The article is about Harlem but I think some folks in our neighborhoods may be able to relate. The article starts:

“In the past few years, the “Village of Harlem,” as older residents still call it, has become a 21st-century laboratory for integration. Class and money and race are at the center of the changes in the neighborhood. Lured by stately century-old brownstones and relatively modest rents, new faces are moving in and making older residents feel that they are being pushed out. There have been protests, and anger directed as much at the idea of the newcomers as at them personally.

Through it all, the voices of those newcomers have often gone unheard, at least publicly. But to listen to them is to hear the story of a neighborhood in transition from a different perspective. For some, it is a daily struggle to fit in or an extra effort to develop a defense for the occasional flare-ups of anger they encounter. Others are charmed by Harlem’s quaint formalities and distinct sense of its history — qualities they say are missing in neighborhoods in the rest of the city.”

Read the full article here.

For more interesting reading from the Times there is also an interesting article about a guy who “spent the summer building an 80-square-foot “tiny house” out of free stuff he found on Craigslist”.


A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a pretty weak park.

So I was super happy to receive this press release:

The DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will begin installation of a new play surface in the center area of the Girard Street Park, located next to the Columbia Heights Community Center, 1480 Girard St, NW, on Monday, September 15, 2008.

DPR has worked with the local community during the planning process, and based upon this input, DPR will replace the existing natural grass play surface with a new multi-colored poured-in-place rubber play surface in the central open space of this park. The new rubber playing surface will better withstand the high use of this playground.

During the project, all work areas will be closed to the public, including the playground and seating areas. The basketball court and access to the nearby community garden will remain open, with access to both from Girard Street, NW.


Cool Hand Luke is one of my all time favorite movies. The photo above is from when Paul Newman is about to be beat to a pulp but refuses to stop fighting until the stronger opponent gives up. This will make sense in a moment.

So I encounter a sight unfortunately way too common. A car slows down and deliberately drops some garbage out of the window. Now previously I would just get really angry and let the hatred build. I don’t know what happened to me this time but I simply walked over, smiled, picked up the trash (plastic cups) and went on my way. I figure the only way to win is to be relentless and not let it show that it bothers you. I imagine it’s how Lukas Jackson would respond. I pledged to myself at that moment that I will react in exactly the same way when similar incidents arise. Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand…


I love that people still use the expression “gone fishing”. I’ll definitely have to check out this art studio when they return. Has anyone been to this studio at 1704 Florida Ave.?


“I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the most recent (for want of a better word) gentrification-related posts on PoP, and kicking some of the issues (which one of my friends calls DC’s “Clash Of Civilizations”) around with some e mail buddies.

Last night, I was reading an interview with former Montgomery County politician Doug Duncan in the new “Washingtonian.” He works at the U of Maryland these days. When discussing his frustrations with PG County, he used the phrase “culture of low expectations.”

I think that phrase describes a lot of what newer residents of this city are coming up against. Years and years of familial and/or governmental dysfunction create what I see as a kind of poverty of the spirit, as well as deep seated self hatred.

Also keep in mind that government and monuments notwithstanding, this is really a small Southern city to the core. Certain aspirations are considered uppity (going out of town for college, for instance). Hell, my barber was nearly apologizing to me because she is now working with a nutritionist and doing yoga…. She was whispering, as if she’d shot someone.. That is the DC a lot of people don’t know. But this kind of thinking contributes to the aforementioned ” clash.”

Can a black woman (my barber) do yoga and take care of herself and not be considered an outcast? Good question…

These sketchy reflections are, at best, opinions/observations. I am not a hater, as I have said on PoP. In fact, I’m one of the people with a fair amount of disposable income, no kids-etc. Custom made for the changes so many of your readers want.
Of course, I neither belong to the young’uns coming into the city, or the knuckleheads (who see me as a sell out-bitch, what have you) In fact, I am looking into jobs outside of DC. It’s time for some proverbial new music.

I cant say I love DC- my 50 years here notwithstanding-but I think that many of your readers ( and you) are a big part of this city’s future. I hope someone wants to stay and make it better. It is truly crippled now.

Like I said, I’m just thinking out loud. Sorry this is so dang long. Long as a delay on the Red Line.”

It always makes me profoundly sad when I hear about good people moving out of the city. What’s your reaction to the above?


A reader writes in a warning:

“So I thought you might let your readers know speed cameras seem to be popping up all over the city. I got a ticket from one on Park Place, somewhere between Princeton and Irving by the Old Soldier’s Home. Usually there is a sign but I either missed it or there isn’t one. I’m starting to suspect there are more in places I am not aware yet. Updated: So I just drove down Park Place and can’t find that camera. I’m wondering if it was a temporary thing or what but I definitely got a speeding ticket there from a camera. Maybe your readers know what is up.”

So anyone know if there are roving or permanent speeding cameras in this area?


In the almost two years of writing this blog I’ve only had a couple of frightening encounters. I wrote about the first time here. Well, in getting the material for this blog I generally walk between 10-15 miles over the weekends. During those walks I’ve pretty much gotten to “know” most of the corner boys along my usual routes. So I was stunned when in broad daylight I was accosted by some corner boys. It was in an area between Columbia Heights and Petworth but one that I’ve walked hundreds of times. So, I notice a house that I thought might make a “good deal or not?” post. I take out my note pad and write down the address. Simple enough. Well, apparently, a corner boy thought I was a narc or something because he comes flying over to me yelling “what are you writing!?! what do you got in that book!?!”. I’m happy to say I didn’t shit myself. I was surprisingly quite calm given that there were about 6 other corner boys a few steps behind the “leader” questioning me. Anyway, I calmly say, “you see that house over there for sale? I’m writing down the address so I can look it up when I go home.” The corner boy looks at the book that I’m holding and sees the address I had just written was indeed the address of a house for sale. Then the funniest thing in the world happened. He became nice as hell, no, he practically became a real estate agent. I guess once he realized I wasn’t a threat, he says “oh that’s a great house, you should check it out, go knock on the door…”. It was quite the change of tone I can assure you. I guess there is a lesson in here somewhere…


This park in Columbia Heights makes me very sad. For I’ll say it, it is sketchy. I wonder if it would be so sketchy if it had a beautiful lawn and was well cared for. I feel like this is something we should rally around. Let me know if you want me to start a campaign of some sort to improve the quality of this park. It is pretty beat, yeah?

Even the sign is ganked…


I thought this was the most unusual summer I’d ever experienced. We had a couple of weeks of pleasant weather and I wasn’t getting devoured by mosquitos. But it seems I celebrated a bit early. So this truck seemed really odd to me. It can’t be possible to remove mosquitos from only your yard, right? I mean would the mosquitos from next door respect that boundary? What are your mosquito solutions? Deet? Vitamin B-12? What other options are there?


So I was at the corner of Georgia and Florida when I hear music blasting out of a store on the corner. It’s all good. As I get closer I see an extremely drunk woman singing and dancing. It’s all good. As I get even closer I hear the song that is being played, “…play that funky music white boy…”. At this point the drunk woman sees me and starts pointing at me and laughing hysterically while saying “funky white boy, funky white boy, yeah, yeah”. Then I started laughing. So there was this crazy drunk lady, and a goofy white boy laughing hysterically at the corner of Georgia and Florida. We must’ve looked like quite the pair. Further proof that the beautiful life still exists.


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