Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Phtotography by Rudolph Vernaz-Colas: You Better Watch Out...

Santa Claus at the Atlantic Mall.
Photo by Rudolph Vernaz-Colas.

JJ Byrne Park in the New York Times

Here's an excerpt from Jake Mooney's piece in the New York Times City Section about the changes in JJ Byrne Park:

I a way, the fall of 2004 was a more innocent, more trusting time around the handball courts at J. J. Byrne Park in Park Slope. The construction site next door on Fourth Avenue, which would years later sprout a 12-story condominium building, was still a fresh hole in the ground.

Yes, the work there digging the building’s foundation had destabilized part of the park, closing two of the eight courts and an asphalt field. But the building’s developer had agreed to fix them. The repair work, a city parks department spokesman said at the time, would most likely be done by April — April 2005.

Fall turned into winter, and to spring, and soon April 2005 came and went. As did April 2006, 2007 and 2008. The building, by Brooklyn-based Boymelgreen Developers, grew taller, and along the way it got a name — Novo Park Slope. People moved in. And through it all, the repair work remained unfinished, the handball courts and asphalt field fenced off.

Turkey Trot Results are Up

The results are in for Prospect Park Track Club's most challenging event of the year, Thanksgiving morning's Turkey Trot in Prospect Park.

Nearly 2000 runners of all levels gathered for a great race on a great day. For the results: go to the PPTC's web site.

This Week in Park Slope...

--December 1 at 7 pm: World AIDS Day Candlelight Service and Memorial Ribbon Project organized by the Gay and Lesbian Ministry of Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church at 7:00 pm at Park Slope's St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 116 Sixth Avenue, between Park and Sterling Places.

--December 3 at 11:30 am: Ribbon Cutting and Dedication in Washington Park (aka JJ Byrne Park) Fifth Avenue and Third Street.

--December 4 at 7 pm until 10 pm: Snowflake Celebration sponsored by the Buy in Brooklyn initiative. Local merchants throw open their doors to stay open late and create a holiday atmosphere, enabling you, the people of Park Slope, to do your holiday shopping . . . here!

Each participating business will stay open until 10pm, and offer some special promotion—could be a sale, could be a giveaway, raffle, carolers, snow machine (it's been done!), mulled wine, special hors d'oeuvres, etc. etc. The listings of participants grows daily!!!

--December 6 at 5 pm: Park Slope's BID First Annual Tree and Menorah Lighting Ceremony. At 7 p.m. a reading of The Christmas Carol at the Old Stone House.

Dec 3: Ribbon Cutting and Dedication in Washington Park (formerly JJ Byrne Park)

On December 3rd, there will be a ribbon cutting and dedication to mark the completion of the first phase of the work being done on JJ Byrne Park, on Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street, which was funded by Boymelgreen Developers. The project includes a new skate park, two new basketball courts, six handball courts, a new dog run, new fencing, gates, pavement and landscaping.

There will also be a groundbreaking for the next phase of the project, which includes a synthetic turf green, new fencing, landscaping and the plaza area opening the view of the Old Stone House to Fourth Avenue. Much of this work is being paid for by the Parks Department I believe.

On this day, the park is also being renamed Washington Park, because of the park's connection with the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The playground will be renamed JJ Byrne Playground.

Tom Martinez, Witness: Fun with Darts

This Thanksgiving I'm especially thankful for protective eyewear. Shown here: twelve year old Aidan Fontana preparing to fire at point-blank range.

Photo by Tom Martinez

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Dec 6: Pre-School Round-up Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy and Prospect Heights schools

If you are looking for a pre-school or program for your toddler or pre-school aged child, c ome to this Preschool Round-Up for Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy and Prospect Heights schools on Saturday, Dec 6th, 2008   12:00 – 3:00

So what is this?

An afternoon event in which local preschools and programs for the toddler and pre-school aged children will provide materials and information about their programs.  Many parents are unaware of the rich and varied choices in our community. Come and learn about some of these choices and ask questions.

Who is invited?

All parents in the community.

Cost? Nope. The event is free but no day care will be provided.

The following schools have been invited to participate (more are being added)

The Brooklyn School

Carousel Children's Center

The Dillon Child Study Center

Fort Greene Clinton Hill Cooperative

Green Hill School

Hanson Place Child Development Center

International School of Brooklyn

Maple Street School

Montessori Day School of Brooklyn

My Babies Footprints Child Care

Prospect Kids Academy

TriloK Preschool

Union Temple Preschool

The Where and When

Saturday December 6th from 12 - 3 p.m.
105 Lexington Avenue
between Franklin and Classon Avenues

Richard Grayson: Black Friday Shopping at the Malls of Brooklyn

A Black Friday (or "Brooklyn Friday) shopping trip to Brookyn Junction is a trip down memory lane for  Richard Grayson. Here's an excerpt.

As a pre-teen in the Kennedy administration, "going to the Junction" was a big treat for us, though it usually meant getting glazed donuts and comic books and window-shopping around what was the closest thing to a shopping area we could get to from Flatlands on the B41 bus.

By the end of the 1960s, we were jaded by our every-weekday trips as a student at Midwood High School and Brooklyn College, and these days we make the trip twice a week from Williamsburg to teach classes in creative writing and the short story, not to shop.

Passing a dozen or so Jehovah's Witnesses ladies at the train station, we made our way to the new Triangle Junction Mall between Nostrand and Flatbush Avenues on what used to be municipal and private parking lots where we kept our gold '73 Mercury Comet when we couldn't find a meter or a legal space anywhere else.

The mall's main store is Target, the fourth in Brooklyn, opened just last spring. Of course, the Circuit City in the same mall, which opened later, is already closing as that company, bankrupt, is forced to liquidate. Three people with big signs announcing the end of Circuit City, if not the world, are strategically placed on different corners, including in front of the elevator to the subway station.

Newsday: Daytrip to Park Slope

Leon Freilich, the Oh-So-Prolific-One/Verse Responder, brought an article in this weekend's Newsday to my attention, a guide and loving tribute to Park Slope with more than 100 photographs. See if your house is pictured or your favorite store or restaurant. The dining out section includes 45 photographs. Quite a few restaurants pictured are no longer in business, including Beso, Bistro St. Marks, Minnow, Cocotte, The Red Cafe, Surreal Cafe, Two Little Red Hens and Mirimam. It's actually a great record of extinct restaurants. Complete with pictures.

Park Slope is a fine mixture of late 19th century elegance and 21st century cool: Brownstones and limestones complete with bow windows, bay windows, turrets and cupolas vie for space along its tree-lined streets with up-to-the minute bistros and bars.

Built to compete with the upscale neighborhoods of that borough across the river, its own version of Fifth Avenue -- Prospect Park West -- was meant to be every bit as opulent as its more famous competitor. It never quite succeeded on that level, but it did draw its own plutocrats and merchant princes.

The main difference is that, even today, many of those mansions remain while much of Fifth Avenue has long since been turned into faceless -- if internally lavish -- apartment houses.

