Neighborhood-Led Student Satellite Launches

November 30, 2025 / Anna White

*The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, September 14, as seen on NASA’s livestream.*

By Leticia Barr

It’s up! North Woodside’s own SilverSat CubeSat launched into space Sunday, September 14, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX rocket to begin its mission to tweet pictures to order from space.

Persistence paid off for SilverSat’s team of student engineers, who started out as a small group of local middle and high schoolers in 2017.

But the effort started three years earlier as a labor of love launched by North Woodside resident Dave Copeland, himself an aerospace engineer, along with his wife Cheryl Guerin Copeland, fellow North Woodside residents Leticia Barr and Jim Barr, and Woodside Forest neighbors Noelle Kurtin and Chris Rutledge. Their plan: Gather a group of middle and high school students to build and launch a miniature satellite known as a CubeSat.

It took a lot longer to pull off than they ever dreamed. “I thought it would launch by 2019,” Dave said. Their own children aged out of the project and graduated from high school, as have numerous students in the project. But others signed up to replace those who moved on, and successive teams plowed through the pandemic and other hardships to bring the project to reality.

The students packed the 10-cubic cm (about 4-cubic inch) satellite with a camera, radio transmitter and receiver, computer, solar panels, electronics, antenna, guidance systems, and other equipment needed for its mission to tweet from orbit.

Guided by Dave and a few other dedicated parents with the needed expertise, they tested and retested the satellite to make sure it worked and could withstand the rigors of space. They learned how to operate a radio transmitter, earned amateur radio licenses, and demonstrated their expertise to NASA’s strict standards.

North Woodside and Woodside Forest neighbors *and founding Board members of SilverSat* Leticia Barr, Jim Barr, Chris Rutledge, Cheryl Copeland, and Noelle Kurtin celebrate the launch at a home in Montgomery Hills. SilverSat President, Dave Copeland, attended the launch in Cape Canaveral.

“The goal of SilverSat has always been to provide area kids with an opportunity to learn something outside what they learn inside a classroom,” said Leticia, a former Montgomery County Public Schools teacher. Some of the students have chosen to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers, and more than a few have come back to act as mentors to the team. Leticia’s daughter, Emily, was one of the founding participants. Now majoring in engineering as a senior at Harvey Mudd College in California, Emily watched the livestream of the launch from her dorm room and texted a photo of the rocket launch to the family group chat.

“The project was accepted into NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative in 2021,” said Dave.

Anyone can visit SilverSat’s websiteat Silversat.org/operations to request a photo. If it’s feasible, when the little satellite is orbiting over the right spot in the Northern Hemisphere, it can take a picture of that spot and then send it out over X (formerly Twitter) from its account @silversatorg for anyone to see.

SilverSat is on Bluesky bsky.app/profile/silversat.bsky.social, Facebook @SilverSat and Instagram @Silversat.

Neighbor to Perform at Urban Winery

November 19, 2025 / Anna White

Jeff Weintraub, a vocalist and guitar player from the North Woodside neighborhood, will be performing at the Urban Winery on Thursday, November 20, from 7 to 9 pm. Joining him will be Jack Gruber on keyboards, Percy White on bass. They will play a wide sampling of jazz, blues and folk tunes.

The Urban Winery is located at 2315 Stewart Ave. in Silver Spring. For more information, go to www.weintraubmusic.com.

Neighborhood Featured in Washington Post Article

September 18, 2025September 18, 2025 / Anna White

North Woodside and two of its residents, Geoff Gerhardt and Gus Bauman, were featured in a Washington Post article this week on the neighborhoods surrounding the busy Georgia Ave. corrider:

Montgomery Hills’ leafy neighborhoods contrast with busy Georgia Ave.
Where We Live | Five communities share the benefits and challenges of suburban life near an urban thoroughfare.
By Barbara Ruben, September 17, 2025

Access the article for a limited time here.

Upcoming Ban: Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers

June 28, 2025June 28, 2025 / Anna White

_{Sam Post performs his song about the upcoming county ban on gas-powered leaf blowers at the neighborhood porch open-mic concert on June 15, 2025.}

Dear neighbors, here’s a reminder that Montgomery County’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers goes into effect July 1. These loud and inefficient machines release dangerous toxic and carcinogenic emissions. As a favor to your ears, your lungs, and especially your musician neighbors, please inform your landscapers about the ban, or hire landscapers who have transitioned to electric. Starting in July, new rebates for landscapers to go electric will be available. Be a good neighbor; respect the ban!
—Sam Post, The Beacon, Spring 2025

Sam subsequently debuted a song he composed about the upcoming gas-powered leaf blower ban at a recent neighborhood open-mic porch concert. It was an audience hit! For those who missed the event or who want to listen to song again, check out a video recording of it below, followed by full lyrics. Enjoy! (And respect the ban!)

