"Smashed Egg" by nicasaurusrex, on Flickr
It had been a while since I walked down the stretch of R Street between 15th and 14th. But on a leisurely stroll home last night with some friends, we really weren’t thinking about watching our backs. I mean, it was the Fourth of July! Everyone’s in a good mood, right? No need for anyone to be jerks, let alone hostile and violent jerks.
In hindsight, it shouldn’t have surprised us when the first egg hit the sidewalk in front of us. I’ve avoided that block for years at night precisely because of incidents like that. There were probably some thirty people hanging out on the opposite side of the street, all just glaring at us like a gauntlet. The fact that we had a dog didn’t deter them from throwing about four eggs at us. At least they weren’t rocks.
The glow of “we’re all Washingtonians together in a new beginning” has obviously faded, or they never felt it to begin with.
It breaks my heart.
As one of the founding editors of We Love DC, Jenn’s passions are theater and cocktails. After two decades in the city, she’s loved every quirky, mundane, elegant, rude minute of her DC life. A proud advocate for DC’s talented drinks scene, she’s judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s ARTINI contest, the DC Rickey Month contest, the Jefferson Hotel’s Quill Cocktail competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. A graduate of Catholic University’s drama program, she toured the country as a member of National Players, and has been both an actor and a costume designer before jumping the aisle to theater criticism. Writing for We Love DC restored her happiness after a life-threatening illness, and she’s grateful to you, dear readers. Send your suggestions to jenn (at) welovedc (dot) com and follow her on Twitter.
I don’t understand why people would waste perfectly good eggs to throw them at strangers on the street. I really, really don’t get it.
What is it with that block? I’ve had several people warn me away from it in the past. Such a shame because all around it are nice homes and people, but woe to those who accidentally venture too near…
It’s because they took ghetto people and deposited them in that block because some developers put 4 buildings of section 8 housing there. It’s not PC, but it’s true: concentrated section 8 housing leads directly to crime, violence, misery, intimidation