506iv

Pitched.
  1. Where is all the HistoryAt?

An idea for an app for all mobile platforms that lets you search for places on the National Historic Preservation list within a certain radius of where you’re standing.

Then you can refine that search down to places to eat, free things to do in the area, which are good for kids and families and the top 5 (app user rating) most interesting items about the specific location.

It also shows the easiest route to get there and if you need to use public transportation or not.

It would be a mix of HopStop, Yelp and a map application all in one.

  1. Initiative for the Well-Informed

This would be a foundation to make sure that older residents of neighborhoods that developers are looking to gentrify would have access to free legal knowledge. They would also get free unbiased appraisals on what their property is worth.

This way developers and large companies who have significantly greater legal and financial resources would not as easily take advantage of community members. If residents choose to sell their property they would know they aren’t being swindled out of thousands. (If not more)

This wouldn’t apply only to residents but store owners as well, especially ones that have been in business for generations in newly lucrative areas.

We would recruit lawyers, architects, accountants and non-area based real estate agents for pro-bono work; and would also work to recruit a series of volunteers from the neighborhood itself. Preferably ones who have lived there for over ten to twenty years.

Midtermed

Halfway through this class.

I think I could have been a bit stronger in certain areas, a little more certain that I had something to say. Tighter even.

I want to stick with Brooklyn, I still want to wander the streets knowing and looking for things to absorb. As the weather gets nicer I think it will be easier to find the right words that I want. I want to use Brooklyn as much as I can to move me forward in my writing, and realistically just inspire me to move forward in general.

I look forward to my adventures and finding so much new information about my neighborhood, my borough and even my city. From learning that Cobble Hill was not named after a hill full of Cobblers to what makes a restaurant time and thrive in a neighborhood.

I’m realizing I like learning what has made this borough thrive in the past and how many different generations have occupied it. There have been so many things that have left their mark and so many that have vanished. It’s been incredible to uncover some of the little stones.

I do want to try for a bit more focus in my post, make them stand a little stronger; so that’s really what I’m going to try to do with the next few weeks. Make you feel the passion and the beauty of Brooklyn all in one literary sitting. Wish me luck.

I want it to keep going.

I don’t want to stop exploring.

I don’t want to give up my excuse to.

I want to move forward.

The Devil on your Left Shoulder

What can I really say about Brooklyn?

There is not much that hasn’t already been said, it’s a borough that is and has been filled with aspiring (and inspiring) writers. Writers who grew up with a Brooklyn voice, writers who let Brooklyn flood them with inspiration and writers who knew this borough was where they needed to be. 

But – its also trite, it’s a cliché, and its been done -especially by the Yupster.

What is there to say?

Who am I to say it?

Some of said residents have enough money to not do anything besides write, and I do not mean for work, but for pleasure – as in they receive no monetary gain for their writing. Imagine that voice that comes from pure creativity. Aside from the fact some of these writers can scribble, or type, away all day long – their craft is apart of them. It fills their lives. Their voice is Brooklyn.

I fill my head with thoughts that are far away from Brooklyn. 

I’m detached, not as focused. My voice withering away, if it ever existed. Not to be compared to those who live and breathe talking about #cobbled streets, artisan foods and the new fused specialty place that now sells cupcakes made with booze. I’m a fraud.

Authenticity, how can you tell if you have it? Can you find it? Can you gain it?

Can I really understand the older authentic brownstone laden neighborhoods compared to the new ones created by a culture of shiny fresh high rises? I’ve barely been there a year; some people have never known anything but Brooklyn. Some could tell you that their family stepped into America and right into Brooklyn’s arms and never looked back. Or that their family has been making the same sauce in their restaurant for at least three generations. Authentic. This has never not been their lives, they can talk about it. Can I?

Who am I?

Brooklyn has a culture of arts and want-to-be artists who all want to talk about their new spaces, their new work – their new everything and anything.

My voice isn’t special. I’m not that interesting. I don’t have that much to contribute.

Where is the voice that is worth paying attention to? Do I even have it is as a writer, or at the very least as a person? My metaphorical voice that is, I am generally very vocal.

