Maggie Downing
@maggiedowning.bsky.social
public space + public history // avid baker // casual cyclist // DC + New England // she/her
The city has been twiddling its thumbs on what to do with the streateries for years now. Instead of these poorly implemented half measures they could’ve used that time to come up with a real plan to permanently extend sidewalks, create managed loading/drop off zones, and convert to sidewalk cafes.
November 22, 2025 at 12:40 PM
The city has been twiddling its thumbs on what to do with the streateries for years now. Instead of these poorly implemented half measures they could’ve used that time to come up with a real plan to permanently extend sidewalks, create managed loading/drop off zones, and convert to sidewalk cafes.
![[AlertDC] US Secret Service reports simulated cannon fire will occur around the White House complex now through 3:00 p.m.
For more info https://evbg.co/78vq1h.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:plbkfzxd2ddwe7bny7zlpw3z/bafkreibehhoydfrvu6qzzyde63m7jwwlin62zj536mzp4ly6mvzzbkeyii@jpeg)
The thing about being a take-charge person is that sometimes I don’t *want* to be in charge, but no one else seems to be doing anything?
It’s honestly a miracle that I’ve made it to 42 without running for office (the ultimate “if no one else is gonna handle this I guess I will” move)
It’s honestly a miracle that I’ve made it to 42 without running for office (the ultimate “if no one else is gonna handle this I guess I will” move)
November 13, 2025 at 6:42 PM
The thing about being a take-charge person is that sometimes I don’t *want* to be in charge, but no one else seems to be doing anything?
It’s honestly a miracle that I’ve made it to 42 without running for office (the ultimate “if no one else is gonna handle this I guess I will” move)
It’s honestly a miracle that I’ve made it to 42 without running for office (the ultimate “if no one else is gonna handle this I guess I will” move)
Reposted by Maggie Downing
Sister Act 3: Back in the Convent
Octogenarian Sisters Rita, Regina and Bernadette went back to their old convent with local support, and an Instagram following. "People are calling us the rebellious sisters!" Rita says.
Meet the Austrian nuns who fled a care home to break into their old convent
Octogenarian Sisters Rita, Regina and Bernadette went back to their old convent with local support, and an Instagram following. "People are calling us the rebellious sisters!" Rita says.
n.pr
November 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Sister Act 3: Back in the Convent
There is nothing worse, as a people pleaser and person who generally tries to be helpful, than listening to movers grumble about the stairs and heaviness of your boxes while moving.
November 5, 2025 at 3:13 PM
There is nothing worse, as a people pleaser and person who generally tries to be helpful, than listening to movers grumble about the stairs and heaviness of your boxes while moving.
Happy for New York and wishing for the same for DC in our next mayoral election. But tbh, this morning I’d be willing to vote for whoever will fix the No Parking permit sign process.
November 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Happy for New York and wishing for the same for DC in our next mayoral election. But tbh, this morning I’d be willing to vote for whoever will fix the No Parking permit sign process.
Lin deserves a chance to do a mash-up that includes “immigrants, we get the job done” and “the greatest city in the world” he’s earned it.
in my heart I know that Lin-Manuel Miranda wants to play Zohran Mamdani on SNL so bad it physically hurts him
November 5, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Lin deserves a chance to do a mash-up that includes “immigrants, we get the job done” and “the greatest city in the world” he’s earned it.
Waking up and thinking maybe America will actually be okay for the first time in a year.
November 5, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Waking up and thinking maybe America will actually be okay for the first time in a year.
Forgot that an election night could feel good.
November 5, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Forgot that an election night could feel good.
I never need an excuse to share the best piece of writing about baseball to exist, but last night’s game is a good one
“This is what baseball can do to the soul: it has the ability to make you believe in spite of all other available evidence.”
“This is what baseball can do to the soul: it has the ability to make you believe in spite of all other available evidence.”
Opinion | What Baseball Does to the Soul (Published 2012)
www.nytimes.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I never need an excuse to share the best piece of writing about baseball to exist, but last night’s game is a good one
“This is what baseball can do to the soul: it has the ability to make you believe in spite of all other available evidence.”
“This is what baseball can do to the soul: it has the ability to make you believe in spite of all other available evidence.”
I’ve unsubscribed and re-subscribed a couple times in the last few years, but this was the nail in the coffin for me, @washingtonpost.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I’ve unsubscribed and re-subscribed a couple times in the last few years, but this was the nail in the coffin for me, @washingtonpost.com
NCPC is only obscure if you’ve never paid any attention to any federal design/construction project in DC.
An obscure DC planning board is set to decide 👍 or 👎 on whether Trump can build his ballroom.
Trump has stocked it with his allies.
w @jonathanreports.bsky.social
Trump has stocked it with his allies.
w @jonathanreports.bsky.social
Trump put allies on obscure board set to decide White House ballroom’s fate
Current and former members of the National Capital Planning Commission panned Trump’s East Wing demolition and worried that his ballroom would be rubber-stamped
www.washingtonpost.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:24 AM
NCPC is only obscure if you’ve never paid any attention to any federal design/construction project in DC.
