I was new to the scene, my man L was almost two years in schooling me to the game of culture-everyone’s playing it. In a nutshell, for Berliners, the golden rule is order. The order game is quite elementary: don’t cross the street when the sign says don’t walk.
That’s it. Wanting to cross the street when the sign said don’t walk I called “feeling real American”. It was the one rule I really had a hard time keeping but the alternative was being noticed by every pedestrian around you. People here follow the rules. If the sign says “don’t walk” you don’t walk! Ladies first, greetings, etc… follow the rules!
This led to a second observation. If I did walk and there were children around I would have been scolded by older Berliners for not following the rules. Why? Because they want to set a good example for the children! And I totally agree with that. Seriously. Don’t you? Imagine an America where people stopped others from not following the cultural norms so that the children will know how they are supposed to act! America isn’t that sort of country. You can’t even discipline someone else’s child there. Americans do not feel responsible for random other Americans like that but Berliners do. My mom said it used to be like that. I saw that deteriorate as I grew up-sue first, get along later took root in its place. Not in Berlin though! It is something to observe, more so a cultural tick to think about. Thus every intersection with lights I would look both ways, see no traffic, check each corner for, well, elderly and children then fidget. “L. I’m having a real American moment right now.” Cause American’s are so immediate with their gratification that I felt like I should be moving forward! Or maybe it’s just a New York thing? Whatever it was I didn’t want to mess up in minor ways in a foreign country let alone major ones.
Brook’s Culture Check #2 Blend in, follow the rules, don’t stand out more than you already are; explore, study, and assess for comparison and contrast in reflection later. Where are you? Who are they? How are you the same? How are you different?
With Haiti, the land of the first African enslaved successful uprising that led to the independence of a Western culture appropriated colony, the victim of Nature’s destructive power (see havoc), it’s hard to see where to step. I have a few Haitian friends following up to see how their families were doing. Fortunately they reported no losses or mortal injuries. My sigh of relief. While witnessing the news’s coverage of the aftermath I continued on with my routine. Yes. I felt removed but still, we are talking about human beings. It bothers me that this happens to human beings. About a country literally standing on shaky legs now this.
While reacting to that stress of life they are dealing with I was finished up a great first novel from an Ethiopian woman about a family dealing with life in Adis Ababa in 1974 after a military coup of the absolute monarch Hallie Selassie. Hosted the reading at McNally Jackson Books in Soho. Packed the crowd was majority Ethiopian of various ages from grey haired to black. Many elders spoke of how important it was to begin talking about these times. A chilling historical fiction the honestly rendered reality that existed for the three dimensional characters was strong as were their dealings with it. Some retreated into denial. Others were perpetually angry. A few felt nothing but extreme penance. Still man became tools. Pity. Stress. Death. Supplication. A much needed story of man’s ability to suppress and be suppressed by his kin. In both instances fiction and non-fiction we are talking about human suffering man made or natural. How should you react? I have been trying to figure out what it is that I look for in the coverage, in the tweets, in the facebook status updates. I am looking to see how –when things are at their worst- people react. Because when things are at their worst is when you see people at their best. I attended a couple fundraisers. I donated money. Time? Perhaps I can contribute some of that as well. I mean. Katrina. It’s not about governments. It’s about the people –you, me-people helping each other. Simple. Some might even call it naïve but the truth remains. People should be inclined to help in some small way and even do some small thing if not large.
Again how should react? The way that feels natural-hopefully including sympathy or empathy pushing you to act, participate, support in your own way. Hopefully.
Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste is raw but the truth of the times demand such images. Don't turn away, read it. Again, people acting. Enjoy it. I did.
C U L T U R E: O B S E R V A T I O N - my man L I have counsels I keep to myself but sometimes they leak out. Ever the urban infiltrator I perch pensive patiently pondering participants penache around me.
First off my man L had really taken to the Berlin.
I was proud off that. It was impressive. Walking the streets speaking German at the grocer, the Turkish restaurant, and running into friends was hot. I mean Germany is no small place to move too out the blue. It has a distinct flavor and demeanor plus loads of history negative and positive on top of it’s own language. Dude's is a visual artist and most recently took down his facebook page. I feel that as well. Too much interaction there and he has to focus. But really he just up and left New York after growing up in Georgia for Berlin.
Good move. Excellent timing. I can still remember a set in his garden apartment in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for his birthday a few years back. He had a small set with food, a canvas to tag your birthday shout outs in various mediums, and deejay tables. It was hot.His new spot is the Berlin version with canvases in various states of progress, records, speakers, weight bench, furniture, and laptop.
Now this cat is spinning and promoting parties, speaking German, and feeding his painting outlet. Creatively the city has him open-me too. He’s received his one year visa which is always a big deal. Now he can begin to really dig in to Berlin because his intent is not just living but thriving there financially. Which is what one does wherever one chooses to live if one has that choice.
