#aph brooklyn

[mellecorre]

1-800 hes so handsome, hes my hero!!

1-800 hit my line…

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Tony/Brooklyn & Lynn/Manhattan going on vacation, Lynn said she’d also help carry bags…alas. Anyways they’re in a Leyendecker color study I did & that I am very proud of how it came out ! Tony & Lynn are only married for legal purposes cause of the 1898 amalgamation of NYC (which gives us 5 boroughs).

Also I haven’t talked about the boroughoes in ages! I’ve been very focused on my Alfred & states lore that I haven’t touched my NYC lore 😭❤️ my OG lore. I’ll share some major changes and other thoughts below the cut. Also scroll the bottom for a little doodle of the boroughs :D

I do love my borough ocs dearly they’re my oldest babies (9/10 years and going ❤️). And I love working on their lore BUT I feel a lot of the depth of their lore can be better discussed if I also work on lore at a state (Jennie/ New York State) and a national (Alfred/USA) level. Don’t worry I haven’t casted them aside, just cooking and learning new things as I work on Jennie & Alfred so I can better understand how different relationship dynamics impact each borough (especially as Lynn/Manhattan is basically their boss).

Before I delve into major changes in my lore, for newer folks, I’m gonna give a brief description of each borough oc:

Manaháhtaan “Lynn Cooper” / Manhattan borough is essentially the “boss” of all the boroughs. She’s born slightly before European colonization to Ms. Munsee Lenape and Mr. Mohican. For various reasons, she’s not particularly close to her parents nowadays. Lynn is a bit like a princess. She expects only the finest things in life, and she’s known to be perhaps a bit greedy and definitely cut-throat ambitious and will squash you like a bug if she deems you unworthy, but she’s quite charming. Her loud, bold, intense, no nonsense, but with perhaps a flirtatious smile makes her someone people wanna be around. She’s close friends with her fellow boroughs, Jennie/ New York State, and Alfred/ USA.

Anthonij “Tony” Cohen/ Brooklyn is a proud man who is always been rather peeved his best friend and greatest rival is essentially his boss and his legal wife, but he can’t ever really hate her. However, Tony will absolutely dig in his heels and give Lynn a hard time like pretending he’s a separate city still. His gregarious nature, and his interests in many topics from fashion to politics makes him someone you want to get know better. On another note, Tony was born to human parents during the New Netherland period, and he’s of African-American and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Tony began to connect more with Judaism in the late 1800s specifically Reform Judaism. Tony is dating Andy/Queens, and he likes hanging out with his friends (and also making fun of them). Tony is always a bit peeved at Jennie for making him and Lynn marry, but they mostly get along, and they often celebrate Jewish holidays together (alongside with Jennie’s sister Elise/ New Jersey). Tony is also good friends with Alfred.

Andrew “Andy” Perez/ Queens was born to human parents some point during the late 1800s and is of Dominican and Chinese (probably Cantonese) descent. He’s a rather reserved man. He does have a bit of a bitch face, but he’s honestly quite friendly if you get him talking. He enjoys a more quiet pace of life. You’ll find him hanging around his neighborhoods, playing chess or helping folks out or just yapping. During the summer, you’re highly likely to find him at Rockaway beach catching some waves.

Rodrick “Rodrigo” Madden/ The Bronx was born to human parents in the late 1800s and he’s of Puerto Rican and Irish descent. Nowadays, he does try to act like Mr. Tough guy, but that’s to hide the fact he doesn’t wanna be hurt again. He’s not been treated well by Lynn as a friend in the past and he somewhat blames his more naive and rather naturally friendly nature as the reason why. But Rodrigo is a sweetheart. His heart has almost always been in the right place. He’ll give you the clothes off his back even if it hurt him. He has a pet calico cat named Teddy that was once a barn cat from he used to be farmer (also I randomly decided the cat also immortal cause I can’t mentally kill off this cat).

François “Frank” Russo/Staten Island was born to human parents during the New Netherland period and is of Walloon and Italian (probably Neapolitan) descent. He can be rather intense especially when he’s passionate about something, and often thinks of himself as the center of universe. He may off as an annoying asshole but if you put aside the self centered attitude, the extreme bouts of passion and stubbornness, and maybe his lack of manners- you’ll find he’s not a bad guy.

Also why borough ocs, Egg? Uh cause I can. When I made them, no one else was doing this and I felt a New York City character can’t be explained in just a character alone plus culturally and politically the boroughs are actual entities thus for me mentally justifies why I could personify them.

OK also one of the more major changes to the lore is that Lynn & Tony are now legally married due to the 1898 amalgamation. As I mentioned numerous times on this blog, I want to explore more serious and complicated themes especially as I’ve gotten older. I now interpret the amalgamation a bit like a marriage between New York City (then just Lynn) and the city of Brooklyn. They’re still friends/rivals. Also Tony is gay. But I’m interested in exploring the idea of these personifications being public figures and how aspects maybe like tokenization, homophobia, misogyny can also impact them. I’ll expand on this another time as I don’t want to take away from the point of this post.

