Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

KLEZMER DON'T DESTROY: KLEZMATICS BENEFIT FOR DDDB

This just in from Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:

Grammy-winning band klezmer band the Klezmatics will play a special concert on November 8 at the Brooklyn Lyceum to benefit Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB). Two other area musical groups, Kakande and the Demolition String Band, will also perform.

The benefit concert will raise funds towards DDDB’s state lawsuit challenging the Atlantic Yards project's environmental review and approval and the federal lawsuit challenging the state's abuse of eminent domain. Both of these lawsuits were organized by DDDB, and are funded entirely by individual donations from the community and fundraising events throughout the year. Both lawsuits are pending; a victory in either suit would mean that developer Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project would not move forward.

DDDB supporters are pleased to receive such significant backing from the area’s musical community. "It is a great honor to have such accomplished musicians as The Klezmatics performing to help raise funds and awareness for the legal fight against Atlantic Yards. We are very proud to have their support," said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein.

Concert Details are as follows:

The Klezmatics, Kakande, and Demolition String Band
Thursday, November 8
Doors at 7pm
Brooklyn Lyceum
227 4th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 857-4816
$20 in advance, $25 at the door
For online tickets, go to http://www.dddb.net/klezmatics

Several local merchants, such as Erica’s Rugelach and Maria’s Mexican Bistro, will be donating food, baked goods, and drinks to the show

PEN AMERICAN AT SOUTHPAW

First the New Yorker Festival at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Now the Penultimate at Southpaw.

PEN is proud to announce the launch of PENultimate Lit, a new literary series that will explore the intersection of literature and the arts in the modern world. Curated with the help of Rick Moody, PENultimate Lit will bring together notable writers and artists in an attempt to discern what, in 21st Century, makes writing matter.

The first event sounds great: an evening on film and literature with the the film/lit family extraordinaire, the Baumbachs.

An Evening on Film and Literature
Hosted by Amanda Stern , author of the novel The Long Haul

Featuring:
Author Jonathan Baumbach, Author of of
On the Way to My Father’s Funeral

Noah Baumbach, Writer/Director of films including Margot at the Wedding and
The Squid and the Whale

Sunday, November 11, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Southpaw, 125 Fifth Ave. Park Slope, Brooklyn
Subway: B/Q to 7th Ave , or 2, 3, 4, 5, D, B, N, R, Q, W at Pacific/Atlantic Avenues

Tickets are $10 – Doors open at 6:15 p.m

HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS BY SUSAN FOX AT PARK SLOPE PARENTS

I took this off the list serve but I think Susan has done a real public service here and she won't mind. Do you? Here goes.

TRICK-OR-TREATING

Make sure kids can see out of masks or better yet, use face paints
(check to make sure they are non-toxic)

--Review street safety.

--Avoid shoes that are too big or clothing that's too long

--Use reflective tape or carry a flashlight or glow stick

--Always trick or treat with a buddy (or adult)

--Make sure props don't have sharp edges and swords and guns are made
from cardboard.

--Pin a piece of paper with the child's name, address and phone number
inside a pocket in case the trick-or-treater gets lost or separated from the
group.

--Remember kids will be close to flames in Jack o lanterns, so use
materials that aren't flammable or have dangling edges

AT HOME

--Clear stoops and sidewalks of any debris to prevent falls

--Keep Jack-o-Lanters away from doors and walkways

TREATS

To ensure a safe and enjoyable trick-or-treat outing for children,
parents are urged to:

--Give children an early meal before going out.

--Insist that treats be brought home for inspection before anything is
eaten.

--Report to the police anything that appears suspicious about treats.

--Although tampering is very rare, don't eat anything not wrapped. When
in doubt, throw it out.

-Check kids' candy for choking hazards and keep away from small children
and pets (especially no chocolate for dogs)

PARK SLOPE HALLOWEEN PARADE TONIGHT

Join your friends and neighbors at the Halloween Parade down 7th Avenue beginning at 6:30 p.m. on October 31.

The Parade starts at 7th Avenue and 12th Street and ends at Lincoln Place. You are welcome to join the Parade at any point.

Wear a costume. Or don't. It's still the great event it's always been.

LOCAL DOOMSAYER STARTS BLOG

This blogger is a friend of OTBKB. He's a fiction writer and a science teacher and a very smart guy who is now writing book about die back or ecologic collapse. Join the conversation at his blog, Die Back and Collapse.

By speaking of a human dieback and of civilization's collapse, I immediately place myself in the company of a long line of doomsayers, including the biblical prophets, Y2Kers, and the many religious and secular Millennium, 2012 and neo-apocalyptic cults. I am not informed enough to comment on my company and their beliefs.

At the moment, I am not interested in belief. My focus, instead, is in accumulating easily verifiable information from respected journals and books regarding the state of the planet, the human condition and that of other living beings and to synthesize this information into digestible bites.

From the title of this site, you may gather that I have already come to a conclusion regarding the human predicament. And yes, the data suggests very strongly that humanity has already passed through the threshold from sustainability into ecologic collapse. However, it is much more complicated than that. For as all can see, there are still birds in the air, plenty of fragrant air, and great forests through which many of us can yet tromp. With each passing day, more people are being well-fed, more jobs created, more power plants built. Civilization is not crashing yet...

To either avert a human dieback or to survive the horrors of the dieback without losing all the higher ideals of civilization will require an enormous jump in the level of our consciousness. Individually and collectively, we are not yet equal to the task nor to the name given our species – Homo sapien. We are not wise. We are intelligent, we are clever, tenacious, adaptive, and many things beautiful and perverse. Global warming more than wars, even, highlights the limits of our wisdom. For rather than follow the obvious injunction to transform our lives and consume far less, we continue our ways with some head scratching and nominal nods to carbon credits and fluorescent light bulbs and hybrid cars that burn fuel only half as fast the gas guzzlers the rest of us drive. And still the atmospheric carbon levels rise.

Being a parent has pulled me into a mindspace akin to the Iroquois’s notion of making decisions as though they affected the next seven generations. So, my focus here revolves around the consciousness –- the level of awareness –- necessary for humanity to understand what ways are sustainable and the wisdom to behave accordingly.

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

Here's a little something from our pal Pete, local holistic psychotherapist and blogger.

