The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Neighbor?

The Q's no journalist. Is he held to journalistic ethics? Maybe. But a rumor this good, that keeps cropping up, is simply too good to ignore.

I'll post it as a question, like a celebrity gossip columnist might.

What celebrated author, often called the "James Baldwin of his generation," famously an ex-pat to Paris, originally from Baltimore, has allegedly purchased a home on Lincoln Road right here trendy Lefferts?

Sorry. You can't hang on to THAT one til the Old Grey Lady weighs in.

Here's the Q's musings on Mr. Coates, whose latest book he read last summer while vacationing in perhaps the whitest state in the nation.

The Q on Coates From the Land of Cheese & Sanders

Just a thought on the words "gentrification" and "gentrifier" that I realized last night. So many folks seem fixated on who is or isn't one, whose fault it all is, whether one is complicit in the process simply by buying a house or renting a place or wanting a wine bar to open. Or close. My insight was simply that it's all a red herring, designed to avoid the more difficult and potentially hurtful and shameful conversations about race. Or to the point, the painful DECISIONS and policies that must follow.

More later, as if Q readers aren't sick enough of the topic.

Oh, and if you can confirm the above I'll buy you a double-latte-soy-escargot

5 comments:

Carmen said...

No clue who he is, but hey, the more the merrier.

In terms of gentrification and such...the first year my family and I lived here, we were considered gentrifiers because....no damn clue why. Shortly after my neighbors learned I'm an immigrant, we upgraded to "the Craigslisters". Once actual white people moved into the building, they've left us alone. Now, almost ten years later, I spend most of my time away from the 'hood because my neighbors continually disappoint me with how they treat and talk about each other.

Anonymous said...

We were considered gentrifiers when we moved in, but with the prices in the neighborhood now and the kinds of spectacular renovations being done, not piecemeal crazy like ours, we aren't gentrifiers anymore in those same neighbors' eyes. Welcome, Mr. Coates and fam to a special kind of crazy we all call home here.

babs said...

For Carmen & any others who think they don't know who this is (I'll bet you do): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta-Nehisi_Coates Also please note that he supports Bernie Sanders for President: http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/10/ta_nehisi_coates_is_voting_for Sounds like a good neighbor to me, but none of my sources can confirm this. This is the house in question, I believe: http://streeteasy.com/building/207-lincoln-road-brooklyn/house Guess we'll have to wait for the closing to be sure.

Anonymous said...

Ditto! Anonymous 6:09p. Perfectly captured

roxv said...

whoa, really? that would be cool. i went to that house's open house. it had apparently once belonged to Jerry Orbach's son. it was a beautiful place, but too wedding cakey for my taste (you know, if i really had a few million dollars laying around)