by Kieran Najita

The world is a horrible place filled with terrible things; some we embrace, some we avoid, and some we push back against. Then there are the things, institutional forces and global circumstances, like ubiquitous chemical contamination or income inequality, that cannot be welcomed, evaded, or fought against as individuals, but merely resigned to as realities. You’re Hosed is a new, occasional series of interviews with experts about those things.

The lack of affordable housing in New York has become a full-blown crisis as the domino effect of the rich pouring into — or at least buying apartments in — the neighborhoods of the less rich, who are then forced into the neighborhoods of the even-less-rich, continues unabated. Carried along by the shifting currents of real estate speculation in an ocean of capital, what can a less-rich or even-less-rich person do to avoid becoming an active agent of displacement — or at least be a less terrible one?

Dr. Lance Freeman is a professor in the Urban Planning program at Columbia University whose research focuses on affordable housing, gentrification, ethnic and racial stratification in housing markets, and the relationship between the built environment and wellbeing. I spoke with Dr. Freeman the other week about how the process of gentrification plays out on a person-to-person level.

At this moment is time, who is a gentrifier?

I would look at the neighborhood and how they’re positioned in the neighborhood. Are they undergoing change? Are they a recent person coming into the neighborhood? And if so, what’s their socioeconomic status? Higher than the other people in the neighborhood?

So a person with a higher socioeconomic status moving to the neighborhood is gentrifying it?

If the neighborhood is undergoing gentrification. That’s the most objective definition I could come up with.

What does it mean for a neighborhood to be undergoing gentrification?

It’s somewhat of a totality, but it’s experiencing an influx of people of a higher socioeconomic status, and often also, invested in terms of new housing or rehabilitating old housing.

What decisions could homebuyers make to avoid gentrifying while moving around in the city?

Well, one person’s not responsible for gentrifying a neighborhood. But in terms of contributing to that, if they’re willing to pay a higher housing cost — if someone’s coming into New York city and they’re middle or upper-middle income, and they can’t afford middle-income neighborhoods then, short of moving somewhere in the suburbs, I don’t think they really have that option.

There aren’t that many options, you know?

So would you say there’s a difference between gentrification that happens based on trends in movement versus gentrification that is started purposefully in order to develop real estate?

A difference in what way? They’re certainly different in the puzzle in terms of how they initially start, the types of people that they attract. Sometimes, it’s people of relatively low incomes. Artists, for example, are oftentimes at the vanguard of gentrification — they might not initially have very high incomes, which is why they are looking for housing in low-income neighborhoods in the first place. Whereas, let’s say a developer decides to build luxury condominiums in a low-income neighborhood — that’s a little bit different type of gentrification. It could potentially evolve into something similar, but at the outset there’s a difference there.

If you’re a middle or upper-middle class person moving to a gentrifying area, does your behavior and the way you conduct your life in that neighborhood make a difference in the gentrification process?

Everybody’s behavior impacts the neighborhood, so again, one person by himself is unlikely to dramatically change the neighborhood, but I think everybody contributes in some sense. You know, if they integrated themselves into the community, are they not doing that?

So if you try to integrate yourself as much as possible, would it decrease your impact?

It’s not clear that it would, but it may feel differently to people living through it. If you focus on that particular outcome — housing prices — it may not matter for that, but it may feel different in terms of sense of community and things like that.

What about people moving to a neighborhood and trying not to change it socially, but still bringing in that higher income level?

Would the neighborhood still gentrify, regardless of whether people are socially connected with their neighborhood? Is that what you’re asking me? Yes. I don’t know. I mean, I can’t off the top of my head say why that would affect the rate at which gentrification is happening.

So is it fair to say that whether they want to or not, gentrifiers change their neighborhood just by being there?

Yes, that’s true.

In the New York that we live in today, is there a way to move between neighborhoods and boroughs without it having a socioeconomic implication?

There are neighborhoods that are affluent, a number of affluent neighborhoods, a number of middle-class neighborhoods, a number of neighborhoods that aren’t part of gentrification currently, a number of poor neighborhoods. I don’t think I follow that argument.

So then there’s always been a stratification of income varying by neighborhood?

Yeah, there has always been a stratification of neighborhoods. There’s some question as to whether or not that stratification is increasing or not, but there’s some evidence that it may be increasing.