This is a great little comedic video making fun of an actual Public Service Announcement from the insane Abstinence Only crowd:

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessie-gaskell/talk-to-your-kids-about-s_b_70328.html]

Why is "abstinence only" insane as public policy? Well, hopefully, you don't really have to ask that, but in case you do, here's why:

Nature never fucks up (only people do, because of ego and hubris). Nature causes kids to have powerful sexual feelings after puberty, which means DURING THEIR TEEN YEARS. To tell kids in the throws of those surging urges to just ignore those feelings and (OH GOSH!) never, ever act on them is about as realistic as the Wizard of Oz telling Dorothy and her gang to "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Not to mention the conflict your engendering by telling your child that something inside of them that calls them so joyfully and urgently is bad for them to enjoy. Ugh!

Furthermore, is there still anyone out there who actually believes that the foundation for a good marriage is pre-marital virginity? As a therapist who has worked with many, many married couples over many years, I can tell you that one of the main reasons for divorce is sexual incompatibility among people who got married too soon - so they could have sex! Maybe, in its infinite wisdom, nature provides us with a window of opportunity to explore ourselves sexually during our teen years and early twenties, so if and when we do decide to get married and have children, we'll actually choose somebody we will be compatibile with in a major area of relationship.

Parents, please have the wisdom to either talk to your children about sex openly, and in a positive way, or at the very least, let somebody else with wisdom talk to them. Or talk to me at:
http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/

ANOTHER BROOKLYN CHILD WITH MRSA

This from New York 1:

An informational meeting is being held for parents of students at a Brooklyn elementary school after a student was found to have contracted a drug-resistant staph infection.

A letter was sent home with students at P.S. 3 in Bedford-Stuyvesant yesterday, informing parents that a student at the school had MRSA – the same potentially deadly staph infection that took the life of a 12-year-old in Canarsie earlier this month. The school principal says she learned of the case Monday morning.

The letter says most cases of MRSA aren't fatal, that the bug is treatable and preventable with frequent hand washing.

WEATHER BY ROSE

From her weather tower in Coney Island, here's today's weather by Rose at 6 am:

Beautiful weather for Halloween. Mild and sunny with some clouds. Happy Halloween!

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

ANYONE HAVE AN EXTRA TICKET TO SEE SUFJAN STEVENS?

The Brooklyn Paper's Go Brooklyn section has a good interview with the very talented indie performer and composer Sufijan Stevens, who lives in Kensington. He created a work called "THE BQE" for the Next Wave Festival at BAM, which premiers Thursday night. If anyone has an extra ticket and would like to sell it to me please let me know. I'd very much like to hear/see this. I LOVE Stevens's album, Illinoise.

Sufjan Stevens, the 32-year-old, Kensington-based indie pop star with seven albums and a slew of guest appearances and collaborations to his credit, found great inspiration in the 11.6-mile stretch of road. He was so moved by the pavement that he penned a half-hour-long music-and-video composition entitled “The BQE” that will have its world premiere with a three-night run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Nov. 1.

Although he calls Brooklyn home, Stevens — who isn’t quite a mainstream superstar, but has been featured extensively in independent films, on television and in magazines like Topic and McSweeney’s — is a rare on-stage sight in the borough, so GO Brooklyn excitedly checked in with him to see what the driving force behind his new project was.

CITY REZONES PARTS OF BED-STUY

This from the New York Times:

The City Council approved rezoning 206 blocks of Bedford-Stuyvesant yesterday, moving to protect the historic charm that has attracted a flood of new residents to the area and to spur economic development and the construction of low-cost housing along major thoroughfares

OVERHAUL OF CITY'S PUBLIC ELEMENTARY GIFTED PROGRAMS

This from the New York Times:

In an effort to transform the city’s gifted and talented programs, which he has long derided as a hodgepodge of offerings that have favored children in certain neighborhoods and with well-connected parents, Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced a plan yesterday to limit the programs to students who score in the top 5 percent on admissions tests.

At a news conference yesterday announcing his plan, the chancellor estimated that roughly half the children in gifted programs now might not meet the new standards because they did not score in the 95th percentile or above on admissions tests. There have been no standard citywide cutoffs on admissions exams; last year, available slots in gifted programs were filled by the top scorers in each school district, and before that the admissions process varied throughout the city.

“In some districts you’ll find that half the kids that got in wouldn’t have met the 95th percentile threshold, and in other districts you’ll find a much different number,” Mr. Klein said. “The number is significant, and if you talk citywide, about half, that could be certainly in the ballpark.”

Mr. Klein’s overhaul of elementary school gifted programs also includes a new test to identify the gifted, the Bracken School Readiness Assessment, which gauges students’ understanding of colors, letters, numbers, sizes, comparisons and shapes. The Bracken test replaces the Gifted Readiness Scales, a test added last year because, officials said, it was easier to administer and would be more objective.

Under the new plan, Mr. Klein said, school districts that usually have a wealth of gifted programs could lose some, while parts of the city with a dearth could gain new ones. Officials said it was hard to tell whether the total number of children in gifted and talented programs would go up or down.

Children now in gifted and talented programs will not be affected by the changes.

BILL DI BLASIO RUNNING FOR BOROUGH PRESIDENT

It's official. And here's an email from bill dated October 9th to prove it.

I want to share with you some exciting news. Today I'm making it official: I'm running to be Brooklyn's next Borough President.

More than ever, Brooklyn is a city unto itself. Our diverse neighborhoods have become magnets for new families and new business from around the world. Brooklyn's unique arts and cultural scene is flourishing and achieving global acclaim.

At the same time Brooklyn is booming, too many of our communities are becoming unaffordable for working families. Shoddy fly-by-night construction is ruining the fabric of our neighborhoods. Traffic and overcrowded schools are encroaching on our quality of life.

I am running for Borough President because I believe I have the experience and vision to strengthen and protect Brooklyn neighborhoods in a time of unprecedented growth and change.

My first priority as Borough President will be to keep Brooklyn affordable by building and preserving affordable housing. On the City Council I've played a key role in winning legislative and land-use victories that have led to the construction of thousands of units of affordable housing throughout Brooklyn. As Borough President I will work to ensure that we aggressively leverage our zoning code and land-use laws to build more affordable housing and protect our neighborhoods from development that prices out working families.

I believe that preserving our neighborhoods means not only keeping them affordable, but also stopping out-of-control and out-of-character development, keeping neighborhoods clean and ensuring support for vital community based organizations. As Borough President I plan to crack down on illegal development, partner with community groups to keep neighborhoods beautiful, and support institutions that contribute to Brooklyn's richness and diversity.

As public school parents, Chirlane and I know the anxiety that every parent faces about keeping their children safe and having access to affordable child care and quality public schools. As a parent, former School Board member, and current Chair of the Council's General Welfare Committee, I've fought hard to protect children and support families.

