DEREK & CLAUDE SHOW US THEIR NEW YORK

DEREK & CLAUDE SHOW US THEIR NEW YORK

Derek Sturdivant and Claude Shein met through a mutual friend in 2013 and have been inseparable ever since. Derek, a 29 year old Vice President in Financial Services by day and artist by night, has been in the city for 12 years after relocating from Maryland to the city for school. Claude, a 30 year old photographer and gallerist, is a born-and-raised New Yorker. The pair got together to tell us about NYC transplants, the Grindr to friendship pipeline, and why they think queer people should move to the city in their early twenties. 

DEREK STURDIVANT: I’ll go first, and I’ll start from the bottom.

CLAUDE SHEIN: Oop, okay. [Laughs.]

DS: So, why New York?

CS: I don’t think there is any other place for me. Like she's weird. She's interesting. She's superficial sometimes but not too annoying when she does it. It's just absolutely perfect. My entire family is from here. This place has given me my entire sense of authenticity and allowed me to be the way that I am without societal pressures or family pressures. It's just very easy to be here. And be real.

DS: So many people want to move to New York and live in New York. And like New York is a fantasy. But when you're just kind of from here, you have some attachment to it. It doesn't feel like a huge thing. My family was from New York, so I spent summers coming to New York from New Jersey. It never felt too out of reach. I knew what I needed to do to get here, you know? I graduated high school and I went to art school. It’s what you do. Looking at my life now, I get to travel a lot--which is such a privilege because I get to see all of these places and do all of these things--but no matter where I go, I always come back to New York. It’s home. I love that I can go to the store and randomly end up at some shit because I ran into someone or what have you. New York always feels so different from being in any other place. No one really gives a shit about what I’m doing or who I am. I find that so easy and fun. I don’t know how to describe it. Everyone is just trying to get shit done. Okay, your turn. Ask another question.

CS: How would you say New York has changed you since you’ve been here?

DS: I feel pretty lucky to have moved to New York when I was 18. A lot of people grow up somewhere, move to some college town for school, and that’s where they learn to be an adult. I figured out who I needed to be as an adult in New York. There is no one there to help you or tell you that you should do this. No, if something happened to me, I had to go to fucking urgent care and figure that shit out. I used to walk into jobs with all of these 26/27 year olds as an 18/19 year old, and that seemed crazy. The city really teaches you to stand up for yourself and be straightforward with people. You learn that the only person who can represent you, is you.

CS: You become the person you were scared of in the room. You become that 26/27 year old in charge of their agency. New York molded you into the person you were initially scared of.

DS: I agree. Obviously, I don’t know who I would be if I hadn’t lived through moving here at such a young age. I totally understand why people move here and are startled by the shit that happens to them. The city is intense. Girls leave after only a year here because no one is going to baby you. You need to figure that shit out. Okay, what’s your favorite thing to do in the city?

CS: If I’m being so honest, it’s so difficult to find time to do what you want to do in the city. My favorite thing is just finding time with my friends to grab a fucking drink at a comfortable spot. It’s the best thing you can do. Every time you do it you're reminded of the connections you’ve built in the city and just how vivid everyone’s lives are. Every time we get together I feel like I’m being shown a full feature length episode of what happened between us seeing each other. Finding the time to connect and sit with someone at your favorite spot with your favorite drink? That’s my favorite day.

DS: I’d say my favorite thing to do in the city is to be home alone. [Laughs.]

CS: Periodt.

DS: I need to give myself a moment to reset and know how I’m feeling. What have I taken in from being out and being social? On the other hand, I think pushing yourself out to places that you frequent--or maybe even don’t frequent--is really helpful. You get to see interesting or influential people that all have their own rhythms. 

CS: It’s another piece of our education here. 

DS: Exactly. It’s quite happenstance. 

CS: It’s the smallest biggest town in the world. Any time you go to your spot, it’s a completely different person that you could run into. Why do you think queer people have flocked to the city?

