Where Have You Lived?

[DonRocks]

Without wanting to breach people's privacy, but seeing the bonds being formed in the Cajun vs. Creole thread, I'm thinking it might be nice to have people who want to volunteer where they've spent some time in their lives.

I'll lead by example:

Born in Suburban Hospital in Bethesda (which no longer has a neonatal unit) and raised in Silver Spring, MD - my parents were both educators in the Montgomery County school system, and I was fortunate enough to walk to all three of the schools I went to: Jackson Road Elementary (where my mom taught 1st grade before moving to Cannon Road Elementary where she taught 2nd grade; she began her career at Woodside Elementary in downtown Silver Spring where she taught AM and PM kindergarten and had *100 students* total per year); White Oak Junior High School (where my dad was my principal, much to my dismay and consternation - it's no fun being the "principal's son" - that said, I'm very proud of my father for being principal of White Oak (he was at Eastern Junior High School before) for longer than anyone in its history even still); Springbrook High School where I was captain of the tennis team (and we had the best won-lost record in school history, better even than when Harold Solomon played there, but it was because we had excellent depth).

Went to both Undergraduate and Graduate School in Clemson, SC (B.S. in Accounting; M.S. in Computer Science - I was foolish enough to be the first person ever to graduate with an M.S. in Computer Science from Clemson in 3 semesters, and was also, at the time, the only graduate student at the university living in a fraternity house (which explains some things), but boy did I work hard for the three-semester M.S. - too hard. It was a mistake, and accomplished nothing.)

First job was in Charlotte, NC (Arthur Andersen & Co., founded 1913, disbanded in 2002 due to the Enron scandal, now Accenture - the man who hired me (George Shaheen) became head of worldwide operations). I spent time in Chicago, IL, Greenville, SC, Manhattan (worked in the World Trade Center), and Raleigh, NC, and apart from the travel, hated every minute of the job, primarily because my first supervisor was a back-stabbing scumbag who took full credit for my hard work, and remains one of only a handful of people in this world whom I do not like.

Gave Arthur Andersen an ultimatum: "Fast-track me, or bye-bye," and moved back to the DC area in 1985 ("bye-bye"), being naive enough to believe that "I can do this better," and have been based here for the past 29 years. I've lived in 8 different residences, all in the MD and VA suburbs - every jurisdiction surrounding DC except for the City of Alexandria (and the City of Takoma Park) which is why I have such a freakish geographical knowledge of the area, and am well-traveled within the U.S. (every state but Alaska!) and Europe, but have never been anywhere else, to my detriment. Matt was born at the Columbia Hospital For Women in DC (which has been turned into condominiums).

[Josh]

Sounds fun.

Born in Mobile, AL and lived there for 5 years.  I remember it being much nicer/prettier than it was the last time I was there.  My only good food-related memories here are of my great-grandmother's amazing Southern soul cooking.  Sadly, I have no written record of any of her recipes (not sure any ever existed).  I'll work my entire life and never come close to her chicken and dumplings.

Orange/Beaumont, TX through high school.  As I said in another thread, I grew up going to equal amounts of crawfish boils, barbecues, and potlucks with handmade tamales.  While not a great place to live for most other reasons, SE Texas is a very interesting intersection of Cajun, Texan (not Southern), and Mexican cuisines.

Undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.  My first introduction to sushi, Thai, and Natty Light.

Med School and residency in NY, NY.  Upper East Side for a few years followed by the East Village (still my favorite neighborhood in the world).

DC for the past 4 years.

[johnb]

Well, FWIW,  I was....

....born and raised in Southern Indiana.  A town where there was nothing good to eat (other than at home), and that's still pretty much the case.  Dad operated a baby chick hatchery and we had a commercial egg production operation at home -- we kids were the slave labor but the point of it was to generate money to send us to college so that was OK.

Got out of there as quick as I could and went to Ann Arbor for four years of undergrad (economics).  Better food, and introduction to other cultures, foreign and domestic.  A real eye opener for a kid from rural Southern Indiana.

From Michigan decided to hit the big time so went to Columbia in NYC.  New York was, of course, the ultimate eye opener.  Spent about 10 years there, got an MBA and a PhD out of the place, and found a career niche for myself in maritime and aviation economics and consulting, while spending time doing what I really loved which was eating well and enlarging my wine inventory (and my waistline).  Also got married and lived in Park Slope Brooklyn for a while, long before Brooklyn became trendy.

