Washington
Kerry Washington, Patty Jenkins, and Laura Karpman Talk Taking Risks and Supporting Women in Film
Believe in yourself, take risks, and don’t let traditional measurements of success (which are often upheld by old white men) dictate your own. These were just some of the nuggets of wisdom shared by Kerry Washington, Patty Jenkins, and composer Laura Karpman at the Tribeca Chanel Through Her Lens conversation Friday at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City. Moderated by filmmaker and journalist Perri Peltz, the trio spoke on the obstacles women face in the film industry and the importance of mentoring and supporting new filmmakers—something the Through Her Lens program is dedicated to doing.
“The problem is that we’ve been in a world where only one type of story has been allowed for a very long time, and we’re also in an industry that’s rear-facing, so as long as you are basing what is going to succeed on past data, then it means that you’re blocking all of these other stories’ abilities to come in,” said Jenkins, who famously directed the Wonder Woman films and Monster. “We can’t save the world if people’s voices aren’t being allowed to contribute to that.”
She encouraged people to share at the start of their filmmaking careers: “We need your stories, we need all people’s stories.”
She also touched on the notion of progress in Hollywood, and how it isn’t as drastic as we think it is. “There has been the illusion of progress in putting people in positions, right? But actually there has been almost no progress in having confidence in other people’s stories,” she said.
“I was traveling with [director and screenwriter] Gina Prince-Bythewood, when she did The Woman King, trying to do as many screenings for her as possible. I knew she wasn’t gonna get nominated. I knew it because I said, ‘They’re never gonna watch her movie because it’s got ‘woman’ in the title, and that’s the truth.’
“I can’t tell you how many Academy events I’ve been to where every Academy member says to me, ‘Oh, my daughter loves [your film]. I haven’t seen it, but my daughter loves your film.’ They didn’t watch it. You can tell from the screeners and things. They didn’t watch it.”
If men’s stories are seen as universal, why can’t everyone else’s be? Jenkins challenged that particular notion. “I love men’s films. I love men’s stories, but there’s room for so much more,” she said. “And all of us have trained ourselves to see universality through the eyes of men. But nobody is training everybody to see them through every anybody else in the world.”
Washington shared just how important it is to see those stories, especially as a mother to Black children.
“Because I have two daughters, there was a very special magic to the fact that Wonder Woman and Black Panther came out around the same time, because their intersectionality as girls and as Black kids was so honored in both of those films,” she said. “That they got to see all of their femininity empowered, all of their Blackness empowered….To be a mom raising Black girls in a time when those films exist is such an asset. Because my mom had to tell me, ‘You can do anything, you’re a superhero,’ but I had to take her word for it. Because pop culture at large was not mirroring that message.”
Representation “is important because it’s humanity,” she added. “I think that’s what scares people about inclusion, is we get scared about everybody being honored and mattering in the same ways.”
Laura Karpman, a veteran, Emmy-winning composer who most recently earned an Oscar nomination for American Fiction, said the gender disparity is even more bleak among film composers. She proposed that one way to make change is through “work stoppages,” while another is through advocating for inclusion in voting bodies.
“When I got into the Academy in 2015, I was the third woman composer admitted, and I was the first one in 20 years,” she said. “I got an Oscar nomination this year; I was the sixth woman ever nominated in music composition. But four of them have been in the past years since we diversified our branch. So what happens is that if you actually diversify these voting blocks, and then you get results.”
Washington is renowned for her work on Scandal now, but she remembers, at the time, showrunner Shonda Rhimes was met with a lot of doubt when it came to launching the show.
“When Shonda wrote the pilot for Scandal, everybody, including the network that aired it, called it a risk. Because there hadn’t been a Black woman in the lead of a network drama in the last 40 years,” Washington recalled. “And I remember at the time feeling insulted by that word. But I actually think when we are at our best as creative people—what we do is take risks. And I think a lot of times the studio or the streamers are terrified to take risks. A risk means you’re going out side your comfort zone to do something that’s never been done before, and you’re not sure that it’s gonna work, but you believe in it enough to to try.”
Karpman later added, “I don’t think any of us are a risk, because we’re all so good, we really know what we’re doing, we understand our craft, we are experts at this.”
Closing the conversation, the panelists imparted some wisdom with the crowd. Jenkins shared how important it is for women in the industry to mentor one another and teach “each other leadership and how to manage a set, how to get things done.”
