A few days ago, I engaged in an interesting conversation with two of my friends, one of whom is a native of Brooklyn and the other a resident of downtown Manhattan. We started debating over our respective boroughs and it eventually turned into a fun feud about why our communities were better than the next. We argued over several topics, ranging from which borough has the best pizza and brunch spots to which locale has the greenest parks. We even disputed over which borough has the most "street credibility" and the most "hipsters".
After my friends and I had thoroughly exhausted every reason as to why our own mini metropolis reigned supreme, it slowly hit me that most residents of Queens don't exhibit "borough pride," but rather, they harbor a whole lot of "neighborhood pride". By this, I mean that a Queens resident often identifies with his or her neighborhood more than he or she does with the borough as a whole. I am very guilty of this, since I often tell people I'm from Astoria and not from Queens right off the bat. I don't know why this perception exists or where it came from. But I do know that I am not the only one to notice this... the United States Postal Service is surely aware of it as well. Why else would it allow Queens residents to write their postal addresses with their neighborhood followed by their state and zip code as opposed to writing their borough, state, and zip code (e.g. Brooklyn, NY 11238, Bronx, NY 10458, Forest Hills, NY 11362)? For mail purposes at least, Queens is the only borough that permits this public display of neighborhood segmentation and affiliation.
I wonder if this "neighborhood pride" is detrimental to Queens as a whole. It seems to have perhaps created some disconnect and disunity between the residents of the borough. But at the same time, I can't help but think that there's something unique about a place that lets its multiplicity shine collectively.
Just a thought. Comments are welcome - even if they're about how your NYC borough is better than mine! ;)
Interesting blog entry. I always wondered why Queens allowed residents to write "Astoria" or "Flushing" instead of "Queens." But what bugs me more is that even though each borough is part of New York City, only Manhattan residents have the honor of writing "New York, NY."
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog entry and you're so right! I never refer to Queens but rather Jamaica, Astoria, Forest Hills, Flushing etc.
ReplyDelete