Arts and Sciences

**Sales for this talk have been reopened as it has been moved to a larger space in Penn Social to accommodate demand.** [Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Ireland’s Fight for Freedom,”** with Kevin Matthews, assistant professor of history at George Mason University and former London correspondent for Vatican Radio reporting on British and Irish news. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-ireland-freedom](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-ireland-freedom) .] After centuries of struggle, Irish men and women won their freedom from Great Britain after waging a war that set the pattern for all other independence struggles of the 20th century. But there was a price—the partition of their country, a split setting the stage for the Northern Ireland “Troubles” that didn’t end until 1998. Gain a deeper understanding of Ireland and its history with Professor Kevin Matthews, a historian who served as a journalist covering the last stages of the Troubles in Ireland in the early and mid 1990s. He’ll discuss in depth how the Irish won independence in a two-year war between 1919 and 1921, covering topics as the role women played in the conflict, the life and tactics of the revolutionary leader Michael Collins, and the Irish development of “urban guerilla warfare” using small, highly mobile armed units called “flying columns.” Most important, this talk will examine how the conflict between Irish nationalists and Irish unionists led to Ireland’s division and later conflict. From the Easter Rising to the Good Friday Agreement, from Bloody Sunday to Brexit, this conflict has never quite gone away. As the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats once wrote: Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. Professor Matthews will explore how the Irish fought to a standstill what was then the mightiest empire in the world and how, more than he could have known, Yeats’ prediction still rings true today. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Members of the Irish Republican Army’s West Connemara Flying Column in 1921. (Public Domain photo.)

This **no gi class** focuses on **advanced [Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_jiu-jitsu) (BJJ) concepts**, including takedowns, positional drilling, submissions, transitions, situational sparring, strategy development, and live training. While the class is scheduled for **90 minutes**, it may run longer depending on content and participation. This class includes both instruction as well as [rolling](https://www.howbjjworks.com/bjj-blog/2018/7/29/how-rolling-works-in-bjj) (sparring). The **drop-in fee** for non-members is **$20**, payable on-site and note that we are in **suite #130**.

Chronic inflammation can be linked to conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and even cognitive decline. In this session, learn how to prepare anti-inflammatory dishes while enjoying flavorful, nutritious recipes! Registration required. All ages welcome; FREE. **Bladensburg Community Center** **[Register Here](https://mdpgparksweb.myvscloud.com/webtrac/web/search.html?Action=Start&SubAction=&_csrf_token=nl6K640407732E2Y293C2L4F4T4Y6P6E0G5M535L4Y1H5J4R5K6I6Z5O52475708074T5P5J725V4G5A6R016S4E4A5D0A5P526M480G5G4R59591Q724B6H5I6C5Z4O5H&keyword=sPD-SPEC-GA-20260317&keywordoption=Match+One&dayoption=All&beginyear=&location=&display=Detail&module=global&multiselectlist_value=&globalwebsearch_buttonsearch=yes)** For fastest response to any questions, or for more information, please contact Health and Wellness directly via email [wellness@pgparks.com](wellness@pgparks.com)

Join us for [Muay Thai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Thai) kickboxing at [OSMA in Herndon, VA](https://www.virginiabjj.com/): an energetic evening class focused on striking technique, conditioning, and controlled sparring. 🔥 This adult (16+) class combines **technical instruction, pad work, partner drills**, and **cardio training** to build real-world skill and endurance in a safe, structured setting. Beginners and experienced students alike will learn how to apply the principles of **Muay Thai: *The Art Of Eight Limbs***, through precise strikes, timing, and defense. Classes take place every **Monday** and **Wednesday** at **7:00 PM**. The **drop-in fee is $20**, payable on-site, and note that we are located in **suite # 130**. Come train with us and see why so many in [Northern Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Virginia) choose One Spirit Martial Arts for top-tier martial-arts instruction. **Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)** Q: Is this class suitable for someone interested in **boxing**? A: Yes! Muay Thai shares many of the same **striking fundamentals** as [boxing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing), including **stance**, **timing**, and **defensive movement**. Students searching for boxing gyms in [Herndon, VA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herndon,_Virginia) or Northern Virginia train at OSMA to develop **solid punching technique** along with **kicks**, **knees**, and **elbows**.

We've never read Eudora Welty here, so we're going to discuss her best-known work, the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Optimist's Daughter." This short novel, which began as a story in the New Yorker, is about a woman who travels to New Orleans to take care of her father after surgery. I've been meaning to read Welty for years, so I'm happy we're doing this now.

