[Music: "No, Girl" by John Davis from Title Tracks / "I Will Survive [Karaoke Version] [In the Style of Cake]" by The Karaoke Channel from The Karaoke Channel - In the Style of Cake - Vol. 1]

Lia Newman juried the show, choosing 21 pieces out of more than 500 submissions. Newman points out a painting of the traditional European toile de jouy. “There's all these lovely, cheerful people on swings and in lovely dresses, basically with guns being aimed at them,” she says.

Some of those holding guns have their faces half-covered by bandanas, some are in full army fatigues, and some of the gunslingers are children.

“I think it's the dichotomy of life, the dangers that might exist,” Newman says.

Susanne Vigel, one of the local artists in the show, drew a jewel-toned, zoomed in cockroach. “The name of the drawing is Ick,” she says, “And I think that pretty much sums it up!”

To create the work, Vigel says she spent about 100 hours face-to-face with the pest. As you gaze at it, or another of the 21 pieces of artwork that make up the show, don’t be surprised if you can’t stop staring, even though you may want to look away.

Fears and Phobias runs through February 19 at the Torpedo Factory’s Target Gallery.

It was May 2011, and not only was she prepping for 52 O's annual open house, she was counting her lucky stars that she'd nabbed such a spacious, sunny, relatively inexpensive art studio on the first floor. But now, nine months later?

"I'm kind of in to this blue," she says, as she scribbles with a light-blue pastel on a huge figure drawing. "It must be my mood. I definitely think my work is changing. I just feel a little more tumult in the work, because of the anxiety of the situation."

Leith says in early January 52 O Street's landlord, Marty Youmans sent an email to all first-floor tenants, "totally out of the blue, saying 'it appears that most of the first floor will be vacant by June 1.'"

Youmans plans to convert most of the first floor in to a youth hostel, one geared toward artists, he says, with two art spaces, a poetry stage, a coffee bar, and as many as 40 beds. Leith says the email ruffled more than a few feathers, including her own.

"Honestly, my heart just went down into my feet," she says. "I just went, 'Oh, God.'"

After all, she's been renting her studio for six years now, and like most other commercial tenants at 52 O, she's on a month-to-month lease.

"That allows the landlord to do anything he wants with the rents," she says, "And to ask us to come and go as he pleases. So there's no stability."

Hence her current "blue period."

Differences between residential and commercial tenant laws

Susan Bennett, a professor at American University's Washington College of Law, says, indeed, in D.C., "commercial tenants tend to have no rights." Especially those with month-to-month leases, since "their lease is their only protection. In the event that the owner wants the space back, then it's very, very tough to assert anything if all you do is work in the space. That's hard."

On the other hand, she says, if you're a residential tenant in D.C., "it's absolutely the opposite situation. Even if you have only an oral, month-to-month lease, residential tenants do have significant rights in the District of Columbia, and they have the right to appear in court and contest the reason for their eviction."

Uncertain futures at 52 O Street

Back at 52 O Street, first-floor resident Emma Jaster hasn't yet contested the reason for her eviction. Though she has consulted D.C.'s Office of the Tenant Advocate, whom she says told her "as things currently stand, the landlord does not have a right to make me -- as a tenant, because I live here - leave."

But here's the thing. Jaster's an actor and dancer who lives with her boyfriend, actor and musician Matt Pearson, and as of April 1, they'll be going on a month-to-month lease. In an email, Youmans offered this arrangement in exchange for the promise he wouldn't raise their rent in 2012.

As to why? Youmans writes in his message: "no specific reason at all - and absolutely no reason related to you both." But knowing what she does about the proposed youth hostel, Jaster is nervous. And, like her neighbor, Leith, Jaster's been going through a blue period of her own.

"For the last month I've been losing time on my artwork in order to look up well, where would I live instead?" she says. "If I can live over here, then where am I going to get my work done? And okay, if I can work over there, then Matt's going to need studio space, too. Well, we can't find a space that we both can work in together. Do we each need to find our own? Does that mean we're looking for three new spaces?"

After sending his original email in January, Youmans says he's seen "a sea change" in morale around the building, and not for the better. He says since D.C. landlord-tenant law operates on a "You Pay, You Stay policy," it's difficult for landlords who want to make changes to their property. He says he may actually delay his youth hostel plans.

"I quickly discovered with Raye and with two other tenants that live on the first floor that you just can't bulldoze changes," Youmans says. "I don't want anyone to leave the building unhappy; no one's ever left this building unhappy!"

Still, Youmans says he's determined to charge ahead before too long. Not only would a youth hostel provide much-needed, affordable lodgings to visitors, he says, but it could also raise 52 O Street's profile.

"This project would bring a lot of people into this building," he says. "It would really get this building the kind of exposure that I think it's never had. And I've gotten some positive responses to it, from newer tenants who do see this as an opportunity to breathe life into O Street."

But Leith disagrees. "Breathing new life?" she asks. "There is so much life in this building! There is so much phenomenal art going on in this building!"

And she hopes it'll keep going on, though she's far from optimistic. In fact, the way the area around Truxton Circle is changing and developing, she fears for the future of all of 52 O Street, and for the many people breathing life in to, and drawing sustenance from this longtime haven for local artists.

