I’m working my way through the questions that folks were kind enough to submit during NaBloPoMo, but which I never got around to answering.
These questions are from Maria!
What brought you to DC (or are you a native)?
I came to DC in 2003 for a Stage Management internship at my current opera company. After that internship I freelanced around the country for a few years, stage managing for a variety of opera companies. Even still, I had met my husband-to-be by the end of my DC internship, and he lived in DC, so I was pretty persistent about checking in with the opera company in DC to see if there were job openings. And then in 2006, an Assistant Stage Manager position opened up, I applied and was hired. I move here (ish) – I still freelanced a bit around the country at the time, but I’ve pretty much been based here ever since.
Best little known things to see in DC?
Oooh! So many. Some of my favorite off the beaten path things:
–Lincoln’s Cottage – this is the house in NW DC where Lincoln lived during the Civil War. While the house itself is rather bare, I think this is one of the best tour experiences in D.C. The tour guide takes you through the house and part of the tour is asking the participants questions and leading discussions about the decisions that Lincoln had to make as President. This is a great tour for anyone interested in engaging with history. Even though this museum does charges a fee, but I think it’s worth it. Lincoln’s cottage is the #1 thing I recommend to history buffs who have seen all the Museums on the Smithsonian Mall already.
-If you’re visiting Lincoln’s Cottage, I would also suggest visiting the Franciscan Monastery Gardens, about two miles away. This is one of the loveliest and most peaceful places in D.C.
–Frederick Douglass House – The Frederick Douglass National Historic site is a great foil to Lincoln’s cottage. The house itself can only be seen via a guided tour, but the grounds are open to visitors and has a lovely view of DC. There is a very dated film at the visitor’s center, which I found a little cringe-y to watch, but also fascinating. The house is in Anacostia, an area of town that is, honestly, not pretty and touristy like the National Mall and not a lot of people think to visit, but I think visiting can give people a more complete sense of DC.
–The Old Post Office Tower – So everyone wants to go up the Washington Monument when they are here. I’ve been up exactly once, and it is highly recommended if you can make it work. BUT tickets to the Washington Monument are really had to come by. So I offer an alternative: The Old Post Office Tower gives a spectacular view of the city and you don’t need tickets to visit. The line periodically can be long, but there’s a nice display along the way of the history of D.C.
-The Kennedy Center – Okay, so this is not little known place, but my favorite things about it are not well known: 1) they have FREE performances every Wednesday through Saturday at 6pm, and 2) the rooftop has an amazing view. So even if you don’t have tickets to see a show, it makes a nice stop to go up to the top and see the view and then catch a short performance afterwards.
–National Postal Museum – My favorite Smithsonian Museum to visit with the kids, though I don’t think the kids quite love it as much as I do because they really have no concept of how important snail mail is. I love it because a) I think the subject matter is fascinating, b) there are a lot of hands on activities for the kids – like sorting mail! Ride a mail wagon!, c) it’s never crowded, d) It’s right next to a metro stop, so it’s a really easy trip.
–Glenstone Museum – this museum is a bit out in the suburbs, but if you are into contemporary art, sculpture installations, and beautiful grounds, I highly recommend Glenstone Museum. They have a nice restaurant there too, so it’s a nice place to go with friends where you can chat, take a walk, see art, and grab a bite. It’s free, but you have to reserve tickets.
Favorite opera (to watch and to work)?
My favorite opera is The Marriage of Figaro. The story is ridiculous – the men are all kind of insecure jerks – but the music makes you believe that everything will be okay. It’s also an opera I’ve worked on six or seven times so I can watch a production without needing to read the supertitles, and that makes the experience more enjoyable for me.
As for working on – this is hard because so much of what makes an opera my favorite to work on has to do with the people I’m working with. But if all things were equal, some of my favorite things to work on is contemporary opera. There is just such a different energy in the room when you’re working on a new piece. I’ve been lucky to work on a couple world premieres and a couple operas where we are giving the second production and where things are still being re-written and that’s exciting. Also Benjamin Britten. I would love to work on any Benjamin Britten operas that I can.
What was your cloth diaper experience like? (I currently am on my third cloth diapered baby and am curious about your experience!)
I could write a lot about cloth diapers! I was mildly obsessed with them for a long time. I spend countless hours researching cloth diaper options, browsing cloth diaper websites, reading cloth diaper forums online, thinking about my laundry routine, trying out different diapers….
I knew I wanted to try cloth diapering from my very first baby. I was just really intrigued by the idea from an environmental standpoint and also because thought it would save money. (I’m not entirely sold on the cost savings for me…). We actually signed up for a cloth diaper class, but then my oldest was born a few weeks early and I had to send my Husband to the class on his own because I was still in the hospital. There are also a lot of apocryphal benefits to cloth diapers like being gentler on the skin and making potty training easier. I have to say I don’t really have direct evidence of this. I have one kid who toilet trained at 2.5 and one who didn’t figure it out til nearly 4. My kids did still periodically get diaper rash. Also people say cloth diapers are cheaper, and yes, by the third child we had a big enough stash of cloth diapers that we spent very little money on diapers, but the initial outlay is quite substantial.
Like breast vs. formula feeding, and really many things in life, cloth diapers is not an all or nothing endeavor. We did a mix of cloth and disposable diapers. We mostly used prefolds and covers. (Prefolds are rectangular cotton diapers that you fold around the baby and then you put a waterproof diaper cover over top.). At night we either used disposable diapers or pocket diapers. (Pocket diapers are diapers with a fleece or microfiber layer that you stuff with an absorbent inside, so they absorb well but also feel dryer against the baby’s bum because of that microfiber/fleece layer.).
We had one daycare that was okay with cloth diapers and one that did not allow them. We had another kid who used disposable at day care and cloth at night. (The third kid was born during the pandemic and didn’t go to daycare until she was practically toilet trained.) We had one kid who used cloth diapers during the day and disposables at night. We had another kid who used disposable at day care and cloth at night. It was all about what worked for us and the kid at the point in time.
For anyone one considering cloth diapers, I would say two things:
1) you have to be okay with doing a lot of laundry. We did a load of diapers every two or three days.
2) you have to be okay touching poop and with smelling poop. With cloth diapers, you have to rinse the poop off before you wash them. We had a diaper sprayer in our bathroom (still do) for this, but the poop can still go everywhere. My mother used to rinse poopy diapers by swishing the diaper right in the toilet. I found that touching poop was pretty unavoidable.
What I liked about cloth diapers:
1) Less trash. A kid goes through 6-8 diapers a day. That’s a lot of trash.
2) I wasn’t constantly buying disposable diapers. I think every few months I would buy one giant pack of diapers from Costco and that would last us a good long while.
3) Cloth diapers are soooo cute.
3) I never worried about running out of diapers because I knew I could just wash more diapers if I ever ran out.
Things I didn’t love about cloth diapers:
1) They can be fussy. If I didn’t wash them right they sometimes got really smelly or lost absorbancy.
2) the above mentioned laundry and poop.
3) They do tend to leak, in my experience more so than disposable diapers. I didn’t actually care that much about this, but I’m going to be honest, I found that all diapers would leak if you don’t change them frequently.
4) They do make the baby’s butt really big so you have to size up in pants.
Thanks for the questions, Maria! Those were fun things to think about!
If anyone wants to submit questions for me to answer in a future Ask Me Anything post, you can do so at this link.
What brought you to where you live? Or do you live where you grew up? Have you ever had to change a diaper? What’s the best view where you live? Do you like museums for history or for art?
