Oh my God, is it cold.
I spent 80% of my waking hours here in DC sweating through multiple layers of fine linens, but the computer lab where I’m typing this has decided to do its part to defy nature and crank the A/C. it must be 62 degrees in here.
What’s worse is that this is the second time I’ve done this. These computers are not particularly stable. I’m in a DC public library, and it doesn’t seem like they dedicate a great deal of their (no doubt limited) funding to their computer maintenance. On the other hand, I’m using a Mac this time around, after the PC I tried using an hour ago crashed – the same PC that lost my blog post last week.
See: I don’t own a computer. If I did, my apartment doesn’t have internet. My work is kind of strict about what’s kosher to do during work hours – or at least, I’m strict. There’s a difference between listening to a YouTube video while typing a report during work and dedicating your mental faculties for an hour or two to an unrelated project. I actually just bought a computer online last week, before I typed up my now-nonexistent blog post. My old one broke, in stages, between January and March; I’ve been leeching off the public ever since. My relatively rich friends think I’m crazy, or lazy, for having gone so long without a personal laptop. I was fine. It’s nice, realizing that you can keep the $1400 that everyone expects you to spend. But Dell was having a sale, and AmEx gave my dad a deal, and so now I have a four year warrantee on a surprisingly powerful laptop (I like video games. They’re my #2 bourgeoisie indulgence, after Whole Foods) that will cover accidents. Quite the step up from my 2-year basic warrantee, considering that my old lappy died after 2.5 years.
The library is not close to my apartment. I’m living in Southeast DC, near the Nationals’ stadium, a block from the Navy Yard Metro (Green line) but not too far from the Capitol South metro (Blue line). This is all information that only matters if you know the DC area well. DC is divided up into quadrants: NW is where everything and anything that you’ve ever heard of is – all the universities, government buildings, interesting organizations, restaurants, nice places to live, etc; SW almost doesn’t exist because DC ends at the Potomac River s. NE is poor, with a few interesting hipster enclaves. SE is poor as hell, except where I live.
I don’t know what happened to the Capitol Riverfront area (the official name of my neighborhood – took me two weeks to figure it out), but its the most bizarre neighborhood I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing but jazzy, 15-story apartment complexes. A little bit south, the neighborhood gets a little rough. You can notice the public housing. My 13-story apartment complex (with a gym, movie theater, pool on the roof, in-building bar with pool tables!!!!!) is next to a little-shady McDonalds and a freeway. Six blocks to the north is the US Capitol. One block to the south is DC’s baseball stadium. Three blocks to the east is the Department of Transportation – like, all of it. But, holy crap, walking around there at night is the second scariest thing I’ve done lately. Not because it’s a particularly dangerous neighborhood around the old shipyards and foundries, not (just) because I’m in a wheelchair and feel vaguely defenseless in situations where by youth and spunk should give me undue confidence, but because there’s nobody there. If there’s nobody there, that must mean that the odd person I do run into is up to no good. There are so many cool old buildings around me that I would love to explore, but A) I can’t walk B) they’re boarded up C) the presence of so many security guards and cops, which are the reason why the neighborhood recently gentrified, tells me I should resist.
Basically, it’s up and coming. I imagine, 15 years ago, the Capitol Riverfront was ghetto. In another 15 years, it’ll be amazing. Last year, when I lived in DC (in NW), I went to the best art show of my life in the Riverfront area. I know there’s a farmer’s market every Thursday afternoon around here. There’s a ton of construction – that tells me progress. It strikes me as an alternative form of gentrification to the Logan Circle / P Street area, “the gay neighborhood.” From the few people in my apartment that I’ve talked to, I think the city planners are going more for families or people looking to start a family. I’m curious to see how it turns out.
So, that’s a reasonable exploration of where I’m living at present. What I’m doing, and who I’m doing it with? That might have to wait for my next visit to the library.
—
This is part 1 of a blog post I am writing for Middlebury in return for a sizeable chunk of funding for this summer.
This summer, I’ve really gotten into Tweeting – much easier to do without a computer. Follow me at twitter.com/teaandfury. I’m actually pretty proud of it. But I will get more into blogging. It will happen. I’ve done a ton of reading, and now I’m itching to produce something. Some of my urgency from 6 months ago has diminshed, though – between me dealing with things, me not wanting to blog about personal interactions with the people who would read my blog, and me being better able to talk to people on an individual basis.
So, I’m okay right now. I hope you’re doing well, too.
Much love,
Austin