For more information about the county’s gas-powered leaf blower ban, see www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/property-care/leaf-blowers/

Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Ban Song
by Sam Post

Lyrics:

In case you don’t know about County Bill 18-22
I wrote this handy song in order to make sure that you do
Montgomery County followed DC and decided to ban
The sale and the use of gas-powered leaf blowers across this land
So now I’m asking you to get out there and help spread the word
‘Cause the number of leaf blowers in this neighborhood is absurd
They’re louder than an airplane
Which is why I started this campaign to complain
Before I go completely insane

Please respect the county’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers
To me this is religious stuff although I’m not a churchgoer
I know this might not be the thing that you lose sleep over
But every time I hear one I want to use a flamethrower

Leaf blowers are awful for your health and my sanity
So I speak for myself but also for all humanity
I am really trying not to use any profanity
But if you wrote music for your job you would understand me

Now I was hoping to explain this county law with this new beat
But right now there’s a leaf blower going right across the street
It’s making it really hard to concentrate; I’m trying to rhyme
I’ve got two kids over here; so I don’t really have much chance or opportunity
So I’m hoping that this community will show unity against this leaf blower lunacy

I plead with you to respect the county’s ban on leaf blowers
To me this is religious although I’m not a churchgoer
I know this might not be the thing that you lose sleep over
But every time I hear one I want to use a flamethrower

Please mark your calendars
This ban starts July 1st
Please tell your landscaper
This law is on paper
This isn’t quackery so
If you want to be informative
Tell them use a battery-powered alternative

Our country may be turning into an autocracy
But luckily Montgomery county is still a democracy
So if you truly believe in progressive policy
Please help me out
Don’t hire a landscaper unless they plan to make switch
To electric battery power it works without a hitch
If you want to talk more later, I’ll be around the neighborhood
To make my pitch

How the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre Came to Be

May 8, 2025June 28, 2025 / Anna White

By Wendy and Lisa, daughters of Gus Bauman (North Woodside)

On Friday afternoon, August 24, 1984, when most Montgomery County officials were away on vacation, a contract developer quietly commenced demolition of the 1938 Art Deco Silver Theatre prior to a scheduled public hearing about designating it as an historic site.

_{The Silver Theatre in 1938, shortly after opening. Black people were not welcome for its first couple of decades. Source: M-NCPPC Historic Preservation
office file}

Because the county executive, councilmembers, county attorney, and planning board chairman were all out of town, our dad—an involved civic leader and prominent land use attorney—received frantic phone calls from county planners about what was happening at the Silver Theatre building.

On the following Monday, the county permitting department, under pressure from Dad and others, issued a stop-work order before the exterior destruction had managed to reach the theater’s unique interior.

Then, on June 15, 1989, following appointment by the county council (and threatened veto by the county executive), Dad took the oath of office as full-time Chairman of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission/Montgomery County Planning Board. Under his leadership, following a decade of bitter struggles, including lawsuits, over what to do about the declining downtown Silver Spring, a new “Plan for the Revival of Downtown Silver Spring” was finally adopted by the county in April 1993. Among scores of action items, the plan recommended the shuttered, deteriorating Silver Theatre for historic designation and reuse as a performance venue. It was so designated the following February.

_{The new AFI Silver Theatre, with a nearly identical façade, welcomes everyone and features a great diversity of film festivals and screenings. Source: AFI Silver Theatre’s website}

Now, as a major film buff, Dad was well aware that the American Film Institute had a very small theater inside the huge Kennedy Center. Perhaps, he thought, the AFI might wish to have a nearby Golden Age movie palace to showcase American and foreign films.

And so, in early 1993, he placed a phone call from M-NCPPC to AFI about his idea. When the citizens advisory committee on possible reuse of the Silver Theatre learned what the chairman—our dad—had done, they were furious with him; they had been pushing for a live-performance venue, not “another movie house.”

The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, the saved original theater and two additional screens, opened in April 2003.

For more information about current and upcoming films showing, see afisilver.afi.com.

Celebrate Black History Month by Learning More About Local Black History

February 21, 2025February 24, 2025 / Anna White

Former Lyttonsville/Linden resident and filmmaker Curtis Crutchfield introduces his 2024 documentary *My Linden, My Lyttonsville: The Untold Story*.

Celebrate Black History Month by learning more about local Black history!

Lyttonsville (aka Linden), a historically Black community established in 1853 by free laborer Samuel Lytton, is located just west of North Woodside. Train tracks run between the two communities, and the new Talbot Avenue Bridge connects them.

Now airing and streaming on public television is an hour-long documentary by former Lyttonsville/Linden resident Curtis Crutchfield about the history of the community he grew up in:

My Linden, My Lyttonsville: The Untold Story of Displacement
1960s era community renewal program displaced [one of] the oldest Black community in Montgomery County, MD. This documentary reveals the pain and pride of residents who were forced to leave their tight-knit neighborhood as the program swept across the nation and Black neighborhoods were deemed “problem areas.”

