J.D. Vance Comes To Washington

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance has been at or near the top of the New York Times' bestseller list for an entire year. I recently read this book described as "A Yale Law School graduate looks at the struggles of the white working class through the story of his own childhood." It's a really interesting look at Vance's tumultuous childhood and what's happening in many small towns, particularly in Appalachia.

I mention this because J.D. Vance will be at the Library of Congress' National Book Festival.

While this is an impressive list of authors, no one (not even David McCullough) can compare with J.D. Vance who apparently has cloned himself and will be at the festival twice!


Although this ad appeared in Monday's Washington Post Express, this doesn't count as an "Express Fail" since I doubt that Express created this.

My Life

I haven't written as much as I'd like lately, so I thought I would share an update about my life.

- On Monday, I left a banana on the counter. On Tuesday, I locked myself out of the house. I'm worried what I might forget at home over the next few days.

- Of course, I need to remember not to keep the keys separated from my cell phone and wallet.



- In December, the dictator of my homeowner association was removed from power. While I supported the coup, the new regime hired a new management company. This management company has been quite aggressive in sending "friendly reminders" about violations to the point of ridiculousness. Sure, power washing needed to be done, but a notice because the tree limbs could interfere with traffic or pedestrians? Unless Dwight Howard is sitting on Shaquille O'Neal's shoulders or an 18-wheeler comes down my street, no one is running into the tree branches. We're not to the point where there is a disturbance in District 12, but there are some disgruntled people.

- Despite this, I really like my neighborhood. We've lived in four different places in Northern Virginia, and this is the first time where we know our neighbors.

- I know this sounds silly, but the fact that we regularly see public buses and airplanes fly overhead are huge pluses. My son loves airplanes and especially buses so this adds to our outside fun.

- Celebrate Fairfax was successful again this year, and my son enjoyed his first time as a walking attendee. His favorite part of the festival: "driving" a Fairfax Connector bus and a fire engine.

- On the topic of Celebrate Fairfax, a volunteer was arrested for taking money from one of the admissions gates. In a nice touch, she's wearing a volunteer T-shirt in the mug shot.

- I'm currently reading "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough, so I'm now a little freaked out by heavy rainstorms even though I don't live near any bodies of water or below a poorly built and maintained dam.

- Finally, congratulations to "This Is The End" for being the first movie that I've seen in the theater in 2013.