I’ve now been accused (by my brother) of “out Izod’ing him,” which, in our family just means having a reflexive dislike of anything bordering on popular or trendy. Ridiculous… I voted for Howard Dean in the ‘04 primaries and Barack Obama this year — both definitely “trend” candidates to some extent. I was a huge fan of Seinfeld — the trendiest, number 1 TV show throughout the ’90s. I also liked Friends, which set a standard on easily mocked trendiness throughout the same decade. I bought one of those trendy rehabbed rowhouses in Southeast Baltimore — one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city. I don’t particularly get annoyed by things like cell phones, and often catch myself talking on one in public — and I don’t completely hate myself for it. And, I really have no cultural problem with Starbucks (the coffee ain’t great, and the prices are high, but I don’t mind the atmosphere). I’ve never really been an indie rock fan, I don’t go to see a lot of indie movies (unless its something I really want to see — I’m not anti-indie or anything), and even though I really do hate Wal-Mart and everything they stand for, I don’t really feel a kinship with other anti-Wal-Mart people because they’d probably hate me over the whole cell phone and Starbucks thing.
That said, there is definitely one area in which I feel strongly anti-trendy. I can think of no place on Earth (not even Nevada) that I hate more than Teaism in Dupont Circle in D.C.
Let me set the scene: First of all, I find Dupont Circle to be one of the most irritatingly pretentious neighborhoods in a city filled with irritatingly pretentious residents — and for the longest time, every DC job I took had an office in Dupont. I couldn’t get away! Once, while walking down the street to my office, I saw a guy with a leaf-blower clearing the sidewalk in front of the nicer rowhomes on Q street. One of the residents had actually come out of his house and was pointing to places on the sidewalk that the poor guy had missed. That’s the kind of neighborhood this is. So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that one of the most popular places in the neighborhood is a tea joint called Teaism. The staff seems to have been instructed to be rude to customers, as if the concept of friendliness is just too down-market for a place like that. The prices are out-of-this-world insane, and not just for the drinks — the walls are lined with tea-pots ranging in price from “they want what for that?” to “well, if I take out a second mortgage…” And worst of all? The clintele. The people don’t socialize, they mingle — every conversation seeming to be a new connection made for their way too important jobs. They never smile. They check their watches constantly.
What an awful place! I can think of some pretty “radiant” things that could happen there. On the upside, it’s right next door to a Starbucks, so if you ever want to duck out for some much-needed authenticity after a trip to Teaism, they make it convenient enough.
What a hilariously resentful and inaccurate description of the neighborhood in which I’ve lived for seventeen years. Inaccurate regarding Teaism as well: I didn’t realize an independent little eatery that has endured for 10+ years has anything to do with the word “trend” or “trendy.” That’s how long I’ve eaten there, with friends, happy people, from artists to retirees–all of whom smile and laugh. Do you have any idea how transparent your unhappiness and resentment is? Very sad.
The fact that you have lived in Dupont for 17 years kinda disqualifies you from commenting. I’m sure after becoming part of the neighborhood, the pretension starts to seem normal.
@Mary – get over yourself, hon.
“The people who hate Walmart” don’t hate it because it’s successful, they hate it because it has terrible policies for everything from the source of their products to the way they treat their employees. Starbucks, although a large corporation, has a very good reputation in both those areas.
I personally love independant coffee shops, for all their little quirks and foibles. I’m very bummed out because I just learned that the Blue Cow is closing, which is a complete shame.
Wow, you’re good at hating people you’ve never met. Living here when we had two drug houses on the block, had to help elderly neighbors when city services were absent count as pretensions in your mind, I’ll wear your laughable label as a badge of courage. Well, discount my opinions if you like, but more recent and accurate views of Teaism are available online. I see most travel guides rate is very positively, and your attempts to portray it as expensive notwithstanding, most also rate it average or lower on the cost scale. And I see that Rachel Ray (you know, the snobby one who profiles snobby eateries and fine dining) included Teaism in her review of places to eat for a total of $40 for the day if you’re traveling to DC.
To efbq:
I know, that’s why I hate WalMart too, and that’s why I don’t hate Starbucks. But way too many people don’t make the distinction.
