March into the battle against crabgrass
As the weather warms, outdoor warriors prepare for battle: us vs. weeds. Spring lawn care for cool-season fescue lawns does not typically include seeding or fertilizing. However, spring is the right time to prevent and control the gardener’s arch nemesis: stealthy crabgrass. It’s important to understand your adversary. Crabgrass is a warm-season summer annual grass that germinates ... READ MORE
Families need to show love, acceptance
Alexis Bentz is a senior at Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland. She has been writing this intergenerational column for the Beacon since middle school. The structure of the typical family has changed drastically in the last 100 years. In the early and mid-1900s, the traditional family consisted of a mother, father and children. Divorce, homosexuality, single parents and... READ MORE
Enjoy belly laughs at Hitchcock parody
Try this recipe: Take 3 parts Alfred Hitchcock thriller, stir in 1 part Monty Python and mix well. Half-bake at a high temperature for 1 hour 45 minutes. Yields: Patrick Barlow’s theatrical spoof, The 39 Steps, now onstage at Hanover Tavern. Serves: 150 hysterically laughing theater patrons. The play is a parody of the 1935 Hitchcock movie of that name, a murder mystery, which in turn... READ MORE
Ever-changing artwork, powered by the sun
A friend of mine recently sent me a TED Talks video filmed in Vienna. It displayed gorgeous light studies in vivid shades of green, blue, red and yellow — very fluid, alive and ephemeral. I was amazed to learn they were created from sunlight and that they changed throughout the day following the movement of the earth. I was also surprised to find out that the internationally known... READ MORE
Books about baseball for the new season
The Bibliophile To many, the call “play ball” heralds the beginning of spring. For fans in the nation’s capital, opening day no longer ushers in a season of dashed expectations. This year, it marks revisiting the memory of a cherished achievement. Fight to the Finish: How the Washington Nationals Rallied to Become 2019 World Series Champs, by the Washington Post, 128 pages,... READ MORE
Military bands perform free year-round
When musicians play music for the president of the United States, they can’t afford to make a mistake. The flagship bands of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines play not only for politicians but for public audiences throughout the D.C. area. In addition to boosting morale, these military bands highlight some of the best musicianship in the world, promote cross-cultural... READ MORE
A dutiful depiction of veterans’ reality
It’s 1945. Men dressed in camouflage — different uniforms for different military branches — approach their front doors with a bag in tow. Family members fling themselves at the tired, skinnier versions of their husbands, brothers and sons, sobbing in gratitude that their loved one made in home when so many didn’t. Those men may appear strong, but they’re not whole. When they... READ MORE
From rich to poor and from love to hate
Timon of Athens is the much-anticipated first production by Simon Godwin since he joined the Shakespeare Theater Company as artistic director last year. It is a restaging of the play performed in 2018 under his direction at the Royal Shakespeare Company and earlier this year off Broadway as a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience. In this play, which Shakespeare originally... READ MORE
Late-life artist relishes challenge
For most of his life, Allan Akman has dabbled in art. The 77-year-old Rockville resident spent his 33-year career as a military consultant, but on nights and weekends, he painted using watercolors and oils. When he retired in 2009, Akman had a long “bucket list” of things to do, books to read and places to visit. But he became captivated by one of the first items on the list:... READ MORE
Joyful musical Kinky Boots at Toby’s
When I first heard the term “kinky boots,” I expected to see boots with X-rated comments on them. I mean, what else could it mean? As it turns out, plenty. Seems as if there was a 2005 British film called Kinky Boots that I missed. It wasn’t until 2013, when a musical by that name opened on Broadway, that I finally got it. I recall seeing the musical at the Hippodrome some... READ MORE
Arts 2024
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