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Hey, you can button your lip....My post clearly stated it had been my experience to offer input towards! I managed and promoted in many establishments in the city! Therefor I am VERY aware of the 35 and under crowd of the city. You do not need to knock my observations of that particular city, that is what the post and forum is for....OPINION! Read whatever EXTRA you want into my post, if I had intended something more raunchy to say, I would have!.......
On the other hand the office environment was cold, boring and rude and dont get me started on the "fashion"...and YES that matters to some people who are reading through a variety of opinions!
Lourdea , you are so right on!....Your observation is exactly what alot of people think of the city...but the comment after your will show you the main idea of DC....to attack a label people racist who point out actual racist! It's amazing it's like the plastic idea of what's poiltically correct and dirty politics even rubbed off on the population! DC is the worst ghetto racist black city for a white american, who is not just trying to be shut away in their cubicle. Then again Baltimore is dirtier, so hey!...they have one positive quality compared to the sister city!
Lourdea I know what you are talking about and the reaction your comment made is another sympton how dreadful this place can be. Intolerant of differences masked by I-pod wearing, flip-flop flapping, shorts attired in 45 degree weather phony "coolness".
Well, I am a 24 yr old single female....I lived in DC for 4 years and have been involved in the nightlife and professional office environment of the city! The following is my experiences I had while living there and working in all areas of the city! I noticed (mainly) 3 groups of people that exist there! 1) Angry racist black Americans 2) boring cloned unhappy professional white people 3) trust fund baby islamic middle easterns
AGAIN! (not everyone, but in my opinion a largeeee majority fit one of these 3)
The nightlife consists of these three groups and I would say that the boring professinal whites hang out in Georgetown, the ghetto racist blacks hang out at various events within the city and do NOT expected to be treated nice when you go inside! (issues) or you can go to trance/house clubs that are run and organized/promoted by middle eastern embassy kids who do 'blow' --------Not the greatest place for a white female to feel at 'home' at times!!! I can not tell you how many times I dealt with reverse racism in that city!, it was horiffic!
As far as the professinal world, well.........do NOT expect 'Hello' in the elevator, do not expect work to be a warm environment.......But if you have brains and have hammered away at an education that sounds pretty on a piece of paper...You probably will make great money! -
AGAIN my blunt oinion of seeing every social angle of the city in 4 years ---
BUT if you gotta live there I would say Northern VA is the only place to consider! It's clean, young professional and seems a little happier than the rest of the metro area!
Sounds like you are just tired of the nightlife and being single and are ready to move to the suburbs and maybe start a family? Nothing wrong with that. But what you are saying about DCs night life is true for every major city known for decent night life (LA, Miami, NYC, Vegas). Travel there, go out and see for yourself. People gravitating towards their own kind, 'trust fund baby' foreigners in the VIP rooms of the clubs, people doing drugs in the bathroom, etc etc etc.
What I don't understand is why you think that NOVA will offer anything different than the same 'boring cloned unhappy professional white people'. The people partying in Georgetown are the same people who later move to the suburbs and comprise that "clean, young professional" population you are raving about. Besides aren't they the same people who come to Georgetown to party anyway?
I've been going out in DC in my late 20s and I agree that's it's easy to come up with such stereotypes you are listing, but they are just it - stereotypes. I am not going to say what you are writing about doesn't take place in DC, it does, but not the extent to which you are describing. I've seen lots of white professionals, and African Americans, and Latin people crowding the very techno nightclubs run by "trust fund baby islamic middle easterns".
Yes, there are many rich foreigners in DC because of its unique political stance. I don't think they can be just lumped into the "islamic middle easterners" category. This is such a gross stereotype. Many middle easterners are of different religions as well as many people who look middle eastern to you may be from somewhere else. I also don't agree with "ghetto racist blacks" comment. I've personally attended a special event sponsored by some Howard University students and was the only white person there, but I didn't feel any resentment or anger towards me from anyone there. What I saw was a lot of young well educated and very polite people, quite the opposite of what you are saying.
