pregnancy

Friday, July 11, 2003

Proud to be a Virginian

There are some who live on the other side of the Potomac (Maryland and DC) who take issue with we who live on the better side of the Potomac (Virginia).

    I first became conscious of my Virginia problem years ago when, for the umpteenth time, I drove over the river to take my kid to a birthday party and suddenly found myself on Spout Run or some stretch of Lee Highway, where I didn’t want to be. I concluded then that Virginia’s road network was part of a larger strategy to keep the rest of us on our side of the river.
Yeah, you know, we Virginians feel the same way about DC and Maryland when we get lost on your side of the river, too.
    You can pick up evidence of Northern Virginia’s standoffishness in census data that show a pretty healthy flow of people moving between the District and Maryland but much less so between the District and Virginia. Or the fact that people in Montgomery County will say they are from Washington while those from Fairfax and Loudoun will invariably self-describe as Virginians.
I think it’s more a case of being proud of where I’m from. Plus, in my case, the further I moved from DC the less tied to it I feel. I’m about 40 miles outside Washington, how far out does he expect me to live and still say I’m from Washington?

When I’m talking to someone who doesn’t know the area, I will say I live in the DC suburbs. And I think a lot of Virginians do that.

    And Washington and Maryland lawyers complain that the federal court in Alexandria is one of the few in the country that won’t let out-of staters argue cases unless they agree to move their full-time office to the state.
I don’t have a rebuttal to this, I just found it interesting that he mentioned the court specifically.
    Hey, guys, did you forget? George Washington was born in Virginia.
Right, and your point on that one is?

[via dave]

Posted by at 02:23 PM
(0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages