Theresa Vargas

Washington, D.C.

Local columnist who previously wrote for the local enterprise team about poverty, race and people with disabilities.

Education: bachelor's from Stanford University; master's from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Theresa Vargas is a columnist for The Washington Post. Before that, she worked on the local enterprise team, writing stories that took her, among other places, into a home for transgender teens, a support group for survivors of gun violence and a courtroom where a woman with Down syndrome fought for the right to decide how she lives. During the peak of the recession, she and a photographer traveled across the country to chronicle how Americans were coping. Before coming to The Post, she worked at Newsday in New York.
Latest from Theresa Vargas

A duck named Gertrude became beloved where he didn’t belong: the wild

The domestic duck developed fans along Georgetown’s waterfront. Fliers there now tell people what happened to him.

July 12, 2023

Long before Barbie got a movie, she was a star at this D.C. pond

The displays of Barbie and her crew at the pond have delighted neighbors, made the must-see lists of tourists and even played a role in a wedding proposal.

July 8, 2023

The dirty truth about a clean park shows how D.C. fails the homeless

We now know what happened to the people who were forced out of a park near the White House, and it’s concerning.

July 5, 2023

Those of us who benefited from affirmative action can’t stay quiet

The Supreme Court’s ruling has people sharing their stories. Here's mine.

July 1, 2023

A powerful thing happened after a child’s gravestone was burned

A fire destroyed the toys left for a girl in a historical Black cemetery. In recent days, strangers have brought her new ones, and gone beyond that.

June 28, 2023

A roommate arrangement that is at once ordinary and extraordinary

By creating two new housing opportunities in D.C., Best Buddies is fostering more than friendships between people with and without disabilities.

June 24, 2023

Someone burned a beloved child’s grave in a historic Black cemetery

People have long left toys and cards for a girl named Nannie. After Juneteenth, those gifts were found destroyed.

June 21, 2023

A father figure in sports, unknown to many, gets a statue in D.C.

Edwin Bancroft Henderson has been called the “father of Black basketball,” and soon, a statue will immortalize him in the nation’s capital.

June 17, 2023

Justice for Justyce: A baby left without a name, finally, gets one

Circumstance and red tape left her with without a birth certificate for months. After strangers rallied, she got that document and more.

June 10, 2023

Why it’s time to rethink making all high schoolers pay graduation fees

Recent requests for help received by a Northern Virginia nonprofit show students who can’t pay their senior dues fear they won’t get to walk across the stage.

June 7, 2023