
Okay everyone, we can breathe again. The Smithsonian, the National Gallery, and the National Zoo are all opening again as of Tuesday January 29th. Still, one never knows what will happen next in D.C. so if you want to go, go now. For those of you who can’t […]
Today, I’m sharing one of my favorite government educational films from the WWII era. To educate soldiers, the U.S. government came up with an adorable cartoon character called Private Snafu. In this three minute short, called “Spies,” we see how the combination of alcohol and a pretty girl […]

One hundred years ago today, on January 16, 1919, Prohibition was ratified. In an attempt to curb immorality, legislators put thousands of hard working Americans out of work — liquor and wine store owners, vintners, grape growers, truckers, bottling plant employees, etc. It ushered in an age where […]

The Siege of Cosel, which was painted around 1808 is like a woman covered in veils. Gossamer layers of gray, recede ever fainter as he paints the foggy battle scene. Textbooks do not show this well. Even though the painting is massive — larger than a wall in most homes — these figures are sometimes as small as the head of a pin, only visible less than a foot away from the canvas. Seeing them makes the average museum guard nervous as you move scant inches from the canvas.

As On the Basis of Sex, the movie, enters wide release today, Diana Belchase reflects back to meeting Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Supreme Court and her first hand impressions of this “quiet tiger.” #RBG #OntheBasisofSexMovie