Here is my response to Louise Crawford's "Smartmom" article called: "SMARTMOM friends moving to Canada" from the Brooklyn Paper, also posted on her blog, "Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn."
"Wow, Louise! I am amazed at your "love" of this neighborhood. Not that I have anything against the neighborhood as a place, but the idea that what constitutes an "iconic Park Sloper" is someone who is "smart, politically progressive, vegan, well-read, community oriented, neighborly and fun to talk to" is well, so strikingly lacking in objectivity, and so absent in my experience with people here, that I am inclined to say... 'Wow, Louise!'
"Obviously, I don't share your attachment to this neighborhood, but of course, I've never felt attached to any particular place, even though I've lived in neighborhoods for long stretches (including my home town in the suburbs until college age, and 25 years of living on the upper westside). A place is well... just a place to me. There are things to enjoy in a place, routines, favorite restaurants, etc., certain people, and there are annoying things in all places, as well. But in the truest Buddhist sense, attachments make for unhappiness in life, ultimately, because the nature of physical life is transient. Paradoxically, attachment also prevents true intimacy, which is very important to me, because attachment is rooted in fear, and fear interferes with the openness necessary to feel genuinely close to someone. Perhaps, that is what I have complained about the most since living in Park Slope - the pseudo-intimacy masking the fear and attachment energy (What others have called 'entitlement' and 'clique-ishness' when criticizing Park Slopers.)
"Okay, my dear Louise, that's my curmudgeonly response to your otherwise poignant 'Smartmom' piece, which as always, is enjoyable reading."
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