1100 Jefferson

Discovering Veneto, Italy

Traveling all of Michelangelo’s routes, studying opera at Italy’s Julliard, and writing cookbooks on Italian cuisine are just a few of the experiences Fred Plotkin enjoyed while working toward the ideal of the Renaissance Man. Considered an expert on all things Italian, Plotkin recently came to the Smithsonian Associates to take the audience on a journey through the region of Veneto, Italy. The event was the first of six that focuses on the highlights and history of a specific region’s cities and provinces.

 
Map of the Veneto Region | Photo credit: Maps of World

Veneto offers much to the traveler. The most geographically diverse region, visitors can walk along the seashore or scale the Dolomites. They can visit cities known for medical innovation and art, and enjoy Italy’s most famous brands and best wines. The region is made up of many amazing cities, but is most famously known for Venice.

 

Venice
Spread across 118 islands, Venice is Veneto’s most famous city and Italy’s youngest major city. The city is symbolized by a winged lion, and a statute of the lion was built in the cities Venetians took over. The lion was chosen because it also represents St. Mark, who became the saint of Venice when two Venetian merchants brought his stolen remains back to the city.

 
Lion of St. Mark in Venice | Photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen

Festivals and celebrations are held in Venice each year, many of which were designed to attract tourists. Venetians created the festival of Carnevale to bring tourists during the colder days of winter. Another event created to bring in tourists is a tradition where the Doge (the ruler), drops a gold ring into the lagoon as a symbol of marriage between Venice and the sea.

The relationship between Venice and the sea led to Venice becoming the shipbuilding capital of the world. Eventually some Venetians sailed off to create a place in the new world, moving to “Little Venice,” or what’s more commonly known as Venezuela.

 
Venice Beach wharf | Photo credit: California Historical Society

While Venice offers a lot for the traveler to experience, much of what people praise Venice for actually came from another city in Veneto: the older city of Aquileia. The design of Gondolas, for example, came from the design of Aquileian fishing boats.

Aquileia was the first city in the world to allow women to vote, teach, and read. Aquileia was also one of the wealthiest cities in the Early Roman Empire, until Attila the Hun attacked and destroyed it. Fortunately, Attila left alone the Patriarchal Basilica, a building with gorgeous mosaic floors, which is now one of the oldest standing Basilicas in the world.

 
Aquileia Basilica | Photo credit: Giovanni Dall'Orto

Survivors of Attila’s attack fled to another city in Veneto, Torcello, and began rebuilding what they had in Aquileia, and eventually began building Venice.

 

Beyond Venice
Several iconic parts of Veneto are found outside Venice. Many travelers headed to Venice stop to pray in Padua because it’s home to the church of St. Anthony—the saint of travel. Another important religious building, the Scrovegni Chapel, is found in Padua and is the first great cycle of paintings painted anywhere in a cathedral in the world. The paintings took so long that the artist lived in the building for the years he painted. Illiterate people in the town would come to the chapel to look at the paintings to learn about key events from their religious beliefs.

 
Fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel | Photo Credit: Public Domain

Padua also has the second university built in the world. Founded in 1222, The University of Padua had famed teachers such as Galileo and famed students such as Copernicus. The university was the first in Europe to accept Jews, and the first woman to receive a doctoral degree graduated from there.

 
Galileo teaching at University of Padua | Photo Credit: Public Domain

The oldest botanical garden in the world, found in Padua, includes plants from Asia, the Middle East, and North America, which were studied for their pharmaceutical benefits.

Verona is a city in Veneto where Thomas Jefferson visited. He planted the first grapes and rice in North America, which came from Verona.

Jefferson also brought back ideas about architecture after he came to Veneto to study the style of Andrea Palladio, who is considered by some to be the greatest architect in history.

Palladio built the Teatro Olimpico, which was the first time in history that sets were built as part of a theater. People could shift the scenery by sliding the set on rollers. As Plotkin points out, “the theater was designed in such a way that anyone who saw it saw theater in a new way.”

From theater to festivals, Veneto offers many experiences to travelers. But there’s much more to Italy than Veneto. The expert on all things Italian will be returning to the Smithsonian to highlight five more regions in Italy, spotlighting one region a month. To learn more click here. 

