Comments on: Best Minds of My Generation… in Bushwick?

By: Dresden

Dresden — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:04:26 +0000

I meant nothing about life.

And are any of them actually attractive? All that PBR seems to make them soft and they’re usually pretty ugly.

By: Dresden

Dresden — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:03:22 +0000

This insipid, useless culture following Gen X is all about being “cool” -

and cool is boring. Cool is a heroin nod. Cool is a stupid teenager who knows about life.

And all this sitting in a cafe typing – you are useless, space-consuming assholes. Your screenplay isn’t going to go anywhere.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:46:28 +0000

Oh please, it’s easier to make a living, eat good food, and find an endless variety of products that nobody could even imagine would exist in 1969. Citing the price of pizza and the apartment you grew up in is a useless indicator, because of inflation and the fact that it’s so much easier to make a buck now. I’m sorry you’re having trouble dealing with the modern world, but your parents worked harder to have less back then, despite what you think you remember.

By: Colorado transplant

Colorado transplant — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:14:36 +0000

Congratulations to all you young folk coughing up big bucks to live in Bushwick. I’m 49 now and grew up in Ridgewood. I guess I caught the tail end of what this country use to be like. I recall old German women scrubbing the front stoops on Saturday mornings. Our rent was $100.00 per month
for a small 5 room railroader on Putnam ave. We had one TV with no remote, one banged up car. one phone, one parent working. Stores were closed on Sundays. It was a lot harder to get into trouble back then, There are so many freak’in laws now, you don’t want to leave your house cause it’s gonna cost you money. Owning a car here is a hugh hassel. It has become a faceless society, it’s all about money and how to separate it from you.
You have to pay 5 times the amount for something than its really worth. There were NO fast food restaurants in Ridgewood back in the day. You knew all the shop owners. Pizza was .15 cents a slice in 1969. Sanitation trucks came down your block and sprayed water to clean the street. We fished for money in the sidewalk grates using a stickball bat and bubble gum on the end of it.
Things were much kinder and simpler then. You could actually get a start in life without help from your parents. Working your way thru college with no acquired debt was common. Apartments were affordable in good neighborhoods. Most jobs actually meant something and people took pride in them. Now you deal with $8.00 per hour schmucks and have to bring back half the junk you buy cause it’s shit. People lived better back then with less money. All the gadgets and gizmos will never make this a better place. What happened to the country I was born in?

By: Martha

Martha — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:32:09 +0000

An 80-year old woman calling herself an “old girl (gal)”, I can understand, but a 22 years old Columbia Grad calling herself ” a girl.” Hey, what’s wrong here???

One would expect that she had a 4-year rigorous education at Columbia.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:59:10 +0000

Pete, you’ll be better off for it, trust me. People who get help from their parents take much longer to grow up and be independent.

By: Brooklyn Pete

Brooklyn Pete — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:24:57 +0000

True, Jeremy and Ridgehooder you are correct, I was not taking into account the broader picture. But sometimes it just seems like they have more but I guess severe financial debt is imminent unless an excellent job kicks in. I actually had to take off school this semester and maybe next one too just to save enough to pay for the joke that is higher education. I really do want to move back to Bushwick but I really do not want to live nervously on each pay check and have no future savings. My parents never saved any money to help me as an adult and I am virtually starting off from scratch.

By: turgan

turgan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:13:57 +0000

“I threw a beer can before climbing down. I’m a girl (duh), shortish brown hair, recent Columbia grad, trying to be a writer. The fucking cops got me…”

wow.

By: Ridgehooder

Ridgehooder — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:58:58 +0000

The above post is correct. Most college kids in Brooklyn aren’t Trustfundsters, but simply middle class kids going into tremendous student loan and credit card debt. In fact, I am one of those now in repayment. Trust funds didnt back me. Crooks like Sallie Mae and Citibank did.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:44:57 +0000

Look, there are not that many trust funds in the world. They split these lofts up among several people, and that’s how they can afford the rent. The ones who have “help” are usually still in college.

Pete — you think these kids don’t live paycheck to paycheck? All you need to travel the world is a credit card. Talk to them when they’re 30, and see how much of their income goes to interest payments.