After reading my post about suburbia a couple of times back, my colleague Penelope Poulou, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, pointed out that even though Alexandria is considered part of suburban Washington, D.C., the city of 145,000 people is nothing like stereotypical modern suburbs. Founded in 1749, 52 years before Washington even existed, Alexandria was […]
Killer Oaks, Seat Hogs, and More
Posted July 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm (UTC-4)
As I, cough, cough, mentioned last time, I, hack, live in the leafy Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland. Our little town calls itself “Azalea City,” which you’d believe if you stopped by in springtime. And year ’round, gasp, we live beneath a canopy of big, beautiful trees, including, snort, thousands and thousands of killer […]
Sub-bore-bia?
Posted July 20th, 2010 at 10:24 am (UTC-4)
Are you into birdhouses? Barbed Wire? The flamboyant singer Liberace? Little flip-open Pez candy dispensers? How about art made from toast? Somewhere in America, there’s a museum devoted to it. And another unusual, but grander and eminently justifiable, museum is in the works. Hundreds of American galleries are devoted to our great cities and the […]
Island Hopping
Posted July 12th, 2010 at 1:43 pm (UTC-4)
A couple of years ago, Carol and I enjoyed a pleasant visit to the Hawaiian Islands, which form America’s 50th and most remote state about a third of the way across the immense Pacific Ocean. As we waited at the Honolulu airport prior to flying home, we got to talking with another outbound American. She […]
