- Catcalling: I don’t know what it is about DC, but I have never heard the kinds of things I hear daily on the streets here anywhere else. I’ve even been followed home on several occasions. I am definitely not going to miss that.
- It’s expensive: Everything’s expensive here compared to Austin. Groceries are expensive, rent’s CRAZY expensive, restaurants are expensive, bars are ridiculously expensive…the list goes on and on.
- It’s dangerous: I apparently lived here in a safe year when it comes to violent crime and I live in a great neighborhood, but DC still has a LOT more violent crime than I’m used to.
- It gets cold: I don’t like winter. I’d not really had much experience with it before I lived here, which is why I was kind of excited about being able to wear heavy coats and scarves and such. I take it all back. Winter sucks. Period. I’ll take day after day of 100+ temperatures over having to wearing a jacket in May.
- There’s not enough good tequila in bars here. Jose Cuervo Gold is NOT TEQUILA.
- Escalefters: There is nothing more maddening than watching your train pull into the station and leave while you languish behind someone standing on the left of the escalator. STAND RIGHT WALK LEFT. What’s so hard about that? And, if someone says excuse me, MOVE! It’s so much worse than road rage. I almost lost my mind going down the Woodley Park escalator stuck behind a dude with a double stroller. DO NOT BLOCK THE ENTIRE ESCALATOR. Ever. Why? Because you’re not special. There’s something called an ELEVATOR for you folks with the double strollers AND it’s a lot safer.
- Having to go to Georgetown: The university itself is great, but it’s in a metro service black hole. Plus, the snooty people in the neighborhood were trying to mess with the route of the shuttle I took because the buses were too loud for their tastes. The university was there before you were. Get over it.
- The hours: DC is a pretty big city, so I don’t understand why everything closes so infernally early. It’s obnoxious. WMATA’s included in this. I don’t get out of school until 10 pm which rendered me entirely nocturnal for much of my stay here, so it was a total pain that everything closed so early.
- Tourists: I don’t know how to explain without sounding like a jerk, so I’m just going to leave it at that. But you’d feel the same way if you lived where I do. Promise.
- 18th Street: The clientele is loud, obnoxious and they puke EVERYWHERE.
August 10, 2009
DC-The Cons
August 6, 2009
Leaving DC-A Few of My Favorite Things Edition
Well, It’s been real and it’s been fun. It’s been real fun most of them time too, but I’m moving back to Austin in a week and a half; almost a year to the day after I got here. There’s a thousand reasons why I’m not staying, but the biggest one is that DC isn’t home. That, and it’s expensive as hell. There’s a lot to love about this town, and here’s some of the things I love the most.
I’m Going to Miss:
- Mi Tierra market on the weekends: God, I love this place. I go at least once a weekend to get my favorite drink, melon agua fresca, from one particular lady. It’s so sweet and when you’re done with the juice you can stick a spoon in your cup and scoop all of the melon bits out of the bottom of your cup. I also am going to miss the little old lady who missed her calling as a used car salesman. She slashes prices on her tamales and elote until I can’t help but walk away with a shopping back full of her wares.
- Not driving: Say what you will about WMATA, and I’ve said plenty, but it’s more than we got in Austin and I love being able to get around without driving.
- My friends in “the program”: Everybody in the MPS Journalism program at Georgetown that I attend calls it “the program” and I love it because it sounds like we’re all in some kind of cult. I guess it’s not that far from the truth because I feel like we’re a pretty close bunch. I’m going to miss everybody I’ve sat through class with.
- Brunch with Mustang: There were two distinct periods for me here during my stay: Pre-Jessica and Post-Jessica. She was my partner in crime and we really tore it up. Couldn’t ask for a better friend and she was always available for bloody marys on the weekend when I needed that hair of the dog the most.
- The Smithsonians: they are truly amazing museums and they’re all free, including the zoo!
- Nighttime at the monuments: If standing on the edge of the Lincoln Memorial and looking out over the National Mall to the Capitol building at night doesn’t get you, then there’s something wrong with you. The Jefferson’s probably my favorite, though. I love how it’s surrounded by water.