The Life and Death of Rasputin: "The Mad Monk Who Wouldn't Die"

The story of Rasputin, “the Mad Monk who wouldn’t die,” is full of exciting twists and turns, ending with him being poisoned, shot, shot again, beaten, and thrown onto solid ice only to die of drowning. But that story is false.

Ralph Nurnberger tells a different ending. The professor of international relations at Georgetown University came to the Smithsonian Associates to share the true account of Rasputin’s death.

And that’s an ending I never would have seen coming.

 

From Humble Beginnings

Born on January 9, 1869 in Pokrovskoye, Siberia, Rasputin never went to school. Since he would grow up to work the farm, education wasn’t a priority. The village saw Rasputin as an outsider, and as they watched him spend his time drinking, sleeping around, and stealing, they predicted he would never amount to much. Rasputin claimed he could heal animals by whispering to them and that he met the Virgin Mary one day while farming, holding deep beliefs that God had big plans for him.

 

Setting The Stage For Rasputin’s Influence

At the time, the Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra ruled Russia. Alexandra desperately wanted a son and enlisted the help of mystics and religious leaders. Rasputin met the couple, claiming he could predict the future, heal sicknesses, and cure away unhappiness. He quickly became the first person they saw as a friend.

Eventually Alexandra gave birth to a son diagnosed with hemophilia. When he became sick, Rasputin promised he would survive. The couple attributed the child’s recovery to Rasputin and over time they developed a huge loyalty to him. At one point, the Nicholas’ mother said, “either Rasputin goes or I go.” She later moved to Kiev. Rasputin, though loved by Nicholas and Alexandra, became hated by almost everyone else. People loathed the fact this peasant possessed so much power in the Russian government, despised his habits of drinking and sleeping around, and believed he wasn’t the holy man he claimed to be.

 

Something Must Be Done

When the Tsar left to lead the war, leaving Alexandra in charge, Rasputin became her political advisor. At this point, a group of five men began to plot to kill Rasputin. They agreed the murder would take place at the home of Felix Yusupov, a man Rasputin viewed as a friend. Felix hated Rasputin, believing he was destroying Russia and whoever killed Rasputin would be the country’s savior.

 

The Story Most People Know

The tale of Rasputin’s death is an elaborate dramatic one. Felix reportedly lured Rasputin to his house with promises he could sleep with his wife. Rasputin arrived and requested music, resulting in the only available song, Yankee Doodle Dandy, playing on repeat. The stories of the five conspirators conflict, but they agreed that Rasputin was poisoned, shot, shot again, beaten, dropped onto frozen ice, and died of drowning on December 16, 1916.

Though this is the accepted account most people know, it’s not true. The problems with the story are:

1. Conflicting and changing stories: Those involved not only gave stories that conflicted with each other, but they changed their own stories multiple times.

2. Motivation to dramatize the story: Felix gave a grand tale about how Rasputin wouldn’t die, but he had motive to create a grand story. With his story he hoped to show that killing Rasputin was in the interest of Russia and that he accomplished a huge feat by killing this superman, which led to the changing of the story to become larger than life.

3. The evidence: the autopsy showed no poison in his body, no water in his lungs, and declared the cause of death was a third bullet to the head.

 

The Story That's True

Rasputin was indeed shot three times, once in the house and twice in the courtyard as he tried to escape, but was dead before they dropped him into the river. While the conspirators claim they shot the third bullet, evidence suggests otherwise. Nurnberger revealed the real killer was British M16 agent Oswald Rayner.

1. The motive: Records show military intelligence Officer Michael Smith ordered the British Secret Service to kill Rasputin. England wanted Rasputin dead because of concerns his influence could result in him convincing the Tsar to pull out of the war, allowing Germany to defeat England.

2. The weapon: Analysis of the fatal bullet in a 2004 Scotland Yard report linked the bullet to a gun only produced in England and one Rayner likely would have used

3. The scene of the crime: Rayner was a friend of Felix, visiting his house several times before the murder and the day of the murder (records his driver kept proved this).

