bklyndispatch asks:

Can you tell us what you like about Brooklyn?

My current Brooklyn nabe is very similar to how I remember the Upper West Side of Manhattan when I grew up there in the 60’s and Seventies: racially mixed, family oriented, with people hanging out on the stoops in warm weather, and a sense that you can be seen for who you are. When I was growing up I couldn’t really even concieve of going to the boroughs, much less living in them since they didn’t seem to me “new York” enough. Now Manhattan seems like it’s become the suburbs, glutted with chain stores and monied elites who make boring culture. Marginal folks seem to be clinging on by their fingernails. I have no illusions that Brooklyn is immune to this syndrome, and in fact I watched gentrificatioon take over my previous nieghborhood of Fort Greene (of course, my own living there was part of that dire process). But for now I’ve found a place in Brooklyn where I can walk down the street, greet and be greeted by nieghbors and not be pestered by artist types. My only regret is that the resturant selection in my neighborhood is a little limited.

Thanks for asking!