DS: I think that New York is a bubble when you think about the United States in general. You’re very much allowed to be yourself, to figure out and find yourself, to experiment with who you could be. You can’t do these things in most places. I really truly think that this is the only place--if you stick to it--that allows you to find your own lane and journey forward. I wouldn’t even call it a flocking. It’s just trusting a place where you see that it’s been possible. Especially these days with social media, queer people are much more likely to broadcast their lives, and people that maybe haven’t quite been able to make the leap are seeing that. It’s giving them a push. New York allows you to show off that you’ve done it, that you’re actively accepting who you are and the journey that you’re on. I also think that New York has always been the cornerstone of queer culture. There are so many books written about queer life--about these things that happened years before us, and how we’ve gotten to this current moment--and New York has always been there. Regardless of how New York has changed or how commercial it’s become, it’s still a place where you can figure yourself out.

CS: There is such a strong queer community here, so you can land here and find a chosen family that can give you the resources and love that you may never have gotten before. That availability and honesty coming from a place that is so rough lends it a kind of duality. It’s so hard to be here, but it’s also so easy. I really think there is a fantasy that is quite tangible in the city. When we go out dancing, we don’t have to think about anything besides the fact that we are out with our friends dancing. We can just simply exist here, and I think that’s really magical. 

CS: What’s your favorite neighborhood in the city? Why?

DS: That’s a difficult question, but I would have to say I think my favorite neighborhood is where I live now. It’s sort of this intersection between Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights. This part of Brooklyn is a little less rambunctious than, say, Bushwick or Williamsburg. There is something so nice about having a Saturday where you can walk down Vanderbilt or to the park. This area gives you a sense of the city; it gives you that annoying, quintessential Brooklyn; and it gives you a sense of chill. Like I know my neighbors. There is such a sense of community that I love. There is so much that I can do, and all I have to do is walk. 

CS: Yes, everything you just said is exactly it. There is no vibe that you can’t encounter or curate at those intersections. You can have whatever experience you want to have for that day. Especially in the summertime, if you go five blocks in one direction, you might encounter a whole block party filled with hotties dancing. If you go five blocks the other direction, you’ll come across a park full of dogs and people eating Shake Shack or whatever. It’s like a whole jungle of vibes. It feels curated but it’s all so organic. These people are outside because they wouldn’t want to be doing anything else at that moment.  

DS: You don’t feel judged or looked at. 

CS: Right. People mind their fucking business.

DS: What’s the best representation of the city in movies and tv?

CS: I’m from the schools of A Bronx Tale or Do The Right Thing, but I’d say the most accurate depiction of the city has to be a mix of Sex and the City and…I don’t know. That’s a hard one. What do you think?

DS: [Laughs.] I would say mine are Law & Order, Sex and the City, and--even though it’s trying to capture a certain space and time--The Deuce on HBO. It’s showing a very specific time in New York full of prostitution and pimps and the porn industry, but it’s also painting a picture of a New York City pre-Giuliani. Despite whatever so-called progress the city has made since then, New York still pretty much operates the same way. Now it’s all just a bunch of gays with OnlyFans. It’s still a hustle city. It depicts New York as what it’s always going to be. 

CS: That’s tea. I just remembered what my other show would be--Pose. Whereas Sex and the City displays a very glamorized hyper-feminine and hyper-sexual perception of what New York can be, Pose demonstrates the gritty reality occupying the other end of the spectrum. Those two shows in tandem with each other really touch on the reality of what New York truly is. It’s the grunge, and it’s the fluff; it’s the mean-ness, and it’s the glamour. The duality between the two shows really show you that the New York experience has RANGE.

DS: It’s a pretty fucking wild beast, but I love it. It’s a little bit masochistic. 

CS: What do you hope will never change about this city?

