I couldn’t help it. My face broke into full smile and my eyes started to gleam when I saw the cover of the 8/1 issue: “New York Fetish.” I’d like to know how John Cloud was able to read my mind and write my thoughts so carefully. I’d just gotten back from a weekend jaunt to Metropolis, where I went to bars and saw people I never see in D.C. For the life of me I can’t understand why it is that this city is so stagnant. I understand the whole theory of government setting the pace, and I don’t think there’s an American alive who thinks that the U.S. government ever breaks moves quickly, let alone hits the frenetic pace that is Wall Street.

Still, there are thousands of young single people in this city with nowhere to go blow off steam in an interesting setting. A pathetic example of this is the number of delivery trucks lined up outside my apartment building on Friday nights around 8 p.m. Why aren’t the many young people who live there out having dinner at a funky little bistro or having oversize martinis at a great bar? Because there aren’t any? I have to wonder about any city where the local weekly runs a cover story about why New York is better and Washingtonian dedicates an entire recent issue to how men here don’t know how to date. Yes, I’m a native New Yorker who always will have a soft spot for the city that I grew up in. But I came to Washington because I thought that it too must be great; after all, it is our nation’s capital. Alas, I’ve found nothing here that makes this city great, with the exception of reasonable rents and Rock Creek Park. So, I’ll tell you what. I’ll raise my oversize martini glass to Cloud when I get back to N.Y. too.

Cleveland Park resident

who’s proud to be a New Yorker

via the Internet