We stumbled across this item on Inprint, which comes from the New School University. It’s a “neighborhood profile” written by someone that just moved to Red Hook. It’s short and it moved us:

I just moved to Red Hook about a week ago. I still don’t know much about the place. There’s a lot of eighteen wheeler traffic and all the Fung Wah buses hang out in a warehouse about a block away from where I live. I met my neighbor yesterday, his name is James and he has a tiny dog with squinty eyes. I don’t have a bed yet so I sleep on a piece of cardboard on my floor.

Of Gowanus, the writer says, “The Gowanus Canal, pronounced “Go-on-us,” not “Go-anus.” Trash and heavy machinery are common sights.”

Indeed.