I've moved back to DC - Crumpets AMA

[Crumpets]

I'm starting a new job here in a couple of weeks and just signed a lease on my apartment. Feeling really good albeit anxious since I really enjoyed my time here the last time I lived here, and it felt like it was worth more than a post in Update. So here's a thread to ask me anything - doesn't have to be DC-related.

[Crumpets]

Which neighborhood in D.C.?

Cathedral Heights-ish

Ayyyyy! Welcome home!

Woohoo! It's good to be back!

[Crumpets]

Dude we are very close to being neighbors lmao. Will likely be even closer once I move into an apartment this summer.

Anyways how does it feel moving back? And what do you think is the most underrated neighborhood in DC (interpret that as you will, whether visiting living etc)

Nice! If you're ever looking for a museum/hiking buddy hmu.

It feels really good moving back. I left DC very unceremoniously back in the summer of 2020 at the peak of COVID+George Floyd protests, and I never really got to say bye to a lot of my friends here. Just thinking about getting to have lunch with them honestly has me so happy, and that's not even getting into starting a new job.

Most underrated neighborhood: Okay, I still have a lot of the city to visit, but I'm going to go with Brookland. It doesn't really have the high street that gives a lot of neighborhoods their identity, but there are some really good restaurants along 12th St NE, the Starbucks there imho is the best in the city, which means a lot to a Seattleite like me, and most of all the architecture around CUA is a really cool mix of neo-gothic and DC-style eclecticism.

What are some hidden gems in Seattle (or the general Southern Salish Sea area) you’d recommend checking out?

- Maltby Cafe is my favorite brunch spot and it's kind of in the middle of nowhere off the highway heading out into the burbs. It's popular judging by how long it can take to get in, but I've never met anyone else who has heard of it.
- Schmitz Park in West Seattle is one of the only (possibly the only) piece of never-logged virgin forest inside a major American city. It's not as grand a park as somewhere like Discovery Park, but the feel is very cool.
- The Bainbridge Island ferry is totally worth it for any out-of-towners. One of the nicest evenings I had this past year was to ride it as a walk-on and go find dinner on the other side of the Sound. Go up to the sun deck with a pair of binoculars and you can see pretty much all of Puget Sound, all the mountains, and maybe even some orcas if you're lucky.
- This isn't very "hidden," but the Suzzallo Library reading room at UW is one of my favorite places in the city, and I think deserves more credit. It's where I took one of my all-time favorite pictures of the sunset through the stained-glass windows:

[Crumpets]

Why did you choose to live in DC and not NoVa? Another democratic voter in Nova is always beneficial to Virginia.

Go to western Virginia and West Virginia when you can. In spring, SUMMER, and FALL. They are not majestic like the Wasatch or the Rockies but they are remarkably  beautiful in their own way.

Western Maryland is also another hidden gem, specifically Garrett County.

Go to Annandale for amazing Korean food! Go to Prince William County for an interesting vibe when it starts feel like you crossed the border into the South.

I looked at some places in NoVa, Arlington specifically, but when my job asked me what state I was going to be living in for tax reasons, I just told them DC because I had lived there before and enjoyed it. I'm still going to keep my Washington State voter registration and the company I'll be working for remotely is HQed in Falls Church, so I'll still have some semblance of a real vote, and I'll probably be spending plenty of time in NoVa.

I'm definitely going to be heading into the mountains as soon as I can find a reliable transportation to get me there. I'm debating whether I drive my car across the country to have it here now that I live somewhere that has off-street parking available, but if I do, it will probably not be until next spring.

And yeah, I generally need to get out into the burbs more. There's good food in DC, but it's mixed in with a lot of meh food, and I hear places like Vienna and Annandale are really where it's at food-wise.

What, do you think, distinguishes Washington the most from the US overall?

