Monday morning....

a kind of emotional exhaustion has set in. Why? Events of the weekend are as follows.
Saturday afternoon---I decided to forgo the party to raise money for M Top--I will try to make a contribution later in the year, Instead, I rested and was able to go to Bronx Documentary Project exhibition and interview with the photographer who had the current exhibit. The exhibit, where the photographer, a native a Liberia, has pictures from a return visit and also from the south Bronx area near Bronxdoc, was a little disappointing, Similarly, the question and answer period with the photographer seemed a little self congratulatory--I was a bit turned off, but when that ended and we were all just hanging out at the gallery, I had a very fascinating conversation with a woman who was living in a co-op on the Concourse. This woman was a photographer close to 70, a white woman, who had bought her co-op about two years ago. I was fascinated to get her take on living in this neighborhood, that abuts Yankee Stadium, and which is still mostly working class and black and hispanic. She told me that this was a tough adjustment for her---she had bought the co op because it was what she could afford---and that she still felt like an outsider in the area. I asked if she understood the history of the neighborhood, how, in the forties and fifties, it had been a prosperous mostly Jewish neighborhood---many of my classmates from Bronx Science lived in the apartment houses in that vicinity. She was raised in Flushing, but, even though she had read some books about the history of the Bronx, did not seem that aware of its past. I filled her in---we had a really interesting discussion. I will probably see her at some other event at BronxDoc.
   And let me say, I think just the experience of going there is meaningful. Walking around in a neighborhood that is still very poor, where just about everybody is black and hispanic, and caddy corner to the space was a police cruiser. To visit this harsh, intense place---it is very different from my travels in Brooklyn.
   I left and walked to the 149th and 3rd Avenue station---took the 2 to 96th and headed to the Dive Bar, which, thankfully, had some seats at the bar. Had a nice hummus plate, and struck up a conversation with a 30 something black woman sitting next to me---she was a buddy of one of the bartenders---who talked to me about living with her mom in a project in quickly gentrifying Harlem. She had returned home because financially she had to.--she talked of possibly trying to find another city to live in. A good conversation--I left feeling that this was a good evening.
  The next morning---very tired---decided to just make one stop in Brooklyn, and by early afternoon, headed to south fourth. I spent the afternoon and early evening watching baseball there, sipping coffee,and having a nice conversation with friends Crystal, Michael and Harlo. By 7: 30 I was ready to leave, but not to return home to the upper west side. I wanted to travel, but where? Finally I decided to take the 62 bus to downtown Brooklyn---it goes south on Kent Avenue in Jewish Williamsburg, sits then on the fringe of Fort Greene, and finally goes around the projects and into downtown. An interesting trip---I could have gotten off at several places but I remained until Fulton Mall---then I walked east on the newly developed mall, and stopped off at City Point---watched the people who had bought or rented  the expensive apartments (I assume they are expensive), and finally was ready to jump on the Q train to head home.
  Still surrounded by the oppressiveness of the new luxury buildings that now dominate downtown Brooklyn. Who are the people who hope to benefit by their presence. Why do they think and feel so differently about things then I do? When will the public recognize their need to dominate and do something about it. Will downtown Brooklyn ultimately destroy itself by over building. Will the whole thing become a joke?  Not yet, cityboy---no real predictions for the future--tonight the BAN meeting and the plans for the march continue. Will report tomorrow.