Then got an opportunity to go to work for the UN in Geneva.  Spent nearly three years there, including significant time in Singapore, mostly falling in love with Italy but loving the time in Europe and driving all over the place.

After Geneva landed a job in DC, arriving in early '78.  Spent nearly 30 years there, along with a year spent mostly in Santiago Chile running a project.  Food-related high notes for me were winning a Wash Po Mag contest to come up with a signature dish for Washington in 2000 (half-smokes served on a bed of white beans) and my connection with the Peter Chang saga particularly the New Yorker article by Calvin Trillin, not to mention my association with the Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar.  Too many good friends and good times to remember it all. Especially enjoyed our legendary New Year's Day open houses.

Retired in 2005, and moved to NC in 2006, now with a beach shack in Florida as well (from where I'm typing this).  Have traveled around the US a lot (have now been in all 50 states) by RV, since we have these dogs and I have resisted kenneling them for overseas travel.  But are now doing more of the overseas stuff as well, including cruises.  We will actually leave from DC in late March to fly to Sydney and cruise trans-Pacific back to Vancouver.

[The Hersch]

My father was a naval officer, so we moved around quite a lot when I was a kid. The most interesting place was Munich, where I spent 2nd and 3rd grade, which I only vaguely remember. From sixth grade till I went away to college, we lived in south Arlington VA, so I had a thoroughly suburban growing-up. Went off to Boston University, where I lived in the midst of a big city for the first time. I've been a city-dweller ever since, although after college I spent some time off and on living with my parents in Arlington, and then my mother alone when my father died. I moved into Washington in the spring of 1976, and have lived here almost without interruption since. I spent the first half of 1993 living in a very urban, grimy working-class suburb of Lisbon called Venda Nova, on Rua Elias Garcia. During a 2 1/2 year period, 2003-2006, I was working in the least intersting part of eastern North Carolina (my Babylonian Captivity in Wilson, NC), but maintained my residence in DC. I've lived on the 1700 block of 19th St. NW (1976-78), the 1500 block of Swann St. NW (1978-80), briefly on NH Ave above T St. NW in 1980, and then in lovely Kalorama Triangle for about 9 months in 1980-81, and then 19th and S for a couple of months in 1981, and then in two different apartments on the 1500 block of Church St. NW from 1981 to 1990. Two years a block away on P Street 1990-1992, and then Portugal. I returned to the US and lived three years in a rental place in Kalorama Triangle, and then I bought a condo on Ashmead Place in 1996 and lived there for just short of eighteen years. After an interim arrangement in another apartment during 2014, I moved at the end of last year to a condo I bought in Foggy Bottom, and most decidedly not the West End.

I wasn't particularly happy in Portugal because of personal circumstances, but I love having lived there, and shopped in the ordinary markets there, and cooked at home, and not just been a tourist or visitor or restaurant diner. I suppose I was happiest in my living situation when I lived in north-east Dupont Circle (19th and S) 1976-1978. It was a delightful urban village then, and you couldn't walk more than a block or two without running into someone you knew, and there was the Benbow and Schwartz's Drugstore. Living over east of 16th on Church and P was wonderful too, in those days (1981-1992).  That neighborhood was very much the gay ghetto then, and the sense of community and the bond with neighbors was pretty wonderful. And I loved Kalorama Triangle, and especially living there with Cassie, my dear old dog who died in 2008, and then Kiko, who is Cassie's great-great-niece. I never had dogs anywhere else, until now that I'm here with Kiko in Foggy Bottom. It's nice also being 2 blocks from Marcel's.

Kiko is snoozing quietly on the bed next to me, and life here is good.

[dcandohio]

New Orleans and its burbs till College. My parents are still there, having survived an almost total home re-building after Katrina.

Baton Rouge for undergrad and grad, then a series of soul-crushing jobs.

Knoxville for PhD.

Columbus for my gig as biz school professor.

Met my partner in 2002 and began commuting relationship between DC and Columbus.

Partner took a job in Dallas and I began commuting there.

Relationship ended and I am now mostly in Columbus (24 years so far)

Acquired a condo on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale this fall as my retirement home - I have great friends there.

Lots of world travel, including a SWEET teaching gig for two years in Lisbon amd college sponsored trips to Japan and China.

Going to Visit my sister in RAK, an emirate near Dubai, in May.

[Pool Boy]

Born in DC to parents fresh off the boat from Germany.