Or do I fall into the realm of other persona non grata that has flooded its buildings following the real artists in on their coattails? The shallow, the vain or those looking to pretend they have some to contribute to a vibrant community –the ones who are really just there for a flashy and hip zip code. Not there for the community.  Not there for the spirit, art, culture or dynamic that has shaped Brooklyn for all these years.

Who am I?

 

——-

This feels a little different than the assignment, but it was a post I was going to do on my own in the upcoming weeks. Or maybe I just freely interpreted the assignment. But I always tend to have both those Angels on my shoulders making me double think my choices. So let me just argue amongst my self doubt. 

Snip Snip

Facebook:
Bklyntenat is a place to come find pictures, restaurant reviews&links, connect with people in your neighborhood and find interesting events and concerts. She explores the Brooklyn to help you find exactly what you’re looking for, and then you can hop over to her blog to find out more information about specific neighborhoods.

Twitter:
Ask quick questions about all your favorite Brooklyn spots!
Foodie joints, concert updates, new architecture and other fast facts about Kings County!

Instagram:
The deliciousness of all things Brooklyn

Wikipedia:
Bklyntenat started as a school project that quickly exploded as a new voice on the ever changing Brooklyn scene. Now a respected food reviewer for several publications – including Edible Brooklyn, she also speaks about architecture and the history of how neighborhoods developed. Know for her authentic voice, she is a presence on the Brooklyn scene.

Staples in the Neighborhood

A bird chirped in Brooklyn! Yesterday morning I woke up to a bright window and the normal BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) noises and then realized some of the sounds I heard had been a bird. I listened further and sounds of tiny little baby birds! Polar vortex surviving baby birds!

Groundhogs can say what they want about the spring coming, but PVS baby birds sing the rest.

So like I said, I had a whole post planned that just didn’t work out. It should be noted that at some point Port Authority history is coming your way. Now that might not sound particularly interesting – I realize its heavily large ship related; but some gangster stuff, some old school political machine stuff (think Tammany Hall) and some other stuff-stuff might be included. These are all just thoughts until the weather allows me to wander around without fear of slipping on cobbled streets.

So I scrambled for something new to say, did some errands and looked around. I had a photographer friend once tell me, look for the shapes that will form the picture. I figured this post could be similar, let me see the shapes in my writing.

————

I live near a number of pretty impressive buildings, one of which are The Cobble Hill Towers. Originally built by Alfred Tredway White, who was a developer and architect that created a number of housing buildings (not projects) for city dwellers in the latter part of the 19th century. These buildings were intended to house workers who were in the shipyard, building unions or a variety of other menial jobs in the metro area.

You have to remember the other choices at this time included Lower East Side (LES, going forward) tenements. It doesn’t really seem like a tough choice when these buildings in Brooklyn included backyards and other open air spaces not as easily found in Manhattan during the 1800s.

These buildings were both an architectural statement and a statement that New York City stood for all of its inhabitants; and that they all deserved a decent place to live and play. It was a game changer for both new immigrants, but also those who had faced the dreary life of the LES. These Towers wanted to show there was a place where the American Dream was possible to all those who wanted to reach for it.

These Towers gave their inhabitants hope, and created a neighborhood along with it. Children were able to play in their inner courtyards, a novel feature in the late 1800s for NYC’s poor citizen; and all tenants could lend a hand. There was also protection for the outside dangers and exposure to violence, drugs or other street professions.

Things change.

The 1970s affected Brooklyn the same as the rest of the city. Long time dwellers of the Towers were secured in their rent-controlled apartments (meaning what they paid for rent did not match the inflation value of their apartment), coupled with the rising cost to heat the buildings because of the gas/oil crisis made it difficult to financially cover the routine maintenance. Apartments were empty, residents were cold, there was no money. Squalor had returned to #cobbled Brooklyn.

But where there is a developer with a dream, there is a possibility.

Next we’ll talk a bit more about Frank Farella, the actual architecture of the buildings and what happened to the towers. Pictures included!

