A Brooklyn perspective (part 1)

these are a few of my favorite things ...

People love to ask, “What’s it like living in Brooklyn?” since I moved here from sleepy little Albany (comparatively), and it’s a logical question. I appreciate the curiosity. And I’ve all but stuttered out my varying answers these past two months.

I’m a big feeler, big picture person, even as I thrive in the ultra specific details that fill out the texture, color, sights, sounds and scents of that picture. So when I’m really in it, I can find myself grasping at those finer details, feeling them just out of reach of words, in a temporary sea of overload.

I also learned just the other day, funny enough, that the only Scorpio in my birth chart is my MC (Midheaven) in the eleventh house. Say what? you may be asking. Don’t worry, I gotcha. I still don’t have this memorized, either, and an astrologer I am not (though I deeply admire them).

What I learned is that our Midheaven represents a potent little cocktail of public image and how we’re perceived, combined with career aspirations. In the eleventh house is where we’ll find friendships, community, patrons and good fortune. So when I saw Scorpio there, hanging out, I chuckled. Yep. That tracks.

Scorpio has a rep for being all dark and broody, but when they’re in their element, this means they know how to live in deep waters, where the shadows linger and emotions are allowed to span the full spectrum. One thing that can be said of my writing and how I engage both publicly and in friendships is that I’m all about swimming in the depths and I don’t shy away from murky waters.

It also means, answering simple, light-hearted questions can be hard for me (and a real drag for those who appreciate quippy sound bites, cute anecdotes and dad jokes). I can do these, too, but I’m just sayin’ — I’m all Scorpio here, folks. This is what you signed up for (yay! I’m so glad you’re here!).

Which brings me back to the question of life in Brooklyn and how to answer this question less from a Scorpio lens and more from, say, my fiery Aries moon, my earthy Capricorn or my grounded Taurus in the fifth house (of family and home).

What are my favorite things about life here as I settle in? These, I realize, are the things people seem to want to know.

So, here are as many as I could squeeze into the limits of this post (necessitating a part II, I suppose), in no particular order…

1. Brooklyn is full of queer pride. I’m still getting used to the “novelty” of seeing queer and trans representation, everywhere I go… as if, it’s almost normalized, dare I say. Which is so fucking beautiful.

2. Our cozy little nest of an apartment is beginning to look like the witchy, plant-and-book filled apothecary of our dreams. This was the first project I committed myself to after the move.

3. Our outside home is a little urban garden, which we have lovingly been tending — with some fairy magic nestled in. It really felt like Xmas (but better) when a guy pulled up with his van full of native plants, grasses, bushes and a tree and left us to fill three beds with our goodies.

4. The PIGEONS, y’all. I’m not going to elaborate on this, since I’ve devoted an entire Stack to this topic since the move. But these are my favorite neighbors thus far, and I’m on track to become the person standing in a trench coat covered in pigeons one day. Also, Nancy Drew — our resident mourning dove extraordinaire who has raised two babies and is back home for another clutch.

5. If you like to geek out on cool, old architecture, this is the place for you. I’m always swooning.

6. Prospect Park. This one could easily take up an entire post, so I know I can’t do justice to its lifesaving medicine in a single bullet point. But without the close proximity of this vast park’s meadows, waters, forests, splash pads, trails and wildlife, I don’t know where I’d be. I come here, daily if I can, to shift my perspective. To find whatever quiet I can in the loudness of the city.

7. And on that note, the wildlife of Prospect Park want their own bullet….

New perspectives and more to come,

Phoenix