Every car that drives by my house is a kind of test. Some wave and smile, some stare coldly. These days we're out in the yard for most of the daylight hours, raking or digging or chopping or mowing or resting. Don't know what the talk is, exactly, about the ORIENTALS from the city up on M. Road, but you can bet there's talk.
At the General Store, J. is friendly with R., the patriarch whose son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren are usually around working the register or preparing food. J. is good at that -- acting as if and putting people at ease. Me, I'm sensitive and thin-skinned, I notice how people stop chatting familiar-like when I walk in, especially the guys-with-guns. Roc's daughter-in-law V. is thin and pretty and a firm disciplinarian with her boys and bakes cookies for sale; I've tried to be friendly, but something doesn't quite click, and I think I probably come off like I'm trying too hard. I'm there for a transaction, after all, not to hang out, that much is clear.
I put my hope and faith in time. Hard edges smooth out, people become familiar, one interaction at a time. Maybe we're being watched suspiciously for now, but that's ok, we'll just keep doing what we're doing and hope one of these days they'll just keep on chatting, or that R. will call J. by name, or that we will feel like hanging out.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Country Report, Late April
If there is a dominant partner in this love triangle with city and country, it is definitely city. Country struggles for her place, her time, her priority. City is where we make money. And so, and thus...
But spring is here, and so country elbows her way in. The roads are dry, everything is covered (us included) with the red dust kicked up by trucks as they drive by. We're sneezy and watery-eyed, our backs sore from garden prep. The leafy veges are beginning to sprout: this year we're going Asian - gailaan, bak choy, pak choy, Japanese mustards. Some American spinach and beets, as well. Today, we work on a second garden plot, breaking hard red earth again (get out the ibuprofen), a hot sunny spot for tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers.
With the price of food (and everything else) rising, we're getting a little more serious about growing food. Hoping to do some canning as well, which will be new for me, old hat for J. (his late father's specialty).
I think about finding a way to spend the summer here, give country her due. But I worry, too, about the reality of it--isolation (physical and mental), especially. But maybe it's time to give it a go. Maybe the country wants to be wife this summer, instead of mistress.
But spring is here, and so country elbows her way in. The roads are dry, everything is covered (us included) with the red dust kicked up by trucks as they drive by. We're sneezy and watery-eyed, our backs sore from garden prep. The leafy veges are beginning to sprout: this year we're going Asian - gailaan, bak choy, pak choy, Japanese mustards. Some American spinach and beets, as well. Today, we work on a second garden plot, breaking hard red earth again (get out the ibuprofen), a hot sunny spot for tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers.
With the price of food (and everything else) rising, we're getting a little more serious about growing food. Hoping to do some canning as well, which will be new for me, old hat for J. (his late father's specialty).
I think about finding a way to spend the summer here, give country her due. But I worry, too, about the reality of it--isolation (physical and mental), especially. But maybe it's time to give it a go. Maybe the country wants to be wife this summer, instead of mistress.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Gentrification in the Bx
With the latest incidents here in the Bx - vandalism, theft, etc. - I've been feeling on edge. The situation with our super J. is also a bit shaky; he tends to be drunk a lot, has been letting various characters into the building (the basement has become a kind of "clubhouse" for whomever, and many of us feel uncomfortable when we go down to do our laundry), and doesn't really do his job. But if/once our landlord lets him go, I would not put it past him to become embittered and do who-knows-what. All the locks would have to be changed, etc. And he lives down the block and won't be going anywhere.
Lately when I walk the pup around the 'hood, I feel conspicuous and nervous. More so than before. I am more aware of the men's shelter around the corner. I was told by one of our neighbors in the building that a former sex offender lives two doors down (did you know that you can find out by going to sexoffenders.com? Jeez.). I am waiting for the next incident, the other shoe to drop.
On Saturday we decided to be pro-active, spend some time out in the neighborhood. We walked up to St. Mary's Park, which is a nice hill-top park about 10 blocks north. We've been looking for free public tennis courts and found them there. The gates were locked with a padlock, but the Parks attendant told us that they did that to keep the kids from stealing the nets, and that we could use the courts if we wanted to squeeze through the gap in the gates (so much for "security"). So we did that, and we all (the pup fetched balls for us) got some exercise.
On Sunday, I walked the 15 blocks west to find the nearest NY Times. On the way back, I ran into a woman who was opening up the doors at a new art gallery in Mott Haven. She let me and the pup in, and I learned that she lives on a brownstone block nearby, where there are a number of historic brownstones for sale. She owns two of them - lives in one, rents the other to her daughter. The buildings have been in her family for 80 years, she said, from back when the neighborhood was mostly European immigrants (she's White). She told me about a group of historic-building owners who have been getting together, forming a little community; and that a curator from the Metropolitan Museum just bought one of the brownstones.
Is this good news? She thinks so. I didn't get a sense of racial awareness, though. She seemed to imply that White gentrification is good, no matter what. White = safe. Most of the people who run the gallery are White - Brooklyn and Manhattan refugees, or, like her, old Bronx families returning after a generation away. Hmm...
J. and I are going to check out the brownstones for sale. Just to see what's up. I find it all a little troubling, though.
Lately when I walk the pup around the 'hood, I feel conspicuous and nervous. More so than before. I am more aware of the men's shelter around the corner. I was told by one of our neighbors in the building that a former sex offender lives two doors down (did you know that you can find out by going to sexoffenders.com? Jeez.). I am waiting for the next incident, the other shoe to drop.
