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When University of South Carolina student and Georgetown Prep grad Alex Maroshek opened his door and found his duplex engulfed in flames on Monday, he had one thought: “This is just not frat at all.”

Maroshek, who played on Prep’s cross country and swimming teams when he was in Washington, puts down the fire like he’s talking to a pledge who dropped his Solo cup. Local boy made good!

—Will Sommer

A criminal information was filed today against Che Brown, the brother of former D.C. Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown.

Che Brown faced one count of bank fraud, for allegedly submitting false documents to GMAC Mortgage indicating that he had “$35,000 of income that he, in fact, never received,” the filing says.

A criminal information almost always indicates that a plea deal has been reached. Brown’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Che Brown’s alleged crime is almost identical to the one that cost Kwame Brown his job on the council. Kwame Brown resigned and pleaded guilty to bank fraud this summer; he submitted false documents inflating his income on loan applications.

But Kwame Brown also pleaded guilty this summer to a misdemeanor campaign finance charge that involved his brother. Kwame Brown admitted that he knew Che Brown would be making payments in excess of $50 cash, a violation of campaign law, to other individuals. No charges have been filed related to Che Brown’s conduct on his brother’s campaigns.

Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, says he has no comment on any campaign finance-related issues.

As it happens, Che Brown also pleaded guilty in the mid-1990s to bank fraud. That case involved Che Brown illegally obtaining $30,000 in order to purchase a Toyota Celica. 

—Alan Suderman

Photo via @CheBrownSales

By Caroline Jones

Of the hundreds of literary magazines published every year, the world seems to pay attention to a prestigious few. What if your work doesn’t fit the tone of The Paris Review or The New Yorker? Are you just supposed to give up? If you ask Mark Cugini, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

When he found himself feeling frustrated by the static nature of D.C.’s literary scene, he decided to create his own publication. Big Lucks, co-founded by Cugini and his girlfriend Laura Spencer in 2009, has now produced four print issues, a website, and a monthly reading series that is bringing together literary fans of all kinds.

Big Lucks wasn’t going to be anything major—-at first. Cugini moved to D.C. four years ago to attend the MFA program at American University, and started the journal as a hobby of sorts, a venue for more experimental writing that wasn’t so welcome in the realism-dominated environment at the college. Initially, the idea was to post work online and publish issues through an on-demand printer. It wasn’t until he attended the 2010 Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference that the idea of opening Big Lucks to a wider audience became more tangible.

Their coming out party of sorts was at a reading hosted by local lit mag Barrelhouse called “Barrelhouse Presents” at Wonderland Ballroom. Since then, they’ve grown into the role of Barrelhouse’s adopted little brother. Soon, the Big Lucks team was receiving and accepting submissions from writers nationwide, and they realized that what was supposed to be a hobby was now something much grander.

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(Source: washingtoncitypaper.com)

By Kathryn Masterson 

Photos by Darrow Montgomery

Tammy Loverdos enters a three-story Capitol Hill rowhouse with a clipboard, a box of demonstration latches, and a folder stocked with safety pamphlets. She’s been called, as she is between five and 10 times a week around the region, to give an expert’s eye to the potential dangers that could meet this home’s youngest resident.

Loverdos, who works for Safe Start Baby, the biggest professional baby-proofing company in the area, goes methodically from room to room, pointing out places where an infant could get into trouble. She then offers solutions, suggesting specific products or methods to reduce risks.

Those solutions range from the obvious—gates at the top and bottom of the stairs, locks on kitchen cabinets and on drawers where electronics are stored—to the less so. A coat rack by the front door could tip if tugged on, giving a nasty bump. Should it be wired to a wall? The video baby monitor attached to the crib could strangle a baby caught in its cord. Placing it on a shelf on the wall would keep it out of reach.

For Loverdos, who worked for an international development nonprofit before becoming a child safety assessor, the Capital Hill job was a relatively simple one. Though the house had three floors, it was completely free of clutter. The electronics of modern life were already stored away, with no laptops or jumbled piles of phone chargers on counters. There were no towers of books, piles of junk on tables, or scatterings of spare change.

And door latches were already in place. Loverdos recognized them as the same kind she was carrying in her box. The house’s previous occupants had already baby-proofed the house—most likely through Safe Start Baby. A baby-proofer’s job involves a lot of anticipation, but Loverdos says this is the first time she’s assessed a house her company probably had already worked on.

It may not be the last. Professional child-proofing services, which come to your house to identify hazards, then install the products to mitigate them, are growing rapidly in the Washington area. They offer a potent mix of convenience, protection, and reassurance that resonates with this region’s educated, busy parents. “Do you really want to spent your weekend trying to invent a way to fit your gate around a wobbly staircase?” Loverdos says.

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