Matters of Fact

What do we owe one another? This question has been one of the most frequently revisited themes of this newsletter over our 77-and-counting issues [Editor’s note: listen, we know, we can’t really believe it either—closing in on that century mark babyyyyyy] right up there with how Alexandrians

The Power of Negative Thinking

Negative campaign ads have a long and storied history in this country. Most people know about the really famous textbook examples from presidential races past, like Reagan’s “bear in the woods” attack ad on Walter Mondale in 1984, George H.W. Bush’s “Willie Horton” attack ad on Michael

A Toll New World

Writing this newsletter isn’t always easy. Well, sure, it’s easy in that it’s not breaking rocks out of a coalface or anything, but in truth a lot of effort gets put into the words we produce for your enjoyment and enlightenment. Do you think those horny Ben

Win, Lose or Draw

You know how some people are always using sports as a metaphor for life? That’s not usually our thing; it’s too hard to map “double overtime” onto a four-hour City Council meeting. When does regulation end? If the vote on the final agenda item is tied, does it

Homeward Bound

A curious thing happened earlier this week: the City of Alexandria testified against pro-housing legislation in Richmond. The bills in question (HB 816 and SB 454, the latter of which is no longer advancing) would permit by-right development of multi-family housing in commercial zones. The city’s opposition to these

Much Ado About Parking

Surprise!! We know we said we weren’t publishing our next issue until March 6, but the best laid plans of mice and newsletter authors often go awry. By this we mean that sometimes we have something to say that just can’t wait three weeks, which might as well

Snow Way

After the better part of three weeks, it feels like we reached the moment when we can finally put the most dramatic winter storm of the past several decades behind us. What does that moment feel like, specifically, you ask? Well it feels like your foot unexpectedly punching through what

Two Households, Both ARLike in Dignity

Happy Friday, Alexan– [slips and falls on a sheet of solid ice] Whew, what a week! We say that a lot, but– [falls again as feet slide on ice uncontrollably while trying to get up] This was even more of a week than usual. It’s not too often that

Trial by Firehouse

Gooooooood morning Alexandria! How we all doing? Everyone feeling good? Everyone feeling rested and relaxed, having eased into the new year with a few weeks of low-drama ramp up? Yeah? No? Why’s everyone looking at us like that? Is there—is there something in our teeth? [Looks around in

Year in Rear View

Well folks, we made it through this year. Dare we say… not one of our best? We’re not going to rehash all the ways 2025 force-fed us endless misery like we were foie gras geese trapped in Dante’s third circle of hell—you were there, you remember what

Our Money Doesn’t Fold, It Jingle Jingles

It’s the start of the festive season in Alexandria, a signature period of the year for the city that manages to highlight all of the things that make us charming (parades! tree lightings! holiday markets!) as well as all of the things that make us extremely extra (all of

Friendly Fire

If you’ve watched Alexandria politics this year—not just paid vague attention to the news, but actually binged hours of Council hearing livestreams like they’re the new season of Stranger Things—you may have noticed something unusual happening. Our local electeds have been getting a lot of heat,

Alexand-eerie-a

Gruesome greetings, you goblins and ghouls, and welcome to a very spooky special Halloween edition of your favorite Port City publication! After consuming a bad batch of caramel apples here in the ALXtra newsroom, your trusty editorial staff decided to send our typical format out to investigate those noises coming

The Art of Compromise

Compromises have gotten a bad rap throughout history. And deservedly so! The Three-Fifths Compromise, The Missouri Compromise, The Compromise of 1850… just reading these phrases is enough to make you wince, either because you’re having post-traumatic flashbacks to the 2 you scored on your AP U.S. History exam

Postcards from the Edge (of the Potomac)

Hey Alexandria! Who’s got 318,204 thumbs and is the second best city on the east coast according to Travel+Leisure Magazine! That’s right, this guys city! We’re so excited to celebrate the Port City charting on yet another travel destination list that we’re almost willing

Pumped Up

For as long as we’ve lived in Alexandria, people have been arguing about the waterfront. In fact, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that for as long as anyone has lived in Alexandria, people have been arguing about the waterfront. There is a quaint charm to it, honestly, that

The Council You Keep

Have you heard the rumors? You probably have. It’s all anybody’s been talking about lately. The whispers in the office, the theories getting tossed around in the group chat. Everyone’s convinced there’s something big going on in the halls of power. We’re all tracking the

School Intentions

Here in the ol’ newsletter factory we sure do love a moment when everyone seems to be having the same experience at the same time. They’re gushing over touching moments, posting the same pictures, and hearing the same thing over and over. Shared moments like this bring us together

Wellness Check

By most measures, it’s not been the best year for public health. The current administration has turned national health leadership over to a man who looks like he just got out a tanning bed on the “beef jerky” setting and believes stuff like rubbing a crystal on your belly

Present Progressive

Like many residents of the greater DC area, we often find ourselves perplexed by New York City politics. It’s just so weird up there. What the hell are they doing? In the last 25 years they’ve elected mayors who have tweeted that they can telepathically communicate with dolphins

A City, If You Can Keep It

In one of the earliest issues of this newsletter we talked about how Alexandria is an honest to god city with a population pushing 160,000 people, a theme we’ve returned to frequently in these pages in the years since. This topic feels particularly pertinent today given the current

Take Me to the River

The kids may still be in school for another week, and we haven’t yet reached the solstice, but we’ve already started measuring humidity in soup units so we’re officially calling it. This is our first issue of the summer!! And summer in Alexandria can only mean one

Young and Wildly Free

It must be an incredibly disorienting time to be young. We’re speculating of course, as you might be shocked to learn that neither of your intrepid newsletter authors could fairly be described as “young” anymore [Editor’s note: speak for yourself, old man] [Note to the editor’s note:

Undue Process

Many cities have slogans or catchphrases that come to define their identity. “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” for example. “The city that never sleeps.” “Keep Austin weird.” While some of these are intentional branding choices, it also seems like phrases can attach to cities organically if the people

Running Free

There are few commodities more precious in northern Virginia than a genuine spring day. We get so few of them and and each one is so profoundly delightful and soul-renewing that it’s necessary to attune oneself to the signs that indicate Spring, Yes, Real Spring is soon upon on