DS: This is probably a problematic response, but I think that there is something to say about the way New York deals with money and class systems. Any person who makes any amount of money can end up in the same space as the people that make a crazy amount of money. New York is always going to be a place where people get to flaunt their money in ridiculous and annoying ways. I think that needs to continue. For some people, that kind of bravado is aspirational--it helps fuel their goals; for others, it’s a turn off that leads to ill will. I think it’s good to see it both ways, but it’s most important to know that that kind of money is around. It’s attainable. Regardless of how you grew up, it’s attainable. People move to the city for a myriad of reasons, and money is usually involved in the equation. Money creates a drive in people--especially New Yorkers. In that way, money is pushing the culture of New York forward, and I hope that never changes. 

CS: New York needs to stay on its hustler shit! Definitely. For me, I never want the West Indian culture in the city--the influence of it--to change. I was raised by two Caribbean immigrant parents, and the city has always felt like home to my culture. I love having that auntie at the end of the block who isn’t really your auntie, but she watches over your family just by being Black. Being Black in New York, you almost feel like there are angels watching over you, even when it’s not spoken. I never want that to change. I want New York to stay Black as hell. My worst nightmare is moving away from the city only to come back and it looks like Mr. Rogers moved in. 

DS: What do you think brings transplants to the city? More on that, what do you want to see from transplants moving to the city?

CS: Because I’m from here, I can’t fully speak to the transplant situation, but I think transplants want to move here because they hope to find a sense of belonging. They hope they’ll find a warm blanket of love waiting for them. If not that, then change. More change than I can even comprehend being from here. When it comes to queer people moving to the city--especially when it comes to gentrification--queer people don’t live in a vacuum. We’re not a monolith. There are queer people that are wealthy and have similar advantages to our straight counterparts because of their access to money. It’s a nuanced conversation because queer people can be perpetrators of gentrification, but there should still be room for a queer person to come here with nothing and work their way up.

DS: I totally agree. I’ve worked quite hard and strategically tried to navigate certain situations to get to where I am. You have a little bit of control over the journey, but most parts you have no control over. The thing to not do is look at New York and be like, New York’s not treating me well. Even when New York is being the worst and showing you just how difficult it can be. If you’re going to be here--if you want something out of this city--you need to work for it. Where have you experienced queer triumph in the city?

CS: I feel like my college years, for sure. That adolescence from ages 18 to 21, if you’re a queer person? It was a moment of complete disregard for any opinion that wasn’t my own. And just complete autonomy over my decision making. What I learned during that time has snowballed into my decision making for myself to this very day. Those years were the groundwork for me to become as unapologetic, as honest, as loving as I am to myself and others. I kept running into the same core people at the same queer parties, and we’d have the same conversations over and over. Not in a monotonous way. More in a “my brand new eyes are open.” A little gay boy in the wild, if you will. 

DS: What would you say to someone who wasn’t in the city during those early formative years? Is it different? 

CS: I mean, there are so many different, specific situations in everyone’s lives. Not everyone has the luxury of coming out young. I think older queers coming to New York for safe haven and community would have just as smooth a time as their younger counterparts. There is a group for everyone here. All you need to do is nudge yourself to go out and strike a conversation with someone. That someone could literally become a lifelong best friend. 

DS: It’s kind of crazy. I have to say I think that you can’t shut yourself off from who you can meet. There have been guys I’ve hooked up with and been like, actually, no, we can be really good friends. I’ve made some really amazing friends out of that. I’ve also made some really good friends that I’ve never had sex with, and that’s the beauty of it. It can sometimes get confusing to navigate, but sexual fluidity is tricky sometimes.

CS: It’s a very tricky thing, yeah. Friends and the people you have sex with aren’t mutually exclusive. I think being queer is so beautiful because we have the gift of exploring all of those unexplored options.

*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and your viewing pleasure. 

Lensed by Claude Shein (@claudeontherocks)
Photo Asst: Andy Roelofs (@andyxroo)