On the school board, I helped lead successful efforts to turn around failing schools, cap class size and expand pre-k. In the Council I led the fight to force reforms to New York City's broken child welfare system in the wake of the Nixzmary Brown tragedy. Over the past six years, I've secured millions of dollars for Brooklyn schools and worked to expand and improve childcare options for Brooklyn families. As Borough President I will fight tirelessly to expand access to quality affordable childcare throughout Brooklyn, invest in capital improvements for school facilities to lower class size and ensure that every one of our borough's schools are safe learning environments for all of our children.

As Borough President, no one will fight harder to keep Brooklyn affordable for working families, stop out-of-control development, protect our neighborhoods and improve our quality of life.

The best of Brooklyn is yet to come -- let's work together to make it happen.

All the best,

Bill de Blasio

TWO YEARS AGO ON OTBKB: COWGIRL HALLOWEEN

This is a story from October 2005:

OSFO started thinking about Halloween 2005 on November 1, 2004. In the spring, there were causal musings about what she wanted to be. By summer, she had narrowed her choices to three or four possibilities.

After Labor Day, when those Halloween catalog arrived in the mail, the urgency began: "When are we going to order my costume, Mom?" She circled everything in the catalog that she liked. But there was a double circle and stars around the costume she really coveted.

The cowgirl costume.

I have to say I respected her choice. Cowgirls are cool. And a nice contrast from last year's Snow Queen (which was lovely, I might add, with its sparkly white fabric and long cape).

But being a cowgirl is EXPENSIVE. I said "yes" before I realized just how expensive it was going to be. The a la carte style of pricing in that Halloween catalog can be a bit misleading.

Still. We needed to place our order in time for pre-Halloween delivery.

We ordered the brown hat, simulated cow hide chaps, suede fringed vest, suede gloves, and a bandanna. That ran us about $75.00 including shipping. There were other items like a pair of leather cowboy boots that were just too outrageous.

If it sounds frivolous to spend that much on a costume it is a frivolousness born of experience and lots of it. I have been doing Halloween costumes since 1993. A child's ontentment with his or her costume is key to an angst-free Halloween season. And that's worth a bunch. We've made many of our own costumes, some of which were quite impressive. But homemade costumes involve lots of materials and can be quite pricey, too.

I think the most "creative" and cost-effective costume we ever did was the year Teen Spirit wanted to be "A Boy Caught in a Rainstorm." Hepcat took a black umbrella and attached long pieces of blue and silver string. Wearing a yellow slicker and boots, my son looked great. Just like a boy....

Teen Spirit, who is now 14, was big on obscure and unexpected Halloween costumes. He actually liked it when people would say, "Who are you?" That happened when he went as TinTin one year and Thompson and Thompson the next from the Belgium comic book, "TinTin." In subsequent years he went as characters from "Alice In Wonderland." Two years ago he went as Quisp, the bright green 1960's breakfast cereal mascot.

At the Halloween parade, a few baby boomers recognized him and shouted : "I loved Quisp and Quake." or "Omigod, Quisp was my favorite breakfast cereal." But for the most part, he got blank stares. He liked it that way.

This year he and all of his friends are going as pirates. I think his costume may be a homage to Johnny Depp as Captain Jack (in "Pirates of the Carribean) by way of Keith Richards. It should be fun.

On Saturday, OSFO and I bought the finishing touches for her cowgirl costume: cowboy boots at Payless ($9.99) and blue jeans and a white button down shirt at the Children's Place ($26.00). I don't even want to add it all up this morning.

It's too much. But Halloween always is.

CLEVER DOC WANTS TO KNOW: HOW ANGRY ARE YOU?

Losing your sense of humor is a danger signal. And it's a a sign of being overwhelmed or exhausted. Of course, if you didn’t have a sense of humor to start with, you wouldn’t notice.

Listening to busy people around the country, I’ve found that signs of trouble tend to fall into three categories:

BODY: Headaches, backaches, insomnia, and upset stomach lead the “body” hit parade.

SPIRIT: Losing a sense of humor, being grumpy or unable to concentrate; neediness, numbness and “being out of touch with myself” often describe spirits of those who are running on empty.

RELATIONSHIPS: Nagging, withdrawal, isolation, fights, domestic abuse and violence, can afflict us--and friends and family, too.

And then there's memory loss as in, “Where did I put those car keys?” That falls into all three categories.

The good news is that once we notice a danger signal, we can think about it, talk about it — maybe with a professional — and do something about it. Step one is becoming aware.

AND HERE COMES QUESTION #3, which gets at becoming aware of tensions and other feelings. Some of us walk around with our emotions sunburned. If anyone touches us, we flare.

3. How many times in the past 3 days do you or others think you overreacted, let a little thing get to you in a big way?
0 (4 points)
1 - 2 (3 points)
3 - 4 (2 points)
5 - 6 (1 points)
6+ (0 points)

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

A REAL BROOKLYN GHOST STORY

Here is a real ghost story from Brooklyn Beat. His blog, Deep in the Heart, of Brooklyn has lots of great stuff to read.

Back in the day, well, sometime in the 1980s, when Reagan was as far-out and far-right a reaction to the Jimmy Carter years that the human mind could contemplate, you could still afford to rent your own apartment in Park Slope even though you were neither the employee nor scion of a hedge fund. Anyway, I lived on 7th street between 5th and 6th avenues. It wasn't a fancy hipster neighborhood, and as hard as it is to believe, we were were young once too and were probably the hippest things happening, but there was El Faro and Polly-O and Save on Fifth, and I was just leaving a public affairs and marketing writing job at a local hospital (then known as "the Body Shop"), and taking up freelancing for a number of film and trade mags, so I guess essentially life was good. I was living in the first floor of a brownstone; the owners, an older Italian American couple and their grown sons, lived in the upper floors. The husband of the couple grew his tomatoes and enjoyed his occasional chianti which reminded me alot of my maternal grandfather who had passed away shortly before I moved to this new place.

Once day, after I was living in the building for a year or so, the elderly husband himself passed away rather suddenly. My girl friend at the time, the Art Director's Daughter, and I had spoken to the sons earlier in the day. It was the first night of the wake, the family left in the early afternoon and informed us that they would not be returning until much later in the evening. We were planning to pay our respects the following night. Anyway, at around 7:00 PM it started. Footsteps. Nothing but footsteps, loud and clear, walking the length of the brownstone apartment above. A constant pacing that started near the front door, walked to the opposite end of the house, turned and walked back to the door. Slowly, methodically, but unmistakably.