4. The confession: Rayner told his cousin he killed Rasputin.

The grand story most people know, while entertaining, is not true. Rasputin was really killed by an M16 agent. Now that’s a James Bond movie I would watch.

 

Photo credit: Allan Warren

 

To learn more about Rasputin, the speaker recommended:

Rasputin: The Untold Story by Joseph T. Fuhrmann

To Kill Rasputin by Andrew Cook

Rasputin: The Role of Britain’s Secret Service in His Torture and Murder by Richard Cullen

 

The Smithsonian Associates puts on hundreds of events and lectures each year, ranging from the real killer of Rasputin to current events in Cuba. Discover events to attend here: 

Introducing Our Winter Blogger

“New year, new me!” But also new weather, a new city, and a new time zone for the Smithsonian Associates’ newest social media intern, Sammy Spiegel.

Sammy is a junior communication and psychology double major/writing minor from UC Santa Barbara who has left 70° Southern California to see what D.C.’s all about… we’ve welcomed her with her first snowfall and temperature drops! Like former social media intern Danielle, Sammy was accepted into the University’s UCDC program that enables UC students to experience D.C. for a quarter.

Sammy hopes 10 weeks is enough to accommodate her growing passion for the arts, culture, and entertainment the city (and the Smithsonian) has to offer. After returning back to Los Angeles this summer, she wants to continue interning in public relations for the arts and entertainment where she can do what she loves—write, stalk people on Facebook, dress like a successful business woman, and talk an ear off. Her goal is to one day attend a TED Conference and maybe even give a talk.

1100 Jefferson is excited to welcome her into our home for the next few months. Here’s to hoping the blonde California girl brings some much needed sunshine to this winter!

Fifty Years of Excellence

One day in Nov. 2007, the wickedly sublime comedian, actor, author, playwright, and banjo player Steve Martin spoke before a Smithsonian Associates audience about his career and new book, Born Standing Up. He was asked at one point to read from his book. And he did briefly-to himself. Then he snapped the book shut and continued with the interview. The audience was silent at first, then broke up in laughter. Martin didn't have to explain comedy. He just made the audience think and laugh at the same time.

The Smithsonian Associates has been providing moments like this to its members and the public for 50 years. We've been creating educational and entertaining experiences since Secretary S. Dillon Ripley set in motion, in September 1965, the establishment of an organization that would link people in the Washington, D.C.-area to the Smithsonian's museums and research facilities in new and dynamic ways.

So, how have we accomplished this? From the start, we've responded to our members' myriad interests with collaborations with the Smithsonian's museums, embassy programs, and partnerships with scientific, educational, and cultural organizations. We've reinterpreted the Smithsonian's mission to "diffuse knowledge" through the creation of programming meant to ignite a deeper understanding or a new perspective. The current program guide's cover is just a snapshot from the extraordinary gallery of world leaders, political thinkers, artists, architects, scientists, authors, athletes, poets, celebrity chefs, and a gray wolf (onstage in Baird Auditorium) we've enlisted to educate, engage, and surprise our audiences over the years. What follows is a highly abridged, very random sampling of our past, in no particular order.

Beat poet Allen Ginsburg read from his generation-defining Howl and Kaddish. George Lucas explored myths and their meanings. Writers Jerzy Kosinski, Susan Sontag, Eli Wiesel, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, and Norman Mailer discussed their creative process. A very young Harry Connick Jr. displayed great musical chops. Actors with points of view connected with audiences, including Meryl Streep, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Stewart, Liv Ullmann, Kenneth Branagh, Kathleen Turner, Bruce Dern, and Betty White. John Birks "dizzy" Gillespie, Benny Carter, and Hank Jones came together to perform a once-in-a-lifetime Smithsonian jam session. Judith Jamison, Mark Morris, and Gregory Hines brought their vision of the dance. Yo-Yo Ma demonstrated his fascination with Bach through glorious performance. Photographers Helmut Newton, Annie Liebovitz, and Yousuf Karsh talked about the art of the photographic portrait.

