"Whether you love it because it's your favorite place to spend Saturday night (come on, where else can you see a flea circus?) or you abhor it as a symbol of gentrification and crass "newcomer" commercialism..."
Umm, "crass 'newcomer' commercialism"? It sounds like someone's been cruising the Style section archives & that flea circus article is only a couple of weeks old. If you are going to write something about a topic on which you are completely ignorant (which the author seems to be, but then you can't visit every venue hosting an event) it is not only good to do a bit of research (like the Post archive search the author clearly performed), but it is also probably a good idea to stay away from more extreme/gratuitous (and slightly inflammatory, to say the least) language. I look forward to reading similar Post entertainment announcements casually mentioning how Dupont has lost its soul by going all straight corporate yuppie and U Street isn't cool anymore because there are too many trendy white young people around these days. Any thoughts?
19 comments:
These kinds of blurbs are usually written by stringers, new hires, or teenage interns who confuse snarcasm with talent. It's a little journalistic backwater for the kids to play in before they let them handle a real assignment, like the mating habits of slackjawed suburban hausfraus. Nothing to see here. Fritz Hahn probably didn't have enough time to do a real story, so he shuffled this off to one of his deputies.
"crass newcomer commercialism"
I read that too, and I was amazed and mystified! I actually read it out loud a couple times to my husband, and we were both shaking our heads, like what?!?
yeah, when i want to get my crass commercialism on, i hit up the family dollar and the auto zone. lol.
Monkey, I agree that this is a little nothing blurb & the writer was trying to be clever, not intending any harm. I thought it was more odd than offensive. As I mentioned, I think I see the sources she used, though crass commercialism of "newcomers" seems to be a mischaracterization not only of the situation on H Street, but also of the Style section's big H Street piece. Maybe the Post should offer some remedial courses on blurb writing.
Crass newcomer commercialism? Sounds sexy. Where can I get me some of that? Maybe I can get it in one of the many liquor stores or check cashing places on or near H. Or do those not count?
If Palace of Wonders is crass, it is not because of its commercialism. And are we really bemoaning the POW as crass when the rest of H street is such a mess? 60 vacant properties!?
Regarding the festival, and the general state of things on the street, my roommate and I were walking to the festival, headed north at about 8th and H, when we overheard the following snippet of a conversation:
"What's going on? Where they all headed?"
"Oh, it's just the gentrification party on 12th."
The speaker seemed quite matter of fact about it - neither pleased nor upset. Unlike the woman two blocks later who shouted us down for being "white honkies". Can't win 'em all, I suppose.
That's funny, considering that most attendees I saw were, in fact, not white. And that the festival is organized by a black man, and that there was a black nationalist book stand, hip hop, go-go, etc.
Yep, whitey's really running things at the festival.
Not that anything heard at 8th & H should be taken too seriously, as most of those folks do not live in the neighborhood.
I personally encountered no hostility and was treated well by everyone I interacted with during the festival. Isn't *that* what "we" (HGADC, the Honkie Gentrifier Association of DC, apparently) want anyway?
[please pardon the rant.]
Hmmm crass newcomer comercialism on H st. Where is it? Let see... There is that Gallery Z at 6th and H and a Restoration Hardware across from it. And if I'm not mistaken, there is A Harris Teeter at 3rd St. No wait they decided not to build on H St. We're getting a brand new Wegmans.
Anon 10:12 -
I'm curious why you say that most of the folks on 8th and H don't live in the neighborhood. I'm not arguing - I honestly have no idea - but what bring people there?
Kerry,
8th and H is a defacto outdoor bus transfer station. The several lines running east-west along H and Bladensburg intersect with several running north-south on 8th. I've read that it is the busiest bus stop in the District. This make sense because the areas those routes serve are the least served by Metro. Most of the people you see milling about are on their way to somewhere else.
8th & H is a transfer point between the X1/X2 & the 90/92 buses, but I think the earlier comment referred to the amplified preachers. Those guys say some pretty crazy stuff into their microphones and they don't live around here. They just come to that corner to screech...I mean preach.
Crass commercialism at 14th and H? Cool! I'll meet you at the new Starbucks and then we'll go to the new Chipotle!
Dude, you aint' got smack until you got a Starbucks inside the Chipotle.
H St. has sat as depressed eyesore for almost 40 years. As someone who's been living in the area for 10 years I'm glad some newcomers (whatever color they are) have brought some vitality back to the area.
Meanwhile, I'm quite certain the writer of the blurb is off getting a taste of non-crass commercialism and *real* city living in Congress Heights and Anacostia, right?
Thanks for the info, guys. I ride the x2 a lot, but don't make too many north/south transfers.
Actually Inked, it wasn't the lovely members of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge this time, just an angry woman on a stoop.
Sorry about the woman on the stoop Kerry, but when I referred to an earlier commenter I actually meant the one at 10:12, but that could also be a reference to travellers.
Ah, Elise... should have followed that more carefully. thanks.
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