Tenley Circle
Originally uploaded by DDOTDC

I’ve been through this intersection so many times, I could resist posting this photo (and I’m too lazy this morning to write up a full, substantial post).

The DC DDOT has started posting old-timey photos of the District on Flickr, and it’s some of the coolest stuff I’ve seen in a long time. This photo depicts the main traffic circle in Tenleytown, the neighborhood near American University (where I go to school), and only one mile from where I currently live. For the past three years I’ve traveled through this circle almost every other day in some capacity or another, on my way to the metro, grabbing food with friends, or running errands to the Best Buy, Ace Hardware, or good old CVS.

It’s hard to imagine what it must’ve been like back in 1955. At the time, my business school was just being founded–that very year, in fact. From the angle in the photo, though, it doesn’t even look all that terribly different. The street remains essentially the same size and shape, although with significantly more traffic. And the large church on the left is still the defining landmark of the traffic circle.

Take a look through all the photos on the DDOT Flickr page. Enjoy!

Last Friday and Saturday, I attended Social Justice Camp DC (on Twitter). I’ve spent over a week thinking about what to write about my experience meeting, interacting and learning from these amazing people, and to be honest, I’m still kind of winging it, here. There’s just too much to say.

These people are the cause behind DC’s cause movement. There is no question in my mind that these people are some of the most important people in the District of Columbia.

These people see more pain than anyone else in DC.
These people endure more frustration than the most frustrated politicians on Capitol Hill.
These people work harder than the hardest office workers the United States has ever produced.

These people put in hours upon hours upon hours of back-breaking, mind-numbing, heart-wrenching work, all for a cause. They want to make D.C.–and the United States–a better place to live. They want to make it a better place to work, a better place to eat, and even a better place to get sick. It’s amazing.

I heard comments describing our group last weekend as “a bomb waiting to explode”, a group with “collective momentum” to change the world. One attendee, Greg Bloom, said “Web sites don’t make change, and neither do rallies”. And he’s right. These people working on these causes, right here in D.C., they’re the ones that make change. And I can see it coming. It’s beautiful.

Now after leaving the conference, I began to feel a little overwhelmed. I was thinking back to the people I heard speak, flipping through my notes, shuffling through the business cards I picked up, and I realized that there’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a lot of causes out there. There’s a lot that needs fixin’. And for me, I didn’t even know where to start.

Should I volunteer for DC Food for All and help make D.C. sustainable and feed those in need? Or should I volunteer with Miriam’s Kitchen to feed the homeless? Or maybe I should go out and volunteer with the MLK Library’s Adult Literacy Resource Center and help teach people to read. Or I could even work with the Open Forum Foundation in their push for more open government.

See what I mean? But now I’ve realized that, really, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start somewhere. You’ve got to get out here and do something. You’ve got to pick something you’re passionate about and go for it, help out, put some weekend hours into it. It’s worth it, because this is our city. This is everyone‘s country. And we can help make it better.

Personally, I’m hoping to get involved some this semester, if I don’t collapse under the load of schoolwork. Even if not this semester, though, I’m already formulating a plan for the summer to volunteer with ten different causes on ten different weekends, ten weeks in a row. Rest assured, you’ll hear more about that as it comes close.

In the meantime, I’ve assembled a list of organizations and people I heard about and/or met last weekend. The links for organizations will take you to their Web site, where you can find out how to get involved. The links for people will take you to their Twitter profile, where you can contact them directly. And finally, if you have any questions or want to know more about my experience, you can comment and/or e-mail me at alex.priest[at]mac.com. Click the read more for the full list. Thanks for reading, looking forward to seeing you volunteering one day soon.

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Last night, alexpriest.com fell victim to a malicious hacker attack. The still unidentified hackers hacked into the alexpriest.com servers and stole confidential usernames and passwords for both Alex Priest and client accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

The hackers have taken this sensitive information and begun to distribute it via underground sources, as well as to the general public via the social media accounts they have seized from alexpriest.com. The alexpriest.com team is working closely with Twitter and Facebook to identify these brand identity thieves and bring them to justice. In addition, we are working to remove all unauthorized content from these Twitter and Facebook feeds as soon as possible. In the meantime, Facebook and Twitter have agreed to lock down the compromised accounts while this situation is being resolved.

alexpriest.com advised them to change the passwords to all social media accounts. At this time, only the four client accounts have been compromised. You may view each of their statements via the following links: Apple, Starbucks, Intuit, and Best Buy.

AlexPriest.com will always adhere to its policy of openness, transparency and engagement with our clients and users, even in this time of crisis. Clients, readers and partners alike can expect frequent updates from us via Facebook and Twitter, email, and phone calls from our CEO, Alex Priest.