Treat your children to GALita’s ***Séneca, ratón de biblioteca (Séneca, The Library Mouse)***, a bilingual play by Chilean playwright Jorge Díaz with original music by Iván Navas. Directed by Elena Velasco, this fun-filled play touches on the importance of reading and respecting differences, and runs March 14 through March 28, 2026. When a brainy library mouse meets a swaggering crew of street mice, sparks fly and stories take off—spilling from the shelves into a world of comic chases and big laughs. Along the way, unlikely friendships form and lessons unfold about listening, learning, and belonging. Brought to life through imaginative puppets and original music, ***Séneca, The Library Mouse*** invites young audiences to celebrate difference, delight in the joy of books, and discover confidence and pride in who they are—proving that brains, creativity, and curiosity can be just as powerful as bravado. **PERFORMANCES:** Weekdays from March 16-20 and March 23-27 at 10:30 am, and Saturday, March 14, 21, and 28 at 3 pm. This family show is about 60 minutes long and suitable for ages 5 and up! **TICKETS:** General admission tickets are $10 children and $12 adults. **[GET TICKETS HERE](https://ci.ovationtix.com/35923/production/1245619)** **CAST:** Daniela Lock as Séneca, Delbis Cardona as Rafael, Ramón, and Raúl, Máximo Cáceres as Benigno (Dog), Rachael Small as Bellaco (Cat), and H. Christian Aguilar as Ensemble/Understudy. **CREATIVE TEAM:** Scenic Design is by Gisela Estrada with Lighting Design by Luis García, and Costume Design by Rukiya Henry-Fields. Iván Navas is Composer, Angélica Huertas is Sound Designer, and Properties Design is by Isabel deCarvalho. Solis Pettitt is Stage Manager and Sherry González is Assistant Stage Manager. Ilyana Rose-Dávila is Production Manager, and Anson Stevie is Technical Director.

Join PSW Science® on March 20 at 8 PM as we welcome Bill Diamond, President & CEO at The SETI Institute. During the question and answer period, in-person attendees and live stream viewers may ask the speaker questions, and in-person attendees may also engage with the speaker during the post-lecture reception. Refreshments are served. For more information on this meeting, please visit: https://pswscience.org/meeting/2533/ The meeting will be held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, adjacent to the Cosmos Club. The Powell Auditorium is located at 2170 Florida Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008. Use of the Cosmos Club is restricted to the Powell Auditorium, the entryway to the auditorium, and the restrooms immediately outside the auditorium. Please note there is no onsite parking available. PSW Science, founded in 1871, is one of the oldest scientific societies in Washington D.C. Now, over 150 years later, we celebrate the Society's rich history and contributions to scientific discovery and cross-disciplinary collaboration. For information on how to become a member of PSW Science and membership benefits, please visit https://pswscience.org/join/

Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) stands as one of the great dissenters from the Cartesian worldview that dominated eighteenth-century Europe, and as one of the first sociologists and philosophers of history and class struggle. While Descartes and his followers sought to extend the geometric method to all domains of knowledge, Vico insisted that human affairs require a fundamentally different approach. He grounded this approach not in mathematical certainty but in rhetoric, imagination, and historical understanding. Vico spent most of his life in Naples, working as a professor of rhetoric. From this position, he watched Cartesian science sweep the academies, displacing the ancient humanistic traditions he cherished. His early works defended the value of rhetoric and imagination against those who saw clarity and distinctness as the sole criteria of knowledge. Vico was developing the idea that cultivated imagination is its own, independently valid way of knowing. But his mature philosophy went further, expanding his concept of imaginative or poetic knowing into a comprehensive science of history that has been seen as fundamentally at odds with the Enlightenment project. At the heart of Vico's thought lies the *verum-factum* principle: we can truly know only what we ourselves have made. Since God made the natural world, only God can fully comprehend it. But the civil world—the world of laws, customs, languages, and institutions—is a human creation, and therefore deeply knowable by human minds. This insight reverses the effect of the mathematical philosophy, which had seemed to make physics knowable and human affairs unaccountable. In his great work, the *New Science*, Vico develops his insight into a comprehensive philosophy of history. He argues that all nations pass through an ideal eternal history—a cycle of three ages (gods, heroes, and humans) driven not by rational deliberation but by providence working through human passions and necessities. The earliest humans, Vico claims, did not think in concepts but in what he calls "imaginative universals"—mythic figures like Jove and Juno that organized experience through poetry and ritual rather than analysis. Understanding this "poetic wisdom" requires overcoming what Vico calls the "conceit of scholars": our tendency to assume that ancient peoples thought as we do or did not think at all. **Readings** *[The New Science](https://www.amazon.com/Science-Penguin-Classics-Giambattista-Vico/dp/0140435697?tag=ustxtaddt-20&asin=0140435697&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1)*, Third Edition (1744) * Book 1, parts 2-4 * Book 2, Introduction, parts 1-4, Part 5 paragraphs 582-661 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Conclusion **Further Readings** *[The New Science](https://www.amazon.com/Science-Penguin-Classics-Giambattista-Vico/dp/0140435697?tag=ustxtaddt-20&asin=0140435697&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1)*, Third Edition (1744) * Idea of the work (for an idiosyncratic precis of Vico's project in the form of an image * Book 3 (for an application of Vico's critical method to the Homeric corpus) [Vico, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://iep.utm.edu/vico/) [Vico, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vico/)

