Monday, September 13, 2004
Tears
Last week I wrote a poem titled "Lower East Side" (dedicated to Jane) that I plan[ned] on reading tonight at Bar 13 tonight. One of the questions that I ask in the poem is, "Will you leave her spirit standing?" Apparently the answer is, no.
Last night while watching the news I found out that St. Bridgette's Church has been closed. St. Bridgette's is a landmark. I couldn't believe that they were closing it, I mean church's are so rarely closed (though the last time I recall it happening the Church was in Harlem...coincidence?). Apparently, there wasn't enough money to maintain it and it has been deemed structurally unsound.
This kills me. I cried like I haven't cried in years. St. Bridgette's is the Church that all of the Donas went to. It is so very old. It is the first Church I saw a wedding in, and the Church where we held my grandmother's funeral.
Inside it was so very beautiful and I just don't get why the powers that be let it happen. But then again I do, because things are always tied together.
Suddenly areas that have always been called the Lower East Side are being called the East Village. I think this is happening because then people don't feel so bad about gentrification (which to me is about economics and not race). "They" are not killing the Lower East Side. Rather, "they" are moving to the East Village. Just look at Morningside Heights. Rename an area and you are not taking over a neighborhood, you are making one.
This morning, when I woke up I cried again. I began thinking about what they are going to do to St. Bridgette's. Will it remain closed till money comes from somewhere? Will it be turned into a club (a la Limelight...the thought of which made me want to vomit)? Or will condos fill its place? Condos filled with people who have no clue how sacred the ground they are walking on is. Not because it was a Church, it was so much more than just a Church. And they won't even know that.
I am crying again, at the law school of all places. My emotions exist somewhere between blind fury, and heart wrenching pain. "Will they even know to mourn its memory?"
(sorry I have to go to class and didn't have time to spell/grammar check this post)
Last week I wrote a poem titled "Lower East Side" (dedicated to Jane) that I plan[ned] on reading tonight at Bar 13 tonight. One of the questions that I ask in the poem is, "Will you leave her spirit standing?" Apparently the answer is, no.
Last night while watching the news I found out that St. Bridgette's Church has been closed. St. Bridgette's is a landmark. I couldn't believe that they were closing it, I mean church's are so rarely closed (though the last time I recall it happening the Church was in Harlem...coincidence?). Apparently, there wasn't enough money to maintain it and it has been deemed structurally unsound.
This kills me. I cried like I haven't cried in years. St. Bridgette's is the Church that all of the Donas went to. It is so very old. It is the first Church I saw a wedding in, and the Church where we held my grandmother's funeral.
Inside it was so very beautiful and I just don't get why the powers that be let it happen. But then again I do, because things are always tied together.
Suddenly areas that have always been called the Lower East Side are being called the East Village. I think this is happening because then people don't feel so bad about gentrification (which to me is about economics and not race). "They" are not killing the Lower East Side. Rather, "they" are moving to the East Village. Just look at Morningside Heights. Rename an area and you are not taking over a neighborhood, you are making one.
This morning, when I woke up I cried again. I began thinking about what they are going to do to St. Bridgette's. Will it remain closed till money comes from somewhere? Will it be turned into a club (a la Limelight...the thought of which made me want to vomit)? Or will condos fill its place? Condos filled with people who have no clue how sacred the ground they are walking on is. Not because it was a Church, it was so much more than just a Church. And they won't even know that.
I am crying again, at the law school of all places. My emotions exist somewhere between blind fury, and heart wrenching pain. "Will they even know to mourn its memory?"
(sorry I have to go to class and didn't have time to spell/grammar check this post)
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