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KLMNO THE RELIABLE SOURCE Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger
CNN spotlights a sister act
Seeing double on CNN’s
“Situation Room” on Wednesday night? Anchor Suzanne Malveaux interviewed her twin Suzette about the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings. The older sister (by six minutes) is a legal analyst and associate law professor at Catholic University. Is that allowed? The anchor told us that her producer came up with the idea for their first joint on-air appearance. “It’s a new thing for us,” said Suzanne, who promised her boss they wouldn’t wear the same outfit. (Suzanne wore a black dress; Suzette, in a red top and brown jacket, was the twin with curly hair.) The interview was full of standard wonk talk . . . until the last few seconds. “If you want to fill in for me tomorrow here on the ‘Situation Room’ — if you’re available — do you think anybody will notice the difference?” asked Suzanne. “Oh, I’m sure,” Suzette said, laughing.
Chris Hitchens takes break to battle cancer
Christopher Hitchens is being
treated for cancer, forcing the Washington writer to cut short his latest book tour. In a statement released through his publisher Twelve, the British-born provocateur said he has “been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me.” The notorious chain-smoker,
Getting a dose of real life
But maybe it helps when the hostess is a celebrity. Or an almost-celebrity. Or a soon-to-be celebrity. Stacie Turner is the founder of
I CNN
Suzette Malveaux, right, stopped by to chat with twin Suzanne.
Extra-Ordinary Life, a support group that aims to provide mentorship and cultural opportunities for teenage girls in the District’s foster care system. She’s kicking things off this month by taking eight young women to South Africa for the World Cup finals. “It will show them the world is their
oyster, and there are no horizons,” the real estate agent told us, at the reception at the downtown Bank of America’s monument-view top floor.
t was a nice turnout for a new charity —150 or so guests including judges, TV anchors, Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Stacie Turner, center, and about 150 guests kicked off her mentoring group Wednesday at a reception downtown.
She’s also, as it happens, reality-TV
royalty-in-waiting — one of the stars of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” premiering next month. Props to her for leveraging her nascent fame for the sake of good works, rather than a memoir or a fashion line. But Turner, 42, was quick to tell us she started Extra-Ordinary Life last year. The Washington native (grew up in
Alexandria, graduated from Howard) was adopted from foster care at the age
of 6months — “the best-case scenario,” she said. Her family exposed her to mind-broadening travel and culture from an early age; some of her new proteges have never ventured beyond the city. (A BET camera crew will follow the group for a documentary.) So, about “Housewives”! An advance
peek at the first episode shows the mom of two as down-to-earth and likable. But reality TV can be an rough business — her co-stars, after all, include Tareq and Michaele Salahi. Why’d she agree to do it?
“I like my reality,” she said with a laugh. “I think it’s pretty positive. And if the show can bring attention to my real estate business and my charity, that’s great.”
AMY ARGETSINGER/THE WASHINGTON POST MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST
The Washington author quit smoking two years ago.
61, announced in 2008 that he had given up tobacco — driven, he said, by “fear.” (His wife, Carol Blue, told us at the time that he “wants to live — live to see his political enemies defeated.”) But he was still sneaking a smoke or two when profiled by Style last month.
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010
LOVE, ETC. Engaged: Zoe Saldana, 32,
and longtime boyfriend Keith Britton, her rep confirmed to People. She was 2009’s sci-fi It Girl (“Star Trek,” “Avatar”), he’s a Web entrepreneur who — sorry, that’s really pretty much all anyone knows about him.
“I keep wanting to ask you about the famous case of Edward versus Jacob . . . [but] I know you can’t comment on future cases.”
— Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), left, brazenly courting the Twi-hard vote, in her questioning of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan at the confirmation hearing Wednesday.
