on Bushwick

So I live in Bushwick (when I guess I'm not living in Korea).

Bushwick is an "up and coming" area of Brooklyn that, to be frank, stills needs more upping and coming. To me, Bushwick is still a shithole and Peter and I debate this all the time.

He thinks Bushwick is "cool," I think people live in Bushwick because they can't afford Williamsburg. No one in their right might would choose Bushwick over Williamsburg, Park Slope, Fort Greene, or Clinton Hill if they had financial freedom. OK maybe people would choose it over Park Slope because Park Slope is for hipster parents with hipster babies (ie Michelle Williams and Maggie Gyllenhaal).

I agree, the collection of artists trying to make it in Bushwick IS cool, like this is what the East Village probably was like before NYU bought the whole damn neighborhood. But you know what, I'm a yuppie at heart and if I want to see art I'm OK with paying to go to the Met. I would trade in any of the artist collectives in Bushwick for say 3 more restaurants and a Whole Foods.

So awhile back, NYTimes wrote an article in which they say it is "arguably the coolest place on the planet." This article bought a lot of Bushwick haters. Gawker hated on the Times saying they don't know what is cool.

From the Gawker Article:

Stuff The New York Times Thinks Is Cool

* Bushwick, Brooklyn
* People who are "artistically inclined"
* Creativity
* Talent
* Drumming for Japanese bands
* Going to graduate school
* Working at Film Forum
* Contributing to The New Yorker
* Graphic designing
* Playing bass in punk bands
* Freelancing illustrating
* "Leather-bound copies of Balzac"
* "Vinyl"
* Freelance art handling
* Assistant video editing
* Art
* Folk music
* Doing an art about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
* Ukuleles
* Being a math genius
* Having a porch
* Living in a neighborhood with at least three murders
* Being written about by blogs

Stuff That Is Actually Cool

* Wearing sunglasses
* Saying swears
* Doing drugs

So does this mean I am cool by both NYTimes AND Gawker standards? I am so effin cool.