Mystery

***Murder with a Heart*** at Perry's Restaurant Get your tickets here: https://doordiemystery.com/events/murder-with-a-heart-at-perrys-restaurant-021626/ Let's celebrate Valentine's Day together with the Do or Die Mystery Dinner Theatre at Perry's Restaurant in Odenton, Maryland! From the website: "Dueling bride hopefuls? One single bachelor? No rose? No island!? Must be the popular show *HeartBeat* where two beautiful contestants compete for the husband of their dreams with marriage as the ultimate prize…and as the old saying goes, “…til death do us part!” Literally! Killer show with a dinner to die for! ***The evening’s schedule for Monday Night Mysteries*** * 6:00-6:30pm Check In/Orders Taken/Dinner Served. ***Please arrive no later than 6:30.*** * Show follows Dinner * Show is generally over by 9:30pm ***Menu, pricing and gratuities for Monday Night Mysteries*** * $74.50 includes dinner, show, tax, and nonalcoholic beverages. Gratuity on meal is included in the ticket price. Small additional gratuities are appreciated, but absolutely not expected or required. Alcoholic beverages and gratuity on cocktails not included in ticket price. * Dinner includes choice of entree, side, and chef’s choice of dessert. The current menu will be listed on the homepage of the [website](http://doordiemystery.com/). * Please inform of us dietary restrictions at least ***72 hours in advance***. We do our best to accommodate everyone’s needs. * ***All ticket sales are final. We do not issue refunds or exchanges.*** ***Other general information on Monday Night Mysteries*** Free onsite parking For those of you who haven’t tried murder mystery, and find the word “interactive” intimidating, relax! Our shows are interactive at the comfort level of the individual audience member. You’re a wallflower? Great! Sit back, watch the show and interactions. Nobody will ask you to get up and do the chicken dance or put a funny hat on you. You’re a super sleuth? Perfect! Grill the characters, both during interactive table talk and the investigation. You like to play? So do we! The sassier you get with us, the sassier we get with you." Get your tickets here: https://doordiemystery.com/events/murder-with-a-heart-at-perrys-restaurant-021626/ ***Please send a message to me (Madeleine) at 240-495-2157 once you have purchased your ticket so I can add you to the group chat on Whatsapp.***

Presidents Walking Tour of Historic Alexandria, Virginia, Monday, Feb. 16! Take a stroll around Alexandria’s cultural & historic core, with a focus on the U.S. Presidents who've had a mark on the place. These include, most prominently, Washington and Lincoln, but many others as well. Take in the GW parade, perhaps, then walk in Washington's footsteps. Old Town drips with an astonishing dense array of famous persons and historical events, and eye-catching architecture. Immerse yourself in one of America’s most fascinating locales. Meet at the Lyceum, 201 S Washington St, Alexandria, VA 22314 Fee: Prices start at $22. About 2 hours in length. Pre-register and Pre-pay at-- Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/presidents-day-tour-of-historic-alexandria-virginia-monday-feb-16-tickets-1982938054099?aff=oddtdtcreator Or PayPal, sending $22 to: paypal.me/EMoser460 Or pay $22 in cash at the start of the tour. Fun itinerary will select from: • Hometown of Presidents, Generals, Admirals, Musicians, Educators • Schools founded by George and Martha • The noted architects behind its stunning architecture • Locale of a famous Confederate, and Union Army, sculptor • The worst peacetime accident in Navy history • How the town started a world war • Locale of the biggest slave escape in U.S. history • Historic churches and cemeteries from revolutionary days • George and Martha’s home away from Mt. Vernon • Civil rights sit-downs and Underground rails • The site of the first six Presidential inaugural balls • The nation’s narrowest houses • Where the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were hatched • The first fatalities of the Civil War • The ghostly Mysterious Stranger • World-famous "Captain's Row" • The floating mansion • An in-town Civil War battle • A presidential fistfight • The Curse of the Black Cat • The family that got Pierre L'Enfant fired • Graves of the Civil War and the "Second American Revolution" • The horrific attack on a Revolutionary War hero And more! Your guide is a former “Tonight Show” writer, an ex-Presidential speechwriter, & author of the new adventure novel rooted in Alexandria's rich history, The Old Town Horror-- https://www.amazon.com/OLD-TOWN-HORROR-Americas-Historic/dp/B0BW2WR85N/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= And this book on D.C.’s history, The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood: Crime, Scandal & Intrigue in the History of Lafayette Square: https://www.amazon.com/White-Houses-Unruly-Neighborhood-Lafayette/dp/1476674868/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1555118270&sr=1-1-catcorr And a book of fun essays on U.S. history & culture: https://www.amazon.com/Patriots-America-Things-American-Should/dp/1596525495 Also a book on the history of Congress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvJoCU6LsCM And his latest, a spy thriller set in Georgetown: https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel-ebook/dp/B0F4945MR5 The Guide's tours are rated 5 stars on TripAdvisor!: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g28970-d12791843-Reviews-Lafayette_Square_Tour_of_Scandal_Assassination_Intrigue-Washington_DC_District_of.html Think history’s dull? Think again! Lots of free street parking on the side streets south of King St. Nearest metro stop is King St., with a free trolley bus from there. Take with a lovely, informative walk through America's most historic town.

