been immortalized in the capital city of…

To celebrate the release of Electric Grace: Still more Fiction by Washington Area Women tonight, editor Richard Peabody and ten of the book’s forty-two contributors will be reading selections from their work at Politics & Prose tonight at 7 p.m. Faye Moskowitz, a memoirist, poet, short story writer and professor, will read from her story “Completo (A Triptych),” from the journal, Story Quarterly. Professor Moskowitz—or just Faye, as she would have it—grew up in Detroit…

According to one observer, when the monument the Revisiting Series examined this week was unveiled on M and Connecticut Streets NW, the place was absolutely buzzing. The heroic bronze figure sat draped in his academic robe, book in hand, and looked out on the streets packed with the wide spectrum of adoring fans: men, women, and children “of all races and nationalities.” It was May 7, 1909. The Marine Band played “The Star-Spangled Banner” and…

Regarding Thanksgiving customs, going around the table saying what we’re thankful for is about as basic as it gets. If it seems too basic, this year you can consider adding a new dimension to the tradition by reading for the table what our Presidents have been thankful for. Thanks to the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Massachusetts, all the Thanksgiving Proclamations are available online. That means we have access to Proclamations dating from the Continental Congress…

Though opening day is still a whole winter away, looking at Scott Ableman’s photos of the Nats’ stadium near completion makes our mouths water for peanuts, hot dogs, and beer. If all goes as planned, come late March we’ll be enjoying dogs and beer in what Thomas Boswell called “A Thing of Beauty.”…

In an audacious presentation of political and protest art, the Katzen Arts Center’s Art of CONFRONTation showcases three separate exhibitions that share a confident outspokenness. Whether it’s the poignant reenactments of torture of Abu Ghraib by Fernando Botero, or the surreal depictions of the city-dominated human condition by Irving Norman in Dark Metropolis, or the multifaceted collection of some of the 1970s most important feminist art in Claiming Space, these works are united by a…

Usually in our Revisiting Series, we like to talk about the monuments and memorials you pass on a regular basis; this time, by revisiting the District’s boundary stones, we thought we’d point out something you might never have even seen. In fairness, they’re easy to miss. Of the 40 original stones, two have been lost, and the rest have been marred and eroded from sitting outside for 216 years. Some sit in no trespassing zones,…