I didn’t realize until midway through the midwest, en route to the iron spike of Chicago, that I loved the roll of the Midatlantic. I hadn’t even given round thought to the slumbering, undulating beauty of Virginia in the summer, or the way my hometown of D.C. slides right into the Potomac, or the syncopation of potholes and wetlands in Maryland. But I knew, when facing that vast Midwest flatness, that I was not home. Don’t get me wrong: I loved Chicago. Net-net, despite losing a lot in Illinois — a business, a pregnancy, my wide-eyedness — I loved her people, her summer, her unfussy cool. I absorbed and aspired to the perfunctory way Midwesterners make do with an unyielding winter, the way the city stands stock-still in its center while the weather does what it wants. An Illinois winter teaches you a lot about survival — even more about yourself, and the areas of your will that need patchwork. But I learned in that flat winter that I love the Mid-Atlantic. This feels — even now — the tiniest bit hollow, or forcible, to write. Oh, you were just homesick. (Even the desert animal misses its birthplace austerities.) I say this because many of us raised in the region are taught in various ways that the Mid-Atlantic is a kind of identity crisis, a cultural flyover. We are told we have no accent, for example. There are no restaurants in other corners of the U.S. that celebrate the cuisine here — in New York and L.A., you will find Southern BBQ. In Seattle and Austin, you will find New York style pizza. In Chicago, you will find Lone Star tacos. Et cetera. But there are scant few blue crab joints or Old Bay shakers on tabletops outside of this area. Beyond that, we are not quite north and not quite south, and the capital of it all — D.C. — is, by trade, transient, peopled with politicians and the ancillary support systems and industries that come and go every four years. Even the name, the Mid-Atlantic, suggests some in-betweenness, some liminality, some lack of central definition that forces us to rely on other tent poles. I could be over-egging the pudding but you get my drift: there is a sense, growing up here, that the Mid-Atlantic lacks the color of other regions.
But living here in Maryland the past five years after decamping to Chicago and then New York, I’ve looked at it from all sides, and I have found I love this place. I love its roll. The way it undulates like the smooth cordgrass in its low marshlands. I love the wandering spread of the Chesapeake Bay, the way it explores the land here, even the brackishness of its water: half ocean, half stream. I’m drawn to the bounty of its estuaries, the mix of its music: you can find bluegrass as easy as hip-hop around here. The more I look, the more I love. Did you know, for example, that not far from where I live, on the Maryland-Delaware border, you can find waterbodies called “Delmarva Bays”? These oval-shaped depressions drain and flood throughout the year, providing habitat for rare plants and animals found almost nowhere else in the world, and they teach us something about resilience: even when emptied out, we can become the gathering place for something rare or new or wonderful. And, when the time comes, we can also regenerate and give back the sky.
Oh, you can scarcely step outside a Maryland door without stumbling upon some bibelot or bird that has presented its remarkable plumage and purpose. Maybe this is the way of the artist, writing her way into motif no matter where she lands, but anyhow, I just love it here.
What do you love about the area you live?
Some additional Mid-Atlantic specialties I love:
Malt vinegar
The wild, lush, unmanicured overgrowth of D.C. in the summer
“Bushel” (known shorthand for blue crab)
The elision of syllables in Baltimore tongue (“Mur-land,” “Bal-mer”)
Pregnant clouds and righteous thunderstorms
Old Bay (the boys we knew from Baltimore liked it on the lip of a Nattie Bo)
The doleful haze of the Blue Ridge
The chop across the Chesapeake
Camden Yards (still find this to be one of the most beautiful ballparks I’ve ever been to)
Blue herons and Baltimore orioles
The merroir of a Chincoteague Salt
The way Georgetown slips into the Potomac
Dogwood and cherry blossom
Wetlands and mossy things
The thickest rain you’ve ever felt
Its innate hybridity
Post-Scripts.
*Can you spot the egret in the photo at top?! I took this while in a bird blind at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center in Grasonville, MD.
+The layers and layers of lived experience in Georgetown, where I run into a different version of myself at every cross-street.
+Other reflections on the winters of Illinois.
Book Pre-Order Sale!
+My book is 25% off at Barnes and Noble as a part of its spring pre-order promotion! Use code PREORDER25. Two books I recently pre-ordered: Carley Fortune’s latest (a new favorite dawn-of-summer ritual: ordering her latest novel and enjoying while sipping a glass of rose with the windows open) and Annie Meyers-Shyer’s home decor book (she’s Nancy Meyers’ daughter and her taste is as impeccable as her mother’s!). Thanks to the Magpie who introduced me to Annie!
Shopping Break.
+Obsessed with these bandana print pants! Love this with a cotton rollneck (upgrade pick: La Ligne) and netted flats now and a white tank later.
+25% off the BEST undereye cream. Acts as both a hydrator (packed with good ingredients) and dark circle minimizer (thanks to tint / highlighting).