Lived in Beltsville until I was 3 (no memories of it)

Lived in Columbia, MD in the 70s, 80s and 90s in 4 different places.

Living in Laurel, MD for the last 15 years

Fairly well traveled in the USA (35 states, but only 28 with a 'real' visit or at least overnight, traveling through or an airport stop for the others). Most of my USA travel is on the coasts though.

Some international travel (Canada, UK, Germany (even east/west when it was split), Switzerland, Italy, Austria and arguably a tiny snippet of France)

[bettyjoan]

What a fun thread!  I love these "back story" types of posts.  We all have so much more in common than we think at first blush.

As for me...

Born in Huntington, NY (Long Island), in the same hospital where my dad was born.  He and my mom were high school sweethearts.

Moved to Alpharetta, GA (northern suburb of ATL), at age 6 - stayed there until I graduated from HS.

Went to college in Athens, GA.  Also lived in Madrid, Spain, for 4 months during my junior year.

Went to law school in Knoxville, TN.

Moved to DC right after law school - lived in Bethesda for a year, then at 16th and V NW for 2 years.  Had my first date with my now-husband at Aroma lounge (now Ripple).

Moved back to ATL in 2008 for hubby's job, and spent almost 5 years there (most of which was in Gwinnett county).

Moved back to DC in early 2013 - lived in NoMa until December 2014, when we bought a house in Hill East.  :-)

[Barbara]

Born in El Paso, TX as an Army Brat.

Lived in San Francisco, Germany, and plus two more stops in El Paso.

Moved to LA, then Monterey, before moving to DC.

I've lived in the same building in Adams Morgan since 1976. Got my wanderlust slaked in childhood and never want to move again.

[ktmoomau]

Not all that interesting and something many people here already know:  Technically born in Cumberland, MD, but grew up in Garrett County, Maryland.  My mother was born in Danville, VA, my dad was born in Petersburg, WV, where many of my family members still reside on both sides.  My maternal grandfather was from Glenville, WV so I have a huge amount of WV family ties and it is where the majority of my family lives and is from.  Went to college in Westminster, MD.  Lived with my mom in Annapolis, then moved to DC for law school and now I live in Arlington.  Having done some genealogical research on my family, we haven't seemed to have moved very far from where our original ancestors set up, I guess we aren't too adventurous in that way.

[Al Dente]

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

--Dr Evil

[lackadaisi]

Born in fairfax, but left fairly soon thereafter. Early preschool in Lawrence, Kansas. Preschool in Charlotteville.

Then we started really moving. My father was (and is) a professor, and he did a lot of visiting professorships for a semester plus a summer. I would go to regular school in the fall and then homeschool abroad in the Spring/Summer (there was always a homeschool element in the summer regardless of where we were, especially as I rarely went to the same school for more than 1 year.

New Orleans for kindergarten and first grade. Splitting the years with France and Greece.

Pittsburgh for second and third grade.

Dallas for fourth, fifth and sixth. With a stint in Australia.

Then my parents moved to Bergen County, New Jersey until I graduated from high school. But I moved to Virginia Beach to my grandmother's for a year in 9th grade. Then I did a year long foreign exchange program in 11th grade (I actually dropped out of school for most of it, but i was able to graduate on time in Jersey).

I loved moving and planned to remain nomadic, so it is a shock to me that I went to GW for undergrad (very coincidentally, not really planned much), and I've been here ever since (other than a 9 month stint in Argentina during college). Foggy Bottom for freshman and sophomore year. Alexandria from junior year until a year after law school. Logan Circle/Shaw area for the last 13 years, and honestly I don't know if I will ever live elsewhere, as I love it here more every year.

[DaveO]

That is interesting:

Born in fairfax, but left fairly soon thereafter. Early preschool in Lawrence, Kansas. Preschool in Charlotteville.

Then we started really moving. My father was (and is) a professor, and he did a lot of visiting professorships for a semester plus a summer. I would go to regular school in the fall and then homeschool abroad in the Spring/Summer (there was always a homeschool element in the summer regardless of where we were, especially as I rarely went to the same school for more than 1 year.

New Orleans for kindergarten and first grade. Splitting the years with France and Greece.

Pittsburgh for second and third grade.

Dallas for fourth, fifth and sixth. With a stint in Australia.

Then my parents moved to Bergen County, New Jersey until I graduated from high school. But I moved to Virginia Beach to my grandmother's for a year in 9th grade. Then I did a year long foreign exchange program in 11th grade (I actually dropped out of school for most of it, but i was able to graduate on time in Jersey).