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“George Washington Never Declared Independence,”** an exploration of our first president’s evolving American identity, with Denver Brunsman, associate professor of history at George Washington University and scholar of the American Revolution and early American republic. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-washington-never](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-washington-never) .] With our nation’s 250th anniversary approaching, it’s time for a fresh assessment of one of the key figures who got the ball rolling. Trace the unconventional steps that George Washington took in embracing American citizenship, separate from his status as a British colonial subject, with historian Denver Brunsman, a Profs and Pints fan favorite and the author of the forthcoming book *George Washington and His World: Enslaver, Revolutionary, President.* It will be the ninth time Professor Brunsman has given an annual talk tied to Presidents’ Day and George Washington’s Birthday, and each has been a blast, featuring odes to America’s first president and ending in historic toasts. You’ll learn how George Washington missed the fiery debates that marked the political process culminating in Congress approving independence on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence two days later. That’s because he had been leading the Continental Army against British forces for the past year. As a result, Washington never signed the Declaration or, for that matter, formally declared independence. Instead, Washington had followed a more evolutionary path to an American identity. The process began during the Seven Years’ War from 1756 to 1763 and continued during the Imperial Crisis of the 1760s and 1770s, when he traded tobacco for wheat as the primary cash crop at Mount Vernon. It crystalized in his command of American forces. The upshot was that Washington embraced a separate American identity months, even years, before most of his fellow revolutionaries. You’ll embrace learning history after hearing Denver Brunsman discuss this founding father’s fight for freedom. (Door: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: “Washington Taking Command of the American Army–At Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 3rd, 1775,” an 1876 Currier & Ives lithograph (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

North Bethesda Fiction Readers, put your hold on this book NOW if you get your books from a public library. It's still in demand. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award for Fiction in 2023. The novel tells the story of a single house in New England over centuries. While on its face, it is a work of historical fiction, [Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/daniel-mason/north-woods-mason/) calls it "magical." We will meet in the common area of a condominium association that is called The Gallery at White Flint. The organizer will greet everyone at the entrance. If the seating at the fireplace across from the main entrance is not appealing, we will convene in the organizer's unit. Look for a message a week before the date of discussion for more details on how to find us. There is metered parking across the street. Because February 16 is a national holiday, you don't have to feed the meter.

**The Arts of Life with Nancy Burbridge - Discover yourself through art!** **You're Invited to 'Arts of Life'** A meditative journey through art with local artist Nancy Burbridge Join us every third Monday of the month at the Meditation Museum from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM for an afternoon of creativity, relaxation, and self-discovery. In this interactive session, you will learn how to draw, paint, and explore the beauty within, cultivating the best version of yourself in a serene and supportive environment. Come experience the magic of art and meditation as tools for self-expression and inner growth. All materials are provided, and no prior experience is necessary. Just bring your curiosity and a willingness to explore! We can't wait to see you there! Mon., Feb.16th, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. Held at Meditation Museum, 9525 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910. Free Event – Register at: [https://shorturl.at/Qwb1u](https://shorturl.at/Qwb1u)