Markowitz: Statement on Murders in Mumbai

Statement from Marty Markowitz on murder of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg of Brooklyn and his wife, Rivka, Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum, Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter Naomi of Virginia,

    “We join the Brooklyn Lubavitch, Volove, and Satmar communities and all Brooklynites in expressing our outrage over the senseless and cruel murders of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife Rivka, Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum, Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter Naomi of Virginia, and all of the innocents murdered and wounded in Mumbai. The monsters responsible for these attacks are attempting to undermine democracy in peace-loving nations everywhere, but this savagery only strengthens our resolve to eradicate terrorism and such atrocities against innocents of all faiths, wherever they exist.

    The Holtzbergs could have lived a simple and quiet life in Crown Heights, where Rabbi Holtzberg grew up, but their sense of religious duty took them to India to run Mumbai’s Chabad House, which, under their stewardship, became a comforting home away from home for thousands of Jews. Rabbi Teitelbaum, the son of the Volover Rebbe from Boro Park, was in Mumbai as a kosher food supervisor. We are inspired by their commitment to others. The prayers of Brooklynites, New Yorkers and the global community are with the family and loved ones of Rabbi Teitelbaum, as well as those of the Holtzberg family, especially their 2-year-old son, Moshe, in this tragic time.

December Cheat Sheet: Loads to Do in Park Slope

--December 1 at 7 pm: World AIDS Day Candlelight Service and Memorial Ribbon Project organized by the Gay and Lesbian Ministry of Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church at 7:00 pm at Park Slope's St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 116 Sixth Avenue, between Park and Sterling Places.

--December 4 at 7 pm until 10 pm: Snowflake Celebration sponsored by the Buy in Brooklyn initiative. Local merchants throw open their doors to stay open late and create a holiday atmosphere, enabling you, the people of Park Slope, to do your holiday shopping . . . here!

Each participating business will stay open until 10pm, and offer some special promotion—could be a sale, could be a giveaway, raffle, carolers, snow machine (it's been done!), mulled wine, special hors d'oeuvres, etc. etc. The listings of participants grows daily!!!

--December 6 at 5 pm: Park Slope's BID First Annual Tree and Menorah Lighting Ceremony. At 7 p.m. a reading of The Christmas Carol at the Old Stone House.

--December 11 at 7 pm until 10 pm: Snowflake Celebration (see above).

--December 11 at 7 pm: An Evening with architectural historian, Francis Morrone: a reading and discussion of the Brooklyn Historical Society's newly published Park Slope Neighborhood and Architectural History Guide at the Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street.

--December 18 at 8 pm: Brooklyn Reading Works presents Feast (Writers on Food) to benefit a local food pantrym featuring Sophia Romero, Jill Eisenstadt, Tom Rayfiel, Sharon Mesmer and more. Curated by Michele Madigan Somerville. The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue and Third Street.

World AIDs Day in Park Slope: December 1

The Gay and Lesbian Ministry of Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church announces its second annual World AIDS Day Candlelight Service and Memorial Ribbon Project.

The Candlelight Service will take place on World AIDS Day December 1, at 7:00 pm in St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 116 Sixth Avenue, between Park and Sterling Places in Park Slope, Brooklyn and will feature a talk by designer and teacher Jim Morgan co-founder of Friends House in New York City, which offers housing and support to persons with AIDS, and Kisangura Friends Secondary School in Tanzania for children orphaned by AIDS.

The exuberant and inspiring Gay Men’s Chorus of Manhattan, a group of choral musicians dedicated to educating through song, who use the gift of voice to promote tolerance and acceptance for GLBT and all peoples, will perform.

The Ribbon Project will installed beginning in mid-November through World AIDS Day 2007. "It is our hope that the red ribbons bearing the names of some who have died of AIDS lining the iron fence that surrounds Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church will serve as a stark and reverent reminder of the continued need to strive to improve AIDS/ HIV education, support all who live with HIV and AIDS and press for a cure," writes one of the events founders.

With an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 HIV- positive individuals living in the U.S., and approximately 40,000 new infections occurring every year, the U.S., like other nations around the world is deeply affected by HIV/AIDS. On December 1, World AIDS Day, it is fitting to reflect on the way that the pandemic of HIV and AIDS affects us on local, national and international levels. The World AIDS Day 2007-2008 call to "Keep the Promise" brings emphasis to the importance of holding individuals, religious leaders, faith organizations, international and national governments and agencies accountable for the commitments they have made to fight HIV and AIDS.

The church invites all those who wish to do so to take part in their Ribbon Project by submitting names of loved ones who have died of AIDS. Send names, with or without last names -- informal or ‘nicknames’ are acceptable -- and dates of birth and death if these details are available.

This information may be mailed or hand-delivered, through the mail slot, to the St. Augustine Church Rectory (at 116 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn; mark envelopes: “Ribbon Project”) or sent by email to staugustinegay@gmail.com. Names inscribed on the ribbons will be read aloud as part of the prayer service. (deadline: November 28)

For further information please call St. Augustine Church (718 783 3132), write to staugustinegay@gmail.com or visit www.brooklyngaycatholics.blogspot.com .

Community Bookstore Moves Into the 21st Century With Cool New Website

I'm not being snarky. That's Catherine's line about moving into the 21st century (and I thought it was apt). Here's the latest from Catherine at the Community Bookstore. And guess what. As reported here a few weeks ago they have a brand new website that is delightful. The best news is that they have their own, easy to remember URL: communitybookstore.net. Cool.

But even better: You can order books from the store online if you go to the Get Books section. Now that is cool. But you won't get to step over a dog walking into the store. Your loss.

Hello everyone out there in Munchkinland! (Or do I mean, hello, from in HERE, being pretty much certain that Munchkinland is where I live?)

ANYHOW!  This is it!  This is the official news that our website is up, functional, and doesn't have too many embarassing corners (it's actually been up since August, but had . . . well, embarassing corners).  Since then, we've gotten used to it, so it seems a little funny to send out word, but . . . although quite an amazing few of you have found it already, NO!  THIS is the official news!!!!! 

 

Please step in, and take a look:  www.communitybookstore.net.

 

The information is current and accurate.  The events listings are up to date (thank you Rebekah), and the "Messing About" section is full of whatever tickles our fancy . . . . but probably the best and most important part of it is that you can now Order Books from us, on line. If you go to the "Get Books" section, you can troll through, search and peruse Books in Print -- if you want to order something, you can choose to have it sent to the bookstore for pickup (or if you add a message, free delivery -- we do that, don't forget!), or have it sent to you at home, or to you on vacation, or to your aunt in Muncie.

 

This is big!  This is huge!  This actually works!  And anyhow, we spent a lot of time and thought on it, so please indulge us, and check it out!

 

Every single order placed is routed through the bookstore (although orders placed to send to someone else ship directly from the distributor' s warehouse -- hugely efficient and zippy!) so we'll be watching out for you as always (Hold on, did you want the hardcover, when there's a paperback available?)( Are you a school?  Should you be tax exempt?)

 

Coming soon is our Holiday Newsletter, full of what we think are the best and most exciting books published this year.  And, yup, it will all be tied to the website, to make ordering (and sending) a snap.

 

This is our big move, into the 21st Century.  (oh golly, is it the 22nd, by now?  Hold on, I lose count . . . .anyhow, it's us trying manfully to be here, and now, and I think it's actually a pretty good shot  . . . . )  So join us, won't you?

