bird by bird

Being broke in Brooklyn was Romantic for a while, like a rite of passage that every 20-something needs to experience before they become rich and successful. My first night in Harlem, my roommate EH and I ate Chinese take-out on the floor and slept on stacks of towels. I love that memory because it sounds like such an adventure. Like camping! But now, I'm ready for that part of the adventure to be over. Now, the charm of scraping together rent and ordering the cheapest thing on the menu is so not charming anymore. I want money in my savings account, and I want a steak. STAT. I'm 26 years old; I should be able to pay for the name brand Cherrios, goddamnit, but I don't think you truly understand how thrifty I am. I am far from my days as a college student, yet I still get care packages mailed from my mom, and I still pay for my groceries using multiple forms of payment so I don't overdraft. Sometimes, I still overdraft. I do everything I can think of to cut corners and sav...

“Amelie has no boyfriend. She’s tried once or twice, but the results were a letdown. Instead, she cultivates a taste for small pleasures: dipping her hand into sacks of grain, cracking creme brulee with a teaspoon, and skipping stones at St. Martin’s canal.”

I am a biker now. Or rather, I now own a bike.   I have quickly realized that these two statements are not synonymous. Just because you buy a bike, ride that bike, wear your bike helmet, and lock your bike outside your Brooklyn apartment at night, this does not actually mean you are a biker. To be a real, full-fledged Brooklyn biker, you have to know all the tricks like how to fold your pant legs so they don't get caught in the chain and how to skirt in and out of moving traffic going both directions; you also sort of have to be an asshole. I have yet to master all of those skills. Instead, I'm wobbly when I start out on my bike, and whenever I slow down, and also when I stop. I'm basically wobbly the whole time I'm on the damn thing. I lack confidence and speed, and I'm a hazard to drivers, pedestrians, and myself. I don't have a bell or bike lights or a firm understanding of basic bike traffic laws. Yet, I bought a bike and Imma gonna ride it!   ...