quarta-feira, 16 de janeiro de 2008

what's going on Brooklyn? (part 1)


I've been to Brooklyn last week and I must confess my inability in moving there. I was told that there is a vibrant artistic scene going on there, as a part of a big renovation that been going on for some time now. OK, the Brooklyn I've been was the wrong one. I took the wrong subway and get down in the wrong place. That's right, I went to the wrong side of Brooklyn. I was supposed to get the Brooklyn Bridge, but I did not. I got into Marcy Avenue. The place I've been was very dirty, very ugly. Industrial abandoned area. Much uglier than any in Manhattan for sure, but I could sense I was in a very devalued area. The kind of area ready to be destroyed, ready to be gentrified. I know that, because my city is like that. When you want to gentrify, you just leave the area to deteriorate, and then you get lower prices for that, because no one wants that anymore. That's what I've found.
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But I had to continue, of course. I was lost and had to recover my direction, so after a short walk, I realized that i was much north than i should, so I decided go South to reach Bushwick Ave. or Bedford. I mean, I was pretty lost. I went through Penn street and in a moment the whole surrounding area changed completely. Suddenly it was a much more familiar area, with lots of people on the street. but not ordinary people. I was in a Hasidic Jewish community. This mean they are very traditional and hold a strong community there. While and after the II World War they establish this community in 20 blocks around Williamsburg, and I was its very heart. But something still was not in fit. Why all of them was on the streets saluting each other, all dressed alike, with very unusual hats?
A friend of mine later told me I would find lots of Jews in Manhattan, but not like these ones, and he was right. Those were very distinctive indeed. The answer would be just in front of me if i could only read: everything there was written in idiche, so I could not realize there was a kind of a party going on there. It was the very day of the Yom Kippur, one of their major festivities.
At this point I was the only non-jew there, as it already happened to me in some communities in New York City. I just went on until i left that area and went on again into an industrial ugliness again.

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