When I walked out of my apartment this morning, I felt like I was in the twilight zone, or at least on the Upper East Side. The person that I encountered in the lobby of the building was someone I’d never seen before (not necessarily odd, seeing as it’s a fairly large building), the people coming out of other buildings and walking to the subway seemed new to the neighborhood, and everyone waiting on the station platform was white. Harlem has been gentrifying (which is a socio-economic term, but when has class been disassociated from race?) for a long time now, I guess, but I’ve only been there a year and it seems like things are changing all of a sudden. Everyday, pigeon and I remark on the changes, which may have been how others responded to us when we first got there.

There are some discussions happening on Harlem blogs now about the subject. If you were living in a neighborhood that seemed ignored by municipal government (where a broken water pipe was left running for weeks, for instance), would you welcome the presence of a wealthier class that might bring you a bookstore or a Starbucks, but probably wouldn’t eat at your favorite local restaurant, subsequently causing its closure?

Often, I’m stopped on the street by people inquiring about the neighborhood. The first and only question is always, “Is it safe to live here?” I don’t really understand that, although I get why they would ask me, and not someone else.

UPDATE: The other thing is that the music drifting through the window is no longer bachata, but Celine Dion and The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.” Why is that song so whiny?