Crown Heights Blog: Remembering Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg

Here is a remembrance of Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, who were murdered at the Chabad house in Mumbai yesterday. This excerpt, written by By Benjamin Holtzman of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, is from the Crown Heights Info blog

I lived in Mumbai for six months last year, and would go to the Beit Chabad with friends for a Shabbat meal about every second week. Over the course of six months, we got to know the rabbi and his wife quite well.

They were wonderful people: warm, inviting and engaging. Gabi would get visibly excited to have so many guests for Shabbat; you could tell it really made his week. He would have a grin on his face almost the entire meal, including during his dvar Torah. He was always so eager to create a communal feeling that he insisted everyone go around the table and say a few words to the group, giving guests four options: either delivering a dvar Torah, relating an inspirational story, declaring to take on a mitzvah or leading a song.

As most of the guests were Israeli backpackers and other passers-through, they might have found this quite novel. For us regulars, it was just Gabi’s shtick. I can still hear him reciting those four options to the group now, as if he had discovered some miraculous way to make everyone involved in the Shabbat with no escape, impressed by his own genius week in and out. He had a devilish smile; you could really see the child still in him, just beneath the surface.

Gabi was also exceptionally thoughtful. Though most of the guests were Israeli, Gabi would give his dvar Torah in English for the sake of the few of us English speakers there with sketchy Hebrew, so we’d understand. Sometimes he spoke line by line first in English, then Hebrew. Gabi would start discussions and made it his personal mission to get everyone talking, to make a group of disconnected Jews feel like a family. It worked. That was Gabi.

Rivki was a certified sweetheart. She’d generally sit apart from Gabi, to spread herself out, and usually sat with the girls. She too relished Friday night dinners — I think she needed her weekly female bonding time. She’d talk to the girls about the challenges of keeping kosher in India and share exciting new finds at the market together.

You could tell she was far from home, in this dense Mumbai jungle, but she was tough and really made the best of it. She would balance Gabi’s presence, occasionally making comments to people at her table while Gabi was speaking — not as a sign of disrespect, but to keep the people around her having a good time. That was Rivki: brave, fun-loving and super sweet.

Perhaps the greatest testament to their character was simply the fact that they lived in downtown Mumbai for years on end. Having lived there for just six months, I understand how incredibly taxing just existing in the city is. Even when trying to relax, the city still seems to suck the life out of you. Living as Westerners in modest conditions in the thick of Mumbai, with the restrictions of kashrut and Shabbat, is certainly no small feat.

I’m not sure if they were thrilled with their placement in Mumbai, but they certainly made a good go of it. They were only a few years older than me, in their late 20s, and despite being far from friends and family and perhaps not in the most exciting Chabad placement (compared to Bangkok, Bogota or Bondi), they kept positive and built a beautiful bastion of Jewey goodness.

They chose a life that demonstrated such altruism and care, in the truest sense. The Mumbai Chabad really made a difference to my time in India, and made me feel that much more at home in such a foreign country.

It was at Gabi and Rivki’s where I met Joseph Telushkin, the famous Jewish author. It was at Gabi and Rivki’s where I randomly bumped into friends of friends from back home. It was to Gabi and Rivki’s where we brought our non-Jewish Indian friends who became curious in Judaism. It was at Gabi and Rivki’s where a girl I would later fall for first developed feelings for me, when I brought her some water while she lay sick on the sofa from Indian food poisoning. She was being nursed by Rivki.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Screening and Benefit for National Disaster Search Dog Foundation at OSH

Here's an email from Willie's Dawgs, Park Slope tasty special hot dog place on Fifth Avenue.

The good folks at Willie's have a favorite customer, local Park Sloper, Peter Taft, who is an EMT with an exquisite search and rescue dog Cassius. 

There is no government agency that trains or provides these amazing working dogs, it is all done by private  work and donation. It takes about 10K to train each one.

Having lived through the World Trade Center Disaster I can personally attest to the absolute essential life saving and heroic services these dogs provide.

Willie's is having a great benefit for The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Spread the good word!!

The Where and When

Come to our benefit short film screening 12/4 Thursday 7:30 pm
Hotdogs, beer, popcorn, free stuff, all for $20.00
Proceeds to benefit The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

Holiday Open Studio with the Dinnersteins

Come to a Holiday Open Studio at the home of Simon and Renee Dinnerstein, Park Slope's first family of creativity. They sell the fruits of their artistic bounty:

Artwork: Eight new giclee prints of works by Simon Dinnerstein
Music: The Berlin Concert and Bach’s Goldberg Variations CDs by Simone Dinnerstein will be available

The Where and When

Saturday, December 6, 1pm – 6pm
Sunday, December 7, 1pm – 6pm
Home of Simon and Renee Dinnerstein
415 First Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues) | Brooklyn , NY
Please RSVP to pturtle58@aol.com  or 718.788.4387

Visit www.simondinnerstein.com/prints.html to preview available prints

Homeless Clothing Drive at Old First and Beth Elohim

The Park Slope Coalition for the Homeless seeks winter clothing for our homeless New-Yorkers.

Winter Jackets and Parkas, adult size L and XL
Sweaters, Sweatshirts, Cardigans, etc. adult size L and XL
Adult winter boots
Adult winter socks
Knit caps, cloves, and scarves.
Other clean adult clothing in good repair
(no dresses please)

For distribution on December 11, at our second "Home Team" day for the
homeless, at Old First, 6 am to 2 pm.

Please bring your donations by December 10 to Old First Reformed Church,
business hours Mon-THurs, or Congregation Beth Elohim, business hours Mon-Fri.

Also needed: volunteers to help sort clothing on December 9 and 10.
Contact the church or synagogue office.

Brooklyn Couple Caught in Mumbai Attacks.

A Brooklyn couple is caught in the cross fire in Mumbai. They moved to India to manage a Chabad house, run by the Lubavitch. Their 2-year-old son was released

This from the New York Times:

In 2003, barely out of their teens and newly married, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, moved from Brooklyn to the coastal city of Mumbai, India, to manage a mix of educational center, synagogue and social hall known as a Chabad house, one of about 3,500 outposts around the world run by the Lubavitch Hasidic movement.

The place soon became a year-round magnet for Israeli backpackers and the Jewish businessmen and tourists who flock to Mumbai, as well as for the Iraqi and Indian Jews who live there. Mrs. Holtzberg served visitors coffee and homemade kosher delicacies. Rabbi Holtzberg always offered a helping hand to someone who was sick or stranded, often calling worried parents or spouses miles and miles away to calm them.

On Wednesday, the Holtzbergs’ Chabad house became an unlikely target of the terrorist gunmen who unleashed a series of bloody coordinated attacks at locations in and around Mumbai’s commercial center.

Firing grenades and automatic weapons, the men also took the Holtzbergs and at least six other people hostage in the Chabad house, according to friends of the Holtzbergs. The couple’s 2-year-old son, Moshe, and a cook managed to escape about 12 hours into the siege, the friends said. The boy’s pants were soaked in blood when he emerged. By late Thursday afternoon in New York, there was still no news of his parents’ fate.

Thanksgiving: A Feast of Conversation

Hepcat always says that one of the reasons he married me is because of my family. And that's  everybody: mother, father, sister, stepmother, aunts, uncles, cousins...you get the idea.

He said it again last night as we were driving home in the Subaru after my family's large restaurant Thanksgiving on East 22nd Street. This time he said it to Teen Spirit and OSFO in the back seat.

