Month: September 2005

There is nothing to knock down your pride about your hood when you talk to other people and they give you this blank stare, as if you mentioned some rare medical disease, when you say “I’m from Shaw.”
Stare.
Then I go to explain where Shaw is and there is a slight effort to try to map it out in their heads. This is more depressing when the people you are talking to are other Washingtonians.
Suburbanites I can totally understand. Really, I do the same thing. My excuse is most of suburbia lacks a metro, thus I don’t go there. So anything along Quaker Lane in VA, I got no clue. Seminary Road. I’ve heard of it. I think there is a seminary on it. Duke Street? Yes, I know Duke Street, well at least the parts near the King Street metro, and Nora Bombay’s condo. Rockville Pike? Just the parts near Grovsner and White Flint. My familiarity with MD has more to do with having the stable of friends & family with cars living out there.
Maybe we gotta do more PR work to help suburbanites and Washingtonians who know nothing past 16th Street, NW. Maybe throw in phrases like, “There is a great play over in Shaw at the Studio Theater.” Or, “I’m going to Shaw to catch M.I.A. at the 9:30 Club.”

Okay kids, don’t hang out in front of my house, late at night, talking loud, ’cause I’ll write about you.
One of the neighborhood teenage kids was hanging out last night (within curfew) with two of his school associates out on the sidewalk. Maybe the nature of their discussions was the reason why they weren’t in front of neighborhood kid’s (NK) house.
From what I could make out (ah the joy of a house with no insulation) was NK’s friends was trying to convince him that he should join up with them for his own protection against other gangs of kids who would jump him. NK was evasive and confident that he could handle his own.
The funny thing is these kids no older than 16 were calling each other ‘son’. I realize that ‘son’ is a form of address used by popular rap artists. But really, what are you? 15? 14? Calling someone son? Well it is at least better than the ‘N’ word. But they were using a lot of that too.
Anyway, I digress. NK’s mom has stepped in before to shoo gang recruiters, like the kids hanging out, away. I think, observing NK, that she has possibly instilled in him a good reason to rebuff his little gang friends.