I Got Shot in New York

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I shot myself four times this week during target practice. Granted, I was aiming at my face — using a camera, not a gun. Here’s the story … I’m not sure how much I can divulge about the project, but an LA production company asked me to film myself and send in the tapes for a network TV program. I love the sociology of relationships, and I’m happy to do anything that helps me and/or others understand them better. If I get picked to be on the show, great. If not, I’ll be fine; I’ll simply add the experience to the List of Incredible Opportunities I’ve Had while in New York City. Something else will come along.

NYC. As most of you already know, I’m a Midwesterner at heart. But, I don’t really have a “hometown.” Though I was raised in Mississippi, I was born in Illinois and lived there again from elementary school until university. I’ve also lived in Los Angeles, Florida, Europe and elsehwere. I’ve chosen to live in NY — for nearly five years … the longest I’ve lived in any city as an adult — because I feel like I fit in here. The place is packed with transplants, immigrants and other people just like me — folks who abandoned hometowns and homelands in places that never quite seemed like “home.” There’s quote about how much NYC needs the newbies equally as much as the natives, but I can’t remember the exact text or the quote.

It’s weird. I’m certainly not a tourist. Yet, I’m still more likely to tell people “I live in New York” rather than “I’m a New Yorker.” I feel like I can’t really “claim” NY the same way natives can. For me, recently getting “shot” / “filmed” on the Lower East Side involved a Canon GL1; native NYers remember when people REALLY got shot in LES. Having lived in NYC before it was cool to do so, they remember when crack was the only thing spreading faster than AIDS, Times Square looked like this, subways like this and the outer boroughs like this.

Quite frankly, if 2000s New York was like 1980s New York, I probably wouldn’t live here. Remember? I’m from rural Illinois. The shallows waters of gentrification — safe neighborhoods, clean parks / green space and grocery stores that offer organic options — suit me just fine. For me, it’s only a problem when those tiny droplets of dew build up to a full blown gentrification tsunami. Then again, I wonder: Do I contribute to that by hanging out at Union Square, shopping at Whole Foods and picking up random stuff at Duane Reade? Maybe. Maybe not.

Anyway. Speaking of these “Whose New York Is It Anyway?” discussions, I want to say a very public THANK YOU to the folks over at WNYC for inviting me to breakfast, a tour [video!] of their new and the conversation with Rosie Perez about NYC’s changing neighborhoods.

The live show taped yesterday morning, with: Rosie; Bob Tierney, Landmark Preservation Commission Chair; Nelson George, novelist, Exec Producer for series at VH1 and BET; Damaris Reyes, Exec Director of GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side); Marci Reaven, Exec Director of City Lore as well as Director of Place Matters and other participants. If you wanna hear what everyone talked about, segment airs on WNYC 93.9 FM at 7:00am next Saturday (May 16) and on WNYC AM 820 at 9:00pm next Sunday (May 17).

Okay, so, I know many of you out there live here in New York, but a lot of you DON’T. Curious to find out: “How many of you live in the same town you grew up in? If you’ve remained, why do you love it? If you’ve left, what made you leave?” Feel free to use the comment section to share your thoughts.

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Photo credit: Scott Ellison Smith

Technorati Tags: 1980s, AIDS, BET, Bob Tierney, Canon GL1, City Lore, crack, Damaris Reyes, gentrification, GOLES, Good Old Lower East Side, Greene Space, Illinois, Landmark Preservation Commission, Lower East Side, Manhattan, Marci Reaven, Nelson George, New York City, NYC, Place Matters, public radio, Rosie Perez, sociology, VH1, WNYC