Hello again! Told you I'd be back before the month ends, well...sort of! On October 28, my class and I embarked on our second October MJ to Adams Morgan. Did I mention we added four more students since last time? In addition to Nadia, Eliza, Victoria, Summer and me, we know also have Ser, Grant, Jameel, and Sade! First let's dissect this awesome neighborhood in DC! First what's with the name? Who is Adam and why does he have a Morgan? Well, just for clarification, Adams does not have a Morgan. These two names are the names of the two formerly segregated elementary schools. Thomas P. Morgan Elementary school educated the black students, while John Quincy Adams schooled the whites. In 1955, district schools were desegregated because of the 1954 Bolling vs. Sharpe Supreme Court ruling. Combining these two schools as well as marking their new neighborhood's territory in four pre-existing neighborhoods, the city council in 1958 named the new community Adam's Morgan. This area is very diverse, home to many different cultures of people. This is shown through this mural found in an
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| Current Ontario Theater |
Upon arriving at Silver Spring Metro Station, we took the train to Fort Totten, transferred to the green line, then continued to Columbia where we met Ser and Grant. Unfortunately, through some poor communication Jameel went to the Woodley Park metro, but we all agreed to meet at our first stop, which was Malcolm X park, or more commonly known as Meridian Hill park.
The Egyptian symbolism in this park is extremely evident in the architecture. In Egypt, there are different symbols, architecture, letters, as well as numbers that we need to be aware of before we continue with in Meridian Hill park, let's look at some symbolism of ancient Egypt.
Common Name
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Proper Name
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Meaning/ Symbolism
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Obelisk (Washington Monument)
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Tkn (Pl.-Tknu)
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N/A
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One (1)
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N/A
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God
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Two (2)
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N/A
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Man and Woman
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Three (3)
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N/A
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Child/Trinity
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Four (4)
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N/A
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Foundation
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Five (5)
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N/A
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Man/Mind
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Six (6)
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N/A
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Death
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Seven (7)
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N/A
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Heaven/Spiritual Resurrection
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| East (Sun rise) | Ray | Birth |
Now we can go to our first stop, which is Meridian Hill Park on 16th street. This park's symbolism is going to blow your mind! First let's look at 16th street. 1+6=7. What's the meaning of seven according to Ancient Kemet? Heaven or Resurrection! Did you know that this street is sometimes called Avenue of Churches? But that's not all; this street is exactly 7.7 miles long and ends at the White House. Also, did you know that DC is positioned exactly on longitude line 77? Crazy, right?
Before we go back to Meridian Hill Park, I would like to tell you the Ancient Kemet story of the Ancient god Osar. This god married a woman named Auset, or commonly known my the Greeks and Romans as Isis. Osar was a very successful ruler of Kemet, teaching his people laws, education, architecture, and other prosperous skills. He was adored by his people, but his evil brother, Set, was jealous. Set murdered his brother and managed to cut his body into 14 pieces scattering them all over Egypt. Auset managed to find all of them, except the 14th, which was the phallus. She assembled the 13 pieces of his body making the first mummy.
At the time of Osar's death, he did not have any children, but mystically Auset was impregnated by her husband, and she had a son named Heru, or Horus according to the Romans and Greeks, and who was raised secretly to protect him from his Uncle Set, who was now the ruler of Kemet.
As soon as Heru grew to be a man, he challenged his Uncle for the throne, and after many battles he avenged his father and regained the throne of Egypt. During the many battles, Set snatched out the Eye of Heru and threw it into the celestial ocean where it was found later and used as a guide for Osar to find his way to the afterlife. The Eye of Heru was used to signify protection on mummies' journeys to the afterlife. The End.
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| 13 Waterfalls |
Have you ever noticed that the number 13 is seen as a curse? Friday the 13th is feared by many across the nation. It is nationally seen as an unlucky number. Why would society teach us that if they don't believe that number's cursed too? "What?" you might ask. Let's evaluate this. If you have a dollar bill nearby, go and get it. America started with how many colonies? 13! E Pluribus Unum. How many letters are in that Latin motto? Look at the eagle on your dollar bill, how many arrows is he clutching? How many leaves are on the olive branch? How many olives are on the olive branch? How many levels on Amr? Wait, wait, wait...how many of her husband's body parts did Auset find? 13! What's positioned at the top of the Amr? An eye? Mummies are normally buried in Amrs, so it can be concluded that the 13 levels of the Amr on the dollar bill signify the Osar's 13 parts, and the eye on top represents the Eye of Heru, protection. Also the Cascading Waterfalls found in Meridian Hill Park has 13 pools. Whaaaaaaaat? So many 13's considering that 13 is an unlucky number.
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| Idk, I just thought this was hilarious |
If you walk in the middle of the park, you'll spot 4 obelisks on the east side of the park. What does the number four mean? Foundation, right! What about east? Birth! Putting this knowledge together, according to Egyptian symbolism, this statue represents the importance to start the beginning of your day, or 'birth', with foundation, in other words meditation. After looking through all of this, we played a game of (failed) frisbee (none of us could catch the frisbee effectively, so the game went pretty slow), got to know each other a little more, and shared some laughs.
Now the walking really gets started, our job was to visit 10 restaurants in Adams Morgan owned by people from 10 different countries, making sure at least 5 different continents are represented!
The first restaurant! Pho 14 Vietnamese
Mama Ayeshas Middle Eastern
Astor - Mediterranean
The Grill from Ipanema - Brazilian
Mama Mia's - Afghanistan
The next business was the only business we had the pleasure of getting an interview with the manager, who is from North America. Pleasant Pops is a cute shop selling their homemade popsicles year-round. The flavors change with season because their pops are made with fresh fruit from agriculture in the DC area. The managers favorite flavors included a heavenly chocolate flavor! Whew! I know when that'll come in handy. Am I right, ladies? Their store opened in 2012 after a year of experimenting with different flavors, until eventually their selection grew to the 100 flavors they sell now. Four more to go!
Amsterdam Falafel Shop Native American
Meze- Turkish
Bukom Cafe-West Africa
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| Summer being a cutie |
After visiting all 10 stops, we realized we finished earlier than normal and went to jumbo slice to get....PIZZA YUUUUUS! It was huuuuuuuuuuge! Bigger than 2 paper plates, and I finished every single bite! "#noragrets!" LOL. After hanging out a bit in Columbia Heights, we all journeyed home to finish our second MJ of the year. This MJ was so much fun! Can't wait to see y'all in two weeks!
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