On Saturday we decided to be pro-active, spend some time out in the neighborhood. We walked up to St. Mary's Park, which is a nice hill-top park about 10 blocks north. We've been looking for free public tennis courts and found them there. The gates were locked with a padlock, but the Parks attendant told us that they did that to keep the kids from stealing the nets, and that we could use the courts if we wanted to squeeze through the gap in the gates (so much for "security"). So we did that, and we all (the pup fetched balls for us) got some exercise.
On Sunday, I walked the 15 blocks west to find the nearest NY Times. On the way back, I ran into a woman who was opening up the doors at a new art gallery in Mott Haven. She let me and the pup in, and I learned that she lives on a brownstone block nearby, where there are a number of historic brownstones for sale. She owns two of them - lives in one, rents the other to her daughter. The buildings have been in her family for 80 years, she said, from back when the neighborhood was mostly European immigrants (she's White). She told me about a group of historic-building owners who have been getting together, forming a little community; and that a curator from the Metropolitan Museum just bought one of the brownstones.
Is this good news? She thinks so. I didn't get a sense of racial awareness, though. She seemed to imply that White gentrification is good, no matter what. White = safe. Most of the people who run the gallery are White - Brooklyn and Manhattan refugees, or, like her, old Bronx families returning after a generation away. Hmm...
J. and I are going to check out the brownstones for sale. Just to see what's up. I find it all a little troubling, though.
Friday, April 4, 2008
The Voter in My Head
There's been so much in the media about "that white male working class voter" lately. Will he go for Hillary, or will he go for Barack? Will he go for McCain over Hillary, or Barack over McCain, or not show up to the polls at all depending on who is on the ballot?
More importantly, who IS he, and is he real? Meaning, is he truly a group of he's that can be categorized in a block?
We're all being categorized and chopped up into voter blocs like never before (or, perhaps, like always before, but much more evident now) based on income, education, location, consumer habits, race, gender, age, etc. I even find myself trying to guess, based on some combination of appearance and observed behavior, who someone is going to vote for -- strangers, friends, acquaintances alike.
What is hopeful about this year's Democratic race is that people seem more open and fluid in their voting decisions. If democracy is about having an informed and active voting public - as opposed to a predictably self-serving / not-in-my-backyard voting public - then the voting patterns themselves will be interesting to observe. I will certainly be disappointed if Obama is not the Democratic nominee; but I will be exponentially more disappointed if he loses as a result of predictable voting patterns, i.e. people voting out of a kind of pre-determined fear and self-preservation factor (which I believe Hillary is exploiting to the utmost). If Hillary wins, I at least hope to be surprised by the how and why of it; I doubt it, though.
I will be interested to see how Wayne County, PA districts vote on April 22. We have a moderate Democrat as Congressional Rep. -- Chris Carney. Wikipedia says the following:
Carney is a somewhat conservative Democrat, which is not surprising given the nature of the district. For example, while opposing proposals to privatize Social Security, he said he is open to the idea of adding private accounts in addition to (not at the expense of) traditional defined benefits. He supports federal investment in stem cell research, and is an advocate of universal healthcare. He supports gun rights, does not favor abortion (but supports family planning and "comprehensive reproductive healthcare"), and opposes gay marriage. He supports estate tax reduction.
More importantly, who IS he, and is he real? Meaning, is he truly a group of he's that can be categorized in a block?
We're all being categorized and chopped up into voter blocs like never before (or, perhaps, like always before, but much more evident now) based on income, education, location, consumer habits, race, gender, age, etc. I even find myself trying to guess, based on some combination of appearance and observed behavior, who someone is going to vote for -- strangers, friends, acquaintances alike.
What is hopeful about this year's Democratic race is that people seem more open and fluid in their voting decisions. If democracy is about having an informed and active voting public - as opposed to a predictably self-serving / not-in-my-backyard voting public - then the voting patterns themselves will be interesting to observe. I will certainly be disappointed if Obama is not the Democratic nominee; but I will be exponentially more disappointed if he loses as a result of predictable voting patterns, i.e. people voting out of a kind of pre-determined fear and self-preservation factor (which I believe Hillary is exploiting to the utmost). If Hillary wins, I at least hope to be surprised by the how and why of it; I doubt it, though.
I will be interested to see how Wayne County, PA districts vote on April 22. We have a moderate Democrat as Congressional Rep. -- Chris Carney. Wikipedia says the following:
Carney is a somewhat conservative Democrat, which is not surprising given the nature of the district. For example, while opposing proposals to privatize Social Security, he said he is open to the idea of adding private accounts in addition to (not at the expense of) traditional defined benefits. He supports federal investment in stem cell research, and is an advocate of universal healthcare. He supports gun rights, does not favor abortion (but supports family planning and "comprehensive reproductive healthcare"), and opposes gay marriage. He supports estate tax reduction.
During the campaign, Carney raised money with a wide-variety of supporters including Sen. Barack Obama, Sen Joe Biden, Rep. Jay Inslee, Rep. Jack Murtha, and Richard Perle, a leading Bush Administration advocate of war with Iraq who more recently has criticized the decision to go to war Douglas Feith, another Pentagon hawk, congratulated Carney on Election Night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