"As I always say, I liked her family. And I liked her, too," he mused.

I should hope so was my reply.

But it pleases me that Hepcat feels this way about my large, interesting family because he lives far from his own family and that is difficult.

Especially on holidays when the heart pines for connection with one's loved ones. Hepcat's enthusiasm always makes his inclusion in our family events such a joy.

On the ride home, Hepcat recalled some of the conversational high points of the night. Indeed my extended family is a rapturously interesting group and their conversations can cover quite a bit of territory.

Last night was no exception.

The meal began with a toast from my first cousin, who reminded the group that there were two huge losses to our family this year: my uncle and my father. My sister and I were deeply moved by this and tears quickly filled our eyes.

And then the feast commenced. From the first course to the last (popovers and butternut squash soup to pumpkin pie and coffee and lots of turkey, prime rib, stuffing, mashed potatoes, risotto, brussels sprouts, carrots and green beans in between) conversation swirled around each of four tables like a content-filled tornado.

In between courses, family members circulated bringing with them news and views from their table of origin and great curiosity  ("what's going on over here?").

I can only account for the conversation at my table but it looked like loud and lively table conversation was the rule. Here are just some of the topics touched upon:

Obama's foreign policy. The remarkable skinniness of Teen Spirit's jeans. Post-college aspirations and living in Beijing. Turquoise hair. Election night in Providence, Rhode Island. A novel about the Thai/Cambodian border. The Turkey Trot in Prospect Park. Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Kansas City jazz. The delightful theatricality of one red-headed four-year-old. Skinny ties. Mashed potatoes. Empty nests. Working as a social worker in the  South Bronx. Synecdoce, New York. Educational policy in Baltimore. Skinny ties. "The Jewish Century" by Yuri Slezkine and The Pity of it All" by Amos Elon. Memories of 131 Riverside Drive, the building I grew up in, "Rock and Roll" by Guy Ritchie. Google...

And yes there was food and wine and plenty of it. But it was the alternating and non-stop conversations that were the most nourishing (and filling) of all and the reason that Thanksgiving is such a joy with this group.

Something to be thankful for. 

Michael's Brooklyn Memoir: My Sandy Field of Dreams

Here's the final installment for now of Michael D. Nolan's Brooklyn Memoir: Proximity: What can happen when we live, work and love close together.

Day before yesterday, I admired the newly rehabbed Day Street Rec Center, with its beautifully manicured baseball diamond surrounded by a verdantly lush outfield. The urge was still there. Wanted to jump off the bus and hit fungo to any available kid who might chase after my high fly balls. Back in my Brooklyn days, my buddies and I would have been all over a place like this, every day during baseball season, playing until sunset, sometimes later.

Where are the San Francisco kids? I see these gorgeous fields and no one on them. No more pick-up games and practice, only league games? Kids don't go anywhere unless mom or dad drives them there?

Wingate Field was my sandy field of dreams, just a six-block walk from my house. I played centerfield for a local Babe Ruth League team called the Black Sox, #13. And then as a teenager in the Parade Ground League, #44. I usually batted third or fourth in the line-up. I had a good arm and fairly accurate peg to third or home. But Wingate's turf was stony and sandy, not grassy, and an outfielder learned to deal with bad hops or bounces right over your head.

I probably learned humility there. I started out with a fairly simple Rawling's mitt. To cushion the hard drives, I sewed a cloth thumb slot on the backside of the glove. I must have been about 10. At that age, very often the only action you got in centerfield resulted from an infield error. But one day a high fly ball lofted in my direction and I caught it. In an exuberant moment of bravado, I flexed my biceps in a victorious pose. My teammates watched in dismay as an opposing player on third tagged home before I could hurl the ball to my catcher. I don't believe The Coach said anything to me as I came in at the end of the inning. His look of disappointment was sufficient.

More than anything, I loved to hit fungo, (batting the ball without pitching for practice.) I'd call for double-plays from the infield, alert the lonely rightfielder that the next shot was coming his way. Became quite adept at sending a high fly straight up above home plate. If there was no catcher, I'd grab it bare-handed. We often fetched lost balls from behind the stadium bleachers and repaired them with thin strips of white adhesive tape, making them extremely live and long-flying.

Charles Anderson managed and maintained Wingate Field. I wrote a song about him and his daily ritual titled "Haul Down the Flag, Charlie and We'll All Go Home." That's what Charlie did. He'd bring down the flag from the high pole signaling it was time for us to leave our sandy lot. We sang our anthem. We followed Charlie out the gate, which he locked, and drove off. Then we climbed back in through stretched bars in a side fence and kept on playing till dark.

Thinking Things Through on Thanksgiving

Here's this week's Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper:

Running has been Smartmom’s best friend in these months since her father died. The feelings of deadness, lethargy, and deep sadness that come with the loss of a parent are temporarily soothed by the endorphins produced during strenuous exercise.

So when she needs a lift, Smartmom puts on her black nylon running outfit, her Lulu Lemon running jacket, and her purple and white running shoes and heads for Prospect Park.

The natural beauty of Olmsted and Vaux’s masterpiece is also a consoling salve. The autumnal trees, a patchwork of yellow, orange, red and brown, are uplifting, as is the cumulative energy of so many others exercising at the same time.

A few weeks back, Smartmom listened to Bob Dylan singing “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” on her iPod as she ran. She remembered that it was her father who introduced her to “Blonde on Blonde” back in 1966, when she was only 8-years-old.

The tears came as she remembered her father’s passion for music. What a gift he left behind: the memory of him in music of all kinds.

What a curse. Every time she listens to music, she thinks of her father and gets sad.

Thump. Thump. Thump. During a recent run, Smartmom thought of her sister spending many hours recently trying to find a home for their father’s collection of jazz 78s, which he collected as a teenager in 1940s Los Angeles. Ever resourceful, Diaper Diva checked with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University and even Phil Schaap, the legendary WKCR jazz DJ, but no one wanted them.

Finally, a good friend came forward who collects 78s. He will house them in his upstate home where Smartmom and Diaper Diva are welcome to visit and listen to the music.

This kind of problem solving is how Diaper Diva is dealing with her grief.

Running around the park has always been a kind of therapy for Smartmom; it’s where she does her best thinking. So it’s no wonder that during these tough times, she finds that the steady thump of her running shoes inspires her to come up with solutions to problems of all kinds.

Will Teen Spirit have all his SUNY and CUNY applications done by Nov. 29? She makes a mental note to ask him how that’s going.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

What about the Oh So Feisty One? Her room is so small and she’s been pining for a loft bed for so long. Maybe it’s time to go to Ikea and get that damn Tromso loft bed even if it does come in 1,000 pieces and Hepcat will probably come undone putting it together.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

What about Hepcat? He’s been experiencing all kinds of joint and muscle pain. He did see an internist, but he’s still not feeling better. He needs to start exercising. He’s put his body on the back-burner for too long.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Smartmom breathes in and out, taking in the majesty of her park, the memory of her father, the faces of her family, and her heart’s elevated rhythms.

When she runs, Smartmom feels enormous gratitude to her body and its ability to transport her at running speed from Third Street, past the lake, Wollman Rink, the Audubon Center, the Zoo, Long Meadow, Grand Army Plaza and finally back to Third Street.

