DC2NY

Despite being born and raised in a most political atmosphere in politically changing times, Washington is sometimes frustratingly political. You are surrounded by intimidating, large buildings of the enormous federal bureaucracy that reminds you every time you pass by that hardcore policy making and time wasting is going on inside. You ride the Metrobus every morning with people dressed in the local “DC-conservative” outfit (which for some inexplicable reasons allows for black skirt suits and white tennis shoes). You can hardly turn a corner without bumping into a newspaper stand selling today’s fabricated scandals and recycled political analysis, or visit a museum without paying tribute to the distant vista of the splendid Capitol whose chambers are least used for constructive debate these days.
DC is definitely all about politics and all the fun stuff that comes with it, including my favorite which is the local number plate motto of “Taxation without Representation.” In spite of the political irony that the US capital is on the same level with American Samoa or Guam when it comes to being unrepresented in Congress, the city has little to complain about.
Traditionalist as it is, DC has a decent gay population (conservatively holding hands, of course), passable hookah bars, quite a number of liquor stores, crazy enough salsa parties and high-end loud music $20/cocktail lounges that perfectly fit the today’s nonsensical anti-social club culture. In other words, it lives up to the 21^st century expectations of a world metropolis minus the crowd and the hyper-liberal PDA annoyance.
People here understand that food is made to be eaten at the table and although familiarly long coffee lines still constitute the general pre-work syndrome, I see a fair number of customers sipping after work frozen summer specials with a Post or a Times in hand on sunny terraces, apparently unconscious of the ticking of the time.
Oh, did I mention that we have sun here? (The thing up there that NYC replaces with tanning salons, antidepressant pills and relax massage centers.) Coupled with unbearable humidity and counterbalanced with equally unbearable Arctic style air-conditioning inside. Although I do recognize that men’s business outfits are not as seasonally adjustable as ours, I regard this as the widest scale female outfit dictatorship ever feat. long pants and winter cardigans in July heat.
As opposed to NYC, the local population seems to be intelligent enough to make a distinction between their bedroom clothes and casual shopping clothes; people occasionally do sleep at night and spend weekend mornings with friends and family instead of personal trainers. Fashion seems to be in a comfortable four hour distance away to legitimately disregard the newest trends and riding the bike to work with rolled up sleeves is actually not considered to be un-cool.
As my dear friend Jym once said, you can’t really take New York seriously; it’s one big playground. On the same note, it’s hard not to take DC seriously; this is where the playground rules are written.