Sunday, May 17, 2009

Life in DC: The Good and the Bad

I have to admit that while I'm a city girl at heart, living in a big city is not all it's cracked up to be. And while I accept the fact that I live in a city that was once the murder capitol, this past week has been disturbing. I've lived in Shaw for three years now and have never had any real problems. I have of course heard about the neighborhood's high crime past but Shaw has come a very long way as witnessed by the gentrification. But in one week there have been two shootings and a drug bust in my own building.
The first shooting was in front of the Whitman this past Monday evening as was reported on by BaancBlog. I was just about to head to the metro when I heard the gunfire and like the writer, thought (hoped) these were firecrackers. Once outside, I saw police surrounding the area. I still don't know what this was about. Then early Wednesday morning I awoke to someone's door on a floor above me being busted open. I went to the window first and saw cars surrounding the building and FBI agents rushing in. I opened my front door and they were everywhere. Repeated trips to my window revealed someone I didn't recognize handcuffed and being shoved into a car. I felt as if I was watching an episode of Law and Order. I finally asked one of the agents what was going on but as I figured, he said he couldn't tell me anything. All I know is that they spent at least two and half hours up there and took several bags of evidence out.

Next up, a fatal shooting on Thursday at about 9:30 pm right in front of the Mount Vernon Square/Convention Center metro - yes, the one I get on and off at almost every day. Sorry, but this is all a bit much for this city girl.
So, I took the edge off with the some live music at the Black Cat at the end of the week. As I've mentioned before, I love house music and Tortured Soul is an amazing live house band. Last week I also met two cute professional guys while out watching the NBA playoffs. One of them is determined to get us a coveted seat at Cafe Atlantico's Minibar. Knowing a little something about sports and not having cable actually does pay off sometimes.

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3 comments:

Shaw Girl said...

I feel your pain. A guy was shot in the head across the street from my building on Friday night. Rick actually heard the six gunshots that killed the guy.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the mention you got (referring to this post) in this morning's Washington Post EXPRESS.

City Girl DC said...

Shaw Girl - That's awful! I guess these are the costs of living in the city.
Anonymous - thanks! A friend called to tell me yesterday morning.