With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Now dig on this

This past weekend was another one spent largely on my couch and boy did it feel good. I did manage to go to the pottery studio on Saturday morning and a planned 1 hour session turned into 3 hours, during which time my mom managed to text me 5 times, call and leave a voicemail, and finally get in touch with Lorenzo to make sure I was alive while my hands were covered in clay and paint. Making my little pottery pieces has been very fun and it’s taught me to accept that the best laid plans of mice and men DO so often go astray. I’ve been really enjoying making stuff but oh boy does an idea go through some changes as it travels from brain to hand.

Anyways, since I’m fully in the midst of my winter depression, I’ve been rewatching comfort movies because watching something new is simply too much for my brain. I hope you enjoy as I wax poetic about the first Spider-Man movie. I could have written so much more but I tried to contain myself and limit my thought stream to mostly one idea (this trilogy was and still is a big part of my personality). Here’s a fun photo from a few years ago when Lorenzo made me throw away the Spider-Man pillowcase that I bought after seeing the first movie (it was over 10 years old at this point and even though I know he was right I was still being dramatic).

Spider-Man No More

1. Watching🍿

This past weekend I rewatched the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies and can confidently say that Tobey Maguire is my Spider-Man. I think he gets more right than wrong and Sam Raimi was a great choice to direct these comic book movies. And it’s an important distinction to say comic book movie instead of superhero movie because these movies feel like they came right out of a comic book in both the story structure and visual style, whereas more current superhero movies are so flashy and over the top that what you’re seeing on the screen could never have existed in a flat 2D comic book. That doesn’t make either style right or wrong, but I do think there’s a difference.

Comic books are basically montages and that’s why this scene so perfectly brings that art style to life

The first Spider-Man film is honestly perfect. It hits all of the classic Spidey story beats and brings the characters to life in a way little me never could have imagined. Tobey absolutely nailed the nerdy soft-spoken Peter and while he could have been a bit more of a wise ass in the suit, it certainly sounded like he was having fun and that made it work for me. Willem Dafoe threw his entire Green Goblussy into that role and dare I say he went even harder when he reprised it in No Way Home? And the fact that JK Simmons has canonically become J Jonah Jameson across all universes just shows how strong of a casting choice that was right off the bat.

What I like about the first movie is that it feels like it’s set in NYC. I know that a lot of the bigger action scenes and even the iconic upside down kissing scene that won the 2003 MTV Movie Best Kiss Award were filmed on sets, but the movie took care to have enough shots of iconic NYC landmarks that you felt like you were actually in Spider-Man’s neighborhood. What I most appreciate is the care that was taken regarding the geography of the film, which I know is some of the most nitpicking bullshit but I am who I am. I very strongly believe that there should be a job for “local person who knows how the streets are arranged” on every film set and I would love to have that job.

Early in the film when the police say that the guy who shot uncle Ben is heading south on 5th ave, we actually fucking see Spider-Man head south down 5th ave - he goes from the NYPL at Bryant Park, passes the Empire State Building, and continues heading down 5th ave, a street that actually only runs south. I get that most people may not understand that this sequence of events are geographically correct, but if you’re going to set a movie in a big ass city like NYC and have very clear landmarks, you goddam better get the geography right (looking at you Amazing Spider-Man). They even brought the Roosevelt Island Tram and the Smallpox Hospital into the picture, which are niche landmarks even for native New Yorkers!

The Flatiron Building! The Channel Gardens at Rock Center! The Roosevelt Island Tram! We are, in fact, in NYC.

Spider-Man 2 keeps the momentum going and manages to make Doc Ock, a goofy ass villain with a bowl cut, actually pretty cool. It also contains one of my favorite scenes where the camera makes a quick swipe from Peter and Aunt May in the bank to Doc Ock about to steal from the vault (here at 0:24). This is a perfect example of a shot straight from a comic book. I can imagine a panel of Peter and his Aunt followed by a “meanwhile…” and then a panel of the vault. Also the vault is comically filled with big money bags, like it’s fucking Scrooge McDuck’s vault.

Spider-Man 3….leaves much to be desired. Memory loss Harry was too goofy, Sandman was unnecessary, and Topher Grace as Eddie/Venom was a choice. However, I will defend some of emo Peter’s behavior (not the jazz scene, never the jazz scene). Dr. Connors notes that the Venom symbiote amplifies a person’s natural inclinations. Peter is a fucking nerd with absolutely no game, so of course to him dressing in black and talking like a 1940’s gangster is “cool” - these are his natural inclinations that he’s thankfully kept to himself until now.