As for independent coffee shops, I’m fine with them — like them myself. But way too many of them try the same niche, catering to the bumper-sticker liberal, college student/recent grad, laptop crowd. They all have the same music playing when you walk in and all those oversized chairs. If every city has the same damn shop, the only thing that makes it unique is the ownership… hon.
To my new Dupont friend:
Relax! You’re the angry one, not me. You really aren’t a fan of hyperbole, are you? I actually did see that $40/day episode and was FURIOUSLY RESENTFUL. Just kidding, but it really did miss the mark. All of my old colleagues used to try to drag me to Teaism because they knew how much I “loved” it.
Wow — who knew a shot at Teaism would wind up being the most controversial post on this blog.
Hyperbole is one thing, unlettered snarks another.
See? Only someone from Dupont would call someone “unlettered.”
See? Only someone from B’more would prefer a Starbucks to an independently owned tea house. Only someone from B’more who can probably remember rather freshly the last time she was too loud at Fell’s Point would be irritated at the subdued behavior of customers at a friggin’ TEA HOUSE, and only someone not from DC with more attitude and snark than powers of observation would term DuPont the most pretentious DC ‘hood (you should get out more often, given the vacant storefronts here and there in DuPont, while 14th, U, and other hot spots are in the NYTimes and hardly dented by the real estate downturn).
Facts are fun.
For the record, I referred to Dupont as “one of the most” pretentious neighborhoods in DC. Don’t worry — you guys have plenty of pretentious neighborhoods to go around, and as long as Georgetown is in existence, I doubt Dupont can officially take the crown. Also, for the record, I’ve only lived in Baltimore for a little over a year, but I lived in DC for a total of 5 years. Too bad I didn’t find an opportunity to “get out more” in that time. Guess I was too busy tryin’ to learn my letters.
@MrJ – Don’t let Mary get to you, she’s got some odd ideas but she’s really OK.
@Mary – I hate to break it to you, but Scooter and I are pretty much in the middle of the spectrum when it comes to the Walmart hating crowd. You’ve really got to stop seeing people as ‘types’, sometimes it will come back and bite you.
Here, this makes it an even dozen comments, ’cause I wanted to eclipse the total number of comments ever made on this blog, and ever likely to be made in the next year. Congrats, the consolation prize for finding yourself kicked down the MSA ladder is you’re now a hot blogger in a smaller pond, sister.
I really do hate Wal-Mart, quite a bit. As you know, I’m kind of a reactionary Lefty, and am pretty uncomfortable with change and newness. I hate what Wal-Mart and the big box stores have done to the character of communities. I hate the way they treat their employees, hate the way they have exploited free trade, and hate their views on unions.
Some people agree with me on that, while others simply oppose Wal-Mart to “fight the man.” I know dozens of these people; people who can’t oppose Wal-Mart without all the cultural touchstones that go along with it.
Don’t bother trying to justify me to MrJ — I’m having far too much fun.
And you wouldn’t want me to stop seeing people as types… it would make me far less interesting. I’d be way too open-minded.
Plus, you guys do it too – the radical Greens who love Nader, like to yell at everyone and start revolutions vs. the stable “besuited” Greens who speak softly and are more concerned with infrastructure building than revolution starting. Not a fan of that analogy? OK, tell me you didn’t envision me as a “type” when I dropped out of high school. Way I figure, the more creative and accurate the type laid out, the more interesting the point being made.
“Congrats, the consolation prize for finding yourself kicked down the MSA ladder is you’re now a hot blogger in a smaller pond, sister.”
I don’t know what this means… but I’m guessing it’s a bad thing?
So much for your self-proclaimed grasp of hyperbole.
No, I guess I just didn’t realize that having a lot of comments was something for which people strive. big fish/small pond on a dinky little blog I started last month? Seriously, the most surreal thing about this entire interaction is that I’ve done dozens of political posts, a few of which might be controversial. But Teaism gets this response? Seriously?
efbq — sorry about The Blue Cow
I appreciate your interest in focusing upon anything other than the words you wrote, but I still haven’t heard how an independent eatery that’s been in business for 10-15 years is equated with a “trend” or being “trendy,” how a Starbucks holds more authenticity, how subdued patrons at a tea house should be slammed for the content and purposes of their conversations that you couldn’t hear in the first place, nor how a neighborhood struggling to keep retail–as it’s been eclipsed by several other neighborhoods–can be labeled one of the city’s most pretentious.
