{"id":9603,"date":"2015-04-14T21:56:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T01:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9603"},"modified":"2015-04-14T22:01:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T02:01:16","slug":"choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html","title":{"rendered":"“Choose to Stay” (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One reason I love the Weakerthans<\/a> is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg<\/a>\u201d the more I know which city holds your heart. So let\u2019s listen to \u201cReunion Tour\u201d and get emotional. Welcome to Washington, DC! The local time is 1987.<\/p>\n

Like every other week I meet somebody who says, \u201cOh, wow, I\u2019ve never met anybody from DC before.\u201d Guess these people\u2019s race! I meet people from DC all the time; you can probably guess their<\/i> race, too. (I think I\u2019ve been a gentrifier in every neighborhood I\u2019ve lived in since age three, so yes, it\u2019s not hard to guess my race either.)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The alleys and the yards are covered in white and pink leaves from the saucer magnolias, and the breeze is full of cherry blossoms. Their short season came a month late this year. I think they actually delayed the festival, the weekends when trackwork was suspended on the Metro.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember how two years ago the autumn was the most glorious one we\u2019d ever seen? Horror-movie Halloween leaves, black squirrels playing in the heaps of scarlet and gold. Autumn is never DC\u2019s great season. We\u2019re a springtime city\u2013and summer if you\u2019re a masochist, if you like seasons that make you give in. But we had that great fall, and then the polar vortex. Apparently because the weather is changing. (\u201cTalk about the weather or\/How the weather used to be..\u201d)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Hey, every other hour I pass the house
\nWhere you told me that you had to go.
\nI wonder if the landlord has fixed the crack
\nThat I stared at, instead of staring back at you.<\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange to live in a city where they\u2019ve built brand-new buildings in the abandoned spaces where I used to keep my regrets<\/a>. Where do ghosts live in a city where they tore down all the bottle trees? One year for Good Friday I walked \u201cStations of the Cross in the Neighborhood,\u201d all through the U Street corridor, and it was a ghost tour: Let\u2019s kneel and pray at this luxury apartment complex which used to be an AA clubhouse. These condos used to be a senior home. If I wanted to go back to the bad old days I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d even find them.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a transient city and I\u2019ll never begrudge my friends the decision to leave. This place usually wasn\u2019t their home and we\u2019ve all got to find our homes in other people\u2019s hearts; the broken streets and speakeasies I remember aren\u2019t there anymore anyway. <\/span>If my heart were a house you\u2019d be home by now<\/i> and all that. That\u2019s the only way anybody can live these days. We live in a mobile economy of regret. (Don\u2019t delete the photos from your phone.) <\/span><\/p>\n

But I read that phrase, \u201cchoose to stay<\/a>,\u201d in a review of Wesley Hill\u2019s new book, and my heart ached just a little. Even DC didn\u2019t choose to stay in DC so why should I? But I will. I probably will.<\/span><\/p>\n

The owner\u2019s not pulling his weight<\/a> so Virtute the cat slips out the door into the back alleys, where the cherry blossoms are settling like ash on the trash cans. Home is always there for you, for now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds your heart. So let\u2019s listen to \u201cReunion Tour\u201d and get emotional. Welcome to Washington, DC! The local time is 1987. Like every other week I meet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[35,31,78,80,1265,485,22],"class_list":["post-9603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-obsessed","tag-district-of-chaos","tag-god-bless-the-1990s-because-no-one-else-will","tag-home-is-anywhere-you-hang-your-head","tag-memories-are-films-about-ghosts","tag-self-obsessed","tag-the-weakerthans","tag-turn-your-watch-back-about-a-hundred-thousand-years"],"yoast_head":"\n"Choose to Stay" (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Choose to Stay" (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-15T01:56:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-04-15T02:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Choose to Stay\\\" (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-15T01:56:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-15T02:01:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\"},\"description\":\"One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Choose to Stay” (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"description\":\"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eve Tushnet\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Choose to Stay\" (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)","description":"One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Choose to Stay\" (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)","og_description":"One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html","og_site_name":"Eve Tushnet","article_published_time":"2015-04-15T01:56:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-04-15T02:01:16+00:00","author":"Eve Tushnet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eve Tushnet","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html","name":"\"Choose to Stay\" (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-15T01:56:55+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-15T02:01:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415"},"description":"One reason I love the Weakerthans is that their songs are set in their hometown. The louder you yell \u201cI Hate Winnipeg\u201d the more I know which city holds","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/choose-to-stay-or-virtute-the-cat-contemplates-her-city.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Choose to Stay” (Or, Virtute the Cat Contemplates Her City)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/","name":"Eve Tushnet","description":"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415","name":"Eve Tushnet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eve Tushnet"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}