And his first hurdle was/is language.
“I’m still trying to learn it man. My friends are still helping me with it too.” Fortunately his friends are good people from all over Europe. They too learned German in addition to their first language as all ex-pats have too. The family was formed and as family does it takes care of it’s own.
I hadn’t studied German and having already gone to countries-Brazil, Peru, Italy-where the main language isn’t English I knew better but I did it anyway. To do it again, go back to Germany, I’d take a class beforehand. I feel just that bad about it.
“Some English speakers come here, work, and never learn the language.” L commented.
“Hmmn,” That's an extremely rude stance, deadly even.
I had a blast hanging out and vibing to Croatians, Austrians, Southern Germans, African-Americans, Brits, and Norwegians. Everyone liked hip-hop. I mean we were chilling in this cat Billy's (he's Croatian) condo tailgating before the De La Soul show. He made some screaming Gulash and his stereo was straight 90's hip-hop all day from Mobb Deep to Bug Pun. Lovin it! He totally gutted the place by hand so we were able to build on the architecture layout cause I had built a cabin back in the day when i was an architecture major in undergrad. Cool dude. "Soon you are going to lose your passport and stay here." he joked. nah but....nah. Everyone at this set spoke English on a sliding scale of proficiency. We all understood each other so I could see getting away with not learning German in Germany. But if I were living there, I’d have to learn it out of respect not to mention safety. If you the only one not understanding what people are saying and everyone knows it somebody’s going see you as a good target.
There was actually a cat that all these guys had met before. For all intents we could have been the same dude. African-American Came to visit L Liked the place But he never went back to the states. Been there a year and still doesn’t know any German. That’s a bad look! It’s not like German is difficult either. English employs German words. Think kindergarten and it gets a little clearer. Dude’s taking a dangerous gamble when he doesn’t have too. Whenever he is not around his friends-apprehension at not being able to communicate. I would feel it so I know he has too regardless of degree. Regardless. I was just visiting but still trying to get a few German words in! Bitte is please Sprechen sie is do you speak Danke is thank you Plus others… Bottom line is this: when traveling communication is everything. If you can, you are good. If you can’t you are f____, unless you have someone who does with you. Then you can have a good time, get around, and, if you are lucky, not do everything touristy, you might just be able to go native.
Brook’s Culture Check #1: If you are going to live elsewhere for an extended period of time, learn the language. If it’s a short time get a phrase book and take a class!
The decade was bitter. Dad. I lost my grandmother's generation of elders save one. That one's mind is sharp. i had the conversation with him i meant too, "I want to read your memoirs. write them." what i know of his life as an African-American is notable:he applied to Harvard. Omitted checking the ethnicity box. was accepted. Did he attend, Black man first half of the 20th century, no. juat a story i know. Others like fifty years of family reunions i need jotted down in his own handwriting if i had it my way. i'll settle for a word document. how about a video or vocal recording?
The decade was sweet. a whole new generation of babies sprouted to youngins, kids, and a few teenagers.
W O R K i think about my work and the experience therein: from being a green teacher fresh out of college to a starting a paper ground up in atlanta and establish it and myself in New York City. Next came the world traveler. Now the accomplished educator and writer. the novel is coming, it's almost here.
There is so much in store this decade. good and bad and both are positive:they cause growth.
Now a new decade. So much to do. so many plans to complete. execute. Sleep? yes. Rest for the weary. because in the morning...
Yep. It began about a week before 9-11-09 Friday when I met Ogadee and Angela and their older sister Margarita and cousin Charlotte in Brooklyn at Brooklyn Moon (shout to Mike the owner) in Fort Greene. They were on their first New York City trip. We hung out a few times over the weekend and then they were back to England the following Tuesday. I was out to London Wednesday. It’s the Saturday of the same week and they were about to take me around in London. I can’t front I had to say it to 'em, “Yo, remember earlier this week when we were in Brooklyn…”
Smiles everyone smiles.
They scooped me up at my friend’s place in Bow and we cruised on out in the mini-cooper with the top down.
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH THIS PLAY OUT
The weather was sunny and warm for London. Angela told me London has more convertibles than other places. I dunno bout that but I was sure glad SHE had one. Ogadee was at the wheel and we were rolling, talking, laughing, and taking pics. The first place they took me was Portobello Road Market for the street fair. Lots of people, vendors, and sights and I was just getting my eyeful. I had to get over sitting on the LEFT passenger front seat and the driving on the left instead of the right side of the road but after a moment it was all good. Walking the fair I ended up scooping a pocket watch. It may sound odd but I had been wanting one for years so here I was in London on some bucket list ish.