@MrJ, may I introduce Mary…?
I’m afraid you’re going to have trouble figuring out what’s going on until and unless you actually meet her in person. Despite what you read her, she really is a pleasant person, intelligent (though not open minded) and fun to be around.
IRL, as well as on line, Mary never admits that her intuitive response to anything is wrong, or that she doesn’t possess the secret to life which everyone else has missed. Most of us deal with this by laughing and handing her another drink.
Just watch out, she has a corrupting influence on small children, she will bribe and rehearse them to repeat her point of view back to you. You don’t want to know what happens when they hit their teen years…
This is great! Very funny! But a little confusing.
Was this actually posted 15 years ago, but somehow got lost in the interweb, only to show up now, like a long lost letter from the Great War, penned by your grandma’s long dead lover, that unaccountably shows up in your mail box?
Hating Dupont Circle is sooooo untrendy. Like, it was trendy in the mid-90s to hate the trendiness of Dupont Circle, but now? Well, it’s trendy to hate Georgetown, and it’s always trendy to be “better” than all the suburban crowds in Adams Morgan and U Street. Soon, it will be trendy to hate Petworth for it’s pretensions, I’m sure.
But Dupont Circle? Poor, old, doddering, Gap and Starbucks-infested Dupont Circle? It hasn’t been cool enough in nearly a decade to elicit such a tirade of hate!
If you are going to hate pretensious neighborhoods, you need to get ahead of the curve: try visiting, say, Riggs Park, or Eckington. I’m sure there are some pretensious people there to hate.
Are we upset because someone doesn’t like Dupont Circle? Or Teaism? I like both, and happen to think Teaism is pretty darn cheap compared to the rest of the city.
By getting all insulted and wound up, we’re just proving her point that we’re all pretentious and snooty here in Washington.
Visiting over from DC Blogs. Mary, I’d like to point out to you that Teaism is more expensive than, say, Potbelly because they use fresh produce and make everything from scratch instead of using pre-packaged garbage that came out of a factory farm. And they probably have to pay expensive rent or mortgage. It’s a terrible conundrum in this city. The property values have gone sky high and local shops don’t get any breaks. They have to pay the same amount of taxes as the national franchises and chains that can easily absorb the higher cost of business in DC. By the way, I would have picked Cosi, or its previous incarnation, XandO, as way more trendy.
i might be moving to washington dc, so this kind of commentariat is great for me…
Move aside haters, she knows of what she speaks.
I live pretty close to Dupont Circle and rarely go there. It’s a close second to Georgetown on my list of least favorite DC neighborhoods. Ever have a pleasant exchange with the staff at the Phillips Collection? Me neither! I don’t think one of them has ever bothered to make eye contact with me. And I’m sweet as pie.
And what’s with the Metro? Eh? Eh?
This is great! Mary hates the fact that people aren’t gabbing smiley loudmouths at a friggin’ tea house, and now Wil’s upset because he can’t get some gum-flappin’ lurve from museum docents. I think we have a match, people. Besides, if you two get together, that’s two fewer of the kind of people who try to talk to you on the Metro or the plane. You know, share their keen observations on life, vis above?
My goodness… it appears a few responses are in order…
First, to my good friend MrJ (re: efbq’s comments):
May I introduce my sister-in-law, efbq. She has a huge heart, a great sense of humor and a sharp mind, but she can be a tad patronizing at times, dismissing an argument with a pat on the head and the distribution of another drink. She does however, have a wonderful sense of irony in referring to others as stubborn and closed-minded. In the 20 years I’ve known her (can that be right?) I have yet to hear her concede a point or back down from a debate. I always kinda dug that, thinking it showed a strength of character, and (on the big stuff) a moral clarity. Apparently though, I should’ve just smiled, nodded, and bought her another hurricane. And it’s not my fault if her kids are brilliant…
To kwest:
Man, that sucks that I missed the boat on trendiness (anti-trendiness?) by a bit. I so try to stay on the cutting edge at all times. But, you know what they say about Baltimore — we’re always last to catch on…
Give me a break — you really think I picked Dupont and Teaism for any reason other than the fact that I really don’t like them, and really find them pretentious? I’m not some angst-y 20-something just looking for the Next Big Thing, just so I can find a way to play the cool cynic and trash it. But thanks for the advice all the same — I’ll try to be more forward thinking in my future condemnations.
