July 7, 2023—
First, gentrification isn’t my story.
Most New Yorkers in entry-level jobs in the city’s hallmark industries, publishing, film, theater, hospitality, service, etc. aren’t systematically oppressed by class and race. It sucks (I hope you think so) to find an affordable apartment too close to a gentrifying neighborhood only, and to be a wedge pounded in by unchecked greed, but we aren’t losing our homes and communities.
It’s complex, frustrating, personal and urgent (Jeremiah Moss on hyper-gentrification). And for that reason, it did suck to live near that edge.
I’m also not particularly superstitious, and I’m sure as hell not making light of this, but our Brooklyn was a spiritual experience, too. You pass shrines and offerings on the way to the subway. I wondered if our singular injuries while we lived there, including me getting hit by a car, were partly due to powers that wanted to protect who was already there.
Independent Baptists don’t really deal with this kind of thing, despite a vociferous believe in “principalities,” and we aren’t Catholic (queer ex-Evangelicals), so—who to speak on our behalf? Who to say that we were sorry, and didn’t know how to be there without being right there.
I’m not trying to “out” St. Brigid of Kildare, but I appreciate that she had a Very Good Friend. So, maybe she’d have sympathy for two married VGFs. She’s also a patron of beer.
I wanted a St. Brigid’s cross for our apartment in Brooklyn, but am bad at crafts and let February 1, the right day to weave one, come and go. I went to my friend’s recent housewarming here in Rochester, though, and another friend gifted her a St. Brigid’s made from reclaimed materials. I wondered if he’d make us one, too.
I texted my friend to ask today after Rachel heard clanking, driving around Rochester. She pulled over to find this.
Though, the mystery scissors had only stabbed the bumper. Maybe Brigid and Darlughdac are already on it? Cheers.
Illustration by me: a nice July stroll through the mosquitoes and horseflies at Ellison Park, Rochester, NY