Meet our team: Benny Peterson

What’s your relationship to D.C.? Are you from the area and, if not, why did you move here?

I’ve been living in D.C. for twenty years, ever since I moved here after college for my first full-time job in journalism. Although I grew up outside Boston and am culturally very much a New Englander (have never been able to pronounce “sports bar” with any terminal vowels at all), D.C. has become home in a deep way, especially after I had my kids here. 

What’s your perfect D.C. day?

I lived in Adams Morgan for a decade before moving to the close-in Montgomery County suburbs, and I still love going back. For an ideal day, I’d have a wander through Lost City Books, one of my favorite stores in the world; grab a pastry at Sharbat; stop at Garlic Girl Vintage to check out fun vintage home decor and local artists’ work; eat dinner at Rye Bunny; then head back out towards MoCo for a show at Rhizome or a movie at the AFI Silver Spring. 

What do you love about local news? Why did you decide to join The 51st team? 

I love storytelling of all kinds, and I think local reporters, embedded in the communities they cover, always get the best, weirdest, most urgent stories — they’re just so close to their sources. So I think local news is just really fun! But on top of that, and relating to the second question, one of my most deeply held beliefs is that local journalists provide a necessary and honorable community service, similar to that provided by public school teachers, firefighters, or public health workers. I feel really inspired by The 51st’s community-focused approach to telling the story of D.C., and it’s a dream to get to work here. 

You recently published your debut novel, The Maidenheads, which is set in D.C. and follows two queer indie musicians falling in and out and maybe in love again over a decade. What did you learn about our city through writing the book?

I learned so much! I’m an inveterate and obsessive researcher, so I went down rabbit hole after rabbit hole (there are REASONS why it took me ten years to write this book). Maybe the most fun detail I learned is that the 9:30 Club headliner’s backstage room has a really beautiful ceiling mural that looks like an Italian fresco, as well as bunk beds for traveling acts to sleep in! I did not know that, but I’m so happy I do now.