I loved moving and planned to remain nomadic, so it is a shock to me that I went to GW for undergrad (very coincidentally, not really planned much), and I've been here ever since (other than a 9 month stint in Argentina during college). Foggy Bottom for freshman and sophomore year. Alexandria from junior year until a year after law school. Logan Circle/Shaw area for the last 13 years, and honestly I don't know if I will ever live elsewhere, as I love it here more every year.

By contrast:

Raised in a small town in Northern NJ(a suburb of NYC) from birth through the end of high school.  Additionally, we had two uncles and aunts in that small town (Falls Church sized)  during most of that period so my 2 siblings and I grew up with 4 close first cousins, all of whom went through the same small school system and relatively all close in age.

The class with which I graduated had a reunion a few years ago and then set up an FB page.  Pictures and documents from growing up have been added.  It was apparent then and has been reinforced by these old memories that probably or possibly 75% or more of my graduating class went through virtually all or almost all of the school system from K to 12th grade.   There were 4 different elementary schools and then central Jr High (middle school) and High School.   Classes before and after ours were probably similar in makeup with a vast majority of students living there from there earliest days to finishing high school.  Essentially everyone knew everyone.

Remarkable and unusual stability and small townness.

[The Hersch]

Remarkable and unusual stability and small townness.

Sounds really Leave-It-to-Beavery.

[DaveO]

Sounds really Leave-It-to-Beavery.

ha ha.  It does.  .....ah Ward and June;  Wally and the Beav....what a 50's/early 60's TV version of "idealized" suburban American life.   The description above was prompted by the interesting and nomadic experience of lackadaisi...and how remarkably dissimilar the two experiences were.

I left out the juicy parts.  

[lackadaisi]

ha ha. It does. .....ah Ward and June; Wally and the Beav....what a 50's/early 60's TV version of "idealized" suburban American life. The description above was prompted by the interesting and nomadic experience of lackadaisi...and how remarkably dissimilar the two experiences were.

I left out the juicy parts.

I've always wondered what my life would be like if I had the type of experience you did. It is much more similar to how I am raising my daughter, who has been in the same school since she was three and will likely remain with the same classmates until she graduates from high school. Already, at seven, she has much deeper friendships than I was able to develop until I was an adult.

[JPW]

My turn.

Born in McGee Women's Hospitol - Pittsburgh, PA -- right next to the Pitt campus.

Lived in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. My dad was an academic and we had two exciting summer trips so he could do research - a month or so in Warsaw during the height of the Cold War and a month or so in Aspen.

Undergrad - Northwestern U - Evanston, IL (due to eG I met one of my classmates who I never knew at school, but she said she recognized me because I drove the sandwich truck on campus). A summer in Quebec where I got to meet Premier Rene Bourassa. Junior year in Paris at Sciences Po.

Took a year off and worked in the industry full time along the tourist migration route - winter in St. Thomas, summer on Martha's VIneyard (where I worked for Todd English until I got fired).

Grad school in lovely Binghamton, NY.

Been in DC now for 15 years. First in Arlington where we rented a place in the Park Fairfax from a woman in the military. She got recalled after 9/11 and we got booted out. I'll never forget the sound of silence when all air travel was shut down and nothing was coming into National. Only the occasional helicopter and the little prop plane that circled the Pentagon at night.Then down to Del Ray for a year. Bought our house in SS in 2002.

[lackadaisi]

Holla for Shadyside! You didn't happen to go to Falk, the Pitt school for faculty kids, did you? I was at the Learning Research Development Center there for second and third grade. Weird, but awesome place (we each had computers in the early 80s and the walls were all one way mirrors with rooms of people studying our behavior behind the mirrors).

[jandres374]

Born and raised in Philadelphia - lived in same rowhouse (1 bathroom for 4 people) from birth until I left for college.

College in Washington, DC for 4 years.

Egypt for 2 years on a construction project (lived in the middle of nowhere, 2 hours from Cairo and 1 hour from Alexandria).

Returned and lived on Capitol Hill for a couple years until we (college roommates).

Retreated to Alexandria, VA (King St and 395 area) for another year or so.

Kingstowne area prior to all the development for 2 years or so until I met my wife.

Town of Glen Echo, MD for 4 years until birth of 2nd kid.

Bethesda, MD for last 12 years.

Never thought I would stay in this area this long considering neither my wife or I have any family here.

