Fits and Starts || A Trompicones 

Watermelon and Corn Shucking Contest at the Gateway Farmers Market! A sweet goodbye to a beautiful summer market season. 🌽🍉

📣 Welcome

Date 9/18/2026
Issue #34

I“Oh! I have something to send you for the newsletter!”

One of my challenges with the LGN is the overwhelm of things I hear about. It’s the nature of the beast, and I get lots of things in lots of ways—screenshots, Insta DMs, text messages, emails, phone calls, flyers, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, etc. Which, honestly, is fine! (Though, your best bet to get it in here is submitting via the form or becoming a regular contributor!)

The harder part for me is managing my instinct to draw lines between all the disparate things people are working on. To find the bigger picture by smushing all these happenings into one clean story, with a clear direction and some seeming agreement about What We’re All Trying to Do Here.

I have to remind myself that’s just not how things work. Progress isn’t linear and movements stutter-step and organizing happens in fits and starts. Often we don’t realize how our work connects to someone else’s for a bit.

And much to the chagrin of our capitalist instincts: it’s not efficient! Gasp. It’s not always scalable! Good God. And that’s actually what makes all our little similar but different projects stronger. 

You can swat away a bee. Butcha can’t swat away a swarm.

"The goal of revolution is not so much to go on and create the world as to live in that time of creation, and with this the emphasis shifts from institutional power to the power of consciousness and the enactments of daily life, toward a revolution that does not institute its idea of perfection but opens up the freedom for each to participate in inventing the world" -Rebecca Solnit

Rachel Bush
Editor
rsbush01@gmail.com

My Top Five

1. 🤖 TIME OUT for BIG TECH: A Community Forum on Data Centers and AI Risks — Sun, 10/4 (3–5 PM) at Mount Rainier Nature Center.

2. 🌱 Mount Rainier Green Team — The newly reestablished City Commission is looking for volunteers.

3. 🏞️ Bartlett Park Discussion — Watch Brentwood Mayor and Council discuss plans for the park and community center.

4. ❤️ PGIRC Mutual Aid & Volunteer Links — Current ways to volunteer and support local families impacted by immigration detention.

5. 💰 Mount Rainier Community Events Grant Program — Reimbursable grants of up to $2,500 for eligible community events, activities and programs. Next deadline: 10/16

🏛️ City Updates

Speed-camera enforcement on eastbound Queens Chapel Road between 25th Street and Chillum Road begins Fri, 9/18. Citations may be issued when a vehicle is recorded at least 12 mph above the posted limit.

Brentwood

• Fri, 9/18 (5–8 PM): Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration

• Thurs, 9/24 (3–6 PM): Brentwood Movie Night

• Mon, 9/28 (10–11:30 AM): Brentwood Business and Economic Development Roundtable

Cottage City

• Fri, 9/18 (6:30–8 PM): Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month

Mount Rainier

• Fri, 9/18 (6–8 PM): CERT Training: Preventing Fall for Aging Adults and Gateway Aging Together Potluck

• Mon, 9/21 (6:30 PM): Arts Commission Meeting

• Tues, 9/22 (7–8:30 PM): Green Team Meeting

• Sat, 9/19 (9 AM–2 PM): Electronics Recycling — Drop off electronics at the Mount Rainier Public Works Department, 3715 Wells Ave.

Mount Rainier is also accepting applications for its Community Events Grant Program, which offers reimbursable grants of up to $2,500 for eligible community events, activities and programs. The next deadline is 10/16.

Mount Rainier’s Green Team is officially back as a City Commission and is looking for volunteers interested in native plants, composting, climate resilience, and other sustainability projects. Tue, 9/22 (7–8:30 PM): Join the next online meeting. Learn more or email greenteam@mountrainiermd.org.

North Brentwood

• Fri, 9/18 (6–8 PM): Fiesta Friday: Color-Me-Fridays at Mural Park — Celebrate Latino culture with music and dancing. RSVP required; call 301-699-9699.

• Mon, 9/21 (7:30 PM): North Brentwood Town Meeting via Zoom.

• Fri, 9/25 (6–8 PM): Color-Me-Fridays at Mural Park at 4516 41st Ave.

North Brentwood is also participating in Maryland’s cooperative mosquito-control program through September/early October, with larviciding scheduled Monday–Friday. Residents experiencing mosquito issues can call 301-422-5080. Learn more

🎒 School News

PGCPS Calendar

🦅Mount Rainier Elementary:

MRES has a busy couple of weeks ahead, including a student picnic, fingerprinting, and the first Zombie Run practice of the season. 🧟‍♀️ Sneakers at the ready.

• 🧺 Mon, 9/21: No School & Student Picnic. Check out WhatsApp for more information! 

• 🖐️ Thu, 9/24: Fingerprinting

• 🧟 Tue, 9/29: Zombie Run Practice

• ⏰ Fri, 10/2: Early Dismissal

🐅Thomas S. Stone Elementary 

Thomas Stone has a particularly delightful September date on the calendar: Dolly Parton Day on 9/25. Big hair optional; big hearts encouraged. 💖

• 📚 Fri, 9/25: Dolly Parton Day

• 🤝 Tue, 10/6: PTO Meeting

• 📖 Mon, 10/12: First Book Club

🌎 Stay Local

🎭 Neighborhood Happenings

• 🎨 Sat, 9/19 (1–3 PM): Back-to-School Maker Lab at Brentwood Arts Exchange. $20/family.