On Thanksgiving morning, Smartmom was set to run the Turkey Trot in Prospect Park, a joyful gathering and a highly energetic and exuberant way to begin Thanksgiving Day.

It also means guilt-free eating later in the day as in, “Hey, body, I just ran five miles I can eat what I want. Got it?”

This Thanksgiving, as she runs, Smartmom will give thanks to her wonderful and supportive community; Dr. Gruenstein, her father’s oncologist; and, yes, she will give thanks to her favorite park, a place to be soothed, a place to remember, a place to run.

Brooklyn Couple Among Dead in Murbai Hostage Crisis

Sadly, it was confirmed by the Chabad-Lubavitch, headquartered in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, that Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg (who was raised in Brooklyn) and his wife, Rivka Holtzberg (raised in Israel) were killed in the hostage crisis in the Chabad house in Murbai. Their 2-year-old son, Moshe, was smuggled out of the house by an employee and is with relatives in Israel.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife Rivka, 28, arrived in Mumbai six years ago as official emissaries [shluchim] of Chabad.

Gavriel, who was born in Israel and grew up in Kiryat Malachi, moved with his family to New York at the age of ten. He has dual citizenship.

 

 

 

Why Shop Local?

Scott Carney and Melanie Kozol are the owners of Bussaco. They will be participating in Buy in Brooklyn's Snowflake Celebration during the first two Thursdays in December (12/4 and 12/11) by offering hot mulled cider to passers-by.

Q: When did you open for business and why did you choose Park Slope?

A: We opened our restaurant on October 3, 2008. We love Prospect Park and have many friends in the neighborhood.

Bussaco Factoid: Their communal table is made from a fallen white oak tree from Prospect Park.

Q: Which of the Sustainable Business Network NYC's "Top Ten Reasons" to shop locally resonate most with you & your business?

A: Reason # 3: Our one-of-kind businesses are an integral part of Brooklyn's distinct character. Businesses in general are spirited outgrowths of the people that create them. Our home-grown enterprises deserve local support to further the wonderful array of choices we now enjoy in all corners of our borough.

Shop Local Factoid: The unique character of Brooklyn is what brought owners here and what will keep them here. Shopping at local businesses will help maintain Brooklyn's unique urban landscape.

Interview conducted by Rebeccah Welch

Crown Heights Info: News About Chabad House in Mumbai

Crown Heights Info, a blog devoted to the Lubavitch community in Crown Heights, is full of information and photographs about the situation at the Chabad house in Mumbai.

The parents of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who with his wife Rivka, is being held hostage in the Chabad house, live in Crown Heights Brooklyn. They flew to Israel yesterday to be reunited with their 2-year-old grandson, who was released with  his babysitter from the Chabad house.

The fate of the rabbi and his wife is as yet unknown (as of 10:09 am on Friday morning).

Park Slope BID: First Fifth Avenue Holiday Tree, Menorah Lighting and Reading

On Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m. Park Slope BID will hold the first annual holiday tree and menora lighting at 5 pm on the corner of 3rd Street and 5th Avenue.

Later, Broadway actor and Park Slope resident Kevin Hogan will perform a reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on Saturday, December 6 at 7 pm at the Old Stone House, 5th Avenue at 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY -- appropriate for ages 12 and up.   Enjoy hot cider and other beverages and snacks during the performance in OSH's lovely Great Room, which currently has an exhibit of artwork by Barbara Ensor.  Tickets are $10.

The Old Stone House is in JJ Byrne Park, between 3rd and 4th Streets, just off Fifth Avenue, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  For more information, please call 718-768-3195, or visit the Old Stone House website at www.theoldstonehouse.org

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

It's "Brooklyn Friday" Not "Black Friday"

On Friday, November 28, watch Marty Markowitz officially kick off “Brooklyn Friday”—formerly Black Friday—with a noontime “Shop Brooklyn” visit to The Spa & Wellness Center/Green Spa New York in Bay Ridge.

Sounds like he picked a nice spot to do the kick-off. I met the owners of this spa a the Gowanus Gren Festival last summer.

Founded in 1998, The Spa & Wellness Center is the city’s first all-green spa and first all-green building in Bay Ridge complete with ecycled natural furniture, walls, floors, and ceilings, solar power, and a selection of natural organic products and services.

So what is “Shop Brooklyn?"

    It's an awareness campaign that highlights the uniqueness of Brooklyn’s neighborhoods and thriving shopping corridors, re-introducing Brooklyn to Brooklynites, and inviting tourists and visitors to experience this cultural and shopping destination—not just during the holidays, but year-round.

Look for the "Shop Brooklyn" logo in the window of participating retailers, restaurants, bars, and other service providers. Those establishments will offer special “Brooklyn Bonuses” this Friday and each weekend from November 22 through December 21.

A Child Speaks at the Opening of PS 10's Barrier Free Playground

An OTBKB reader sent in this link to a video of a speech by a disabled first grader, who happens to be a double amputee, at the opening of PS 10's barrier free playground.

It is an astoundingly good speech -- particularly coming right before the Thanksgiving holiday.  I believe the child's name is Jake Lillis and he must be about six years old.  His remarks start about 30 seconds into this video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqPalQd65E

 

He's Back: Not Only Brooklyn on AOL Again

Not Only Brooklyn (NOB) is back on AOL. Below is Neil's explanation of what happened.  Turns out it wasn't some kind of weird cultural blacklisting. One of NOB's subscribers clicked the spam button rather than the unsubscribe button, which resulted in AOL's alogirthms shutting NOB down for a few weeks, causing Neil much undue agita.

Okay dude, time to get back to work: we need to hear about all the wondrous cultural events that are going on this weekend.

    Finally got a phone call from AOL. Exactly as I suspected, some disgruntled subscriber couldn't be bothered to unsubscribe, clicked in report spam multiple times, and the AOL algorithms, without any adult supervision, took note and eventually took action to close the account of this egregious spammer.

    The AOL adult supervisor apologized, confirmed the legitimacy of my NOB newsletters and that they merit white listing as legitimate bulk email, overruled the algorithms, and restored full account access during our conversation.

    However, there is still a problem. The AOL algorithms remain programmed to shut down any AOL member who persists in sending unsolicited emails. Which means NOB remains at risk of being shut down again by the same disgruntled subscriber who prefers to click on "report spam" than send me an email saying unsubscribe. I suggested a common sense approach, contacting the

    AOL member who insists on identifying arbrunr@aol.com as a serial spammer and asking said individual to simply unsubscribe, so I will know to stop sending NOB  to that particular subscriber who has changed his or her mind. He told me that AOL does not do that. But he promised to pass my suggestion along to senior management. And he gave me his direct phone number in case this happens again.

    My plan is to ask subscribers with AOL com addresses to confirm their desire to receive NOB. And to look into sending NOB from a free bulk email service such as Dada Mail - Mailing List Manager Although my longer term plan remains to hire a web programmer to help me transform NOB Arts newsletter into a web site. One that will be so user friendly, interactive, informative, searchable and fun to use that it will attract sufficient traffic to also attract the tasteful paid advertising that will make NOB self supporting.

Kidverse from The-Oh-So-Prolific-One, Leon Freilich

Kidverse: Bagel, Bagel

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where'd you get that funny hole?
Smeared with cream cheese piled so high
That it reaches to the sky!

