"Home To Everyone From Everywhere!"

“I’m in a Brooklyn, New York State of Mind...” – Me at any given moment!

Some people who hear or read that may think that such a statement speaks to the unabashed nature of the Brooklynite. But it speaks more to the fact that we know how to live. We live through our own struggles, but take the time and pride to see the good in people. If you can live in Brooklyn, you can live anywhere. We are so much more than the borough known for Coney Island and Junior’s Cheesecake.

Brooklyn is the educator for the human condition. The people here have their own visions of the world and their place in it. I can remember asking a neighbor how long she had lived in Brooklyn and what it was that she liked about it and she said, “Brooklyn is home. I can't say what it is about the place, but it's always been home to me. I’ve been in the United States for over 30 years. I'll go to my old country as a vacation—but Brooklyn is my country now.”


There are so many aspects of living here that I love. For me, Brooklyn is handball in the park. Brooklyn is having my friends come over to hang out on the stoop. Brooklyn is running into my house as a kid (or even as a light hearted adult) to get money because I heard the ice cream man coming! Brooklyn is walking down the avenue and seeing at least a handful of people I knew growing up. Brooklyn is playing and splashing in the hydrant in the summertime (when there wasn’t time for the beach…the hydrant is always a good alternative!)

Brooklyn is getting out of school (Mt. Reima Catholic School from kindergarten to the first grade and P.S. 244 from second to sixth grade) and having the school bus drop me off in front of my paternal grandmother’s house at 155 St. Mark’s Avenue (Inga Marchand a.k.a. Foxy Brown was a childhood friend and lived three houses down) while having the smell of her home cooking be a warm respite to welcome me in after a long hard day. (Today would have been her 85th birthday -- Happy Birthday in heaven Maw-- I love you and I miss you) Brooklyn’s beauty isn’t only in the people who live here; it’s also in its rich architectural history. My grandmother lived in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, known for its cultural insights and brownstone row houses. Park Slope is one of New York's largest land marked neighborhoods, with most of these architectural relics lying within twenty four blocks around Prospect Park.

Brooklyn is celebrating the unofficial end of summer by attending the West Indian Day Parade. This parade was actually started in the 1920’s by Jessie Waddle –- a native Trinidadian –- with the help of some her friends. What began as a costume party that took place indoors at places like the Savoy, Renaissance, and Audubon Ballrooms in Harlem evolved into one of New York City's largest and most vibrant parades with over 2 million spectators a year. It’s me hanging out with my older brother and cousin at the parade and selling Heinekens, sodas and bottled water for two dollars a pop (before permits were necessary -- Thanks to Rudy Giuliani!!! Blahhhh!!) on the corner of Eastern Parkway and Franklin Avenue, affectionately known as Panama Pequeñito or “Little Panama” for its vast population of Central Americans within five square blocks and staying out long after all the floats had driven down the avenue and the costumed revelers had gone home and having a joyous celebration of our very own.

Brooklyn is literary and cultural substance. Walt Whitman wrote about the Brooklyn waterfront in his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and of course there is Betty Smith’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (a book that I read in the seventh grade and immediately related to the book's main character) –- everyone who’s anyone knows of the classic coming of age story that takes place in the “City of Homes & Churches”. Who ever heard of A Bush Branches Out in Bayside or Shrubbery Sprouts in Soundview? Spike Lee, from "She's Gotta Have It", "Jungle Fever" and "Malcolm X" fame is a product of Brooklyn and so is who I believe to be the greatest contribution to hip-hop music, Christopher Wallace a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G. (R.I.P.) put his heart and soul into his music and into Brooklyn.



Me and My Bridge -- The Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn’s character is like no other place in the world. I’ve traveled to many places and the sense of who am I and where I'm from is apparent to everyone and I love that the world knows it. I've had people from all walks of life ask, "You're from Brooklyn aren't you?" And I will proudly proclaim, "Yes...yes I am!" Ultimately, this is where I live and laugh. It's part of my identity. In Brooklyn you don't have to dress up, put on a false face or be someone you're not. In Manhattan or Los Angeles or Miami, you always have to wear a costume. In Brooklyn, you can just be.