America, May 6, 2008
Deconstructing Downtown Washington DC
Only memories and dust now
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Walking to work the other morning, I was struck by an amazing sight. A pinnacle of destruction piercing the downtown skyline, another office building deconstructed in the name of development.
This office building was special to me. Back when I first moved to DC, I worked at its sister building across Connecticut Avenue and the two were the only buildings around that had windows that could open. On beautiful spring days like today, I loved listening to the hustle of commuters exiting the Metro and melodies of the musicians singing for spare change. Over a decade later, I find myself deconstructing my own downtown DC experience. No longer am I a clueless beginner accountant in a small nonprofit. No longer to I think Washington DC is the shit. Now I've lived on the world stage. I've circumnavigated the earth twice, and I've even been on 60 Minutes. And I'm the better for it. Will the intersection of K Street and Connecticut Avenue NW be better for this change? Will the loss of a rare building with windows that open, replaced by glass and steel, be the shit? We can only know that it will be shiny and new. On moves progress, on moves modernization, and all we have are memories. Of buildings and youth now long gone. |
