Famous country singer Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash were excited to perform for President Nixon. The only problem was that Nixon didn’t seem to know a lot about country music, landing him in some hot water with the press. #DCHistory https://t.co/AXMrH8LRoR Famous…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
Turning Old Town Alexandria into the area we know today caused major rifts within the community, with historic buildings threatened with demolition at stake. #VAHistory https://t.co/Ok5hmxFK6t Turning Old Town Alexandria into the area we know today caused major rifts within …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
Do you know the ‘official’ song for Washington D.C.? Listen for yourself, and compare your reaction to Washingtonians who listened to it right as it debuted: #DCHistory https://t.co/SzvR5HTJI6 Do you know the ‘official’ song for Washington D.C.? Listen for yourself, and comp…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987 brought the AIDS epidemic to the front door of D.C., and would use powerful demonstration to make their voices heard. #DCHistory https://t.co/9kPJh72U9x The Second National March on Washington for Les…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
Matchbook cover from Fuller & d'Albert, Inc. https://t.co/SVTbiEfEcE Matchbook cover from Fuller & d'Albert, Inc. https://t.co/SVTbiEfEcE — Streets of Washington (@StreetsOfDC) Feb 26, 2022
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
George Washington’s death hit the nation hard in 1799. But what exactly killed him? The story of his death can give us some clues. #VAHistory https://t.co/nugu8ZoEJG George Washington’s death hit the nation hard in 1799. But what exactly killed him? The story of his death ca…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
Ben's Chili Bowl #thenandnow 📷: Ben's Chili Bowl, c. 1965 (Emil A. Press slide collection, PR 1202A) and Ben's Chili Bowl, 2022 (Photo by Sajel Swartz). https://t.co/0y78ybBPYJ Ben's Chili Bowl #thenandnow 📷: Ben's Chili Bowl, c. 1965 (Emil A. Press slide collection, PR 12…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 26, 2022
National Poet of Ireland Thomas Moore had a lot to say about his trip to D.C. — before his opinion turned a bit negative toward America, he wrote a pretty lengthy poem on the city. #DCHistory https://t.co/gxjD7OLZzl National Poet of Ireland Thomas Moore had a lot to say abou…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
This 1712 map shows the expeditions of Alexander the Great. Latin in the right-hand corner summarizes his career and conquests with reference to Biblical sources. Borders are annotated in ink and three distance scales are given. https://t.co/3PNof7hVmf https://t.co/yzv3Z3HHfb …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
Did you know President Theodore Roosevelt’s father was a director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Well, his family’s background in the arts contributed to convincing the Smithsonian in building a new art museum. #DCHistory https://t.co/cPYBmhfNlj Did you know President Th…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
Today in History - February 25 https://t.co/dRRlSi7q7G On the morning of February 25, 1779, Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, elder brother of explorer William Clark, accepted the British Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton's unconditional surrender of Fort Sackville at…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
Hubble Peers at Peculiar Pair of Galaxies via NASA https://t.co/7KcnqS7ZgH https://t.co/DejcxeBLgu
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
In Sep 1908, Orville Wright came to DC to demonstrate his flying machine at Fort Myer in Arlington. Wright made multiple flights to demonstrate speed and endurance. However, on Sep 17, his plane crashed, seriously injuring Orville and killing his passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfri…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
Muhammad Ali’s refusal to join the military during the Vietnam War had major repercussions for the fighter and activist. Four days earlier, he’d also given a speech and talked with students at Howard University on the civil rights movement. #DCHistory https://t.co/vkAuhCJIgh …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 25, 2022
National Park. Highway. Commemorative Project. All three describe the George Washington Memorial Parkway! The work it took to bring it all together took a lot of effort, and a lot of trees. #VAHistory #DCHistory https://t.co/NUvm4oymJx National Park. Highway. Commemorative P…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
This 19th c. German-language military map by G. Freytag shows Egypt, Palestine, Arabian Peninsula, & parts of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Ethiopia, & Eritrea. Explore the railroads, caravan routes, pyramids, fortifications, and ruins here: https://t.co/Jl8SNgGCJy …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
https://t.co/TzqdvxkUm2
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
In the cover of darkness, nine men carried out an infamous theft, but their goal wasn’t to keep or re-sell the object. Instead, they smashed it and dumped it in the Potomac. The story doesn’t end there, either. #DCHistory https://t.co/3DGlfrvdAk In the cover of darkness, nin…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