DMV Computer Science Club Monthly Social Game Event Werewolf, Murder Mystery, Escape Room **Every 3rd Saturday** @ Meridian at Eisenhower 4 pm - midnight Ice Creams, Snacks and Beverages for everyone! Nishant (914) 473-0481 Terry (626) 679-5001

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Everyday Supernatural,”** a discussion of how folklorists and anthropologists view our belief in uneasily explained beings, forces, and experiences, with Benjamin Gatling, folklorist, scholar of belief and everyday religion, and associate professor of English at George Mason University. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-everyday-supernatural](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-everyday-supernatural) .] Profs and Pints debuts at [Highline RxR](https://www.highlinerxr.com/) bar in Arlington’s Crystal City with a talk that will both teach you and leave you thinking about your relationship with the unknown. Have you ever wondered why people believe in the supernatural? Or where do such beliefs come from and what purposes do they serve? On hand to offer answers will be Benjamin Gatling, who teaches a course on folklore and the supernatural, studies various cultures’ oral traditions, and serves as editor of *Folklorica: the Journal of the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association.* You’ll gain an understanding of how the supernatural isn’t something strange or extraordinary. It’s part of the everyday lives of most people around the world, and it’s fundamental to virtually all cultural traditions. Here in the United States, three out of four people believe in some aspect of the supernatural such as astrology, telepathy, clairvoyance, or communication with the dead. About half attest to having personally had a mystical experience. In discussing the nature of supernatural beliefs, Dr. Gatling will talk about how our experiences are inexact and ambiguous and how we operate on incomplete information. In many ways belief in the supernatural represents an affirmation that human understanding extends beyond empirical observation and that we live in an imprecise, infinite, irrational, and mysterious world. The goal of folklorists and anthropologists studying such beliefs is not to prove or disprove them, but rather to understand various peoples’ lived experiences and gain insight on how individuals make sense of the uncanny around them. Dr. Gatling will talk about such researchers’ findings in terms of how such beliefs are expressed in dream interpretation or the stories people tell about encounters with ghosts or their relationship with the dead. He’ll talk about visits to haunted places and touch upon subjects such as UFO sightings, encounters with the divine, and magic in our everyday lives. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: A deck of 22 Tarot cards. (Photo by Roberto Viesi / Wikimedia Commons.)

**\*\*Please note this event is in-person only.\*\* We have limited space, please do not RSVP if you are not planning on joining us in person in D.C. at SEI.** The villainous **Lord Taart Chart** has emerged from the shadows once again, and he’s targeting your data! In a brazen attack, he’s stolen your carefully curated data and locked it deep inside his fortified **Azure Vault**. **Your Mission:** You and your team must rise to the challenge, confronting Lord Taart Chart’s wicked ways by solving his **10 Power Query Puzzles**. These devious challenges will test your ability to wrangle, transform, and tame even the messiest of data. Join us at SEI for a reprise of our most popular session from Power BI Days DC 2025, a fiendishly tricky collaborative game developed by our very own John Kerski. In March, Lord Taart Chart will hit the road for his first ever appearance on the national stage at FabCon Atlanta.

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Our Bodies, Our Minds,”** an exploration of the relationship between our biology and our thought processes, with Justin Brooks, M.D., associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at University of Maryland, Baltimore County and scholar of computational psychophysiology. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at h[ttps://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-bodies-minds](ttps://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-bodies-minds) .] For millennia, humans have wondered how mind and body are connected. Are our thoughts just the electrical murmurs of nerve cells, or is there something more? Are they the result of millions of years of evolution? Explore the mind-body problem through the lens of measurable physiology with Dr. Justin Brooks, a physician-scientist whose research focuses on using mobile and wearable technologies to understand, predict, and influence human behavior and health. He’ll describe how millions of years of evolution shaped the way our minds and bodies speak to each other, with our nervous system being the product of countless adaptations that shape how we react, think, and survive. Reflexes hidden in our physiology, attention, and mental effort reveal a “biotype,” a stable but adaptable signature of how we process the world. The problem is that reflexes honed by a prehistoric world of predators and scarcity now must navigate the strange demands of a modern society. Rather than mirroring who we truly are, our reflexes often are just echoes of ancient survival needs. As a result, many of us live slightly out of sync with our own biology. We think faster than we feel, ignore our body’s quiet warnings, and misread the signals from our bodies that guide balance and well-being. Breakdowns in the conversation between mind and body cause stress to accumulate, performance to falters, and health to erode. In a talk that blends neuroscience, physiology, and philosophy, Dr. Brooks will discuss how our specific biotypes might hold clues for realigning our ancient wiring with the pace of contemporary life to avoid the pitfalls of burnout, chronic stress, and mental fatigue. He’ll explore how measuring the body can illuminate the mind and how both can be brought back into harmony for the world we live in now. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Part of an illustration of the brain in Traité complet de l'anatomie de l'homme, a textbook completed by anatomist Jean-Baptiste Marc Bourgery and artist Nicolas Henri Jacob in 1854.