• 🦋 Sun, 9/20 (10:30–11:30 AM): Gardening for All at the Mount Rainier Nature Center. This month's topic is migrating pollinator habitats. Free.

• 🛍️ Sun, 9/20 (3–6 PM): Tastemaker Collective at Pennyroyal Station, a free curated marketplace featuring independent designers, fresh flowers, live DJ sets, complimentary champagne, bites and local makers.

• 🐢 Sat, 9/26 (11 AM–12 PM): Animal Encounters at Mount Rainier at the Mount Rainier Nature Center. This month's program is Fall Reptile Behaviors.

• 🧴 Sat, 9/26 (2–4 PM): Butter Me Up: DIY Body Butter + Oil Experience at miXt Food Hall. Make your own personalized body butter and body oil.

• 🎶 Sat, 9/26 (3–6 PM): Mount Rainier Porch Fest 2026, with three hours of live music on porches around Mount Rainier. Free.

• ⛪ 9/26 (Sat) – Pep Rally & Health Fair First Baptist Church of North Brentwood hosts a community pep rally and health fair with fun, fellowship, resources, and community. 9:30 AM–2 PM at First Baptist Church, 4000 Wallace Road, North Brentwood.

• 💃 Sun, 9/27 (3–5 PM): Family Square Dance at Joe's! with Becky Hill and live music from the Hamlin Street String Band.

• 🎤 Sun, 9/27 (4–7 PM): Poetry Gallery: An Open Mic at Station 3510, with poetry, art, raffles and free wine.

• 💼 Mon, 9/28 (10–11:30 AM): Brentwood Business & Economic Development Roundtable at the Brentwood Community Center. A monthly gathering for Brentwood business owners, artists, musicians, restaurants, shop owners, investors and others.

• 🪕 Tues, 9/29 (7–8:30 PM): Acoustic Jamming Class at Joe's Movement Emporium.

• 🤖 Sun, 10/4 (3–5 PM): TIME OUT for BIG TECH: A Community Forum on Data Centers and AI Risks at the Mount Rainier Nature Center. Mothers Out Front Prince George's County hosts a panel on the environmental and social impacts of data centers and AI, with local advocates and national experts. Kids welcome. Free.

• 🌿 Sat, 10/10 (10 AM–12 PM): Brentwood Pocket Park expansion celebration next to 4406 40th St., as the park continues its transformation into a community wildlife habitat garden.

• 🃏 Tuesdays: The Washington Bridge Unit at The Hut (3801 Eastern Ave.) offers Bridge classes for new and returning players. No advance registration required; the class is $50 if you order the book yourself or $75 if you'd like the instructor to order it for you.

🖼️ On View

• 🧰 The Craftsmen Group: A Visual History — Brentwood Arts Exchange, through 10/31.

• 🔥 The Washington Glass School: 25 Years of Glass & Community — Brentwood Arts Exchange, through 10/31.

• 🌿 Earth Signs — Michael Gessner and Elzbieta Sikorska at Portico Gallery, 9/19–10/24.

☮️Volunteering, Mutual Aid, Advocacy

• 🌳 Sat, 9/19 (10 AM–2 PM): Forest Maintenance & Invasive Removals at Melrose Park in Hyattsville. Student service-learning hours are available.

• 🌱 Sat, 9/26 (11 AM–1 PM): Evergreen Cemetery Community Kickoff Day. GreenWorks and the Town of Bladensburg are kicking off restoration work at the historic African American cemetery with a free community event.

• ❤️ PGIRC Mutual Aid & Volunteer Links — current ways to volunteer and support local families impacted by immigration detention are collected here.

📚 Mount Rainier Public Library 

Happy Welcoming Week to all of you! Welcoming Week is a yearly celebration aimed at bringing together community members of all backgrounds to build strong, inclusive connections across cultural lines. If you are able to travel outside of Mount Rainier this weekend, the Festival of Cultures is taking place this Saturday at the Surrats-Clinton library. There will be all kinds of activities from 11-3 PM. Check it out here.

• Saturday, 9/19: 1-3 PM - Kids Create: Monarch Butterfly Suncatchers

• Tuesday, 9/29: 9 AM - Pollinator Storytime @ Cottage City Town Hall

• Saturday, 10/3: 1-3 PM - Kids Create: Papel Picado

☕ Nearby Happenings

• 🎨 Sat, 9/19 (12–6 PM): Hyattsville Arts Festival in downtown Hyattsville, with more than 100 artists and vendors, food, drinks and live music. Free.

• 🚲 Sun, 9/20 (10 AM–2 PM): DC Family Bike Fest at Alethia Tanner Park, with bikes to try, workshops, music, food trucks, a gear swap, giveaways, a Kids Bike Parade and more. No bike needed.

• 🎶 Fri, 9/18 (7:45 PM): Will Greenleaf & Sam McCormally + Supper at SoHy Corner Shops in Hyattsville. An evening of acoustic and ambient folk music. $20 suggested.

• 🧶 Sun, 10/18 & Sun, 10/25 (1–3 PM): Punch Needle Stool Workshop at Art Works Now. Design and punch your own stool cover during two two-hour sessions. Registration deadline is 10/3.

☕ Etc.