http://nymag.com/realestate/neighborhoods/2010/65356/
Clash of the Bearded Ones
http://nymag.com/realestate/neighborhoods/2010/65356/
First, I believe this article falls under a profile because it chronicles a place; in this case the Williamsburg neighborhood in New York, and the author is able to capture the neighborhood in as much complexity as possible. I also believe the author does well in threading the urban-relations conflict throughout the whole piece.
This article appealed to me because I have always been fascinated by neighborhood identities and sub-cultures. I really like how the author at first focuses on a very superficial conflict – that of the bike-lane controversy – and then launches into a deeper observation of the larger issue at hand: the changing demographics of a neighborhood and the effect it has on the incumbent residents as well as the newcomers.
The article was accessible to the outsider who has had no previous knowledge of this religious enclave. The author effectively outlines the history of the neighborhood in brevity. Furthermore, I think the piece presents an interesting question for discussion: should newcomers be mindful of the Hasidic community’s norms and values or should the Hasidic community realize they live in a diverse urban environment and accept that their neighborhood will eventually have to change to accommodate the inevitable newcomers?
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I thought this article was really fascinating. It set up a clear conflict from the start, and both sides were painted as so radically different that I was surprised (and maybe pleased?) when the article talked about the ways that the Hasidics and the hipsters were interconnected. There was so much research that went into it, and there were so many fascinating, vividly painted characters. By the end of the article, I felt like I had a good understanding of the conflict (from both sides) and I still had food for thought.
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