Via Matt comes this interview with Ana Marie Cox:
reason: Your protagonist refers to D.C. "special olympics of sex." Is that just an overall impression you've formed? Did you have some special olympians in mind?
Cox: That was my overall impression. I am so glad I came to D.C. married. I can't imagine how awful it would be to be single in D.C.
So uh, if she came to DC married, how would she know the sex is of retarded-pole-vaulter quality?
Update: On a more important level, Matt mentions that folks love to demean DC, partly because DC appears uncool and partly because it allows the speaker to imply how accustomed they are to increased awesomeness. But the whole thing is a foolish construct. DC isn't uncool, it's just that a lot of uncool people in DC hang out in big groups. As example, I have a lot of wonky, political journalist friends. When we get together, we talk about wonky, political journalist things. I enjoy it, they enjoy it, but no one's going to put us on a reality show. On the other hand, I have a fair number of non-political friends in DC, and we tend to do more acceptably "cool" things like hang out at multistory nightclubs where people are sharply dressed and eye-catchingly attractive. I sometimes enjoy it, sometimes don't, but it's certainly more glamorous.
DC, contrary to popular belief, is largely not composed of political professionals, just like LA is not packed with struggling actors and New York has folks not employed by the fashion industry. It's got stereotypically "cool" folks who do stereotypically "cool" things, but the political class tends not to join in, largely because its members don't terribly enjoy going to a club. And not to get all afternoon special on you, but that's what actually is cool about DC: it's filled with people who've made a commitment to work in a sector and live a life they actually enjoy rather than follow the more standard, and lucrative, tracks towards accomplishment and acceptance. Those who're here whining about the lack of coolness are, in my experience, pretty lame, and the overcompensation-through-projection is downright uncool.
