Lost in Translation

DC's system for naming its streets is distinctive. Streets running east-west take letter names (A, B, C, etc.) and streets running north...

"Children at Play" Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, April 2010. Last year I saw this exhibition and I thought these paintings 齊白...

I saw this quality Valentine's Day themed product for sale today: chocolate-covered fortune cookies, complete with red "Chinese tak...

Two poems are inscribed all the wall in part of Ocean Piece , an artwork by Jorge Martin (1995). As far as I can tell, the artwork honors t...

One of the most interesting features of the US Capitol is the National Statuary Hall Collection , which consists of 100 statues (2 from eac...

It has now been two years since Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. There was much euphoria in DC at the time: above,...

November is officially Native American Heritage Month - so I'll be including a few postings throughout the month to honor this. The N...

These election posters (placed in spots were windows once were) encourage people to get out and vote in the 2008 elections. These were on th...

This exhibition at the National Building Museum has now come and gone, but this ad was so clever I thought I should add it to this blog. I l...

Last month I spotted these signs at the Canadian Embassy advertising an exhibition of Inuit prints. According to the press release , this ex...

Today I noticed this character 豚 indicating the pork section at an Asian supermarket in Fairfax, VA. Although it features the "pig...

Geeky swag from the 2010 National Book Festival. These materials are part of a promotional campaign to increase the profile of public librar...

One of the items I brought back from the 2010 National Book Festival (see related post here ) was this tourist map of Nevada. On its front a...

I've walked passed the Goethe-Institut in Chinatown many times (see an earlier post ), but usually I keep on walking. A few days ago, s...

The building now known as the Tried Stone Church of Christ was once a synagogue. The Southeast Hebrew Congregation was founded on Capitol ...

About a week ago, I attended the bar mitzvah of the son of one of my colleagues. Here are some images and (language-related) reflections! ...

Yesterday I popped into the DC Public Library, SE Branch and noticed an intriguing decorative motif: April-themed lines from Geoffrey Chauce...

Here's one last figure from the bronze doors to the Adams Building (Library of Congress). Here we see Odin ( Óðinn in Old Norse), the G...

Here's another figure from the bronze doors on the Adams Building (Library of Congress). Here we see Cadmus ( Κάδμος ), the man who - ac...

The bronze doors on the west side of the Adams Building of the Library Congress depict mythological and historical figures who are (for some...