Why cough? Bushwick.

Up until yesterday afternoon, I had been subletting an apartment in Bushwick for my inaugural New Yorker weeks. Bushwick, for you Chicagoans et al, is basically what a person fairly unfamiliar with New York would picture when they think "Brooklyn": pretty run down, lots of loud music playing everywhere, people sitting outside a lot, a little scary to walk alone at night. Especially as me, Little White Girl in Glasses and Red Cowboy Boots. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, this was my first taste of being Different Than Everyone Else. It was good. Uncomfortable.

However, the place really does have its charms. For instance, a couple of Sundays ago was Puerto Rican Day (for lack of a better term due to my ignorance), so my entire street was a wash of flags, people, car horns, barbecue, and music. Kind of like any normal day in my neighborhood multiplied by fifty plus seventy plus Jennifer Lopez before she was famous - and I mean that in a good way.

Number two: I lived off of the Myrtle-Wykoff subway station. There is a resident homeless woman outside of it, and she - I shit you not - looks like this:



















Except her cape is made out of black garbage backs. It's actually really craftfully fashioned. One day she was licking an ice cream cone. The next she was smoking a cigarette. She is always mumbling to herself.

Yesterday was my final day in Bushwick. I stood at my stoop waiting for my car to pick me up to take me to my new place. A little black boy rode by on a scooter. He passed my door, turned around, and came back.

"Hi."

"Hi!" I said.

"We . . . you . . . you my friend."

"I'm your friend? Well, great! What's your name?"

"Lawrence."

"Well. Nice to meet, you Lawrence." We shook hands.

"Bye," said Lawrence.

"Bye!" And he rode away.

I came back about an hour later to say my final goodbye to my apartment and to get the rest of my belongings. And as I pulled my two suitcases down the street, Lawrence rode by again on his scooter.

"Bye," he said.

"Bye, Lawrence!"

"Have . . . have, have . . . have a s-s-s-super vacation!"

"Oh, I will, thank you!"

Thankfully, I made friends with my roommates and plan on returning to Bushwick each Tuesday night to watch NYC Prep on Bravo with them. I also hope to ride Lawrence's scooter, maybe share a popscicle with him.

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NEXT: "Williamsburg," or "I Came Here Because I Heard it Was Cool and It Is."