DC By the Book

Excerpt: I missed my old neighborhood on Stanton Road, I missed the hills and the buses and going to Wilkerson with my friends.... I had been jumping double Dutch since I was in the second grade. My friends around Stanton Road always had contests, and the winner always got something from the ice cream truck for a dollar from Ms. Penny. I got real good, cuz Mama never had money to give me for the truck. So when I turned around and did the double-jump pop-up again, I went down and touched the ground, before jumping the double again. I wanted to show these Northeast girls how we did it in Southeast.

Excerpt: Chu told me to meet him at the Rhode Island Avenue train station at nine o'clock. There was a breakfast spot he wanted to take me to in Adams Morgan, and he said he wanted to take me shopping downtown. Of course, I had to hook school to make this date, but it was worth it.

Excerpt: H20 was going to be cranking, and I was ready for whatever. All week long, WKYS had been naming all the different celebrities who was supposed to come out, and I wasn't gonna miss Lil' Wayne for nothing in the world..... The line in front of the club was already snaking down the street when we pulled up.... Top-of-the-line cars of just about every model paraded up and down the street, with music blasting and sparkling rims spinning. The music was pouring out the door and the loud bass vibrated the whole building. I passed the ID test with security without a problem. We watching a couple of girls who looked like hookers prance by, wearing long tracks with platinum blond streaks down their backs. The duo had on bright sequined bikini tops and shorts that looked like satin panties. "Skanky bitches," Peaches mumbled.... "Shawty crunk on the floor, wide open," one of the Ying Yang Twins sang. "Girl, this my song," Peaches said as she dragged me to the dance floor. "Shake it like a salt shaker!"

Excerpt: Their place was in a rundown apartment building on Montana Avenue. It kind of reminded me of my old neighborhood in Wellington Park. It seemed like there was always a lot of people out and about. Dudes smoking on the corner or fixing cards in the parking lot with their radios turned up real loud. Women sat on the steps out front, gossiping and watching the children play or braiding hair.... People spoke to each other, asked about one another's children and other family. Sometimes fights sprung up, but everybody knew everybody, so a lot of time the cops ain't even get involved unless it was a shooting... In Chu's neighborhood, people seemed to look out for each other. Every time somebody new came on the block, it was like everybody noticed. I felt safe around his way for some reason, even though the girls stayed in our business.

Excerpt: African accents bounced off the dingy walls of the hair-braiding shop at the corner of Eighth and H Streets. I was getting Senegalese twists, but I hated when they spoke that stuff couldn't nobody understand but them.... I looked around at the five other girls leaning to the left and then the right, as the African ladies tugged and stitched fake hair extensions tightly on their heads. The braiders' dark, rough fingertips was cracked and peeling like they had been scrubbing floors with their bare hands.... I was lucky enough to get a chair at six in the morning since it took five hours to do the style I wanted...

Excerpt: As I walked out of Providence Hospital for the first time since I arrived at the Brinkleys' doorstep, I felt alone. Like no one loved me and I had no plan. I wiped another tear from my face and started walking down Allison Street. I walked until the sun disappeared behind the houses.... I still couldn't believe he was dead. Just like that he was gone, and for what?

Excerpt: I looked out the window as Nut made a left onto Florida Avenue heading toward Northwest. He jumped on New York Avenue and drove past the Convention Center. Nut pulled up on Fourteenth Street, near Logan Circle, and double-parked his truck beside a hotel. "All right, bitches, make that ass clap and clear your throats," Nut said, looking in his rearview mirror. "Get the fuck out and make that money." Everybody climbed out and fixed their clothes in the middle of the street. There was steady traffic, and a few other women was already out, walking up and down in similar outfits.... Shakira handed me a tiny bottle of Grey Goose from her bag. "Drink that shit ASAP. Trust me when I say you goin' need it out here."

Excerpt: Once inside the hotel lobby, I waited as Joe checked us into a room. It was a nice hotel, and nothing like the cheap, dirty-ass motel on New York Avenue where niggas always tried to take me. Wynika called it the "No Tell Motel," cuz shit was always happening there, and whenever the cops came around asking questions, nobody knew nothing.... As soon as we got to the room, I sent Nut a text and told him the room number. He was there in no time, tapping on the door. I gave him $250...

Excerpt: The next morning, around eleven o'clock, the three of us jumped in Trina Book's car and headed to the Denny's on Benning Road and East Capitol Street to grab breakfast. I hated going there, cuz it always seemed to be crowded no matter what time of the day or week. But my vote for The Diner in Adams Morgan was cast out. "We all look like shit," Trina Boo said, scooping eggs into her mouth. She was the only person I ever knew who ate sunny-side-up eggs, and that shit in the middle looked nasty.

Excerpt: "Well, where you gonna go?" -- "I found this women's shelter in Northwest, over on D Street. I'ma gonna go there until my son is born and then maybe I'll go back to hair school." - Peaches gained a small bit of respect from me when she walked out of the apartment, her duffle bag on her shoulder and her head slightly up.

Excerpt: Marcha had started stripping at the Skylark on New York Avenue. She said it was too hard and dangerous working the streets. If I was old enough, I'd probably do the same thing.

Excerpt: Rob drove up Fourteenth and U Streets before making a right. He parked on Eleventh Street, near Ben's Chili Bowl, but then he took me across the street to this Ethiopian restaurant. I pressed my lips tight together and sucked my teeth, "What's this?" I asked. "You'll like it. Watch." I rolled my eyes...."Have you ever eaten Ethiopian food before?" -- "Nope." Rob smiled. "I'll order something we both like, then.... let me get that doro wot fit-fit." The waitress nodded and disappeared. "What the heck was that you just got us?" I asked, confused. "Because I don't eat nothing crazy like diced rat knuckles." |---------- DC BY THE BOOK TOUR --> Ethiopian immigrants began opening businesses along the U Street corridor in the 1990s, as rents became unaffordable in Adams Morgan. Like Ben Ali, who moved here from his native Trinidad to study dentistry, Howard University attracted many African immigrants to DC. Others came for diplomatic jobs as African nations gained independence in the 1950s and 60s. Ethiopian immigration was sparked by the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. As the largest African community in DC, their presence has become especially visible in this neighborhood. In 2005 a group of business owners here asked the city for a street sign naming Ninth Street, between U and T, “Little Ethiopia.” Some longtime black residents opposed the designation, arguing it threatened the neighborhood’s historical identity with African Americans.

Excerpt: Springarn High School sat on a hill, a few blocks down the street from our apartment building, and right across the street from the Redskins old stadium. The first day of night school began in the middle of May. It was cool, since mostly all the people in our classes was right around our age or a whole lot older. I ain't feel like I missed that much, but only time would tell if that was true when they started giving us tests.