If you, like me, can’t get enough Spider-Man, I highly recommend watching Patrick Willems’ video on what makes Raimi’s Spider-Man great. Willems is what I could be if I was actually able to sit down and order my thoughts instead of creating this word garbage. Patrick, if you see this, can we be friends?

2. Learning 🧠

Later in this newsletter I write a bit about Seneca Village, which we now know was once a thriving Black community that was razed to create Central Park. Seneca Village has garnered much visibility recently (and rightfully so), but there’s another neighborhood in NYC that was traditionally a haven for Black folks - Weeksville in Brooklyn. I’d heard of Weeksville and lived pretty close by one apartment ago, but I had no idea about the history of the neighborhood until I attended a Juneteenth event at the Weeksville Heritage Center with my friend Larissa a couple years ago.

Today, Weeksville is a pretty small area that has mostly been absorbed by Crown Heights

The community began attracting Black folks after slavery was abolished in New York in 1827. By 1838, multiple families had begun buying land in the area that would become Weeksville (named after an early settler who was a freed slave - James Weeks). At that time, the only way to qualify to vote was to be a landowner, so this community was a great example of folks actively “seizing freedom for themselves and not waiting to see which way things were going to go in terms of legislation.” By 1850 there were over 500 residents, a school, a church, a newspaper, and even a baseball team - all signs of a thriving community.

A bedroom recreated with a baby doll painted black

Despite being a haven outside of the city at the time, Weeksville was not immune to violence and racism (NY wasn’t exactly the liberated Northern territory we were all lead to believe it was). The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act meant that slave catchers patrolled the north and were particularly suspicious of a whole ass neighborhood of Black folks. The Dredd Scott Decision of 1857 ruled that Black people couldn’t be citizens, essentially nullifying all of the hard work that the community put in to build up their assets. Because of these setbacks, more Europeans moving into the neighborhood (early gentrification basically), and the early founders dying, Weeksville began to see a decline. Then in 1941 NYCHA bulldozed much of the area to build the Kingborough Houses, which was pretty much the final nail in the coffin for Weeksville.

The original houses of Old Hunterfly Road (1 was rebuilt after it burned down)

However, in 1968 historian James Hurley surveyed the area and discovered that 4 original wood-framed cottages remained from the original Weeksville settlement that would have run along Old Hunterfly Road (Hunterfly Pl is all the remains of this now). The discovery of these homes was enough to fund excavations, earn the homes landmark status, and lead to the creation of the Weeksville Heritage Center. The homes depict a snapshot of what life looked like in a majority Black community. This might seem like a small distinction, but it’s easy to take for granted that we (white people) can exist comfortably in most places because America is very white by default. Imagine how good it must have felt for the Black residents of Weeksville to simply exist in a neighborhood that was designed for them?

Later in this newsletter, I’ll write about the idea of Afrofuturism as a practice of imagining would could have been, but these homes showed what actually existed and what could have continued to exist had the city not essentially destroyed yet another Black community.

3. What’s Good 😎

• February is Pancake Month at Clinton St Baking Co! It’s the most wonderful time of the year when Clinton St has different flavor pancakes every couple days. Danielle and I have a pancake date here every February and I am very excited to try their raspberry pancakes later this week!

• Supermoon Bake House is one of those places that you would think would be overhyped, but the treats do in fact taste as good as they look. They launched a pack of chocolates inspired by some of their most popular baked goods and I’m not a chocolate girly, but this looks fucking amazing.

• I love when a bar has activities for us folks who don’t drink and The Last Call in Brooklyn has Mario Kart Mondays! It looks like they’re playing Mario kart 64, which is the best one in my opinion. Though I’ve recently gotten back into playing the Switch version, so get at me if you wanna race!

• Cool artsy hub Woodbine in Ridgewood is hosting a Bake Sale this Saturday. They have over 50 bakers offering goods ranging from Yemeni honeycomb bread to tahini banana bread to sourdough focaccia and so much more!

• Valentine’s Day is for friends, too! Lazy Sundaes is hosting a Speed Friending event Feb 14. Your ticket gets you unlimited boba (I’m in just for that) and they’ll have a zodiac bubble tea guide to guide you through an evening full of conversations.

• Abracadabra is hosting an Aphrodisiac Food Party at their new diner space in Ridgewood on Feb 14. All lovers, singles, and cool cats are welcome!

