28 posts tagged brooklyn

It’s nightfall.  It’s dark and hot and humid outside.  Sitting here wrapped up in it reminds me of those old Brooklyn nights when I was growing up.  The smell of summer in New York, the feel of it against your skin as beads of sweat built up on your skin, waiting for that brief moment of relief when the fan would oscillate in your direction.  I’m reminded of it on nights like this when it’s quiet and that same New York summer is sticking to me like an old memory that won’t let go.  And I’m glad that it won’t let go.  Because on nights like for the heat to remind me of old New York; of those hot Brooklyn nights decorated by Froze’n’Fruit and Honeymooners reruns on Channel 11.  That was before yuppies, hipsters and gentrification threatened to undo everything we had ever known.  

On nights like this I’m reminded of the soul of New York that’s been long priced out of existence by developers and buried by hipsters.  Back when people sat outside to escape the heat; they’d gather in little groups to talk and laugh and joke and gossip.  The kids would run and play up and down the block as if the heat wasn’t so bad at all.  These hot New York nights are the last living trace of those old days growing up in Brooklyn.  The heat isn’t my enemy or my oppressor.  It’s an old companion that makes me remember a time when Brooklyn was for Brooklynites, neighborhoods were for families, and streets were for playing wiffle ball and stick ball…no matter how hot it got.  

It’s nightfall in New York.  And night is falling on New York.  Stay true.  Stay real.