Unwritten rules

It was late May when I packed up my room in New York City, stuffed the back of a minivan, and took Interstate 95 down the Atlantic Coast to the District of Columbia. As the newest recruit to WORLD’s Washington Bureau, I’ve been learning the ropes of my job while also navigating the norms of a new city.

Former President John F. Kennedy famously called Washington, D.C., “a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.” For me, a West Coast native with a dash of New York, adjusting to a city with a hybrid culture and a rich history has already come with some surprising lessons—and a few that may not be obvious to outsiders.

I arrived in D.C. at peak summer internship season. In the district, “hilltern” is the colloquial term for an intern who works on Capitol Hill. The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, estimates that approximately 40,000 interns from around the country come to D.C. for internships in policy, government relations, and journalism. WORLD has one and she’s great.

A lot of those interns presumably live in my neighborhood. On a typical weekday morning, I walk to the office, a brisk 25 minutes from my residence. As I draw closer to the Capitol, I quickly become just another pair of high heels in a swarm of business garb. The interns, along with other young professionals, are all dressed to the nines—sleek hairstyles, tailored suits, and crisp button-­downs. Observing their fashion became one of my first D.C. lessons.

Wardrobe, it turns out, is an essential piece of D.C. literacy. The right outfit—a suit and tie, or closed-toe shoes with a blouse and slacks—could be the difference between a door that opens and one that does not. As Ben Mause, a congressional reporter most recently with The Baltimore Sun, pointed out, “You need a tie to report and go through the House and the Speaker gallery.”

According to the House Periodical Press Gallery, Congress requires “appropriate professional attire” when law­makers are in session. Further details go unspoken, but apparently, cowboy boots fall within the guidelines.

Mause originally hails from Alabama. He’s been in D.C. for over three years now, but he can still remember his first week as a reporter on the Hill. As he set out to chase down lawmakers for news quotes, Mause donned his cowboy boots and click-clacked onto the marble floors of the Capitol.

“Eventually, you realize it’s hard to keep up with certain lawmakers, and it’s just loud when you wear cowboy boots,” said Mause. “So I had to stop doing that.”

But several months into his new role, Mause ran into a familiar face. “I’d only seen [him] up there a couple times, but I had been wearing my boots when I first ran into him,” said Mause. The man—Mause doesn’t recall his name—remembered him and asked where the boots were. When the reporter explained that they slowed him down, the man “rebuked that excuse,” said Mause.

Despite complaints, Mause hasn’t gone back to the boots, but he has learned a thing or two more about Washington, D.C.—namely, its sports scene. While Mause enjoys a good Washington Nationals baseball game, he’s still loyal to the Atlanta Braves, the team of choice for many Alabamians. And he’s not alone. According to a 2023 U.S. Census Bureau survey, roughly 57,000 people moved to Washington, D.C., from other states in the prior year. With so many transplants in the city, Mause says many residents are fans of teams from back home. However, lifelong residents of D.C. are more likely to have strong feelings about the local teams.

I asked Aiyana Odom, an occupational therapist who’s lived in the D.C. region for all of her 26 years, whether native Washingtonians have opinions about which sports teams to support. “Easy,” she answered by text. For her, despite the proximity to Baltimore, for example, the correct answer is rooting for D.C.’s football, hockey, and basketball teams—the Washington Commanders, Capitals, and Wizards.

“But no one will judge you too harshly if you have a different team,” Odom added. “It’s all for fun, at least for me. But on the weekends, if there is a game, you better believe that you’ll see all of the metro-goers wearing their reds and their blues and representing whatever Washington sport is playing that night.”

On top of sports, Odom is versed in the D.C. vernacular that the hillterns and I are still learning. She says that the district is typically called “D.C.” rather than the longer “Washington, D.C.” Also, there are multiple abbreviations for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the airport that serves as Washingtonians’ primary launching point. According to Odom, it’s acceptable to call the airport “DCA,” “Reagan National,” or just “Reagan.”

Other unwritten rules apply to navigating the city—such as the age-old rule, also shared with New York, to stand right, walk left on escalators. Another thing both cities boast are restaurants that attract certain political crowds.

“There are specific spots that Republicans tend to populate and that Democrats tend to populate,” said Mause. “Around Capitol Hill there are Republican establishments and there are Democrat establishments where people go to eat and hang out. You know what to expect when you go to one of those because you’re either going to a Republican one or a Democrat one.”

Among the many, Butterworth’s, a French-Australian Capitol Hill bistro, has been claimed by the GOP, whereas Bistro Cacao, a modern French restaurant, may be frequented by more Democrats.

While the map shows a divide, Mause still sees hints of camaraderie. “When you’re on Capitol Hill day in and a day out, and not just seeing the social media interactions online, a decent number of lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, across the aisle, really like each other.”

A few figures do propagate conflict, but Mause says there are still many Republicans and Democrats who respect one another: “It’s hard to hate people when you’re close to them.”