A Year in the District of Columbia (and it's environs)
Yesterday marked my one year anniversary as a DC resident. I moved to this city on a Susquehanna Trailways bus on August 8, 2006. It marked the 4th time in as many years that I'd up and moved to a new locale. I was a little nervous about moving here. I had made friends back in Hazleton and I really wasn't sure how things would work out for me in the "big city" (relatively speaking, of course. I am from Delaware, after all).
When I first moved here, I HATED it! The weather was dreadful and I was lonely. I didn't understand the bus system (though the trains were fairly easy to manage). And I moved to Southwest of all places! I grew to like it a bit down there, but is kind of ghetto and isolated, though not as dangerous as outsiders might expect it to be.
All in all, I've enjoyed my time in Washington. I've experienced so much in 365 days! I got to attend the groundbreaking of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park. I got to see Oprah from 5 feet away and I witnessed Miss Winfrey hush somebody! Really, you haven't lived until you've seen that. I heard Maya Angelou speak and I've met the Secretary of Labor at a banquet I attended a few months back. I met several authors through my job at the bookstore and I'm constantly interacting with people from all parts of the world. I've even discovered that I have a strange attraction to Serbians. I never even met a person from Serbia until I moved here!
I've taken so many walks and seen so many parts of this city that are fascinating. The Washington Metropolitan Area is a great place to explore if you are a budding urban planner. So much of the area is Metro dependent that it's impossible not to see various developments and observe the various ways Urbanism has been interpreted. Besides the newer suburbs, I've also been able to explore older parts of the city that have grown over time and have had to deal with the construction of highways, and railyards, and the Projects. I've seen neighborhoods built on bluffs, and communities built in the flats. So far, I've explored: King Farm, Clarendon, Crystal City, Rosslyn, Courthouse, Ballston, Virginia Square, Potomac Yards, Dupont Circle, Columbia Heights, Takoma, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Glenmont, Wheaton, Bethesda, Tenleytown, Glover Park, Pentagon City, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Hyattsville, Fort Totten, Petworth, Twinbrook, Aspen Hill, Riverdale Park, Bladensburg, Laurel, Tysons Corner, Columbia Pike, et al...
I have two jobs now, one at Books-A-Million which is the third largest bookstore in the nation. It's based in Birmingham, Alabama which I think explains why we are oft confused with a Christian bookstore. My other job is at Lambda Rising, a bookstore that celebrates the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender, and Queer experience. Apparently, it's pretty famous. Who knew? I've also worked one day each at a restaurant near the Department of Labor and at a coffee shop in the Verizon Center. It's fairly easy to find unskilled work in this city.
I've met wonderful people in this city as well. To list them (in no special order):
Sean Boe
Joe Henchman
Tarshay Malloy
Erin Williams
Claire Morra
Keyonna Brooks
Mary Bridgette
David Maritz
Ms. Martin
Ms. Davis
Alexandria
AnacostiaGirl (I forgot her name)
Danielle
Brandy White
Darius
Dazzmon
J'Myle Koretz
Jane Campos
Kawan
Lai
Steven Krieger
Ms. Marable
Nicholas Kilstein
Nolan (the service dog)
OtherWill (I can't call him William, it's too creepy)
Tareka
Deanna Scutching
Selema
Tisa Tolbert
Jason Vanfossen
Some of these people have been friends and still are; others I new for only a brief time. As cliche as it sounds (and really, shame on me), I'll remember these folks forever, in some way, if only because I refuse to delete their numbers from my phone!
I hope to get this apartment in West Hyattsville soon, and then I'll be committed to another year in this city. We'll see how these next 365 days go...
When I first moved here, I HATED it! The weather was dreadful and I was lonely. I didn't understand the bus system (though the trains were fairly easy to manage). And I moved to Southwest of all places! I grew to like it a bit down there, but is kind of ghetto and isolated, though not as dangerous as outsiders might expect it to be.
All in all, I've enjoyed my time in Washington. I've experienced so much in 365 days! I got to attend the groundbreaking of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park. I got to see Oprah from 5 feet away and I witnessed Miss Winfrey hush somebody! Really, you haven't lived until you've seen that. I heard Maya Angelou speak and I've met the Secretary of Labor at a banquet I attended a few months back. I met several authors through my job at the bookstore and I'm constantly interacting with people from all parts of the world. I've even discovered that I have a strange attraction to Serbians. I never even met a person from Serbia until I moved here!
I've taken so many walks and seen so many parts of this city that are fascinating. The Washington Metropolitan Area is a great place to explore if you are a budding urban planner. So much of the area is Metro dependent that it's impossible not to see various developments and observe the various ways Urbanism has been interpreted. Besides the newer suburbs, I've also been able to explore older parts of the city that have grown over time and have had to deal with the construction of highways, and railyards, and the Projects. I've seen neighborhoods built on bluffs, and communities built in the flats. So far, I've explored: King Farm, Clarendon, Crystal City, Rosslyn, Courthouse, Ballston, Virginia Square, Potomac Yards, Dupont Circle, Columbia Heights, Takoma, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Glenmont, Wheaton, Bethesda, Tenleytown, Glover Park, Pentagon City, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Hyattsville, Fort Totten, Petworth, Twinbrook, Aspen Hill, Riverdale Park, Bladensburg, Laurel, Tysons Corner, Columbia Pike, et al...
I have two jobs now, one at Books-A-Million which is the third largest bookstore in the nation. It's based in Birmingham, Alabama which I think explains why we are oft confused with a Christian bookstore. My other job is at Lambda Rising, a bookstore that celebrates the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender, and Queer experience. Apparently, it's pretty famous. Who knew? I've also worked one day each at a restaurant near the Department of Labor and at a coffee shop in the Verizon Center. It's fairly easy to find unskilled work in this city.
I've met wonderful people in this city as well. To list them (in no special order):
Sean Boe
Joe Henchman
Tarshay Malloy
Erin Williams
Claire Morra
Keyonna Brooks
Mary Bridgette
David Maritz
Ms. Martin
Ms. Davis
Alexandria
AnacostiaGirl (I forgot her name)
Danielle
Brandy White
Darius
Dazzmon
J'Myle Koretz
Jane Campos
Kawan
Lai
Steven Krieger
Ms. Marable
Nicholas Kilstein
Nolan (the service dog)
OtherWill (I can't call him William, it's too creepy)
Tareka
Deanna Scutching
Selema
Tisa Tolbert
Jason Vanfossen
Some of these people have been friends and still are; others I new for only a brief time. As cliche as it sounds (and really, shame on me), I'll remember these folks forever, in some way, if only because I refuse to delete their numbers from my phone!
I hope to get this apartment in West Hyattsville soon, and then I'll be committed to another year in this city. We'll see how these next 365 days go...