Dave Stroup

Writer

Washington, DC

Dave Stroup is a writer, photographer and former political strategist living in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Eater, DCist, Entropy Magazine, and elsewhere. His writing has been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award.

Dave Stroup

Writer

Washington, DC

Featured
Gardner Still Silent on Obstruction Charges Against Trump
All eyes were on former special counsel Robert Mueller as he testified before two congressional committees Wednesday, with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle chiming in on Mueller’s testimony. Absent among them was U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO). Throughout both hearings and afterwards, the senator was silent on social media and elsewhere.
Colorado Times Recorder
Featured
What’s The Deal With This Mysterious Stone Structure Around A Mound Of Dirt In Adams Morgan?
If you walk along Adams Mill Road NW, just a few blocks north of the main drag in Adams Morgan, you’ll come across an odd sight. At the intersection of Adams Mill and Clydesdale Place there’s a mysterious structure with stone walls, a roof, and a length of chain link fence. Inside is … dirt. Behind the fence is a sign that sort of explains the situation, albeit in as unhelpful a way as possible for the layman.
DCist
Featured
What’s Up With This Outdated Metro Sign In A Random Backyard In Maryland?
While visiting relatives in Accokeek, Maryland, for Thanksgiving, Jane Lyons made a surprising discovery: leaning against a tree in her uncle’s backyard was a full-sized Metro pylon sign. It looked exactly like the ubiquitous signage that riders can find at Metro platforms across the system. Lyons told DCist that it is made out of metal and has fasteners on the back that could’ve affixed it to a post. According to her uncle, it was already in the backyard when he bought the home in 2002.
DCist
Featured
How Do Lanes Of Traffic Get Reversed On Weekdays?
Four times a day, each and every weekday, a choreographed dance of the streets happens across the District. A number of lanes of traffic, and in some cases entire roadways, change direction for the duration of rush hour.
DCist
Featured
The Street Grid In Trinidad Is Rotated. What’s Up With That?
Despite the occasional diagonal state street or traffic circle, D.C.’s street grid makes it easy to navigate the city. East-west streets are lettered or named, and north-south streets are numbered. But there are plenty of exceptions to the grid — primarily in the areas outside of the original L’Enfant plan for the District’s layout.
DCist
Featured
The Gulp War
The Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting is billed as “the Academy Awards of Water.”. Each year, hundreds of waters are submitted by cities, towns, and bottlers around the globe, hoping to win a gold medal and the modest bragging rights that accompany it: a declaration of superiority at the world’s longest-running and largest water-tasting event.
Eater National
Featured
Solving the mystery of the big yellow helicopter over D.C.
Solving the mystery of the big yellow helicopter flying over D.C. Helicopters flying over Washington, D.C. are not uncommon. Those of us who live here are used to seeing all types of helicopters fly over, including those belonging to the D.C. Police Department, the U.S. Park Police, or the famous green and white presidential helicopters.
Medium
Featured
St. Albans
I hadn’t considered that Rob would just disappear. Not until he had been gone for five hours, on a trip that should have taken no more than two. He had my car, and I was left sitting on a white plastic chair outside of a motel room in St. Albans, Vermont. We were almost out of cigarettes. There were still a few beers sitting on the table by the window, we hadn’t bothered to open them.
Entropy Magazine
Featured
Colbert King Restores Sanity to the Post's Op-Ed Page
There has been a lot of talk over the past week about how the racial divide in the District led to Vincent Gray's victory. We've seen vitriol spewed from both sides, the talk of the "old guard" restoring the legacy of Marion Barry, or how the influx of "myopic twits" have pushed aside hardworking blacks.
DCist
Featured
Sunday Questions With George Hawkins
A few months ago, the DC Water and Sewer Authority announced the results of a re-branding contest. The Authority adopted the name DC Water, with the hopes of refreshing their image. George Hawkins is the General Manager of DC Water and the former Director of the District's Department of the Environment.
DCist
Featured
A Little Bit More About Transformer Fires
Since we've had two major electrical fires in Washington this week, it seemed like a good opportunity to dive a bit more into the nature of these nasty fires. Turns out these fires are more common than you'd think, and they can be extremely dangerous. It's looking like both last night's fire near the White House, and Thursday's fire near the Washington Hilton began in underground vaults containing power transformers.
DCist
Featured
We Love Arts: Avenue Q at the Lansburgh Theatre
Lately I’ve been afflicted with strong bouts of nostalgia. Thinking back to my time in college, wishing I had done things differently, the sort of typical mid-twenties angst. For those of us who may still be unsure of what we want to do with our lives, Avenue Q is a musical that will hit home. It will also strongly remind you of a bygone era—the early 2000s.
We Love DC
Featured
Vince Gray sits down with local bloggers
On Monday, DC Council Chair and candidate for mayor Vincent Gray sat down with DC bloggers at Ben’s Chili Bowl. For nearly ninety minutes, Gray answered questions posed by bloggers from DCist, We Love DC, Borderstan, the District Curmudgeon and Greater Greater Washington. The event was part of the Gray campaign’s effort to tap into new media, and it provided a chance to talk about topics including education, crime, poverty and transportation.
Greater Greater Washington
Featured
DC Water’s George Hawkins looks to the future
DC Water’s George Hawkins is an interesting man. He took over the District’s water and sewer authority last year, with no previous experience managing a utility. Previously he had worked for the District’s Department of the Environment, and before that spent some time with the EPA. He’s an idea guy, and that’s what came across last night at a blogger roundtable at DC Water’s Bryant Street Pumping Station.
We Love DC
Featured
The Price of Safety
Following the June 22 crash on Metro’s Red Line, numerous questions have arisen regarding safety on Metro. Most of these questions focused on the immediate cause of the crash that killed 9 and left scores injured. At this point, the National Transportation Safety Board has still not completed their investigation, so much of the information available is, at best, informed speculation.
Greater Greater Washington
D.C. Governance Vs. The World
One interesting aspect of Vince Gray’s campaign was his view on D.C. statehood. Gray took a much more assertive view than Adrian Fenty, going as far as advocating for civil disobedience. It remains to be seen if the presumptive Mayor Gray will handcuff himself to a light pole holding a sign “Honk if you support voting rights!”.
DCist

About

Dave Stroup

Dave Stroup is a Washington, D.C. based writer. He recently received his masters degree in non-fiction creative writing from George Mason University.

Prior to starting his MFA, Dave worked as a senior Democratic strategist, focusing on digital strategy. He previously served as weekend editor for DCist.com and was a contributing writer and photographer for a variety of DC-based outlets. He was a 2019 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award Nominee and was named "Favorite Local Political Wonk on Twitter" by the Washington Post in 2012.