Sunday, April 15, 2007

Assimilated Thoughts: Uptown/Downtown

When I go downtown to Gawk HQ and I pull out my 14" ibook I worry that Balk or Emily are going to write some snarky post about “TAN's cheesy laptop.” It feels big and cumbersome and old.

When I pull out my ibook uptown, I attract a crowd and elicit oooh’s and ahhh’s from the crowd. I feel on the cutting edge of technology.

When I wear my olive green corduroy jeans from Ralph downtown, I feel like I'm part of the crowd. Maybe a little hipsterish, but no one notices.

When I wear them uptown, I feel like I'm wearing a costume. Everyone is looking and wondering why my pants aren’t blue or black. Or made of denim.

If I'm downtown and I only have $5 on me, if I don't find a fast food dollar menu somewhere I'm skeptical of my chances of getting something to eat.

If I'm uptown it seems the world is my oyster and I can eat just about anywhere I want.

When I'm downtown, I overhear conversations about New Media, and blogs, and The Assimilated Negro.

When I'm uptown all I hear about is myspace. The internet = myspace.

When I'm downtown I laugh and frolic with my caucasian friends with nary a second thought about how corny they might look, or if they're embarrassing me and/or undermining my “negro kool.” In fact, I occasionally even wonder if I'm the one embarrassing them (answer: yes!).

When I'm uptown, I always end up giving my caucasian friends a look-over and scurry them along according to their corniness quotient.

One world is tough enough, two is driving me crazy...

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/16/2007

    How far uptown are we talking here? Like what subway stop?

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  2. Anonymous4/16/2007

    what the h*ll is that vw bug sculpture in the photo? i'm intrigued as all hell. wheredja find it? who made it? in what city was the photo taken?

    --it's appealing visually, spherically, and then of course one wonders -- is it about interracial dating? a revolution that puts black people on top? and why is that only the white bottom has a license plate -- so i start wondering, wait, maybe the one on top isn't actually a car, maybe it's easier to flip a real car on its back and stick a fake one on top than to merge two autobodies together...

    please, what's the skinny on this photo!

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  3. How do you have the time to think about what other people are thinking? You need a distraction.

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  4. I'm fake as hell...so I tend to stay in in the middle...midtown.
    I can't pass either up or down so I stay central until it's time to go in the house...lol

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  5. Anonymous4/16/2007

    This is such a good post. Also, I'm sure I'm one of few people in the office who doesn't have a Mac.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous4/16/2007

    ha! This is my first time commenting but definitely not reading. I forgot how I found this blog but I digress. I totally relate.

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  7. awww, you never stay downtown for long anyway...

    ReplyDelete

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