You don’t have to live in El Cerrito, California, or have ever used Nextdoor, for this essay to resonate. For Oakland Review of Books, Amy Brown recounts buying her first home in the East Bay city and swiftly becoming the villain of her local Nextdoor—after her uncharitable Bluesky posts about the seniors opposing a library tax made their way back to her neighbors. Honest and funny, Brown’s essay explores being locally online—that weird, often uncomfortable place between online and IRL—and shows how (not) to talk to people you’ll run into at the grocery store.
Still, I spent multiple nights lying awake, thinking that everyone in this town must know I’m a bitch now. My son is supposed to start TK at the public school in the fall. What if his classmates’ parents use Nextdoor? What if the nice lady across the street who organizes a monthly dinner for our block uses Nextdoor? What if my neighbor already told everyone that the woman who moved into the house on the corner is an asshole? Does everyone I see on the street think I’m an asshole? Can they tell I don’t belong here? Do I have to go crawling back to my hometown and get a job at the car seat manufacturing plant?
More stories about neighbors
What I Found When I Tried to Walk Across Dallas in a Day
“Determined to find adventure in my own backyard, I tramped across my famously pedestrian-averse hometown. The most memorable part turned out to be the serendipitous encounters with neighbors I met along the way.”
The Coyotes in the HOA
“Maybe we are the coyotes. We’ve invaded those tidy realms of whiteness, and we did not duck our heads. We acted like we owned the place.”
An 14-Year Neighborhood Feud Involved Restraining Orders, Spells, and Jail Time
In Miami, a long-standing feud with his neighbor — a top-level cop with a history of making false accusations against people — leads graphic designer Mark Cantor to several wrongful arrests, expensive litigation, unsatisfying exoneration, and an ongoing civil suit.
