![]() Elmo’s Coffee Pub.īut enough about George and his revolutionary posse. ![]() Having done everything there was to do back then-surveying, fighting battles, forming alliances, running the country, knocking back large vats of Madeira and distilling whiskey, dancing, hunting foxes (the animal, not Sally Fairfax)-and since he had no natural-born heirs, we could all be related to him but only tangentially through Martha’s heirs. Just like over 225 years ago, he’s simply everywhere. For others, this will serve as a refresher course on why you’re justifiably proud to be here in Alexandria. But I will take you on a quick excursion to introduce those new to the area to some names you’ll recognize. (Editor’s note: Agreed.) Besides, it’s been done before. Now, I’m not going to do a complete rundown because, as I mentioned above, it is a pretty exhaustive list, and my editor would have a seizure. This is where the six degrees kicks into high gear. The A-listers of current or former Alexandrians is a Who’s-Who of American entrepreneurs, politicians, educators, inventors, society, entertainers, sports figures, and activists. How about that strange feeling you get when you learn that your father was a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-who-knew-a-guy-who-was-fourth-cousin-to-a-lady-who-was-Martha-Washington’s-cook’s-great-grandson? You might not hit it off with the Gucci-clad blond at the bar with this line, but it would make an avocational historian swoon. Maybe not all of us, but some, I’m sure, harbor a secret desire to find they are related to George Washington or any number of Virginia’s Founding Fathers. To what degree separates you from these luminaries? Often appearing under the radar are Alexandrians who, by birth, career, familial relocations, or by pure happenstance, have achieved greatness and may be sitting on the next bar stool. or a movie idol on break from shooting a DMV-based film. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a political denizen of D.C. There will be the academic purists out there who will doubtlessly take issue with my simple-minded description of the phenomenon, but it goes something like this: You start researching a chain of relations and by the sixth connection, you will have a connection with a celebrity, royalty, or other notable or notorious individual.Īlexandrians sipping a libation at Landini’s have bumped into many a celebrity over the years. ![]() The concept essentially says we are all related to nearly everyone else by six degrees. The six degrees of separation comes from Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator Frigyes Karinthy, who was the first to popularize the concept in his 1929 short story “Chains.” The friend-of-a-friend concept was also popularized in the 1990 play by John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation. Witness the Beatles.Įven if we don’t experience that brush with greatness ourselves, we have the potential to encounter the “six degrees of separation” if we take the time to research the links. The whiff of celebrity can be intoxicating for some people that excitement that ignites a giddy sensation, generates a wide smile on one’s face, a knowing look, or even a gasp or a scream. (Alexandria archives)Īlexandria, VA – There are those among us who love the brush with greatness. The railyard and roundhouse in Alexandria, now the location of the U.S.
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