Simply wandering,
bklyntenant

 

————

I’m definitely looking for constructive criticism on this post – was it boring? Not informative? Too long? Too short? No direction? No theme? Weird transition? No interest in hearing what happened to these staples? No idea why they were/are important to Brooklyn? (well that one will be more clear in the next post)

History (Resume)
Objective: All around learner of life, Sociologist at heart but thats a hard occupation to pay the bills with. Studier of people and the culture they surround themselves all while communicating with them effectively.
EXPERIENCE

Regional Hospital, January 2011 – Present, Marketing Novice
Hired into a new position, responsible for the creation of journal ads, community newspaper ads, invitations for our physician dinners, and creative design for community events. Extensive research projects with the goal of increasing community engagement and working to develop a better understanding of the markets we target.

Then in another – also new – position, responsibility additional to my ongoing creative projects with the expansion of larger ad campaigns, video editing for our social media pages, and departmental branding within multiple disciplines (microbranding based on departments’ wants and needs). Helped these departments create a well-rounded brand by designing flyers, brochures, and other advertorial materials.

Advertising Agency, Summer 2009, Marketing&Advertising Guppy
Nationally known full service advertising and marketing firm with 50 in house: account managers; graphic designers; print designers; TV and internet producers and website designers.
Worked with account executives as well as the creative team to throughout development of a variety of advertising campaigns. Part of a team that worked extensively to create a full campaigns from print to digital. Oversaw presentations to clients including creative design for both layout and front/back end coding for websites.        

Regional Law Frim, P.C. Summers 2004- 2008, Reoccurring Marketing Character 
Regional corporate law firm of 90 attorneys
Worked with the marketing department to develop intra-office websites and law blogs; conducted marketing research; organize seminars and outreach events; and created the firm’s first marketing video.

EDUCATION

The University of  the North East, BA – May 2010
Major: International Studies
Minor: Media

 

To Argue

I was called a ‘Yuppie’ for the first time when I was 17 years old. It was the first time I had ever heard the term outside of a John Hughes movie, and I literally had no idea of the connotation behind it. Was I being insulted? Or just routinely labeled? At the time I let it go, the social situation was a new one to me and I wasn’t about to bring more attention to the fact that I didn’t fit in. I was surrounded by people who came from a place I hadn’t experienced before and used terminology, such as ‘flatlanders’, that I had never heard before.  I came to realize they were not particularly fond of my ‘flatlander’ background or so-called ‘yuppie’ culture. For those of you who missed the 80s, with the knowledge from only watching movies, I figured out it means “Young Urban Professional” or something similar to that. It’s applicable to those who survived their hippie, conservative, veteran or other Baby Boomer stereotypical parents to then move to the “Big City” and garner fast paced monetary focused jobs – generally (or so I thought) in the 1980s. I learned then that this is a term still alive and well.

I have no opinion on yuppies, nor will I disclose if I may or may not actually be one. Perception is everything.

Where am I going with this? Gentrification*. The 1980s meant a lot of things for New York City. After the cusp, with some social issues still thriving, of the race riots, civil rights protests, porn in Times Square (can I, a millennial imagine such a thing?!) and the AIDS epidemic, the Mayors of New York City made some drastic changes. These changes led Manhattan to becoming a tourist destination and a family friendly city again. Neighborhoods which once would have been dangerous to walk through now had attractive apartments, food and culture looking to serve a new generation who hadn’t fully experienced the 1970s in NYC.

Now that speaks for Manhattan. Which is only partially the subject of this post, and maybe occasionally in this blog, but it gives a very general introduction as to why New York City and its boroughs began to change. Brooklyn is experiencing a similar revamp, although slightly later and varied heavily by neighborhood. Queens is experiencing some remodeling as well, and to be honest the Bronx is so far north I forget about it sometimes – so I focus on Brooklyn. Brooklyn is what I know right now.

I’m here to talk about how the face of Brooklyn is changing. Maybe occasionally talk about why some neighborhoods get focused on more than others, and maybe why some neighborhoods lose their identity while others keep it completely in tact.

