Run For Your Lives!!!

Chu chu chu chu change.....

I currently spend a lot of time in Greenpoint, a neighborhood that is known for once being a stronghold of Polish immigrants. They are still here though in fewer numbers and somewhat Americanized as usually happens to any immigrant group after one generation is born here but they are now competing with a group that reminds me of an invasive plant from another country. Except these people are from here as in from various and sundry parts of our great nation but they have banded together here to economically strangle and literally overrun Greenpoint. Egregiously ugly and large housing developments have sprung up like mushrooms blighting the waterfront and limiting the available housing stock for economically challenged people by increasing the rents for everyone living here. The developers also get outsized tax credits and tax breaks for claiming to be providing low income housing as a part of their Babylonian style towers. There are more babies in strollers being pushed by a middle aged woman of an ethnic background different from the children than there are in Park Slope. Maybe all the kids that grew up in Park Slope have grown up and are now doing the same thing in Greenpoint.

But the thing that has struck me (almost literally once or twice) has been a growth spurt in the ranks of jogging clubs. I have nothing against jogging or any form of exercise for that matter. I’m a huge fan of parkour for example. However, these run clubs are starting to remind me of nothing so much as a fascist herd of sheep bleating away to their beatz and air pods while wearing pretty much the same outfit and clogging the sideWALKS and streets with their mobs as if they are running against time itself. I can hear the vibrations when they approach me and I wear air pods myself as I walk every day around the time of sunset and my only volume level is Ten so I can’t hear anything but the music but I can feel them for sure. It’s like a garbage truck or a front end loader is coming up behind me but it’s really just a bunch of nerdy looking most likely tech and finance people intent on running any feelings and emotions straight out of town. Again nothing against joggers or exercise but for me they represent something else, something sinister and exclusionary. The virtual identical clothing thing is creepy. The need to run in a tight group as if for safety (they are the biggest threat out there actually), the assumed alignment in thinking. God (sic) only knows what these people think about for that matter. If there was a black out they would be the first to self destruct, break into a panic. Losing access to Spotify and apps that monitor their BP, pulse, how many miles they’ve run in how much time, etc. would doubtless cause a nervous breakdown.Not being able to send meaningless texts to peopkle so you don’t have to actually sopeakm to them? Never.

It took me years but I’ve finally come around to understanding and accepting that everything changes sooner than later and what might seem like a heinous violation of my daily norms in reality is just an inevitability in the progression of life. It is also true that the more things change the more they stay the same so paradoxically both things are happening simultaneously. Paradox is one of the greatest things about living as far as I’m concerned. Certainty is for sheep (I do really hate using animals as desultory adjectives). I understand that in the troubled times in which we live (though when are we not living in troubled times?) it is instinctive to become part of a group, to want to be identified with something that makes one feel safe. There is nothing wrong with that other than this: groups formed are more of a defensive nature of protecting themselves from anything perceived as a threat to their well being rather than being a group that advocates or works for change for the betterment of all. These groups have an attitude of fuck the rest of you, you’re not my problem and stay the fuck away from me. See this stupid outfit I’m wearing? You’re not wearing it so you’re not one of us and you also can’t jog so you’re definitely not one of us. Tense events were a community that was open ended open minded and did not apply a label to anyone. There was no judge and jury monitoring people, no exclusionary practices and everyone was always welcome. Did I like or agree with everyone who came to these events? Hell no. But unkless they were violent or being a problem in some othewr way they were still welcome. This is in part at least, my idea of how a community should be.

Community ranks near or at the top of what I feel is important in a healthy society. These people are participating in a form of community but it’s an exclusive one. I doubt there are any unemployed people, I doubt there are any people working in more esoteric fields and I can see that the age range is very narrow as well. Again, this alone is not a valid reason for criticism. Contempt before investigation is a very dangerous, potentially self destructive thing to do but I can’t get myself into one of these klatches so I must make observations and draw my conclusions upon limited evidence. I seek not to unduly criticize or be overly harsh just for the sake of doing so and I admit I tend to be more than acerbic in my commentary at times but I feel it is necessary these days. I’m also really bad at writing conclusions so in conclusion, draw your own conclusions and have a great day!

P.S.

Food er, drugs and booze for thought:

How can you force people into treatment when you are cutting and I mean slash and burning funding for treatment? Oh, that’s right, if you are King Donald that’s standard business practice. He claims he would repurpose money used to help people get housing towards programs for sobriety and good ole fashioned clean livin’. Never mind this will do nothing to help resolve homelessness. At best you will have a handful of newly sober people facing the grim reality of not having a place to live combined with the fear of being arrested and even deported for their heinous crime of being homeless. No wonder some people smoke crack and shoot heroin.