{ 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 .