another 41st side of things

the br- the br- the br- (you know the rest?)
(photo from Frederico Ughi website)

Joseph Berger reports in the New York Times article "Her Film Project Happens to Be Her Project" about a film by Selena M. Blake titled "Queensbridge: The Other Side." This could provide a nicely balanced double feature matched up with "Tragedy: The Story of Queensbridge."

A few highlights from the article...

…The gritty setting inspired a legion of rappers.
Yet Ms. Blake, 43, also knew a Queensbridge that never made the news, a place where bus drivers, postal workers and seamstresses kept an eye on one another's children in the courtyard jungle gyms, and borrowed potatoes to finish off a stew. She felt so secure that she often forgot to lock her door. In the late 1990's, it was a drug dealer who banged on it to let her know that the police were towing her car. "They look out for you here," she said…
…And it tries to resolve a paradox about low-income projects: why places that have become a synonym for human misery should boast long waiting lists. Right now, 326 families are waiting to get into Queensbridge…
…The film rapidly crosscuts interviews between "thugs," as it calls the troublemakers, and current and former residents who have made good. The latter include State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead; Mr. Artest, who baby-sat for Ms. Blake's son, Daniel Brown; Todd Craig, an instructor at Queensborough Community College who earned a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and such hip-hop luminaries as the rappers Marley Marl and Capone.
Marley Marl, whose real name is Marlon Williams, recalled gazing at the Manhattan skyline beyond the Queensboro Bridge like Dorothy beholding Emerald City in "The Wizard of Oz."
"What I liked about Queensbridge was the roar of car wheels going over the bridge - there was a certain hum - and it was very meditative for me," he said. "I used to go over to the park and write lyrics and dream and look at Manhattan. One day, I was going to take over Manhattan."…
…She starts the film by flashing statistics that disprove some popular notions. Only 21.6 percent of Queensbridge's tenants receive welfare, and, excluding the elderly, almost all the rest are employed, though Queensbridge's average gross annual income is less than $20,000 and the average rent is a little more than $300 a month The average tenant has been there 16 years…
…Life in Queensbridge has improved with the overall drop in crime. Residents say drug dealing has plummeted since February, when Roslynn R. Mauskopf, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, announced the arrests of 37 people for selling drugs on "the Hill," as Queensbridge's shopping plaza is called. In 2004, there were no murders and just 25 assaults, according to Housing Authority statistics…