December 28th, 2013 @ 1:31 pm

it’s fucking rough being a native new yorker right now.  i mean, i’m sure it was rough being a native new yorker whenever there was an annoying surge of people pouring in.  i only know this generation’s surge of entitled, rent-raising, lemming-like, transplant brats…  however, i don’t think they were always bratty.  i feel like the only transplants that i have respect for are from other countries.  i’m like, north-american state-to-state moving transplant racist.

i know i’ve complained about transplants on this site before, so that’s not where i’m going with this.  i was actually thinking about WHY i feel so proud to be a native new yorker from queens, and how sad it is that if i ever have kids, it probably will never be like the “old new york” i knew… because of those bastards.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

when i was growing up, i lived in like 13 or 14 places.  it set me up to enjoy change, but it was also great to stay put for a while.  i stayed put the longest in whitestone and college point over the years (flushing/bayside as well, but not the for large chunks of time, really).  i’m glad i grew up in the “burbs” for a million reasons.  i didn’t have a front lawn or back yard, per se, but i had big luscious parks.  my neighborhood was generally quiet, safe, homey.  my elementary schools were great back then, they weren’t terribly overcrowded like they are now.  i haven’t been near my elementary schools in ages, because i don’t live in those areas anymore, but the last few times i was, they had trailers for classrooms in the yards.  that’s so depressing.  it makes me wonder if the schools have gone downhill or do less with the kids now.  i was very fortunate to grow up when i did, because i did so much with my schools back then.

when i lived in whitestone, it was from when i was about 3-6/7 and then again from 13-24.  in between, i lived in college point that entire time.  i grew up across the street from the defunct old flushing airport.  from my apartment’s front windows, you could see all of the athletic fields that were soon to be.  back then, there was a hockey rink to the left, in the middle a huge track (“the field”) with awkward football goalposts on their last limbs, and to the right there were baseball diamonds.  this was all before the days of target (and the other stores) on 20th ave, before the movie theater (adventurer’s inn – where i first learned about graff, it was always covered in TCS fills).  there were barely even any streetlights on 20th ave back in them days.  it was creepy as fuck over there, all grasslands and weeds.  the abandoned airport was one decrepit hanger and a lot of the same type of terrain as 20th ave.  i remember it was always flooded, and it seemed like the land went for MILES.  back then, my BFF on the block (ramona) and i used to go to “the field” and go beyond the running/walking/bike track and climb what we thought were mountains.  they were really just dirt hills with jutting concrete blocks all over the place.  we’d climb and hike back there and get yelled at so much for going back there.  i’m sure there were scary people roaming back there, so our parents had good reasons.  i’m assuming they’d watch us from the window and knew what we were doing, even when we thought we were being slick, lol.

it’s all currently been revamped and it’s a beautiful sports complex, but it was great even when we had the dirt mounds (SLASH BIKE RAMPS) and our unfinished “park”.  it kept us in our parents eye, and gave us the freedom to play outside, so i guess it was sort of like a big suburban “yard”.

when i went to elementary school (PS29Q), i got to do so many fun things, and i had great teachers that gave a shit.  we got to put on amazing chorus shows, dance shows, go on great trips, etc.  i remember going to city center endless times as a child with my school.  our school was for performing arts, so we got to do a lot of that every season, and also participate in trips having to do with performing arts.  i was exposed to so much amazing talent.  i remember even troupes from alvin ailey used to come dance for us every year.  it was amazing.  when i went to JHS, i even got to sing at carnagie hall.

additionally, my aunt nancy was a 2nd grade teacher at a public elementary school in rockaway, queens, and had her class sing the national anthem at shea stadium (she has worked in the ticket office for DECADES).  it wasn’t my school, but i somehow got to be included in that, and it was an amazing experience.  imagine the public school system allowed that?  amazin’ (mets pun intended).

it’s sad when parents today hate on the NYC public school system, or have to.  i haven’t been in it for 15 years, so i can’t have a great opinion.  however, i imagine it isn’t like when i was a kid, and that saddens me.