- Walking down 19th street: I love all the houses and it’s a shady way to walk almost the entire way from my place to the GUTS bus at 20th and Massachusetts.
- Adam Express: I’ve never been to Korea, but this is the best bibimbap I’ve ever had and the kimchi is to die for. Plus, the couple that runs the joint is adorable and they’re always happy to see you.
- Roasted onions with pine nuts and blue cheese at Jaleo: Never thought onion could be that delicious, but the way it’s cooked makes the onion sweet and almost jelly-like. Doesn’t sound good, but it’s one of the best things I’ve put in my mouth EVER.
- Krav Maga DC: I had such a great time learning there and getting my ass kicked. I’m definitely joining in Austin when I get back.
- The fruit vendors in my neighborhood: These ladies got me HOOKED on mango, pineapple or watermelon with Valentina chile sauce, salt and lime. I’m a woman possessed. I can’t walk past one of those ladies without buying some. Watermelon’s my fave, but I enjoy all of the varieties.
- The shaved ice guy at 17th and Columbia Rd: He HAND SHAVES his ice. He’s doing God’s work over there and he always has one or two of his kids with him handling the money. He makes a MEAN spicy sno cone. I think my favorite is tamarind with chile sauce and an entire fresh squeezed lime.
- Malcolm X/Meridien Hill Park on Sundays: Every Sunday a bunch of people gather in park and play drums together while others dance and lounge around. It’s a real community event and I love going to people watch. The drum circles in Austin just can’t hang because these guys actually know how to drum and they follow a leader that sets the tone. It doesn’t sound like a bunch of smelly hippies “feeling the music.” It sounds like actual music.
The Capitol building: It’s really just a stunning building. There’s something about driving (or sitting in the passenger seat) down North Capitol and seeing it at the end of the road. It’s one of those things that never gets old. T
Chief Ike’s Mambo Room: Ya know, I hate on this place too, but it’s really not a bad bar at all if you know when to go. I am the first to admit that it can be a nightmare on the weekends, but if you go on a quiet weeknight or during the day (not during football season) on the weekends, it’s a nice neighborhood bar. They got Natty Boh for hella cheap and I ain’t mad at that. There’s a dog that hangs out there too, which is always a good sign in a bar. Plus, it’s the site of one of the most memorable first impressions anybody’s made on me in years. Yeah, Robyn happened there one night and it was EPIC. I also paid an obnoxious guy to go away that night, if I remember correctly, or rather I paid a cab driver to take said dude away from me with great haste.- Free events at the National Mall: I saw Taj Mahal play while laying in the grass under the Washington Monument. I saw “On the Waterfront” while laying on a blanket with an over-sized pillow drinking 2 Buck Chuck with friends. There’s a lot to do in DC and I tried to take advantage of as much of it as possible. Many good times were had by all.
- Walking down U Street on the weekends on the way to 9:30 Club: I live close to 18th St., but I don’t ever go there. It smells like vomit and it seems like there’s always something shady going on. I head to U St. instead for drunken people watching. It’s like a classier version of 6th St. in Austin.
- 9:30 Club: Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World, sure, but I’m gonna miss this venue. It’s what I wish Emo’s was. It’s big enough for large shows, it’s inside, it’s got a great bar, food and even a coffee bar and most of all, I don’t have the uncontrollable urge to get a tetanus shot when I use the restroom. I saw some great shows here too: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears and Questlove all threw it down and made me dance until I didn’t smell appropriate for company.
- The Daily Telegraph Washington Bureau: I really got to experience the craziness of the 2008 Presidential Election in a helluva way due to my internship there. They treated me so well there and they took me to National Press Club events and fed me nicer meals than I’ve had in years.
- Sticky Rice: Some of the best sushi I’ve ever had and I had a couple of great nights that began drinking sake there. Also, just general big ups to the H Street Corridor. It’s a fun place to be.
