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1 month ago | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
When it comes to location, some might say the siting of Clarendon Presbyterian was divinely inspired. The church sits on a triangle of land formed by the angled intersection of North Irving and North Jackson Streets. From the northern point of the triangle, the stone structure looks a little like it’s sitting at the tip of a peninsula, with single-family homes lining it on both sides.
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2 months ago | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
Magic Johnson. Sheryl Swoopes. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Brittney Griner. LeBron James. Angel Reese. These Black icons of pro basketball and countless others might not be known today if it weren’t for the pioneering efforts of one man: Edwin Bancroft Henderson. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1883, and later a longtime resident of Falls Church, Henderson is often called the “father” or “grandfather” of Black basketball, having made lasting impacts on the sport as an educator, coach, writer and activist.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
On a recent morning, the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) just off South Four Mile Run Drive felt like a Richard Scarry children’s book sprung to life. Everything was in motion. In one area, volunteers subdivided bulk shipments of rice and potatoes into smaller portions. Some made stacks of canned goods that were five feet tall. In the distribution room, others formed an assembly line handing out food—produce, meat, bread and cake—to a steady stream of walk-in clients.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
In late October 1976, police discovered a gruesome scene inside the Abbey Mausoleum, a once grand burial place next to Arlington National Cemetery. Vandals had tampered with a dozen caskets and 15 urns, placing a copy of Circus (a now-defunct music magazine) into one opened coffin. In the gray cremains from an overturned urn, someone had drawn a smiley face. It wouldn’t be the tomb’s only raid.
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Sep 12, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
In September 1959, only months after the first Virginia schools desegregated, an Arlington lawyer and school board member named L. Lee Bean stood up in a meeting and read aloud a newly passed Virginia state law, Joint Resolution 97.
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Aug 20, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
Deborah Waldron’s first encounter with ChatGPT was nearly two years ago, when one of her students demonstrated how well it could write code. Intrigued, the Yorktown High School physics teacher began experimenting with ways to incorporate the AI chatbot into her classroom. But she quickly discovered that the artificial intelligence got things wrong nearly as often as it got things right. So she decided to use the generative AI program’s inherent flaws to her and her students’ advantage.
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Jul 23, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Kim A. O’Connell
The ongoing restoration of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse relies on science, history, art, and patience. By Kim O’ConnellOn a blustery July morning, a park ranger pushed open a section of chain-link fencing at Cape Hatteras National Seashore and invited me and a group of visitors to step inside. Just over the dunes, steady winds up to 20 miles per hour pushed endless whitecaps towards the shoreline. The overnight rain had stopped, but clouds swirled overhead.
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Jul 19, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
It was a day many dreaded. On Thursday, May 12, 1988, the last-period P.E. students at Bishop O’Connell High School had to run a timed mile on the track. If they were too slow, the teachers would make them do it again later. Sophomore Rosemary Kennedy (née Pellegrino) was lined up in front, determined to finish fast. She and her pal Lori Haralampus were running shoulder to shoulder down the straightaway when suddenly Lori shoved Rosemary to the ground.
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May 17, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
In the late 20th century, Bob’s Big Boy restaurants were synonymous with no-fuss American dining—a good place to get a huge cheeseburger and a frosty shake. They were just as famous for their statues of the company mascot, a cherubic boy with a brown pompadour and red-and-white checkered overalls, which stood out front to welcome customers. Naturally, the burger chain was popular with teenagers. Maybe a little too popular.
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Feb 26, 2024 | 
arlingtonmagazine.com | Kim A. O’Connell
On a recent afternoon, Shawn Baker could be heard trudging up the basement stairs of his family business, slowly and deliberately. When he finally appeared, the reason was evident: In one arm he carried two heavy, leather-bound books of funeral records from the 1940s; in the other, two hardcover telephone books from the 1960s. Baker’s company—Chinn-Baker Funeral Service—has served the Black community in Green Valley since 1942.