[JPW]

Holla for Shadyside! You didn't happen to go to Falk, the Pitt school for faculty kids, did you? I was at the Learning Research Development Center there for second and third grade. Weird, but awesome place (we each had computers in the early 80s and the walls were all one way mirrors with rooms of people studying our behavior behind the mirrors).

Nope. Liberty Elementary and St Edmund's Academy.

[Barbara]

I've always wondered what my life would be like if I had the type of experience you did. It is much more similar to how I am raising my daughter, who has been in the same school since she was three and will likely remain with the same classmates until she graduates from high school. Already, at seven, she has much deeper friendships than I was able to develop until I was an adult.

I've always wondered the same thing, too. From K through 12, I went to 8 different schools--3 High Schools in 4 years.

OTOH, there would have been a big difference in growing up entirely in El Paso or San Francisco. So, I'm not at all unhappy about how things turned out.

[DaveO]

I've always wondered what my life would be like if I had the type of experience you did. It is much more similar to how I am raising my daughter, who has been in the same school since she was three and will likely remain with the same classmates until she graduates from high school. Already, at seven, she has much deeper friendships than I was able to develop until I was an adult.

....and I've wondered the opposite.  My freshman roommate in college was the son of Southern Baptist Missionaries and had spent almost his entire life in Japan, so he had a combination of influences that were completely foreign, and extraordinarily fascinating to me.  It spurred a strong desire for wanderlust.  We stayed friends throughout college then lost contact.

On the other hand, if I think of myself, my siblings and cousins from that town at least 5 of us are still close to people with whom we grew up.   That high school class  (graduated in 1969) has a fb page including townies from some proximate classes.   There are a lot of contacts and long term friendships among different commentators...(and obviously many whom have lost contact).  That type of upbringing can forge long term friendships, but its not universal.

Its fascinating.  Many different ways to grow up.

[MC Horoscope]

30 years in Louisiana, 29 in Maryland, which makes me (that's right!) 39.

[Keithstg]

Born in Hartford, CT. Split time in between the Hartford area and NYC growing up until I left for high school in Windsor, CT. Fun fact: both Jeremiah Tower and Frank Bruni are fellow Loomis alums. Next stop was four years in upstate NY for college (shout out to youngfood, who is also a Hamilton alum and DR.com member). Moved to Alexandria after graduation - lasted there about four months before I got the heck out of the 395 corridor and into the District proper. Spent four years in Dupont - the back door to my condo building opened basically across from Vivo! tratorria at the time (anybody know what restaurant is in that space now?). Left for a year in NYC due to work (back on weekends), came back and moved to Capitol Hill. Spent seven years in Capitol Hill at Lincoln Park and watched a near complete transformation of the neighborhood. Spent a year in Boston (back on weekends), then another year in NY (same deal). Now I split time between NYC (Tribeca) and Paris, VA, where we moved two and a half years ago. The one constant over the years - every summer (37 and counting) spent on a tiny island off of the coast of Maine.

[The Hersch]

Spent four years in Dupont - the back door to my condo building opened basically across from Vivo! tratorria at the time (anybody know what restaurant is in that space now?).

I don't remember "Vivo!" (Did it really have the exclamation point in the name?) Where and when was it?

[LauraB]

I was born in San Bernardino, CA and between then and when I was 5 years old we lived in 14 different locations (!), including Balboa Island, CA and Jackson Heights, NY.  My parents then settled in Palos Verdes, CA and I lived there until I graduated from high school.  Went to UCLA for undergrad, during which time I spent my junior year in France, where I had my first exposure to real food and wine, resulting in a life-long love affair with great food. Then went to Duke University for graduate school and lived in Durham, NC for 3 years, it was a sleepy southern town at the time.  I became acquainted with hushpuppies and Brunswick stew and iced coffee and Carolina BBQ, cooked in the middle of the woods and live blues and cheap beer flowed while the Q was cooking.  Left from there for Europe where I spent a year in Bregenz, Austria on the Bodensee, at the intersection of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, where I fell in love with Kaesespaetzle and Leberkaese Semmel.  Then moved to West Berlin for a few years, commuting between there and Amsterdam.  Upon returning to the US I lived in San Francisco for 2 years (Cow Hollow) and finally realized that, despite having grown up on the West Coast, I much preferred the East Coast.  Moved to Washington DC and lived in and around DC (including Takoma Park/Silver Spring) before moving to small-town, rural Maryland, Myersville/Wolfsville in Frederick County where I spent a lot of years.  Began making my way back to DC by moving into "˜town,' Frederick, MD, for a couple of years before moving to Rockville, MD and then, finally, back to DC (Logan Circle).  Next stop, who knows?

