RE The term African American

[Recursion]

79. Yeah. I moved there in the mid 90s which was pretty much the absolute worst time

But there was still a lot of the awesome left (I got to meet Ian MacKaye and Chuck Brown at afterparties, stuff like that). And yeah I loved DC's arts scene but sometime around Tony Williams either it got worse or I got too old or probably a combination.

You could get good cheap eats at the Ethiopian place or go to the El Salvadorian diner the next day for hangover food.

Unfortunately even on Columbia Rd and 18th street it's getting hard to find decent cheap Salvadorian or Ethiopian food; you're much more likely to see seared duck breast or pork belly or whatever (when did Southern food become the go-to?) Of course there's always Fla Ave Grill and, obviously, Ben's.

That said I don't like to be one of those people who just bitches that the neighborhood changed; I mean in some ways it's a lot better now (you don't count gunshots at night, for one). Even the Target, as much as it pisses people off, means you can finally go buy a pack of underwear without having to leave the District. And if you wanted to go have a beer you used to have to either go to the Raven on Mt. Pleasant or that sketchy rinconcito speakeasy on Georgia, but now there's more bars than you can shake a stick at. I guess I'm saying I think it's a healthier place now than when I moved there, but I wish there were better ways to make it healthier while keeping the rents affordable. But then I have to ask why I "deserve" to live there more than the richer dude who wants to move in from MD, and I can't think of a reason.