Back to MrJ:
I’ve already laid out what I don’t like about Dupont and Teaism. But just for you, I’ll give it a more nuance’d explanation (I rarely do this… if you can’t make a definitive statement, you probably don’t have much of a point in the first place.) Let’s try this:
1. As with anything bad, there’s usually some good, and that’s even true in Dupont. I dig Bua — the Thai restaurant on — what — P street? Larry’s ice cream place on 20th is good, as is Zorba’s across the street from it. And you’re a short walk from Brickskeller, which kicks ass. You know, exceptions that prove the rule and all…
2. Something doesn’t have to be new to be trendy; and not all trendy things are bad. The “trend” is to brag that you never go to Starbucks, and that there’s a neat little neighborhood tea place that’s been a pillar of the community for over a decade. Then everyone goes to Teaism, is treated badly by the staff, pays way too much to wait way too long for a drink that isn’t worth it, but hey — you’re supporting local business, so you feel pretty good about yourself. And before I get attacked for that, let me say that I really do love local business and neighborhood shops, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t hate some of them, and resent the fact that so many people like them for the simple fact that they are local and neighborhood – y.
3. Wanna know another bad local place in Dupont? That coffee shop at 16th and P. I used to go in there every day and never got good service or even a smile. Turned into a running joke with my colleagues: I would always try to go overboard on the politeness — “good morning,” “have a good weekend” kind of stuff to see if I could get a smile one day. Never happened.
Hope that answered your questions…
To Will:
Thanks, nice to have an ally…
To alan:
I lived in a bunch of places in DC, and my favorite was the Waterfront neighborhood. I hear now that it’s really changed. Prices are going up, and it’s losing a lot of it’s quiet, non-DC feel that made it what it was, but I really liked it there. People weren’t as career-obsessed, and it had a nicer atmosphere. Pretty too, right by the water. No nightlife in the area, but close enough to get to stuff pretty easily. Hope you find a good place to move.
Thanks for explaining, and backing it up with your observations of DC.
Ahem.
There is no coffee place at 16th and P (nor 15th and P, nor 17th and P).
Carry on. Next up: Mary’s views on the parks of Moscow.
By all means, continue to go into Starbucks. You deserve the fine–nay, top quality “experience” that Starbucks delivers. Yup, you do that. Rant all you want in there while you’re paying too much for burnt coffee.
Me, I’m happy at Teaism and Kramerbooks and Beadazzled and all the other independent places that still maintain some sense of individuality, despite the pressure to conform.
Guess that makes me yet another pretentious git that doesn’t understand the fabulousness of the omni-present Starbucks.
Thanks for the a lively if contentious post,
-lacochran (a former Baltimore resident who loves DC)
I meant 16th and Q: Java House.
Hey efbq — just corrected myself!
I live in Waterfront! Yeah, the cool kids have started to move in, but there’s always plenty of priceless people-watching at the Southwest Safeway.
It’s at 17th and Q, not 16th and Q, and not 16th and P. And funny you’d have such challenges of recollection, given your claim that you “used to go in there every day.” EVERY day, and you don’t remember the location.
Folks, I’ve solved the mystery of Mary. She did NOT go to Java every day. Think about it: she smears Teaism because of the wait, and hisses at the perfectly nice Java House waitresses because they didn’t have time to react to her ploys (and I’m SURE your real intentions and personality were never transparent, no no not at all dear Mary).
Here’s the key to the puzzle: MARY WENT MOSTLY ON WEEKENDS. That’s when Teaism and Java House are over packed. Mary is not a populist, or a jaded habituee, she’s just plain bridge and tunnel. And has anyone caught the repeated hisses about people with their self-important jobs?
Mary: sorry you’re dealing with resentments about grownup work land, or being in B’more (I love the place), but do us both a favor and stay up there on the wknds, hon.