At first, I believe the radio was on, I could hear this strange pacing only intermittently (they had no dogs or pets of any kind) , until it finally made its way into our consciousness as the Art Director's Daughter and I made dinner. I turned off the radio. Then, when it was very quiet, a chill went up and down my spine as I listened to the mysterious, relentless pacing.Finally, I went upstairs to knock on the door, but of course no one answered. I could not see or hear anyone (or anything) through the door. Since it was clear no one was ransacking their apartment, there was nothing much else to be done. But when I returned downstairs, there it was again. We turned on some music. The Art Director's Daughter (who was a Red Diaper Baby) was a big fan of the Weavers and Pete Seeger, so we cranked up some of that beneficent, positive vibe, good time hammer and sickle music, and had another glass of wine. I guess between the clomping, and the wine, and the Weavers, we distracted ourselves until it either stopped or we took less and less notice of it.

A few hours later, when the family returned from the first night of the wake, I decided to throw caution to the wind and mention the strange noises, just in case someone had in fact broken in through a window.The older son looked at me quizzically but went upstairs first to look around before his mom got out of the car. Nope. Everything was as it should be. "Maybe it was a sound from next door through the walls" he offered good naturedly. We apologized for bothering him, but he said, no, don't worry about it, I am glad that you let me know.

But, just as brownstone walls are thick, and floors in old houses can creak when you walk on them, I was sure that the old man had returned for a final visit, and was looking to see where his wife had hidden the chianti.

-By Brooklyn Beat

DO YOU HAVE CONDOSCHMERZ?

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York,"a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct," is written by Jeremiah Moss, an East Villager who describes himself as "waiting for the wrecking ball of gentrification to find me. Until then, I'll write this ongoing obituary for my dying city."

Condoschmerz. Literally "condo pain" or "condo weariness." Inspired by the German Weltschmerz. Describes the psychological pain and existential hopelessness experienced when one's city is overcome by rapid, ubiquitous, luxury condo development. Often accompanied by disorientation due to a suddenly changing, once-familiar landscape. Before depression sets in, can initially lead to a sense of powerless rage which may inspire those suffering from Condoschmerz to perform acts of vandalism.

I found out about this on the City Room.

JALOPY: IS IT A THEATER, A MUSIC STORE, A GALLERY, A SCHOOL?

All of the above and they repair instruments, too. And it's in Red Hook. There was an article about Jalopy in the New York Post recently that put it this way:

What exactly is Jalopy, anyway?

A visitor might well ask. Depending on what time and day it is, it's a music venue, a café, an art gallery, an instrument shop, a rehearsal space and a music school. In the front, a bar with a cappuccino maker sits across from a wall of guitars and banjos; in the back is a performance space with a row of church pews for seats, where blues, jazz and country bands play by night, and kids' music classes meet by morning.

A "community arts space" is what the Wileys call it, and if it's hard to pin down, that's according to plan. They hatched the idea for Jalopy several years ago, while living in Chicago, where Lynette ran a nonprofit funding youth programs and Geoff worked at a prop studio. They'd bought a building in the Wicker Park neighborhood, and while pondering what to do with its storefront, Geoff, a musician, sculptor and former actor (as well as stagehand, carpenter and vintage-car mechanic), began to formulate a vision.

And they're putting on a Sam Shepard play called, The Holy Ghostly on November 1st at 8 p.m.

JALOPY
315 Columbia Street

WOW: THE HOAX IS A GOOD MOVIE

We rented The Hoax, the Lasse Hallstrom film about Clifford Irving, the author who wrote the fake bio about Howard Hughes, with Richard Gere. Marca Gay Harden and Albert Molina, from Hollywood Video and it's an excellent movie.

Great script, great 1970's mise en scene, great story. Funny, too. Rent it.

What else do we have at the moment:

A Mighty Heart
Grizzly Man
Evening
Mostly Martha

MAGGIE G. AND JOHN TURTURRO ON SHORT LIST FOR PS 100

The Brooklyn Paper reports that Maggie Gyllenhaal is looking to make a contriution to the community.

“Now that my daughter is older and I have more free time, I want to spend as much of it as possible helping people who don’t have all the advantages I have,” Gyllenhaal said told the Brooklyn Paper at a public school fundraising event at Acorn, a toy store in Cobble Hill.

And according to the New York Times City Section, actor John Tuturro is one of the Community Bookstore angels.

In April, an investment offering went out in which Ms. Bohne offered up to 49 percent ownership in the store to a group of friends willing to put up at least $10,000 apiece. So far, six people have signed up, including the actor John Turturro, a neighborhood resident and longtime customer.

“I’d never done this with a store,” Mr. Turturro said. “But now as I’m getting older, all these great small bookstores and art house movie theaters, so many things I love, are being swallowed up by a supermarket mentality.

Who's on your short list?

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

PARK SLOPE IS AN INSULT NOW

Ditmas Park is so coming into it's own as a neighborhood. It used to be the nabe with the gorgous Victorian houses. And that was about it.

Now it's got fabu restaurants, new stores, and a real sense of community. It's also got a multi-faceted personality:

.--I used to live in Park Slope but I ain't looking back
--Vox Popping lefty
--Sustainable Flatbush and green consciousness
--Artsy and living well

According to Ditmas Park Blog, many in the nabe don't think much of Park Slope anymore. Ditmas Park blog says that "Go back to Park Slope" is becoming a local insult. I see t-shirts, postcards, posters, a blog...

So, despite the general direction of migration from Park Slope to Ditmas Park, or maybe because of it, "Park Slope" seems to be a bit of an insult around here.

As an anonymous commenter wrote Monday in response to gripes about Connecticut Muffin, "Are you from Park Slope or something? Sure sounds like it."

THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE THAT COULD: IN THE TIMES TODAY

Good story in today's City section with a really nice pix of Catherine and others (is that Josh, THE Josh? and who's the other guy) in the back of the store.

I just wish the lizard had been more visible.

Here's an excerpt from the article about the beginning of the community crusade to save the bookstore from foreclosure last winter:

It was around this time that Erika Doering, a local interior designer, paid a visit to the store and found Ms. Bohne in tears behind the register. Ms. Doering went home, telephoned a dozen loyal customers and invited them to a meeting in which participants divvied up responsibilities. Within a week, Ms. Bohne and a local real estate investor named David Sweeny had drawn up a business plan for the store and contacted the bank to renegotiate the loan.

