Being mugged outside his Park Slope home is prompting Douglas Rushkoff and his family to consider moving from the Slope. Now, there's another case of a moment in your neighborhood that makes one want to leave: Bagel in Harlem blogger Rachel Nathalie Klein has decided to leave Harlem:
I'm subletting my place in Harlem. I've left the neighborhood. I need a break.
It's no secret that I move around a lot and in a previous post I likened my relationship with Harlem to a love affair; noting that when it's good I'm high as a kite, but when it's bad I can’t breathe. But it was an event that actually knocked the wind out of me that was the straw that broke my bagel's back.
I can take a groping in Harlem but I've got no patience for a hitting in Harlem. It was a beautiful, sunny November afternoon and I was walking along East 125th Street when a man, obviously drunk and demanding 12-cents from passerby, approached me.
"Dude, sorry, I don't have 12 cents," I said to him trying to steer clear. But as I passed to the right of him, he took a large bag filled with recyclable cans and whacked me on my back so hard that I actually fell over.
I was dazed and in shock and mostly just angry. Really, really angry.
And my anger from that day began seeping into my every experience in Harlem. I was already having a difficult time letting the small annoyances roll off me—the cursing on the streets, the trash on the sidewalks and the lack of fresh bagel—had become bigger than the neighborhood itself.
And while I recognize that a good bagel whacking can perhaps happen anywhere in the city, this particular whack occurred just three blocks from my apartment. Afterwards, I could no longer see the forest from the trees. Harlem’s incredible history, architecture and residents all remained, but my day-to-day existence in the neighborhood had become increasingly stressful and I was no longer finding pleasure in my surroundings.
In truth, I’ve been agonizing for months over the question of whether Harlem is the right place for me. While the amenities might be lacking Uptown, it’s the only neighborhood I’ve ever lived where I’ve known my neighbors' names and is one of the few places I’ve ever resided where I’ve felt truly inspired.
This is very sad, too. But it speaks the fact that when something terrible happens to you in the neighborhood where you live, you just want to leave, no matter how many high hopes or low expectations you may have.
The Daily Intelligencer wondered, "Do You Care If the Rushkoffs Leave Brooklyn?" And definitely check out the WNYC Brian Lehrer Show segment in which Rushkoff discussed the mugging.