[Music: "Mona Lisa" by Santo & Johnny from Mona Lisa]

Caving: Torture to some, peaceful to others

An hour and a half outside of Washington, longtime spelunker Keely Owens leads a group through chamber after chamber, hundreds of feet into the earth. The group enters an 8-foot tube in a rock not more than 3 feet high. For Owens, these tight crawls are exhilarating, and the undiscovered quiet spaces are peaceful and nurturing.

"This is like twister," she says. "It's like a 3-dimensional puzzle you've got to solve with your body. So that's the fun part of it."

For some other people, however, it's far from fun. Owens says she's seen people become disoriented in the cave, and some feel like they're going to fall over.

Caving to overcome claustrophobia

Lehman works on the second floor of a downtown Ballston office building, where the walls are all glass and the light pours in. She's a recovering claustrophobic.

"I could not go in elevators above the second floor," she says. "If the elevator was packed with four or five people, I would wait and take the stairs. I would go into complete panic mode. I think it's more of a fear of 'I can't get out'. College classrooms with three or four hundred people, I would sit by the door. Easy escape."

One day, a friend of hers suggested she do something about it. The suggestion? Caving. Lehman thought the idea was crazy. She passed on caving trip after caving trip, until finally something possessed her to give it a try.

"I was anticipating completely freaking out, having a panic attack, which I'd had before, a panic attack is very similar to a heart attack; you think you're dying," she says. "And I prepared for that. So I said, if I have a panic attack, I know I am with someone who can get me out of this cave within 15 minutes."

But Lehman received reassurance from her friends who were experienced in caves. They taught her cave safety, and avoided tight spaces. After that, something crazy happened. She began to enjoy caving.

"I found that I actually started loving it," she says. "And the further we got in, the better I felt."

Not only can Lehman now deal with crowds, elevators, and tight spaces, she helps run a caving club and leads expeditions nearly every weekend. But this isn't actually all that strange.

Facing your fears

"The main treatment for phobias is something called exposure therapy," says Joseph Bienvenu, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School. "It involves getting into a situation that you would typically avoid, letting your anxiety be there, until it decreases substantially."

He says that if people stick with it, start small, anxiety levels will fall. But if they spend too much time away from the situation, their fear builds up again.

Owens says mastering fear is a life skill and life-saving skill, and she says the worst thing that happens to people when they're in a cave is that they panic. Panicking, she says, takes the mind out of the moment. In fact, Owen says long time spelunkers sometimes develop anxieties around caving because they stop and think too much.

"Usually for people who feel comfortable in a cave, it's a neat liberating place to be because there are no rules," she says. "You just get to express yourself and explore, and do what your body and the cave allow you to do. Then something in their life changes, and they sit back and start thinking over a lot of their old stories. And it hits them how many times they got lucky... they were playing roulette. The more you think about something, the more you can work yourself up into a phobia about it."

But for Lehman, this is a lesson in how to manage fear. She says it's important to keep a balance between thinking things through, and not overthinking them, living in the moment.

"When I'm out in my regular life, which is actually a lot harder to manage than caving, and I find myself in a situation that just feels like it's too small, too hard, too difficult, I think 'it's OK! Calm down, take your time, take a breath, let the panic pass through you, and sing.'"

[Music: "All Falls Down" by Kanye West from Instrumentals]

[Music: "Don't Dream It's Over (In the Style of Sixpence None The Richer) [Karaoke Version Instrumental Only]" by ProSource Studio Musicians from Karaoke - Don't Dream It's Over - Single]

Lydia Waters brings her middle-school daughter to the city's Stop the Violence Youth Center, which offers sports and homework help to kids living in some of the roughest parts of Salisbury. She says parents have to be as aggressive as the gangs to protect their children.

"If that's the way they work their business, that's the way to do it is to get them young," she says. "But if we reach them young on a positive note and keep them locked in, then that'll be just as good. It would be perfect if we could do that."

Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton says the city is winning the battle against violent crime, which he says is down more than 33 percent since 2009. But Police Chief Barbara Duncan says there's still work to be done, and she needs the public's help.

"Are we starting to turn a corner? Absolutely," she says. "Is this a critical tipping point for us? It certainly is. So I would say to [the public], please keep engaged, please keep communicating with us, and stand ready to work alongside us."

[Music: "Sea of Love" by Tom Waits from Brawlers / "Tears for fears/Gary Jules - Mad World - Instrumental" by David DeVore from Soundcloud.com]

"We were talking about how much we admired the King for taking on this fear of public speaking," she says. "And I just posed the question to my group of friends, 'What's your version of that?"

At first glance, Kinder -- who's 6 feet 2 inches tall, with flaming red hair -- isn't someone who seems driven by fear. She calls herself a walking exclamation point. Her friends describe her as confident, assertive, energetic, brave -- even fearless. And Kinder agrees she's done some courageous things in her life. For example, for her work in international development, she's traveled the globe, sometimes stopping in some of the world's more volatile regions. Closer to home, she helped keep the peace among rowdy D.C. partiers, as a bouncer at Madam's Organ on 18th Street. But, like everyone else, Kinder says she encounters things that scare her every day.