We welcomed Jimmy Carter, Margaret Thatcher, Colin Powell, Nelson Rockefeller, and Jordan's Queen Noor. Henry Kissinger shared thoughts on diplomacy. John Kenneth Galbraith offered views of economic history. Bill Gates contemplated the technology of the future. Astronaut John Glenn and test pilot Chuck Yeager recalled the incredible moment each broke free of the Earth's limits. Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Joe Torre represented the world of professional sports. Walter Cronkite cast a journalist's eye on current affairs. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded us of the suffering in the world. Buckminster Fuller, E.O. Wilson, Stephen Hawking, Sir David Attenborough, Carl Sagan, Mario Livio, Richard Leakey, and James D. Watson extolled the wonders of scientific research and discovery Chefs Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Anthony Bourdain, and Alice Waters shared culinary insights (and a morsel or two).

When we started, there wasn't anything else quite like us. We're proud of being a leader in lifelong learning, but that's only been a starting point. Over the years, we've drawn even deeper on the resources of the Smithsonian to reach more learning communities. We began offering subscription performing arts events that linked to other Smithsonian units. We joined forces with Discovery Theater, one of the first in the area to present live performances for children. Our popular Smithsonian Summer Camps and Sleepovers in various museums also offer unique educational experiences for children. The Associates' National Education Outreach sends Smithsonian scholars to present programs to students and the public in towns and cities around the country. And we initiated a Master of Arts degree program in the History of Decorative Arts, offered in partnership with George Mason University. Exciting new initiatives are in the works drawing on our expertise with social media.

We're proud at how we've enhanced the Smithsonian's mission by adding the human dimension and increasing the scope and understanding of its contributions. We're ready to make the "link" we started forging 50 years ago stronger and deeper in the years to come.

Farewell DC, What's Up California?

In 70 days, a lot can happen. You can eat 70 donuts, write 70 essays, and even get your coat stuck in the metro doors 70 times. Now I’m not saying that these things happened to me personally, although some of them might have, but what I am saying is that the past quarter that I’ve spent interning at the Smithsonian Associates has made the mundane routines of working life so much more exciting than I could have ever imagined.

I’ve experienced things in the capital that I never would have experienced at home in Los Angeles. All thanks to my internship, I was able to meet the famous French chef Dominique Ansel and take a selfie with him, sit in on a lecture from a real FBI behavioral analyst and see clips of her interviews with real serial killers, and interview the highly acclaimed travel and food writer, Monica Bhide, among many other equally cool programs that I got to attend. I also met snow for the first time, which wasn’t as pleasant, but a fact of life that I have come to accept.

I can’t say that I don’t miss the 70 degree winters in California at all, but I am confident that even the beautiful weather can’t measure up to the opportunities that were presented to me while working here. Even though sometimes my California/”valley girl” accent made me stick out like a sore thumb in an overall very professional city, the Smithsonian itself has become a home away from home for me.

For now though, my quarter in DC is coming to an end and I will be returning  to the University of California, Santa Barbara to finish up my last year before I graduate in June. Even though I’ll have the beach back, I’ll definitely miss my favorite lunch spot in the gardens with this awesome view of the Smithsonian castle and the lunch breaks that I got to spend Instagramming new exhibits from around the museums.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the past couple of blog posts on 1100 Jefferson, and that you will keep reading to see what the Associates has in store for its next very lucky social media intern! Thank you!

Written by Danielle Fogel, social media intern at the Smithsonian Associates

 

An Interview with DC's Own Spice Superwoman, Monica Bhide

    Monica Bhide, the esteemed cookbook author and avid food blogger, lives her life in the same fashion as she signs off her emails: with relish.

    Even though she writes to me now with countless awards and achievements under her belt, her zest and commitment to her craft shines through in a way that reveals that she is passionate about her career and her fans.

    I had the pleasure of speaking with Monica after the Smithsonian Associates hosted a program with her on December 4^th that revolved around the sacred foods of India. In true Smithsonian fashion, there was also a huge buffet reception at the conclusion of the program provided by Indique that included many of the culturally significant delicacies that were discussed during the lecture.