[DonRocks]

I was born in San Bernardino, CA ... before moving to small-town, rural Maryland, Myersville/Wolfsville in Frederick County where I spent a lot of years.  

Did you know San Bernardino County is the largest in the continental United States?

Been to Old South Mountain Inn? Remember "Lovers Lane?"

[LauraB]

Did you know San Bernardino County is the largest in the continental United States?

Been to Old South Mountain Inn? Remember "Lovers Lane?"

I did not know that about SB County, but then I haven't been back there since I was an infant!

I've been to South Mountain Inn numerous times, even had Thanksgiving Dinner there one year in the 90s -- our server was the son of some of our closest friends -- it was that kind of place.  I can't say the food was ever great, but the ambience was evocative of a certain time and place.  Sorry, don't know anything about "Lovers Lane."  Do tell.

[The Hersch]

Did you know San Bernardino County is the largest in the continental United States?

And Arlington County, Virginia, is the smallest?

[Pat]

SE PA (Delaware County) 18+ years

Central PA (Cumberland County) 3+ years

with an 11-month detour to England (East Anglia) and travel in Europe, plus a couple of return trips

MD (PG County) 5 years

DC (Capitol Hill) almost 27 years

The house I currently reside in I have lived in longer than I've lived anyplace else in my life.

[DonRocks]

And Arlington County, Virginia, is the smallest?

I thought it was, and even wrote that it was, but then deleted it when I couldn't substantiate it quickly.

[The Hersch]

I thought it was, and even wrote that it was, but then deleted it when I couldn't substantiate it quickly.

I'm pretty sure it is, although I'm having trouble confirming that myself. I grew up in Arlington and learned in school back then that Arlington was the smallest county in the U.S., but Wikipedia will only say that it's one of the smallest. (I learned a number of things in various schools that turned out not to be true, so I hesitate to insist that this claim is true.)

[DonRocks]

I'm pretty sure it is, although I'm having trouble confirming that myself. I grew up in Arlington and learned in school back then that Arlington was the smallest county in the U.S., but Wikipedia will only say that it's one of the smallest. (I learned a number of things in various schools that turned out not to be true, so I hesitate to insist that this claim is true.)

You mean like, "Columbus discovered America?"

[The Hersch]

You mean like, "Columbus discovered America?"

The U.S never lost a war. The Civil War was about states' rights, not slavery (I went to school in Virginia, remember). The Cold War was a struggle between Good and Evil. "Split infinitives" are "wrong".

[darkstar965]

You mean like, "Columbus discovered America?"

RIP Howard Zinn.

http://howardzinn.org

[johnb]

The Civil War was about states' rights, not slavery (I went to school in Virginia, remember). 

I thought it was the "War of Northern Aggression"

Virginia's move to boldly go where no sensible historian has gone before!

[Keithstg]

I don't remember "Vivo!" (Did it really have the exclamation point in the name?) Where and when was it?

Where Komi is now! Used to be a trattoria owned (or managed, but it was called Vivo! by Roberto Donna) by Roberto Donna back in his salad days. It closed in 2004.

[Biscuit Girl]

I was born in Hartford, CT but only stayed there a short time.  My parents moved back to Elmont, NY to help out my grandmother who lost her husband, my grandfather, two weeks before I was born.  After a few years in Elmont, my parents bought a house on Primrose Lane in Levittown, NY.  Lots of fond memories of growing up there with all the neighborhood friends we had.  When I was a teenager, my dad got a transfer to Knoxville, TN.  Being a brooding teenager my first thought was Oh My Gawd, we're moving where???!!  The first few years had their ups and downs but it turned out to be a wonderful move for my family.  After graduating HS, I went to East TN State Univ. followed by graduate school at the Univ. of TN - Knoxville where I got my Masters degree in Library Science.

After graduate school, I got a job in Nashville, TN where I lived for 8 years while working for UT.  When my job was downgraded from a librarian to nothing more than a gopher for the dept. I chose to find something better.  That move was a mixed bag of good and bad.  I became the Director for a county library system in upper east TN.  I basically moved to Mayberry which included an Otis (my boss).  The town knew who I was before I even got there.  Being young and single, this was not the town for me.  For one, a catch was someone who had all their own teeth.  It was also a *gasp* dry county! If someone had told me that I'd meet the man I would marry while living there, I would have laughed at them.  But that's just what happened.

