Posted on

New apps, programs try to keep campus safe

WASHINGTON — Twenty percent of young women who attended college during the past four years say they were sexually assaulted, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

American University has resources to help the students become better aware of their surroundings and prevent further cases.

Gail Short Hanson, vice president of campus life at AU, said in a statement to the Post:

The Rave Guardian on the app store.
The Rave Guardian on the app store.

“We want all students to know about available support, to feel comfortable seeking help, and to understand how to report. We have made progress in ensuring that students know where to go to report and get help. In our recent campus climate survey, 92 percent of undergraduates indicated they strongly agreed or agreed that ‘If a friend or I were sexually assaulted, I would know where to go to get help.’ We’ve substantially invested in additional education, prevention and response, and are committed to assisting victims through the reporting process and in their recovery.”

The department of Public Safety at American University recently released an app called “Rave Guardian.” The app sends text alerts from the police on campus, as well as the D.C police, if anything were to happen.

The campus also has alerts via email and texts set in place. Audrey Schreiber, a rising senior at AU, had never heard of the app, and Spencer Cox, student at AU, knew of its basic functions but had not downloaded it yet.

In the bathroom stalls, these posters provide further information for sexual assault “survivors.” Self-defense classes are available to students through the campus police department. “A significant number take the classes,” said Jeffrey Madison, director of technology services at the School of Communication and a liaison with public safety.

Public safety staffers ride through campus and patrol on foot; blue emergency phone boxes set up throughout the Northwest Washington campus as well. Sexual assault awareness posters are on bathroom stalls. And OASIS, an new service available to students, offers free and confidential support for anyone impacted by sexual violence, which includes sexual assault, dating or domestic violence and stalking.

During her sophomore year, minutes before fall finals began, a lockdown was initiated on campus, Schreiber remembered.

“There were so many cops and news people,” Cox added. The lockdown was caused when an off-duty police officer was riding the AU shuttle with his gun visible. Alerts went out to the AU community to shelter in place while police searched for the person. No shots were fired; the officer was visiting someone he knew.

In general, the public safety police respond quickly and have a “good relationship with DC police,” said Madison. The police are “real mellow, real cool” when dealing with hard-hitting issues, such as outside threats on campus, he said. When there are thefts, police are able to review video footage and begin investigations quickly.

The Eagle, the student newspaper and website, has reported on sexual assault incidents and recently reported that sexual-assault prevention training will be part of new undergraduate programming.

 

 

Posted on

Into the Garden: celebrating 40 years of community

The sign that welcomes people into the garden.
The sign that welcomes people into the garden. Photo by Emma Geotz

WASHINGTON — It was 1974. The occasion? National Food Day, a discontinued holiday today, but at the time, the inspiration for creating The Newark Street Community Garden, celebrating its 40th anniversary this fall. From international residents to families who live right down the street, the garden provides a service to the community of not only convenience and beauty, said Susan Akman, a longtime gardener and member of the board.

At the garden, deemed official in 1975, those first urban farmers brought their own water for their plants on the previously military-owned property. Their water source now runs through their four acres of land to their points of attraction: the playground, tennis courts and dog park.

Walking through the 200 plots, everywhere one looks there is something new. From arrangements of flowers that cover the entire plot to those that have a robust vegetable patch, gardeners have a creative license when planting to leave their own mark on the community garden.

Although there are many local gardeners, international gardeners have a place in the garden as well. While some gardeners protect their plot from deer and fox, a couple from Lithuania has a taller fence around the plot, in addition to a locked gate, to protect the plants themselves. A man from Africa planted fava beans and a pepper that appears to “look like jack o’ lanterns,” Akman said.

While families may come to the garden to grow for their own dinner tables, the garden also serves as comfort for others. A woman who experienced loss during 9/11 came to the garden as therapy, Akman said. “It is a very peaceful place,” she said, adding that she often comes to garden from 5:30 to 6:30 in the morning, finding comfort in the quiet.

A garden for the community, by the community

The trees planted from the Casey Trees organization help to enhance this unique acreage behind the National Cathedral, visible from the garden. Out of the 30 trees planted, only one has been lost. The trees have “made an incredible difference in this community,” Akman said.

Elwood Gautier, a master gardener, has taken his fresh produce tomatoes, yellow squash and lettuce to Miriam’s Kitchen for about three years. “He would wash every head of lettuce” and send them to the soup kitchen, Akman said.