    Monica was born in India and grew up in Bahrain, a small island country situated near the Western shore of the Persian Gulf. From a young age, Monica recalls that her family always loved food, as they would often have discussions on what they had eaten earlier in the day and what they would be eating later. Coming from parents who were both terrific chefs, Monica had it in her blood to continue on as a cook as well, but not without some pit stops along the way.

    A self-proclaimed “geek,” Monica did not start her career off with writing. Instead, she went to school for engineering and received two masters degrees, which she put to good use working in corporate America for over 13 years. Although it was a well-paying job, Monica says that it was not something that made her wake up every morning with energy or enthusiasm.

    “It always felt like something was lacking, but when a very close friend of mine passed away, it forced me to look at my own life and what I was doing.”

    She quit her job overnight and decided to drop everything to pursue something that she loved: storytelling. Three cookbooks and a short story collection later, it is clear that her passion has served her well.

    After mulling over what I might include in a cookbook of my own (pizza, French fries, maybe gluten free pizza to appeal to the masses), I asked Monica how she could possibly find enough content for three cookbooks: The Spice is Right, The Everything Indian Cookbook, and Modern Spice.

    She responded by saying that she constantly finds new inspiration from old memories.

    “I love trying to recreate dishes I have enjoyed in different places, I love finding new spices and trying to figure out how to use them. My approach to cooking is very simple. I don’t make complicated dishes. I think the simpler the dish is, the more likely someone is to try the recipe! The focus is always on using fresh and seasonal ingredients but then trying to be creative with them. “

    When I flipped through Modern Spice and found the tantalizing recipes for foods such as paneer and fig pizza, Indian chicken wings, and saffron-cardamom macaroons, I doubted the validity of Monica’s simple cooking approach.  However, it soon became clear that the effortless air about cooking seemingly difficult foods came from Monica’s style of writing and not in the simplicity of the recipe itself. Part of this effortlessness comes from Monica’s ability to tell stories through food rather than just jot down ingredients and temperatures on a page.

    In one anecdote that Monica wrote for the Washington Post in 2005, she recalls the first time she met Jonathan Krinn, another chef in the DC area who at that point had just opened the restaurant 2941. He invited Monica into his kitchen to show her the perfect sauce that he had concocted. When he went to lick the spoon to taste it, however, Monica’s upbringing regarding the sanctity of food showed through her bewilderment toward Krinn’s bizarre technique.

    “I had learned to cook by sight, smell, sound and texture. In our kitchen we were not allowed to taste…coriander whispers, cumin smolders, mustard sizzles, and cinnamon roars. I learned to cook by sight as the color of the spices turned…”

    Even though the spices may sound unfamiliar, the imagery that Monica is able to create regarding ingredients, sights, and smells reflects on how Indian culture at large views food. Not just as sustenance or something that tastes good, but as a small part of an intricate culture rooted in many different religions.

    In Monica’s house for instance, her family never taste-tested the food before serving because the first offering of food was for the gods. An extra plate was set aside after dinner every night for the cows that roamed around Monica’s childhood home because cows are considered sacred in Hindu religion and feeding them is a traditional way to feed the Hindu gods as well.

    Although Monica hasn’t been able to pinpoint her favorite food quite yet, she says that many cultures have foods that they consider lucky, such as statues hidden in baked cakes or a fish head facing a certain direction on a plate. In my humble opinion, however, the luck lies with the person who gets to try one of Monica’s special meals.

For more information and some fantastic recipes, visit monicabhide.com. Also purchase Monica's new book, The Devil in Us, here.

Written by Danielle Fogel, social media intern at the Smithsonian Associates. Photos provided by Monica Bhide.

 

 

Wilderness Forever: 50 Years of Protecting America's Wild Places

    For most of the visitors to the photographic exhibition "Wilderness Forever" at the Smithsonian's National Museum on Natural History, this is probably the closest they've ever been to America's truly wild spots. Thanks to an event that took place in September 1964, those places will still be around should the desire for adventure take hold some day.