The government structure of D.C. has definitely seen its fair share of changes; in 1874, its territorial government was dismissed abruptly. What they did next definitely ruffled some feathers. #DCHistory https://t.co/5VzdBH9LtB The government structure of D.C. has definitely…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
The portrait photography business allowed Matthew Brady to create famous galleries in New York and D.C., but one of his employees, Alexander Gardner, ended up as one of his biggest competitors. #DCHistory https://t.co/OHLyNURXKj The portrait photography business allowed Matt…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
“Who would be so stupid as to go into the backyard of the FBI, CIA, other law enforcement[?]” While definitely risky, Salvatore Cottone and his brothers came to D.C. ready to create their own mafia empire. #DCHistory https://t.co/8lD2RccKt7 “Who would be so stupid as to go i…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
Ted Brown: Artist of the Space Age via NASA https://t.co/A8lY2AgAGq https://t.co/7DcDi7oTFH
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
Join me this evening! It should be lots of fun: https://t.co/6sV6FmDMUi Join me this evening! It should be lots of fun: https://t.co/6sV6FmDMUi — Streets of Washington (@StreetsOfDC) Feb 24, 2022
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 24, 2022
By Pardeep Toor
English was the first language my newborn heard after his birth in October 2021, probably something medical the midwife said, or congratulations from a nearby nurse. My wife and I were speechless, focusing only on our son’s blue skin, piercing screams, and block of black hair that overwhelmingly confirmed he was indeed ours.
As first-time parents, our son instantly became the exclusive lens through which we viewed our world. I should’ve gotten new windshield wipers to make sure we reached home safely. Next time, I will take my elevated bilirubin levels seriously. My wife swore to get the spot on her retina checked again. She couldn’t remember the last time we’d dusted underneath our bed. We’d prepared nine months for this shift, but it still shook us. Our lives were only necessary to sustain his life.
We couldn’t stay speechless for long. The nurses eventually checked on us less frequently. Poking and prodding clinicians dissipated, leaving us with the humming overhead tube lights and beeping in the hallway. It was our turn to talk to our son, but what would we say?
English wasn’t the first language for either of us. My wife is a native Spanish speaker and I exclusively spoke Punjabi for the first six years of my life. We both acquired English through our respective educations in Colombia and Canada. We promised to give our son both our languages, despite failing to acquire them from each other.
English is our essential language, a primary means of communication that allows us to thrive as a couple, while simultaneously pulling us away from our native languages and cultures. Each spoken syllable of English is a leap away from our rolling “Rs” in Punjabi and Spanish. I’m not demonizing English, rather recognizing the challenge of its dominance in our lives.
In the past four months, we’ve obsessed over speaking our respective languages to our son. It’s turned into a game: My wife will say something to him in Spanish, I’ll ask what she said, she tells me in English, and then I translate it into Punjabi and say it louder and faster back to our son as if his comprehension is a race we’re each trying to win. It’s partly in fun — but also stems from a sincere apprehension. We’re trying to pass down our languages while preserving them in our own lives.
Regardless of our efforts, English will inevitably become the common language that my wife and I share with our son. It’s the only way we can talk to him without isolating each other. In doing so I’m afraid I’ll continue to lose my native Punjabi and our son will forever lose something he could have had.
This struggle isn’t exclusive to our family. The loss of language has been extensively explored in the following essays.
This essay outlines the suffering Wong endured since foregoing her native language as a child for the sake of assimilating into America. Wong does a phenomenal job of incorporating linguistic research in her analysis, giving academic weight to her regrets. The balance of personal narrative and analysis of English language adoption and native attrition flows through the essay as studies confirm Wong’s feelings, yet don’t free her from longing for her first language. “I wonder what Cantonese words my brain pushed out when I started speaking mostly English at age six. And is attrition limited to words? What else did I lose to assimilate?”
During her pregnancy, Wong commits to re-learning her native Cantonese so she can pass it on to her child. However, despite her efforts, she feels the impossibility of her task.
Like learning how to spell only, the more I look at Jyutping, the more the words start to make sense. But part of me knows better. I’ll never speak Cantonese the same way I would have if I’d never stopped speaking it to begin with. Like a phantom limb, the memory of my first language stays with me even with it gone, but that’s all it is: a memory. It occurs to me that trying to relearn this language is the embodiment of my bicultural identity. The American in me is determined to reclaim the Chinese part of myself.
Part of the struggle with English has always been its foreignness. The language either forcefully invaded foreign lands or immigrants willingly chose to move west. Mishra addresses the colonial legacy of English and how that makes her feel “queasy,” while also recognizing the language’s modern dominance in India.
