MaaariSOL.
*5 seconds*
MaaariSOL.
*5 seconds*
MaaariSOL.
*5 seconds*
MaaariSOL.
*15 seconds*
MaaariSOL…
And repeat for 15 minutes.
You’ve heard it. It’s the sound of people without cellphones visiting other people in buildings without doorbells. And it can be heard at nearly every building in Bushwick. One time I stuck my head out the window after about 10 minutes of “MaaariSOL” and said “Hey! I think she might not be HOME.” The visitor said “Oh yes she is. But she don’t wanna talk to me. MaaariSOL!”
Why don’t these places have some civilized system for someone inside to know they have a visitor without the visitor standing on the curb and howling into every neighbor’s apartment? Are buzzers and cellphones illegal in Bushwick? I understand the need to keep the front door locked, precluding a simple knock on the apartment door, but come on. It’s annoying, not to mention a waste of time — I have seen people emerge after 20 minutes of their name being called. Gives “Sorry, I was in the shower” a whole new meaning.
Only in Bushwick.
jenblossom June 5th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Oh, this is SO annoying. Our landlady installed doorbells for us (these little adhesive ones that stuck to the siding out front, with a receiving we plugged in indoors), but when they resided everything last summer they took them down and didn’t replace them. So now every time the ConEdison guy comes to try to read the meter, he opens the screen on my bedroom window so he can bang loudly directly on the glass and yell, startling me, my husband and our cats, at 7 a.m.
One of our neighbors actually told us after someone was yelling outside his place that if they don’t have his cell number, they aren’t anyone he wants to talk to.
Mary June 5th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I dislike shouting from outside the building, or even people shouting from the windows.
But this is nothing compared to the loud music being played from some homes, and from cars parked on the street…so much more annoying.
Jeremy June 5th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
The music from homes doesn’t bother me that much — the cars are bad though, yes.
Anyway we have those wireless doorbells, too. So easy, you just stick them by the front door and plug them in inside. And they’re like $15
Joe June 6th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Wait till the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday, this neighborhood will seem like the epicenter of a coup d’etat…
bushwick 4 life July 30th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
why u guys move top bushwick to complain go back to your old neigborhood in hickville bushwicks always been like this and i hope it stays like this i wouldn’t want to live in a dead neigborhood anyways and if u guys have a problem with noise move out or learn to live with it i just hope more people in bushwick join this blog for they can know what u guys r talkin about….
Mr. Kraayon July 30th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
“just hope more people in bushwick join this blog for they can know what u guys r talkin about….”
I hope you read more of the blogs so that you will also know what we are talking about. You should share your views on litter,condos,art, and any of the many other things we discuss here.
Armstrong July 31st, 2007 at 9:58 am
I just hope people learn proper grammar..
The other night I went to Fortunatas Pizza w/my friend who is black and working a punk aesthetic: blue highlights in his hair, etc.
This ghetto PR woman kept looking over and giving dirty looks and laughing and of course her kids soon followed suit.
We ignored it (it wasn’t a scene by any means) and continued enjoying our pizza but I hate shit like that. I’m sure on one level she feels threatened and a lot of long time locals probably never even leave the neighborhood but c’mon man, don’t be so small minded.
I mention this incident because “bushwick 4 life” seems to have the same tunnel vision: taking pride in living in a dirty, backward, crime ridden hood.
I just smugly contemplate the fact that the bitch better get used to it because the neighborhood is changing for the better!
long time in the wick July 31st, 2007 at 7:36 pm
don’t worry the guys like bushwick for life will be going bye bye just like they did in parkslope years ago. Much of parkslope was as bad as Bushwick is now. If you can buy in the wick u wont be sorry.
long time in the wick July 31st, 2007 at 7:49 pm
welcome hipsters and other pioneers
Matt August 1st, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I was woken up at 4am the other day by some kid screaming his head for, no joke, 20 minutes outside of our apartment trying to get someone’s attention. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was too damn lazy to get out of bed I would have thrown something at him.
Mr. A August 1st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I’ve ben teaching in Bushwick since 9/82, and am used to the culture and some of the peculiarities.I just love hearing the whitebread (yeah, I’m white,too-So?)faux- hipster just grew a chin, wearing geeky glasses and cargo shorts crowd, whoe parents come out on Sundays after finishing the times at brunch likes of you complain about something I’ve been getting a chuckle out of for the last 25 years.Just think, smeday you’ll be someone else’s UNWANTED, too!
jenblossom August 1st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I’d just like to know what the fuck happened to common courtesy. I mean, I grew up on the east side of Detroit, in a neighborhood not too different from Bushwick, and I’m sorry, but I don’t recall people standing in the damn streets at all hours of the day and night SHOUTING for people.
jenblossom August 1st, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Sorry about my language. This topic is just pushing my buttons, so to speak.