If a person wants to make their neighborhood choice based on avoiding gentrification, does that mean they choose a neighborhood that is appropriate to their socioeconomic class?

Or they can go to a higher income neighborhood.

This is the conflict I want to resolve: On the one hand, there are a lot of feelings about gentrification and its consequences, but with that comes the question of social mobility. How do you feel about this?

I teach at Columbia. For a little while I lived in Columbia housing, which is kind of right next to Harlem, so I didn’t feel personally negatively about it. I didn’t feel like there was a negative connotation to what I was doing. In terms of what other people should feel, I can’t really tell people how they should feel. I think the issue is that there’s not enough housing in different income bands, so people can’t afford housing, and so they are looking for housing where it’s affordable. While there are some downsides to gentrification, I don’t think it’s all negative and I don’t there should be a situation where we have neighborhoods where other people can’t move into them.

So what is missing in this conversation and in my perspective on gentrification?

Well I think gentrification is happening because people are viewing neighborhoods differently, due to changes in housing prices elsewhere or changes in that neighborhood — the accessibility of the neighborhood. So I think you have to keep in mind neighborhoods are always changing, and that’s gonna change who wants to move into certain neighborhoods and who wants to move out. I think people should try to integrate themselves into the neighborhood. I don’t think the answer is that people should say, “Oh I’m not gonna move into this neighborhood because I’m gonna contribute to gentrification.” I think people that have that concern they can think about voting for politicians who will support more housing around the city in different places, but I don’t think the response is to say, “I’m not gonna move there because it’s part of gentrification.”

Should people be concerned with it on a personal level then?

I personally wouldn’t feel that way, but that’s up to each individual. If that’s how they feel, that’s how they feel, but I don’t think that addresses the problem.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Photo by Zach

by Mark Bibbins, Editor

Bodies

Looking out the train window at trees and abandoned buildings wondering how many bodies. And by bodies I mean women buried there. I have always asked this question on trips through farm land and forest. What violence against women has happened in this place. Together cuts and becomes to get her. Why do these trees speak to me of dark horror. And I think of her leading me back into the bushes. Telling me to be. Very very quiet. Pulling my white cotton panties down to my knees. She said this is what they will do to you. Which meant this is what was done to her the only girl in a family of feral boys. Her father owned the donut shop. I think. They lived around the corner. If I tell the truth will these trees become sweet. Will I see through them to the clearing where the sunlight inspires wild flowers to return each spring. Blazing star baby’s breath forget-me-not hollyhock morning glory marigolds. Will I appreciate the green leaves against the blue sky instead of the dirt the layers of mud that roots wind through. The rot. All that is hidden underneath. Can I find her lift her. Breathe life into me. Arise I command you. Pull up your panties and get back to the park. Swing kick your feet into the air higher climbing higher.

Jen Benka is the author of A Box of Longing With Fifty Drawers (Soft Skull) and Pinko (Hanging Loose). She works as the executive director of the Academy of American Poets.

You will find more poems here. You may contact the editor at poems@theawl.com.

“What you just said is the worst thing I ever heard.”
 — Robert Caro reacts to a description of “engagement time.” Spend as many minutes on this specific interview as you can, it’s terrific.

I am not going to tell you that this is an upbeat track, but I kind of feel like everyone is telling you all the time just how upbeat things are when the reality is that things are mostly sad, mostly sorry and mostly make you want to die. That’s just the way it goes. It’s nice to know in advance that you’re not going to be dancing along, just so you don’t have to pretend that you think it’s upbeat too. That said, if you’re already a little down this morning you should probably steer clear of this one until you’ve steeled yourself to face the day. (This might be a better choice for now.) If, on the other hand, you can take whatever’s coming or you even draw some strange comfort from the things that break you, by all means enjoy.

