President Obama in Havana in March 2016 (Getty Images) President Obama, who worked to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba, released a statement on the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who died at 90. He said, “We know that this moment fills Cubans – in Cuba and in the United States – with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of…

International wrangling sparked anew this week when The Atlantic reported that the Cuban Interests Section (aka, the Cuban Embassy) plans to open “Hemingway’s Bar,” a Cuban-themed watering hole, in its building near Columbia Road and 16th Street NW.

MONDAY: Freelance journalist and award-winning author Kieran Doherty will be at Olsson’s in Old Town Alexandria to discuss her latest book, Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World, which chronicles the ship that went on to rescue Jamestown, even after most of the crew almost died in a hurricane. 7 p.m. Chasing Che author Patrick Symmes decided to go chasing Fidel Castro’s former classmates when he…

MONDAY >> A year ago, Rolling Stone called The Whigs one of ten bands to watch and “the best unsigned band in America.” The Athens, GA trio has since been taking their pure rock-and-roll on the road in support of Give ‘Em All a Big Fat Lip, winning comparisons to the Replacements, the Strokes, REM, and the Drive-By Truckers along the way. The break hasn’t come yet, but we’ve got a feeling it could…

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week’s collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week’s choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it’s 75 degrees F as of this writing)…