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scenes of gentrification

the following incidents occurred within moments of each other, as i was walking home from the bus this evening. according to one nyc real estate developer, there are no more bad neighborhoods in new york, and the faces of those so-called formerly bad neighborhoods are changing, rapidly:

#1. a young, white man stands in the foyer of his building, holding the door open for his young, asian girlfriend, who is, with one hand, lifting up some bags that she'd presumably put down while waiting for him to open the door, and with the other hand, is pointing at a bunch of young, black kids playing in the spray of a recently opened fire hydrant across the street.

"see, see!" the young woman says to the young man.

#2. a middle-aged, short white lady walks her small dog up the stairs of the brownstone she lives in. a middle-aged, short black gentleman walks over to her and says,

"hey, did you just get finished walking your dog on my lawn." (no question mark, cuz it wasn't actually a question.)

"yes," she says.

"who's gonna clean it up?"

she hesitates. "she only tinkled..."

dunno how the conversation continues because after that i had walked beyond earshot.
and i was thoroughly bemused.

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About me

  • I'm call me aja
  • From nyc
  • 20something, black, woman, reader, writer, about to be a student again. i think i'd like to be heard (or read). child/grandchild of immigrant folk. yearning to travel. desirous of wisdom. a little bit ordinary, but working at being less so.
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