>> Nation's Gentrified Neighborhoods Threatened By Aristocratization: "When you have a bejeweled, buckle-shoed duke willing to pay 11 or 12 times the asking price for a block of renovated brownstones—and usually up front with satchels of solid gold guineas—hardworking white-collar people who only make a few hundred thousand dollars a year simply cannot compete." [The Onion]

>> Buried in the "for Kids" section of the Treasury Department, there's a page featuring Excel spreadsheets of alcohol distributors and wholesalers, nationwide. News you can use, kids! [Treasury Department]

>> Don't be so hasty to throw those stinky leftovers out! They could be award-winning. [Endless Simmer]

>> Congratulations to nine DC students, who won scholarships to George Washington University. There, they will meet people from New Jersey. [DC Wire]

>> DC Cab riding, cajun style! [Diary of a Mad DC Cabbie]

>> "WHAT IS SHE DOING TO THAT CAKE?!!?? THAT’S SOMEBODY’S BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!" [Pygmalion In A Blanket]

>> Hey! Wanna know what's been happening with that Tower of Invincibility whose email alerts I signed up for? Not a frakking thing. [By The Way Battlestar Galactica Returns Tonight]

Picture by Flickr user _kurtie_.

Mark Athitakis' latest article in the City Paper, "Building the Great D.C. Novel," is a fine one, and it really gets the mind grapes juicing. It takes up a noble task: how to write the classic DC novel.

His thesis, for which he builds a solid case, is this, "Though a few have come close, the Great American Novel has bypassed Washington." Along the way, Athitakis speaks to Jeffrey Charis-Carlson, a "scholar of DC literature" who's been immersing himself in the subject for his dissertation, and finds that he has "had a rough time finding a singular book that might rank with the likes of The Adventures of Augie March, The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Big Sleep, A Confederacy of Dunces—novels that drill deep into how a city operates, giving you a sense that multiple waterfronts are being covered."

That's not to say that Athitakis is harshing on the literary offerings that stem from, and speak of, this city. He isn't. He makes copious mention of authors that have been inspired by and in the city (Chris Buckley, Ana Marie Cox, Ward Just, and others). Nevertheless, it should be noted that DC lit often does get some short shrift. Browse out to the Wikipedia page devoted to DC culture, and you can stub your way through topics related to film and theatre, music and museums, but nothing on books.

That seems shortsighted. DC novels are out there: the genre-anthropologies of George Pelecanos typically spring to mind, and you've likely pored through any number of spy thriller set in the city as well. But there's much more. There are sweeping historical epics from Henry Adams (Democracy) and Gore Vidal (Washington, D.C.), a classic horror novel that's turned a staircase into a tourist attraction (Blatty's The Exorcist), snapshots of ordinary lives (Andrew Hollaran's Grief, Paul Kafka-Gibbons' Dupont Circle, Ann Beattie's Chilly Scenes of Winter), the poli-sci-lite lit of Kristin Gore, and at least one wack-ass coming-of-age story: Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children.