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Folklore of Love Spells,”** on the use of magic to influence romantic destinies, with Cory Thomas Hutcheson, folklorist, lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University, and author of *New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic.* [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/folklore-of-love-spells](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/folklore-of-love-spells) .] Looking for a distinct follow-up to Valentine’s Day? Come to the Washington D.C.’s Hill Center for a rich, ribald, and riotous exploration of the use of romantic enchantments in history and folklore. You’ll feel spellbound as you listen to folklorist Cory Thomas Hutcheson, who has earned a big following of loyal fans in giving Profs and Pints talks in Nashville. On his visit to the nation’s capital he’ll discuss a delicious assortment of methods—alluring and occasionally appalling—that people historically have used to find, catch, or hold others to them. Dr. Hutcheson will present talismans, potions, charms, and more from the pages of history, exploring the principles at work in each. You'll hear about how counting stars can lead to dreams of future lovers, why some women in the Ozarks once nailed turkey wishbones above their doors, and how a meal of fish, cheese, or chocolate might lead to seduction—or the hospital. His talk will cover everything from fortune-telling charms designed to predict the future of a relationship to secretive formulae intended to drive a couple apart. Look Cupid in the eye and ask him "Why?" as we explore this raucous mixture of magic, belief, folklore, and story. If nothing else, you’ll end up loving this learning experience. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image from Gratis Graphics (Pixexid / Creative Commons).

Thursdays just got smarter (and sassier). 🧠🍻 Join us at TownHall Short North for Trivia Night with Marquis—where the questions are fun, the competition is friendly, and the vibes are immaculate. Grab your crew, sip something good, and prove you know random facts you absolutely shouldn’t.

WQC has weekly Thursday night social nights at the Westerville Java Central. Come and grab a coffee and connect with the community: low stakes, chill environment, and tasty drinks. No registration is required; come as you are.

**Our February novel is: Julia by Sandra Newman** **This month is a classic, dystopian, fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, and science fiction novel. The book is 394 pages in print and 14 hours and 20 minutes on audiobook.** **An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell’s 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.** Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It’s 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell’s 1984. All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else. She is an ideal citizen: cheerfully cynical, always ready with a bribe, piously repeating every political slogan while believing in nothing. She routinely breaks the rules, but also collaborates with the regime when necessary. Everyone likes Julia. Then one day she finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell’s now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.

The topic for February is "Transitions" Speak Easy: true stories, told live. The idea is simple: an audience, an open microphone, and great stories. Hilarious, gripping, poignant- it's up to you. Audiences are invited to come to listen or come to tell as folks from all corners of Columbus offer their stories live on stage! Held at Wild Goose Creative's warm, intimate space, this night of tales occurs on the 3rd Thursday of every month. Doors open at 6:30 pm, show starts at 7:00 pm. Please arrive early if you want to tell, as we generally only have room for a limited number of tellers, and the sign-up sheet has a tendency to fill up fast. Formed around the idea that people need stories--they're what hold and draw us together--SpeakEasy celebrates the strangeness and commonness of being human. And in a world of smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, and more . . . it gives people a real, breathing, in-person way to connect. The night is geared for true stories of all kinds, taking the best tales told around kitchen tables, in darkened pubs, on the street corner, and at late-night parties and giving them an audience. Speak Easy is also a great outlet for performers, writers, and artists looking to share their favorite stories and perfect their skills. We strongly encourage tellers to please tell the story rather than read it so we keep within the spirit of good storytelling and stay engaged with the audience. All are welcome. Hang around after the show for a drink and build community!