Stories Matter

In a few weeks, I'm going to start a new feature on the blog: a yet-to-be-named weekly oral history of someone who lives or works on H Street. 

I'm starting this because of something I've noticed after six months of living here-- while H Street NE and its surroundings is a vibrant community, I'm noticing that H Street NE is actually the locality of vibrant communities, plural. These communities, while they add up to make H Street what it is as a whole, don't really overlap all that much. 

For me, the symbol of the community disjunction is how H Street itself changes from morning until evening. There only ever seems to be one type of person out on the street at any one time; I know this is a broad-sweeping generalization, but once I noticed this, I couldn't unsee it. And then it started to bother me. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's an alienation here that's unsettling, and can't be healthy for the community at large. If we don't know each other, we can't be good neighbors to each other. 

So, I'd like to gather the perspectives of all types of people who live or work here, and make these stories available for those who want to know more about their neighbors. Who are they? How did they get here? What does this community mean to them? What do they wish H Street could become?

If you'd like to volunteer to sit down for a 45 minute interview, or nominate someone who you think has a story that needs to be heard, contact me at vicarofhstreet@gmail.com. I would love to hear your story.