Don't know if you mean DC or Washington State, but I'll answer for both:

For DC, I think it's how so much of the population is out-of-towners who are united by a very vague but very strong idea that we're making the country and the world a better place through our work. Like a very specific kind of pilgrimage site for civics nerds and strategists. It can be a mess, but I love overhearing conversations at restaurants from the lowest levels of the food chain to the highest and immediately knowing how this person fits into that grand vision. Like the world's biggest company town, but where the product isn't coal or airplanes, but politics and diplomacy.

For Washington State, I think the combination of how recently so many families came to the area, its sadly short written history, and its grandeur has a very humbling effect on everyone who is from there. Nobody brags about their family history, and it's even kind of rare to ask where people come from, what their ethnic heritage is, or how they got where they are more generally. Combine this with the low levels of religiosity, and more than anywhere else I've been in the US, Washington seems to have a very deep appreciation for how short life is and how little each of us matters in the grand scheme of things. People become very committed to living life to the fullest while they can. I think this is why we've had so many different industries define us over the years - lumber, gold, airplanes, coffee, music, tech, medicine - and never really stick to any one of them. People just do what makes them happy.

[Crumpets]

What's your favourite of the Smithsonian museums?

Hmmm... Maybe the portrait gallery? Mostly process of elimination. The American History Museum is too sterile and old-fashioned, the Natural History Museum is 99% stuff you can find in other natural history museums around the world, the Air and Space Museum is like a slimmed-down version of the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and the others are either too small or too new to stand with the big ones.

Who would you cast as the main characters in the Wes Anderson film about your life?

I love this question. Here's my best shot, paying only vague attention to making the ages accurate:

- Owen Wilson as Older me, looking back on my life
- Juliette Binoche as my mom
- Adrian Brody as my dad
- Diane Keaton as my grandma
- Bill Murray as my grandpa
- Madelaine Petsch as my oldest life-long friend
- Booboo Stewart and Zoey Deutch as my two best friends in elementary + middle school
- Gemma Chan as my bff/bully/frienemy since 3rd grade
- Timothée Chalamet, Natalia Dyer, and Keke Palmer as my three best friends from high school
- Saoirse Ronan as my high school love interest
- Beanie Feldstein and Keisha Castle-Hughes as my two best friends from undergrad
- Brigette Lundy-Paine and Léa Seydoux as Betty-and-Veronica-style "will they/won't they" love interests (this is overselling how interesting my life is, but I have to give Wes something to work with.)
- Ashley Williams, Amy Schumer, Willa Holland, and Jason Schwartzman as my various bosses

[Crumpets]

Moving to Arlington myself next month. Hidden gems in the DC area beyond the stuff everyone already knows about?

If you wander far enough through Rock Creek Park or up the B&O Canal tow path, you can find some really cool places. One of my favorites is a forested valley behind the Safeway on Wisconsin Ave. There's a little creek that was beautifully landscaped a while ago and has a very old-world charm to it.

I have also heard - not from my own experience - that it's possible to get into the abandoned Iranian Embassy. I'm pretty sure it's illegal, but people seem to do it all the same, and their pictures are sure cool.

Moving to Arlington myself next month. Hidden gems in the DC area beyond the stuff everyone already knows about?

I hear the Potomac River makes for a great swim! Just ask Lorde!

No!!!! Do not swing in the Potomac river !!! It's ILLEGAL and DANGEROUS.

I'm pretty sure if you stick your hand into the Potomac, it will come out as just a skeleton.

It's your turn now. I have drafted a proposal for a constitutional amendment and would like your reaction, as you've probably seen me ask several others. Would you support or oppose this?

So, I'm far from a lawyer, and I'm sure there are many implications of this that are obvious to many and not obvious to me. That being said, I think I'd lean opposed, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if it passed. It seems like it would be a way of preserving the status quo on a lot of issues and shrinking the Overton Window on some issues of civil rights and state vs. federal powers. But it also seems like it would make the court less flexible on those issues. And just based on how much discussions around trans rights have shifted in the last 5-10 years (just to give an example of a fast-changing issue), I kind of want to keep the potential for more out-of-left field decisions on questions that are clearly not addressed in the Constitution. Might the Court make bad out-of-left-field decisions? Of course. But I'd rather keep it flexible.

