MAKING RENT BED STUY: A Memoir of Trying to Make It in New York City - Softcover

Harris, Brandon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062415646 ISBN 13: 9780062415646

Publisher: Amistad, 2017

Synopsis

A young African American millennial filmmaker’s funny, sometimes painful, true-life coming-of-age story of trying to make it in New York City―a chronicle of poverty and wealth, creativity and commerce, struggle and insecurity, and the economic and cultural forces intertwined with "the serious, life-threatening process" of gentrification.

Making Rent in Bed-Stuy explores the history and sociocultural importance of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn’s largest historically black community, through the lens of a coming-of-age young American negro artist living at the dawn of an era in which urban class warfare is politely referred to as gentrification. Bookended by accounts of two different breakups, from a roommate and a lover, both who come from the white American elite, the book oscillates between chapters of urban bildungsroman and a historical examination of some of Bed-Stuy’s most salient aesthetic and political legacies.

Filled with personal stories and a vibrant cast of iconoclastic characters― friends and acquaintances such as Spike Lee; Lena Dunham; and Paul MacCleod, who made a living charging $5 for a tour of his extensive Elvis collection―Making Rent in Bed-Stuy poignantly captures what happens when youthful idealism clashes head-on with adult reality.

Melding in-depth reportage and personal narrative that investigates the disappointments and ironies of the Obama era, the book describes Brandon Harris’s radicalization, and the things he lost, and gained, along the way.

About this title

About the Author

Brandon Harris, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, has worked in the world of American independent film as a critic and programmer, producer and director, screenwriter and educator. His writings about cinema, politics, culture, and the intersections between them have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, Guardian, VICE, Daily Beast, Variety, n+1, New Inquiry, Brooklyn Rail, In These Times, Hammer to Nail, and Filmmaker magazine, where he is a contributing editor.

From the Back Cover

Fresh out of college, Brandon Harris needs an affordable place to live--a search that leads him to the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Making Rent in Bed-Stuy explores the history and cultural importance of Brooklyn's largest historically black community as it illuminates the experiences of one young man at the dawn of an era in which urban class warfare is politely referred to as gentrification. Bookended by two different breakups, a roommate and a lover, both from the white American elite, the memoir interweaves Harris's story with a serious look at some of Bed-Stuy's most salient legacies.

From the childhood of Jay-Z to the disappointing late career of Spike Lee, Making Rent in Bed-Stuy takes account of the famous heart of black Brooklyn's cultural scene. Recounting Harris's own encounters with figures as far-flung as Lena Dunham, doyenne of the Brooklyn zeitgeist who would never take the J train into Bed-Stuy to catch a house party, to Paul MacLeod, a gun-toting Mississippi man who makes a living charging $5 for a tour of his extensive Elvis collection--Making Rent in Bed-Stuy poignantly captures what happens when youthful idealism clashes head-on with adult reality.

Blending in-depth reportage and personal narrative, Making Rent in Bed-Stuy investigates the disappointments and ironies of millennial life, revealing Harris's radicalization and the things he lost, and gained, along the way.

Edition details

• Publisher: Amistad
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062415646
• ISBN 13: 9780062415646
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320