#8

The Ocho!

So, my TONY comes in the mail yesterday and to my astonishment the topic of the month is Brooklyn Vs. Manhattan: Where do you belong? and two thoughts come to mind: This is going to be an interesting read and dear lord why are we subject to the borough war time and time again. It's bad enough when a subway series comes along every spring. So the whole gist is that a Manhattanite and Brooklynite are facing off as to why their borough is better (already a bad move- who's going to speak out AGAINST their home?) They proceed to go three rounds hitting on culture, "important things" (which is too subjective to even get me started on) and the real New York experience.
Now, I'm a Queens girl, born and raised, straight down to my core but I have spent a fair amount of time between Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan (Sorry, other two). The first problem with this whole trial is that neither party is going to see the point of the other one because not only are we discussing home turf but it's a difference between New Yorkers (yes, New Yorkers- we don't know how to back down when you're talking about our town). Second, this isn't that serious. Every borough in New York seems hellbent on winning this invisible belt to be the greatest part of NYC, which by being included as a part of the cultural center of the world you should have enough pride in that alone but no one ever seems satisfied by this. Every area of New York has it's own unique contribution which makes this city and state great- though we've yet to see Staten Island really pull it's own weight
The article goes on to give statistics on things like realty, population, crime (Brooklyn won that in case you were interested) supermarket prices, blah blah blah. Each person puts in their two cents, though no winner is ever declared, they both make sound arguments for their area, but what does the better borough really come down to? Is it really culture, food, homes, schools or cost of living? It seems to just be flat out ego at the end of the day. Both offer eclectic choices in film, music and shows so that can't be it. You can eat food from almost any culture and find great stores to suit your individual taste so what is it? I must know! If you're a sports fan you have no choice but to go to the Garden to watch basketball and hockey, for baseball you to travel up to the Bronx or to Queens and football takes place in Jersey for some stupid reason. We're all divided in that sense (if you're not a sports fan then you have no idea what I'm talking about anyway).
The majority of the time what the argument really is underneath it all is Hipster Vs. Yuppie, that Manhattan is old and Brooklyn is new or Brooklyn is cutting edge and Manhattan is just funneling their new awesome energy. Whatever you want to call the fight they all sound like idiots. Hipsters are the new yuppies, deal with it.
Anyone who knows me has heard me complain about the schlep to Brooklyn. With the G train destined to go the way of the dodo at this rate I still have had both positive (seeing bands perform, great times with close friends) and negative (the morning walk of shame, being lost from not understanding their streets) experiences on my outings to Brooklyn. The architecture is gorgeous and there is a great feeling of New York history. When I was younger I was never opposed to the idea of living in Brooklyn in the future and I'm still not turned off by the idea.
Many memories from my youth are from when my mother would take us to Manhattan to embrace the beauty of The City though I am not jaded about it's darker side we all have come to understand. Frankly, I find myself in the city due to it's proximity and many of my friends live/work/go to school where Manhattan is the middle ground between our respectable towns. If I have to go through Manhattan to get to Brooklyn why not just stay in Manhattan to shorten the length of my trip and at the end of the day isn't that all that matters to us? Finding a place to hang out without having to take a 2 hour trip home from train switching and MTA detours at 3am. Ever since I was four I have been in love with New York and as I get older I can appreciate what the Beastie Boys are talking about (cause God knows if you're on a subway to Brooklyn you DON'T fall asleep). The differences of the boroughs should be appreciated and we all should join forces to create a greater New York the way God intended and to pick on Staten Island, the runt of the litter (just kidding- but not really that place is a hole).
So now every time you find yourself hating on another borough you should think about some poor bastard our age in Omaha sitting in his basement drinking wine coolers with his equally lame friends doing nothing. Would you rather live there? I didn't think so.