so im not here to praise dc or bash just to give my own opinion as a teen since most people posting here are part of the older age group well my age ranged is in the 18 y.olds and let me tell u that dc is NOT the place where u get "warm smiles" from strangers and doors held open for you. i live about 15-20 min drive away from DC (silver spring area here, maybe 5-10min to dc on metro) and i go there for different reasons could be part time job, hang out, or more recently i go to the washington wizards game alot. most people who posted here got the right idea about dc. everyone minds their own, the people here are mostly here for business and its pretty expensive to live here. one thing i did not see in this topic was how the city is divided up into 4 "quadrants", for lack of better word. this would be North East, North West, South East, South West (NE, NW, SE, SW respectively). there really is no one description of dc as it is pretty much diverse culturally and ethnically but in general, SE and NE is more or less the "dangerous" part of the city and SW is more business being closer to NOVA. NW is a bit of a mix. for example, u ride in the redline shady grove to glenmont, it goes from past NW through the center of DC up to NE. a full ride in red line u will see the majority of the first half of stops from shady grove to metro center is caucasian. then for the other half up to glenmont will be predominantly black. point is u have a very mixed crowd in this city and u will often see a lot of homeless people towards the east side of dc than the west. personally i dont think this city is much to be compared among san fran or boston because really its more urban than "fun" as its mostly the higher earning people that come here and post have the money to go out ant party here but overlook the poverty here also. "even the mayor had a running with crack" but the people kept it real and they voted him back (get it?) it shows who the real dc people are not the person who came here on a business trip and giving there rating on it. there will always be hustlers selling fake franchise items and tickets outside the verizon center to the white crowd and yell "YOOO" as soon as the police come up here its either u come here to get paid being a hot shot or ur stuck here and cant make enough to pay your bills really no in between.
I moved to DC just out of college and hated it right off the bat. It's incredibly expensive, takes forever to get anywhere, and the people are rude. I never saw so much corporate backstabbing in my life. I didn't enjoy the hour it took me to go 5 miles to work. I didn't feel safe at my very expensive apartment complex considering there was both a mugging and murder in my parking lot that were never solved. My dog also appreciated the square of grass we called her bathroom and I appreciated the ticket I got at the dog park because I didn't have a license for her. And I don't want to stereotype, so please do not attack me for that - But I would have killed to be able to order my food from someone who could speak my language, especially considering we're in America.
Let's just say DC isn't for everyone, and it wasn't for me, which is why I left. My boyfriend on the other hand stayed because he loved the politics (political science major, the reason we moved there). He is now my ex and from what I hear is living happily still single in DC 5 years later. So to the person who said that DC isn't a good place for couples - Yep, You got that right!!
I live downtown with my wife, our golden retriever, and our four month old son. My wife went to college here, but I had only visited the city for a couple of days when we moved here two and a half years ago. It may not be for everybody, but I love it.
Everything is in walking distance or a short ride on the Metro. The bars and restaurants are incredible and diverse - and you don't have to worry about getting behind the wheel to get home. My neighbors are black, hispanic, and homosexual. Where else can a white couple from the midwest find that kind of diversity? We've met plenty of people - most of them are dog owners that we met when we were out walking our dog.
Sometimes I wish that we had a bigger place with a yard, then I think about all of the time I'd spend mowing the yard and dusting the house - I'll take our two bedroom condo and enjoy spending that time going to the museums that are a 15 minute walk away.
It is what you make of it. If what you really value is a huge house with a huge yard, then deal with a ridiculus commute into the city or move to middle America. I can't imagine all of these people that "hate" the city are really stuck here.
The following are simply my personal observations on this discussion:
I've found white people who vitrolically deride "cloned unhappy professional white people" yet recommend Northern VA as the best place to live are typically in a youthful denial of their own inner clone. I used to be the same way, until I realized the people I thought were the most "original" only looked that way on the outside and the truly original and interesting ones looked like unhappy clones.
I think anybody who works in the "nightlife" industry in any major city is bound to become consumed by the types of people Lourdea described. The nightlife industry draws douchebags who see life's greatest aspiration as being on the building side of a velvet rope with other douchebags who, I have found, are not impressive or interesting enough to warrant any sort of contrived privilege - and I have been behind some of the most VIP of VIP velvet ropes.
I find it humorous that when someone makes a naive comment about the religious background of Middle Easterners, anyone who corrects that comment is labeled as too politically correct. Maybe, just maybe, the corrector is simply correct.
Maybe if white people would understand the root anger of young black men, we all might move beyond being shocked by a reverend condemning a country that hardly acknowledged his existence as a human when he was young.
I find people who have "five hour" commutes are not living in or adjacent to DC and are not qualified to comment on how horrible they think the city is. Their lifestyle choices created a horrible living situation, not the city itself. I've always found it pleasant to meander home from work, wander in a bookstore or an evening jazz performance or a happy hour with friends who probably looked like clones, but had brilliant insights and were doing incredible work to make the world a better place. Great city, indeed.
Last edited by Bluefly; 03-25-2008 at 02:23 PM..
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Yep!
) it shows who the real dc people are not the person who came here on a business trip and giving there rating on it. there will always be hustlers selling fake franchise items and tickets outside the verizon center to the white crowd and yell "YOOO" as soon as the police come up here its either u come here to get paid being a hot shot or ur stuck here and cant make enough to pay your bills really no in between.