The other major update is that Andy/Queens & Rodrigo/the Bronx only come into existence as aeterni (borrowing term from a pirenaia on twitter) when they’re older kids and at some point btwn 1870s-1890s. This just changes their aging timeline a bit is all. I made this change cause I really want my borough ocs to reflect the inhabitants and groups that have had significant influences on the culture of this city. As Rodrigo is Puerto Rican / Irish in his ethnic background and Andy is Chinese / Dominican, the most significant beginnings of the migration of these groups to the city started in the late 1800s (picked up x1000 post wwii). It wasn’t like impossible before but I felt the explanation was too loose ++ the Bronx & Queens were just beginning to urbanize at this period & beforehand I’m gonna argue did not have much of a major cultural thing. I need both a major cultural aspect and some sort of political aspect to create ocs. Alsooo eastern Bronx as a character no longer exists in this universe- Frances rip 🙏

hehe that’s all (for now)- here’s a boroughoes doodle

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

So which boroughs are poor and which ones are rich? Do you try to help each other out? Also, this is giving me Great Gatsby vibes.

Manhattan: Well Tony and I are filthy rich! I mean we were always rich, we’re both cities. Well Tony isn’t anymore and he wasn’t always as rich as me. The rest of them are well the usual, kinda poor I guess. Whatever without me, they’d all still be farming. Now they’re all doing construction and what not.

Brooklyn: Was any of that necessary to add?

Staten Island: Oh my god! You’re Mr. Italy right?!

Romano:…uh…sure…

Queens: Should we help him?

The Bronx: With Frank, it’s all souls for themselves.

So yeah, Brooklyn and Manhattan are and were on the more wealthier side than the other boroughs. Up until the turn of the last century, most of the other boroughs with the exception of Manhattan and Brooklyn were mostly farmland. Also duahshs yeah I guess it does have Great Gatsby vibes lol. And everyone who guessed the pose in the opening post, here’s a gold star ⭐️

also howdy I said it before but I’ll say it again, I like @askitaliaromano ‘s hc of Romano working in the US during that period.

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Hey boroughs! What are your favorite songs or music pieces?

Manhattan: Loveless Love

Brooklyn: Honeysuckle Rose

Queens: Solidarity Forever

The Bronx: Potato Head Blues

Staten Island: Avalon

Lowkey kinda giving a hint at Andy’s (Queens) political alignment at this time, if you know how this song is used.

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Do you still know any Dutch, Brooklyn?

Brooklyn: Ok kids, buckle up cause this is gonna be heavy with information. Honestly I know way more Yiddish than I do Dutch right now. I haven’t really used it a little over 200 years plus what I did speak is near incomprehensible to someone who speaks Dutch today. There were two types of Dutch, Jersey Dutch and Mohawk Dutch. Both died out at the turn of the last century, and Dutch wasn’t really spoken as much in the city cause a lot of them assimilated and merged in with the English. But it did last longer upstate, just cause those groups of Dutch speakers were trying to get out of English control, which I get, I also don’t like the English.. You guys might actually recognize these US historical figures and families that also spoke Dutch to varying degrees like the Schuyler family, President Van Buren I hate that man so much , abolitionist Sojourner Truth, and President Theodore Roosevelt knew some Dutch.

Brooklyn: But anyways New York, and I guess the entirety of the former be New Netherland colony never was 100% speaking Dutch. Like at most 65% of the population was Dutch, and even then it wasn’t the only language in the area around. Like today we don’t just speak English, there’s roughly 800 languages spoken here.

Also a note on Mohawk Dutch (mix of Dutch, Mohawk, & German), it comes out of a mixed culture between Dutch settlers and the Mohawk people in upstate New York. Jersey Dutch (mix of Dutch, English, & Lenape), also has kinda of a sub section of it where only African Americans spoke this type of variation. Also thank u @ask-thenetherlands for listening to the audio clips lol.

If anyone wants to hear how it did sound here are the links. For Mohawk Dutch skip to 4:28. This is a video of Jersey Dutch.

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Brooklyn, do you ever regret the "great mistake of 1898"?

Brooklyn: At first I did, I mean it’s kinda scary. Usually any nation, state, or city or whatever; when they’re absorbed or split into something else…like they just cease to exist. Think Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, etc. And so to put it lightly, I was really scared of that. But actually I didn’t have much to worry about in the end? People still act like I’m a city and like really identify with me.

Manhattan:…So Tony, how about now?

Brooklyn: No comment.

He complains about them all a lot and being stuck as New York, but at the end of the day, he doesn’t regret it. He loves them.

For reference, the “Great Mistake of 1898” refers to when Brooklyn, a city prior, agreed to join NYC as a borough. It voted to join by a 52% vote.

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Boroughoes at the beach

Just something more light from the past two posts :)

Lynn (Manhattan) just soaks up the sun while practically her feral children the other boroughs sneak up to flip over Tony’s (Brooklyn) floatie.

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

What neighborhood do they live in?

Lynn (Manhattan) lives in the Upper East Side. xoxo gossip girl here. It’s expensive , the way she likes it.

Tony (Brooklyn, lol I changed his name cause I didn’t like it) lives in Carroll Gardens. He moved there around the 1870s, easier access to New York City.

Rodrigo (The Bronx) lives in Morrisania. He’s lived here since it was the Morris Manor.

Andy (Queens) lives in Elmhurst. He’s moved around a few times, he lived in Flushing for a while, but decided to settle in Elmhurst in the 1950s

Frank (Staten Island) lives in Old Town. This was where the original Dutch settlement in Staten Island was located. It was called Oude Dorp.