Include me in the growing number of women that have almost the same background as Lena's autobiographical characters on "Girls" but are non-white (Latina) and find the show irritatingly separatist.
I'm born and raised in Manhattan with the identical small, independent education background. Greenpoint and my current Brooklyn neighborhood are nearly identical in income, diversity and gentrification. We both share'd the same insecurities and self-sabotaging behavior that every NYC twenty-something experiences their first few years out of college. Same interests, same social life, same ridiculous clothing. Yet, the world of "Girls" is almost exclusively white. Frighteningly white. Writers and creative directors have a blank canvas to create whatever world they please when making art. If the world of "Girls" is as autobiographical and realistic as Lena and the critics claim it to be, I am truly frightened at how fast my story, my culture, my friendships or my relationships could be erased from my Caucasian counterparts' imagination.
As a Brooklynite, I find it near impossible to exclude the existence of non-white people from my daily life. Why is it such a breezy, brushed aside "mistake" (as she states in an HBO chat) to exclude it from hers? Did she NOT remain friends with one of the many students of color at St. Ann's and Oberlin? Are NONE of them in her social or networking circle? Does she NOT socially interact with the ridiculously large black/latino filmmaker community in Brooklyn? Has she NOT had an impacting conversation with a non-white person at the myriad of art/underground/dinner/house/bar/band/restaurant parties that most "hip" Brooklynites attend as part of their social lives? Has she NOT had a professional relationship with a Black/Latino colleague that was non-threatening , non-pitying y or unadmonishing? Does she have NO friends that are in serious, long-term relationships with someone outside their race? Has she NOT come across or spoken to any of her Greenpoint "neighbors" that are 20% Hispanic (mostly Puerto Rican)? As a New Yorker, it's impossible to answer yes to any of these questions, less so as a Brooklyn resident. Since Lena and the writing staff STILL managed to erase a whole wealth of cultures and populations from their creative universe, than I am truly frightened if she is believed to be "the voice of my generation"
