{ letter // defiance 05 defiance magazine may 2013
{ letter to the reader
when we were first asked to visit the small neighborhood of Red Hook, none of us- the team behind this magazine, that is- were particularly thrilled about the request. In fact, the more suitable description would be to say we were displeased. Disgruntled. Annoyed. The temperature, after all, had just dropped to a chilling low of 20 degrees, and that number did not, of course, reflect the icy blasts of 17 mile-perhour winds that were sure to start up the moment we stepped outside. But regardless of the potential Arctic Breeze, we wrapped ourselves in scarves, layered on our sweaters and trudged down to Pier 11, where our golden-colored chariot- the IKEA ferry- awaited to whisk us off. What was so magical about this place that we were required to go to in the dead of winter that deserved exploring? Why was it decreed a necessity to spend the majority of our trip wandering around streets that were sure to be frozen and presumably dangerous? So frozen and cold, we turned towards our assignment in Red Hook. Our directions were explicit: get lost. And get lost we did.
Red Hook took us by surprise. None of us, when we stepped off the ferry into the parking lot of IKEA, expected to find the neighborhood likeable and certainly not intriguing. We had been told that this area of Brooklyn had been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy and the long-lasting consequences of flooding. We all pictured rotting buildings and mildewed sidewalks, debris and nothingness. I envisioned a ghost town. Empty, it appeared. Desolate? Not quite. Hopeless? Far from. All of us felt it immediately- the overwhelming presence of a kind of perserverance, of a determination to move beyond the past and stride forward. This town had a quiet energy, a stubborn persistence to exist, and the more we wandered around, the more we interacted with locals, heard stories, saw the street art and discovered the tiny pockets of hidden livelihood, we realized we were fortunate to have been directed to this little corner of New York City. And the concept for our excursion came to us instantly back in the brightly lit computer lab of Parsons- defiance. Defiant of the norm. Defiant of weakness. Defiant of conforming. Defiant of be anything but what it already is. That is Red Hook- at least, to us outsiders.