frequently asked questions

A long-overdue list of questions and invitations to the bar I've received since beginning this blog two years ago. Feel free to submit more if you have any.

1) What is this called? Up The Pike?

2) What do you . . . do?

3) How did you get started?

4) Say, we should have a drink sometime!

5) Are you on Facebook? Flickr? MySpace?

6) What do you do for a living?

7) Wait, doesn't that mean . . .?

8) Where did you live before?

9) Can't anyone start a blog?

1) What is this called? Up The Pike?

One day, I will think of a less confusing name. In the meantime, this is Just Up The Pike. I lived "up the pike" - meaning Columbia Pike, or Route 29 - from Downtown Silver Spring, but not too far up, if you will. Thus, "Just Up The Pike."

2) What do you . . . do?

I write. About our elected officials. About development and traffic. About our schools. About local arts and music, and occasionally food. Anything and everything affecting East County.

Are you having a community meeting? An open house? Are you running for office? Starting a business? Do you have any tips or story ideas? Would you like to write guest posts? Let me know. I'm open to anything. E-mail me at justupthepike at gmail dot edu.

Just Up The Pike is updated almost-daily. I am a graduate student, however, so that schedule might occasionally give way to schoolwork, a social life and, of course, sleep.

3) How did you get started?

Blogs beget other blogs. I started by reading The Silver Spring Scene and Silver Spring, Singular in early 2006. Honestly, back then I thought the idea of a Silver Spring blog was kind of silly. I was working at an architecture firm in Bethesda that summer with a lengthy, two-bus commute. When the bridge on Route 29 flooded that June, I found myself without a way to work. That's when I started thinking about all of the missed connections in East County - not just the roads, but mentally. How often do you hear about the east side? Not much, and the things you hear are rarely good. Suddenly, a Silver Spring blog didn't seem so silly after all. You know the rest . . .

4) Say, we should have a drink sometime!

Yes! As of April 2009, that is totally possible.

5) Are you on Facebook? Flickr? MySpace?

Facebook: Yes. Become a fan! Put a link to JUTP on your profile! Flickr: Ditto! MySpace: Too creepy.

6) What do you do for a living?

In May 2009, I graduated from the University of Maryland-College Park with a double degree in Architecture and English. Currently, I'm studying city planning (with a concentration in urban design) at the University of Pennsylvania.

7) Wait, doesn't that mean . . .?

Yes, I moved to West Philadelphia in August 2010. For the time being, I'm writing this blog from Philadelphia, though I come back to Silver Spring regularly and am constantly updated by my friends and readers at home.

8) Where did you live before?

Until 2010, I'd lived in the D.C. area my entire life. My family moved to downtown Silver Spring in 1991; we've lived in Calverton, two blocks from The Pike, since 1999. (In bed late at night, I can hear the cars roaring past, and it lulls me to sleep.)

9) Can't anyone start a blog?

Yes. And I invite you to start your own by creating an account at www.blogger.com.

Anyone can write a blog. That means I can - we can - write about issues and places that aren't being noticed by local newspapers, TV stations, and so on. And we can elaborate on what local news outlets are covering without worrying about space or time limits. And I could be anyone. I'm not an elected official or a developer. I'm just someone living in your community writing about what's happening here.