District Livin'

Today’s Forecast: Clouds, Rain and Heat. Who knew the weather could be so singularly unpleasant? Not me.

Washington DC keeps plugging along. The news cycle is constantly churning. I’m more aware of it than I would like to be, but I won’t complain. I’m more than halfway done with Washington and can now look at it with an independent eye. A few observations off the top of my head about living in Our Nation’s Fine Capital City:

Pros

Access Access Access!!! If you can think it up, it’s probably headquartered here.

International mix of people creates “anything can happen” type of backdrop.

Watching national scandals explode from the front row is Just Dee-lightful!

You can randomly see finely dressed older folks in the city. Many will be in their seventies and dressed to the nines! Seeing them inspires me to be a bit more civilized (if only for a moment or two).

Big Relief: newly established and growing Latino population means I won’t ever have to work for The Man.

Rock Creek Park is like an olive branch in the storm, and we live right next to it.

Two words: Immigration Marches!

Cons

Is an attractive destination for calculated and greedy people who want to feel powerful. (This is also known as anti-humanity.)

I never had the experience before, but one year in DC and I’ve got it down. It goes like this: Black=Poor=Powerless. White=Rich=Powerful.

DC has no federal political representation: This is a lot more annoying than I would have thought.

Criminally Impotent Law Enforcement Division. (btw, do you know if they ever figured out who stole the Police Chief's Crown Victoria?)

The District has one continuous theme song. It goes “Neee nee nee nee nee nee nee nee nee nee nee nee nee….”

Cool people don’t stay here. Actually, nobody with the ability to leave stays here.

Two words that strike fear into the hearts of district residents? DC Government.

Special kind of weather (Sticky fog + dirt + heat + rain = full special).

Can you say “High Crime Rate” and “High Unsolved Crime Rate” ten times fast?

Maybe your city has some unusual pros or cons you’d like to share. For now, I’ll just leave you all with a great story out yesterday featuring our favorite congressman. Filner gives those mealy-mouthed DC wonks a refreshing dose of straight talk. Highlight quote:

"You guys f——- it up," Filner declared. "Stop covering your a— and figure it out."

Go Bob!

Hasta luego,

Lola Maria del Districto