Bushwick Clicks 6/30/08
Suydam and Irving, from the BushwickBK.com flickr pool
Godwin’s Law in Three…Two…: Gothamist does a blurb on Northeast Kingdom — and the commenters basically accuse NEK and all of us who eat there of racism.
Welcome to the Hood: The briefest, least-capitalized Bushwick primer ever.
Enough Already: *mocking voice* “Bushwick — pardon us, East Williamsburg…” Will this gag never end? It’s embarrassing that anyone thinks they’re being clever anymore. Anyway, boo-hoo, rich bitch 20-something media assistants are treated poorly at work.
Good News for the Birds: Seems the City has rejected the Parks Dept’s contract to develop Ridgewood Reservoir into ballfields.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Re: Bushwick primer; my favorite bit is how he labeled Downtown Morgantown, “cracker patch”!
Ha!
July 1st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Re:the NEK post:
$4 dollar french fries “the best bargain” for a community where the average citizen might spend that on an entire dinner for a family. I’d say the commenters are locked on target.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Sorry, but no. NEK does not deny people service because they aren’t white. And the patrons don’t stare at people who aren’t white. In fact, plenty of the patrons are NOT white. So the commenters are, in fact, way off target. If NEK was in Maspeth or Bay Ridge, the locals would not pay $4 for french fries, but nobody would be tossing out accusations of racism like candy, like everyone seems to do these days.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Your opinion is respected, but please read all comments and mine as well. No one mentioned anything about denial of service do to the color of skin. Please rethink your comments when reading between the lines and ad libbing. Racism has many shades. Economically and socially marginalizing a majority of citizens in this community with an overpriced restaurant is a basic reality.
Cheer up. It all depends on how you look at it.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:06 am
Hi Scott, my name is Tony, and I’m what you call a “Spic, grease-ball Puerto Rican”. Born and raised in Bushwick, lived off of food stamps and welfare till I was 18 and I lived literally above the NEK (18 Wyckoff avenue). You would have to drag a $20 bill on the floor of the local bodega to find a better cliche of a “marginalized minority” than me. Yet, I sat at the NEK just three months ago and enjoyed a cup of coffee (spit free) with one white and one swarthy friend and I can assure you that not once did I feel marginalized and stared upon. NEK is not for everyone. The poor have their tacos and bodegas if they so desire. But what is wrong with bringing a little class and variety to Bushwick? I only wish I had a place like the NEK when I lived in Bushwick. Instead my only exposure to exotic food was the Chinese take out on Dekalb and Wyckoff.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Good to hear. Thanks for sharing Tony.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Scott, nobody marginalized anybody and nothing is overpriced (well, maybe the pork chop). If you can find a way to deliver the ingredients offered at NEK for the price of a paper plate of rice and beans, you’ll be the richest man in New York. Your solution to this “problem” is what then? That no choices for better food should exist, because some people might not be able to afford to eat it? Hah, “cheer up”? You’re the one with a stick up your ass over $4 oven fries. I’m annoyed that a great establishment in my neighborhood is being accused of racism when there is no basis for it. Leave your silly Marxist critiques on campus where they came from.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 am
But the initial statement that the Gothamist commenters accuse NEK and all of us who eat there of racism is quite misleading (only ONE commenter mentioned the “pale” complexion of the majority of diners). Scott is right about the ad libbing unless, perhaps, this is just being done to illustrate Godwin’s Law.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Well played Jeremy. Godwin’s Law exemplified. Got it. Now let’s move on.