After strolling the five or six blocks of Portobello
we bounced and cruised down Oxford Street then thru Westminster passing all sorts of sights
like Trafalgar Square and even the London Eye as we headed for Brixton. I noted that London reminds me of New York or really vice versa but when we got to Brixton
it felt like Flatbush ave. When we passed the tube stop there I had to double take because it looked like Fulton Mall Brooklyn for a second. Women of color of all ages, shapes and sizes with bags, children moving around each other and the men of color hollering at them on both sides of the busy sidewalks. Yeah the dollar stores look like dollar stores here too. But we cruised pass that and ended up at Nando’s, a Portuguese dinner spot/chain. It was cool and we kept up the convo of America versus United Kingdom on the black hand side.
NIGHT After eating we cruised back over the London bridge, took a few shots and peeped the Thames River Festival on the opposite side.
It was night time and I was a bit beat. Yeah I could have gone out but why push it. Tomorrow’s another day and they said there was festival we should hit. Bet. They dropped me back off at my friend’s apartment and said they would be back in the morning. Yep. The morning can’t come quick enough but I’m about to lay it down! This time difference is a trip.
oh wait...almost forgot. I linked up with Peggy in Shoreditch for a party at this spot Red Dragon and it was off the chain-the whole area was. Of course walking around with open alcohol was throwing me way off but hey, it's London and it's legal so when in Rome...:) But why did I have to pass like TEN pumping spots with ques slinking out of every door before i got to the one Peg fwded me about? All sorts of crowds with all sorts of ages with all sorts of drunkeness and sobriety. I was loving it. Hadn't been this amped since senior week parties in Buckhead from college for real! I got in, hit the bar, ordered a Guinness, passed some pounds to the barkeep, sipped it, turned around, and took in the scene. It's always the same; dancing, talking, smiling, flirting, laughing, hugging, and of course, drinking! Deejay in the corner and a downstairs to boot. All cigarette (fags they call 'em) smoking outside. It's a small spot, intimate, but perfect for a retail boutique birthday party complete with Deejays serving up massive jams! Peg came by shortly thereafter and we chopped it up about London, New York, moving, and making a name for yourself where ever you are. Yo Peg. Can't wait to hear about that new artist you were telling me about. Sounds like she's fire! Bouncing i realized another thing i liked about London. The Tube stops at midnight but the bus system is so correct it makes up for it. No need for the cab bruv, i got an oyster card!
and i'm out.
Q U O T A B L E "If your dream is a big dream, and if you want your life to work on the high level that you say you do, there's no way around doing the work it takes to get you there." -Joyce Chapman
I opened my eyes as daylight shone in and looked around to smile because I was in London NOT New York City. Not Crown Heights but Bow Not the burrough of Brooklyn but East London. Not the flat in a brownstone but an apartment in a building.
i can't front. It's great to wake up and in between the moment you are still sleep and floating to consciousness realize you aren't home and i mean country and continent. James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, Stew, Chester Himes, Dizzy and all the rest of the black artists that did it before me-thank you. You were so right.
SIGH... Yep time to get up and get it started because my plan of the day was to move through the city via the tube (see SUBWAY). Jet lag withstanding i kept looking at my watch like "yep, different zone AND hemisphere". I had three stops: Daunt Books, an Idea Store and maybe the White Cube Gallery if i had time.
I copped some groceries the evening before from the supermarket. I tried to keep it usual because one thing I hate about travel is the eating out. Don't get me wrong I love the meals/culture i can't get in the U.S. but do I have to eat out every meal? hell no. So renting apartments or crashing at one you always have the convenience of home.
I was taking full advantage of that.
Soon after a shower and dressing i was grazing on a simple breakfast a la brook and checking my email. The wi-fi was working damn well and I got some writing in on the novel too. I was playing a little Drake "So Far Gone" in the background and peeping the tube maps and addresses for the sites i wanted.Next thing i know i snatched my backpack, jacket, Tiger's baseball cap, i-pod and Bose head set( shout to T). Time to bounce.
Daunt Books rests in the very well to do area of West End or Marylebone if you really want to be specific. I took the Central Line north, transferred to the Jubilee line at Liverpool then on to the Bakerloo line at Baker Street just to hop off at the Marylebone stop. It's all about the color and the district here y'all + the Oyster card for the easy tube access. Yessir! click on the video to really feel this trip.
for real though if you used to NYC London is kinda easy map-wise plus it's smaller and the public transit is on point!
i got street level and started meandering around til i found the street i was looking for Marylebone High Street. Walking down it the road curved around away from the main avenue. I passed a girls prep school and a gang of middle to high end boutiques. An area of retail reminiscent of Soho-or is Soho reminiscent of this-but all shops were street level and all buildings were only four stories high at the most. The shopping was ill and as I enjoyed the stroll I finally saw the spot two and half blocks down. I posted up across the street for a second then went in. :)
inside the store had two main sections on the street level. The left side held mostly fiction, cooking and children's books. The right side was non-fiction and art. Downstairs was travel and travel was all that.
