CarolJoynt.com

A Day At Wallops Island With Antares (Photos)

It was a day in March and I got up early to drive the long drive to Wallops Island, Virginia. It was a cool but sunny day and the drive was easy. NASA officials met me there and we were joined by photographer Ron Blunt to spend a day at the launch pad and assembly facility to shoot a story for Washingtonian. It was fascinating. The launch pad that was involved in last night's explosion is shown immediately below. It does not look like a conventional launch pad. There is no gantry. It's more of a hole in the ground supported by an elaborate concrete launch mechanism. Above and below are photos inside the assembly building, Ron and me, with Antares rockets behind and beside us. They are brought from Ukraine and repurposed, workers come from there, too, which is why a lot of the signage is in two languages.

Back in the day I covered launches at the Cape Kennedy/Canaveral in Florida for the wires and then Time magazine, including the troubled Apollo 13. Everything was huge -- rockets, the Vehicular Assembly Building. Wallops is boutique-sized, to fit the modern era of more un-manned space business. But note also in the photo below, on the horizon, an old-school gantry. 

This is Ron Blunt getting securely harnessed to go up in a crane to shoot the launch pad.

Mid-Terms, Ebola, The Economy, Life - The Q&A Cafe Interview with Greg Valliere

 

We taped this interview with Greg Valliere on October 17 at the George Town Club. Our next show is Friday, November 7, with Dan Rather. After that, November 18, the guest is Redskins president Bruce Allen. So much to talk about, and we make enough time at The Q&A Cafe. Join us. 202.333.9330.

Washington Full Circle Interview with ... Me!

 

Two weeks ago I was a guest of Ferman Patterson on his Washington Full Circle broadcast. It was a very humid bad hair day that particular afternoon, but nonetheless a pleasant half hour in the air-conditioned studio. We taped the interview at the District Cable Network's new facility, the former studios of BET. Very big and nice. I hope you'll give it a view. At the very least you get to see photos of the amazing guests, and watch me age - and have various shades of hair color -- over 13 years of The Q&A Cafe. 

Ben Bradlee, A Memoriam

 

The late Ben Bradlee, who died today, appeared twice for interviews on The Q&A Cafe.  First with Bob Woodward, and then a second time with his wife, Sally Quinn, and their son, Quinn Bradlee. The family interview, taped at Nathans, was broadcast and is preserved on YouTube. It's a rare and interesting glimpse of their closeness. Others who knew him better and longer will have many words to write and say about him, and I will read their eulogies with appreciation and sadness. I put up this interview as my own memoriam. 

Chez Billy Sud Is French & Chic & On New York Social Diary Today

When I write about new places I love I risk making it impossible to get back in, because others may follow my advice and max it out, but I also love to see good restaurants do well. Thus, on New York Social Diary today I write about Chez Billy Sud, which opened last week in Georgetown on 31st Street just below the C&O Canal. I believe this week they start serving lunch, too, and eventually will also have weekend brunch. I've been in on a few evenings, so far, and was not disappointed. 

I'm not going to give up the original Chez Billy, in Petworth, because it's got a different vibe and is worth the trip to an interesting neighborhood. 

A Day In the Country (Rappahannock VA Edition)

It was a perfect day to spend in Rappahannock County, Virginia, and that's exactly what I did, doing a morning/afternoon getaway with my pal Myra Moffett, who used to live across the way from us in "Little" Washington (the county seat). Stopped by a friend's farm to walk the hills and fields and snap some pics, including of our host in hiding under a mask. Also made a pit stop at the great Red Truck Bakery to pick up a pumpkin pie, which makes for the best breakfast. Pie for breakfast; try it sometime. 

[email protected] Chief Cathy Lanier Talks Body Cams, The Job, The Future

 

DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier appeared on The Q&A Cafe on Friday, September 26, to discuss the job, how its going, how she deals with stress, and, with a new mayor on the horizon, the future. Also body cameras and much more. Our next show is this Friday, October 17, looking at the mid-term elections.

My New Job: VP of Communications for The FP Group. Boom!

On Friday October 10 it will be my last day at Washingtonian magazine. It will also be three years to the day since I joined the staff as Editor-at-Large. On October 20 I begin a new chapter as Vice President of Communications for the FP Group. I'm eager for a new challenge. As I depart Washingtonian this week I'm thrilled about what's ahead but know I will miss good friends and the laughs we had and some memorable experiences, especially producing the monthly photo feature "Behind The Scenes." I'm so proud of that series. I'm also grateful for the support from publisher Cathy Merrill Williams. Washingtonian has an innovative new editor, Michael Schaffer, and many years of great issues in its future. 