In April, an investment offering went out in which Ms. Bohne offered up to 49 percent ownership in the store to a group of friends willing to put up at least $10,000 apiece. So far, six people have signed up, including the actor John Turturro, a neighborhood resident and longtime customer.

“I’d never done this with a store,” Mr. Turturro said. “But now as I’m getting older, all these great small bookstores and art house movie theaters, so many things I love, are being swallowed up by a supermarket mentality.”

The business is not out of the woods. Ms. Bohne has yet to work out a payment plan with one of her biggest distributors, and as a result, some shelves are still empty. She is still seeking another dozen investors, and the bank loan will be up for renegotiation in three years. But sales have been running well ahead of projections, and Ms. Bohne’s de facto business manager, Mr. Sweeny, sees things looking up.

“It seemed, at first glance, pretty bleak,” he said. “The creditors were at the door. But at least for now, I’m cautiously optimistic.”

NEW BLOG ON THE BLOCK: SLOPE SCOPE

Just got an email from Slope Scope. Very impressive. It's a blog, a neighborhood resource, a portal to other blogs. Very interesting.

I am proud to announce the official launch of Slope Scope! This site has been a dream of mine that I have been slowly building up for about a year, and I've finally made enough progress to release the site to the general public. Living in Park Slope has been amazing, and having the ability to share my experience and know-how with a broader audience is an exciting prospect. If you have any suggestions or comments about the site please email me at feedback@parkslopescope.com.

Slope Scope, welcome to the block.

SCHUMER SAYS: NATIONWIDE MRSA REPORTING NEEDED

Metro NY reports that our man and Park Sloper Senator Charles Schumer is calling for a nationwide reporting system for MRSA, antibiotic-resistant strain of staph infection blamed for the death of a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy.

This from Metro NY:

"We need all hands on deck and all eyes watching to ensure this superbug doesn't pop up again and leading to the same tragic outcome," Schumer said on Sunday. "Unfortunately, without labs and hospitals reporting MRSA infections, we'll never know where the next case could pop up or if we have things fully under control."

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA, have gained attention since a government report this month found more than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly staph infections each year.

The bacteria can be carried by healthy people, living on their skin or in their noses. Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections, but severe infections can enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and become deadly.

The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once commonly used to treat them, but they can be treated with other drugs.

Brooklyn middle school student Omar Rivera had lesions on his legs and back, friends said. He was taken on Oct. 14 to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

BLOOMBERG: NO PERMITS REQUIRED FOR PHOTOGS AND FILMMAKERS

This from New York 1:

Photographers and filmmakers will reportedly be able to film around town without worrying about red tape.

According to the New York Times, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a plan that will allow amateur photographers and independent movie makers to capture images in the city without getting a permit or insurance.

The new rules would differentiate between artists who don't take up a lot of space and cause problems for motorists and pedestrians.

Those who use "obtrusive equipment" and gear that is not hand held would still be required to get a permit and at least $1 million in insurance.

Originally, the city was going to require permits and insurance for any group of two or more people using a handheld camera in a public place for more than 30 minutes, but the city backed down after a public outcry this summer.

HOW ABOUT A 'THANK YOU' FOR SMARTMOM

Here is this week's Smartmom from the award-winning Brooklyn Paper.

Here is a tale of good intentions gone awry or perhaps proof of that old adage that no good deed goes unpunished.

Last week in her role as a blogger, Smartmom received an e-mail from highly respected local journalist, who happens to read Smartmom’s blog.

Savvy Journalist sent Smartmom a note that epitomizes the concept of micro-community that Smartmom so cherishes about this neighborhood.

“Hi everyone,” Savvy Journalist wrote. “My neighbor is an assistant principal. She is looking for books, board games, puzzles etc, for classrooms there. If you feel inspired to do a cleanout of your extras and want to pass stuff on, I figure it’s easier to give stuff to her than organizing a stoop sale! Feel free to pass the note on to others in the area who might be interested in helping.”

Below that note, there was the original e-mail that Savvy Journalist had received from her friend.

“Any chance that you have some books that are in good shape that you’d like to donate to the school? I’d be more than happy to come and pick them up. Just let me know. Thanks so much. And pass this on to people you know who might have stuff as well.”

Pass this on. Those are three of Smartmom’s favorite words. And being the Good Samaritan, community-oriented blogger that she is, she posted this information on her blog under the headline: School Needs Books.

The whole thing made Smartmom very excited. Her apartment is inundated with books and not enough bookcases. (Remember that column about Hepcat’s hoarding habits? They continue, you know!) She savors any chance to pass on the literary treasures in her midst that she and her children no longer need.

Later that morning, she received a nice note from another reader of her blog. She, too, responded excitedly to the call-out for books and told Smartmom that she would post the information on Park Slope Parents.

That night, Smartmom told her family about the book drive. She is always looking for a way to motivate the Oh So Feisty One, Teen Spirit, and especially Hepcat to part with books.

“A local teacher needs books for her school,” Smartmom said, pouring on the drama. “These kids have no books in their school, they need stuff to read.”

Before she could say “Karma is a boomerang,” OSFO was going through her bookcase tossing books into the hallway (“Magic Treehouse, Chocolate Fever” and “Franny K. Stein Mad Scientist”). Teen Spirit also found a few books he was willing to part with.

Even Hepcat, pack-rat extraordinaire (“archivist,” “curator of ephemera,” “amateur librarian,” or “dedicated preservationist” are terms he prefers) managed to find a book (one single book): “At Large: the Strange Case of the World’s Biggest Internet Invasion.” (Of course he put up that book; he owns two copies of it!)

The next morning, Smartmom saw an e-mail from Local Teacher, which she raced to open. She had to admit that the terseness of it was a bit startling. Local Teacher wrote that she is not an assistant principal at the school as her neighbor had mistakenly said in the e-mail.

OK. Smartmom is always big on fact-checking.

Local Teacher then went on to say that she was swamped by offers of books, cannot keep up with the demand, and would appreciate if Smartmom would remove the notice.

Ouch.

Smartmom was confused. It wasn’t even a simple and gracious, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Had she done something wrong? Was it Smartmom’s fault that so many people had responded? Was the school angry that so many people wanted to give?

Smartmom thought long and hard about this on her run around Prospect Park. Yes, she was smarting from the unappreciative e-mail. But she also felt like she had tripped upon an interesting truth.

There’s giving and there’s giving.

Smartmom meant no harm in posting Local Teacher’s original message. The more the merrier as far as she’s concerned.