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where's you get that funny hole?

Would  some butter do as well?
Fewer calories. docs yell;
Substitute some margarine
To avoid a double chin?

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where's you get that funny hole?

Who has got possession of
Middle pieces that I love?
Does it go to kids who're poor
Or just fall upon the floor?

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where's you get that funny hole?

Can I make some into a necklace
Or is that considered reckless?
Squeeze one  with my mighty fist
So it fits my little wrist?

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where's you get that funny hole?

Children tell me, is it true,
Bagels help when someone's blue,
And on Saint Patrick's Day,
They're all green from kelly spray?

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where's you get that funny hole?

What I'd really like to see
Is a bagel made for me--
Tasting sweet as sweet can be
Dough that's sparkling with candee.

Bagel, bagel, little roll,
Where's you get that funny hole?

Once a Lower East Side treat
Now you're something that all eat,
Bagel, bagel, near and far,
Global crossover star.

Bagel, bagel, near and far,
Global crossover star.

Dec 4 & 5: Brooklyn-only Documentaries Screening at Brooklyn Historical Society

The organizer of this event asked me to share this information about an upcoming two-day all-Brooklyn-focused Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival documentaries festival at the Brooklyn Historical Society on December 4th and 5th:

We are pleased to announce a two-day festival of Brooklyn-only documentaries at the Brooklyn Historical Society in Brooklyn Heights. This extraordinary opportunity to view many aspects of Brooklyn's rich cultural history from many perspectives will illuminate the unique stories of the people, neighborhoods and communities of Brooklyn as they live through great changes caused by ongoing economic and cultural developments.

These documentaries will shine a light on many different Brooklyn neighborhoods and will include docs about

--The crisis of Astroland's demise
--Memories of the violent 1980's in Bushwick
--Homesteading in Red Hook
--Combative senior citizens in Park Slope
--Streetlife on Atlantic Avenue in 1972
--1985 Trinidadian celebrations in Crown Heights
--Homeless racing pigeons in Williamsburg
--Youthful angst in East Flatbush
--A family romp at Coney Island in 1969
--Remembering Barbra Streisand 
--1981 in Flatbush and and many other short documentaries

The Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival is dedicated to presenting Brooklyn’s rich cultural history through film, art and performance. We look forward to presenting the works of filmmakers whose films feature Brooklyn's cultural history, communities and the stories of the people of Brooklyn.

The Where and When

The screenings will be held on December 4th and December 5th, 2008 at the Brooklyn Historical Society located at 128 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. The programs begin at 6:00 pm on both days and suggested admission is $5.00. Please call (718) 222-4111 or visit our website www.brooklynhistory.org for more information.

Landmarks Preservation Commission Under Fire in NY Times

So why does it take forever for the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to take action on historic neighborhoods and buildings?

Historical preservationists and pols have long been frustrated with the agency, which is meant to preserve the city's architectural heritage, because of its slow response time and lack of accountability

Today the New York Times presents the first in a series of articles examining how the famously mysterious commission works and details about a recent Supreme Court ruling that the agency's inaction is "arbitrary and capricious."

The New York Times conducted its own six-month examination of the commission’s operations. They discovered "an overtaxed agency that has taken years to act on some proposed designations, even as soaring development pressures put historic buildings at risk. Its decision-making is often opaque, and its record-keeping on landmark-designation requests is so spotty that staff members are uncertain how many it rejects in a given year."

Yay. Maybe this will help bring about change to the commission, which is in desperate need of an  overhaul. Here's an excerpt from the Times' article.

For years, preservation advocates have pleaded with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider enlarging its protective mantle in Park Slope, one of Brooklyn’s most scenic brownstone neighborhoods. In 2000 they proposed that the commission extend the 44-block Park Slope Historic District eastward and southward, preserving 19th-century residential architecture like the handsome houses on Garfield Place, with their two-sided bays and original stoop ironwork.

The initial response was encouraging: in a June 2001 letter to the Historic Districts Council, the commission said, “We will review the material and keep you informed of the process.”

And then the preservationists waited. And waited. This month — seven years later — a State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan decided that they had waited long enough.

Ruling on a lawsuit filed in March against the landmarks commission’s top officials by a preservationist coalition, the judge called the agency’s inaction “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered it to start making timely decisions on every designation request. To allow such proposals “to languish is to defeat the very purpose of the L.P.C. and invite the loss of irreplaceable landmarks,” the judge, Marilyn Shafer, wrote.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Why Foundation Rwanda for Karen Rothman-Fried

Yesterday I got a note from Andrew Fried, the husband of Karen Rothman-Fried, the PS 321, teacher who died suddenly and tragically last week. Andrew Fried wrote that while Karen did not have a connection with Foundation Rwanda, they had recently been  speaking about becoming involved with philanthropies.

According to Fried, Karen indicated that she wanted to support something that was directed to helping women/girls in underdeveloped countries.

Foundation Rwanda, which pairs that desire with her love of teaching and education, was, therefore, a perfect choice.

For information and donations in Karen Rothman-Fried's name:
www.foundationrwanda.org
Foundation Rwanda
241 Avenue of Americas 14C
New York, NY  10014

Photo of a Rwandan woman with her daughter by JonathanTorgovnik.

Snowflake Celebration: Extra Days and Expanded Partnerships

For the second annual Snowflake Celebration this year, the Buy in Brooklyn team is going all out!

The "shop local-shop late" event-- which falls on the first two Thursdays of December (December 4^th and 11^th), will include over 120 businesses in the Park Slope neighborhood and is growing at a clip.

Indeed, the stock market may well be playing an amplified role for organizers this year. From nearly every corner of the economic landscape, the forecast is bleak—giving this year's call to shop locally added impact. "The Snowflake festival is more important this year than ever," said John Ciferni, owner of Tarzian True Value Hardware and President of the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce. "In these hard economic times supporting our local businesses is one of the most important things we can do to keep our local economy and community strong," he said.

The cool fiscal winds may be giving Buy in Brooklyn's educational mission a boost too.  "We are excited to be partnering with a number of nonprofit and local groups this year to broaden the educational mission of Buy in Brooklyn," said Rebeccah Welch, who is running communications for the campaign and working with some of its partner organizations. From the Sustainable Business Network NYC (SBNYC) and Local Labels to the Brooklyn Green Team and Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC), the breadth of participants speaks to the range-- and the imperative-- of a thriving local economy.

"We hope to leverage greater support by getting out the word on how many excellent organizations are out there working hard on this issue," said Welch of the campaign.

The Buy in Brooklyn team is particularly excited about their work with the Borough President's Office, whose Shop Brooklyn launch they whole-heartedly support.  "We see this borough-wide initiative not only as a measure of our early success, but as a sign that a broader understanding has taken hold," added Welch, "one where people see how the health of small businesses has a direct impact on the health of local communities."

About Buy in Brooklyn: Buy in Brooklyn is an original initiative of the Park Slope Civic Council and Park Slope Chamber of Commerce and was founded in 2007 to bring merchant and community groups together to tackle local economic issues in greater collaboration. The "Snowflake Celebration" is a shop local-shop late campaign of Buy in Brooklyn organized by the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce in close partnership with a number of organizations including the 5th Avenue BID and the Sustainable Business Network NYC.

