Author: David Gorsline

The year in review, 2018

So what happened to November? The lede for eleven first posts of the past months:

  • 4 January: O, I miss you sweetie.
  • 3 February: A lush, ostinato-less “Every Breath You Take,” in the lobby of Navy Federal Credit Union, Reston branch.
  • 4 March: Danai Gurira’s engaging drama takes a new angle on the ever-intriguing clash of cultures.
  • 7 April: Elizabeth G. Knight, writing in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 11:11/12 (November-December 1884), p. 134.
  • 14 May: The role of sound design in professional live theater, a podcast episode produced by James Introcaso.
  • 4 June: Between festivals, I stopped by Thuya Garden and Asticou Azalea Garden in Northeast Harbor—two lovely spots.
  • 7 July: My final report for the ducks and mergs team this season.
  • 9 August: So this pavement milling machine has been hanging out near the building entrance.
  • 3 September: Is there another playwright who shows such skill at introducing characters as Sarah Ruhl?
  • 6 October: I got a leg up on understanding the mystery yellow flower that I’ve seen blooming in the marsh.
  • 2 December: 75 dancers, 300 solos of work by Merce Cunningham on his 100th birthday, livestreamed.

The year in review:

My year in hikes and field trips, 2018

Much more fun in the field this year—and more learnings! I treated myself to upgraded binoculars.

And several trips to my home park, Huntley Meadows Park.

2017’s list. 2016’s list. 2015’s list. 2014’s list. 2013’s list. 2012’s list. 2011’s list. 2010’s list. 2009’s list. 2008’s list.

My year in cities, 2018

Much more traveling this year than usual! Overnight stays in 2018:

New venues, 2018

To my surprise, I visited many new performance spaces the year.

  • American Museum of American History, Music Hall
  • Washington National Cathedral
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum, Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium
  • The New School of Northern Virginia, black box
  • Colvin Run Dance Hall
  • National Gallery of Art, West Garden Court

2017’s list. 2016’s list. 2015’s list. 2014’s list. 2013’s list. 2012’s list. 2011’s list.

She the People

Woolly’s partnership with The Second City again disappoints. From the opening sketch, presenting white privilege as a board game, She the People is preachy (hey, the choir’s out here) and only intermittently funny. A talk show segment, spiced with a bit of improv; a business meeting led by an executive in an outlandish T. Rex suit; and Maggie Wilder’s “I’m quirky” girl-child bit (one of the few pieces that doesn’t directly rail against the patriarchy) are the high points.

  • She the People, directed by Carly Heffernan, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and the Second City, Washington

My year in contributions, 2018

Did you have a good year this year? Great! Please consider sharing some of that good fortune with one of these organizations. (If you had a bad year, I’m sorry.)

These are the groups and projects to which I gave coin (generally tax-deductible), property, and/or effort in 2018.

Chapman State Park

beefyyugeI joined the group making a solstice celebration walk at Maryland’s Chapman State Park—more of a bushwhack, truth be told, with Rod Simmons at the head of the line. Although I can’t recommend him as a trip leader based on this experience, he did point out some huge individuals of familiar tree species in this old-growth woods. For instance, Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) at left, with a trunk as wide as my hand, and an oak-sized Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) at right.


destinationCherrybark Oak (Quercus pagoda) was a target species, and Rod delivered.