I met Jim, who was living in Knoxville at the time.  We hit it off immedately.  Meanwhile, small town living was turning sour for me.  When Jim got a job in DC, I turned in my notice and moved with him.  We were married a year later.

We've now been up here in Alexandria for nearly 17 years.

[The Hersch]

Where Komi is now! Used to be a trattoria owned (or managed, but it was called Vivo! by Roberto Donna) by Roberto Donna back in his salad days. It closed in 2004.

I remember when Roberto Donna opened Il Radicchio in that space. I don't remember being aware that it turned into another Donna restaurant. Once upon a time, in the 1980s, when I lived in the neighborhood, there was a not-too-bad Chinese restaurant there that I got carry-out from now and then. I don't remember its name.

I thought it was the "War of Northern Aggression"

I never heard "War of Northern Aggression" until maybe the last fifteen years. When I was a lad, Southerners everywhere called it the War Between the States.

[DonRocks]

I never heard "War of Northern Aggression" until maybe the last fifteen years. When I was a lad, Southerners everywhere called it the War Between the States.

I've heard it once in my life: my tax teacher in college smugly referred to it as such.

[lizzie]

Born in York, PA but family lived in Grantville, PA - you could smell the chocolate from the Hershey factories if the wind was blowing in the right (or wrong?) direction. Preacher dad moved us in the mid-60's to Womelsdorf, PA  (not many "dorf's" in the US) - Amish country - where he ran an institution that had started during the Civil War as an orphanage. Fortunate for me, my parents allowed me to venture out from small town PA on occasion, and I spent time as an exchange student in Einbeck, Germany. College was at Dickinson, in dismal Carlisle, PA, except for my 7 month escape to study in Medellin, Colombia in 1981 (haha - my parents had no idea where they were allowing me to go). A full ride took me immediately to grad school at Pitt (lived in Shadyside on Bellefonte St (pronounce that Bella-font-a) and saw Mister Rodgers frequently on my walk to campus), and landed me a Fulbright in the Dominican Republic, where I spent time in Santo Domingo, Constanza, and Elias Pina (on the Haitian border). Since then have been mostly here in DC (Glover Park) and Arlington, where I lived by Ballston before it was ummm "developed," and since the late 1990's, near the Chain Bridge end of the county. I would give anything to live where I can walk to restaurants and other social venues, although the deer and foxes in my yard every morning are sometimes entertaining and I like my bike commute in fairer weather via the canal.

[John William G]

I was born in Sumter, a little town in SC.  The first food I can remember really liking was bar-b-q that my father would buy from a local place once every month or two. Then Atlanta, GA for five or six years, followed by two years in Morocco:  the first year in Rabat, the second in Oujda.  While there I took vacations in Portugal and Spain.  Those two years opened my eyes to what a variety of tastes and foods there are in the world.  Then two years in NYC, four years in Durham, NC, while I attended grad school at Duke, then finally here to the DC area.  I've been here for about 30 years.  My wife and I both enjoy traveling, and we have visited quite a few places in Europe, spent several weeks in China, and have traveled quite a bit around the states.  We try to enjoy local food wherever we are.

[DonRocks]

I was born in Sumter, a little town in SC.

Sumter's not *that* little. Now, if you had said you were born in Ninety Six, that would be another story.

[aaronsinger]

Born 1984, Chicago, Illinois, Lived Evanston, IL until 2002.
College: Oxford and Atlanta, Georgia, 2002-2006.

Atlanta/North Decatur, Georgia, 2006-2007.

Washington, DC (Military & Connecticut), 2007-8.

Alexandria (Del Ray), 2008-9.

Chicago (Edgewater), 2009-11.

Evanston, 2011-present.

Places frequented growing up to the present to visit relatives: Springfield, IL (with side trips to St. Louis); Fresno, CA; Washington, DC; Los Angeles (Century City and Los Feliz); Paso Robles, CA; Denver, CO.