    The exhibition celebrates "the historic signing of the Wilderness Act in 1964 through the art of photography and public participation along with scientific facts about wilderness lands," says Steve Freligh, co-founder and publisher of Nature's Best Photography magazine. The act ensured that more than 100 million acres of America's open lands would be there for the enjoyment of generations to come-and for photographers to capture in the most amazing images, thanks to a collaboration with the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Nature's Best Photography magazine, and the Wilderness50 Coalition (a group of federal agencies, foundations, and nonprofit organizations).

    The juried exhibition, Freligh explains, began with the call in spring 2013 for wilderness area photos. The response was overwhelming. More than 5,000 entries were submitted by professional, amateur and student photographers, from across the nation and the world. "The judges were as surprised as they were thrilled by the volume of entries received and the high level of quality they represented," Freligh says. "It was perhaps the stories that touched us most as each entrant brought a personal connection to these spectacular portraits of the wild."

    The number and quality of the entries made choosing the Grand Prize winner difficult, says Freligh, "but often a winning image offers some distinguishing detail that separates it from the others. [The judges] inspect entries numerous times before passing it on to the next level. In some cases, one image immediately stands out and becomes 'the one to beat.' For example, the shot of Wonder Lake by Rodney Lough Jr. was first recognized as a spectacular image with beautiful lighting, color, and perspective. Then, after a second look we noticed a single swan on the lake that offered that one extra detail we were looking for" in a Grand Prize winner.

    The goal of the exhibition, he says, is to "engage, inform, and inspire" people. "Photographs bring immediate and long-lasting impact and I feel [this collaboration] has delivered an exhibition that will grab the attention of museum visitors and encourage them to see and enjoy wilderness lands on their own and thus be motivated to protect them." Who says that nothing can last forever?

    Visit wilderness.smithsonian.com.

Copied from the December issue of the Associate, all images are copyright.

 

Hunt or be Hunted: The Criminal Mind of Psychopaths

Just when you think you’ve watched enough Law & Order: SVU to be a bonafide detective, a real life 20-year veteran of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU) comes to the Smithsonian Associates and completely proves you wrong. The following recap of the Criminal Minds discussion is not for the faint of heart…

After a long and very successful career in forensics, Dr. Mary Ellen O’Toole was just the person to set the record straight on psychopaths and the characteristics that connect serial killers and politicians. Yes, you read that right: many politicians possess the calculating charisma that murderers have. It was comforting to know that Capitol Hill was merely a brisk walk away from where the audience was sitting at that very moment.

Mary O'Toole in 2006

To begin the lecture, O’Toole stated that one in 100 people is a cold-blooded psychopath, meaning that one person in the auditorium shared personality traits with the likes of Gary Leon Ridgway and Ted Bundy.

To put that into perspective, that’s about one percent of the population. In prison, about 15 percent of people have psychopathic traits. So what exactly does it mean to be a psychopath? Could anyone reading this right now secretly be a psychopath and not even know it yet?

It’s unlikely. O’Toole states that psychopaths do not have the same emotional repertoire that regular folks do. They won’t fret over being a psychopath because in their mind, the extreme measures they take are completely necessary in order to survive. A psychopath’s life motto is “hunt or be hunted,” and their prey can include anybody, including family members.

Individuals who carry the traits of psychopathy do not vary across cultures and the characteristics generally manifest themselves in men. These people, according to O’Toole, are narcissistic and have a grandiose sense of self; they lack the feeling of guilt as they do not have a conscience, and they are impulsive and constantly seeking the next thrill. Even when they are at their most angry, which could be during an act of extreme violence, they show no signs of anxiety or turmoil.

Frank Underwood from House of Cards

Psychopaths are really charming. In personal video interviews that were shared with the audience along with clips from movies and TV shows, O’Toole was able to specifically highlight certain gestures and phrases that made all of the psychopaths featured in the program seem eerily similar.

The first clip was of the crooked politician, Frank Underwood, who is played by Kevin Spacey on the wildly popular Netflix series House of Cards. In various clips, Underwood looks into the camera and says things like “shake with your right hand, but keep a rock in your left,” and at one point, describing an impending political meeting, he says “and the butchery begins.” Even though Underwood is an esteemed and respected man to those who don’t know him well enough, if he were a real person he could easily enjoy the company of some other infamous names like Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer, who committed atrocious crimes against at least 30 women each.