- Marion Barry: Teflon oughtta do some research on what this man’s made of, because DC’s mayor-for-life is so slippery that nothing can stick to him. “Bitch set me up!” Uh huh, that’s right Mr. Barry. And he keeps on getting reelected, bless him.
July 16, 2009
Sotomayor Hearings- Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Edition
I am going to be en route to the Lone Star State manana at the crack of dawn, so I had a ton of errands to run today. I did, however, get a chance to catch some choice moments in the Sotomayor hearings that I’d like to share with the class.
Imagine this 'stache, but with an accompanying goatee.
Peter Kirsanow definitely wins the award for the most in-charge facial hair at the hearings.
He is a commissioner at the US Commission for Civil Rights and he was part of the panel that addressed and took question during the hearings today. This panel also included two firefighters from the Ricci case, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, several lobbyists and other people who knew Sotomayor previously in her career.
Kirsanow should holla at me for the golden mustache. Facial hair grooming is dying amongst the men of my generation. I implore my peers to get themselves some flair. This hipster, quasi-mountain man BS y’all have been peddling is played out, for real.
The award for lamest opening goes to Linda Chavez of the Center for Equal Opportunity.
“I testify today not as a wise Latina woman but an American who believes that skin color and national origin should not determine who gets a job, a promotion or a public contract or who gets into college or receives a fellowship.” link
I think that, for the most part, Chavez did a fantastic job expressing her points and beliefs, but this opener made me groan. Chavez can get with me if she’s interested in the Cheap Line award I’ve got for her.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had an interesting exchange with Chavez, who is vehemently opposed to Sotomayor being confirmed. Chavez was using the GOP’s arguments, but doing a much better job at not sounding like a six-year-old parroting, and sometimes butchering, Uncle Rush’s talking points. When Chavez talked about the wise Latina comment, she echoed Graham’s assertion that he could never have said something like that and gotten away with it. He fired back with, “As the white guy who said that…” and proceeded to kinda sorta defend Sotomayor.
But, Graham even managed to fail at sounding empathetic. He told Ben Vargas, one of the men who sued the City of New Haven in the Ricci case, that he should understand the inclination toward the policy that kept him from a promotion he earned because a generation ago, his last name would have precluded him from being in contention to be a firefighter at all.
So, let me get this straight. Vargas should be understanding because he would have been screwed a generation ago, and now that he’s worked his way to being in contention for a PROMOTION in the fire department, he should be understanding that there’s a reason he’s being DOUBLE screwed in the name of progress?
I certainly hope not everyone accepts Senator Graham as an example of “average, every-day white guy”s. I know many white dudes who would shudder at being placed in his company. Senator Graham, call me. I’ve got your brass cojones for you if you want them.
July 15, 2009
VIP-Lindsey Graham
I’ve been watching Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination hearings, have you? I hope you have better things to do with your time. I watch them so you don’t have to.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) has become the star of these proceedings due to his determination to be as quotable as possible. He told Sotomayor a couple of days ago that she would be confirmed, barring a complete “meltdown.” Now, a couple of people have said that that remark was sexist, that he would have never said that to a man. OK, maybe they’re right, but aren’t we ignoring the greater issue here? What is the point of having these hearings if the only way that someone doesn’t get the job is if there is wailing and gnashing of teeth?
Graham had another quotable moment yesterday. The blogosphere is falling all over itself to congratulate him, and I’ll give it to him, he did sound pretty damned snappy.
“GRAHAM: Well, I don’t know how else you could take that. If Lindsey Graham said that I will make a better senator than X, because of my experience as a Caucasian male makes me better able to represent the people of South Carolina, and my opponent was a minority, it would make national news, and it should.
Having said that, I am not going to judge you by that one statement. I just hope you’ll appreciate the world in which we live in, that you can say those things, meaning to inspire somebody, and still have a chance to get on the Supreme Court.
Others could not remotely come close to that statement and survive. Whether that’s right or wrong, I think that’s a fact.
