Our Borough, Ourselves
For the past month the Observer’s been running a weekly column called “Brooklyn, the Borough.” Each installment is a first-person account written by Nicole Brydson, who grew up in Manhattan and did some time in Greenpoint and Hell’s Kitchen before recently settling in Prospect Heights. In grand old Observer fashion, the column sorta reads like…
For the past month the Observer’s been running a weekly column called “Brooklyn, the Borough.” Each installment is a first-person account written by Nicole Brydson, who grew up in Manhattan and did some time in Greenpoint and Hell’s Kitchen before recently settling in Prospect Heights. In grand old Observer fashion, the column sorta reads like “Sex and the City,” but instead of bed-hopping and social climbing the focus is one woman’s quest to identify herself via her new borough. Here’s what Brydson’s learned so far:
Lesson 1: Finding the right neighborhood is tough. Williamsburg=”hupsters.” Park Slope=”pretentious mommy-daddy colony.” Fort Greene=”just about perfect,” but a little too pricey. Prospect Heights=True love, at the right price.
Lesson 2: It’s possible to decorate on the cheap. Getting gear from Lowe’s and IKEA is all well and good, but how ’bout that beige carpet from the sidewalk? “So far, no bed bugs!”
Lesson 3: Gentrification is a bitch. “I feel destined to simultaneously be gentrified and gentrifying, but to most people I just look like the new white girl on the block.”
Lesson 4: Don’t expect sanity from a real estate agent who asks you to sign a lease on the hood of her Jag.
Looking forward to more!
Escaping Hupsters for New Prospects [Observer]
An Electric Boyfriend Works the New Apartment [Observer]
Destined to Be Gentrified and Gentrifying [Observer]
My Angel Gave Me Hell [Observer]
“I was commenting on the concept of the article. Not the execution. ”
It doesn’t matter–they are BOTH horrible.
I don’t want to live anywhere BUT Brooklyn, 11:52.
Everyone can’t make it here. To be perfectly honest, the fact that someone who makes a comment like “this column is why i don’t like Brooklyn anymore” makes me so happy you are no longer here.
I think it’s a better place now. We need to get rid of the riff raff.
And no, I have no idea what you are talking about.
I love Brooklyn. You don’t, so glad you left.
This column is why I don’t like Brooklyn anymore. I’ve moved out the of borough and won’t be back. Please, go ahead with your “great, we don’t want you anyway” comments. But you know what I’m talking about. This annoying and cloying twit is what you hate too about the place too. It was fun while it lasted, but Brooklyn is over. Time to move on.
Suck it, Observer!
Lets focus on how stupid this girl is and not each other!!
i’m glad she couldn’t afford the ‘burg. stay the hell away from me.
But I give you an “A” for effort!!
” Wow. Judgemental and superior much? Here, I’ll try assuming too much from a blog post, now: You’re a Park Slope mommy with a boring life whose only measure of people’s worth is their parenting skills.
How’d I do? ”
Pretty poorly. I’m a single gay male.
Don’t quit your day job.
You tie for worst journalist of the day.
I was commenting on the concept of the article. Not the execution. Why? Because the concept is what was being insulted. So was the neighborhood of Prospect Heights in general. Way general. Therefore, that’s what I commented on.
As for this gem from 11:28:
“Or better yet…you will be one of those parents who tells their kid they are a winner and give them a trophy when they come in dead last, instead of telling them to try harder next time.”
Wow. Judgemental and superior much? Here, I’ll try assuming too much from a blog post, now: You’re a Park Slope mommy with a boring life whose only measure of people’s worth is their parenting skills.
How’d I do?
11:19: not snarky for snarky sake. Things don’t just begin because a white 26er learned it exists and decided to give it a vote of authenticity. Before she moved, she should have done her research. She should have got on the train. She should have talked to friends. She should have talked to some locals. She should have done some googling. Writing about color, making assumptions about what’s going on because of color is just lame. Poor journalism. Not newspaper worthy. She didn’t interview those girls to ask them what they thought. She didn’t ask the guys from the bodega their thoughts. To assume that you know? That’s just lazy. And it just reinforces stereotypes. There’s just nothing new here. Nothing fresh. This column has been written 100 times already.