{"id":9070,"date":"2014-11-23T22:03:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T02:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9070"},"modified":"2014-11-23T22:03:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T02:03:06","slug":"the-mayor-for-life-at-least","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2014\/11\/the-mayor-for-life-at-least.html","title":{"rendered":"The Mayor-for-Life, At Least"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Marion Barry, RIP.<\/p>\n

Look, Barry started out as a civil-rights organizer throwing block parties in the hood, and ended as an advocate for people coming out of prison<\/a>. In between he presided over a decade and a half in which DC suffered disproportionately from the violence which swept through all US cities in the \u201980s and \u201990s. I know it started before<\/a> we even had \u201chome rule\u201d (ish) and everybody else\u2019s city also suffered and hey, at least he didn\u2019t declare a state of emergency<\/a> and try to call out the National Guard like some mayors<\/a>. But he\u2019s gotta take responsibility for some of the blood.<\/p>\n

That said, Marion Barry chose DC. He chose Ward 8. He became a man of DC, one of us, when not a lot of people would\u2019ve borne that banner with pride. He\u2019s one of ours.<\/p>\n

Matt Labash\u2019s obit:<\/p>\n

\u2026Barry commanded the stage as if we\u2019d all been assembled for him all along. He complained about how confusing it was to find the place in the city he\u2019d presided over for four terms. He made some cracks about me \u201cbeing nosy.\u201d He had the crowd\u2014mostly conservative-leaning white people who\u2019ve probably pilloried him hundreds of times both privately and in public\u2014eating out of his hand like he was feeding them bacon-wrapped catnip.<\/p>\n

From there, he adjourned to Tucker\u2019s kitchen, where he received well-wishers, kissed a long line of women (he was always kissing women), and proceeded to sign a huge stack of my books, as if he\u2019d written them. I didn\u2019t begrudge him this. Not only did it liberate me to head to the bar. But in a way, he had written it. For it was men like him that the book depended on\u2014those who are not quite in control of their own appetites, who live a little bit larger, so we don\u2019t have to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marion Barry, RIP. Look, Barry started out as a civil-rights organizer throwing block parties in the hood, and ended as an advocate for people coming out of prison. In between he presided over a decade and a half in which DC suffered disproportionately from the violence which swept through all US cities in the \u201980s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[272,35,31,78,132,106,107,114],"class_list":["post-9070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-hell-of-a-drug","tag-district-of-chaos","tag-god-bless-the-1990s-because-no-one-else-will","tag-home-is-anywhere-you-hang-your-head","tag-i-should-be-drinking-a-toast-to-absent-friends-instead-of-these-comedians","tag-no-more-cotton-pickin-prisons","tag-prayers-to-st-joseph-cafasso","tag-the-day-the-world-turned-day-glo"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Mayor-for-Life, At Least<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Marion Barry, RIP. 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