For my family, friends, relatives, and teachers, English was seen as a language of access. It could land you better jobs, remove limitations, and open up avenues. English speakers were high achievers, often conflated with the colonizers who ruled over us for about 200 years. It was ironic that the language of our colonizers was seen as aspirational, something that could lift us out of the discomfort that our parents’ mid-level jobs put us through. In reading all the subjects at school in English, we were made to understand that English was the language of possibilities.
Mishra reluctantly accepts the realities of the English language in India and her own life. But acceptance can also be an acknowledgment of adaptation — it’s not one or the other, English or Hindi, but hybridity that can hopefully be respectful to native languages and English’s injection into them.
Rojas Contreras opens this essay by acknowledging, “When you live between languages, the conversion of meaning is an arithmetic in loss.” Thoughts generated in one language come out awkwardly in English, or sometimes not at all. This ultimately leads to a feeling of “being understood sufficiently, rather than fully.”
This loss between languages catalyzed Rojas Contreras to write her debut novel, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, in English, even though she thought of it in Spanish. She constructed the sentences in Spanish in her mind but then immediately translated them into English on the page.
Why didn’t you write the novel in Spanish? This is a question I get all the time. Language is one of the things you sacrifice when you migrate. I wanted to be true to the toll of that sacrifice by making visible what exactly was being lost.
My wife loves Rojas Contreras’s writing. She sees both her own Spanish and English in the syntax. It’s how she sees the world, in a constant state of translation from one language to another. By seeing Rojas Contreras’s translated language on the page, my wife sees her worldview being expressed as a reality and feels understood as an immigrant in the United States.
Lahiri, an internationally renowned fiction writer, started writing from scratch in Italian to escape the personal weight of the English language.
Why am I fleeing? What is pursuing me? Who wants to restrain me?
The most obvious answer is the English language. But I think it’s not so much English in itself as everything the language has symbolized for me. For practically my whole life, English has represented a consuming struggle, a wrenching conflict, a continuous sense of failure that is the source of almost all my anxiety. It has represented a culture that had to be mastered, interpreted. I was afraid that it meant a break between me and my parents. English denotes a heavy, burdensome aspect of my past. I’m tired of it.
Lahiri opted not to re-engage with her native Bengali, which she spoke with an accent and admitted to not knowing how to read or write. She started anew with Italian, placing herself in a linguistic exile, far removed from her familial past in Bengali and professional life in English. Native languages, and the projected cultural expectations that come with them, can be as burdensome as chasing a distorted and romanticized memory or history. Lahiri’s fresh start in Italian vanquishes the obligation of chasing ghosts from her past and allows her to forge a novel identity in a new language.
What happens when all languages fail? When you’re unable to express yourself no matter how many languages you can speak? That’s where the future comes in. Vara, unable to express grief after losing her sister, turned to an algorithm to complete her thoughts.
I felt acutely that there was something illicit about what I was doing. When I carried my computer to bed, my husband muttered noises of disapproval. We both make our livings as writers, and technological capitalism has been exerting a slow suffocation on our craft. A machine capable of doing what we do, at a fraction of the cost, feels like a threat. Yet I found myself irresistibly attracted to GPT-3—to the way it offered, without judgment, to deliver words to a writer who has found herself at a loss for them.
What followed was an experiment in human-computer interactions. Vara feeds words into Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) and the remaining text is predicted, with the details Vara provides about her sister determining how the narrative ends — technology offering a borderless universal language with infinite memory.
The nine stories completed by artificial intelligence in this piece are something new, void of human attachment. Culture in an algorithm. Is this how people will one day express themselves and understand their upbringing? Then what remains of the cultural nuances embedded in our native languages? Are one or two or three languages enough for our son? Are they the right languages? What if they all fail him? The fear of losing our language and culture to algorithms and English inspires us to transmit what we have left amidst our loss.
***
Pardeep Toor‘s writing has appeared in the Best Debut Short Stories 2021: The PEN America Dau Prize, Catapult, Electric Literature, Southern Humanities Review, Midwest Review, and Great River Review.