The similarities lie in the fact that to a psychopath, whether their crimes are violent or not, people are objects to be used and abused. This includes family. For example, in an interview that O’Toole conducted with the aforementioned serial killer Gary Ridgway, he admitted that he used his biological son as a ploy to get women to trust him, and if his son were to ever question him, he would not think twice about getting rid of him.

Gary Ridgway before his conviction

It is true that the traits of psychopathy could serve you well on Wall Street, as seen in the successful businessman Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, but O’Toole says that there are different dimensions of psychopathy, as measured by the PCLR (Psychopathy Checklist). The highest (or lowest) score is 40, deeming the tested person as entirely psychopathic and lacking any emotional depth. The average person will score a 6 or a 7, but in O’Toole’s career, she encountered mostly people who scored in the high 30s, and once, an even 40.

I warned you: the facts aren’t so pretty. But if you are a fan of all things sick and twisted, O’Toole recommends books such as Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us and Snakes in Suits. O’Toole warns that psychopaths are master manipulators and come off very charming.  However, in her years of experience, what spoke to her most was “snake eyes,” or eyes that lack any glisten behind them. To ensure that you sleep tonight, I will also let you in on another secret that O’Toole told us: Hannibal Lecter isn’t a real person. He was merely a combination of three other serial killers. For more information, you can also visit Mary O’Toole’s personal website.

Written by Danielle Fogel, social media intern at the Smithsonian Associates

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Sweet Secrets from a Pastry Chef: The World of Dominique Ansel

For a man who doesn’t like American donuts and had only tried his first Oreo and milk combination last month, Dominique Ansel has created a huge name for himself while taking the NYC French bakery scene by storm with one invention: the Cronut. Although I’d be concerned for your health if you hadn’t heard of that delicious/donut/croissant food fantasy that made our wildest dreams come true last year, Chef Ansel is not a one-trick pony. The Cronut now has imposters all over the country, but the other delicacies that Chef Ansel cultivates fresh every hour are true originals that can’t be replicated without having the true love of baking that Ansel has pumping through his veins.

Chef Dominique Ansel

Last Thursday, Ansel visited the Smithsonian and not only answered questions from the eager audience, but also brought along a taste test of one of his desserts (among tons of other enticing sweets from four local pastry chefs). The theme of the night was “Breakfast for Dessert”, so Ansel’s featured treat was a Christmas Morning Cereal which included the fancy Valrhona Caramelia chocolate, meringue kisses, and spiced hazelnuts. After this taste test, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to enjoy Froot Loops again.

Other concoctions from the night included “Pancake Breakfast Cake”, featuring maple syrup inspired buttercream frosting and candied bacon by chef Tiffany Maclsaac, of the forthcoming Buttercream Bake Shop; s’mores cake by chef Santosh Tiptur of Co Co Sala; walnut bostock (similar to French toast) with Irish oat ice cream by chef Caitlin Dysart of 2941 Restaurant, and an “egg in a hole” creation which was actually made of lemon pound cake with cream cheese mousse and lemon curd by chef Susan Limb of Praline Bakery. There were more wonderful desserts that the guests enjoyed, but after the aforementioned ones that I personally devoured, I slowly felt my blood chemically transforming into pure sugar and decided it was a good stopping point.

S'mores cake

Although the audience was lucky enough to have met four amazingly talented local pastry chefs, the background and life story told by Ansel himself was truly the icing on the cake (see what I did there?). Ansel was born to a middle class family in a small town in France where during his childhood he did not have much to eat besides bread. One of his favorite memories was going to the market 3-4 times a day with his mother and grandmother to ensure they always had fresh baguettes in the house, if nothing else.

He says that his family’s insistence on eating fresh was what inspired him to do the same in his now famous bakery in New York City. Although the lines are long, there will never be pastries that are lying around overnight in Ansel’s store. Every pastry is served warm and fresh in order to ensure that the customers are having the ultimate sensory experience. In Ansel’s own words, “the pastry is the end of the meal- a celebration that then turns into a memory.” If a pastry isn’t at its best, Ansel claims, the memory won’t be as sweet.