Miss S August 1st, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I loved Mr. A’s post. I hope that if other Bushwick natives do read this site – that they know that not every young white thing in the neighborhood wants them gone. While I would love to see a brighter, cleaner Bushwick – it doesn’t warrant the covert (and overt!) racism evident here in some of these discussions.
I read what’s posted here to remind myself of what my students face when they leave our school.
jenblossom August 1st, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Miss S, I am not white. I am not a racist. I don’t see how wanting to live in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood smacks of racism. Frankly I think that the noise and litter that come from ANYONE living here – black, white, brown, blue, WHATEVER – is simply disrespectful.
You say you are an educator, as did Mr. A. Your comments make me wonder just what it is you are teaching your students about respect, community, and courtesy.
Mr. Kraayon August 1st, 2007 at 5:16 pm
“- it doesn’t warrant the covert (and overt!) racism evident here in some of these discussions.”
I’m sure you are also referring to the racism that white residents experience too, correct?
Jeremy August 1st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
This just confirms a belief I formed in 13 years of childhood incarceration, aka, school: that most teachers are morons. The popular adage that those who can, do; those who can’t, teach, really does ring true over and over again in my experience.
Here we have a teacher calling us covert (and overt!) racists, with not a shred of evidence. Here we have a teacher poking fun at the appearance and culture of some white people. Fine role models you are. I’d hate to be different-looking in Mr. A’s classroom, or have a disagreement in the classroom of Miss S.
This post is about people screaming to their friends from the street for several minutes straight, many times in the middle of the night. This is not a cute cultural peccadillo — it’s a disrespectful way to treat one’s neighbors and it’s a nuisance. I suppose frowning at one’s house being shaken to the foundations by reggaeton blasted out of the open windows of a $70,000 SUV is racism, too, Miss S.
Or maybe I should address you in the vernacular of the neighborhood, to which you are so accustomed, and which you proudly celebrate: Suck my dick, bitches.
Ray August 1st, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Today in school, Mr. A taught us that white people shouldn’t be judgmental of Latino rudeness, because Latino culture is intrinsically rude.
Thanks, Mr. A.
Marisleysis August 1st, 2007 at 5:55 pm
“I loved Mr. A’s post.”
Is it because you’re a racist like he is? You two are the only ones who said anything actually racist. At least you don’t want to coddle people of color like Mr. A does. Oh look at the cute ethnics and their cute ways that bother whitey. A subtler form of racism, but racism nevertheless.
Mr. A., most Hispanics who aren’t immature teenagers are just as annoyed by the noise, trash, crime and all the other things that whitey thinks is rude. You know why? Because noise, trash and crime isn’t part of our culture, it’s just noise, trash and crime.
And it’s rude.
Miss S August 1st, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Ahhh I knew I should have explained myself better. So I’ll try now. I do agree, Mr. Kraayon, that there is racism coming from all angles here in Bushwick. And to all fronts. And no, Marisleysis, I don’t want to coddle anyone! I am all for cleaning up Bushwick. It’s really just one thing that keeps popping up here that really, really upsets me. It’s calling people animals. I know that seems small and I’m sure people don’t mean it to be as harsh as it is (or maybe they do?) but it is such a lexical cop-out. When you call someone an animal, or compare them to animals, you dehumanize them (god that sounds obvious). It bothers me because language like that is slippery and it is that quiet dehumanization that paves the way for grander and grosser acts of racism. I hope I’m being clearer this time around. I went through and reread a lot of the posts here and it doesn’t happen often – I think it just sticks in my head when it does.
Jeremy, I know that public ed can be a cruel and confining place. Sadly, many who can’t do teach. There are some who do it, though, because it is hard and meaningful work.
Armstrong August 1st, 2007 at 9:55 pm
shoot me, but I can see A & S’s points. the language on this blog is sometimes derogatory and smacks of class-ism if not outright racism. yet I get angry too about much of what I see.. ah, the uneasy demographic tensions of Bushwick.
dietsch August 1st, 2007 at 10:19 pm
“animal” appears three times in this thread–all three times in comment #20.
I agree that “animal” is a shameful word to use for a human, in a context such as this blog (as opposed to, say, zoology or evolutionary biology). But no one’s used that word in this thread. If they’ve done so elsewhere on this site, shame on them.
Born in the Bush November 7th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Yep, Bushwick is SPECIAL …. REAL SPECIAL .