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In a show of self-awareness the New York Times has admitted that yes, maybe it's been playing a bit fast and loose with the Brooklyn comparisons. After The Atlantic published a list of all the locations the Times has declared "the new Brooklyn," Standards Editor Philip B. Corbet took to the paper's "After Deadline" blog. "It's not news that we write a lot about Brooklyn—especially about a certain selection of Brooklyn neighborhoods," he says. "But as a colleague and others have recently pointed out, we now seem to be using Brooklyn as the measuring stick or point of comparison for everywhere."
Some recent offenses: There's a cafe in Ridgewood, Queens that sells vegan muffins? Watch out, Williamsburg! Organic farms are popping up in Cape Town? Why, it's like a slice of Park Slope in South Africa. Maplewood, New Jersey is home to a large number of artists? "Just call it Brooklyn, West."
· Brooklyn, Planet Earth [After Deadline]