Is the DC bubble real, what are its elements, and do you have any critiques of it (or are you already coopted)?

I think it is, but it can manifest itself differently in different people and there's no one set of "bubble beliefs." More like "Beltway Brain." Like, I remember we did a poll in my old office during the 2020 primaries, and the breakdown of the ~15-20 people we asked were about 50% Warren, 50% Buttigieg, and one Never Trumper who I think was going to write in David Patereaus for President. So, an extreme outlier to say the least. Meanwhile, my old boss was absolutely convinced that Trump would win re-election and Democrats may as well not even contest it to save resources for 2022 and 2024. She was also someone who thought that if only we were able to write the perfect OpEd on the matter, we could get people to support arming moderate members of the Syrian opposition. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that that combo of views is pretty much unique to her. I'm sure just given the fact that I post on Atlas I do stuff like this too, so yeah, I'm a bit coopted, but it's probably only on very niche issues that I work closely on and not grand visions for the country.

And on that point, I do notice a phenomenon where all the experts on some very specific issue can tend to groupthink and reach a consensus on what is the "right" policy, while blaming the government or the public for not pursuing that policy, even if they themselves vote very differently from one another and contribute to that gridlock and partisanship. Lindsey Graham is one of the best examples of this. He is legit seriously knowledgeable about a lot of foreign policy issues and understands things like the conditions of US-secured IDP camps in the Middle East more than pretty much anyone in DC. But then he goes and supports people like Trump for President who is probably the least understanding person of those issues on this continent and actively undermines the policies that Graham will tell people in DC ballrooms he supports.

[Crumpets]

Where are people nicer/friendlier?  Washington DC or Seattle, Washington?

This is difficult. As a Seattleite at heart, I'd say Seattle. However, the way I perceive it, DC is the more nice/friendly city on a macro level; it's easier to talk to strangers, people seem to want to hang out more, and I just generally have a more social life when I'm here. But DC can also be very transactional with its friendships - it feels pretty common for people to be "friends" with you more for networking or to pad their guest number for parties than because they actually relate to you. Seattle is much more standoffish, and I'd guess outsiders would see people as being very cold (hence the "Seattle freeze"). But personally, I think this is more a result of people being more genuine in their feelings than less friendly. People aren't going to go through the motions of friendship if they don't see you as a friend, and if they're being friendly, it's not in a phony way. So, I find genuine friendships are easier and more fulfilling in Seattle than in DC.

Have you ever been to Kabob Palace, a certified Talk Elections classic restaurant in Crystal City?

I have not! But I have had meals with Atlasians at two other places in Crystal City. I had sushi with Retromike at a place near the metro station and I went to Legal Seafoods with Retromike, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Elephantower. I think Strangeland and Turkisblau might also have joined us, but I don't remember if they were there for that specific meal.

[Crumpets]

I hear the Potomac River makes for a great swim! Just ask Lorde!

No!!!! Do not swing in the Potomac river !!! It's ILLEGAL and DANGEROUS.

I'm pretty sure if you stick your hand into the Potomac, it will come out as just a skeleton.

LOL!  I know you're being facetious, but seriously, the Potomac earned a 'B' from the Potomac Conservancy report card in 2018 (though it has slipped a little since then), which is a vast improvement from just a decade ago.  Which is good news, since it is our main source of drinking water, though we are looking for backup sources in the event of a severe drought.  

Edit: And once DC is finished with its Clean Rivers Project by the end of the decade, stormwater runoff and sewage overflows will be a thing of the past.  At least as far as DC is concerned.  Alexandria is also working on building a brand new sewage system to take care of its end of the problem.  

I predict that by the 2030s at the earliest, the Potomac River should be safe enough to fish and swim in.  Among other recreational activities.  

That's really good to hear. I think a big part of the reason that the Potomac always looks so gross is just runoff from upstream and less, like, legit human-caused pollution, even if things like storm runoff and sewage obviously don't help. If you go to Great Falls on a rainy day, it looks worse than if you're in Alexandria on a nice day.