When the late, great Honorable Marion S. Barry, Jr., passed away on November 23rd, I realized that I missed more than just the undisputed "Mayor For Life" of Washington, D.C. and one of my most influential mentors. Seeing so many faces in the crowds as his funeral procession came down Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue by "The Big Chair" or while attending his public funeral service at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center brought on a bittersweet sense of nostalgia. In the process, I said to myself, "I love the fact that I grew up in Southeast and that our mayor and councilmember fought for us when no one else was brave enough to do so. More than that, I love my people." Then, when two fellow alumni of Mayor Barry's Youth Leadership Institute (MBYLI) decided to run for his seat on the D.C. Council--Sheila Bunn, former chief of staff for the Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton and the Honorable Vincent Gray, and Christopher Barry, Mayor Barry's son--I was excited for the potential direction in which Ward 8 could head and made me want to be involved somehow, but remembered that my driver's license now says "Silver Spring, MD". (The differences between the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration could be another blog post alone, but I digress.) So if you were to put my sentiments to an old Manhattans tune, you might come to the following conclusion: I kinda miss Southeast. Let me tell you some of the things that I do miss...