Every region/country held guides, fiction, art, and whatever else was relevant to that subject. See Monocole's October issue. They put me on. I scooped up The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wilde (Brit cover was better than the U.S.)
but should have copped the second Steig Larsson in paperback.
I posted up street side at a cafe with a lattee and apple almond tart then I broke out for the Idea house.
An Idea house is a redesigned re-imagined public library. The first Idea Store was designed by African born UK Architect David Adjaye. Sizzling concept and there was one close to where I was staying, the first one actually. A thought process I find fascinating because in the 21st century all constructs could use a touch up ESPECIALLY the library. I wanted to experience it myself.I wonder, hope, America could take a tip from it's Big Brother on that. Ah well, America probably won't-look at how the U.S. approaches public education. I tubed it out via the District line and exited at Whitechapel to find vendors closing and guess what: the spot was closed too.I looked around at the Muslim men with beards and women in hijabs and I knew the White Cube Gallery was a wrap. I hopped back on the tube to K's spot so I could hook up a lil dinner, check email and chill. Today was dope but my adrenaline was coming down like the sunset and I was tired.
hopped the tube one stop and I was back at the apartment for the night. Jet Lag's a beast.
N I N E - E L E V E N * S I D E B A R
Remembering that this day was 9-11 was a trip. When the towers fell i was in Manhattan on 125th street waiting on the M60 Bus to LaGuardia Airport. The Publisher of the paper i was running in NYC was on his way in town for the Levi's Engineered Jeans Tour that night featuring The Roots, Musiq Soulchild, Bilal, Jazzyfatnastees, and Jaguar Wright. That didn't happen then. What did was what I heard on the radio in the news stand. "...It's confirmed. a plane has crashed into the Pentagon and two planes have hit the World Trade Center." The rest you already know. And that was eight years ago. Now I was in London. wow.
Q U O T A B L E "Envisioning success brings you an inspiring image, but bringing that image to life requires action." -Larina Kase
It started with the evening flight on Virgin Atlantic. I knew i would fly at night and sleep would be a good friend. I didn't know about the in flight movie selection. oh well, i'll sleep later cause Notorious, the Hangover, and a partial Star Trek kept me up til we floated down through the clouds to Heathrow International. I had everything ready, my passport, itinerary and info of the person i was staying with. Now I just had to clear customs, turn on the berry and get it started. It's morning and I had plans. this was my first trip to London and it was two-fer overall that would hop me to Berlin, back to London then on to John F. Kennedy International in New York.
I had already connected with a friend for the spot to crash at in both cities. My man in Berlin was like, "it's so popping don't even plan anything." so I didn't but still I always have a plan. I been doing this for years now. I knew i was going to eat good (local culture), stroll good (on foot and public transportation the native way), hit a museum (every major city in any country with a tourist rep has at least one), socialize (drink and possibly club), hit a bookstore and relax with pep.
I even had an ulterior agenda that I sort of ignored but that's going to have to wait until the post trip summary.
Let's jsut keep it Jason Bourne now k?
One back pack, one bag, one baseball cap. I got into Heathrow and took the Heathrow Connect to Picadilly Square where i transferred to the Tube to exit at Canary Wharf. My connect,K, was there and upon entering the Corporate building we greeted, caught up a lil, and she posted me in the Starbucks. One more crew member, T, coming in and when she got there, we were off to the apartment via in the old school cab (see Harry Potter) to K's pad. It's london. It was there T and I's hostess said that at 4pm they were leaving for Spain.
word?
K and T wouldn't be back til Sunday evening.
it's Wednesday tho. 11am. Looks like I'm going hold down an apartment in London dolo (see solo but the urban version) on my first trip. I guess some travelers would be a bit queasy but i was amped. The trial run for real-live life like i was in Brooklyn but i'm in London. hmmn. Wi-fi check. i-pod deck check. "Where's the grocery store?" check. zonk out for the three hour nap til 4pm. che...zzzzzzzzzzz
4pm I'm up and called K to make sure everything was on schedule. K was already packing up and leaving work as I called. Bet. I woke T up on the "you got to get ready tip". T hopped up and repacked a bag for four days in Spain as K blew in,grabbed her own bags, and they both bounced.
Meanwhile
i played outro theme music for them on the i-pod,found out where the garbage goes plus how the locks on the door went.
Now alone it was time to turn on the computer and let cats know who's in London town now. I got London connects on the ground and it's time to see friendly faces from the not to distant past. Sitting at the counter the laptop key stroked tapped a familiar rhythmn as i watched the screen and the ipod played behind me as the sunlight showered in through the back wall blinds from the street outside. London has just begun. Shout to Darren "Decoy" from 4 Hero. Keep reading for his two episode story: London the Meeting, Berlin the show. enjoy the video.
Q U O T A B L E "Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -Erica Jong
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