It was early November, 2000. I was a freshman in college and took my first big-girl trip to D.C. with the college newspaper staff. DC was a weird place to be. We were still waiting to find out if Bush or Gore would be president. It was my first trip there since fourth-grade and I was trying to impress all my new…

The local rap station is called Power 98. My racist roommate called it “N-word 98.”