What is weirdness? There are well-known campaigns to “keep” cities like Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas weird. But those cities are losing that battle and urban life globally is becoming more homogenous. Is weirdness something you can “make?” Is it something you can demand from your civic leaders?
How do we see D.C. in relation to cities that embrace ‘weirdness’ (or ‘normalcy’)? How does a message insisting on change come across in a time of constant change, displacement, rising rents, and erasure of history and culture? What is the relationship between the perception D.C. residents have of our city and the perception much of the country/globe has of “Washington?” Can the existing city of funk, punk, and gogo ever become better known than the city of bombs and taxes that it shares a geography with?
Erik Moe 