New York City is the hub of the world. Being born and raised in Brooklyn, I’m very proud of my borough’s culture and history. Brooklyn is an interesting place, a melting pot of all different races and religions, but it’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t from here how I really feel about the sense of family and neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s far different than the connection you feel among yourself and other people in the city, or as outsiders call it “Manhattan”.
Brooklyn is split up into so many different neighborhoods. It’s such a huge place, and at the same time, you always feel at home. It doesn’t matter if I’m all the way down south in Manhattan Beach, or all the way uptown across from the city in the Heights. Brooklyn is my security blanket, because I’ve been here my entire life, I know a thing or two about how to get around and survive here. In Brooklyn, you always know how to get home, no matter where you are. It’s just imprinted in your mind. Your neighbors are your friends, and your friends are your family.
Brooklyn is a very compassionate place. Although the stereotype is that Brooklynites are all tough and grumpy with thick Italian accents, people here are generous and kind to other people for the sake of being a good person. Even complete strangers, you know they’re your friend on a more subconscious level. You share a sense of “we’ve all been there” with your fellow Brooklynites, no matter who it may be. We all went through 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy destroying homes and lives. We were all there went the Yankees won the World Series and the Giants won the Super Bowl TWICE. We all know how irrelevant the Jets and Mets are, but we cheer for them anyway.
We all appreciate a car blasting any track from Biggie’s Ready to Die. We all go nuts when the Knicks start to look like a finals contender. We have each other’s back, and don’t let anyone talk down our borough. We can all name the best pizza spot within a 3 block radius and the top 10 sandwiches to order from the local bodega. Brooklyn is a place of tough love, but we take care of our own, and that’s the simplest way I can put it. It’s a place of unlikely friendships and circles of friends that you wouldn’t have any other way. It’s a place where everyone has a story they can tell, and no matter where you go or end up, the Brooklyn mentality stays with you forever.
