August 20th, 2013 @ 1:22 pm

[article: there goes the neighborhood]

♥ thank you for capturing my angst for out-of-state transplants in a mature way, that makes total sense. ♥

“when there is something special in this world… It shouldn’t be exploited.”

…that’s the difference between actual new yorkers and the majority of these out-of-state lemmings.  we don’t exploit our neighborhoods, we enjoy them. we queens natives are not taking our neighborhoods for granted, i guess we just inadvertently and unconsciously keep them to ourselves, so that they don’t get overrun by lame people that really just try too hard, and ruin our moderately sensible ways of life.

around my ‘hood (i’ve been living in ridgewood/glendale area for 3 years now), they’re trickling in.  i don’t understand why there is a need to have neighborhood pride in the sense that it needs to be exploited, discovered or pushed like “OMG no one has ever seen this land before” type of shit…  when it boils down to it, it’s just another ‘hood in queens.

there are decades and decades of old school families that have been there, minding their own business, just living life.  they’re ruining it for us now, and our future native generations (if any of us even choose to stay).  how i feel for queens, is also how i feel for native brooklyn ‘hoods that are quiet and family oriented as well.  these loud/annoying hipsters that drink/scream all night like they’re living in dorms and not apartments are annoying, there are certain ‘hoods for that…

queens isn’t a novelty, it’s not a goal for someone in ohio or iowa.  i wonder wtf goes through these transplants heads, i swear.

we don’t need art galleries, we don’t need vegan this that and the other thing, or an american apparel (god, please don’t let them infiltrate!), or gourmet snobby cheese stores run by 30 yr old white men with jorts+beards, nor do we want these things.  that’s what the industrial areas that are rundown and revamped are for.

what i don’t get, is that if they were trying to escape their prison-like non-accepting suburbs, why are they now looking for the suburbs? THEY SHOULD JUST GO BACK HOME (or did they just want to live that way elsewhere, wearing thick framed glasses, converse/jorts and munching on tofu?).

i feel really awful being so negative about this topic all of the time. it just really frustrates me that where i was born and raised, and should have the right to stay in and give to my future kids if i have any, is almost out of my grasps. there’s only room for it to get worse and more expensive.

sigh.

June 10th, 2012 @ 9:58 pm

i reeeeeeeeeeeally want to read this book: “unorthodox: the scandalous rejection of my hasidic roots“, by deborah feldman.  being from NYC, you’re around a ton of different cultures.  where i’m originally from in queens, you rarely see hasidic jews, and when i moved out to brooklyn for the first time a few years ago, i moved to a heavily hasidic residing neighborhood (midwood).  it was a strange experience for me because i knew nothing of their culture at all, aside from the way that they dress and the fact that the women wore wigs for a reason…

one friday when i had come home from work, a loud, wailing (and spooky) siren started going off at sundown.  the first thought going through my head was that NYC was about to be in another crisis because of terrorism (no, not even joking).  my roommate at the time never told me about the siren that went off on friday evenings, as a warning to go home for the arrival of the sabbath.  i recorded it from my phone, to send to my mother that first time, because i was like WTF?  then the next day, my ‘hood was like a ghost town… there was NO ONE around. i couldn’t believe it. i think it was within the next two weeks that he told me the deal.

in the dunkin donuts two blocks from my apartment, i would go in and hear the 15/16 year old girls talking about their wigs and upcoming husbands and stuff, and i was in awe.  at 15/16, i was playing super nintendo, started going to concerts and had my first real boyfriend.  it was kind of a culture shock for me, and i felt really ignorant for automatically thinking that they were odd, so i started googling more and more about hasidic culture.  why they had to cover all of their skin, the deal with the curls, the strings around their waists, etc.

i guess now i have better understanding of why some of those things are done, and not that it’s my place to try to “approve” of it, but i can’t.  i try so hard not to judge it or mock it, but i can’t say that i have come to terms with it.  some of the rules are out of this world.

i’m not a super-religious person to begin with, but i am catholic – and i thought the rules that we have to live by are ridiculous and strict…  this is seriously a whole other level.

and not to sound like a total dick, but it’s 2012.  with the modern world surrounding all of these young people, how do they not feel pressured to live a “normal” life?

i’ve read a couple of websites that had articles about the book that deborah feldman wrote, and it stated that they’re raised to be scared of “normal”/non-hasidic people.  i think that’s absolutely fucked up, because as odd as i think the culture may be, i wouldn’t ever discriminate or be rude to a hasidic jew JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE HASIDIC.  i think that’s awful, if that’s true.

i don’t want to turn this post into how i “don’t get hasidic jews” and seem like an ignorant/judgemental asshole, my point was that i wanted to see the point of view from someone that has converted.  i wondered if there were younger people in our generation that broke free because of curiosity, and the outcome.  i’m super excited to add this to my book queue.

August 22nd, 2011 @ 2:32 am

i thought it’d be easier to just sum things up after a while, rather than write day to day… i guess i was wrong.

so what have i been doing for the last month?

1. on repeat (like, i-have-issues type of “on repeat”.)
2. catching up in the old hood<3
3. went to a movie in the park, (officially) met an awesome dude.
4. hanging out more and more with the awesome dude (here, in wburg.)
5. watching ally mcbeal like it’s nobody’s business!
6. spending more time with charlie<3
7. spending more time with christian (and charlie and rob<3)
8. spending time with lauren who finally came back from london
9. spending some time with teena! (and kurt!)

everyone/everything is doing a fine job of picking up the pieces lately.
things are feeling much better, although i don’t want to jinx myself.

i’m so glad that this summer is over because it was really fucking shitty until now. i just want autumn to be here.
hoodies & hockey, and that smell in the air…  #BEST

i’m going to utah again next week<333 i think i’m going to chop my hair off while i’m there.