+Seriously trending among Magpies: this navy dress and this striped tee.
+A perfect striped tank. Love that neckline. Tuck into gauze (<<my favorite pair) or linen (<<my favorite set) pants for the easiest, chicest warm weather look.
+Back to Splendid for a sec: 30% off a big assortment of pieces. Great time to stock up on basics like high quality cotton tees (the butter yellow! — pair with white jeans!) and long-sleeves, or my favorite plush white sweat suit.
+Spectacular blouse with ecru jeans.
+My favorite spring pajamas. Just feel so good on!
+In this in-between season, I’m drawn to the aesthetic of a chunky cardigan or pullover with an airy white skirt.
+Chic patterned shorts for warmer weather!
+The pattern on this blouse is so sweet! Like a boho Bridgerton vibe. Also love it in the white or black with a great pair of jeans.
+Staud vibes for $25. (Compare with this. Something in between the price points: Few Moda or Gap.)
+Love this waste basket. The bird detail! Small, chic upgrade to a studio/office space.
+Speaking of nature motifs: how beautiful is this dress?!
+Cute last minute Easter basket filler.
+For the Magpies who shared their weekend ritual of buying fresh flowers from Trader Joe’s: how chic is this flower carrier for that errand?!
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I’m a born and bred Midwesterner, and my family has lived in the same part of Missouri for 7 (!) generations. While I love it there for many reasons, I’ve lived in the DC area on and off for almost 12 years now and have found that it’s the only place that comes close to Missouri to me. I love living in Northern Virginia so much: the proximity to DC, to the mountains, to the shore; the sticky humid summers just like the ones I grew up with; the trees and cherry blossoms and “roll” of it as you say.
LOVE! So glad you connect to this special region, too!!
xx
Oh my…yes, you have described the beauty of MD/DC/VA area so beautifully and nostalgically for me.My childhood home in Chevy Chase. Dogwoods, cherry blossoms and the azaleas!! “Mur-land,” “Bal-mer” The way the landscape rolls and greens every which way. Thank you
Oh I’m so glad you related to these details! It’s so magic. “The greens every which way” — yes!!!
xx
I really enjoyed reading your musings this afternoon! I’m a visual person and my imagination was going wild reading some of the things you like about the mid-atlantic. I’m originally from Texas but have lived in DC for 8ish years now, and have been surprised by how much I love this region – to the point that I want to settle down here permanently.
I’m hoping to come to one of your book events! The ones in DC are happening during reading week/finals so it will depend on my schedule and how busy I am, but they are on my calendar!
Oh thank you so much! I’m so glad you love it as much as I do, and appreciated the writing about it to boot.
Hoping to catch you at one of the DC events! Would love to meet IRL! (Don’t leave me hanging!)
xx
A daughter of Baltimore. I spent a decade of medical training as a gypsy to academia. Now back to salty Balty.
I wholeheartedly agree that the Midatlantic has a hard to define charm. For that reason, I think, it can be overlooked by people that prefer a singular label. This area is a chemistry phase change, somewhere between liquid/solid/gas at any given moment and never fully any of them.
It’s probably why this region seems to both breed and nurture protean types. We are sturdy like people in the Midwest, and resilient like people in the south, and resourceful like people in the north. We are the reeds that bend in the wind but don’t break, maybe a result of being at an intersection of all those places.
I love Wockenfuss dark chocolate with toasted coconut.
I love sitting in Francis Scott Key’s cell at Fort McHenry with my kids and humming the Star-Spangled Banner.
I love a crab chip.
I love that when I’m downtown, I can have lunch next to Edgar Allan Poe.
I love that within an hour I can find an oyster, or an owl, or a climbing crag, or the home of F.Scott Fitzgerald or Gertrude Stein.
I love that Jane from Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan was a Baltimorean.
I love that John Waters gives people a window into the wondrous quirk of this city, and that some people mistakenly think it’s hyperbole.
I love that people are intentionally (almost arrogantly) unfussy. What I love best about this region and city, is that it lacks the outsider feel of places that have a more cement character. I’ve been an outsider in the Midwest, in the South, in the North, and out West. But I’ve never met a stranger here.
C’mon in hon is the vibe.
Oooh this is SUCH GOOD WRITING. Wow Jenny. I love this capture: “This area is a chemistry phase change, somewhere between liquid/solid/gas at any given moment and never fully any of them” and your note on the crab chip (Utz) reminded me that more than once I have carefully ferried a bag of Utz to my brother who has lived in far-flung places like Arizona, Montana, and now Norway…! He misses the Old bay.
Thanks so much for this beautiful list —
xx
What an incredibly generous compliment. . Thank you. I’m a closet creative, since devoting so much of my life and livelihood to science- I never think of my writing as good. But I can’t tell you how warm that compliment feels.
Deserved! Keep writing!!!