And while some residents might be choosing air-conditioning during the high temperatures D.C. has seen this summer, gardeners were out tending to their cherished plants on a recent day where the forecast was for the mid-90s. There are 190 gardeners tending to one or two of the 200 plots available; there’s about a two-year waitlist, Akman said. Some plots have gone through generations of families.

Members range from toddlers to those in their 90s. The garden’s educational program “is a big hit,” Akman said. Children can plant, water and harvest their own vegetables and flowers, Akman said, and the children’s garden now features a small wooden picnic table and donated animal statues.

The "Kids Only" play set.
The “Kids Only” playground is adjacent to the urban gardens and the dog park. Photo by Emma Goetz

The playground

When the gate to the playground shuts, one is left with the view of animated flowers towering over a plastic treehouse that reads, “Kids Only.” Children play on the bright green monkey bars, and the plastic log slides lead down to a blue padded ground surrounding the play area.

Katterinee Salgado was visiting the playground for the first time, trying something new for the two kids she babysat, she said. The playground was right down the street “so it’s easy” to take the kids down for an hour of play before lunchtime, she said.

The shade the trees provide was much appreciated, not only by Salgado, but also by Doulat Kapoor, who was pushing his daughter in a plastic car stroller down the blue walkway that curves through the playground. Like Salgado and her charges, this family also lives close by. The park is “right for her age,” Kapoor said. The family goes to the park “almost every day.”

For more information about the garden and Newark Park, go to their website.

Posted on

Washington Framers’ Workroom: a 34-year legacy

WASHINGTON– She has met Jane Fonda, worked on commission from the White House and has been entrusted with the care and safety of priceless works of art by famous artists such as Marc Chagall and Rembrandt. Who is she? Not a celebrity, but instead the friendly owner of Washington Framers’ Workroom, a mainstay of the Tenleytown community for more than 30 years.

Gana Browning has been working at the shop since its opening in July 1981. Browning said three friends from Philadelphia, who owned and operated framing stores there, approached another one of her close friends, who recently left a job in the Carter administration, about starting a framing store in the Washington area. The interior design and construction was all done by Thomas Morris, who continues to work, and as the original owners and friends retired or passed away, Browning became the sole proprietor.

Browning said that since the Tenleytown-AU Metro station opened in 1984, development in the neighborhood has been slow but steady. Although interest in building high-rises and large construction projects exists, the neighborhood association has made a strong effort to slow development.

But through all this change, Browning says that “the community has supported us.” Although four other framing stores have since opened in Tenleytown, the competition is friendly. “We support each other,” said Browning.

One special service that Washington Framer’s Workroom provides is a do-it-yourself framing service. “Customers feel like they can accomplish something,” said Browning. With a wide variety of materials for the customers to use, from the Wizard computerized mat cutter that cuts a multitude of shapes to the 250 moldings of wood and metal, the possibilities are endless.

wwlTENLEY
Map by Laris Karklis, reprinted with permission

With a staff of eight, we have a “much bigger staff than most frame shops,” Browning said. Each employee has the ability to do every responsibility, from operating the cash register to working with the Wizard and the touch-up counter.

The frame shop itself evokes a familiar feeling of home, with the walls covered in personal art, and wicker chairs in the front with houseplants as accents. Personal wall art is displayed up and down the walls of the frame shop. “Almost every single one of [our employees] are artists,” says Browning.

There are six certified Master Picture Framers within the business, which makes them the only frame shop on the East Coast with this specialized training, she said. She herself is a former master, but had to cut back because of arthritis.

Throughout the years, Browning said that she has framed unusual items. A customer came in with “a bun from the head of somebody’s mother and we made a shadowbox,” a display box for items too large to put in a traditional picture frame, Browning recalled. “Nobody wanted to touch it.” Other oddities include Turkish daggers and a gun in a shadowbox on display in the shop.

And the famous customers? Browning smiled and began vividly describing what Jane Fonda looked like the day she walked into their small store: 4-inch heels, skinny jeans, perfect hair. “Her daughter, Vanessa Vadim, went to American University,” said Browning.

The shop frequently has customers of political significance, as well as visitors in newscasting professions, including James G. Watt and Arch Campbell.

Despite these famous customers, most of Browning’s business comes from the community. “We’ve had two or three generations of repeat customers,” Browning said. With the store’s 34th anniversary coming up next month, Washington Framers’ Workroom is poised to be a staple of the neighborhood for years to come.