★ Dirty-looking rain streaked the windows. It was falling in slow pale waves pierced by faster flying drops. For a while it broke. The clouds were not quite uniform gray, and the slightly darker parts were speeding by. The floor throughout the subway stations and platforms had a wet sheen. Spots of liquid mud like coffee, shaped and reshaped by shoe soles, decorated the way up and out at 23rd Street. The wind brought a sudden lashing of new rain, and shortly after the terrible downpour was back. An umbrella-less person sprinted down the far side of the avenue. The torrents settled a little, then rose again to a slashing, drenching squall on the run for lunch, leaving water dripping down the nose. At 2:30 a horrid darkness covered the view, as deep as night. The gloom lessened a little as some of the hanging darkness transmuted to water and crashed down. Huge drops crisscrossed like strafing fire. Fifteen minutes later things had returned to what was probably an ordinary rainy day, but it was hard to be sure what ordinariness been before. The murk had been too shocking. Sunlight and a few silver-white clouds appeared, high up, and then a new fast-moving smoky gray covered that again, in the oncoming night. Then that broke too and higher pink clouds were racing east to west even as slate-colored ones were racing south to north above them, the sky fractured into cross purposes.

“Crying Michael Jordan has the kind of staying power that eluded the poignant but outdated ‘I can has cheezburger?’ cat meme.”

If all the standard formatting didn’t preclude it I would offer up this track with no introduction and no information about its contents and just tell you to listen with an open ear (or whatever, that phrase is pretty nonsensical if you actually think about it). Anyway, that is not the world in which we live, so I will simply ask that if you are aware of Courtney Barnett’s “Avant Gardener” you try to put that knowledge aside and hear this song as something that stands distinct from its source material. It is one of those rare covers that takes something brilliant and coaxes a completely different emotion from it. In this case the emotion is melancholy, but for some of us the melancholy is present in everything, so it’s nice when it’s brought out for everyone else to see. Or hear, I guess. Anyway, first enjoy and then check back on the original. I think you’ll like it.

“For various reasons,” writes Sharon Martin, LCSW, of PsychCentral.com, “many of us find it easier to love others than to love ourselves. Sometimes we’re truly quite awful to ourselves. We subject ourselves to a harsh inner critic, unhealthy relationships, toxic substances, and self-mutilation. I know how easy it is to dwell in our own perceived inadequacies. But regardless of the reasons for your lack of self-love, it’s time to start caring for yourself and treating yourself with the love you deserve.” In service of that goal, she has put together a list of 22 ways to love yourself more. It’s a good list! A lot of it seems very sensible and helpful. I would recommend it to anyone who has issues with self-love. I actually have my own list, though, and you might find that it’s more your speed. Compare and contrast, and see which one works for you.

22. Lie to yourself about how pure your motives are.

21. Pretend that others are just as bad as you.

20. Convince yourself that you didn’t want to do the bad things you’ve done, other people made you.

19. Take time to remember how other people are always trying to thwart your goals and desires and that this explains the hard times you have.

18. Lie to yourself about how attractive you are.

17. Use whatever substances or distractions you need to block out those unpleasant memories and nagging doubts that make you feel less comfortable about yourself.

16. Immerse yourself in mediocrity to remind yourself that you could do it better if you wanted to.

15. Assure yourself that mediocrity is what sells, so even if you did put in the effort of doing it better your genius would be unrewarded, so you should just be comfortable knowing you could but you don’t have to.

14. Lie to yourself about how it’s still going to happen for you.

13. Do one indisputably good thing on a regular basis (charity, volunteer work, blood donation) so that when you fall short on basic human decency the rest of the time you can say, “But, hey, I give blood.”

12. Smile at everyone you pass by. It feels gross and makes you look like a putz, but there is some weird inexplicable karmic blowback that at least shuts up the “you’re worthless” voices for a while.

11. Take an hour each day to dream about how successful you will be. Don’t worry about how it’s going to happen, just imagine that you’ve done it and now you’re super-successful.

10. Now that you have pictured yourself as a success, envision the revenge you will take on everyone who has disrespected you or done you wrong or spent so much time trying to thwart your goals and desires.

9. Now, imagine that you are so munificent in your behavior that you choose not to take revenge on the goal-and-desire thwarters. See what a good person you are?

8. (Still plan the revenges, though. Look how clever you can be in the revenge-planning department. You’re great!)

7. Lie to yourself about how it’s all going to be okay.

6. Give yourself a break about how frequently you make use of the substances or distractions you need to block out those unpleasant memories and nagging doubts that make you feel less comfortable about yourself. In a way, it’s like therapy, and who can blame you for wanting to take care of yourself?

5. Every morning before you leave the house look in the mirror and say out loud, “I don’t know how it happened, but you just got more good looking.”