4. Noshing 😋

I love living in Bushwick, but something I really miss about Gravesend is the variety of Asian food available nearby. I love that my current neighborhood has held onto its Hispanic identity (you can’t walk down a block without seeing Puerto Rican flags), but I very selfishly want dumplings, noodles, and boba in walking distance. When a new Taiwanese spot, Formosa, opened I was overjoyed. You know how much I love Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup - could my new favorite soup be right around the corner?

Lorenzo and I were very hungry and ordered a ton of food: chive and pork dumplings, scallion noodles, popcorn chicken, and of course beef noodle soup. Also, imagine my surprise to find that they have winter melon tea on the menu! This is my favorite fruit tea because it inexplicably tastes like candy. Do not sleep on winter melon tea!

The dishes came out as they were ready, so just start digging in as soon as they hit your tiny table. Pocorn chicken was up first for us and it ended up being one of my favorites. It was super crispy and had the slightest hint of numbing szechuan peppercorn. I thought it could have used a bit more seasoning, but Lorenzo said it was the perfect amount (I like my mouth numb AF). A desire for more seasoning would become a bit of a trend for me though as I also thought their dumplings were a bit bland. This surprised me because the dumplings were supposed to be their signature item, but maybe I should have specifically gotten their signature pork dumpling. The dumpling was definitely good, but the filling was very mild (likely due to the yellow scallions) and I wished they came with more chili oil on top.

The thick noodles were a solid addition

Finally it was the moment of truth - my beef noodle soup arrived. I was immediately impressed with the amount of meat included, but upon further inspection I found the meat to be a bit tough. Usually the meat in this soup is super tender and falls apart, but these meaty pieces were a bit more solid than I wanted. The broth was also not quite as rich as I’d hoped. In almost all cases I prefer a lighter broth, but with beef noodle soup the broth should be super meaty and rich and this one just wasn’t. I did like that they used thick wavy noodles, but because the broth was so light it didn’t quite stick to them. It wasn’t a bad soup, but I’ll still be making the trip to my old standby Ho Foods.

Dumps and Noods!

I was surprised at how good Lorenzo’s scallion noodles were though! There was a nice pool of scallion oil underneath the pile of thick wavy noodles that coated them really nicely once you got to mixin. The scallions on top were also really nicely charred. This dish comes with braised tofu which didn’t quite soak up as much of the braising flavor as I’d have liked, but it was fine.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) this won’t be my new go to soup place, but I would absolutely come back and make a meal of the scallion noodles, popcorn chicken, and winter melon tea!

5. Exploring 🛼

The Met is absolutely chock full of art and artifacts, but did you know they also have period rooms? You might have wandered into one of these while exploring the museum and wondered why you were suddenly in a Victorian living room. The purpose of a period room is to evoke the vibe of a certain time period; they’re “a kind of historical fantasy.” The room itself is not necessarily an exact recreation of a real room from someone’s home; it’s usually an amalgamation of art and artifacts that, when put together, help to reimagine what a room from a time might have looked like. While most of the period rooms at The Met contain the exact type of frilly old timey nonsense you’d expect, one of them is really fucking cool: Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room.

When I first stepped into this tiny enclave just around the corner from the large American Wing it felt like I was stepping into an alternate reality; everything was recognizable but just slightly off from my own reality. I hadn’t heard of Afrofuturism before and after reading some of the info in the room I distilled my understanding down to “this feels like Black Panther.” That’s obviously an oversimplification of the term, but The Met did work with production designer Hannah Beachler to create the room; she was the first African American to win an Oscar for production design for Black Panther. Afrofuturism envisions new possibilities and futures for Black communities while celebrating their heritage and culture and this room displays what one possible future or reality could look like.

This particular future pulls its design from the past, particularly the predominantly free Black community of Seneca Village. The city convinced folks that Seneca Village was a destitute shanty town and seized the land by eminent domain to build Central Park; it’s one of our nastier bits of history that’s only come to light fairly recently. The room in The Met was created to showcase what a home in Seneca Village might have looked like. In addition to containing those historical details, it adds on colorful wallpaper to represent the foliage of Central Park that would surround it now. Additional artworks adorn the space that are inspired by some of the items that have been excavated from the area.

I don’t have a lot of experience with Black art or history, so I was definitely approaching this as an outsider. I had no idea that the name of the room - Before Yesterday We Could Fly - came from a myth about a group of West Africans who resisted their enslavement in the “New World” by flying back home. This inspired a collection of folk tales by Virginia Hamilton called “The People Could Fly.”

Since discovering this period room, I revisit it every time I’m at The Met because it is truly something unique in their vast collection.