The Lynn Harris Take on Park Slope: Where is the Love?

Here is the love. For the article, that is. Lynn Harris lays out the dymanics of contempt with humor and precision, and it was more pleasant to go along for the ride than I thought it would be. The second half of the article was my favorite, though, especially since the NY times placed the copy over an enormous Luis Vuitton ad featuring Keith Richards, who is everything the stereotypical uptight parent isn't. Wouldn't it be fine to have Keith Richards makeover day for PS parents wherein everyone dawned bandana and eyeliner and stayed up all night abusing substances, consorting with groupies and getting lost in guitar riffs. Or at least, just lined the eyes. Heavily.

It was choice when Lynn Harris called 4th Avenue the "Champs-Élysées of auto parts." It is a grand Avenue that may one day be deemed too grand for boiler parts, hubcaps, gas stations and the Pep Boys. But maybe the BP station will stay, with its designer logo that feels so... Brooklyn designed.

Another one of my favorite lines: "The high-end stroller — which is not confined to Park Slope — has become an epithet as inseparable from the Slope as “wine-dark” is from the sea." This is absolutely true and yet there's something deliciously absurd about that comparison, which brings the conspicuous oenophilia of the urban sophisticate into the mix.

I think she gets near the heart of the hate in this paragraph: "Park Slope also may provide a peek into a crystal ball that some don’t want to see. “Hipsters and people who don’t have kids are terrified of becoming grown-ups and parents, which is what Park Slope has come to represent,” said Jeff Sandgrund, 30, a lifelong Park Sloper. “So you lash out against that as if it’s the worst thing in the world, when in five years, you know what? It’s going to be you.'" This rings more true to me than the jealously thing, because frankly, there are other places to live that are great, fresher, and less expensive. Personally speaking, Park Slope tweaks my issues with inhabiting the role of a parent. Trying to make mature decisions is a drag. Having to call the neighbors and tell them to turn the music down because your kids can't sleep, it's a drag. Forcing children to eat vegetables is a drag. It is so much more fun to be the rebel. I want to be 20. Forever.

But I've been around the block and I know that one day this



will lead to this. And it will be alright. Especially if the parents du jour don't take themselves too seriously and hang out on the stoop from time to time. A little eyeliner, Johnnie Depp's brilliant appropriation, couldn't hurt. Seriously.


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Felicia Sullivan