"Egg in a hole" dessert

Ansel, who claims his guilty pleasure is Hi-Chew of all things, takes a scientific approach when it comes to baking. He says that a mix of accuracy, time, and innovation is all that it takes to become a great baker.

“A few grams extra of one ingredient can truly throw off an entire recipe,” says Ansel, “this is why people are generally more afraid of baking than they are of cooking.” Or there are people like me who are truly terrified of both.

The Cronut may have been stumbled upon by pure chance and experiment, but Ansel finds inspiration for his unique pastries all around him. On a trip to Turkey, he discovered chewy ice cream, which inspired a pastry at his bakery that is basically a roasted marshmallow stuffed with vanilla ice cream and caramel. A trip to a local farmer’s market got him thinking about the color purple, which manifested itself into a purple tart that features black currants and blackberries.

If you ever find yourself in the Big Apple, the Dominique Ansel bakery is worth the mile-long lines because each dessert is not only tasty, but contains so much detail and precision in every bite. Even though I shed a solitary tear when Chef Ansel said he wasn’t opening a bakery in DC, he will be opening his second bakery in Tokyo very soon.

Written by Danielle Fogel, social media intern at the Smithsonian Associates.

Dave Grohl and Sonic Highways: “A Love Letter to the History of American Music”

    Like any other angsty teenager who was still stuck in the golden age that was the 90s, emotionally charged lyrics and guitar solos were the only things that could accurately convey my very misunderstood feelings. Although I wasn’t too much of a rebel back then (or now), when I saw that the Smithsonian Associates was putting on a program with Dave Grohl (of the Foo Fighters!), my stomach did those little backflips they used to do when I used to scream along to “Best of You” in the mirror and pretend I was singing to my 15-year old crush.

    The Foo Fighters debuted as a band in 1994 in Seattle, a city known for producing some of the greatest grunge music of the decade. However, Dave Grohl, who became lead singer after his stint as a drummer for Nirvana, has actually attributed most of his musical influence to the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

    Upon his return to the district last week, Grohl graced his fans with his rockstar yet very down-to-earth presence by headlining a free screening and conversation about his television directorial debut in the new HBO series Sonic Highways, which is also the awesome title of the Foo Fighters’ upcoming album. Sonic Highways delves deep into the musical history of eight cities in the US including Chicago, Austin, Nashville, Los Angeles, Seattle, New Orleans, New York, and of course, D.C.

Courtesy of Jeanie Arnold

    Although the nation’s capital is known for its political prowess, historical sites, and food (see DC Top Chefs post), D.C. was also a frontrunner in shaping the musical culture that we all know and love today. D.C. even produced one of the most important influences in punk and indie music, Ian MacKaye, who was not only featured extensively in the second episode of Sonic Highways, but also was in attendance at the program. Born in 1962, MacKaye rose to fame not only as the frontman for various bands including Minor Threat and Fugazi, but also as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records. Inadvertently, MacKaye also became the poster child for the “straightedge” movement, which attempted to counteract the idea that music segwayed into unavoidable alcohol and drug abuse.

    Another musical influence of Grohl’s was the band Bad Brains, also formed in D.C. in 1977. These musical dynamos have meshed together every genre possible including hardcore punk, reggae, soul, and even heavy metal. The band has continued to work on new material well into the 2000s, albeit some minor setbacks in the 90s. Citing other prominent musical acts that shaped his views, Grohl also mentioned Funky Bunch and Mark Andersen, also a lead figure in D.C.’s punk movement who attended the program.

    With all the incredible cultural cues that Grohl has been able to borrow from his childhood in the D.C. area and his early adulthood with massive grunge influences in Seattle, it is no wonder that the Foo Fighters have maintained their status as of one of the most popular alternative rock bands for nearly 20 years, coining hit songs such as “Best of You”, “My Hero”, and “The Pretender.”

    If you would like more information on the docuseries Sonic Highways and Grohl’s journey throughout the rest of the US cities, you can visit their official website and keep an eye out for the Foo Fighters’ newest album.  Rock on!

Written by Danielle Fogel, social media intern at the Smithsonian Associates