Mar 10 – MISSED CONNECTION – w4w – 24 – (QUEER DC)

TNG reader Mauri submits this post.

I first discovered it as a naïve 19 year old, freshly arrived to the big city, and desperate to find a way out of my less than ideal living situation (imagine: roach infested studio, building adjacent to an adult theatre, and neighbors with a butch ex-con and his prison-acquired boyfriend).

Since then I have used CL - with varying degrees of success – to find housing, furniture, jobs, roommates, bikes, and even a couple first dates; yet practical purposes pale in comparison to Craigslist’s entertainment value. I habitually check the Best-of-Craigslist for amusing posts, and on occasions when I’m feeling brave, wander over to Rants and Raves (guaranteed to appall within seconds). The cream-of-the-Craigslist-crop, however, is Missed Connections.

For those more familiar with print media, Missed Connections is analogous to the I Saw You section in the back of your local alt-weekly (e.g. page 95 of the Washington City Paper). Within its pages await tales of chance encounters - frustrated by circumstance and imbued with hope and longing.

Missed Connections was intended for people who regularly navigate an impersonal urban landscape. Stolen glances with a cute boy in the stacks of Second Story Books? Bumped carts with a hot dyke in the Whole Foods produce aisle? MC provides the means to discover if the moment you thought you shared with these complete strangers holds mutual significance.

Missed Connections is also an outlet for the inarticulate and socially inept. Were you too sauced to get the number of that guy you were grinding on at Apex the other night? Are you too bashful to ask out the barista you’ve got your eye on? Pining away for your straight, married coworker and wondering if she feels the same way? (Ha! Not a chance.) MC is the anonymous voice that compensates for your failure to initiate meaningful exchanges with others.

Missed Connections once assisted me in finding my undergraduate philosophy class crush, however, these days I frequent it for two primary reasons: 1) the sliver of possibility that one day I will find myself among the “missed” and 2) an optimistic appreciation of the notion that two people might connect, however unlikely, in a random world where trivial interactions with strangers are routine.

Sadly, DC’s W4W section is a virtual ghost town. The last time I checked, there were so few results for the District that Craigslist had to glean posts from nearby metropolitan areas, such as Baltimore (prompting the ire of at least one individual). To worsen matters, many women use MC to passive-aggressively broadcast relationship drama (boring!). As a result of this, I’ve resorted to getting my Missed Connections fix from other cities’ and the glut of posts in the M4M section.

So, what is the meaning of this? First, does anyone out there – ladies or gents – actually read (or post in) the Missed Connections? Why or why not? And ladies, why the paucity of posts relative to other cities (or, for that matter, compared to the M4M section)? Should I take it upon myself to rescue DC’s W4W MC community and post something for the cute girl who I keep running into on my morning Metro commute? Finally, does anyone have any good Missed Connections stories? Or is MC the place where dreams go to expire – unread and eventually forgotten?