Along with my role, FP CEO and Editor David Rothkopf announced two other new hires:  Gopal Ratnam and David Francis. 

Here's the full announcement:

NEWS RELEASE     Media Contact:   Maria Ory, Press Director [email protected] 202-728-7318

FP Group Announces New Hires: Carol Joynt to Be New VP Communications, Two New Reporters Join Edit Team   October 6, 2014 — Washington, DC — David Rothkopf, CEO and Editor of The FP Group, a division of Graham Holdings Company has announced three new additions to the staff of the company that publishes Foreign Policy magazine, ForeignPolicy.com and produces FP Events. These new hires come as the FP Group has passed a number of important milestones including more than doubling its paid subscriber base since the launch of its paywall a year ago, reaching 1 million registered users, over 800,000 Facebook followers and over 500,000 Twitter followers. The total aggregate audience reached by all FP platforms including the website, magazine, newsletters and social media now exceeds 6 million a month worldwide.   “These new hires are part of the continued strengthening of our team and the deepening of our capabilities as an organization,” said Rothkopf, “And we are delighted to have them join our already strong roster of top journalists and business professionals.”   Carol Ross Joynt joins FP as Vice President of Communications. She was at Washingtonian magazine as editor-at-large for the last three years. Her extensive career is principally in broadcast journalism. Carol has been a producer for all the major networks and cable channels, in New York and Washington, and worked closely with Ted Koppel, Walter Cronkite, Charlie Rose and Larry King as a writer and producer on their nightly broadcasts. She started her career in print, with the wire services and then as a reporter for Time magazine in its New York bureau. She also directed films for the National Gallery of Art.   Carol won the national Emmy Award for “Best Interview” for a Charlie Rose prison interview with Charles Manson at St. Quentin. Her memoir, “Innocent Spouse,” tells the story of the dozen years she spent away from journalism, owning Nathans, a Georgetown saloon. It was published by Crown and featured in Vogue magazine and on the Today show. Follow Carol on Twitter @caroljoynt   Two reporters join FP's news team. They include:    Gopal Ratnam, who is coming over from Bloomberg News and will cover the White House with a focus on the way the Obama administration crafts and carries out its national security policies. Gopal, who had been Bloomberg's Pentagon correspondent, has covered a wide variety of subjects in Washington over the last 15 years, including child-labor law violations, the international arms trade, the politics of weapons purchases, and the war in Afghanistan. Follow him @g_ratnam.   David Francis joins FP to guide the evolution of Situation Report, FP's morning email that combines sharp analysis of the key national security and foreign policy issues of the day with links to must-read articles from the U.S. and around the world. David, an award-winning international journalist whose work has appeared in Slate, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Financial Times Deutschland, will oversee The Cable, FP’s breaking news blog, which will provide FP's analysis of key events in the DC and US foreign policy communities as they happen. Follow him @davidcfrancis

 

We Love Fried Chicken

Brought this home last night from DBGB Kitchen + Bar to have while watching Sunday Night Football. Daniel Boulud may be a world famous French chef, and his new DC restaurant has a fine French menu with the sausages of his Lyon childhood and the best duck breast I've had in ages (plus foie gras, steak tartare, escargots), but he also knows his American fried chicken. 

Spotted in Georgetown: Is This A Message to the Seahawks or the Giants?

Why Ice-T & Coco Could Be at Home In Georgetown: Renovations Run Amok

Georgetowners in the area of 31st and P and O Streets aren't the only individuals suffering through  bumptious home renovation drama. They have solidarity with the New Jersey neighbors of Ice-T and Coco, whose own home renovaton in Edgewater has the community "fed up," according to Page 6.

Renovations at two homes on 31st pushed neighbors past their boiling points weeks ago, but at least their frustrations were heard by Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans and the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, who voted unanimously to crackdown on dumpster abuse. The measure now goes to the city for approval.

The immediate neighbors of these two homes have made a number of complaints to the homeowners and contractors, but at the heart of them are the dumpsters, which foul the streets, and the excessive number of parking spaces claimed by contractors (sometimes as many as 15 vehicles in the block are for those two houses), and the sometimes lack of consideration toward neighbors (jack-hammering early on weekend mornings, smelly portable toilets).

If the dumpster restrictions receive approval then something positive will have come out of what's been a spring, summer and now fall of neighborhood discontent. Both homeowners have said they will move into their re-booted abodes in November. No one faults them the right to renovate their homes, only a perceived lack of restraint and the periods of havoc it caused. One of the homeowners has reached out to his immediate neighbors, with varying degrees of appeasement. 

Peace will return ... until the next renovation ... and wishing Edgewater NJ the same. 

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