GRAHAM: Does that make sense to you?
SOTOMAYOR: It does. And I would hope that we’ve come in America to the place where we can look at a statement that could be misunderstood, and consider it in the context of the person’s life.
(CROSSTALK)
GRAHAM: You know what? If that comes of this hearing, the hearing has been worth it all, that some people deserve a second chance when they misspeak and you would look at the entire life story to determine whether this is an aberration or just a reflection of your real soul. If that comes from this hearing, then we’ve probably done the country some good.” link
Tell ‘em what your name is, Senator Graham. But, does he deserve any snaps for his performance? I say NAY! He already said he’d vote for her barring a meltdown. What say YOU?
July 9, 2009
BAD BLOGGER
I had an out of town guest for the holiday weekend and I’ve been neglecting this blog. Sorry. But, I had a fabulous weekend, in case you care.
I’m moving back to the great state of Texas soon. I like DC a lot, but it’s expensive to live here and they have winter. I’m not a big fan of winter. There’s also the whole “girl out of Texas” conundrum. Also, Texas is better than California. I always knew that, but having evidence is always fun.
July 2, 2009
Daily Quarrel-Robert Gibbs v. Helen Thomas
Being the press secretary for the POTUS is not an easy job, especially when Grande Dame Helen Thomas has you in her crosshairs. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Thomas had a bit of a smackdown the other day over the town hall meeting on healthcare. Thomas and the rest of the press corps were asking questions about whether or not President Barack Obama got easy, pre-approved questions, which Gibbs denied. Thomas is a feisty broad, but Gibbs has got some fire in his britches as well. Who won? You be the judge.
Here’s the exchange:
July 1, 2009
Daily Quarrel-Infighting Edition
The GOP really loves Sarah Palin, except when it doesn’t. Vanity Fair just published an article by Todd S. Purdum about her that has the pundits all riled up. So, we’re back to where we were just after the election, which means we’re getting all sorts of juicy anonymous info from behind the scenes of the McCain-Palin camp.
Here we go!
Here’s the Vanity Fair piece that got the whole hullabaloo started.
William Kristol, Palin’s number one fan, immediately called out several parts of the article. One thing that Kristol takes issue with is that Purdum wrote that several people had reported Palin as having “extravagant self-regard” without him asking them about her attitude.
“Is there any real chance that ’several’ Alaskans independently told Purdum that they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? I don’t believe it for a moment. I’ve (for better or worse) moved in pretty well-educated circles in my life, and I’ve gone decades without ’several’ people telling me they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.” link
Kristol also took the opportunity to point a finger at Steve Schmidt, a top aide on the McCain-Palin team, as being one of the anonymous sources cited in the article.
Jonathan Martin wrote a great piece for Politico about the tiff and got Schmidt’s response to Kristol’s allegations. They are truly scathing.
“Asked about the accusation, Schmidt fired back in an e-mail: ‘I’m sure John McCain would be president today if only Bill Kristol had been in charge of the campaign.’
‘After all, his management of [former Vice President] Dan Quayle’s public image as his chief of staff is still something that takes your breath away,’ Schmidt continued. “His attack on me is categorically false.’” link
Martin also wrote in the same piece that Randy Scheunemann, an adviser to McCain who also happens to be quite close to Kristol, also accused Schmidt of the leak in an equally inflammatory way.
“Steve Schmidt has a congenital aversion to the truth,” Scheunemann said. “On two separate and distinct occasions, he speculated about about Governor Palin having post-partum depression, and on the second he threatened that if more negative publicity about the handling of Governor Palin emerged that he would leak his speculation [about post-partum depression] to the press.” link
Mark Hemingway at the National Review wrote an exhaustive analysis into who might have leaked the information. It’s definitely an entertaining read. It’s got email transcripts and everything.
This Mother Jones piece calls Sarah Palin “the gift that keeps on giving,” and the last line of the story is snark at it’s lowest common denomenator.
“There’s only one proper response to this: Palin/Sanford 2012! Drill baby drill!” link
And just to make the whole thing even more ridiculous, a blog called RedState has issued a political hit on the staffers that leaked to Vanity Fair. It looks like somebody’s been watching too many mob movies. I knew this one was going to be good when I saw the title, “A friendly suggestion to former McCain campaign staffers: You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.” LMBO
“If you are a McCain staffer who did not talk to VF, I suggest that you find some way to demonstrate that you aren’t one of the people in the first paragraph. Because until we know who talked, the default assumption is going to be that you may have talked. This will not wreck your career, but it will blight it if the base has anything to say about it. On the bright side, a simple and declarative denial will do; of course, if your denial is a lie and we catch you at it, brush up on your typing skills.” link
Good work everyone.
Aren’t we in the middle of health care reform and cap-and-trade stuff that the GOP claims will hurtle us full-tilt toward socialism/bring the country to its knees?
June 30, 2009
Daily Quarrel- Ricci Edition
Yesterday the Supreme Court overturned the Ricci case 5-4, which is one that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ruled on while sitting on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ricci case has been a hot topic since her nomination, and if you’re not familiar with it, you should read this.
SO. Now that we’re all up to speed, here’s what’s been swirling in that thing all the cool kids like to call the blogosphere. I also put a coupla “traditional” news sources in there for good measure.
OK. This blog was posted by Tom Goldstein on the Plank at The New Republic. This one’s really worth a read because the guy obsessively follows the SCOTUS, he’s argued in front of it more than 20 times and he is the founder of SCOTUSblog. The title alone tells you why this is a juicy must-read. The post is called, “What Ricci Says About The Court’s View Of Sotomayor.”
Mark Thompson at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen thinks that the decision disproves the notion that the court is pro-business and pro-government because…
“The effects of this decision are going to be to increase, rather than decrease, litigation against employers, while also making it harder for employers to comply with anti-discrimination laws.” link
Freddie, another one of the Ordinary Gentlemen, is afraid of what this will do for advancing minorities in our culture.
“But my question is open, and I apply it to the most thoughtful opponents of affirmative action and the most rabid and unthinking alike: what are the effects, for our country, of a permanent racial achievement divide? And can we reasonably expect to maintain a peaceful and just society with such a gap between the races?” link
This article at Slate is a thoughtful, if a bit long, look at race in the United States and puts the Ricci case in historical perspective. It’s part of a five part series. I recommend it.
The Editors at the National Review wrote a piece that argued that the SCOTUS was unanimous on one point, even though the vote was close.
“The only consensus the nine justices found was that the handling of case by Sotomayor’s three-judge appeals-court panel was shoddy. Even the four dissenting justices agreed that the Second Circuit applied the wrong legal standard.” link
Linda Greenhouse wrote an op-ed for the New York Times that delves into both the majority and minority decisions. I recommend it if you’re interested in the legal aspect of the whole issue, as opposed to solely Ricci’s impact on Sotomayor.
June 29, 2009
Daily Quarrel- Climate Change Edition
The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday that aims to combat climate change. The word “landmark” has been thrown around a lot regarding this thing, but it’s still gotta make it outta the Senate alive. The GOP is promising that it will do their best to kill it there. The fight isn’t going to stay on the hill, though.
Paul Krugman wrote a column called “Betraying the Planet” that has gotten quite a response from the internet community.
He got Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard all riled up because said that denying climate change was treasonous.
Here is the passage that Goldfarb took issue with:
“Still, is it fair to call climate denial a form of treason? Isn’t it politics as usual?
Yes, it is — and that’s why it’s unforgivable.
Do you remember the days when Bush administration officials claimed that terrorism posed an “existential threat” to America, a threat in whose face normal rules no longer applied? That was hyperbole — but the existential threat from climate change is all too real.
Yet the deniers are choosing, willfully, to ignore that threat, placing future generations of Americans in grave danger, simply because it’s in their political interest to pretend that there’s nothing to worry about. If that’s not betrayal, I don’t know what is.” link
Goldfarb argued that of all the scientists he’s talked to about the threat of global warming not ONE of them said that the threat was existential. He also quoted one who said some wishy washy stuff, but the gem is his ending.