“still maintain some sense of individuality, despite the pressure to conform.”
Pressure to conform? Yeah, that’s not a “fight the man” attitude or anything…
Hmm… 1645 Q street — or 16th and Q for shorthand…
Actually I worked in that same building for about a year, and Java House was just considered “downstairs.” I also however worked a year at the Resources for the Future building at 16th and P (wait, wait… 1616 P street… sorry, didn’t want to use a shorthand that would lead you to believe I was making the whole gosh darn thing up), so it isn’t all that uncommon for me to get the addresses mixed up, but if its easier for you to believe I would spend my weekends commuting to Dupont to go to some residential coffee shop with a rude staff, go right ahead.
You are however, dead right about my resentments of people with self-important jobs. Well… not exactly resentments… more like eye-rolling reactions. Is that bad? Should I be impressed by those jobs? Have no reaction whatsoever? Please clue me in, because until you mentioned it, I hadn’t considered that my problems with those self-important jobs were actually problems I have with grown-up work land.
Are there some people at any coffee house in any expensive neighborhood with some ego goin’ on? Of course. But the last two times I was at Java, it was with one medium-grade civil servant, one struggling artist, and the waitresses were nice.
If you’re walking around with resentments towards people you’ve never met at Java House, irritation at conversations you couldn’t hear at Teaism, you are…drum roll…paintinig with a mighty broad brush. And it’s dipped in the colors of your own insecurities. Quaint and expectable in your 20s, but it’s called sour near/north 40.
MrJ, you need to get a life. Seriously. I like Teaism too but her review is no reason to go postal. Great blog Mary.
Thanks Erika — much appreciated. Hope you visit again.
“Get a life.” Writing that one down, such original thought.
If you didn’t get smiles from the staff at Java House, my guess is you’re one of the customers who ordered a to go cup at the register, but sat at a table, and thus escaped having to tip the table service?
Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t think I ever sat at a table at Java House. As I said, I worked upstairs from it, so I always just ordered my coffee and took it up to the office.
My favorite Java House story is actually the time that I ordered a cup of coffee, realized I didn’t have cash, so handed over my card. The coffee was what — $1.85? — and you’re supposed to have a $5 minimum, but the guy at the counter ran the card without saying anything, so I figured they were cutting me a break because I was a regular customer. AFTER running the card, he brought back the receipt and told me that since it was a $5 minimum, I should leave the rest as a tip. He wasn’t joking. That guy was rarely the one working the counter, so I can’t put all the rudeness thing on him, but still…
Hey Wil! I work at the Phillips Collection, and I promise I’ll make eye contact with you when you visit. Hell, I’ll even throw in a toothsome smile if you stop to talk to me. Just be sure to come on one of the days when admission is free, because even my beautiful smile isn’t worth a $14 admission fee…
But seriously people, no one working a service job in Dupont Circle is making any money, and we have to deal with you elite self-entitled yuppies working in the offices upstairs all day. You can only expect us to be resentful.
[...] Circle – “First of all, I find Dupont Circle to be one of the most irritatingly pretentious neighborhoods in a…“ Wow buddy! We think it’s a little extreme to pass such harsh judgement on such a [...]
Now, now, Will, have you no respect for Mary’s self-and-oft applied label as a…hope you’re sitting down now…populist? HA!
MrJ — you really ought to consider Erika’s “original” thought and get a life. On Thursday and Friday, you were fun to play with. By today, you just seem like a person with some anger management issues.
MrJ, you’re the kind of asshole that makes people think DC is full of assholes.
I don’t mind Teaism though.
What, don’t you appreciate hyperbole?
So far, you’ve called me “unlettered,” too loud and obnoxious to appreciate the quiet dignity of a friendly little tea joint, and “quaint and expectable.” You’ve accused me of lying about where I worked, thrown a fit because I was a block off on the location of a coffee shop, and taken a couple of shots at the “populist” label (which didn’t come up one time in this post or any subsequent comment). You told me that my problem with Dupont is that I didn’t like “grown up work land.” You’ve attacked anyone who posted a comment that disagreed with you (like Will, and Erika, and AUA), even if they were on your side about liking Teaism. And, most ironically, you’ve said that I’m the one who is resentful and bitter, and oddly accused ME of “hating people I’ve never met.”
