I found Russell Baker's piece "It's Middletown-on-the-Potomac" a slightly sarcastic and humorous yet accurate portrayal of America's capitol city. He obviously takes great pride in the consistency and tradition of the city by comparing it to the ever-changing and fast paced cities of New York City and San Francisco. Spending a great deal of time growing up in San Francisco, I agree with Russell that Washington DC offers a sense of tradition and history that no other city can.

Another point in his essay that I found to be very interesting is that Washington DC is a city made up of civil servants. While DC is indeed a rather small city, it often seems so much larger since many of the world's problems are addressed in our capitol city. With everyone being involved in political sphere in one way or another, there is a sense of unity that Russell alludes to.

That being said, Russell does offer some sarcastic comments on social life and examples of division in this "mature city". Talk of the "proper Washingtonian" speaks a great deal to some of the snobbery and social division in this city. While I did know that there was a great deal of racial division in Washington DC around the time when Russell wrote this piece, I did not know about how it affected the education system and the lay out of the city. I thought that he incorporated these facts into his essay very nicely and it greatly enhanced my knowledge on the subject.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this piece. Having an internship that is not related to politics or even in downtown DC, it is easy for me to forget about that sense of unity and history that Russell talks about. Working in DC is a way of life - the politics, the social scene, and the history can be all consuming, making DC a very unique place indeed.