This is, unfortunately, an experience every home cook must have once. No amount of additional curry paste, fish sauce, or other ingredient will balance out the fact that you just added a pint of dessert to your dinner.
it turns out "cream of coconut" is NOT coconut milk and it is not coconut cream. it's made for pina coladas and other super sweet drinks and you will basically be adding 2 cups of gelatinous sugar to your yellow curry, thus destroying it
October 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
This is, unfortunately, an experience every home cook must have once. No amount of additional curry paste, fish sauce, or other ingredient will balance out the fact that you just added a pint of dessert to your dinner.
Feeling distraught at the gift guides I’m seeing when
A)it’s October
B)everything costs a million dollars now and
C)we’re filling our one precious planet with disposable junk
So just a reminder for you and me that museum memberships, experiences, and homemade/thrifted items are the best gifts.
A)it’s October
B)everything costs a million dollars now and
C)we’re filling our one precious planet with disposable junk
So just a reminder for you and me that museum memberships, experiences, and homemade/thrifted items are the best gifts.
October 25, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Feeling distraught at the gift guides I’m seeing when
A)it’s October
B)everything costs a million dollars now and
C)we’re filling our one precious planet with disposable junk
So just a reminder for you and me that museum memberships, experiences, and homemade/thrifted items are the best gifts.
A)it’s October
B)everything costs a million dollars now and
C)we’re filling our one precious planet with disposable junk
So just a reminder for you and me that museum memberships, experiences, and homemade/thrifted items are the best gifts.
I think when we get through all of this, we shouldn’t tear down the hideous golden ballroom. We should make it a museum and fund a program for every child in America to visit it and learn about how fascism and megalomania took hold of the government, to make sure it never happens again.
October 24, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I think when we get through all of this, we shouldn’t tear down the hideous golden ballroom. We should make it a museum and fund a program for every child in America to visit it and learn about how fascism and megalomania took hold of the government, to make sure it never happens again.
This is a very niche complaint but why, in the year of our lord 2025, is the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities sending out grant agreements as non-fillable PDFs?
October 24, 2025 at 2:34 PM
This is a very niche complaint but why, in the year of our lord 2025, is the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities sending out grant agreements as non-fillable PDFs?
Please imagine: me, crouched on the couch: WHY DIDNT YOU KILL IT? PLEASE DONT LET IT GO IN THE LIVING ROOM. WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGGGG?
Nothing prepares you for the first time your house cat captures a mouse.
October 23, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Please imagine: me, crouched on the couch: WHY DIDNT YOU KILL IT? PLEASE DONT LET IT GO IN THE LIVING ROOM. WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGGGG?
Nothing prepares you for the first time your house cat captures a mouse.
October 23, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Nothing prepares you for the first time your house cat captures a mouse.
Reposted by Maggie Downing
my woke take is that entirely too many people feel entitled to the benefits of a social contract while not feeling bound by the responsibilities of said contract
October 20, 2025 at 12:35 PM
my woke take is that entirely too many people feel entitled to the benefits of a social contract while not feeling bound by the responsibilities of said contract
Things that made me cry today, an incomplete list:
Babies at the protest. Old people at the protest. Sullen teenagers at the protest. DC flags at the protest. Biking to and from the protest on car free streets. The National Mall, and all its symbols of America. A picture of my mom at a protest.
Babies at the protest. Old people at the protest. Sullen teenagers at the protest. DC flags at the protest. Biking to and from the protest on car free streets. The National Mall, and all its symbols of America. A picture of my mom at a protest.
October 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Things that made me cry today, an incomplete list:
Babies at the protest. Old people at the protest. Sullen teenagers at the protest. DC flags at the protest. Biking to and from the protest on car free streets. The National Mall, and all its symbols of America. A picture of my mom at a protest.
Babies at the protest. Old people at the protest. Sullen teenagers at the protest. DC flags at the protest. Biking to and from the protest on car free streets. The National Mall, and all its symbols of America. A picture of my mom at a protest.
Car free M Street, courtesy of the Ukrainian Embassy.
October 17, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Car free M Street, courtesy of the Ukrainian Embassy.
The irony of moving several large heavy items unscathed, only to get a paper cut while breaking down the packaging that the big heavy things came in.
October 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The irony of moving several large heavy items unscathed, only to get a paper cut while breaking down the packaging that the big heavy things came in.
If you had asked me 20 years ago which would be the more progressive institution in 2025, the Catholic Church or the US government, I apparently would’ve been quite wrong.
Pope Leo XIV weighed in on U.S. politics, saying that Catholic politicians must be judged on the full range of their policy positions and suggesting that the country's immigration policy is "inhuman."
Pope Leo XIV says 'inhuman treatment of immigrants' in the U.S. isn't 'pro-life'
Pope Leo XIV weighed in on U.S. politics, saying that Catholic politicians must be judged on the full range of their policy positions and suggesting that the country's immigration policy is "inhuman."
n.pr
October 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
If you had asked me 20 years ago which would be the more progressive institution in 2025, the Catholic Church or the US government, I apparently would’ve been quite wrong.
So, basically the entire District of Columbia.
EXCLUSIVE — DHS Acting General Counsel sent out a memo Wednesday to all Federal Protective Service staff (the sub-agency that guards federal buildings) letting officers know they could take any action necessary "in the vicinity" federal property to protect themselves.
The Handbasket reports:
The Handbasket reports:
DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property
In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.
www.thehandbasket.co
October 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
So, basically the entire District of Columbia.