NYC Success Story

Photo: Vysyn Photography

Last year there was an open call for the Raising The Bar NYC Stories talk. They were looking for New Yorkers or "people in NY" who have a NYC story - anyone who's made a name for themselves, succeeded in New York City.

"If you’ve lived here you know that once you succeed in New York, you can succeed anywhere. Whether its starting your own business, performing with your favorite musician, falling in love, or simply getting to the nearby subway station just in time for the train; winning in New York is a feeling unparalleled by any other. If you’ve lived here you’ve experienced the highest peaks and the lowest pits, and we want to hear your stories."

-- Raising The Bar 

Here's what I wrote in hopes of being able to share my story. It got me to the 2nd round - the Skype interview:

Spirited: Brooklyn's Dessert Speakeasy

Spirited is Native Creative Concierge™ approved.

The Big Bad Brooklyn Blackout Cake and The Rosemor dessert-cocktail
paring at Spirited in Brooklyn, NY

The chalkboard out front greeted me with the message: Have your drink and eat it too.



On the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Bergen Street stands Spirited, a dessert speakeasy owned by Kimberly Wetherhell. The idea for Spirited dates back to 2010 but it wasn't until 2012 when she baked liquor-infused Thanksgiving pies -- filling 40 orders at $40 a piece -- that she knew the idea was a viable one.



From decision to conception it's taken a year and a half for Spirited to open its doors.Two weeks in and Sprited is full of...well, spirit! "It's like throwing a party every night," says Executive Baketender® Kimberly Wetherell. Her experience in the entertainment industry comes in handy in running a house of cake and cocktails.

 

Executive Baketender® Kimberly Wetherell

Note From A Nice Native New Yorker

Americans still think New Yorkers are mean, rude and arrogant. Yet they flock to this city in the MILLIONS. Henry Stewart of Brooklyn Magazine expressed his annoyance in the article "Why Do Americans Think New Yorkers Are So Mean?":

The last two times I went to Manhattan, no fewer than four pedestrians and straphangers asked me for directions. I guess I've just got one of those faces, the one that gets me elected foreman when I'm on jury duty, but I can't stand on a street corner without fielding queries as to which direction whatever avenue is or sit on the subway without explaining how to get to Canal Street if the R train's not going to the city from Brooklyn. And what do I get for my patience and trouble? A bunch of survey takers telling me I'm a jerk.

Ditto.

Presidential Election 2012 - Voting in Brooklyn, NYC

Brooklyn voters wait in line at the polls

I arrived at P.S. 6, on Snyder Avenue in Brooklyn, at about 2pm on November 6, 2012. The above photo is what I was met with. The line was about 2 blocks long. Thankfully it was moving swiftly. But the closer I got to the front of the line, the less we moved. I heard from a few people who made their way past us after voting that things were not orderly on the inside. Certain district tables were completely empty while others were backed up.

Voters wait at poll site PS 6, Brooklyn, NY, Election day 2012

A Random Moment with The Hired Gun

The Hired Gun, Hip Hop MC, writer, critic, arts educator

We totally dated ourselves when we realized we knew each other since the heydays of Myspace. Yes, that Myspace. Since then we've been connected through the music and poetry circles and the occasional hot button race issue. At the Ace Hotel, on a Saturday afternoon we discovered we were neighbors in Brooklyn, kindred in the artist lifestyle.

 ~  ~  ~

My name is Mikal Amin Lee AKA The Hired Gun, Fresh Roots Music, Nomadic Wax, Urban Word. I am a Hip Hop MC, artist, writer, cultural critic and arts educator. I’ve been based in New York City now for the last 13 years—born and raised in New Jersey—been reppin’ Brooklyn since 2000, officially. Unofficially, I’ve been reppin’ Brooklyn since Big Daddy Kane in 19- [muffles his voice] I’m not gonna say when cause I look very young.

As an MC and artist, what is the message behind your music?

My influences have been people like Chuck D, KRS-One, Brother Jay, The Native Tongues, Freestyle Fellowship and regardless of the political message or the artistic message, the thing that I took from them and what I try to carry on is I want you to think. I want you to ask questions. That’s what my music is—it’s to inspire thought, it’s to provoke thought—what’s going on with you, what’s going on with the community around you, what’s going on with the world around you, why are things the way they are, where do you fit in all of that. So that’s really what my music’s about regardless of what the topic or the concept or the theme is ... I’m not afraid to say I love Black people, so I try to celebrate us as much as possible in my music and I try to show a different angle because I’m not what this country or what people think are stereotypical of us so I try to represent that as well in my music.

Race Relations in Motor City (Bar)

Last night, I ended up at Motor City Bar. I like that the vibe there is never pretentious, it's a great mix of clientele and it'll be the setting for my upcoming photo shoot (see: Graffiti Butt)

I had conversations with interesting men at the bar -- maybe because we didn't know one another we were more direct, more quickly. The underlying theme of our conversations: race.

"So whereabouts in Brooklyn are you from?"

I answered his question but later it hit me -- I didn't tell this man I was from Brooklyn. I asked how he knew I was "from Brooklyn" and he said he's been in NY for 25 years and has learned to "just tell". Moments before that, I tried to pinpoint the origin of his brogue. I guessed Ireland, he's Scottish.