You really are the exact kind of person that gives DC a bad name.
just ignore his comments. responding to them is like arguing with a 13-year girl. there’s always going to be some inane comeback.
Ah, I see: your snarks against people are literary hyperbole, but someone calling you on your inconsistencies and meanness of same is judged by another yardstick. You want a de facto snark monologue.
Well, I’m not all bad, Mary. I like your sis-in-law quite a bit.
Man. This is crazy! You know, I got lynched online for giving less-than-stellar reviews to a clogging show, of all things, that I saw at Shenandoah National Park. It’s bound to happen at some point. After being shocked that anyone cared so much about my blog, I decided to look at it this way: At least people are reading. For all he claims to dismiss your opinions, this MrJ guy is spending a lot of time thinking about your blog.
Megan — a clogging show at the Shenandoah National Park? You really know how to start a controversy…
It is so strange the things that set people off. Funny thing about it is that it wasn’t even really written specifically as a review of Teaism… I wrote it as a response to a comment my brother made in my post, “The Politics of Hate.” He made that Izod comment, so I figured I’d respond with a new post. I didn’t expect anyone to even read it, let alone let it ruin their week. Apparently I touched a nerve with the Teaism lobby. But hey, at least I found a new friend for my sis-in-law…
Well, every boy needs a hobby…I guess that you’re now his.
My opinion about DC folks was cemented at Camden Yards, prior to the swipe of the Expos from Montréal. Sitting in the stands, I saw multiple guys arrive in the second inning, still wearing ties, order wine, yak on their cels, and leave in the middle of the sixth of a tie ballgame, muttering about “beating the traffic back”. I even saw one guy do that during the game that Cal Ripken sat out to end his streak. Nice to know that guy now has a login on the ‘Net.
I still do think you out-Izod me, at least politically (I could mention Ron Paul, Las Vegas, or the Red Sox and get that similar, reflexive nose-up reaction)…but of course, yes, being a similar prig in the opposite direction, particularly in a humorless fashion, is just shouting one’s uselessness at the world.
52 comments. I am dying laughing over here.
OK, by ranting and going bonkers, we’re just making Washington seem uptight and stupid.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll post about disliking Ben’s Chili Bowl and get 1,000 comments!
Ben’s Chili Bowl! Thank you! There’s an incredibly trendy feel-good-because-I’m-patronizing-local-business kind of place that I really like. You know, because they have good chili and all…
See? I only hate the places worth hating.
And Scooterbird — Ron Paul, Boston Red Sox, Las Vegas. If you can tell me one item on that list that doesn’t deserve my undying scorn, I’ll take it all back. Till then, you’re the Izod champ.
I use to live and work in the DuPont Circle area and Mary, I have to agree with you on all points. I guess that makes me unlettered, unhappy, and egregiously transparent, too.
While I enjoy Teaism’s oatmeal cookie with its salty top, I don’t enjoy the price. I mean, they’re good cookies, but they’re not THAT good. And the atmosphere has oft-times left me feeling uncomfortable.
As for the rest of it, outside of Capitol Hill, that part of town is like those awful cliques and popularity contests in high school, only we’re all too old for that and we should know better by now.
Like I said, I’m with you.
OH. MrJ was personally offended at your characterization of the hipster ‘hood of Dupont.
I’d be willing to bet even money that he owns a rowhouse, and brags about its value appreciation. It’s not a neighborhood, it’s a nightclub, get over it.
AUA–
Uh-oh! You said the H-word! There are no hipsters in Dupont!
And commence new retardulous argument now! GO!
(p.s. — I’ve never even heard of Teaism. Zoinks!)
“it’s a nightclub”
Spoken like a true bridge and tunnel cypher: your experience is everyone’s experience. Hilarious. I’ll have to inform everyone at the next block party that we all need to leave, ’cause it’s only really a destination. Yeah let’s kick out my elderly neighbor, move on lady it’s a destination not a neighborhood. You little snarkers haven’t actively contributed to anything that builds a sense of neighborhood or community in your myopic self-aggrandizing lives. It’s why you sit back and paint with your broad brushes. Grow up, really.
