I've thrown myself in.
While I only experienced the base level of my beat, Overtown's Jackson Soul Food, I felt it was a decent start. Scratch the euphemism, it was terrible.
Looking back on it, I barely engaged anyone. The only positive thing I can say is that I can look forward to not stressing over directions for the next visit.
The experience left me with a few interesting snapshots.
-I learned that there are still places that I will get a few awkward stares, but as quickly as I notice them, they are replaced by nothing in particular, just a continuance of someone's day to day norm.
-There are strange people in every area of the world. Overtown is not exempt. Though there was only one on my first visit, a gentleman who shouted unintelligibly for a while then passed through the community garden I was in. While I was curious as to who he was, he seemed slightly deranged. While most people are, he seemed ahead of the curve.
-Even if it is a cultural staple, the R&B playing at Jackson's was godawful. I'm making it a point to ask someone about their musical tastes for my next visit. Honestly. Just horrible music.
-The only eerie thing about the area is how new some of it all is. As I found out, certain charitable funds went into refurbishing Jackson's and some surrounding buildings. It's not that I don't want to see improvements done, but it feels horribly unnatural, as if though a portion of Las Olas was dropped into the middle of a fairly poor area. Time will wear it into place, but the contrast with some of the homes is unnatural... another point I need to remind myself of for the next run...
-I wasn't entirely aware of what really qualified as "Overtown". I felt relieved with the similar situation with Liberty City (though I felt equally ignorant after completing the reading and realizing even KIDS could figure it out...).
I'm slowly warming up to this... maybe I'll even take a spin in the area after dark, see if there's anyone I haven't met over lunch...
The one question I've been stuck with since our debates and readings inclass has been "Does it take one to cover one?" The quick and dirty answer is no. While I understand having a foothold because of one's background can make coverage easier, it can also make the reporter complacent. From my side, I always think of Versailles on 8th street. The problem with Versailles (aside from being horribly overpriced), is that it is always taken as the "Cuban Embassy" on the national stage. When Castro death rumors hit critical mass in my senior year of high school, CNN instantly swarmed the place (along with every other network involved in the alphabet soup of acronyms we call mass media).
I felt torn. While a staple in the community, it frustrated me to see Rick Sanchez (formerly a local boy at WSVN 7), commenting on the matter, giving a level of "legitimacy" to the choice in location. Quite simply, Versailles is hugely important to the community, but more importantly, the regulars are almost all tied with the exile community. The second a camera shows up, it ends with nonsense about the embargo and the bay of pigs being recycled, chewed by each and every member of the crowd and spit into one another's mouth when it's their turn on the camera.
But maybe I'm just too disconnected as a second generation. I'd like to think it's that simple, but I know I'm onto something (something meaning that most of the exile community seems to have three phrases ready to shout at each and every moment in the day, usually involving vehement hatred of John F. Kennedy and the democrats).
One last thing.
A quote from Malcolm X stuck with me because a piece of grafitti I had seen in the area inspired me to look through some of his writings (and while he can be entirely racist and off-subject on occasion, this suited the situation perfectly):
"I don't see an American Dream, I see an American Nightmare."
With the whitewashing effect some of the beautification projects have on the Overtown scenery, I can't help but feel torn.
On the one hand, it is stimulating contracting jobs, and contributing to fixing the decrepit areas that have been lost in the economic turmoil that seems to rise and fall with each passing decade, striking harder each and every time.
On the other, it seems as if though everything is being filtered, and a piece of the Overtown aesthetic is being locked up. I'm fairly certain the action is killing a piece of the culture, and everyone knows it. The scary part is that I don't think the majority of residents are against it. I have to find out...the nightmare might be starting on the sidewalks.
No comments:
Post a Comment