Danny Hoch: Giving Voice to Gentrificaiton

 Sounds like a must-see for those interested in the social, economic, and psychological implications of gentrification in this borough.

Hip-hop theater pioneer Danny Hoch takes over the Public Theater stage, presenting a one-man show of characters who have experienced gentrification in Brooklyn first hand.

Blazing through a fierce spectrum of New Yorkers, Danny gives voice to everyone from the developers evicting locals to make way for lofts, to the bar-hopping career hipsters who buy them, and those left in the wake of both. True to Danny's signature style, Taking Over is a raw, explosive, hilarious, and heartbreaking study of the impact of our obsession with economic expansion.

Performance Schedule:
Friday, November 7 - Sunday, December 14
Tuesday at 7pm
Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm
Sunday at 2pm

Park Slope Restaurants Serving Thanksgiving

Stone Park Cafe

Elementi

Tempo

Send in your suggestions...

Paper Love Coming to Lincoln Place

Here's the latest on continuing adventures of the three shops just east of Seventh Avenue on Lincoln Place (between 6th and 7th Avenues). At the moment there's Stitch Therapy at 176 Lincoln and One of a Find, a resale and vintage clothing shop.

Now Paper Love, a lovely looking shop that sells cards, wrapping paper and other paper good is set to open on Lincoln Place in the shop that used to be Pickleboots, the children's bedding and toy shop.

Pickleboots, which sells "unique and groovy custom bedding for kids" has moved to Maggie's Threads for Kids. 411 Seventh Avenue in Park Slope between 13th and 14th Streets.

The building is owned by a lovely older man who spends a lot of time making customized wood planters for each of the shops. He paints the planters with special designs related to each shop. He's a real master and takes great pleasure, it seems, in his craft.

We wave at each other most days. Here's something I wrote about him in May of 2008:

White hair, ruddy face; he wears green Wellington boots when it rains. He looks handy; happy with tools.

He seems like a very nice man. Just the other day, he was trimming the magnolia or some such blossomy tree he's got in front of his red brick building over there.

He makes nice painted signs for the stores. He helps fix their places up. He seems very involved in the day to day running of his building.

 

Procreate Don't Destroy: Daniel and Shabnam Have a Baby

Daniel Goldstein and Shabnam Merchant, the founders of Develop Don't Destroy, a community based group opposed to Forest City Ratner's 8 million square       foot "Atlantic Yards" development, are the proud parents of a six-pound, five-ounce baby girl born on November 9th. Her name is Sita Dorothy Goldstein.

Dec 7: Holiday Fun Fest with New York Family

New York Family is throwing a Holiday Fun Fest for families in Brooklyn. At this fun shindig in groovy Williamsburg there will be:

--Live Music by Mr.Ray!

--Glitzy Chicks Face Painting!                

--Special Guest named Santa!

--Cartoon Portraits by Z-Man! Live Magician!

--Goodie Bags!

The Where and When

Sunday, December 7, 2008
from Noon to 3pm
at the Edge Sales Office
135 Kent Avenue at North 6th Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Take the L Train to Bedford Avenue

Register now at New York Family

Bonus: The First 150 families to register and attend will be eligible to WIN Broadway Show tickets for four! 

This free event will benefit Toys for Tots
Please bring a new unwrapped toy to donate!

Card by http://berkowhat.com/hanukkah

Smartmom: Divorce Thanksgiving Style

Here's a Thankgiving Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper from few years ago.

Thanksgiving: that most American of holidays. Pumpkin pie. Football. Divorce.

For much of Smartmom’s childhood, Thanksgiving meant standing in front of the Museum of Natural History waiting for Underdog and Mighty Mouse to fly over.

The Macy’s parade would be followed by an enthusiastic gathering of her extended family in the large, light-filled dining room of their Riverside Drive apartment for a sumptuous meal, spirited discussion, debate and her Great Aunt Beatrice’s delicious mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

Without fail, Nanny, Smartmom’s maternal grandmother, would say, “Good eatin,’” plus a smattering of Yiddish words as a way to bless the abundant feast that was topped off by too many slices of pie from Greenberg’s Bakery on Madison Avenue.

But on the night before Thanksgiving the year she was 17, Smartmom learned that her parents were separating. On Turkey Day, her father was gone and her mother didn’t leave her bedroom.

It was sudden, it was quick. Her parent’s marriage was over and family life as she knew it was kaput.

Thanksgiving morning, Smartmom’s aunt picked up Smartmom and her sister.

“This is awful,” she said as she took Smartmom and Diaper Diva to her home in Westchester where Smartmom’s maternal relatives were gathered.

As she remembers it, nobody said a thing. It was the giant elephant; the great unmentionable.

Sitting at the huge Danish Modern dining table, Smartmom and Diaper Diva felt like orphans as they worried about their mother and wondered where their father had gone. The day went by in a blur of emotions. By the time the football games were playing on the black-and-white television, they already felt stigmatized by this unfortunate schism in their domestic lives.

Back home, the apartment felt empty and sad. Her mother was asleep and Smartmom sat in the living room and listened to the Laura Nyro album, “Gonna Take a Miracle,” feeling too confused to cry and too anxious to sleep.

Less than a year later, Smartmom left for college and an independent life of her own. She can barely remember the next Thanksgiving or the ones after that. Like most kids of divorce, she made a valiant effort to adjust to the new normal: life without an intact family.

Over time, Smartmom and Diaper Diva got used to their holidays being divvied up like portions of cake. Her mother always got Thanksgiving. Her father got Christmas. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover were up for grabs.

Nothing was written down or settled in a legal way; her parents weren’t legally divorced for years to come. So Smartmom and her sister were basically winging it every holiday.

It often came down to which parent needed them more. In so many ways, divorce forces the child to grow up fast and interpret the needs of their parents.

This can make the child feel responsible for a parent’s happiness or unhappiness in ways that are definitely not all that healthy for young children.

Even in this enlightened day and age, when divorce is understood as the monster it is, divorced parents continue to try to split their children in two.

Nowadays, most of the divorced parents Smartmom knows have it in writing which parent their children will be with on each holiday until the child is 18.

Typically, the big-ticket holidays are divided up like a bucket of coins. Luckily there are eight days of Hannukah.

One thing’s for sure: Mom always gets Mother’s Day. Dad has Father’s Day.

Sometimes the children become a rope in the battle between the parents. Some parents end up in court fighting over scheduling matters.

Smartmom knows some divorced parents who do unusual things to keep their child’s needs front and center.

One kid she knows spends Christmas morning with both parents and their significant others. Mom, Dad, stepmom and stepdad open presents together and even share some food.

But this kind of arrangement is very rare. Not every divorced couple is quite that civilized—or flexible.

Civilized or not, the more thought the parents give to the emotional needs of their children the better off those kids will be. While many parents are well meaning, the contentiousness sometimes clouds their ability to do what is right for their kids.

Kids are resilient, and Smartmom is as resilient as they come. But sometimes this so-called resiliency can cover up the pain that is really going on inside.

Smartmom isn’t sure any child of divorce ever adjusts to the split. Sure they go along with it because they have to. But in the end, it is the children more than the parents who suffer because of it.

