I’ve lived in this area forever and I truly can’t remember the last time any studio or 1B room cost that low. Even IZ and ADUs are above that. You are better off getting a room in house or staying with family. $1000 is not realistic to be alone in the city.

It’s just funny cuz dc will be experience actual issues and WaPO will find time to have an Op Ed like this posted like we not dying out here.

Interesting Discussion: Born in VA in a family member’s living room raised near the DC/PG line until my family moved deeper into PG. My mom worked in DC so we spent a lot of time in DC and she spent years living in the city before I was born. PGCPS all K-12. Went to colleges in MD. Moved into the city to teach and be closer to my students. Wanted to teach in DC or PG to help other low income kids make it to and through college. When I got a job it was at a HS in the city. No longer teaching so I’ve considered leaving the city and moving to MD but my rent is actually cheaper than a lot of buildings similar in MD areas that I can easily hope on Marc. I’m a non driver so living in DC has more accessible public transport options than where my parents are in PG.

Funny enough I now work remote so none of my coworkers are from here. When I taught, a lot of the teachers weren’t from the DMV either. My whole life is rooted here. Maybe I’m even scared to leave the DMV.

That’s why people need to do more than talk to their circle or you’ll sum valid nuanced conversations into one sided arguments. There’s a difference between moving and being a transplant. Everyone who moved here isn’t an evil person who wants make DC bland and drive off minorities, sometimes they are also people who’ve been displaced or came for a job/school and couldn’t really afford to pick up and leave or go home or become so involved the DMV is their new home. It just depends on really the interactions. DC is also one of the safest places for the LGBT and has decriminalized cannabis. Transplants to me really are people not in the immediate DMV at all but flood these spaces to amplify crime and low resources to start these kinds of discord in DC. The hate for non locals isn’t hate but more so feeling competitive for the limited resources this city has. It’s like if you are making more and appear more desirable if you keep coming I’ll eventually be pushed out. The fear is coming out as hate instead of us finding solidarity to share resources or support only the politicians who have all of us in mind. It’s on both sides but of course the incomers have to respect that they don’t have full knowledge of history and culture here, so there’s a level of yielding to locals they have to do to understand. It’s not all as it seems.

If it was about criminal activity no businesses would ever open in Chinatown. It’s code for you bring in the wrong crowd and we wanna rebrand so we pricing you out your leases cuz we don’t want the money you bring in, we want the classy dollars our new businesses and housing projects will bring. . In decades we will be talking Chinatown from the late 2000s to now the same way we look back and say what happened to “China”town.

How packed it is I think?

Bookbags on the seat I get, telling people to take off and hold their bookbags so you can fit on the elevator… not really a priority. People don’t all need to use the elevator. To others they are thinking take the stairs, escalator, or wait for the next elevator. WMATA has youth smoking and playing Wild West on the Platforms as well as fare evaders finessing their ever move to prevent them. Their attention is elsewhere and it’s not worth potentially someone getting aggressive with you over this being a real conversation you attempt to have with strangers.

Something really sinister about taking an emotional support chicken to chick fil a of all places 😭

I think better advice would be to start hanging out with women groups as friends so you know how to behave around them and see them as people not just things to hit on. If you knew how to socialize better with women you wouldn’t be in this situation. This is not me being rude at all I just think we aren’t trained on how to be friends to each other so we get awkward dating because we are missing certain boundary things. Other guys can’t help you pick up women. The masculinity is just gonna make you feel more empowered but not necessarily increase your chances. I’d rather one guy approach me respectfully than him coming with a pack of friends. That would make me feel like you are tryna intimidate me.

Also every woman I know isn’t thinking she’s gonna find her future husband in the club. They are probably also looking for hook ups so your best bet also is to try a different venue to met people. Preferably one where drinking and dancing isn’t the focus but your interest or hobbies are.

I tell my Ubers to get me from the garage anyways. Idk see why others don’t do the same.

I taught for less than a school year cuz my school admin just allowed me to be treated like shit. Because I’m so young they wanted to treat me like my students they had on the school to prison pipeline but I’m an adult so when I stood up against the mess it was kind of taken as wtf are you doing get in line so I did, I resigned. I was advisor of clubs and committes for student culture events so when I left those clubs got messed up. I still attempt to be there for my students but it’s tough since I’m no longer working there and back in school myself and have little money and time to spare for them but they are used to having their friendly teacher who would buy them snacks and help them if they needed $20 here and there and supporting all of their events and sports teams. So I feel guilty like by seeking freedom for me I did a more heinous crime of abandoning people who actually needed me. Working in DCPS destroyed my mental health and I’m not even 30 yet I’m not even close to being 30. I was a young recent graduate thinking I’m from the area and maybe if I work with a certain type of kid I could make a difference. For my kids I did but my admin made it impossible to do my job. The harassment I dealt with from coworkers old than me by at least a decade was insane. I was also not given resources needed to do my job and the school knew this and for months still refused to give them to me. Plus I was often told we don’t care if you were a close contact and need to get tested you better be in this building with these kids. They even guilted you for wanting to be Covid free. Oftentimes the families didn’t trust the vaccine so students would not be wearing mask and would be saying COVID’s not real as DCPS is trying to intimidate you into never taking off so you can avoid getting Covid. The school I worked at waited til after the last day before winter break was over to tell us that over 50 students were Covid contacts so people wouldn’t take off. So y’all saying there’s no way a whole class becomes a risk… Lies. My first week teaching more than half of one of my classes was out because one kid who had multiple classes with them all had Covid. Imagine it’s the week of Labor Day and you are tryna start teaching but only 3 kids are in class and the rest of them aren’t gonna do the work from home because they are sick and don’t have a teacher to help them.

The teacher turnover is that teachers no longer want to be disrespected for scraps when we can change fields and protect our mental health. That’s truly it. I loved my good coworkers and students and I get sadly almost daily knowing I can’t go back and try to make a difference in that community because it wasn’t safe for me in anyways.

They've done me so dirty. My apartment wasn't Move ready at all when I came to move in. It’s just crazy they are tryna sell. Probably to rebrand the building after some incidents.

The month is the same as my original lease. My new lease I actually agreed to was to go up $100 but it’s not on the rent cafe. I don’t mind it even though it’s not the safest but the location makes it somewhat convenient for me for many reasons. It’s all making sense. Seems like they may wanna toss some of us in the cheaper apartments so the new landlord can fill it up with new pricing because my 1B is way cheaper than some studios here.

Think we may live in the same building because I was kind of confused too. My lease ended august and I accepted a new lease but there’s no new lease because the leasing people kind of just stopped replying to things after July... Just me paying my rent monthly hoping to not be thrown out cuz DC is too hard to find housing in.