Watch now at www.pbs.org/show/my-linden-my-lyttonsville-the-untold-story-of-displacement/

The film features interviews with over two dozen current and former community residents and others, and draws parallels between the experience of living in Lyttonsville/Linden and in other small Black communities in Montgomery County, such as Scotland and Emory Grove.

Neighbors’ Upcoming Musical Performances

February 3, 2025April 22, 2025 / Anna White

Kassia Music is a chamber group of strings, piano, and clarinet, including two composers, one of whom is pianist Sam Post. The group blends classical traditions with folk and rhythmic influences from around the world. kassiamusic.org or @KassiaMusic on Instagram and Facebook

Femme Brillante: rare chamber works by women

Saturday, February 15, 7:00 pm
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 6201 Dunrobbin Drive, Bethesda, MD
musicatredeemer.org

Sunday, February 16, 4:00 pm
Grace Episcopal Church, 1607 Grace Church Rd., Silver Spring, MD
www.kassiamusic.org/performances

The Vico Cycle, featuring Josh HelfinSiegel on bass and guitar, blends rock, funk, blues, soul, and hip-hop into a lively fusion of raw sound. www.vicocycle.com or @TheVicoCycle on Instagram and Facebook

Saturday, February 8, and Saturday, April 26, between 7:00–10:00 pm
Tommy Joe’s, 7904 Norfolk Ave., Bethesda, MD
tommy-joes.com

Saturday, March 8, between 8:00–11:00 pm
Solace Outpost, 444 West Broad St., Falls Church, VA
solacebrewing.com

Jeff Weintraub, vocals and guitar, plays an eclectic mix of jazz, folk, blues, country, and bluegrass along with some of the best musicians in the DC area. www.weintraubmusic.com

Jeff will perform at The Urban Winery on Thursdays, January 16, February 20, and March 20, between 7:00–9:00 pm.

Do you perform in a musical group not listed here? Don’t be shy! We invite you to share information about your performances on the neighborhood listserv.

Urban Winery Meet & Greet

February 3, 2025February 20, 2025 / Anna White

Escape the cold, come meet your neighbors, and support our local winery. First come, first seated. No host bar, non-alcoholic beverages, and food available (see theurbanwinery.com/menu).

Thursday, February 20, between 7:00–9:00 pm
Urban Winery, 2315 Stewart Ave., Silver Spring, MD

Features music by NWCA resident Jeff Weintraub. Co-hosted by North Woodside Citizens’ Association, Linden Civic Association, Lyttonsville Civic Association, and Rosemary Hills Neighbors’ Association. For further information, email programs@northwoodside.org.

Jack-O’-Lanterns That Tell Stories

October 30, 2023November 3, 2023 / Anna White

By Barry Galef

As a boy, I loved Halloween—especially the part where you carved a pumpkin. I wanted my jack-o’-lanterns to be special, but never felt like they stood out. Then in 1970 I tried something a little different: I added some delicate details carved just through the surface of the skin but not the flesh. To my surprise, they showed up in the dark, even though the only light I was using was a candle. It turned out that only the skin of the pumpkin is opaque; the flesh is very translucent and lets light through even if it’s an inch or two thick.

I used that idea the next year, and the next, adding more and more surface detail and minimizing the places where I carved all the way through. Eventually, I realized I was mimicking the technique of woodcut or linoleum block prints—and started using the gouge-like tools designed for that art. Now I can get as much detail as I want, and if I use a bright LED bulb the design shows up to brilliant effect.

From *Kalevala*: Ilmarinen, a hero of the Finnish epic, forging a key to unlock the prison of the sun and the moon

I take my time in planning an image on paper before transferring it to the pumpkin. It takes only a few hours to cut around the shapes and carve away the areas I want to show up bright on the jack-o’-lantern. Once I have the design, it takes perhaps ten hours of work to finish the job.

Rather than showing just a single face or monster, I like illustrating complex and dramatic tales. That gives me a chance to tell a story. And if I take good care of them, the jack-o’-lanterns can last surprisingly long—a month or even two! I’ve found that it’s important to keep them cool, to spray them occasionally with a weak solution of bleach to avoid mold, and to cut away any bad
areas as they appear.

In recent decades, I’ve tied the story on my jack-o’-lanterns to the theme of the Christmas Revels, a pageant-like show presented each December at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium. This year, the connection is particularly close: We’re both using Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It’s a story of honor, wonder, danger, and redemption in King Arthur’s court, perfect for both Halloween and Christmas.

In addition to showing the jack-o’-lanterns at parties and rehearsals for the Revels, I display my jack-o’-lanterns outside my door at 2020 Lanier Drive for the night of Halloween. Come by to see it this year—and then come see the show that shares the same story. You can get tickets to see the show at www.revelsdc.org and see more of my jack-o’-lanterns (and other art) at www.barrygalef.com.