I ♥ DC

Drinking a beer was not my best decision. On a blustery Friday night, my friend, Tish, and I were sitting at the dimly lit bar, in the dimly lit ballroom at The Black Cat. I had already had a vodka and soda, but now I was sipping Tish’s leftover beer. “It’s not really a casual beer,” she said. I nodded, although I still don’t really know what that means, and gladly accepted the glass when she slid it over. Drinking that beer was mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was coming to a Kimya Dawson show early enough to catch an earnest, but misguided opening act. The young man stood on the stage in a plaid shirt, skinny jeans and non-prescription horn rim glasses (my guess) while strumming his guitar and rapidly spouting nonsensical lyrics into the microphone. His music sounded like grunge without the aggression. Instead he strove to be ironic, because that’s what’s “cool” these days. I prefer the aggression.He stayed there for 45 minutes and was unforgettable in the wrong way.

Mistake #3 was going downstairs between the opening acts to buy food at the small, primarily vegetarian restaurant adjoining The Black Cat. It had the same mellow vibe and apparently the same lights. I could barely see the staff in the kitchen, but when I squinted I could make out the silhouettes of two guys and one girl all hunkered together around one small stove slicing and frying. I came back upstairs with a hamburger for Tish and a hotdog for myself. I don’t even like to eat hotdogs – way too processed. Yet, there I was happily eating that beef frank with all of the fixings: ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish.

By the time Kimya Dawson took the stage, I was feeling drowsy and slightly queasy. Nonetheless, Tish and I sidled up toward the stage, joining the sizable crowd. I looked around and noticed that many people’s eye lids were drooping. A few couples were cuddling on a small side stage sleepily. We were all fighting fatigue to show our support for Kimya. She was great. One of my favorite live performers, in fact. She was funny, sweet, and full of engaging stories about motherhood and life on the road. And I really love how she writes songs, thoughtfully and whimsically. I was sorry to have to leave before her set ended, but I was just too damn tired.

As we were walking back to the U Street Metro station, cold and hazily, I realized that it was Nov. 11. I arrived in DC on Sept. 11. It was my two-month anniversary. I smiled about that. I’m growing to love this city and each week I learn something new about it. I plan to do more things like attending shows at places like The Black Cat. Hopefully, I will be more alert in the future

And now it’s winter.

I woke up this morning to the sound of a persistent drizzle plopping against the window of my friend’s DC apartment. As I mentioned before, I have been staying in Maryland for the past couple of weeks. The buses can be unreliable out here, so I tend to limit my city trips to weekdays and workday hours. Last night, however, I was making a special trip to the Brightest Young Things’ Halloween party at the Newseum. When in a new city, investigating the local social scene becomes a top priority. I like to eat and I like to party. I had heard that BYT was making a name for itself as the premiere event planners for DC’s growing young, professional population. I wasn’t disappointed. The group transformed the Newseum, which is already impressively designed, into a lively maze decked with flashing neon lights, bars, ping-pong tables, djs, and a dance floor beneath the watchful eye of a 3D skull. At 11pm, Quest Love of The Roots took over the turntables and took the party to another level. I danced until the the lights came up.

I was reasonably tired this morning, so the rain was a good excuse to not push myself to accomplish much today. As the rain morphed into snow, I shared a bucket of KFC with my friend before venturing out to catch a metro train back to Maryland. I spent the rest of the day eating chilli, making brownies, reading and watching television. It’s nice to relax. I am actually beginning to feel like DC is home. Yesterday, I made my first appointment to look at an apartment. I still don’t have a full-time job and I probably won’t be ready to commit to a long-term lease until December or January, but I think that this will be a healthy exercise. I’m not going back to Dayton anytime soon. This is home now.

Moving on up…or at least out

A couple of weeks before Occupy Wall Street began, I decided to design my own rebellion against the lifestyle that I felt forced into by the current recession. So, I quit my job as an adjunct instructor, packed three suitcases, said good-bye to all of my friends and family back in Dayton, and drove to Washington D.C. I wanted a job – the kind that would actually pay my bills and help me start paying off the loans that I accumulated after nearly seven years of college. Who knew if I would find it in D.C., but I had heard that at least the job market was better there, and I had friends who were willing to let me couch surf while I hunted for employment and an apartment. That was better than nothing.

It’s been an interesting journey so far. I found a part-time job within a week of my arrival and I have now rotated to three very different neighborhoods. Right now I’m in Prince George’s County, Maryland staying in an apartment complex where my friends and I are just about the only native English speakers. Africa and Latin America are representing hard here (more about that later). I’ll be honest. I’m scared. I’m in a new place, without a full-time job, or a place to live. But I also know that I haven’t felt this happy and optimistic about my future in a long time. The other day, I tweeted that my optimism is worth fighting for, and it is. It’s my life jacket.

More stories about how I’m making it in D.C. coming soon…

Some Thoughts On Life and Death

I’ve been called many things in my lifetime, “an eater” is perhaps my favorite. Yes, I love to eat. I especially love to eat when the food is free. Years ago, my mother admitted that she was embarrassed by my voracious appetite. We were at a reception for an arts organization. They had the typical fare: cheese, crackers, neatly cut sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies. But I never get bored with such menus. Food is food.

“You can’t just keep going back to the table and refilling your plate just because it’s free,” my mother whispered to me as I headed back to trays for the third time. “Sure you can,” I said. I don’t understand this shame that people have about consuming tasty tidbits that were clearly set out so that you will stay and lend physical support (your presence) or financial support (a fat check) to an event. I find it baffling, but, oh well, that just means more for me.