Building D.C. took a lot of time, effort, and money. One man to credit for helping move the capital in the right direction was Alexander Shepherd, who helped create the infrastructure needed later on for the city’s construction. #DCHistory https://t.co/xPmkRHOUv4 Building D.…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
Opinion | For freedom-seeking Ukraine, a home in Georgetown https://t.co/EMSyW5YY5K Opinion | For freedom-seeking Ukraine, a home in Georgetown https://t.co/EMSyW5YY5K — Streets of Washington (@StreetsOfDC) Feb 23, 2022
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
This French pen-and-ink and watercolor map of NY was likely created in 1781 by a French military cartographer while performing reconnaissance for the American Revolutionary War. Look closer to see north oriented to the right. https://t.co/EUBlnsMPjk https://t.co/ryYbnxqK6f Th…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
Protests take numerous forms, but the key is to create attention around the cause. The Tractorcade of 1979 did just that, and their presence was definitely known throughout D.C. during their stay. #DCHistory https://t.co/axdUfRJvgc Protests take numerous forms, but the key i…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
D.C. in February 1993 was like those that came before. That all changed when a mysterious shooter began targeting random victims in Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant, known as the Shotgun Stalker. #DCHistory https://t.co/83MciOh0io D.C. in February 1993 was like those that…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
The gallery became a vital social gathering space in Shaw. It was also one of the few locations where artists of different nationalities, races and ethnicities were exhibited side by side. Artists featured include Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Jones, Alma Thomas, and more! The ga…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
Did you know DC was home to the first black-owned private art gallery in the United States? The Barnett-Aden Gallery was founded in 1943 by James Vernon Herring and Alonzo Aden, two passionate professionals in the arts who worked together at Howard University. Did you know …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
Election campaigns as we know them are extensive and a major component of the process. The advent of campaigns can be dated all the way back to the fierce battle of the 1828 election. #DCHistory https://t.co/zTg6aDzsh2 Election campaigns as we know them are extensive and a m…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
Studying Flames in Microgravity via NASA https://t.co/MD3uZfvmZd https://t.co/1vgjpcePFG
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
President Lincoln’s untimely death reminds us all of the danger of being the highest official in the U.S. However, even before he was inaugurated, he had to evade assassination #OTD in 1861. #DCHistory https://t.co/lDcamXPI3s President Lincoln’s untimely death reminds us all…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
If These Walls Could Talk: A Black History Month Tour of Howard’s Famous Places (Part 1: Residences) | The Dig at Howard University https://t.co/tGV0TzTCqA If These Walls Could Talk: A Black History Month Tour of Howard’s Famous Places (Part 1: Residences) | The Dig at Howard …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 23, 2022
In 18th century Maryland, business had to be conducted wherever people could meet. For Hungerford’s Tavern, that meant a pretty historic list of patrons... and an assassination plot! #MDHistory https://t.co/05LHankihk In 18th century Maryland, business had to be conducted wh…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 22, 2022
Duo Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published their novel “The Gilded Age” in 1873. Their chapter on D.C. definitely left an impression, but not a good one. That hurts. #DCHistory https://t.co/820iMCxwA7 Duo Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published their novel “Th…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 22, 2022
Before construction began to build the new capital city, a handful of families owned the land. Most, when given offers for their land, accepted and left. One man, even to the behest of George Washington himself, wouldn’t leave without a fight. #DCHistory https://t.co/a8MxAZLglO…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 22, 2022
Music in D.C. has a distinctive legacy, and brought numerous genres into popularity. One lesser known genre of the 1960s, along with one of its pioneers, had Maryland roots and a wide net of influence. #MDHistory https://t.co/Bal1UOCtvS Music in D.C. has a distinctive legacy…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 22, 2022
Melba Roy Mouton – Mathematician via NASA https://t.co/kPfwavruWi https://t.co/2hIiW9p5Pi
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 22, 2022
Vintage postcard of the imposing Union Trust Co building, designed by Wood, Dunn, and Deming and completed in 1906 on the SW corner of 15th and H St NW. If the building looks narrow, that's because it is lacking the extension built along H Street in 1927, which doubled its s…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 22, 2022
Mardi Gras this year isn’t until March 1, but #OTD in 1871, D.C. had its own celebrations that “rivaled those in New Orleans itself.” The festivities sound pretty interesting, if you ask us. #DCHistory https://t.co/Sz2AT92K1q Mardi Gras this year isn’t until March 1, but #OT…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
