Eff all you Slope Haters

I know the title of this post is not a direct quote from Biggie Smalls, but I mean it to be heard in his voice from the beginning of the song "Juicy."

You know, it's one thing for my students (who mostly live in Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, Fort Greene, East New York, Sunset Park, etc.) to hate on Park Slope. It's another thing for those who lived in this neighborhood 20+ years ago to bemoan the current Slope situation. But one thing I cannot stand is the insane proliferation of writing of other 25-40 year old yuppies/hipsters/parent/pseduo-intellectuals that take a dump on this neighborhood and its parents. The recent post on Gawker just pushed my buttons.

Hey--maybe I'm on overly sensitive pregnant lady right now (yes, totally fulfilling a Park Slope stereotype), but there are scores of us in this neighborhood that are struggling to live here b/c we love the park, the playgrounds, and the Food Coop. And I don't mean struggling like, "Oh my god, my bonus was only equal to half my salary this year!" and I don't mean struggling like, "I'm going to have to sell my food stamps for rent money," but struggling in the average sense of the word. Struggling to pay rent, daycare, and student loans...buying used crap off Park Slope Parents b/c there no way in hell we can afford a second round of baby goods with an unpaid maternity leave from the Dept of Ed...not vacationing at all--you know--the struggles of the middle to middle-upper class. We are still yuppies in comparison to others, but that doesn't mean we're all yuppie scum.

I never realized the wealth that was in the community until I became a mom and met a lot of folks whom I would have otherwise never talked to. There's something about having your tit out in a coffee shop that brings about a certain camaraderie. But damn...once the talking began it was like I lived on a different planet from some of these women. I had lived in the Slope for eight years already, but I had no idea there were honest-to-goodness rich folk here. I guess I thought we were all renters, teachers, knee deep in debt, and paying for our sushi with hopes of a better tomorrow. I stand corrected. There are rich people here. And some of them are jerks. But isn't that like EVERY neighborhood in NYC?

But those who pen these articles speak in a voice that says they think they somehow fall out of the yuppie category. Please, look in the mirror. For years my students called me a yuppie and I denied it. I had a very modest upbringing, but, I always had a house, food, and clothes and that's a lot more than a lot of people. I am a currently a yuppie and I grew up with privilege, no doubt. Those of you who think you're not (and who are like me) are deceiving yourselves. Just because you live in Bed-Stuy (and own your brownstone) doesn't mean you're any less of a yuppie than us in the Slope who'll be perpetual renters.

And, oh? You're going to move to Maplewood or Westchester to raise your kids away from the yuppie scum on the streets of my neighborhood? Go for it. I'm sure there are no rich young professional assholes there.

Let's save the Park Slope slamming for the folks who should loathe the insane, overpriced gentrification of this ENTIRE Borough (there aren't Bugaboo strollers in Kensington, Crown Heights, or Fort Greene you tell me?)--the folks whom we are pushing out. Because where are they going to go, once someone decides that East New York is the next big thing and when the the Marcey Projects are invaded and made into condos? Those are the voices missing from this forum, and those are the only voices I feel have validity to hate in this debate.