[zoramargolis]

Born in Los Angeles, CA. Left there in 1966.
NYC (briefly in Upper West Side, then Soho) 1966 to 1971.
Brattleboro and Putney, VT 1971 to 1976
Los Angeles, CA (Playa del Rey, Santa Monica, Inglewood, Westchester) 1976 to 1996
Washington, DC (Palisades) 1996 to April, 2015
April 2015 onward Edgecomb, ME

[porcupine]

Montgomery County.  Though I was born elsewhere, I was 3 months old when the family moved here, so I consider myself a native.  Been here all my life except for a few years in Boston getting a degree.  I lived on an incredibly tight budget, buying Prince spaghetti when it was on sale at Beacon Supermarket or if I had to the Stop-N-Shop (even back then I preferred patronizing small businesses).  Senior year I saved my money for three splurges: a long-distance call to my fiancee every four days, a once every two weeks trip to the best Chinese restaurant around (Chef Chang's; I lived a few blocks away), and a once a semester trip to Sol Azteca which for that time and place was an extraordinary authentic Mexican restaurant.

I just looked on Google maps; Chef Chang's appears to be gone, Sol Azteca is still there, and Beacon Supermarket appears to have been replaced by a Whole Foods.  Wow, my skeevy old college neighborhood has gentrified.

I loved living in Beantown, but I love living in the DC area more.  We have an incredible wealth of cultural opportunity here.

[Tujague]

1957-1975: Peterson, a tiny NW Iowa town in the Little Sioux River valley, founded by my maternal great-great grandparents. Dad was a native of Pineville, Louisiana.

1975-76: Waverly, Iowa

1976-79: Northfield, Minnesota

1979-1986, 1987-98: In and around the Twin Cities: St. Paul, Fridley, Roseville, St. AnthonyPark/Lauderdale, Falcon Heights.

1985-86: Glasgow, Montana

1998-99: Rockville, MD

1999-present: Capitol Hill

[thistle]

This is an interesting thread. I was born in Huntington, NY, lived in Northport & Bohemia, until we moved to Sneads Ferry, NC when I was 9. Then Wilmington, Chapel Hill for school, Fayetteville for a job, & aside from short stints in Columbus, GA & Leavenworth, KS, 4 yrs in Colorado Springs, CO (my husband is in the Army), we've lived in Alexandria for 15 years. I tell my daughter she's that rare Army brat who's fortunate to stay in one place. The one thing I miss about moving is getting rid of stuff you don't need-it tends to accumulate, once you're stationary.

[Seanchai]

Born in Queens, NY, grew up in an Irish/Italian/Jewish neighborhood where I followed the 5 major NYC sports:  pro football, baseball, basketball, hockey and the Mafia.  I could swear that Henry Hill's last house was located in my neighborhood.  Went to a preppy college in upstate NY (located in Hamilton, not at Hamilton) where I met for the first time people that didn't ethnic identify.  They were just ... American.  Weird.

Came to DC after college for an ill-fated couple of years at GW law before dropping out.  My first waiting job was the American Cafe in Georgetown but my restaurant home was the recently shuttered Murphy's of DC where I worked off and on for about 6 years.  Met my future wife to be at a Sunday afternoon St. Patrick's Day parade fundraiser at Ireland's Four Provinces.  Lived in Adams Morgan twice (17th and Euclid and Summit Place), Woodley Park (stumble home distance from Murphy's), and Arlington twice (near Courthouse and Westover).   Taught special education in northern VA at various schools and after marrying, moved to Charlottesville in 1995 where, aside from about 6 weeks in two different Februarys living in Khabarovsk, Russia before bringing home my two sons, I've been ever since.

[bettyjoan]

This is an interesting thread. I was born in Huntington, NY, lived in Northport & Bohemia, until we moved to Sneads Ferry, NC when I was 9. Then Wilmington, Chapel Hill for school, Fayetteville for a job, & aside from short stints in Columbus, GA & Leavenworth, KS, 4 yrs in Colorado Springs, CO (my husband is in the Army), we've lived in Alexandria for 15 years. I tell my daughter she's that rare Army brat who's fortunate to stay in one place. The one thing I miss about moving is getting rid of stuff you don't need-it tends to accumulate, once you're stationary.

What a small world - I was born in Huntington and also lived in Northport.  Depending on the years you were there, you probably interacted with my grandma at some point - she worked in restaurants in Huntington her whole life, and I continue to meet people who remember her.

[thistle]

What are the odds that we're both here now? My grandmother also lived in Northport most of her life. I don't remember much, since I left when I was young, but for a suburban LI kid, moving to Sneads Ferry (where we lived down a 3 mile dirt road) was like going to the moon. Another similarity, my in-laws live in Athens, GA & 3 of my siblings in law attended school there. My kids usually go down for a summer visit, but I haven't been there in years.