Gentrifier Olympics:

The posing and posturing that transplants do for their peers to pretend that they are winning at life

As a Bushwick transplant myself, I see these people on the street, on social media, and occasionally in the mirror. The worst offenders are rich people cosplaying poverty. You can see these athletes most often at night in groups, and, if you’re unlucky, that group is yours. Despite their efforts to look metropolitan, they cannot fool anyone and are unable to escape their roots.

I’m another former suburbanite trying to make it in the big city. I grew up in Pittsburgh, studied in Boston, detoured to New Hampshire, and joined the ranks of Brooklyn 20-somethings in February 2023.

I’ve monetized my passion for writing through a brief journalism career and current nebulously titled gig (still not sure what a digital strategist is). I wanted to start a newsletter to remember why I love writing and have something that’s just for me.

I started this newsletter in August 2023 and have sent an entry almost every Monday since. Sometimes they’re cultural critiques, sometimes they’re glorified diary entries. Nevertheless, it’s a creative endeavor I’ve actually stuck to.

The Brooklyn transplant straddles their desire to consume the city with the guilt of probably making it worse without even trying. I coined the phrase Gentrifier Olympics around the same time I decided to put my yuppie lifestyle to slightly better use.

Join me Monday evenings in my search for authenticity, and peer into the thoughts of yet another young writer that history will forget.

—Sydney Brown