The Old Daze--Call it Nostalgia

When people talk about Williamsburgh, I hardly recognize what they say to me, although it all makes sense, seeing that I was part of the gentrification process that came as a tidal wave among the then, unsuspecting, working-class inhabitants. I mean, to say that we were the first college-grad scavengers on the hunt for low rent to come into Williamsburgh, Brooklyn would be a colossal untruth.
But anyway, by the time I had moved to Flux, I had already lived in Flatbush, Trinidad, Chelsea, the East Village, the West Village, Borum Hill. I had fallen out with my then roommates and they kicked me out! (I had a bad temper back then!) Leah, one of my bestest friends in the whole world and my roommate at the time, moved out in solidarity with me. It was not a small sacrifice--our pad in Borum Hill was a charm. We rented the entire house, had a backyard--in short, every New Yorker's dream home.
Where could we go? Leah and I did what every other smart thinking person would do: We called Beth and Morgan.
Morgan was also a New School graduate and he and his long-term girlfriend had a penchant for acting like grown-ups, which when doused with a bit of alcohol, totally unraveled into complete and utter baby-doo. Beth and Morgan had recently moved into loft space in Williamsburgh and Leah and I thought, in the very least, we could get a couch to crash on until we found something.
"Sure", was the response with the even better, "Linda and Kevin are in the process of moving out, so if you two want to share a room, you're welcome to move in." We were very prepared to share a room, at like 300 dollars a month, we were very prepared.
Anyway, this picture is from a New York Times article in March of 99. By this time, I had been there for four years, was pregnant with Kai and preparing for the biggest trip in my life: that of motherhood.
Many of the friendships continued at Flux were ones already formed in college. Jason Braun from the Negatones is one of my favorite people in the whole world. Morgan Meiss, who continues his work with Flux Factory, on a much more legitimate level, was someone whom I connected with on writing. There were so many other characters, moving in and out, from all over the world. At one point we expanded our space to include the entire 5,500 square foot floor. We had a stage, pool table, large television and threw parties that mysteriously ended up in rave listings.
Well, that's enough for now down memory lane.
farvel,
the lab