We no longer know how to party
DC is often maligned for being swagless. This is a perception I have struggled in vain to correct in the pages of this magazine, in my weekly culture newsletter, in my own life, by emphasizing the subtler currents of intrigue at play in the capital city. But every week it seems some new horror emerges to beset my efforts, some arch little triumph over the joy of spontaneity, a dead-eyed child of Yog-Sothoth in the form of an infantilizing $35 “Adult Happy Meal” or now, La Merna’s espresso martini special, which comes with an added cigarette for $3 or the whole pack for $30! “I’m LIVING for this,” tweets an algorithm zombie to 600 likes. It really gets to a point.