Karpman added that “literally just helping people with language” and advising them on how to speak more confidently makes a huge difference. That and sharing “how to be in a room with people who are going to try to dominate and intimidate you.”
And Washington offered what she called a bit more “unconventional” (but equally important) advice: “Take care of yourself.”
Jenkins, Washington, and Karpman were also present at a luncheon at The Greenwich Hotel, where Tribeca and Chanel fêted another year of the Through Her Lens program. Notable attendees included Jane Rosenthal, Selma Blair, Katie Holmes, Rachel Weisz, Christy Turlington, Ashley Benson, Dianna Agron, Joey King, Camila Mendes, Chase Sui-Wonders, Emily Mortimer, Jenny Slate, and more.
Washington
Where to watch Washington Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles: TV channel, start time, streaming for June 27
What to know about MLB’s ABS robot umpire strike zone system
MLB launches ABS challenge system as players test robot umpire calls in a groundbreaking season.
The 2026 MLB season has surpassed the quarter mark, and after each team’s first 40 games, there’s plenty of reasons to tune in all summer long.
Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami has already proven doubters wrong by launching 17 home runs, Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes consistently looks like the best version of himself on the mound and Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski is throwing harder than any starter in the majors.
The MLB action continues on Saturday as the Washington Nationals visit the Baltimore Orioles.
Here’s everything you need to know to tune in for the first pitch.
See USA TODAY’s sortable MLB schedule to filter by team or division.
What time is Washington Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles?
First pitch between the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, June 27.
How to watch Washington Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles on Saturday
All times Eastern and accurate as of Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 6:33 a.m.
Watch MLB all season long with Fubo
MLB regional blackout restrictions apply
MLB scores, results
MLB scores for June 27 games are available on usatoday.com . Here’s how to access today’s results:
See scores, results for all of today’s games.
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Washington
Touring Trump’s Washington: How the president is putting his imprint on the nation’s capital
The United States is celebrating its 250th year. And what better way to mark that anniversary than with an American summer staple — a trip to the nation’s capital.
But visitors to Washington will find that the city is undergoing tremendous change, courtesy of President Donald Trump’s takeover makeover.
Since returning to office 17 months ago, Trump has demonstrated a continuing fixation with the District of Columbia. The Republican president has slapped his image and name on buildings, torn down storied structures, altered others, started massive construction projects and deployed armed military personnel.
The traditional tourist sights remain. But with slight detours, an open mind and a critical eye, the ambitious walker can see all the ways the president has pushed to remake the capital.
On the eve of the United States’ birthday, take a trip with The Associated Press across a changing Washington.
A new study found that the National Guard in D.C. has had no effect on violent crime. News4’s Jackie Bensen unpacks it.
First stop: An indefinite National Guard deployment
We start our tour at Union Station and Metro Center, the city’s main transit hubs. Notice the Greco-Roman architecture of the former, the Brutalist design of the latter. Now see the ongoing, indefinite deployment of armed National Guard troops there and in many other parts of the city.
National Guard members from the district and several states have been in the city since August 2025, deployed under an emergency order issued by Trump in what he called a bid to fight crime. Trump has portrayed the deployment as a lifeline for the city. They will be here for most, if not all, of 2026 and are expected to number 5,000 this summer.
FILE – Members of the National Guard walking in the lobby of Union Station in Washington, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)
It’s not the first time the military has deployed to the capital. Troops were in Washington throughout the Civil War, to quell riots after Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination and, famously, hours into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
But in Trump’s Washington, Guardsmen at street corners and metro stations have become an increasingly normal part of the city’s scenery.
And no one knows when they will leave.
Second stop: Scars left by DOGE
Exit Union Station, take in the view of the Capitol and turn right down Pennsylvania Avenue. There sits a building now synonymous with the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal government.
The U.S. Agency for International Development was the first major federal agency targeted by then-DOGE leader Elon Musk in the remake of the federal government, when cost-cutting measures prompted the terminations of tens of thousands of workers. USAID spent billions on humanitarian aid worldwide and was credited with saving millions of lives over time.
By eliminating 90% of foreign aid contracts, the Trump administration effectively cut some $60 billion in funding.
After workers cleared their desks in February 2025, the USAID offices on Pennsylvania Avenue were repurposed for other government uses.
