I've noticed something about Washington DC neighborhoods. At least the middle class ones. On the whole they are heterogeneous. "Mixy," I call it. I know mixy is not a word, but it describes those neighborhoods well. A mix of houses and businesses. A mix of shops and stores. A mix of fancy and ordinary. A mix of people. Young. Old. Colorful. Not. Skinny. Not so. Straight. Bent over. A good model for urban living. Demonstrates every day that we aren't all black or poor or rich or white or senior or young or upwardly mobile or progressive or conservative.
Not a lot of places are like that. Alexandria is one of those not-like-that places. It's white, rich, "progressive" (in an "I know best" kind of way), and is proud of its openness while being very exclusive. Alexandria is an ungated, gated community. The gate is price. You gotta pay a high price to live here. And if you can't afford it? Well. We're sorry. Really we are.
I'd rather live in DC.
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About Me
- Mark Gorman
- I was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, along the banks of the Susquehanna River, in the valley made up by Bald Eagle Mountain to the south, and gentle hills and valleys to the north. That place that sheltered me, gave me food and friends, and both physical and spiritual nourishment for 18 years. That is the space where I was physically and emotionally formed. Ever since growing up there . . . because of growing up there . . . I have been inexorably linked to nature . . . to the earth and to all life.