Fables of the Reconstruction: New York Times critic Edward Rothstein gives high marks to Ford’s Theatre’s new Center for Education and Leadership, which is across the street from the historic venue and attached to the Peterson House, where Abraham Lincoln died. The center traces the aftermath of Lincoln’s death and explores the legacy of his presidency and ideas. “The emphasis is not on artifacts, though you can see the ring of keys found on Booth’s body and other objects,” Rothstein writes. “But the exhibition succeeds because of a careful narrative, well-chosen images and informative touch screens; the new completes the old.”

Downtown Shabby: Downtown has been a musical hub and a gallery destination, but now arts are becoming less and less visible in the area between 4th and 15th streets NW and Pennsylvania and New York Avenues, writes Mark Jenkins in The Washington Post: Some galleries are in office-building lobbies; some properties meet D.C. government’s requirement for downtown “arts” space via for-profit museums and restaurants with musical offerings; the multiuse arts space Flashpoint may bolt for an artier (and presumably cheaper) neighborhood when its lease expires next year.

My Love Is Your Love: At Click Track, Chris Richards reflects on on the tragedy of Whitney Houston‘s death this weekend, which cast a pall—-well, kind of—-over last night’s disjointed Grammy Awards. (Members of the Recording Academy’s D.C. chapter didn’t do so great there.)