A newsletter for all 607,711 of us
You can now read the 730DC newsletter in Spanish
In December, the Anacostia Community Museum opened a bilingual exhibit titled Gateways/Portales (100% worth a visit!) that explores how latinxs in DC have created a community for themselves, built through political struggle, the establishment of cultural spaces, festivals and the creation of local Spanish-language media. There are photos of the 1991 riots in Mount Pleasant and of DC’s many Dominican hair salons, alongside posters advertising plays at Gala Theater and the annual Caribbean Festival. In our own small way, by establishing a Spanish version of 730DC, we are seeking to join this amazing tradition, not by creating something wholly new, but by highlighting and honoring the amazing organizing and artistic creation already happening.
Like our friends and mentors who write the daily 730DC newsletter in English, we imagine this project as an explicitly civic endeavor. In a city that can at times seem defined by its divisions, 730DC believes in the power and importance of informing readers so that they can act as an educated citizenry; of provoking that readership to consider new perspectives on District issues; and to offering ways to engage with the city and with one another. 730DC started out explicitly trying to reach millennials who struggled to find ways to define their place in a transient city. In many ways, 730DC en español shares the goals, but not the audience of our English counterpart.
So what can you expect from subscribing? When you open up your email inbox Thursday morning, you will find our best attempt at synthesizing local news and a curated list of events for each day of the coming week. We will continue to translate some content from the English version of 730DC, while producing about 60–70% original content in Spanish. This means that in addition to hearing about events at the Black Cat and Songbyrd, we’ll tell you where to dance salsa and bachata. In addition to learning about the latest Black Lives Matter campaign, we’ll let you know what the Latino Economic Development Center, CASA and the Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs are up to and how to get involved.
We’re making a bet that there is some portion of the 607,711 Spanish-speakers in the DC metro area that might be willing (excited, even!) to read about local organizing around immigration, amazing local NGOs, embassy events, Latin American film festivals and more. We don’t have focus groups, or large-scale surveys at our disposal, so we can only cross our fingers and hope this is the case. But this isn’t a one-way street, and no one likes shouting into the void. We’re going to depend on you to give us feedback, call us out, help us write about difficult issues, and tell us where the best pupusas REALLY are.
You can start by subscribing here.
