Goosebumps reading your part about the East Village!! Lately I've been thinking about my own place in the city's fabric. I've had an amazing 3 years in NYC/Brooklyn but ever since Covid the city feels like an estranged friend. It's not the same and my heart eyes view of it is slowly fading. I need to do some serious thinking about what the city will be like in 2021 and if it will be worth staying.
But your virtual neighbor group makes me want to seek out or start my own! Community like that is priceless and often goes unnoticed in a place like NYC, but it's precisely huge cities like that that need it the most.
Thanks for another great edition. Hope you're well and safe!
I am kind of said you are moving I help you move into your apartment in New York and we had some good times when I came to visit I am looking forward to the next adventure at your new place in both of
Love my neighborhood's mutual aid group! I joined one for my Brooklyn neighborhood at the start of the pandemic too, and I feel like I know it so much better now (even while isolating) than I did in my first year and a half here.
That's incredible! Which one are you in, and how does it work? Had you heard about these sorts of groups before the pandemic? I'm glad to know about them now, but it's wild to think they've been around for so long and I had no idea.
I loveeee hearing about your parting thoughts on East Village. Strangely enough, living in Brooklyn, I’ve had the strongest sense of community in my whole life. Way beyond any suburbia I’ve lived in. I know my mailman (Eddie!) and the woman who owns the laundry place on the corner, Grace, gives the best gossip in town. I finally wore down the surly bodega cashier and now she gives me a half smile. People on my block know my dog’s name even if they call him Winston by accident. I was just gone for 2 weeks and 3 different people on my street noticed and asked where I had been.
It’s interesting how a community is just waiting for you if you’re willing to dip your toe in. You can exist anonymously and freely in New York very easily if you wish. I’m excited for you to get to Brooklyn (!!!) and familiarize yourself with your neighbors and community and be the person who calls a stranger up asking for help with your cockroach problem.
Ohhhhh, love this: "It’s interesting how a community is just waiting for you if you’re willing to dip your toe in". It made me think about how we always have so many paths of how we can live our lives; collectively, anonymously, with or without help. It's a nice reminder that the way you're doing it / have been doing it (in my case) doesn't need to be the way you move forward.
So excited to see what Jamaal Bowman does in Congress! Love it when a candidate who actually cares about their community wins the race.
It’s really frustrating that Clinton, Schumer and Pelosi all endorsed his opponent in a such solidly blue district. Hopefully they’ll think twice next time before trying to shut down a candidate with such a positive message
Me too! I also love seeing the traditional Democrats watching these races be won by Progressives right under thier noses. Gives me hope for the future of the Democratic party, especially in a time where people are feeling empowered to be active and demand change.
This is so good. I believe it’s so important for us to get to know our neighbors, there’s many reasons. Me and Selina moved to Clermont 7 months ago and we slowly but surely are getting to know more of our neighborhood, I’m the one that mostly does it because she’s shy but then I bring her a long lol. We recently had the honor of going to our neighbor across the street Eddie and Caroline, Eddie was dying and Caroline let us come over and sing and worship with him in his last dying hours. It was very very emotional but it was an honor to be able to do that. So I agree with you 100%. Get to know your neighbors, we can still have boundaries, it’s just good to know we all have each other’s backs. Loved the Edition
What a beautiful powerful story! There's something strange about how technology was supposed to make life easier and bring us together, yet I can't help but associate the rise of tech with our extreme separateness these days. I'm going to take a page from your book and make a more concerted effort to know my (future) neighbors.
Goosebumps reading your part about the East Village!! Lately I've been thinking about my own place in the city's fabric. I've had an amazing 3 years in NYC/Brooklyn but ever since Covid the city feels like an estranged friend. It's not the same and my heart eyes view of it is slowly fading. I need to do some serious thinking about what the city will be like in 2021 and if it will be worth staying.
But your virtual neighbor group makes me want to seek out or start my own! Community like that is priceless and often goes unnoticed in a place like NYC, but it's precisely huge cities like that that need it the most.
Thanks for another great edition. Hope you're well and safe!
I am kind of said you are moving I help you move into your apartment in New York and we had some good times when I came to visit I am looking forward to the next adventure at your new place in both of
Love my neighborhood's mutual aid group! I joined one for my Brooklyn neighborhood at the start of the pandemic too, and I feel like I know it so much better now (even while isolating) than I did in my first year and a half here.
That's incredible! Which one are you in, and how does it work? Had you heard about these sorts of groups before the pandemic? I'm glad to know about them now, but it's wild to think they've been around for so long and I had no idea.
I loveeee hearing about your parting thoughts on East Village. Strangely enough, living in Brooklyn, I’ve had the strongest sense of community in my whole life. Way beyond any suburbia I’ve lived in. I know my mailman (Eddie!) and the woman who owns the laundry place on the corner, Grace, gives the best gossip in town. I finally wore down the surly bodega cashier and now she gives me a half smile. People on my block know my dog’s name even if they call him Winston by accident. I was just gone for 2 weeks and 3 different people on my street noticed and asked where I had been.
It’s interesting how a community is just waiting for you if you’re willing to dip your toe in. You can exist anonymously and freely in New York very easily if you wish. I’m excited for you to get to Brooklyn (!!!) and familiarize yourself with your neighbors and community and be the person who calls a stranger up asking for help with your cockroach problem.
Ohhhhh, love this: "It’s interesting how a community is just waiting for you if you’re willing to dip your toe in". It made me think about how we always have so many paths of how we can live our lives; collectively, anonymously, with or without help. It's a nice reminder that the way you're doing it / have been doing it (in my case) doesn't need to be the way you move forward.
So excited to see what Jamaal Bowman does in Congress! Love it when a candidate who actually cares about their community wins the race.
It’s really frustrating that Clinton, Schumer and Pelosi all endorsed his opponent in a such solidly blue district. Hopefully they’ll think twice next time before trying to shut down a candidate with such a positive message
Me too! I also love seeing the traditional Democrats watching these races be won by Progressives right under thier noses. Gives me hope for the future of the Democratic party, especially in a time where people are feeling empowered to be active and demand change.
This is so good. I believe it’s so important for us to get to know our neighbors, there’s many reasons. Me and Selina moved to Clermont 7 months ago and we slowly but surely are getting to know more of our neighborhood, I’m the one that mostly does it because she’s shy but then I bring her a long lol. We recently had the honor of going to our neighbor across the street Eddie and Caroline, Eddie was dying and Caroline let us come over and sing and worship with him in his last dying hours. It was very very emotional but it was an honor to be able to do that. So I agree with you 100%. Get to know your neighbors, we can still have boundaries, it’s just good to know we all have each other’s backs. Loved the Edition
What a beautiful powerful story! There's something strange about how technology was supposed to make life easier and bring us together, yet I can't help but associate the rise of tech with our extreme separateness these days. I'm going to take a page from your book and make a more concerted effort to know my (future) neighbors.