It’s a tie:
and
I would be a huge fan of this proposal. Blocking intersections is an obnoxious display of selfishness:
Flickr: suitablegirl
On my "I love D.C."-list? The National Cathedral. From the Bishop's Garden to the whimsical gargoyles, it's a wonderful place-- and it is free.
Quick reminder– I’m still eager to learn about your favorite DC-centric things!
What do you love about D.C.? Leave your answers in the comments, tweet them at me or (if you must!) email them. I’ll compile them and even though we are off after Wednesday, I will log in and post the best of your submissions here, in one glorious list. Ready? Go!
One of you messaged me about your favorite sandwich place in Adams Morgan. I saw a tweet about the National Arboretum. Other submissions? The Whitehurst freeway, half-smokes and “the old dudes who play chess in Dupont Circle”. Your submissions range from the silly to the sublime and that’s perfect. Seriously, don’t be shy– what are your favorite things?
So true:
DCentric
MacBook Air in hyper-privileged Ward 2, where there is almost 100% broadband adoption.
Like Congress Heights on the Rise, Blogger Nicole in DC also has concerns about the digital divide and #DCtweeps, the WaPo social media contest which I posted about earlier today:
…we’re the leaders in this online community whether we choose to be or not. We make a living, feed ourselves and/or our families, and have an offline social network because we’re the best. People listen to what we have to say and are invested in our opinions and our lives. We’re not living up to our responsibilities as leaders through innovation, change, or betterment of our community and our neighbors; instead, we’re participating in meaningless competitions to garner an award from a print publication that does a poor job at covering/reporting the news on social media. Furthermore, we’re squandering the power we do have when we succumb to competitions like this…
Community isn’t about putting ourselves above our friends and neighbors who are left behind.
Flickr: Alykat
Sculpture in Congress Heights by Anne Allardyce
Over at Congress Heights on the Rise, East of the River blogger The Advoc8te takes issue with the “popularity contest” that The Washington Post is hosting for D.C.’s Twitter royalty in “Why I won’t be voted “DC’s Best Blogger” in the DCTweeps Contest “:
How can you expect voters to participate in the election process when they don’t have the basic tools to participate? How can you vote in a contest if you don’t even know it’s going on?
As a blogger, a social media consultant, and as someone who spends about 75% of her waking hours online, I understand the ease and convenience of holding these types of contests using online surveys and Twitter. The technology is here to stay, no doubt about it. However, in communities such as ours where a good portion of the population still doesn’t have access to reliable and/or affordable Internet service and where most homes do not have a computer or access to one, a big part of the population becomes disenfranchised, even in purely entertainment contests such as this one. How do we expect residents who exist within the confines of the digital void to participate outside of it? How do we expect residents from outside of the community to learn about what’s inside the community if there is such a digital divide?
What? After the District, the state of Michigan is far but dear to my heart. Even my puppy knows how to double high five when she hears “Touchdown Michigan!” or “Touchdown Lions!”. She may not get a ton of opportunities to practice, but it’s still cute.
Flickr: jGregor
Photographer j Gregory Barton saw this young woman on the Metro, and asked if he could capture the love.
I love twitter. It’s the one element of social media I use most; from story ideas to learning about breaking news, I tweet, retweet and read tweets, constantly. For those whose grasp of it is hazy, Twitter is a site where you can post updates, thoughts, links or absolute drivel– all in 140 characters or less. When someone starts following your drivel tweets, you get an alert telling you about this happy development. While it isn’t always possible to do so, I love examining these emails and learning more about the people who were kind enough to start reading me, by checking out whom we have in common, perusing their brief bios and clicking on their links.
One such Twitter user, Jacob Patterson-Stein, gave me three Christmas presents on December 25; he started following DCentric’s twitter account (@DCntrc), he started following my personal account (@suitablegirl) and when I looked at his bio and found his blog, “Tumbling Through the City“, he made me smile with a recent post of his, “50 Great Things About D.C.“. Here are his picks for numbers 14 through 26:
http://tumblingthroughthecity.tumblr.com
Part of Jacob Patterson-Stein's list of 50 things he loves about D.C.
Jacob has inspired me to start curating my own list, but I’d love your help, too. What do you love about D.C.? Leave your answers in the comments, tweet them at me or (if you must!) email them. I’ll compile them and even though we are off after Wednesday, I will log in and post the best of your submissions here, in one glorious list. Ready? Go!
He had me at “Hello” when I read this testimonial, on The Washington Literacy Council’s Facebook page:
“I have worked at a local hospital for the last twenty one years as a house keeper. I didn’t pick that job for my self; someone picked it for me. My options were limited because of my reading problem. I am now working as a recreation specialist coaching sports. I am telling you this because I know firsthand how it feels not being able to do something you want to do because of your reading problem.” Excerpt from 2010 WLC Graduation speech written by Sandra, a former student.
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