In Local News

[lapsedmodernist]

So apparently now there is a Williamsburg Slasher. As in, there is someone who has been stabbing/slashing (but not killing, so far) white hipster boys near where I live. Even though I am a girl, that does not make me feel warm and fuzzy. The three separate sources of information about this are a) crazy guy with black teeth on the L the other day (the first time I heard about this), b) several people who live in Williamsburg, and c) a big sensationalist article in the New York Post. Now, while each one of these sources in and of themselves is far from reliable (the crazy guy with black teeth because...well, he is a crazy guy with black teeth, the local hipster contingency because it is always possible that this is their version of "frontier myth," my 'hood of kinda ghetto East Williamsburg serving as "frontier other" to their totally gentrified Bedford/7th Williamsburg "self," and as we all remember all too well, The Post is the News(peak)paper that brought us the Axis of Weasels front page with doctored photos, and if you don't remember, you can come over and look at it affixed to my fridge with a magnet)), the fact that all three provided the same news kinda meets the criteria for independent channels of establishing evidence. Isn't it weird, though? It's kind of like a Williamsburg "Candyman" phenomenon--an urban legend, one that encapsulates all the anxieties of gentrification, comes to life? like, hipsters get theirs? except that getting slashed by the Williamsburg Slasher is the ultimate proof of true hipster cred. Like, "I'm a real hipster, and I have a scar to prove it." No, it's not funny. But shit, gallows humor is the new comfort blanket and has been for a while. What can I do? Maybe the next time it's 3 in the morning and I don't have enough money for a cab, I will hitch a ride with the ice cream man that must also be the local drug dealer, because NOBODY buys ice-cream at 4 AM in February, as his seizure-inducing horn creates doppler effect up and down my street.

Comments

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

When was the Post article? I tried looking for it online but despite the incredible organization/ease of use of the NYPost's web page, could not find it. The one about the slasher, not the Axis of Weasels.

Interesting thoughts about crime as a signifier of authenticity. (Because most other signs of "urban" authenticity have now been culturally exhausted) Along similar lines, I often wonder what people are going to do once the economy picks up again (said with all ten fingers crossed), considering the number of people in the area whose idenitites are based on being unemployed/being a "victim" of a depressed economy. I was in college in the Bay Area from 95-99 (i.e. when english majors were graduating and landing $60k/yr jobs writing copy for websites), and all that money created a very different scene. Although it is scarry how much Bedford Ave resemebles Haight St these days.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

you know, i tried looking for the Post article too and could not find it. i did not see it myself, just heard from friends who did see it (not friends of friends, otherwise it would be even more urban-legend).
as for the economy picking up...i really don't think so. bush's tax cut may finagle the numbers in the budget, but on the state level everyone is bankrupt and there is no support coming. there is actually an interesting article on that very topic in this week's economist. and new york is way, way fiscally fucked. apparently we are going back to the "grit" of the 70s. which may make rents in the east village lower again? i just don't know.

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

yeah, i know, the economy is totally fucked. i guess i was speaking of some mystical time in the future, thinking that things have to get better at some point. although considering how inflated the economy of the late 90's was, i think it is unrealistic to think that we will ever get to that point again.

and yes, in the last month or so i have heard a lot of talk about the return to the ed koch era in new york, at least in terms of crime. my office building has been broken into over 8 times in the last month, and i heard a different rumor about attacks in williamsburg (this person seemed to be attacking women).

i've been thinking a lot recently about what kind of "progress" we have made (in terms of a lot of stuff, that can perhaps be summed up as furthering enlightenment project in all possible ways) in the last 15 years, and actually the renewed belief in urbanism/revitalization of both downtowns and the concept of downtown was on the list. i mean, in the early 80's, people had pretty much written off the urban core as a viable form of development, and we saw a ton of growth in the suburbs as a result, and a lot of this changed in the 90's. but now i am not so convinced that this change is here to stay. the next ten years will prove very interesting.

[constintina.livejournal.com]

if it weren't so wrong i'd like to make some williamsburg slasher pomohorror movie. damn, i wish i didn't actually think that was so wrong cuz now i kinda really want to.