But the problem is this: Too much of a good thing is just that. Boxes and boxes of books require someone to pick them up and deliver them, sort through them, unpack them, and get rid of the books that can’t be used.

It’s all about specificity and making your needs clear. Smartmom thinks Local Teacher should have clarified the scope of her own needs. What she probably needs most is a small group of ready, willing and able volunteers to organize a book drive. She needs help with transportation, sorting, and cataloging. She needs money, energy and people’s time.

It’s a big job, but there are a lot of people out there who have something to give.

Smartmom learned recently that the Community Bookstore is in the process of organizing a book drive for a school library in New Orleans.

If they do it right, they’ll engage the community to help them with the logistics. Like Local Teacher, they’ll need help picking up the books, cataloging them, sorting through them, packing them up, paying for postage and sending them to New Orleans.

These are all great ideas: Books for a local public school. Books for New Orleans.

But be careful what you ask for. In Brooklyn, especially, you’ll get it — so you’d better have the means to accept the gift.

And, not for nothing, but “thank you” is a nice thing to hear once in a while.

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

AWARD WINNING PS POET HAS TWO READINGS IN PS

Lynn Chandhok will read from her book, View from Zero Bridge, which was selected for the Phillip Levine Prize. That's a big deal.

Congrats to Lynn, who lives in Park Slope, has taught middle and high school, and travels frequently to India.

Mark Jarman says of Chandhok's writing: "Lynn Chandhok's are poems of two worlds, united by the poet's eye for detail and ear for the iamb's narrative music. She seems constantly aware of what is happening, as she says, 'a hemisphere away.' The View From Zero Bridge, honest and necessary, could not come at a better time."

Community Bookstore reading: November 1, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.

Brooklyn Reading Works: November 15th at 8 p.m.

Lynn will be part of Poetry Punch at Brooklyn Reading Works on November 15th. That reading will also include: Michele Madigan Somerville, Cheryl B., Zaedryn Meade, Marietta Abrams, and possibly Rachel Vigier.

PIRAMIDE SERVING MEXICAN, RACHELS SERVING LIQUOR NOW

There's a new Mexican restaurant on Fifth Avenue between 12th and 13th called PIRAMIDE. A member of Park Slope Parents (who says she has no connection to the place) says that the food is GREAT, the prices reasonable, and the people are really nice.

I peeked in a few weeks ago before they opened and it looked like a nice renovation and a nice interior.

As of Friday, they have their liquor license.

While we're on the topic, the new bar at RACHEL'S TAQUERIA looks really nice and the joint is hopping. Rachel's on Fifth Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets is now an attractive bar/restaurant serving everyone's favorite burritos.

And one more thing, next door to Belleville and Superhero Supply Store, a take-out organic food shop is set to open. They're doing renovations now. I forget the name but the gist is: prepared fresh ingredients ready to be heated up at home.

A PERFECTLY WONDERFUL DEPRESSING RAINY DAY

Ain't it just?

It's teeming rain out there and the sky is dark. Resolutely unsunny. The still green leaves on the tree in front of our living room window adds just the right amount of color. Nobody is awake and I've got my coffee and my computer.

It's a perfect day to do nothing and feel completely justified in it.

It's also a perfect day to mull, write, bake cookies, clean a closet, read a book, play the guitar. do sit ups...

But whatever you do don't go out. And if you do, put on your green wellies and a really good raincoat.

Don't forget to take an umbrella.

FEELING SCANDA-LICIOUSLY COOKIE-ISH: EAT, DRINK, MEMORY

Get over to Eat, Drink, Memory. She's feeling scanda-liciously cookie-ish. And there's an oatmeal cookie recipe.

Save one for me, Saucy Tart (aka Mrs. Cleavage).

GROUNDBREAKING FOR NEW POOL AT PROSPECT PARK YMCA

This from NY1:

Swimmers at a Brooklyn YMCA will soon get a brand new place to practice their strokes.

A groundbreaking was held today for the new Aquatics Center at the Prospect Park YMCA. The nearly $6 million pool is being built to replace the current pool which opened in 1927.

The new pool will feature more lanes and increased accommodations for members with special needs.

"We definitely have a huge demand in this community for more aquatics programs,” said YMCA Vice President of Operations Sean Andrews. “We're going to be able to serve over a thousand local school children with free swimming lessons as a result of the pool and really expand its capacity."

The new pool is slated to be complete by 2009.

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH: PS MEET-UPS AT UNION STREET TEA LOUNGE

Where else?

I did NANOWRIMO a few years back. It's the basis of the novel I am now revising. It's called "The Last Sublet" and if you're interested in taking a look let me know.

There will be BROOKLYN Meetups and Write-Ins Once a week:

Tuesday's at the Union Street Tea Lounge from 7 pm until late.

Thursdays (starting 11/8) will be in Williamsburg at the Alligator Lounge on Metropolitan Avenue (free brick oven pizza with every drink!) from 7-ish to late.

NANO WRIMO IS (here's the blurb):

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

In 2006, we had over 79,000 participants. Nearly 13,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2007. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works page!

SLOPE HALLOWEEN FUN: RAIN OR SHINE

The Prospect Park Halloween Haunted Walk happens rain or shine.

Prospect Park celebrates Halloween with good old-fashioned fright! Check out the Haunted Walk and Carnival on Saturday, October 27. On Saturday and Sunday, the Park offers great events for kids at the Carousel, Lefferts Historic House, and the Audubon Center. Click here for more information about Halloween.

So do the fun Halloween-related activities at the Green Market at Grand Army Plaza.

THIS JUST IN: INAKA SUSHI CLOSING AT END OF OCTOBER

An OTBKB reader just sent an email saying that Inaka Sushi is closing at the end of October. Wow. That's the end of an era. Hepcat and I used to eat there when the restaurant was located where Sotto Voce is now. I ocassionally eat lunch there.

My wife and I were sad to learn this week that Inaka Sushi House on 7th Avenue will close at the end of October.

The owner tells us the landlord sold the building and the new owner plans to renovate, forcing her out. She
plans to retire.

Fans of the restaurant are encouraged to pay it one last visit this week.

PARKER PLACE: NEW PS DAY CARE OPENING STALLED

Park Slope desperately needs day care centers. But rules are rules. Especially the rule about there being two separate exits onto the sidewalk (means of egress). It's all about fire safety and that's very important when children are concerned.

Still it is very time consuming and costly to get a day care center off the ground. Legally that is.

There must be a way that the city can help expeditie this process. The alternative is more illegal daycare. Is that really better?

