Monday, November 17, 2008
Which way is up?
I was making fun of someone recently for calling DC "the south." She and I both know that for us yankees, it's the south, but for real southerners, it's pretty much "the north." Which brings me to Ian's Civil War. This just about broke my heart because I identify. I left DC two and a half years ago and moved towards home. I still think it was the right decision, but it wasn't easy. I grappled with a lot of the same reasons, actually, although in a somewhat different balance.
I do miss DC a lot more than I expected. The push/pull of the campus proper fades pretty fast after the first year out, but that year is just enough time to appreciate how much more there is to the city that you never experience in the hilltop bubble. It's a really great city, with a lot more there there than it really has any business having for a city so small. I don't just mean the stuff, I mean the people too. And especially this election season, I was jonesing for some hard-core policy wonks to get all heated about some bill or congressman or something over a pitcher of Magic Hat on a Friday night. That simply does not happen in New York. I've found myself watching a lot of West Wing reruns the last few weeks, just missing my own Josh Lymans and Sam Seaborns and Kate Harpers.
Like I said, moving to New York was the right decision, at least for the foreseeable future, but I didn't go to DC in the first place by accident, and I suspect that most of my classmates who were ultimately happy at Georgetown didn't either. And I know this might sound weird, but I miss the diversity of opinion and perspective. I miss the conservatives. In New York, if you meet a Republican at a party, they're always hiding it because they're so outnumbered. It is such a well-protected liberal bubble, you do start to lose perspective. New York has the diversity of the world, but DC is probably the only place anywhere with a real diversity of Americans.
I was really sad the other day when I caught myself calling it "Washington." I have been away too long.
I do miss DC a lot more than I expected. The push/pull of the campus proper fades pretty fast after the first year out, but that year is just enough time to appreciate how much more there is to the city that you never experience in the hilltop bubble. It's a really great city, with a lot more there there than it really has any business having for a city so small. I don't just mean the stuff, I mean the people too. And especially this election season, I was jonesing for some hard-core policy wonks to get all heated about some bill or congressman or something over a pitcher of Magic Hat on a Friday night. That simply does not happen in New York. I've found myself watching a lot of West Wing reruns the last few weeks, just missing my own Josh Lymans and Sam Seaborns and Kate Harpers.
Like I said, moving to New York was the right decision, at least for the foreseeable future, but I didn't go to DC in the first place by accident, and I suspect that most of my classmates who were ultimately happy at Georgetown didn't either. And I know this might sound weird, but I miss the diversity of opinion and perspective. I miss the conservatives. In New York, if you meet a Republican at a party, they're always hiding it because they're so outnumbered. It is such a well-protected liberal bubble, you do start to lose perspective. New York has the diversity of the world, but DC is probably the only place anywhere with a real diversity of Americans.
I was really sad the other day when I caught myself calling it "Washington." I have been away too long.
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Thanks for the comment, that inflated my ego to near-Zeppelin levels.
Yeah, it's a tough call, but mostly I think I'm just chicken.
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Yeah, it's a tough call, but mostly I think I'm just chicken.
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