Jimbo.Info

So when I was Outreach Coord for the GLBSA in undergrad (Southern state school), the Greeks (specifically the Black Greeks) hosted a big Unity Games where all the Greek orgs were supposed to get together and... play tug-of-war. Could have been lame, could have been cool. To their credit, they made a big deal of inviting the GLBSA (like an honorary Greek org with a lot more letters). We were game, made unbelieveably lame t-shirts with some soccorball thing out of pink triangles, arrived and....

...we were the only white folks there. All the other Greeks were above 'fraternizing,' as it were.

In the end, to save face, every single photo from the event had bright pink triangle in it - 'cause we were the only white folks who showed. (Great photos of the twinks losing horribly in tug-o-war to the huge burly black linebackers. No stereotypes were harmed in the making of this event.) After that, the relationship between the gays & blacks was rather different. And the white Greeks? Who knows? It appears they have their panties in a wad over who drank what at Hawk & Dove.

a) what show is this petrelli guy from? he's absolutely dreamy.

b) Born in SF, raised in Oregon. And after nine years in DC I'm still bewildered by the 'code' natives use. There was a time I could make a completely random, silly joke and people would recognize it as a random, silly joke (watched a lot of Monty Python growing up). Even if they didn't get the joke, it wouldn't bug them. In this city, these 'jokes' can often provoke honest-to-god anger. Like I've somehow subtly insulted their profession/attire/mother.

Stop taking yourselves so seriously, people!

Somewhere I read that he's married to Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chics. Lucky girl.

And friends and Family can't understand why I'm in no hurry to visit the DC area.

"However, it may explain the odd East Coast/Mid-Atlantic/New England behavior I've encountered here in DC."

I think its a DC thing. Its been my experience that DC folk tend to fear the pleasent conversations and "get to know your neighbor" thing.

We talk about this almost everyday during my commute on the MARC train.

When we bought the house here in Baltimore, Rob noticed that people say hi in the grocery.

Personally I prefer Baltimore over DC. I find Dc to be somewhat snobby in many ways. Then again I am sure DC folk thing Baltimore is one big ghetto.

Fraternities were not allowed on our campus, and we scorned them openly. I can't stand when people have their little "feuds" of what frat they belonged to in college. The emails are frightening.

I didn't realize Jimbo had become why.i.hate.dc, judging from the comments.

If you live in a city, a reasonably large one (B-more so doesn't count), you don't get up in people's faces and squeal. It is weird. It is annoying. It is the mark of the socially inept and criminally insane. I have yet to see a large city where it is perfectly normal to run up to random people and say hello. In the UK the only permissible topic at the bus stop is the weather and possibly the time of the next bus, that is it. Effusive behavior among people north of Bonn (DE) is considered odd, unless they are drunk.

I don't like East Coast bashing. I've met rude, unfriendly, snobbish, vain, conceited, insular and nasty people from all over the place. It's not an "East Coast" thing. Also, people in the Midwest may be a bit nicer, but that doesn't stop them from electing right-wing assholes to Congress. As for Washington, it's people from the rest of the country who come here, and those careerist Fratboy assholes so rude in bars and grocery stores may have come from Indiana, Wisconsin, Oregon, Connecticut, Arkansas, or Kentucky, for all we know.

Funny, I just spent two weeks in Manhattan and had no problem talking with the locals at the bus stop, the stores and the parks. I think it all comes down to how you approach people.

That said, when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, once I was outside the city itself, people were not open to conversation.

Go figure.

RE: Attitude in DC. I find Washington to be the most unfriendly city in the country. New York has less attitude than DC. I just got back from 5 days in Chicago- there is so little attitude for a city that is 6 times the size of DC. But, that is the charm of the Midwest. In 7 years here, I have never gotten over the caustic behavior in this town.

Hum not sure how to comment. I rushed as a freshman at USC because that seemed like the thing to do. I was selected and my house rocked The Row. However, as I became a upperclassmen you realize, wow, I don't have a lot in common with these guys. Maybe because I was always sneaking away to Weho for cornholing and other sundry fun stuff. All in perspective. I did learn how to chug and eat Kappa pu&&y. Does that count? See you at Blowoff.

John in Arlington