Courtland Milloy

Dec 19, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Courtland Milloy

CommentSaveLooking over some columns from my earlier days, I was reminded that D.C. can be an extraordinarily demanding and unforgiving place. City life can chew you up, spit you out and never miss a beat. But many of its residents are simply irrepressible. Somehow, they manage to overcome any obstacle and reap the kinds of rewards that make them relish the struggles to come. I have included in this column snippets from early works about some of my favorite urban strivers and survivors.

Dec 5, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Courtland Milloy

CommentSaveAs president and chief investment officer of a commercial real estate firm in the District, Paul C. Dougherty would definitely like to see vacant downtown office buildings filled with tenants again. He’d be thrilled if more federal employees came into work five days a week, as they did before the pandemic. But he doubts that they are going to give up the comforts of home anytime soon.

Nov 28, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Courtland Milloy

CommentSaveThe high school journalists had produced excellent reports on health, wealth and poverty in the D.C. area. In addition to writing for their school newspapers, they also participated in a nonprofit journalism training program called Youthcast Media Group (YMG), which provided mentoring and helped students get their work published in major newspapers. I met some of the students during a YMG fundraiser in McLean earlier this month.

Nov 21, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Courtland Milloy

CommentSaveStudents at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria gathered inside a lecture hall recently to hear me talk about race relations in America. But after making a few remarks about polarization and efforts to “roll back the clock” on civil rights, I cut short my verbal doom-scroll and wandered into the audience. The students were roughly 18 to 23. Gen Z, the zoomers.

Nov 7, 2023 | washingtonpost.com | Courtland Milloy

CommentSaveAs the chief of police for Amtrak, Sam Dotson has a unique perspective on homelessness in the United States. Train stations — with their air-conditioning and heat, their bathrooms, restaurants and food courts, and their passengers with cash in their pockets — tend to attract a disproportionate share of the unhoused. Amtrak has 500 stations along 21,000 miles of track spanning 46 states and the District of Columbia.