Parker Place, a new South Slope daycare in the space where Baby Bird used to be, is having trouble getting the permits required by the City to stay open.

The owners have excellent intentions and many interested parents. The space just didn't meet code

The City Room lists some of the reasons why Park Place was denied permits:

For one thing, applicants have to secure a change in their site’s certificate of occupancy from the Department of Buildings, a process that can take months.

One of requirements that has proved trickiest is that day care centers must have two separate exits (or “means of egress,” in city lingo) onto the sidewalk. The rule applies to “family day care” centers, smaller facilities run out of their operators’ homes, too, and enforcement was intensified in November 2005 after the city’s Health and Fire Departments and the State Office of Children and Family Services met to clarify their policies

Hopefully, Parker Place will be up and running soon. The neighborhood needs it. So do the kids.

MOIM GETS ONE STAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

Moim, the Park Slope Korean restaurant on Garfield Place just off of Seventh Avenue, was very well reviewed by Frank Bruni in the New York Times this week.

Kudos to Moim

Bruni loved Chef Park's Korean Korean appetizers, main dishes, especially Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop, vegetables, meat and rice served in a steaming hot stone rice bowl and her signature use of the Korean national condiment, Kimchi.

He wasn't as crazy about Park's take on American restaurant staples like duck breast. AND Bruni most emphatially did not like the service.

The service is a serious issue. On several visits the time that elapsed between our waiter’s visits to the table was so great — and those visits took on such a rare, eventful air — that my companions and I came to think of him as a comet. More than once one of us asked another: “Any idea where Halley is?”

It was the kind of review that that dropped hints about the way the restaurant, with some improvement, could one day get even more stars.

With a little more maturation, a rethinking of a bit of its menu and better service, Moim could join the increasingly populous club of Brooklyn restaurants, like Franny’s and Al di Là, that Manhattanites rightly and badly covet

. OTBKB reviewed the restaurant in late July.

Well, something very special has come to Park Slope and it has an interesting Park Slope twist to it.

Moim is owned by a Korean couple who live in Park Slope. He is a CFO of a Queens hospital and she is the restaurant's chef. They bought the brownstone that Moim is in and did a MAJOR renovation to the space where the Chinese laundry used to be.

But that's not all. The owners dug a new foundation in the former backyard and added an elegant back room for the restaurant and a patio for dining alfresco. The addition also houses the wife's high tech kitchen.

Not only did this couple put an enormous amount of money into the restaurant but also real architectural elegance and Asian style. For the extensive renovation, they hired a noted Tribeca architect, who did an incredible job.

Stone, black brick, Asian screens: beautiful architectural touches abound. Moim, which means "gathering" Korean is an exceedingly nice place to be.

Enough about the decor. The food and service were very good. The moderately priced menu is a a mysterious collection of Korean classics and what I think must be new Korean cuisine.

Still Bruni says that the restaurant wasn't blogged about much. I know my review is on Yelp.

IN an age of countless food bloggers and tireless restaurant scouts, I’m not sure how a worthy restaurant winds up flying under the radar anymore. But that’s where the new Korean restaurant Moim finds itself, no doubt against its wishes, certainly against its interest

After the Times review I don't think Moim is going to have any trouble attracting customers. The only problem is that people are unfamiliar with Korean food. It's a largely unexplored cuisine in the US.

Bruni seemed to have nothing but respect for Chef Park's cooking. Slightly less for her abilities as a restauranteur. But that will come for this gutsy Park Slope chef.

She’s new to this. A Korean immigrant who worked for 13 years as a graphic designer, she decided six years ago to become a professional cook, enrolling in the French Culinary Institute. Jobs as a line cook at Spice Market and Café Gray followed.

And in June, at the age of 48, she dared to open her own place. Its shortcomings suggest she has a way to go as a restaurateur. Its strengths demonstrate that as a chef she has traveled an impressive distance already.

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

KENSINGTON BLOG: IT TAKES A STRANGER TO SAVE YOUR LIFE

Kensington Blog has a personal post about how a relative, a friend, or a total stranger can do  something that will save your life.

For me it was a hand that grabbed my foot when I was about two years old. I guess the view of East 4th street from our roof looked inviting. It was the hand of a young mother (my mom) that pulled me back inside our apartment just moments before I would become another dot on a NYC chart. For my cousin Pete, another son of Kensington and East 4th, it was the voice of a stranger screaming at him to run faster just before a piece of an airliner killed the person directly behind him on a sunny day in September 2001. It may have also been the“Brooklyn” in my cousins blood too that saved his life. When the loud speakers blared the instructions that “everything is OK and there is no need to evacuate at the present time”. My attorney cousin just said “bullshit” and left only to meet up with falling jet parts on the street below. Buy hey, he was back to work the next day up in Westchester, you got to love that Empire Blue Cross.They probably helped him forget 9/11 by making him work on 9/12.

READ MORE AT KENSINGTON BLOG.

CLEVER DOC WANTS TO KNOW: ARE YOU STILL LEARNING?

So how often did you laugh? Or did you just ignore Clever Doc's first question? Clever Doc says that laughing, chuckling or smiling is good for you. Losing that ability is a danger sign. 

Here's another post from from Clever Doc, also known as Linda Hawes Clever, friend of OTBKB and the founder of Renew.

A super-achiever with a streak of the Type-A, she's a medical doctor and an occupational health specialist with a national reputation for activism and for professional and community service. In her work with Renew, she's helping people battle the spiritual and physical exhaustion that zaps energy and the ability to live in the moment.

Just look around you on the subway, in the office, at school? Doesn't everyone look hap hap happy?

MOST CHILDREN LAUGH 60 or more times a day. What happened to us? Our responsibilities grew; our simple pleasures diminished. We may be scattered or pressed. The first renewing question, “How many times did you really laugh yesterday?” checks out our sense of humor and fun.

Laughing, chuckling, or smiling is good for us; losing the ability is a danger signal.

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust although his family was killed, is the author of a short, must-read book called, "Man's Search for Meaning." In it he describes his efforts to conduct sense-of-humor workshops for fellow concentration camp inmates. 

Even in the midst of unimaginable horrors, Frankl discovered, laughing breaks a downward spiral and lifts us out of the muck. Even for a moment, life changes for the better.

On a more personal note, I have a colleague who avoids human downers and seeks out people who make her laugh. Laughing buoys her in the moment and also leaves good memories.

Now, let's talk about learning. Learning helps us refresh, do better at work or home; expand horizons and, therefore, enhance freedom and choices.