MrJ, may I point out that “myopic self-aggrandizing lives” is the broadest of broad brushes, and that perhaps you ought to consider a crash course in maturity yourself? It’s possible to disagree in a graceful manner.
Also, PLEASE stop saying “bridge-and-tunnel,” if you were half as pro-DC, old school Dupont as you say you are, you wouldn’t be using New York terminology. Try saying ‘burbans, escalefters, taxpayers who have actual Congressional representation, etc.
My theory is that MrJ is actually from the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, trying to make DC look so snooty that folks will buy homes and commute all the way in from Baltimore.
Well, I don’t want to claim MrJ up here, but finding people like him to advertise for DC really would help the B-more housing market…
I’ll defer to your vocabulary, Shannon. I’ll allow you to determine what someone represents when they see a neighborhood as solely a theme park, literally call it a “nightclub” because they can’t see beyond Brickskeller or wherever they get pickled, to see a real part of a city with 30,000 residents, a farmers market, independent businesses holding up against a chain invasion (Mary’s attempts to denigrate them notwithstanding), an elementary school that the neighborhood loves and saved from disaster, struggling artists groups, and more. And the funniest part, all this gibberish is offered up by people who–in between sips of foreign beers, or lattes at the coffeehouse they don’t like–proclaim themselves populist and rail against all things trendy. Uh huh. No phoniness there. No bridge and tunnel city-as-themepark myopia going on there.
Oh my gosh. MrJ, I’m all for taking pride in your town. I’m a DC resident myself. But every time you get all hysterical, it makes DC look just a bit snootier and more ridiculous.
In simpler words, please chill. Nobody’s insulting your mother’s virtue or peeing on your lawn. You’re making the rest of us look bad.
Thx for staying on topic, Shannon.
What was that? The whooshing sound of my brain caving in from all the ridiculousness. Dude, you’re either a very brilliant troll or a very absurd and stuck-up Dupontite (Duponteer?). It’s a neighborhood, not your religion or your mother.
I am responding to your hysterical response to Mary’s post, ergo, I am on topic (or you’re off topic, one).
So, a convenient collapse back onto the accusation that DuPont, dowdy sorta-passed-up-by-at-least-three-hoods DuPont is home to the stuck up subspecies.
Lotta snark there, sister. Linear thought? Not so much.
Never said Dupont was stuck up. Nope. Please don’t put words in my mouth, it’s quite rude.
What I am saying is that you, MrJ, not anyone else, not your neighborhood, YOU, sir, are behaving in such a hysterical manner that you’re adding weight Mary’s point that Dupont is stuck up.
So instead of being a shit-stirrer, simmer down, and actually listen instead of hurling personal insults, telling people to grow up, or putting words in people’s mouths.
So, one person’s behavior makes an entire neighborhood seem a certain way. And you’re taking issue with my arguments against using broad brushes how, again, dear Shannon?
Mary, sorry, you’re on your own. My forehead hurts from repeating bashing it into my keyboard.
Understood Shannon… take a couple of Aleve, get a good night’s sleep, and count the reasons you’re glad you don’t have the personality of MrJ.
Oh my goodness,
I cannot believe that someone would take the criticism of a tea shop or neighborhood so personally, to go to such extremes as to lob personal attacks at someone because they don’t like a tea shop? really? MrJ, do you own this tea shop? or are you really just such a crazy arse that when someone expresses a personal opinion on a blog which you are in no way required to read or agree with, that you feel personally slighted and must retaliate. I must say that you have retaliated in such a manor that Mary’s point is undoubtedly made. my guess is that you have way to much time on your hands, I live in DC I frequent DuPont, it is not too bad of a place I guess, I do not hate it (though you are making me lean that way) I do enjoy the people watching and the architecture. I do not enjoy getting ripped off, thank you teaism AND strabucks, and I will continue to frequent the area, thank you overpriced education.
p.s.
Please stop trying so hard to sound twice as smart and lettered then everyone else MrJ, it just makes me think you use synonym finder or something.
all that said, thanks for the halarious comments section, it was great entertainment.
Oh, Mary, why am I not surprised you can do psychological evaluations over the Intertubes? It’s a natural progression from resenting everyone at a tea house, I suppose.