peony : what would a ‘ happy life ’ look like in your muse’s eyes ?
both of my miles are originally from coney island, brooklyn [ the section of bk i personally grew up in. ] before they moved over to the medina ( bedstuy ). to be transparent, new york gave miles a multitude of dimensions to travel before the spider verse shenanigans began. growing up in c.i, people were attracted to its rich history of colorful lights radiating from its historic amusement park, the hot-dog eating contests, the wonder wheel, the boardwalk, allat. going past it though? that's where you're off in another realm entirely. past the baseball stadium, you get a more grim image. poverty, drugs, gangs, over-policing, etcetera. but home is home, and it'd be a crime to say that was all in miles view growing up there.
coney is the area that was famously known in the 1979 movie, the warriors, where jeff and rio had one of their first romantic moments, with aaron third wheeling that night. it's where his parents had the idea to give him the middle name rembrandt.
this is the place miles took his first karate lessons, learning how to defend himself. in coney, is where jeff first served as a police officer, and an impressionable miles join the police explorers to follow in his footsteps, learning discipline and having his first taste of leadership. the boys and girls club is where he experienced kiddie love, and had his first kiss on the playground. at kaiser park, he earned the nicknames, we outchea, from his battle cries on the court, merry-go-around, from how he broke his opponent's ankles on offense.
when knicks legend starbury opened star cuts, a barbershop that offered free haircuts, miles landed his first job being a hair sweeper, and the barbers there named him baby einstein, and smarty-arty, for the excellent grades they always expected he'd share. miles and his family were also among the many when starbury released his own sneaker brand and was giving it out to the hood for free. stabury was a early inspiration, outside of his father, about what it means to have fame and still have the ability to give back to the place you come from.
the building he lived in served as the birthing place for a band of wily misfits, the stay dangerous crew ( a name inspired by what his uncle aaron would always say to him at the end of their phone calls. ). a group of young black youths that set their sights to get their name up all city, as they were intimately enthralled with graffiti. on that same note, coney island is the ass end of brooklyn that he had to flee back to when dipping out of queens when he encountered the first spider-man and spray-painted him in the face out of a knee-jerk reaction when the hero had caught him unexpectedly defacing the property of a racist that's been terrorizing his cousin and her friends from the queens branch of their family. coney is the place where he attended his first funeral the memorial chapel on mermaid avenue.
the magic in c.i. is boundless for miles morales. what's a happy life? the old coney. a coney that didn't get the influx of white immigrants and white-americans alike pushing folks out as bills increased. a coney that wasn't steadily being gentrified. a coney that didn't kill his friend, a coney that didn't force his friends, old classmates, and the usual neighborhood suspects to either move elsewhere, be jailed, or otherwise. coney still has her tourist appeal, the amusement park is still there as a beacon of a timeless good time, but if he could have it his way, he'd bring those lights all throughout that part of brooklyn, unearthing again its buried potential and work towards something that elevates the community as a whole. after all, coney is where miles first learned to say sun at the end of his sentences, because he and those around him shined like one. if his happy life can't include his old hood he doesn't want it.