There are some things you dream about doing and one of my dreams is about to come true. This week I am having a book event at The Bunch of Grapes bookstore on Martha’s Vineyard. Why would an event on a small island in the dead of summer make me so happy? As a child I spent countless hours in that bookstore during summers my family spent on The Vineyard. MVY has a long tradition of being a summer
My inbox–Robert McNeill photographer
One of the greatest things to happen as a result of promoting this book is going to my inbox and finding email from people connected to Dunbar. Here is a note the daughter of a well know black photographer, Robert McNeill, Dunbar Class of 1935.
“Alison, I am getting your book pronto. My father, photographer Robert H. McNeill, was a 1935 graduate of Dunbar (and as budding photographer took sports and other pictures there in the 30s) . My great aunt, Bertha Clay McNeill, was […]
The Crimson Tide goes Green
One of the hopeful things about the new Dunbar High School is the holistic approach to the project. There’s a focus on education but also on the environment surrounding the school. The latest example is a $95,000 grant to install approximately 6, 000 square feet of biorention cells that will hold onto rainwater. The grant was from the EPA and The Chesapeake Bay Trust. Not only that, the new green space will reopen O street which was cut off when the second Dunbar was erected […]
Third time 9th graders? A possible solution.
DCPS is rolling out an idea to separate out first time ninth graders from repeater students who continue to fail the 9th grade and are back for another go. The idea is to preserve the idealism of young students entering high school and not expose 13-14 year olds to the possible negative influences from older repeat 9th grade students who may be 15 or 16 years old. Critics say this stigmatizes the repeaters. Dunbar has had great success with this idea. According to The Washington Post first time […]
