new cetacean bar in DC

Last week in and around my 'hood there were four different reports of gunfire:

1. One round heard behind Shiloh Baptist Church on Monday evening;
2. Two gunshots shot behind 7th and N St property on Wednesday evening;
3. Report of a drive-by shooting at 1st and N Streets;
4. Report of five to six shots in the vicinity of 7th and P Streets at 1:30pm on Friday.

When asked by the community what the law enforcement response would be to these incidents, Ralph Neal of the Metropolitan DC Police Department responded:

"Community policing is the key but the community must be held accountable and attend my PSA 308 Community meetings."

There you have it. No proactive - or even reactive - response to gun violence. First, the taxpaying citizens have to attend a meeting to get basic service from the city's law enforcement. That kind of attitude really gets me down about living in this city.

On a more positive note, a new Convention Center Neighborhood Association (CCNA) was formed last week to address important issues like those mentioned above, in the area between New Jersey Avenue to the East, 9th Street to the West, Florida Avenue to the North and K Street to the South. There has been a neighborhood association in the same area but they don't let everyone in to their meetings. Some people are not allowed to attend the older association's meetings, which is ironic considering the history and struggle for civic inclusion by these people. The new CCNA neighborhood association seeks to be more inclusive, and it looks like it will certainly be more effective than the former relic association. The next gathering of the CCNA will be on Tuesday, January 29th, location TBA.

Even after being in a war zone throughout the week, I still had enough energy on a Friday night to check out Maul over at Cobalt / 30-Degrees. Just so we're clear, Maul is at Cobalt, GRRR! is at the Green Lantern, and Ursa Major is at Omega. I know this all these ursine interjection names are very confusing following the tripartite Bear schism but it'll sink in after a while. Anyway, the crowd was fun but there's not a lot of space for so many people of circumference. I noticed a gap in the crowd and shot towards it with Gurl and Bubbles in tow. I quickly discovered why there was so much space there, as the Bears had moved away from a guy in a Tommy Hilfiger jacket (his first crime) who had clearly lost his way looking on the way to The Fireplace. I guess he thought I was approaching him because he was so hot, so he immediately started fondling me all over like in a gross and icky way without having said "hello" first. (You know how much I love this approach.) Either that or he was trying to pickpocket me. Anyway, he wasn't taking "no" for an answer, so momma started to pull off her earrings for a fight, handing the cocktail to Gurl and my coat (they need a coatcheck) to Bubbles. But reason took over and I turned on my heels back into the crowd to just avoid the douche bag.

The bartending staff at 30-Degrees certainly knew their crowd and the drinks were mighty stiff I must say. After only three cocktails I had a buzz going well into the night.

The crowd started thinning out at about 9pm - apparently they had begun migrating to The Green Lantern. Having had enough of the Bear crowd, Bubbles suggested, "Hey, I'm in the mood for some Cetaceans - let's go over to The Pod for a few more drinks." I did have a hankering for some Minke whale (smaller, compact, vegetarian) so I agreed that we should go. When we got there Gurl said she was gonna "cast a bubble net" while Bubbles wanted to look for some "krill." Confused by all the mammalian metaphors thrown about during the evening, I just stood in the corner and watched a few narwhals do some skyhopping here and there.