Fourth of July
In exactly four months, Americans across the country will head to the polls to elect the 44th President of the United States.
But today, from the shores of the Atlantic, across the Great Plains of the Midwest, through the deserts of the Southwest to the sandy beaches of the Pacific coast, we celebrate everything that is right with America. Tomorrow, we get back to work so come this November, we will change it for the better.
Happy Fourth of July from our nation’s Capital.
U Street
The previous post discussed the last D.C. neighborhood that I lived in. Check out photos from the neighborhood that I currently live in: U Street.
Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights has a new neighbor:
I also believe the attenuated period of adjustment has something to do with my new neighborhood, Columbia Heights. It’s charming and colorful, and just dirty enough to be interesting. The mix of people reminds me of Hyde Park and Humboldt Park, two neighborhoods I’m very familiar with in Chicago, while the look and feel reminds me of Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn: brightly painted rowhouses with front yards, some meticulously manicured, others overgrown with weeds. And with awesome burritos right down the street, I’m home.
Columbia Heights is also undergoing gentrification/urban renewal/whatever. Bling to the west; blight to the east. All of the expected big box names — Target; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Staples; Starbucks; Marshalls — lumped into a shiny boring complex. My housemate tells me it opened only two months ago.
The Columbia Heights neighborhood was my first home in D.C. It was a spacious house just north of the 13th and Harvard intersection until rent was to be raised. The massive restoration on 14th Street was cited as a major factor in the rising rent. So there you have it: I was gentrified out of Columbia Heights.
Apparently I was not the only one:
Overheard today from one of the hosts of a yard sale, who was explaining to a customer that the Columbia Heights group house holding the sale was being forced to move because the property had been sold: “we’re being gentrified out of the neighborhood we were gentrifying.”
Just days after leaving the neighborhood, there was a terrible shooting outside the Columbia Heights Metro around the time I would be coming home from work.
Massive Power Outage in D.C.
DCist reports that over 10,000 customers are without power and you’re reading the blog of one of them.
If you’re reading this right now, you’re one of the lucky people in D.C. with electricity right now. A power outage at a Pepco substation on 10th Street NW has cut electricity to about 10,000 customers in the middle of the city, and at several Metro stations near downtown. Power is currently out at the Duport Circle, Shaw, Farragut North, Farragut West and McPherson Square stations. Trains are still moving at those stations, but the lack of electricity means that only emergency lights are on there, plus fare card machines, elevators and escalators are not working.
A minor fire broke out at Metro Station, causing major delays on the Red Line. June has not been a good month for the Metro.
Updated 06/13/08 at 12:10pm: Read more from the Washington Post.
Peace for All Time
Eight months after the United States and Soviet Union were brought to the brink of nuclear war, President John F. Kennedy spoke about world peace in the Commencement Address at the American University in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 1963.
So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable — and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly — by making it seem more manageable and less remote — we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.
Orange Line Train Derails in Virginia
Earlier today, a Metro train on the Orange Line derailed between the Rosslyn and Courthouse stations, causing delays for riders headed to Virginia. DCist notes that Orange Line riders “are really having a bad time of it lately” citing last week’s storm that affected Orange Line passengers.
Earth Day on the National Mall
Sunday on the National Mall, the Green Apple Festival and the Earth Day Network are joining together to present “Earth Day on the National Mall.”
I’ll be there with friends. Check out the list of performers and speakers. I’m excited to see a few of them — The Roots, Ne-Yo, will.i.am, Talib Kweli, Edward Norton, future Congresswoman Donna Edwards, Hip Hop Caucus President Reverend Yearwood.
-
Beijing 2008
USA! USA! USA!
Medal Tracker -