West Oakland, California.  1. The word crashes into my left ear like a well-aimed brick. I can’t stand him… he’s so ghetto. I overhear at 15th and Broadway, from a woman talking on her cell louder than her designer heels clicking down the sidewalk. She’s sharing her disgust for an…

I love DC. Washington is what you see on TV — the White House, the monuments, the sex scandals. But where the folks actually live, where they teach, drink, ball, and tell you about “all those Bamas from Virginia” — that’s DC. That’s my hometown. But sometimes I ask myself,…