Annie Groer, a former Washington Post gossip columnist, has covered White House and Congress, and written widely about design, antiques and 21st century manners. Her work has also appeared in Town&Country, More and the New York Times. A Washington native, she twice represented the District of Columbia in the National Chicken Cooking Contest and once danced across the Kennedy Center stage with Liberace. She is at work on a memoir. Photo by Walter Nicholls.