Person of the Week: Hugh Atkin

Who apparently has infinite hours to spend editing.  Check out his genius:

Farewell, Brooklyn

The Mayoress in 2004

After living in Brooklyn for over 11 years, my entire time in New York City, I'm moving to Manhattan today.  And being the sentimentalist I am, I thought it important to write an ode in closure.

I'm beyond excited to move to the city, for reasons both practical and superficial.  I'll be able to walk to work, get everywhere I go in far less time, be near my friends again.  But I'll be the first to admit, I'm a little tickled by the, well, status of a 100-- zip code.  But that's just buying into cultural keeping-up-with-the-Combses. Who you are doesn't depend on where you live.

What I will not become is a Manhattan snob, in the way of self-imposing a quarantine to the island unless I'm on my way to JFK.  There's too much that's too great about Brooklyn.  Instead of the ignorant quizzical face when someone references a neighborhood in our biggest borough, I'll nod and add something to the conversation.  And I make these promises:

I will come see my friends in Brooklyn and not demand that we meet in the city.
I will go to bars and restaurants in Brooklyn, because there are tons of excellent places of all kinds that simply are not anywhere else.  Well, except Portland.
I will go to a game the second they actually finish the Nets arena.
I will run the Brooklyn half-marathon if the NYRR every year I can.
I will go to cultural events in Brooklyn, because there are plenty and they are great.
I will stick up for my first borough when haters try to hate.

Because Brooklyn is its own borough.  A completely unique, wonderful, sometimes magical place.  It is not in competition with Manhattan, it is amazing in its own right, a stand-alone destination, whether to live or to visit.

My favorite part about Brooklyn is that it's undiscovered.  Every block of Manhattan is known, but I still stumble on amazing, historical, architectural, artistic marvels in Brooklyn that most people I know don't even know about.  That's an amazing thing in New York.

And in what other borough - what other city - can you take the subway to the beach; go to Coney Island and watch a baseball game, ride a roller coaster, and see a burlesque show all in one night; drink on the cheap; get lost in Prospect Park; be in a gallery all by yourself in the huge Brooklyn Museum; see the most splendid blossoming of spring at the Botanic Gardens; see the best views of the city and harbor from Red Hook (seriously, watch the sunset from Ikea); meet the most amazing characters from every walk of life - one of the best being our boisterous borough president Marty Markowitz; and most importantly, not stumble over tourists.

So, I love you Brooklyn.  Like Jay-Z, it's time for me to relocate - but after a mind-blowing 11 years, I got your back forever.