"Whatever these things are that we're intimidated by, or avoid, or are threatened by, we hold ourselves back," she says. "If we just got over that, we would open ourselves up to all kinds of possibilities."

So, exactly a year ago, Kinder decided to face her fears head on.

Face Your Fears February

"I thought I'll just name this Face Your Fears February and take a whole month of slaying fears that make me uncomfortable, putting myself in situations that are outside my comfort zone and doing some deep thinking about what are my bigger, deeper fears that I need to take on," says Kinder.

She started by taking an African dance class.

"I was like a gazelle next to very talented dancers," says Kinder. "I wasn't very good at it, but I enjoyed the experience."

Even though she hates pictures of herself, she decided to pose for a photo shoot. Then, she took on rock climbing. Kinder finally asked out a guy she'd had a crush on for years. And when that didn't work out, she decided to go on a date -- to a blues club in Bowie, Md. -- all by herself.

"My big fear -- one of those existential fears that many women in their 30s or 40s who are single have -- is this fear of not finding a partner and not having a family and ending up alone," she says. "I think I just wanted to feel that my life is full and I'm enough. And I think it did teach me that."

In fact, the months that came after February were full of new challenges for Kinder.

"I bought a house," she says. "I moved into a new neighborhood. I took on a job in the government that was much more senior. I fell in love after that. There's been massive changes in my life."

And Kinder says the February she spent facing her fears helped make her stronger to embrace those changes as they came.

"There's a lot of things that we're afraid of or shy away from," she says. "And once I started noticing, I almost felt like I had a sword in my pocket. I wanted to go slay those fears. It was so empowering and pretty profound. I feel like to really changed my outlook and made me a much more confidant person."

After all, she says overcoming fears is a learned behavior.

"I remember in seventh grade, my parents made me walk to the orthodontist and cross main street and I cried the entire way," she says. "Years later, I went on to live in India, and Pakistan, and Liberia and live on my own. Most of us are not born fearless. I've done some pretty brave things in my life, but that takes a lot of work."

So this February, Kinder is facing her fears once again. She's determined to tackle the challenges of homeownership. She's tightening her budget.

"I think it's going to be frugal February," she says.

And she's tackling her tool belt.

"I'm really daunted by the power drill," she says.

Meanwhile, she's stepping up to the spotlight, and getting ready to face the music.

[Music: "I Won't Back Down (In the Style of Tom Petty) [Karaoke Version Instrumental Only]" by ProSource Studio Musicians from Karaoke - I Won't Back Down - Single]

Lickteig on the moment he found out who his real mother was: “My friend Vance, who’s in the film, said, ‘I know who your mother is: your sister, Joanie.’ And then my other friend Allen who was there was like, ‘yeah, I mean I’ve known since I was in like seventh grade. Vance had known since he was you know, like 8 years old.’ And Allen says I just was very still and quiet and like, introspective about it. That’s one of those moments where people say, ‘oh’ when you’re told something shocking, you sort of shut down. That’s what happened. Because there’s also a photo of me the next day at graduation with my arms around my mom and dad and I’m like, laughing and they’re smiling and they don’t know that I know.”

Lickteig on the ‘open secret’ and how everyone in the community knew: “I was born in 1969… 1987 is when I graduated high school. And this is Kansas, and not backwards by any stretch. But it was unthinkable to meddle in another family’s business. And you know my parents, my mom mostly, my dad I think knew everybody knew. But my mom really didn’t think that people knew. I think she thought she’d kept it very well-hidden.”

Lickteig on Joanie’s (his biological mother) fear of Mary Jane (Joanie’s mother): “Well the stories I remember, and I have some recollection of this even as a child myself but it wasn’t as severe, is that she was volatile. My mom had truly diagnosed mental issues. She had severe depression. I’d venture to say there were probably issues of being bipolar. And I think when Joanie found out that she was pregnant, this wasn’t going to be a mom that was going to say, ‘Joanie just come home and we’ll take care of everything. You don’t worry about it.’ So I understand that she tried to hide it for a while, and tried to figure out what she was going to do. And all of her plans were basically foiled by my mother, who stepped in and said, ‘this is what we’re going to do.’”

Lickteig on his relationship with Joanie: “At this very moment as we talk, it’s kind of nonexistent. She didn’t like the film. She didn’t feel that she was portrayed in the right light. And of course I completely and utterly disagree, and everybody who has seen it from the family and people who know her are like, you captured her perfectly. But nobody wants to see that about themselves, because Joanie is both good and bad in that film. And she says some really awful things about my mother in that film.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

[Music: "Secret" by The Appleseed Cast from Mare Vitalis]

[Music: "Every Little Bit Hurts" by John Davis from Title Tracks / "The Fear (Instrumental)" by Lily Allen from It's Not Me, It's You]

[Music: "No, Girl" by John Davis from Title Tracks / "What's Going On (The Foundation Rhythm & Strings Mix)" by Marvin Gaye from What's Going On]