Closing Bell: Meet The Latest Slope Rant
Denis Hamill gets his working-class panties in a bunch today in a rambling column aimed at Park Slope gentrifiers, a group that he claims is attracted to Brooklyn because it’s “a great place to displace working people, for nannies to raise your kids and to rant against Atlantic Yards.” We know it’s the end of…
Denis Hamill gets his working-class panties in a bunch today in a rambling column aimed at Park Slope gentrifiers, a group that he claims is attracted to Brooklyn because it’s “a great place to displace working people, for nannies to raise your kids and to rant against Atlantic Yards.” We know it’s the end of the year and you’re probably running low on ideas, Denis, but, come on. It’s hard to think of a more tired, unoriginal topic or stereotype. Sounds like a little vacation is in order to recharge the old batteries.
Photo by The Back Row Manifesto
There of course are the people (like my family) who practically had to GIVE their brownstones away in the 50’s, early sixties and moved to Southern BK. Suckas! (Damn it Gram and Gramp! couldn’t you put up with junkies and riots for a COUPLE more decades, F**K!!)
Did anyone read the comments on the Daily News Page? love this one:
“Hey Denis, why dont’cha gripe at all those salt of the earth working class stiffs who sold their brownstones and warehouses that they bought for 10K back in 1964 to yuppie scum for a million dollars a pop? Shouldn’t they’ve sold their homes to another working slob for 50K and that way preserve the “true” character of the neighborhood? Or in the least leave the property to impoverished relatives? But no they sold for a mint and took off to Florida or Arizona w/ their dirty, filthy money. Shame on who, Denis?”
Posted by: eltrain at December 23, 2009 9:24 AM
Ha! It’s funny because it’s true.
Eltrain, I read that on the Daily News Page — very good. So were the other ones. Some observations from the non-gentry gentry in Brooklyn.
Did anyone read the comments on the Daily News Page? love this one:
“Hey Denis, why dont’cha gripe at all those salt of the earth working class stiffs who sold their brownstones and warehouses that they bought for 10K back in 1964 to yuppie scum for a million dollars a pop? Shouldn’t they’ve sold their homes to another working slob for 50K and that way preserve the “true” character of the neighborhood? Or in the least leave the property to impoverished relatives? But no they sold for a mint and took off to Florida or Arizona w/ their dirty, filthy money. Shame on who, Denis?”
Judging strictly by the summary and comments I was ready to wholeheartedly side with the group however I read the column and didn’t find it that bad. Not the greatest writing but I think that the group was a little unfair. Drinking and Irish pubs played a much smaller role in the piece than was described. He did have a valid point. Whether it was as well written as a column in a big-city daily should be or something more fitting for say the insignificant little towns where all transplants come from(kidding), is another matter.
The Brothers Hamill are the Irish version of minstrels, performing their tired auld routine to embarrassed yawns. It is surprising the degree to which this thread of self-mythologizing still survives in the Windsor Terrace diaspora. It is stunning that such atrocious, pathetically bankrupt writing gets column inches even in a rag like the News. I’m sure either Hamill would sneer in foin fettle at the very mention of a “blogger,” but as the late journalist Bob Guskind sharply observed, thanks to the blogosphere we can now tell our own stories; we don’t need to wait for the likes of these has-beens to tell them for us. For all its infinitude of crap, any random cupful of the Brooklyn blogosphere has more insight and originality than this ranting has-been could muster in a year’s worth of blather.
“a great place to displace working people”
Guess they shoulda worked a little harder.
It’s easy. Just train yourself to scroll past the *rob* posts without looking.
Good question but how is that relevant to my previous point? Unfortunately, my numerical answer would depend on the chosen venue’s convenience to the R train.