Smartmom’s parents’ divorce is the great before/after event in her life. It has affected her relationships, her sense of self, and her ability to love.

And the fact that the split occurred on Thanksgiving means her great American holiday is still colored by that life-changing event.

It still hurts that Smartmom never gets to see her father carve the turkey or make the first Thanksgiving toast.

But she’s used to it. By now, she has spent many more Thanksgivings without her dad than with him.

Still, that doesn’t mean that she’s not thinking about him. It’s a split-screen life for kids of divorce. You go through the holiday with one parent while you imagine what the other parent is up to. You worry about them, think of them, hope they’re doing well.

Children of divorce learn to be in two places at once: Where they are and where the other parent is. In this way, they keep the family together. If only in the mind.

Thurs at 9 am: The Turkey Trot in Prospect Park

 The Prospect Park Track Club sponsors the 5 M Turkey Trot beginning at 9 am on Turkey Day, to benefit the Bishop Ford Track Teams

You can register Tuesday and Wednesday after 4 p.m. at Jack Rabbit on Seventh Avenue between Garfield and President.

Walkers Welcome. Medals to all registered finishers.  Race souvenir guaranteed to first 1200 registered entrants!

Click here for a map of race start, parking, registration, etc. Race begins and ends near the     Oriental Pavilion in Prospect Park. Same day registration is at the Wollman Skating Rink     from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.  Race begins at 9 a.m. SHARP

Just Confirming Registration?
Click here for the Confirmed Entrants List, as of November 21, 2008.
Please note, the list will be updated every couple of days.
 
The Course
    The race starts and finishes near the Oriental Pavilion, off the Park’s Lincoln Road entrance.     One lower lake loop then a full loop of the park.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Tom Martinez, Witness: Democracy Now's Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now speaking at the "Jews Uniting to End the War & Heal America" Conference sponsored
by The Shalom Center Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring & Jewish Currents (November 2008).  Goodman, the granddaughter
of a rabbi, recounted her arrest during the September 2008 Republican National Convention.

Photo by Tom Martinez

Michael's Brooklyn Memoir: In Chicago's Grant Park 40 Years later

Yet another installment of  Michael D. Nolan's Brooklyn Memoir:  Proximity: What can happen when we live, work and love close together.

The compression of events and ensuing movement can create Proximity. In 1968 I was in the employ of the Public Broadcast Laboratory, a two-year news magazine show (emanating from NBC Studios at "30 Rock" in Manhattan) and funded by the Ford Foundation where Fred Friendly landed after he resigned as president of CBS News. "PBL" was Friendly's brainchild, built on the "live interconnect" concept- using live television to bring contending points of view from distant locations into active dialog.

One example was a program devoted to Police-Community Relations with black psychology professor Alvin Pouissant speaking from Harvard, neighbors talking from a St. Louis storefront, and Police Chief Herbert Jenkins at his Atlanta headquarters. We went on an advance trip to prep the police chief for the show. "Y'all want some Coca-Cola," an affable Jenkins said as he welcomed us into his office and reached into his private refrigerator for the beverages. Jenkins was noted for his accommodating posture towards civil rights organizations and had been appointed by President Lydon Johnson to the National Commission on Civil Disorders established in the wake of the riots following King's assassination in April.

Friendly wanted to cover the political conventions in the summer of '68. I enthusiastically jumped on board the planning team, developing background information on the Mobilization demonstrations against the Vietnam War at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. For reasons not clear at the time, the plans for coverage were abruptly yanked. I always suspected the influence of McGeorge Bundy, then president of the Ford Foundation, who had been an architect of American military involvement in Vietnam while serving as an Advisor to President Kennedy.

With some vacation time from PBL, I called my friends at CBS News where I had worked for two years prior and was hired as a field producer to cover the demonstrations. I gleefully left for Chicago.

Through my own activism, I knew the lead organizers Dave Dellinger, Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden well and considered them political comrades. So when my CBS producer asked me to "Go find Tom Hayden", that was a fairly easy assignment. Tom was in disguise and among the demonstrators in Grant Park, across from the Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue where many convention delegates were lodged. I guided CBS reporter John Laurence and the camera crew to Hayden . Todd Gitlin, now a journalism-sociology professor at Columbia, stood nearby.

During that volatile summer week, I witnessed comedian Dick Gregory's March destined for the convention center. Faced with police force and heavy doses of tear gas, Gregory and the demonstrators never left Grant Park. Later in the week, after the worst of the police violence, Eugene McCarthy came to address the demonstrators. On another occasion, Peter, Paul & Mary sang.

Tomorrow night, Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe and Jill Biden, and thousands of their supporters will be in Grant Park for what we can only believe will be a landslide Presidential and Congressional victory.

All against the backdrop of another unpopular American military invasion. Forty years later.

Some in Park Slope Unhappy with Emergency Room Service at Methodist

There's an intense discussion going on at Park Slope Parents about the emergency room at Methodist Hospital. Some local blogs have picked up the story. I'm wondering if Methodist's ears are burning.

A member of PSP, a local list-service, had a bad experience there recently when her husband was experiencing acute dizziness.

According to her story, her husband signed in at the front desk and waited for two hours in the waiting room and was never called to triage. After two hours he couldn't take it any more and had to go home. Luckily, he felt better a few hours later; it was probably vertigo.

A few others have written in with complaints.

One member of PSP, an emergency room physician, made an interesting point about the many factors that influence how quickly a patient is seen in any emergency room. According to her, the ER  physicians know exactly who is waiting to be seen and what condition they are in.   

She asserts that it may not seem to the patient that he or she has been "triaged" but in fact the physicians inside the ER know about him/her and have made the decision that that patient can wait to be seen. "People who arrive in the ER are not seen on a first-come, first-serve basis.  They are seen in order of acuity," she adds.

Certainly some days are worse than others in any ER. I've had mostly good experiences at the Methodist ER, especially the time OSFO's head was bleeding because she ran into a gate at the 9th Street playground. Probably because she looked so awful and there was so much blood, they triaged her immediately and took care of her injury very quickly.

Another time, Hepcat went in with breathing difficulties after a severe allergic reaction to some bed sheets. Again, he was seen quickly.

Still another time, Hepcat was having arm and chest pains and he was immediately taken in. Both times with Hepcat were during the day.

But I've also waited hours in emergency rooms. The night before our wedding Hepcat was experiencing acute neck pain following an auto accident and we waited 6 hours at Beth Israel's emergency room.

I tend to avoid emergency rooms whenever possible. When OSFO ran into another child in the sprinkler in JJ Byrne Park a stranger was able to stop the bleeding and I took her to a plastic surgeon in Manhattan to do the stitches on her mouth.

The question is this: is Methodist's emergency room getting worse and why? Is it worse than other local emergency rooms. If so, which are the preferred emergency rooms?

Are there certain times of the week that are really untenable at Methodists like Friday and Saturday nights and holidays?

Are there other options? When Teen Spirit sprained his ankle our doctor told us to go to Urgent Ortho, an emergency care orthopedic facility that is part of Beth Israel Hospital. It's a great place to go with any kind of sports injury.

Some one on PSP reccomended Park Slope Pediatrics Urgent Care right across the street above Barnes and Noble. A pediatrician named Dr. Bialik has opened this for care from 6pm-11pm.

That sounds good to know about.