Artistic Artifacts hosts **Open Stitch sessions EVERY Thursday evenings** from 5:30 - 7:30 pm — join us! This is a drop-in, bring your own hand stitching project and the necessary supplies (or you can knit, crochet... whatever needle arts you like). There’s no fee to attend, no instruction nor agenda — just a time to spend with other creatives! Visit our website for all our class & event information: **[https://artisticartifacts.com/collections/wk](https://artisticartifacts.com/collections/wk)**

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Power of Folk Horror,”** an exploration of an especially creepy subgenre in folklore and film, with Joshua Barton, lecturer in English at Virginia Commonwealth University and scholar of horror. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/arlington-folk-horror](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/arlington-folk-horror) .] What makes a horror film scare really stick with you? Sometimes, it’s not monsters or jump-scares but the eerie feeling that something ancient, something forgotten, is still lurking just under the surface. That’s the heart of folk horror, a subgenre that blends folklore, rural isolation, and rituals gone wrong. It takes the past—the truly forgotten past—and makes it come roaring back to bite us. Venture into the strange and fascinating world of folk horror with Joshua Barton, who has earned a big following among Profs and Pints fans with excellent past talks on cryptids, ghosts, movie monsters, and other things that go bump in the night. We’ll start by digging down to folk horror’s roots in classic British films like *The Wicker Man* and *Witchfinder General*, discussing how these stories introduced us to secretive villages, ominous woods, and old traditions that clash violently with the modern world. We’ll move on to explore how folk horror has reemerged in recent hits like *The Witch,* *Midsommar*, and *Lamb*. What ties them all together? The feeling that history isn’t dead; it’s just been waiting. Beyond the scares, this genre taps into something deeper. Folk horror asks what happens when we lose touch with our roots or when we get too close to them. It reflects fears about identity, nature, belief, and the things we can’t explain. And in an age of environmental anxiety, political division, and cultural upheaval, these stories are more relevant than ever. By the end of the lecture, we’ll see that folk horror goes beyond surface-level eeriness. It’s a mirror for our collective anxieties and a reminder that the past is never as far away as we think. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image by Canva.

Artistic Artifacts will celebrate National Quilting Day with a full slate of quilting inspiration & demonstrations! We’ll be showcasing the power and precision of our BERNINA machines throughout the day with ongoing demonstrations! Whether you’re curious about longarm quilting, mastering free motion, or exploring quilting in the hoop, there’s something for every quilter. **Bring a friend, tell your guild members and celebrate National Quilting Day at our shop, 4750 Eisenhower Avenue** in Alexandria, VA. **[Visit our website for a list of ongoing demonstrations](https://artisticartifacts.com/products/march-21-national-quilting-day)** you can enjoy!

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **"The Irish and America's Revolution,"** with Sam Fisher, an associate professor of history at Catholic University of America, scholar of colonial America and early modern Britain and Ireland, and author of *The Gaelic and Indian Origins of the American Revolution.* [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-irish-american-revolution](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-irish-american-revolution) .] What impact did the American Revolution have on Ireland? What role did Ireland and Irish people play in the American Revolution? Hear these questions tackled—and keep your St. Patrick's Day celebration going yet another day—by coming to Washington D.C.’s Hill Center for a fascinating discussion of the many connections between Ireland and America in the Revolutionary War era. Dr. Sam Fisher, an expert on eighteenth-century Ireland, Scotland and America, will examine the influence that earlier Irish patriots had on the constitutional thought of the American patriots. He’ll also talk about the shared commitment of the American revolutionaries and Irish patriots to resisting British control. You’ll learn why those Irish patriots were Protestant colonists and not—as you might suspect—Irish Catholics, who were more likely to support the monarchy. Speaking of Irish Catholics, we’ll look at poems (and maybe even sing a song) in Irish to get their take on the Revolution, and we’ll look at why the failure to fully include them in the Irish patriot cause led to its failure. Professor Fisher will shine light on the dark side of this American-Irish patriot network, which was held together not only by ideas about liberty but also by both groups’ fears that the British empire had begun to favor Irish Catholics (along with other “internal enemies” like enslaved people, Indians, and Scottish Highlanders) even more than loyal Protestant colonists. Long before the potato famine, Ireland and America were already building a shared history. Join us for an evening of pints, poems, and patriots when we'll reflect on the origins of the special connection between Ireland and the United States. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.) Image: From an 1870 Francis Wheatley painting Irish Patriot Party leader Henry Gratten addressing the Irish House of Commons.