“Instead, relying on his own authority as a Nobel prize-winning economist, Krugman offers a vision of global warming as worse than nuclear winter — as if humanity hasn’t survived and prospered through repeated climate fluctuations. Krugman claims he knows how it’s all going to pan out — and that anyone who disagrees with him is a traitor to planet earth.
I’d bet my pitiful life savings that my carbon footprint isn’t one-tenth of Krugman’s, but if he wants to call me a traitor to planet earth, fine. Just don’t question my patriotism.” link
E.D. Kain of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen also took issue with Krugman’s calling people treasonous. He thinks that the cap-and-trade system is the wrong way to address climate change and compares it to indulgences in Catholicism.
“Like cap and trade itself, the passage of Waxman-Markey is an example of legislation as indulgence. Carbon credits, like papal indulgences, don’t actually limit carbon emissions anymore than indulgences sped one’s soul to heaven. Perhaps in theory they do, but in reality the concessions to industry are always too great, the compromises entrenching industry status quo and crowding out innovators and alternative energy start-ups.” link
John Cole at Balloon Juice is cheesed about Krugman’s linguistical choice. It was the quote of the afternoon over at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen.
“There needs to be some form of one of the corollaries to Godwin’s Law that applies to the word treason, in that anyone who accuses someone of treason for non-treasonous behavior automatically loses the argument. Yes, the climate change deniers are, in my opinion, wrong, and yes, they are making all sorts of ridiculous arguments, but after the last eight years, can everyone just knock it off with the accusations of treason?” link
Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution thinks that the bill doesn’t do enough to address the problem. Nay! He says that he thinks that the bill, as it stands, woul be counterproductive “once the international scale of the problem is taken into account.” link
Free Exchange, the blog of the Economist, seems to think that these tariffs might be a strategy to get crackin’ on an international agreement.
“My impression is that Mr Obama is anxious to do something about climate change, yet realises that America can’t halt the process of warming by itself; it must have agreement on emission reductions from basically all of the world’s large economies. So perhaps the very imperfect Waxman-Markey bill is best seen as a means to push forward a global agreement on emissions.” link
Other stuff…
Here’s a great post at The Swamp that talks about Obama’s reservations about the tariffs proposed in the House version of the climate change bill and a good sweeping view of the other reactions on the hill.
Here’s the transcript of an interview that Obama did with a pool of reporters along with Carol Browner, assistant to the president on energy and climate change and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
June 25, 2009
Daily Quarrel-He made thriller edition…
Michael Jackson is dead. I can’t say I’m shocked, but I definitely thought the guy had a couple more years to give. The DQ today is going to be a little different. Today I’m just going to talk a little bit about what happens on the web when something “important” happens.
I first saw that Michael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital on Twitter. Most of the media sites I checked had updated and had a breaking section that showed that he had been hospitalized. The discrepancies started when several more gossipy sites started reporting that he was dead. So far as I can tell, several websites jumped the gun on reporting Jackson’s death by more than 30 minutes.
In the crazy news cycle that we live in on the web, is there anything to gain by holding back until something has been confirmed? Can we afford to be sure? As a journalist it makes me hella uncomfortable to even consider putting information out there that hasn’t been affirmed in some way. As I sat with some fellow students at school today, we were comparing which sites had gone with the story that MJ had died and which ones were holding off. I tend to value a news source taking that extra couple of minutes to make sure, but I am not under the erroneous impression that I am an average consumer.
What do y’all think about the way that Michael Jackson’s death was reported?
I’ll leave you with some of my favorite Michael Jackson videos. RIP MJ. Thanks for the tunes and the dance parties you’ve inspired.
Thriller
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
Beat It
The Way You Make Me Feel
Smooth Criminal
Black or White
All videos are from Michael Jackson’s official YouTube page.
