Last week, I wrote a post about why I left my hometown of New York: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-i-left-nyc.html
Some people thought when they read it that I was dissing my hometown and after reading the post, I can see how some people think this.
I even got my first ever response post on another blog courtesy of Red Bull, aka Nicole, on her excellent blog, REDvolutionary Warfare. The post is here: http://aredvolutionary.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-still-love-oakland.html
She made some excellent points about how I should be proud of my hometown and listed the great things about Oakland, a city that I really want to visit.
Some people thought when they read it that I was dissing my hometown and after reading the post, I can see how some people think this.
I even got my first ever response post on another blog courtesy of Red Bull, aka Nicole, on her excellent blog, REDvolutionary Warfare. The post is here: http://aredvolutionary.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-still-love-oakland.html
She made some excellent points about how I should be proud of my hometown and listed the great things about Oakland, a city that I really want to visit.
BTW, Nicole, I'm telling you now. The Raiders will finish 8-8 this season. Keep the hope and trust in McFadden and Russel!
I listed in my initial post the reasons that I left the city, so I won’t rehash them here. The main gist of it was is that I was tired of living in the NYC and wanted to experience a different lifestyle.
For years, I tried to run away from being a New Yorker. New Yorkers have a negative connotation with a majority of people and I didn’t want to be grouped with that. We all know the stereotypes. New Yorkers are arrogant, speak with horrible accents, are mean to people.
Of course, growing up in the area, I knew many, many people who were the opposite of this. However, all stereotypes have an element of truth in them and these were no different.
I used to say that I would never go back to live in the NYC, but I can’t predict that. Furthermore, I should not try to run away from my upbringing and embrace it.
Growing up in Brooklyn has shaped me into the person that I am. My acceptance of different types of people and to not see race or gender when I’m interacting with somebody comes from living in the NYC. I’ve seen almost anything you can see. Gay men dressed in drag, interracial couples, crack viles on the sidewalk next to my home, homeless people begging me for money walking home, alchoholics and so many other things. I’m not trying to glorify these things, but confronting and embracing these realities made me the tolerant person that I am today and I’m proud of that.
I’ve been able to:
-See games at Yankee Stadium,
-See Broadway plays
-Go to the Statue of Liberty, comprehend Ellis Island and realize how fortunate we are as Americans to live in this country
-Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
-Spend time at the World Trade Center before 9/11
-Attend a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
-Eat at Monk’s the diner portrayed on Seinfeld
-Spend time at Union Square Park, my favorite place back home, and reflect on a perfect evening, seeing the skateboarders and the hip-hop dancers provide an atmosphere indescribable here.
-Go to Central Park and see Strawberry Fields and the Zoo.
-Head to the Bronx Zoo
-Go to Coney Island and eat a Nathan’s hot dog
-Go to the New York Aquarium and see nature underwater.
-Visit the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and see the Mets
-The Guggenheim
-Spend an evening in SoHo, Greenwich Village, Harlem, the South Bronx, Bed-Stuy, Spanish Harlem, Little Italy, Chinatown, the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side
-Staten Island. That’s all I need to say.
-See jazz in a shady nightclub and a full concert at Madison Square Garden
-Ah, MSG.
-Eat a New York Style Pizza in New York
I can go on and on, but you get the idea.
However, the reason that I can look back and appreciate these things is that I’ve been fortunate to experience life in different cities like Charleston, Atlanta and now Nashville.
Neither of those cities are perfect. No place is perfect, you just have to accept where you’re at.
My original post was to call out people who have only experienced the NYC and mentally and physically limited themselves to experiencing different cultures in other cities.
I want to travel more and find out more about this country. I want to visit every state and at least spend a day there to get an idea of things go there. The good part about my job is that I get to travel. Granted for every trip to OK places like Jacksonville, Fla. or Kennesaw, Ga., there are trips to places like Buies Creek, N.C. and Johnson City, Tenn. but that’s good.
I will always be a New Yorker and proud of my hometown. I still have family and friends that live there and really want to see them and reexperience them as an adult. I actually do miss living there, but my life path has taken me to Nashville and I’m fine with that.
Finally, I’ll leave you with some music based in the NYC. First, fuck the Strokes. People try to push them as the New York band. They suck.
Give me hip-hop, dance music from The Tunnel or some Velvet Underground, the Bravery, Interpol, Springstein or Bon Jovi (yeah, I know they’re from Jersey but they are in the Tri-State area).
