Photo by 7194KK

I’m not even sure when the first post I wrote for DCist was. I think it was in 2005, and it was about blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. It was probably terrible, and I’m surprised that the site’s editors—then Michael Grass and Rob Goodspeed—chose to even keep me on. Maybe it was that I had free time to write for nothing during my day job, maybe it was that I kept sending them posts. Who knows.

But here I am, eight years and 5,500 posts later, and it’s my last day at DCist. After coming on as a paid associate editor in September 2011 and taking over for Aaron Morrissey when he departed in December of that year, it’s my own turn to bid adieu to a project that started as a modest attempt to better understand, document, explain, and yes, poke fun at the city we live in. As of next week I’ll be working with WAMU 88.5, and Benjamin Freed, who came on in December 2011 as associate editor is moving up to the corner office with the great view. (OK, that doesn’t exist; we work from home.)

It would be a gross disservice to say only that writing for DCist has been a great pleasure and a fantastic honor—I’ve had the chance to spout off on many a local grievances (voting rights, damn it!) and benefited from having people read about it (whether willingly or otherwise)—but without getting sappy or penning a 3,000-word goodbye, I’ll have to stick with that.

To you readers, commenters and photographers: thank you for the tips, the corrections (their, there, whatever), the insightful commentary, the humorous snark, the interest, the patience, and the stunning photography you produce. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of you in person, while others have remained nothing more than avatars or one-off emailers tipping us off to a story or asking us a question. Either way, you’ll always be a part of our little community.

To my fellow writers, contributors, and editors: you’re awesome. You’ve all truly shown that you love writing about D.C. for the sake of writing about D.C., and whether it’s jazz or the visual arts, you do it because you feel it’s worth it, not because we’ve been able to pay you the big bucks (or any bucks, really). That’s commitment. Mike, Rob, Ryan, Sommer, Aaron, Ben, Heather, Kelly, Kyle, Jamie, Pablo, Andrew W., Catherine, Hemal, Val, Lynne, James, Meaghan, Pat, Ian, Sriram, Alicia, Josh, Angela, Lis, John, Jacarl, Brett, Andrew, Missy, Amanda, Adam, and the many others I likely forgot: thanks, and I owe you all one.

To the Gothamist folks in New York: thanks so much for all the support, and thanks especially for not telling me to ever stop spouting off about D.C. voting rights. (Seriously, can you believe we still don’t have those?) You guys have been great, despite everything up there being soooooo much better.

To my colleagues in the D.C. media and blogosphere: keep doing what you’re doing. It’s invaluable.

It’s been real, everyone. I’ll see you out there, and please stay in touch. Oh, and Davy says hi.