New Year in (P)review
With the arrival of the New Year, I’ve taken a moment to think back over the blogs I’ve written between first wandering on the title, “La Ciudad Chocolat” (and I think I’ve misspelled “Chocolat”) and now, some fifty blogs later.
Ever lived somewhere for a LONG time? After a while, it all looks the same. Same ol’ Hechts on same ol’ F Street. Same McKinley High School I see from the Redline and think, that’s where my parents met. Same Sequoia’s on the waterfront. That was DC for me. Very boring…
Until DC got the call to star in “Extreme Makeover: Urban Edition.”
Suddenly, the city that I used to know really well, (and frankly, bored me) was no longer. The changes scared me on some level. I remember wondering/writing “Where do I fit in? Where do any of us natives fit in?”
I started this blog as a force to reconcile the boredom of “been there, done that” with the surprised “what’s this? a tanning salon on U. Street?” I thought I’d be pondering that emotional dichotomy for a while, writing post after post about the ubiquitous condo developments, exodus of black people, influx of white people, and reference to Anacostia as the new “Brooklyn.”
Those topics soon lost interest, as I can’t honk my car horn at EVERY development site. It makes me look as crazy as the guy wandering along Naylor Road selling sweat socks, and the sound gets lost in the cacophony of hammers and electric drills.
Thinking I still had to have something to write about, other changes (read: just happened, or Rhonda just heard about it) caught my pen’s attention. Like the scandal over young professional nightlife dating social activism (i.e. Stockholm and Grassrootz Tuesdays). The once-smoldering arts scene that’s now blazing (see review on Wayna, night at the Studio Theatre, night at Bar Nun, fundraiser for Duke Ellington). And a smattering of political happenings I contemplated while in Busboys and Poets, like the execution of Tookie Williams.
And all the while, I’ve met fabulous, funny, and weird people while writing about these events. I kinda like living here, again.
Here’s a toast to 06 and all the urban (mis)adventures to come along with it. I’ll be blogging about it in “La Ciudad con un poco chocolate.”
Ever lived somewhere for a LONG time? After a while, it all looks the same. Same ol’ Hechts on same ol’ F Street. Same McKinley High School I see from the Redline and think, that’s where my parents met. Same Sequoia’s on the waterfront. That was DC for me. Very boring…
Until DC got the call to star in “Extreme Makeover: Urban Edition.”
Suddenly, the city that I used to know really well, (and frankly, bored me) was no longer. The changes scared me on some level. I remember wondering/writing “Where do I fit in? Where do any of us natives fit in?”
I started this blog as a force to reconcile the boredom of “been there, done that” with the surprised “what’s this? a tanning salon on U. Street?” I thought I’d be pondering that emotional dichotomy for a while, writing post after post about the ubiquitous condo developments, exodus of black people, influx of white people, and reference to Anacostia as the new “Brooklyn.”
Those topics soon lost interest, as I can’t honk my car horn at EVERY development site. It makes me look as crazy as the guy wandering along Naylor Road selling sweat socks, and the sound gets lost in the cacophony of hammers and electric drills.
Thinking I still had to have something to write about, other changes (read: just happened, or Rhonda just heard about it) caught my pen’s attention. Like the scandal over young professional nightlife dating social activism (i.e. Stockholm and Grassrootz Tuesdays). The once-smoldering arts scene that’s now blazing (see review on Wayna, night at the Studio Theatre, night at Bar Nun, fundraiser for Duke Ellington). And a smattering of political happenings I contemplated while in Busboys and Poets, like the execution of Tookie Williams.
And all the while, I’ve met fabulous, funny, and weird people while writing about these events. I kinda like living here, again.
Here’s a toast to 06 and all the urban (mis)adventures to come along with it. I’ll be blogging about it in “La Ciudad con un poco chocolate.”
posted by Rhonda Henderson at 1:05 PM
2 Comments:
If it's white, well it must be right...thus, embrace all your new white neighbors...who cares if they don't introduce themselves and think they own the city...well I guess they kind of do...haha! No, change is always happening, man...it's a fact of life. A toast to kicking 06' in the junk and getting a big gangster with the year...if things don't go as planned I'm pulling out the gat and blasting...word!! See you in South America for the revolution!! Leave it to my people to make the change the MJ was talking about...oh, that was changing the man in the mirror...my bad.
here's to you. happy blogging.
oh, and by the by, to hell with the ofays. *grumble grumble*
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