I have some fun ideas about food – both new diverse infused dishes and ones that have been native to their neighborhoods since their inhabitants stepped off the boat at Ellis Island (Yum!), how the a burgeoning art scene can bring in socioeconomic ranges of all sorts of people and in general how architecture and construction in a few years can change the economics of a neighborhood.

So its food, art and cool buildings (and realistically copious amounts of photos) – occasionally some fiscal nonsense but hey, it can only be expected.

There is also me – the so-called Yuppie. Those of us who have flooded various neighborhoods since the first round of gentrification in the late 80s/early 90s (I’m a baby Yuppie in this case; maybe second gen. Yupster – so much more fun than Hipster! Which probably makes me sound worse. And oh shoot, I admitted it!).

I’m here and talking about it, and I’ve got my eyes on a couple of different neighborhoods. Because in Brooklyn you walk a couple blocks in a certain direction and might as well driven 30 miles to a new state.

*Definition of GENTRIFICATION
:  the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents 

A fun photo article to get started

-bklyntenant

Auto-Bio

It’s odd to write an autobiography that is somewhat anonymous. This might be a check off on the bucket list for me.  So my sample piece was a little heavy, sorry about that, but the rest of these posts will be far from that.

I work in the marketing/public relations department in a relatively large company in an industry fairly new to social media. I went to college in the North East and graduated a couple years ago and have been with this company since then. I’ve learned a lot about communications, public relations, advertising and marketing functioning as a needed component within a larger company that has many departments. At times, my department almost serves as an internal agency for the larger whole of the company. It keeps my life interesting, and I have (and am) learned (ing) a lot.

I graduated from college in the height of the recession and like many of my peers wasn’t quite sure what to do, but I was happy to land my job and work for a bit and then make the decision to go back to school. I’m happy to be here, happy to know that I’m confident in this choice.

I’m a New Yorker, not a native city dweller, and possibly just a brief inhabitant of the Kings County borough (Brooklyn, NY & specifically the neighborhoods of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill [Cobbled], Fort Greene, and The Heights) for now. Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I always pictured myself on a different coast; but am embracing the new findings in Brooklyn. You may have picked up on that by now, or I might be too vague for my own good.

My writing can be confusing, so my number one goal, well maybe top five goal, for the semester is to clarify more, if I am being honest. Constructive criticism is super welcome. (Did you hate that I used the word ‘super’? Let me know! And why!)

Happy to get to know you, no really I am.

This was a letter/ Sample writing post

I know we are not suppose to keep this as a diary but this seemed like my most relevant/recent writing sample:

This was an anniversary letter: 

So I was clearly terrified. But this is something that you were well aware of. After a couple years together it was mildly terrifying – because at some point you sink or swim in any relationship regardless. This just might have been the first most tangible time.

A new neighborhood. What does this mean for us? Ticking time bomb, shocking revelations or something even worse – just not clicking?

Patience. All I asked for and so much more than I got.

I knew you were going to experience a number of new things – experiences I was worried you were going to leave me trailing behind in the dust hoping to keep up. Experiences, even worse, that I might have already experienced and had no interest in “holding your hand” through or growing with you through. Experiences, I might not be interesting enough to run with you in.

Food. So much new food, and so much walking (and not driving) to said new food. So much new discovery, in all senses of the word. I wouldn’t call it a quick fix, but more of an easy transition of the direction of the relationship. The easy reliability of two people who lead half separate lives but really enjoy when the two journeys combine. Two people whom the combination is so important to. And the two people who have grown up, somewhat, together.

And all I could think was “let’s do this.” I love you.

Blah this was the end of the letter

 

Short note I left behind at the apartment as I left for work:

I realized at a certain point (pretty sure you realized a long time ago) I had to stop focusing on things that keep us apart but find all the different things that we could experience together.  Food, theatres or weird things neither of us had experiences with (glass as art and bacon duel art/food fest) to keep our lives fairly intertwined.

So lets get weird, embrace what happens and just do us.

 

Transitions take some time but a lot of new experiences are a great result of them.