This Song Is Not A Rebel Song

So...

I'm sort of over Park Slope, and by extension, maybe Brooklyn. It remains to be seen whether this is a passing disinterest or the real thing, but at the moment I'm just not feeling it. I don't believe in this place anymore.

Before I go any further, if you don't know, there are many many things I love about this neighborhood. You'll have to take my word for it. Assume that my natural predilection for negativity has at long last won out, though it may just be temporary.

It's the provincialism that's sort of worn me out. Brooklynites constantly pat the borough (and themselves) on the back, a behavior which our Borough President has mastered to the point of obsessive compulsion. It isn't completely new, it was started by my parent's generation, a group that fled to the suburbs, maudlin for the stoops, spaldeens, and sports teams of their childhood. Maybe this is what we receive in return for cursing Walter O'Malley who took the Dodgers to California.

I think until then, Brooklyn never felt the need to pat itself on the back. Those were some big hits Brooklyn took in the 50's and 60's though. It was tough after that, the Brooklyn of Vinnie Barbarino. Still, Brooklyn came back.

Of course, the Brooklyn that everyone loves doesn't exist without Manhattan, and this is where the provincialism gets ridiculous; most of it is done at the expense of Manhattan, the center of the universe. This is patently ridiculous, it's like stabbing yourself in the heart.

There are some great neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but part of what makes them great is that they are in a sense bedroom communities. They are retreats from the turmoil of Manhattan. Park Slope is one of these and a very nice one at that. In fact, it would be a very nice place anywhere, but it is what it is, and it's a bedroom community.

It's not just the provincialism though, it's the entitlement and the way that everyone believes they are always right and always the center of the universe. This needs no great explanation. It's just annoying.

So.
(sorry this is kind of disjointed)