4. Pretend everyone who smiles at you on the street is doing it because you radiate confidence and desirability, not because they may have heard some stupid bit of advice about how it will make them feel better.

3. If your mom is still around ask her the kind of questions about yourself that result in compliments, because she is probably the only person who will still give them.

2. When you take a selfie, shoot from above your face, not below.

1. Lie to yourself.

Photo: Shutterstock.com

15% of Americans, says a Pew Report from this summer that is making the rounds again, don’t use the Internet. Who are they? Perhaps they’re the people who peered into the abyss and realized as they stood on its lip that to look too deeply into that vast, cavernous hole — in spite of all its seeming promise and the entreaties of their dead-eyed, cramped-thumbed friends to join them in their vacuous pursuit of empty, fleeting distraction — was to risk a permanent state of dissatisfaction, of agitation, of always feeling like things could be better but never realizing why, a longing which would result in an permanent, overpowering sense of dread and futility and the desire to bury everything under a quick hit of whatever that hour’s escape from awareness might be. Maybe they’re the people who decided that as horrible as life is without a comfortable layer of artifice and amusement to protect them from the terrible truth that they are dying every day and their lives lack meaning — that their suffering is endured for no larger purpose because there is, in the end, no larger purpose to anything anyone experiences — it is more honest to abide the miseries of existence without recourse to the tricks that allow you to pretend it doesn’t actually hurt that bad. But I don’t know, I didn’t really read the report when it came out and I’m not sure why it has resurfaced now. If I had to guess this would be my answer. But it’s probably just people who live in the woods and the poor. The whole thing’s here if you want to find out for yourself and report back.

No, don’t go! It’s not what you think! It’s good, I promise! Country Got Soul’s Jeb Loy Nichols, whose new album is a collaboration with and legendary dub producer Adrian Sherwood, has put together a playlist of reggae artists interpreting country songs. More from Nichols:

There was, in the 60s and 70s, no stopping the influence of American Southern music. Blues, jazz, country and soul, most all of which began life in the south, ruled the world. One crucial intersection was the West Indies. Louisiana and Texas radio stations broadcast southern music to an enthusiastic Caribbean audience. Sailors too, from the southern ports, took records with them. Soon Jamaican producers like Coxone Dodd and Duke Reid were visiting the States and coming home with rare records for their sound systems. Country music in particular was a favourite with Jamaicans. Johnny Cash had a house in Jamaica his whole life, as did Charley Pride. One of the first big ska tunes, Music Is My Occupation, by the Skatalites, borrows Cash’s horn riff from Ring Of Fire. I remember, in Texas in the mid-seventies, hearing four different versions of the song “Reunited” (by Peaches And Herb) on the radio: the soul version, a country version, a Conjunto Spanish language version, and a reggae version. Southern music has never been a respecter of boundaries

These songs began life as country hits by Freddy Fender, Ray Price, Charley Pride, Hank Locklin, and Tammy Wynette. Songs like “This Train” and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” were sung in churches all across the south. We also have Freddy Fender, a Spanish speaking Texan swamp pop star, recording for Louisiana soul man Huey Meaux, on a track that Meaux bought in Jamaica, and to which he added Mexican horns. The song is a country classic sung in Spanish. At the same time, in Jamaica, John Holt was recording Freddy Fender country songs (“Before The Next Teardrop Falls” and “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights”) to huge success. It all makes some kind of messy sense.

If you don’t want to take my word — and I’m not gonna lie, it hurts that you don’t — that this is one of the more enjoyable things you’ll hear all month, perhaps a program guide can convince you to give it a chance? The tracks included are:

Culture, “This Train”
John Holt, “Before The Next Teardrop Falls”
Merlene Webber, “Stand By Your Man”
Cornel Campbell, “Country Boy”
The Bleechers, “Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On”
Gregory Isaacs, “The End Of The World”
Freddy Fender, “My Two Empty Arms
John Holt, “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights”
June Lodge / Prince Mohammed, “Someone Loves You Honey”
Noel Brown, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”
Ken Parker, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”

I am not going to tell you that knowledge of the source material will not make this more enjoyable, but I will definitely tell you that this is so enjoyable that such knowledge is in no way a requirement. Anyway, why are you still reading this? Press play and enjoy.