Edition #30: Saying Goodbye to the East Village

Plus, how a progressive Black educator beat a 16-term Democrat, 68 pieces of unsolicited advice, and a trick to tell how you perceive time.

A Note From the Editor

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time this week attempting to drum up nostalgia for the neighborhood that, pretty soon, will no longer be my own. I always expected my final days as a resident of the East Village to include all my treasured staples: a cocktail at Lovers of Today, a solo seat at the counter of Clinton Street Baking Company, accompanied by a book as thick as the stack of banana pancakes in front of me, an everything bagel with lox, rung up my favorite no-nonsense cashier at Tompkins Square Bagels, an afternoon spent sipping C&B iced coffee outside the dog run at Tompkins Square Park, trying to guess who belongs to whom.

I thought it would be an emotional goodbye, that I would recount my first apartment on 7th Street and Avenue B, the one with the tallest rooftop in the neighborhood, where I would bring out of town visitors and boys I wanted to impress. I thought I’d stroll through the streets that have become as familiar as my sister’s voice and feel a sense of loss. I expected to mourn for this slice of New York that acted as my starting point, for its dirty streets and weekend ruckus, for the stillness of Saturday mornings, for the Halloween Dog Parade, for the ethereal community garden nestled beside my building— but I’m not.

Instead, I feel awestruck by how little I knew this place, by what a small sphere of it I was occupying. At the start of COVID I joined a mutual aid group on Facebook called East Village Neighbors (inspired by this piece) and it quickly became one of my favorite corners of the internet.

It was from this group that I learned who was running to represent us in local office, that the bakery I’d passed every single day for the past three years was owned by an immigrant from France, and opening it was a longtime dream of his. When helicopters blared outside, we asked each other what was going on, and did anyone need help? Someone requested children’s clothing for a mother in need, another asked for help picking up groceries. Others offered up things up: an SAT prep book here, a few cans of cat food there. Someone was utterly terrified of the roach they’d recently found in their apartment, and was anyone willing to stop by to help hunt for it?

We helped each other, showed up for each other. Not the sort of help that seeks acknowledgment or an altruistic badge of honor, but the help of a neighbor. The kind that you give knowing when you need it, you’ll get it back. As I reflect on my time here, I realize that while I may have grown intimately familiar with the bars and restaurants, the gardens and bodegas and the amicable strangers, there was an entire world here that I never fully belonged to— and really, it was the heartbeat of the neighborhood all along.

I’m not mourning the East Village I knew; I’m mourning the one I met too late.

When I move to Brooklyn in the fall, the first thing I’ll do is join a virtual neighborhood group, weaving myself into the cloth of the place I live from the get-go. I suggest you do the same— it’ll give you a vastly different perspective on the sense of community that exists all around you, one that is too often invisible in our “busy”, single-track lives.

Cheers, my dears. and I’d love to hear about the ways in which you’ve involved yourself in the local community. Are you a part of an online neighborhood group? Have you ever asked your neighbors for help, or offered it? Let me know in the comments below.

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Three Pieces of Content Worth Consuming:

1. This Progressive, Black Educator Beat a 16-Term Democrat for Congress. I can’t stop thinking about this utterly inspiring underdog story. Jamal Bowman was not a career politician like his opponent, longtime New York Democrat Eliot Engel. Bowman was a public educator, working as a school teacher and a middle school principal throughout his career. Though Engel had endorsements from big names like Nany Pelosi and Andrew Cuomo, Bowman had heart— and the perfect situational storm. While Engel hid away in his home in Maryland during COVID, Bowman took a front seat in community aid and in the BLM movement. Then, while Engel waited to speak at a police brutality protest, he was caught on mic saying to the organizer, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”
   Plus, organizers in NYC Occupying City Hall until 6/30, demanding $1 billion be cut from the NYPD budget.

   jamaalbowmanny

   

   June 24, 2020

2. 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice You Will Definitely Use. I’m a big fan of lists, particularly if they provide pearls of hard-earned wisdom I can store for future use. This list was penned by Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of WIRED magazine, and it’s a palatable mix of pragmatism and positivity. There are so many great pieces of advice here, but a few of my favorites: “On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first, bypassing the cities. You’ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote, and then later you’ll welcome the familiar comforts of a city on the way back.” and “Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.”

3. How Do Animals Learn to Be Animals? Since humans are considered the “superior species” (at least according to us), we don’t always put much thought behind why animals act the way they do. I always assumed if one duck does something, it’s simply something all ducks do— but I was wrong. This fascinating piece dives into the varying cultures found within groups of the same species, from the way they eat to the way they care for their young. A poignant quote from the article, applying to humans and animals alike: “Behavior is what you do, culture is how you’ve learned to do it.”

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Perhaps You Should…
Discover How You Perceive Time

Did you know there are only two ways in which humans perceive time? No? Me either. I have the ego moving perspective. Which do you have? If you want to geek out more on the subject, you can do so here.

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**Bonus Content** (To Make You Laugh)

Just trust me on this one— it’s as hysterical as it is nearly believable. I wouldn’t be surprised if congregations of white guilt began forming in the near future, or if they already exist.

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A Quote From A Book You Should Read:

“I miss that in the city you can walk outside your front door and there’s people all around you. And they don’t know a thing about you. You could be anyone.”

-The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

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This newsletter is best served with a side of conversation, so drop your opinions, reflections, and thoughts in the comments below and let’s get to talking.

Or, share the most thought-provoking piece from today’s edition with someone you love, then call them up to discuss, debate, and percolate. As a wise woman once said, “Great minds discuss ideas.”