SUSAN WALSH/ASSOCIATED PRESS GOT A TIP ? E-MAIL U S A T RELIABLESOURCE@WASHP OST . COM. FOR THE LA TEST SCOOPS, VISIT WASHINGTONP OST . COM/RELIABLESOUR CE MUSIC REVIEW NSO caps season with a gourmet dessert by Anne Midgette Reprinted from Wednesday’s late editions
Imagine a standard-issue bakery cake embellished with thick, white frosting and you have your typical orchestral gala: a sugary-sweet confection. Now imagine slicing into that cake and finding, instead of your typical white cake glued together with standard-issue icing, the creation of a fine French pastry chef, and you have the National Symphony Orchestra’s final concert of the season, featuring Yo-Yo Ma, on Tuesday night. It was still fun to eat, but it was a lot more substantial and nuanced than such things usually are. Your standard gala — like, for instance, the one that opened the orchestra’s 2009- 10 season in September — features lots of short, fun pieces from the lighter side of the repertory: opera overtures and in- terludes, sections of tone poems. Tues-
TRACY A. WOODWARD/THE WASHINGTON POST
day’s gala chose Ravel to represent the idea of lightness and fun. But while Ravel wrote music that was sometimes on a small scale and is often beloved by audi- ences (“Bolero” comes to mind), he is not a cheap thrill: His music is dazzlingly in- ventive. Tuesday’s all-Ravel first half, with “Alborada del Gracioso,” the suite from “Ma Mère L’Oye” (Mother Goose) and the “Rapsodie Espagnole” offered more thoughts and ideas and timbres in a short span of time than many entire pro- grams. Your standard gala also includes a star soloist, and Tuesday night obligingly of- fered Yo-Yo Ma, one of the most beloved figures in the classical music world (the roar of excitement that rose from the au- dience at his entrance, after the in- termission, was touching). But though Ma welcomes the affection, he doesn’t trade on it. He could have played a short virtuosic showcase and abundantly filled the bill. Instead, he performed “Azul,” ef- fectively a concerto in which the cello
ICING ON THE CAKE: Star soloist Yo-Yo Ma delivered a thoughtful “Azul.”
shares solo honors with two percussion- ists and a hyperaccordion (a regular ac- cordion with electronic special effects), which Osvaldo Golijov wrote for him in 2006 and revised extensively a year later. It was long, thoughtful, different and real: anything but an easy star show- piece.
Galas aren’t always led by big-name
conductors. Jeffrey Kahane, the conduc- tor/pianist, is a familiar quantity; he of- fered a lot of energy, a clear beat and an impressive ability to keep the orchestra together coupled with an ability to get the musicians to play very loud. He was great at rhythm, marshaling downright funkiness in some of the Spanish dances of the “Rapsodie Espagnole,” though with a hint of instability that was now exhil- arating, keeping things driving forward, and now dislocating, as if the music were about to fall apart. The final difference from the standard- issue gala was the genuine, shouting ex- citement of the standing ovations.
Jury rules former museum worker’s firing was lawful
by Jacqueline Trescott
A federal jury decided Wednesday that a former employee and whistleblower who worked at the restoration facility of the National Air and Space Museum was not fired in retaliation for his complaints about behavior in the workplace. The jury deliberated for four hours in Michael D. Cross v. G. Wayne Clough, weighing Cross’s claim that supervisors at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Resto- ration and Storage Facility took actions against him and labeled him a “prob-
lem,” after he reported what he consid- ered unacceptable behavior concerning a female co-worker, among other actions. The government attorney represent- ing the Smithsonian Institution, which oversees the museum and the restora- tion facility, argued that Cross had exces- sive absences, used “rumor and innuen- do” to build distrust among his col- leagues and became “disruptive.” During the seven-day trial, retired Gen. John R. Dailey, director of the Air and Space Mu-
seum, testified that he fired Cross based on misconduct and poor attendance. Attorneys for Cross said Wednesday
they intended to appeal the decision. Cross joined the Garber staff as a vol- unteer in 2000 and was initially fired on April 12, 2002. In 2007, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board ordered the Smithsonian to reinstate Cross to his $46,000-a-year job. In that case, Cross said he was fired in retaliation for report- ing his claim in an e-mail to then-
Secretary Lawrence M. Small that there were illegal activities at the Garber facil- ity. Cross resigned in November 2008. “We, the attorneys, have always be-
lieved in Mike and still believe in Mike. We intend to appeal,” said attorney Kris- tin D. Alden. “We believe there are issues that are problematic and we are going to pursue this further. We just want ac- countability.”
trescottj@washpost.com
DOONESBURY by Garry Trudeau
CUL DE SAC by Richard Thompson
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