Anyway, I am always pleased to see others who share my penchant for dining.  Writer, Ligaya Mishan, is one of those people. I was so impressed by our shared search for cheap treats as chronicled in “New York’s New Frozen Treats” that I even made copies for my class last week and had them read the piece aloud in class. Could there be anything more educational than reading about chocolate and almond covered bananas? In all seriousness, it is a very well-written article and extremely timely given the death cloud of heat that has wrapped itself around the country this summer.

In other non food related news, Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment on Saturday. I’m not going to get into a long analysis about her life and career. There are plenty of newspapers and blogs already doing that, but here is a link to one of my favorite songs from her.

So enjoy the music, enjoy some food, and enjoy this life. Cheers!

Rural pigs and weiners

The New York Times is really feeding my news loving soul today. First, I read this piece. Like most people, I am quite tired of the Weiner scandal in general, but I do appreciate Maureen Dowd’s feminist insight into why so many powerful men tend to marry up and date down. Second, is this lovely story (and accompanying photo essay) about photographer, Ernesto Bazan’s, love affair with the Cuban country side. I may not mention it as often as Brazil, but Cuba was my first great Latin American seducer and these pictures remind me of why I hope to return there some day soon.

A whole new world

So, today I joined twitter. Yes, I know that I am way late. Everyone else has been on there for the past two years, but, what can I say, I have always been contrary. Whatever the crowd wanted to do, I wanted to do just the opposite. This time I had to give in, though. There is so much information being passed around in those little 140 characters or less boxes, and, as I journalist, I feel like it’s my job to know what’s happening out there. I may be contrary, but I am also nosy. Anyway, it’s been a lot of fun so far. I’m still trying to work out a few kinks (like how to re-size my photo, so that it’s not just a close-up of my chest), but I’m looking forward to exploring another aspect of the digital world. Feel free to follow me at @Steph_Beasley.

“Open the Door. I’ll Get It Myself.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about ground breakers – those people who were and are brave enough to take personal or professional risks to accomplish a goal. Monday, was the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. I reflected on his life and all of the sacrifices that he, his family, his colleagues, and his followers made in order to make civil rights a national priority. I have also pondered the legacy of Malcolm X, another civil rights leader albeit a more polarizing figure in American history than King. This week a new book entitled, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” will be released at book stores throughout the country. Written by Manning Marable*, who died last week, it asserts that much of the information contained in the widely read “Autobiography of Malcolm X” was exaggerated, and that important details like Malcolm’s relationship to the Pan African community and a homosexual affair, were completely omitted. Marable is said to have spent years of his life devoted to combing through FBI documents and interviewing those who knew Malcolm for this expansive text. I look forward to reading it and also wonder if it will change peoples’ perspective of the the man who has become an enduring figure in American history.

Within that vein, I also discovered a group of women who were not only ground breakers in term of racism but also sexism. The International Sweethearts were a 1940′s big band composed entirely of women, and most of them were women of color. Both of these attributes made them unique within that time period. Sadly, their story has not been well documented by either music or civil rights historians and it really is too bad. You can check them out for yourselves in this NPR story.

*Manning also just happens to be from Dayton. And, yes, that is yet another plug.

Update: Do you still want to know more about the information contained in Manning Marable’s new book? Well, here is a link to a New Yorker article that I really liked.

Things that make me say “ugh”

I know that it’s been a while. I promise that I will be back with a full post very soon. Right now, however, I’m posting two interviews that made me shake my head today:

Gaddafi Interview via BBC

Charlie Sheen Interview via CNN

One of these men has ruled a country for over forty years, and the other is an actor whose career has been riddled with drug abuse and sex scandals. Can you tell the difference?

*Update – Here’s proof that great minds think alike: Charlie Sheen v. Muammar Gaddafi: whose line is it anyway?

Scorpios: You’re Going to Die. Geminis: You’re Going to Die.

I snatched this week’s title from a Chris Rock comedy record, “No Sex in the Champagne”. I am not wishing death upon either Scorpios or Geminis in particular, I just wanted to make a point: No matter what astrological sign you fall under, you are guaranteed to meet the same end. So why are so many people upset by a new assertion that the Earth’s current rotation pattern has changed everyone’s astrological sign? According to the findings, if you thought that you were a Taurus, you are actually an Aries. If you were a Leo, you are now a Cancer. And some people have an entirely new sign called Ophiuchus, which sounds like it was plucked right out of Deep Space Nine. The news was evidently so alarming to some that they took to their Facebook and Twitter accounts pledging eternal allegiance to their former signs. I am of the opinion that I am the same person no matter which direction the moon and stars were hanging on my birthday. Come on, people. Let’s get our minds right and move on to more consequential matters.

The Best Things About 2010 (According to Me) pt.3

I will conclude my best of series with a listing of my favorite music, films and television programs.

Favorite Albums:

Include the latest by the artists that I mentioned in the two prior posts as well as:

“All Delighted People” – Sufjan Stevens

“Brothers” – The Black Keys

“Contra” – Vampire Weekend

“Elis & Tom” – Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina (This one is actually decades old, but it was new to me.)

“Genuine Negro Jig” – Carolina Chocolate Drops

“Soldier of Love” – Sade

*Favorite Guilty Pleasure Albums: “Thank Me Later” – Drake, “Passion, Pain & Pleasure” – Trey Songz

Favorite Films and Documentaries:

Black Swan

Despicable Me

Finishing Heaven

If God is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise

Patrik Age 1.5

Public Speaking

Favorite Television Programs:

Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Bored to Death (HBO)

Latin Music USA (PBS)

Treme (HBO)

30 Rock (NBC)

*Favorite Guilty Pleasure TV Program: Law & Order: SVU (I get sucked into those marathons on USA all the time. It’s a problem.)

That’s it, folks. I had a great time exploring the country and expanding my knowledge of the arts this year. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my experiences. I look forward to sharing more with you in 2011. Happy New Year!