Greenpoint
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Culture on the Cheap
Greenpoint Photos Du Jour: Still There
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Stuff The Makes Heather Sad
For those of you who are keeping count, the above missives (if they can be called that) have graced Java Street Pop-Up Park for just over two weeks now. I find one this rather fascinating given the the furor over swastika earrings which were for sale hereabouts almost a year ago. Perhaps someone should heirmark a donation to our local Parks Conservancy group (which ostensibly oversees this piece of public space) for a gallon of primer to cover this crap up?
In any case, I would like to give a big New York Shitty shout-out of gratitude to the folks at the 94th Precinct, Deputy Inspector Hurson and Detective Komar foremost among them, for taking this rather ugly matter quite seriously. Thanks guys!
UPDATE, 3:31 p.m.:
Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: On The Waterfront
Filed under: 11222, Fuck This Shit, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
This missive was captured today, December 20th 2012 at the Java Street “Pop-Up” Park. Words honestly fail me (please humor yours truly: she’s sick and her site appears to be as well). Methinks “disgusting” will suffice…
UPDATE, December 21, 2012: I have brought this to the head of the 94th’s attention. Deputy Inspector Hurson has assured me they are going to look into it.
Follow-up to The Greenpoint “Hate Sticker” Post
Filed under: 11222, Criminal Activity, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
I wrote a post on Sunday about an anti-Semitic sticker I found affixed to a Greenpoint pay phone (which can be seen at left). Well, it has been brought to my attention by three commenters that a number of such items (dis)grace the Garden Spot. To cite an example, bob writes:
hi, miss heather. i checked your blog this morning and saw this entry. later, i was walking up manhattan from driggs to the produce store. on the way, i saw a sticker from the same folks (or, “volk” i suppose), only this one substituted “fags” for “jews” as a gay jew living in greenpoint, my morning sure got off to a great start. it was on the window of the laundromat directly across the street from dunkin’ (the one with the red awning). before getting shooed away, i managed to rip the “fags” part off. the rest is still there, or it was when i left anyway. alas, the camera was at home.
This morning I went for a walk and documented all the stickers my commenters noted. In so doing I (unfortunately) found a hitherto undiscovered one. I made sure to note the address and/or intersection where each sticker was located. When I got home I printed out my findings, annotated them and took them tonight’s 94th Precinct Community Council Meeting. In said meeting I brought them to D.I. Fulton’s attention. My grievance was taken seriously— if not by some attendees present (a few of whom sighed, groaned and rolled their eyes). Here’s the deal:
I have been advised that moving forward I am to bring these stickers (when I find them) to the police department’s attention, be it by calling them or forwarding images (with location) to an officer who will henceforth be my “point person”. This same gentleman guaranteed there will be an investigation. In addition, D.I. Fulton told me that ripping these stickers down is perfectly legal. So there have you. All I asked in return was that he have these stickers removed stat. Mister Fulton assured me this will happen.
In other words if you, dear readers, find such stickers/hate speech on your block the NYPD has your ear. Call ’em.
Miss Heather
UPDATE, November 17, 2009: This has been referred to the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force.
New York Shitty Day Starter: Hate
Last night after having long overdue catch-up time with a friend of mine over dinner I found this turd affixed to a pay phone in front of the Dunkin’ Donuts at 862 Manhattan Avenue.
Don’t bother trying to find it. Immediately after taking the above photograph I tore it off and threw it in the garbage (where it rightfully belongs).
For those of you who are wondering “.cc” is the country code for the Cocos (Kealing) Islands, an Australian territory. Mind you, the peeps responsible for producing this sticker (and the website listed therein) are not Aussies: they hail from the good ‘ol U.S. of A. Arkansas as best as I can deduce.* I know this because I looked at their web site (which I will NOT link to out of principle— look it up yourself). A noose graces “Tightrope’s” header and they offer such niceties as mouse pads emblazoned with Barack Obama depicted as a monkey, swastikas and other neo-Nazi crap; exclamations of “Celtic Pride” (which is sort of weird considering the so-called “master race” was supposedly Nordic in origin. The Normans and Celts were enemies. Ask any Irishman or Basque.) and my personal favorite: “The Original Boys in the ‘Hood” (which a sports a number of Klansmen wearing hoods. A double entendre. How clever!).
Speaking as someone who spent a fair amount of her childhood in what the Yankees here call “the south” (Texas**) it has been my observation that the most vocal proponents of white supremacy (such as the people who produced and saw fit to affix this sticker to a Greenpoint pay phone) are the biggest arguments against it. I moved to New York City to get away from this shit. If any of you, dear readers, find a sticker like this do me (and everyone a favor): rip it down.
In closing I’d like to leave you with this. One of my favorite segments from one of my favorite movies.
Miss Heather
*P.O. Box 1116—-Calico Rock, AR.—-72519—USA
**It isn’t. Texas is— for better and worse and all the hype— its own country. The Lone Star State defies categorization. It is what it is.
Greenpoint Blind Item: Anti-Semitism For Sale
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic
Before I proceed with today’s blind item I would like to share how I kicked off the New Year with you. I awoke in the afternoon to the sound of Mister Heather babbling on the telephone. I quickly deduced that I was the subject of the conversation after I heard the following:
…she was born the same year I was. She’s older than me. Yeah, we’re closer to 40 now than we are to 30. It doesn’t bother me any though.
He then proceeded to expound upon this upbeat topic by pointing out that we have a few years left before health insurance starts getting expensive. While on the toilet. Wearing the very suit nature provided him. I later learned the Mister was talking to his mother.
Why was my husband talking to my mother-in-law about my age while using the crapper buck naked, you ask? This is an excellent question. One I initially mulled over positing but soon thought the better of it. I had already started off the day on a rotten enough note and —knowing full it could (and probably would) get worse— I saw no need to push the matter.
The way I see it you really can’t do anything about getting older so why bother with it? Besides, I had dinner to prepare. I mention the previous anecdote because when I checked my email this morning I came across an item that made my New Year’s experience seem downright quaint, if a wee bit amusing by comparison. S writes:
yeah, I was at the (excised) St/Manhattan Ave bodega re-upping my 24 oz PBR requirements when I asked the owner if he was staying open later on account of new years eve. He replied that “he’s not a greedy Jew” I told him that it’s not fair to categorize folk and he of course asked if I was Jewish which then led him to change the subject and say “for the 6th time happy new year…
I can think of a number of reasons one could bust S‘s chops over his/her selection of beer: PBR is nasty and over-priced. A six pack of Shaeffer works just as well, is less expensive and doesn’t have all the hipster baggage. But my criticism of S’s taste in beer (to each their own— as long as I don;t have to drink the stuff I don’t care) is not to suggest he/she deserved to be subjected to abuse for asking what was a very legitimate and innocuous question: will you be open late on New Year’s Eve? A simple “yes” or “no” would have sufficed.
I may very well be getting older but for the life of me I still haven’t figured out why people take the time and energy to spout this kind of garbage. We should be using our precious time being nice to one another. Life would be a lot easier for everyone if people would quit fixating on WHAT a person is and pay attention to WHO they are. Seriously.
Miss Heather
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