Brooklyn NY December 2013

On December 19th I set off to NYC to spend Christmas and New Years with my sweetheart. This would mark my 4th trip to New York, and was characterised by freak warm weather (18/20 degrees) followed by the polar vortex bringing freak cold weather (-15 degrees!!). So obviously my British body (accustomed to the dull English grey and rain) couldn't cope and I ended up in bed for days with a super-sized serving of American flu. But before being bed-bound, I spent almost all my time in Brooklyn. However unlike a previous stay in Williamsburg which allowed me to live like the missing black character in Girls, I was in BedStuy living like, well like a regular American. So my American Christmas was great! We carried a big real Christmas tree home (well it was so heavy we tried to get on the bus with it - after getting a "hell no" from one bus driver we boarded another driven by a Man with more Christmas cheer - well actually I don't think he noticed our 5ft tree!), we bought decorations from Home Depot and Target (where we bumped into Robert Glasper - I resisted telling him how much I play both black radio albums and that my bf ban me from playing them in his presence), went to see the Nutcracker and went to a Baptist Church etc etc. But... come Christmas day, there was no sign of deep fried turkey (unsmiley face), however I was treated to sweet potatoes covered in roasted marshmallows instead and enough food for a week; the clever tactic of bring out the food in a steady stream instead of all at once was most effective: allowing me to consume about 6000 calories! In spite of all of this fun, I'm not returning until the summer.... I just can't handle the cold.

To round up my little story here are some photos of BedStuy and Bushwick (home of the outdoor street art gallery: Bushwick Collective) More BnW film photos to come.