This French pen-and-ink and watercolor map is of NY at the conclusion of the American Revolution. It shows roads, fortifications, redoubts, batteries, vegetation, and relief. It is part of the LC Rochambeau Collection. Look closer: https://t.co/1okJxzxzPX …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Baseball in D.C. has had its ups and downs. In 1969, a glimmer of hope came with the hiring of Ted Williams. He even got the attention of President Nixon! The initial excitement didn’t last long, unfortunately. #DCHistory https://t.co/jGLF6uIQ1C Baseball in D.C. has had its …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
The Washington Monument has decorated the D.C. skyline for over a century, and visitors since 1888 have had the opportunity to visit it, both outside and inside. The journey to its opening, though, was less than smooth. #DCHistory https://t.co/keDfi9iHvp The Washington Monum…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Malcolm X’s influence on the civil rights movement brought him to D.C. on many occasions. However, in 1961, an event he spoke at in the Uline Arena attracted a surprising and suspicious audience member. #DCHistory https://t.co/tCvosgpocb Malcolm X’s influence on the civil ri…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Byron Sunderland’s thoughts on Washington D.C. in the mid-19th century remind us of the capital’s rocky (or rather swampy) beginnings as a city. His thoughts also show the growth the city’s had since then. #DCHistory https://t.co/6kNbF7b5FK Byron Sunderland’s thoughts on Was…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Happy President’s Day! While the holiday is a celebration of the first US President, George Washington’s birthday, the long weekend has become ubiquitous with car sales and family outings. 📷: Postcard from local dealership Ourisman Chevrolet, General Ephemera Collection, E06…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Happy Presidents Day from Streets of Washington! (early 20th century postcards from @MountVernon) https://t.co/ZW1HRNkBcu Happy Presidents Day from Streets of Washington! (early 20th century postcards from @MountVernon) https://t.co/ZW1HRNkBcu — Streets of Washington (@Stree…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
The dedication of the Washington Monument 138 years ago meant celebrating its completion as a symbol of the nation. Why were reports coming in less than 30 years after that it was already falling apart? #DCHistory https://t.co/jTuwRZva0w The dedication of the Washington Monu…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Quote of the Day: "Ideas shape the course of history." - John Maynard Keynes
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 21, 2022
Valentine's Day, an occasion for love and joy. But for Theodore Roosevelt and family, it was also a day of tragedy. #DCHistory https://t.co/j23RL5aZr1 Valentine's Day, an occasion for love and joy. But for Theodore Roosevelt and family, it was also a day of tragedy. #DCHisto…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
On October 2, 1991, the 9:30 Club in D.C. witnessed the rise of not only a new genre of music, but one of the most popular bands in history: Nirvana. #DCHistory #Nirvana https://t.co/6X9JbqpArn On October 2, 1991, the 9:30 Club in D.C. witnessed the rise of not only a new ge…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
VINTED Sign up and list 3 items for sale within 7 days of joining & you’ll receive a $5 shopping voucher from Vinted! Plus you get discounted .99¢ shipping until end of April! https://t.co/20gXVaJsEQ
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
When Countess Marguerite Cassini, daughter of the Russian ambassador to D.C., sought public support for Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1914-15, she had an ingenious plan to shift America's official stance of neutrality in her favor... #DCHistory https://t.co/rfvUEksSWq …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
Perspective | A rare painting of Lincoln restores the emancipator to his full height https://t.co/dis4hONwkd Perspective | A rare painting of Lincoln restores the emancipator to his full height https://t.co/dis4hONwkd — Streets of Washington (@StreetsOfDC) Feb 20, 2022
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
A century ago, Mississippi’s Senate voted to send all the state’s Black people to Africa https://t.co/pMQdkXw2xL A century ago, Mississippi’s Senate voted to send all the state’s Black people to Africa https://t.co/pMQdkXw2xL — Streets of Washington (@StreetsOfDC) Feb 20, 20…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
An air of mystery shrouded the 16-year-old “Countess” who accompanied the Russian ambassador to D.C. in 1898. Who was she? And how did she end up in D.C.? #DCHistory https://t.co/tNUp639qUW An air of mystery shrouded the 16-year-old “Countess” who accompanied the Russian amb…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
In 1967, the National Gallery of Art scored the art deal of the century: a painting from Leonardo da Vinci. #DCHistory https://t.co/QIuvaKBE7C In 1967, the National Gallery of Art scored the art deal of the century: a painting from Leonardo da Vinci. #DCHistory …
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
While celebrating the “new wooden pavement on Pennsylvania Avenue” with a carnival in 1871, the festive event soon snowballed into an enormous Mardi Gras. #DCHistory https://t.co/Sz2AT92K1q While celebrating the “new wooden pavement on Pennsylvania Avenue” with a carnival in…
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022
Quote of the Day: "I didn't think; I experimented." - Anthony Burgess
— Kenneth Samson (@PangurBanC) Feb 20, 2022