For now, here’s some Talking Heads. David Byrne is the truth and Tina is an underrated bass player. They need to reunite like yesterday. Either you get them or you don't. I'm in between but dig them becasue they were so different. The sad thing is that they wouldn't get played on radio stations or have videos played on MTV if they came out now.
The first video is my favorite song of theirs and the second one is actually appropriate for the times we're going through in America today. See their live concert Stop Making Sense as soon as you can. I seriously recommend it. The second video is from that.
I listed in my initial post the reasons that I left the city, so I won’t rehash them here. The main gist of it was is that I was tired of living in the NYC and wanted to experience a different lifestyle.
For years, I tried to run away from being a New Yorker. New Yorkers have a negative connotation with a majority of people and I didn’t want to be grouped with that. We all know the stereotypes. New Yorkers are arrogant, speak with horrible accents, are mean to people.
Of course, growing up in the area, I knew many, many people who were the opposite of this. However, all stereotypes have an element of truth in them and these were no different.
I used to say that I would never go back to live in the NYC, but I can’t predict that. Furthermore, I should not try to run away from my upbringing and embrace it.
Growing up in Brooklyn has shaped me into the person that I am. My acceptance of different types of people and to not see race or gender when I’m interacting with somebody comes from living in the NYC. I’ve seen almost anything you can see. Gay men dressed in drag, interracial couples, crack viles on the sidewalk next to my home, homeless people begging me for money walking home, alchoholics and so many other things. I’m not trying to glorify these things, but confronting and embracing these realities made me the tolerant person that I am today and I’m proud of that.
I’ve been able to:
-See games at Yankee Stadium,
-See Broadway plays
-Go to the Statue of Liberty, comprehend Ellis Island and realize how fortunate we are as Americans to live in this country
-Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
-Spend time at the World Trade Center before 9/11
-Attend a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
-Eat at Monk’s the diner portrayed on Seinfeld
-Spend time at Union Square Park, my favorite place back home, and reflect on a perfect evening, seeing the skateboarders and the hip-hop dancers provide an atmosphere indescribable here.
-Go to Central Park and see Strawberry Fields and the Zoo.
-Head to the Bronx Zoo
-Go to Coney Island and eat a Nathan’s hot dog
-Go to the New York Aquarium and see nature underwater.
-Visit the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and see the Mets
-The Guggenheim
-Spend an evening in SoHo, Greenwich Village, Harlem, the South Bronx, Bed-Stuy, Spanish Harlem, Little Italy, Chinatown, the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side
-Staten Island. That’s all I need to say.
-See jazz in a shady nightclub and a full concert at Madison Square Garden
-Ah, MSG.
-Eat a New York Style Pizza in New York
I can go on and on, but you get the idea.
However, the reason that I can look back and appreciate these things is that I’ve been fortunate to experience life in different cities like Charleston, Atlanta and now Nashville.
Neither of those cities are perfect. No place is perfect, you just have to accept where you’re at.
My original post was to call out people who have only experienced the NYC and mentally and physically limited themselves to experiencing different cultures in other cities.
I want to travel more and find out more about this country. I want to visit every state and at least spend a day there to get an idea of things go there. The good part about my job is that I get to travel. Granted for every trip to OK places like Jacksonville, Fla. or Kennesaw, Ga., there are trips to places like Buies Creek, N.C. and Johnson City, Tenn. but that’s good.
I will always be a New Yorker and proud of my hometown. I still have family and friends that live there and really want to see them and reexperience them as an adult. I actually do miss living there, but my life path has taken me to Nashville and I’m fine with that.
Finally, I’ll leave you with some music based in the NYC. First, fuck the Strokes. People try to push them as the New York band. They suck.
Give me hip-hop, dance music from The Tunnel or some Velvet Underground, the Bravery, Interpol, Springstein or Bon Jovi (yeah, I know they’re from Jersey but they are in the Tri-State area).
For now, here’s some Talking Heads. David Byrne is the truth and Tina is an underrated bass player. They need to reunite like yesterday. Either you get them or you don't. I'm in between but dig them becasue they were so different. The sad thing is that they wouldn't get played on radio stations or have videos played on MTV if they came out now.
The first video is my favorite song of theirs and the second one is actually appropriate for the times we're going through in America today. See their live concert Stop Making Sense as soon as you can. I seriously recommend it. The second video is from that.
No comments:
Post a Comment