The shuttering of the agency also contributed to a massive increase in unemployment in the region where about one-fifth of the workforce lives.
Many workers still ask: When their lives were upended, what was saved?
FILE – A banner featuring an image of President Donald Trump hangs on the Department of Justice in Washington, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Third stop: Trump’s image staring down
Walking south along any of the numbered streets leads to Constitution Avenue and the National Mall. Banners bearing Trump’s image have adorned the facades of several government buildings over the past 17 months — an uncommon practice for a sitting American president and a highly literal sign of his imprint upon the city.
At the Department of the Interior, his image has equal billing with George Washington on similar banners proclaiming “America’s First” and “America First.”
A mile away, Trump’s face glowers from the storied Department of Justice building, a physical display of Trump’s efforts to exert power over the law enforcement agency that once investigated him. It’s also a striking symbol of the erosion of the department’s tradition of independence from White House control, as the president pushes to prosecute his political adversaries.
Next up: The Reflecting Pool painted ‘American flag blue’
Westward toward the Lincoln Memorial sits the recently repainted Reflecting Pool.
The site has always been a must-see on any tourist’s checklist. But the Reflecting Pool, the scene of historic marches and protests, today also symbolizes Trump’s drive to change Washington.
Trump called the area “filthy” and had workers paint it in a color he has called “American flag blue.” A Washington-based nonprofit that tried to block the move said it undermined the somber tone of the area, which sits near the memorials to Lincoln and to the Vietnam and Korean wars.
Since the makeover, the pool has been fraught with problems, from runaway algae growth to dead ducks and a torn lining. Authorities say vandals have been responsible for some of the problems and arrests have been made. The National Park Service said the liner was intentionally cut with a sharp razor or knife.
Getty Images Getty Images Chipped paint and algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after it was painted blue in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, June 22, 2026. Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A walk over the Memorial Bridge across the Potomac River leads directly to the proposed future site of Trump’s 20-story, gold-adorned triumphal arch. Although embroiled in a court battle, like a number of his projects, the arch has been approved by a key federal agency and survey work has begun at the site.
In a city meticulously planned and rich with the symbolism that defines the nation, new construction can unsettle the carefully crafted balance.
The arch, when built, will break up the intentionally designed symbolic sightline between Arlington House, once the home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Lincoln Memorial, which symbolized the reunification of a divided nation following the Civil War.
Just ahead: The Trump-Kennedy Center
Visible from the site is the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts — known for much of this year as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center.
Congress named the performing arts venue as a living memorial to Kennedy in 1964, the year after he was assassinated. A law explicitly prohibits its board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
A court decision eventually stripped the center of Trump’s name, but a tarp remains there, obscuring the change.
Getty Images Getty Images A tarp covers the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2026. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
Trump also added his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace, part of a broader series of tributes that has been largely unprecedented for a sitting, living president.
In the middle of it all: A significantly changed White House
No tour would be complete without 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — the White House. There, gazers can look at the construction site formerly known as the East Wing. It’s now the president’s ballroom-in-waiting as the courts and Congress battle over whether to build it.
The White House has said the $400 million cost would be paid by private donors, but public money — around $1 billion for the entire White House complex, including the ballroom — would be used for security measures. The proposed building has also expanded to a size larger than the rest of the White House. Trump argues the ballroom is necessary for security reasons, and amplified that assertion after the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.
Guests attend a Rose Garden Club dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump (off frame) for American farmers at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2026. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Not viewable on the tour: the area formerly known as the Rose Garden. Planted by then-first lady Jackie Kennedy, it has been paved over into a patio.
Last stop: Black Lives Matter Plaza no more
Directly north, across Pennsylvania Avenue, is the area of town formerly known as Black Lives Matter Plaza. During Trump’s first term, a more defiant Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the painting and naming of the area as a remembrance of the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.
This combination of images shows Black Lives Matter plaza on 16th Street, NW, near the White House on March 10, 2025, top, as work was beginning to remove signage and markings, and on April 1, 2025, after the work was completed. (AP Photo)
BLM Plaza became a magnet point for years of political activism. Hundreds of protests started, ended or rallied there.
The plaza came down in March 2025 at Bowser’s direction, spurred by threats from Congress to hold the city’s funding. The decision served as an acknowledgment of a major shift in tone under Trump.
That’s the tour, folks. Please enjoy your stay.
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