… has all charges of Reflecting Pool vandalism dropped.
Botched installation by Trump crony.
On this beautiful Saturday evening, tons of townspeople gathered to open a new meditation park, on land donated by Laetitia Yeandle.
I used to watch Laetitia, a distinguished Renaissance scholar, march purposively by my house of a morning, on her way to the Folger Library. Six feet tall, bent forward with haste and, well, purposiveness, she clutched in each of her hands briefcases bursting with samples of sixteenth century paleography.
Laetitia woke up each morning intensely focused on her work; she marched back up Rokeby at the end of the day with the very same focus. She obviously loved what she did.
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In its way as important as her contribution to Renaissance scholarship was her gift of land for the gorgeous park that bears her name. Garrett Parkers are blessed with trees and parks, and here is another quiet communal corner, with winding paths and wooden benches, encircled by vast old timbers.
But the gift of land is just the start — the first gathering there, like gatherings to come, was a moment of communion, of warm recognition of the people who love Garrett Park the way she did.
I met a new neighbor at the inauguration; I met her longhaired corgi.
And this of course was Laetitia’s real gift — an inspiring place to meet and meet again the people who share UD’s ever-renascent town.
David Hearn comes from a longtime, superathletic, Garrett Park family. (This says born in ‘thesda, but that should read Garrett Park.). Updates as they become available.
On June 19, 2026, Hearn was arrested by United States Park Police officers on the charge of misdemeanor destruction of government property near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. At the time of the incident, Donald Trump had accused “vandals” of sabotaging the pool’s $13.1 million renovation, which was plagued with algal blooms and peeling paint days after its completion. In an interview with The Washington Post, Hearn said he had reached into the pool to feel the texture of the peeling paint, and had not removed or damaged anything.
In the last week, UD’s done a Sound of Music Singalong and a Songs of Tom Lehrer Singalong. And she read from Molly Bloom’s soliloquy on Bloomsday.
UD thanks her Garrett Park neighbors for linking me to this NYT story about Ferdinand the Bull. Its author, Munro Leaf, lived and died in UD’s house. UD knew his wife, Margaret.
Whenever I introduce a new element to the garden, I find myself hoping that it’s in line with the spirit of Ferdinand, as Leaf conceived him.
Pulled out his weapon at the local mall during a fight, and has been carrying it – loaded, scratched off serial number – throughout his school day at Walt Whitman High, pride of UD’s ‘thesda. Remember Whitman? UD’s old friend Rita Kosofsky taught literature there for three decades… Has a great academic rep…
But after he’s tried (as an adult) and given probation by the court weenies, he’ll be invited back to Whitman by the school weenies, and the many affluent parents of ‘thesda, realizing little Andre is no doubt one of several heavily armed teenagers at Whitman (which I guess sees itself as too ladidah for metal detectors), will take their kids out of harm’s way and the school’s rep will sink like a stone.
… steps from the Georgetown Library, where I just gave a lecture on the essay.
This morning’s increment, under an early spring sun and no clouds, included trimming dead grass mounds (the birds use the stalks for their nests), shaping viburnum buds, and raking (with care!) garden litter. I removed a wren’s nest in progress on a window sill on the deck — I’ve been watching the bird approach the house with twigs in its mouth, and I felt sure she was flying all the way up to the gutters with it — and felt some guilt as I did so.
But mainly I felt, as Harold Brodkey wrote, douceur:
Perhaps you could say I did very little with my life, but the douceur, if that is the word, Talleyrand’s word, was overwhelming. Painful and light-struck and wonderful.
He sat in his house (three doors down from UD) writing and mailing “at least 40 letters and two post cards to 25 Jewish institutions nationwide.” He threatened them with violence.
UD gave editorial advice to a Garrett Park neighbor involved in writing a letter asking the judge for clemency. UD is a Jew and is disgusted by this man. But it seemed the right thing to do.
… that rushes around the brown basin.
… the arrival of the Walter Johnson high school football team (I’m class of ‘71). The guys will, as they do every year (it’s a fundraiser), spread mulch.
