In the spirit of all of this—and also in the spirit of the fact that I am supposed to be writing my personal statement for UMD’s preservation program—I thought I’d list some of the things I’m thankful for that make DC and the places around it a great city to live in.

• Metro: Sure, WMATA has its issues and many people use up a lot of their energy hating on Metro. But, it means I don’t have to drive to College Park, and on long train rides, I can get a lot of reading done. I love that.
• MARC: Do I wish MARC lines were more extensive? Absolutely. Do I wish MARC trains ran on weekends? Absolutely. But, I love being able to catch the 4:19 express train on weekdays when I want to head back to my parents’.
• Green space: DC has more parkland than New York City (Rock Creek Park, bitches). I am so, so lucky to live right around Meridian Hill—undeniably the most beautiful green space in DC—so that I can not only look at it, but walk through it on my way to various destinations. 
• Free museums: They’re not going to make you pay for the Smithsonian, so don’t worry about it. If you are worried, get your ass to a museum. They cost nothing and you can see, like, famous art and shit! Honorable mention: The monuments, especially at night. I was reminded of how beautiful they are last week and I don’t want to forget anytime soon.
• Walkable neighborhoods: I don’t have a bike and I drive my car in emergencies only. Being able to walk to the grocery store, Target, CVS, my boyfriend’s house, my friends’ houses, the metro, work, whatever nightlife activity we are partaking in, and so on is really fucking awesome. Also, I’m happy knowing that if something serious happens to my car (this is almost always on the verge of happening), I could easily live without it.
• Twitter: How else would I have ended up at Capital City Diner a few weeks ago chatting with people about DC stuff? Twitter has made me smarter and kept me informed about DC-area issues. Also, when I put a question out there (“Can anyone give me suggestions for movies about gentrification?”), I usually get really fantastic answers. Honorable mention: Greater Greater Washington, which I read avidly for several years and am now lucky enough to contribute to. I nearly fell off my chair when I was asked if I’d like to join the overwhelmingly intelligent, wise, and even funny discourse going on behind what is unquestionably one of the best blogs in the region.
• The 90 bus lines: My weird little introductory tag line in online profiles has been, for awhile now, “An avid rider of the 90 bus lines.” When I got into that kerfuffle on the Atlantic, commenters made serious fun of that. But, you know? Fuck ‘em. I’ve been riding the 90 and 92 many times a week (sometimes so many I can’t remember to count) since before I moved into DC proper because they are fucking fantastic bus lines! I can get from my apartment to Matt’s house, or to H Street, or Capitol Hill, or (and most importantly!) Anacostia. I think the 90 bus lines are probably my favorite thing about DC.
• Gentrification: You think I’m kidding, right? Not kidding. I spend most days battling the assumption that gentrification is bad. Gentrification is totally fine—it brings amenities into areas that are usually completely strapped for grocery stores, sit-down restaurants, and well-stocked bodegas (von Hoffman, 2006). Displacement is the thing that’s bad. That said, my personal beliefs (that are evidenced by a scant few other academics better-educated than I), would not have been developed and expanded were DC not existing among a crazy culture war about gentrification (and displacement, but I have yet to meet more than one person who readily understands the distinction). Gentrification and the potential for displacement gives me a problem to solve and a real reason to live where I’m living: So that I can better understand how to stop neighborhoods from becoming totally unaffordable for most of the general public, and so that I can research what displacement actually is and what it actually does (Lance Freeman might be the only dude who knows, okay?).

So, there you go. There are lots more, and lots more non-urbanist-things, that I am thankful for (Solly’s serving tallboys of Miller Light, Kramerbooks, the Greek place on 11th Street, Yoga District, and so on), but we won’t even go there.