Learning provides the savory pleasure of understanding our world, our neighborhood, maybe ourselves.

HERE is the Second Question:

2. How would you describe your recent learning?

--Haven’t learned a new subject in the last year (0 points)

--I’m focused exclusively on what I know (1 point)

--I read or search widely beyond my basics (2 points)

--I take courses outside my basics (3 points)

--I teach others (4 points)

SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS IN FRONT OF PS 321

Last night I noticed that workers were doing something related to improving the sidewalks on the west side of Seventh Avenue between 1st and 2nd Streets.

It was a welcome site.

That's been a bumpy stretch of sidewalk. The work is creating a bit of a pedestrian obstacle course but that's okay. Improvements are on the way.

 

PARK SLOPE PASTOR'S UPDATE ON HOMELESS

Pastor Daniel Meeter wants to thank the community for their interest and participation in the conversation about the homeless men wh live on the steps of Old First Church.

A large number of people saw his original post on the Old First Blog, on the New York Times's blog, City Room, and on OTBKB. At next week's Park Slope Civic Council meeting there will be a discussion of this matter.

It is all very gratifying to Pastor Meeter who believes that the community can work together to find a solution to this vexing problem.

On his blog, there's a update on this developing story.

There are some new facts on the ground. On Sunday afternoon, the cops were called in twice by neighbors. I have to say the cops were great.

As I left the church on Sunday evening, I found a steel bar the guys were keeping as a weapon. On Monday morning I learned that the men had been urinating in front of nursery school children and into their play-yard. On Monday evening a deacon confirmed to me that the men had exposed themselves in front of children while urinating.

Yesterday Frank showed me his face, very badly bruised. He told me had fallen, but I don't believe him. His face tells a different story. This morning I removed a blanket with blood stains on it.

"It's come to this, oh yes, it's come to this." (I guess I always expected it would come to this.)

I have been denying them permission to sleep on our grounds since last July, but I found it impossible to enforce. As of this morning, the Commander of Precinct 78 agreed with me that the police would enforce it...

READ THE REST ON PASTOR MEETER'S BLOG.

BROOKLYN MIDDLE-SCHOOLER DIES FROM STAPH INFECTION MRSA

This from New York 1:

A 12-year-old student at I.S. 2-11 in Canarsie died October 14th. By this past Monday, city health officials had lab information confirming the death was due to an antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

The Department of Health says parents at the school were notified Thursday, but they are assuring them this was an isolated incident. DOH also does not believe the infection has been passed on to any other students.

Health officials say they have no definitive data at this point on just how the Brooklyn student contracted MRSA.

The Heath Department is reminding everyone that most staph infections are treatable and fatal cases are rare. It has also advised schools on how to prevent and reduce the risk of infection.

GOWANUS LOUNGE GIVES THANKS TO SITT FOR LETTING CONEY'S ASTROLAND STICK AROUND

For another year, that is.

Still, GL writes eloquently of the day last September when he bid farewell to Astroland. Here's an excerpt. Read the rest at GL.

"When we left Astroland on September 9 after a long, long day of shooting photos, we turned around and literally said, "Goodbye" before we walked to the F Train feeling very empty. While we're not happy that we will get to have that feeling all over again next September, for now, we're glad to know there will be fireworks on Friday night, that we can go up in the Astrotower again and that we can wander around that outdated, little state fair-like midway again for another summer season. In its simplicity, Astroland reminds of us of something that is fast disappearing in a world of megabucks development and corporate blandness. It is real and it is genuine and it brings us back to a time when a carnival set up in a church parking lot and nobody knew what a latte was, let alone Starbucks."

PARK SLOPE RABBI JOINS THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE SEVENTH AVENUE HOMELESS

Rabbi Bachman responds eloquently to Pastor Meeter's post and proposes a Community Clean-Up Crew. Here's an excerpt from his blog, Notes.

"Old First is in the middle of Seventh Avenue–not an easy place for a House of Worship. It’s across the street from Key Food and next door to La Bagel Delight. Nearby are boutiques, jewelry stores, video/dvd shops, hair salons, and restaurants. Opposite its stoop are two of the most successful real estate agencies in Park Slope, where real estate prices increased 11% in the last year alone. That there are homeless people eating and sleeping and relieving themselves in the shadows of such economic growth and expression seems to be calling us to some kind of action, no?

So in the spirit of Nachum of Chernobyl, I propose a Community Clean-Up Crew. Different neighbors volunteer to take a day of the week and help Old First fulfill the mitzvah of hospitality. Do we need a public toilet? Do we need a warm meal program? Do we need a shelter? It seems to be the fair thing to offer. Those of us who don’t worship there walk past, drop a coin, smile, and move on–the systemic issue is on someone else’s stoop, so to speak.

But is that right? Seventh Avenue is a public stoop. And when you happen to be the House of God on Seventh Avenue, everyone is watching to make sure that the “right thing” is done, though everyone that’s watching may not be rolling up their sleeves to help.

So Rev. Meeter, consider yourself having a acquired a partner in this problem.

In the spirit of Abraham our Forefather, we are all sleeping on the stoop of Old First. We are all asking for money. We are all in need of a little human dignity.

Give us a day and we’ll help.

We will share your pain and share the blessing of what it is to serve."

READ THE REST ON ANDY'S BLOG.

 

 

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

Here's something from out pal, Pete, who now has a blog of his own called Full Permission Living. There's even a picture of him there. Nice to put a face to all the words and ideas.

This week in the New York Times there was a piece on parents who have their children (not infants) sleep in their bed, and how many of said parents keep it a secret for fear of being criticized.

I can tell you of countless situations where a child was suffering from developmental problems and delayed maturity, even up to as old as seven-to-ten years of age, because parents were allowing the child into their adult bed. In these situations, when the parents followed my recommendation to get the child out of the parental bed, the child experienced a maturational growth spurt almost immediately. Why? Because what children want and what children need are not always the same thing. In early childhood, the pull to regress back to an earlier stage of development is strong.

Growing up is hard. But in every species of higher mammal, the mother knows that her offsrping have to be pushed out of the nest and off of the maternal teat, so the young being can attain healthy, life-sustaining independence. Fortunately, for those animals such good parenting is instinctual. Unfortunately, for human children, parents can overrule their instincts. I've said this before and I'll say it again - parents who let their children into their bed past infancy are emotionally lazy, and are not operating from a place of mature parental love, but rather are being driven by their own unworked on fears of deprivation. Get those kids out of your bed. Please!

Peter Loffredo, LCSW