The DC Voice Turns 5!

The DC Voice launched on October 31, 2014, with the article \”There\’s Always a Beginning.\” We\’ve reprinted the article over the past few years as part of our anniversary celebration. We have reached nearly 25,000 readers, achieved over 80,000 page views and maintain a current bounce rate of 2.88%. That means that when people come to our site they stay! We embarked on this journey to provide a voice for the residents of Ward5. Since then we have expanded that journey beyond Ward 5 with the help of several dedicated contributors, freelancers, and more recently a growing group of talented student writers from Howard University and The University of the District of Columbia, as we work towards adding our friends from Gallaudet! 

We continually reach out to provide a platform for anyone who wants to be heard above the crushing weight of gentrification and overdevelopment. If it\’s relevant to the daily lives of DC residents, we cover it. As the inaugural post pointed out we weren\’t sure if the goal was \”some altruistic calling to bring the Ward together to tackle the changes that will inevitably change it forever. It could be to provide a voice to the voiceless who sometimes feel they are screaming into an empty wasteland of political posturing where people are easily left behind for the sake of progress. Or maybe to simply change the pace, ruffle a few feathers, entertain, or just challenge the Ward to know its history.\” It turns out it was a bit of all of it.

We espouse our motto even louder that \”The only way to change the narrative is to write the narrative.\” In these days of fake news and misdirection, that motto is even more important. It\’s been our pleasure bringing you news and information in an enjoyable format.  At 5 years old we are still a baby and just getting started!

So from the Editors, Writers, Freelancers, and Contributors (past and present) of The DC Voice, we say, \”Thank You! and Always Forward®\” 

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There\’s Always A Beginning

By T.G. Freeman October 31, 2014

A Chinese philosopher wrote that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This article is The DC Voice’s first step on what we hope to be a tremendous journey through the widely diverse region bounded by North Capitol Street; Michigan, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Florida, New York, and Eastern avenues; Benning and Riggs roads, and the Anacostia River; called Ward 5 in Washington, D.C. In our case, the journey starts with a single page. A single page that will grow over time to capture the joys, hopes, dreams, disappointments, and growth of the constituents of this vast Ward.

Month after month it will string together the neighborhoods as far north as Riggs Park, as far south as Carver-Langston, east to Truxton Circle, and west to Fort Lincoln. At the end of it all, we hope you will come to feel the tagline of this site “Ward 5 – #1 in Washington.” But why take on this journey?

I could tell you that there’s some altruistic calling to bring the Ward together to tackle the changes that will inevitably change it forever. It could be to provide a voice to the voiceless who sometimes feel they are screaming into an empty wasteland of political posturing where people are easily left behind for the sake of progress. Or maybe to simply change the pace, ruffle a few feathers, entertain, or just challenge the Ward to know its history.

We haven’t figured out which of those reasons apply but we’ll let you know when we figure it out! For now, let’s take this first step together as The DC Voice starts its journey to highlight the diversity, history, and uniqueness that makes up Ward 5.

By the way, the philosopher was Lao Tzu and the sculpture above, reminiscent of some ancient artifact, resides at The National Arboretum in, where else but, Ward 5 – #1 in Washington!

Let’s take a walk!