Welcome to the Art School - 20's & 30's artists Meetup group! This is a community for young artists who are passionate about exploring different mediums and techniques in the world of art. Whether you're a painter, sculptor, photographer, or mixed media artist, this group is the perfect place to connect with like-minded individuals, have a space to work on your craft, and showcase your work. Let's inspire and support each other on our artistic journeys! Whether you're a novice or a seasoned artist, all skill levels are welcome. Join us and unleash your creativity! This month we will be discussing **Frank Santoro**, an American cartoonist, painter, and comics critic known for his expressive lines, experimental page layouts, and vibrant use of color. His graphic novels—including *Storeyville*, *Pompeii*, and *Pittsburgh*—blend personal storytelling with innovative visual structure, often exploring memory, place, and relationships. In addition to his comics, Santoro has been an influential voice in comics education and criticism, co-founding the magazine *ComicsComics* and creating the **Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers**, which has helped train and inspire a new generation of cartoonists. Afterwards, we will have time to work on our individual art projects, hang out, and if anyone is interested in feedback on their work, there will be time for that as well.

So this month's prompt is more general. I think we can all agree that we are living in "unique" times that require coping skills. I think that one role and/or purpose of philosophy is to help us deal with our daily lives and our "unique" times. So, let's share our feelings and thoughts about which philosopher/philosophy we turn to in order to deal with our crazy events. Who/what helps you stay focused in your daily life and helps you sleep at night. I find that Stoicism with a little philosophical pessimism mixed in goes a long way in helping me deal with what I see as very destructive, fearful and mean spirited public policies at both the state and federal levels. Hope to see you on March 28th!

This meeting will be a discussion of the book "the Science of Aliens" by Mark Brake

We are a real world Martial arts group. \ Called DO JUNG ISHU (the art of fighting) \ Based off of Jeet kune do we just continued where Bruce Lee left off. \ We have been around a while. \ We are donation based. Every week we get together and work technical skills and live pressure testing. \ Almost all of the instructors have been in everything from altercations in the real world to the ring and some still compete in the cage. \ If you want to take your skills up, improve your confidence, gain self defense skills, get in better shape, test yourself or just want to kill some time and possibly get hit a bit come on down. \ We will be located at 3923 N High St, Columbus, OH 43214 inside the whetstone rec center in the auditorium, upstairs in classroom B or outside in the grass between the playground and horseshoe area. our instructors are normally in a black and red art of fighting shirt \ if you can not find us call or text me at 6143570295 Saturday 1pm Wednesday 5:30pm From Age 16 and up. attendees under the age of 18 must have a guardian with them. \ \ You must have a free leisure card for the rec center and must be registered for our class specifically .\ Wear workout clothing \ Bring a MOUTHPIECE! \ WE HAVE GLOVES. \ Hope to see you soon :-).\ We are run off of donations. \ let me know if you have any questions :)

This 1967 film is widely regarded as one of the best American movies ever made. Now remembered almost as much for its Simon and Garfunkel music as its deadpan comedy and being the role that established Dustin Hoffman as the hottest actor in Hollywood. It became a cultural icon for capturing the spirit of 60s angst of a young man on the make, while garnering a batch of Oscar nominations. After watching the movie on your own, join us to relive (or experience!) those feelings at our discussion.

We thought of one of the interesting things that can be enjoyed at this time of the year. We will be meeting at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for a "Fish Fry" in Marian Hall on Friday, March 27th at 5:00 PM. It might be fun for you to experience what has become a tradition on the Fridays before Easter. They will have fried fish or baked fish, French fries and Cole slaw, as well as beverages, all for $16.00 for adults. They will have other beverages and desserts available for sale, as well. We have never tried this, and sometimes there are quite a few people at these events so we hope that we will be able to find each other easily. I'll try to have signs outside Marian Hall that Identify our group. We hope to have you join us!