Dropping out while dropping in

I've been exploring the Bronx a fair amount the past couple of years and this has gotten me wondering a lot lately about why there are not more small artist communities scattered around New York City. I'm not talking about large concentrations of artists like the one in Bushwick (right now). Or the way Williamsburg or SoHo used to be. I'm talking about smaller groups of intrepid and avant garde deep thinkers and creators who relocate to more remote and poorer parts of the city in order to take advantage of cheap real estate so that they can concentrate on their work in solitude while simultaneously staying connected to the life pulse of New York City. Leaving the city is always an option. But "leaving" while staying is more interesting. Dropping out while dropping in is what I say, man. I lived in the middle of nowhere for much of childhood. I hated it.

If you ask me, groups of artists should band together and relocate to these farer flung locations in New York City. They should band together, buy real estate and create secret communes within the city. They should create places where they can securely go deep into their own weirdness, cross pollinate with a small group of like minded freaks, and develop unique and hidden perspectives. They should move like tortoises, resisting the public eye. They should kill the rabbits. They should NOT become real estate speculators attempting to bet on where the next hot, gentrifying artist neighborhood will emerge. They should go to unexpected places and turn inward while secretly remaining fully present in the city.

New York City is both bigger and smaller than most people think. It's more interesting than the handful of well worn places everyone treads. There are a lot of interesting places within the city that are completely unknown and totally off the master beaten path.