It's Time to Send In Your Suggestions For the Park Slope 100

It's that time of year again. On Monday, December 14th I will roll out the 2009 Park Slope 100.

So what is the Park Slope 100?  Here's how I described it last year.

The Park Slope 100 is 100 stories, 100 ways of looking at the world, 100 inspiring people, places and things in and around Park Slope. It can be a person, a place, a thing, even an event. Let me know who, what and where was notable and powerful and 2009. One tip: I especially like people who direct their energies outward towards the better good of others in some way. Suggest yourself, your spouse, your relative, your friend.

Send your suggestions to me: louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Here are some of the people that made the list last year. To see more go to The Park Slope 100.

BRENDA BECKER because in 2008 you decided to visit Prospect Park every day as an urban adventure (and, not least, as a drug-free antidepressant!), and to chronicle your discoveries. And you're still trying to get to the park every day, and posting about it on your blog, A Year in the Park, a site the New York Times called "witty and engaging" in a profile last July. "It was fun getting some Old Media attention for 15 minutes," comments Becker, "but the real gift was connecting to so many other people, from cyclists to dog lovers, who are also passionate about Prospect Park. The calendar is a way to share that passion."

SALLY BERMANZOHN because you were a labor organizer at the Duke Hospital cafeteria with your husband Paul, who was critically wounded in the Greensboro Massacre in 1979. Currently you are professor and chairperson of the Political Science Department at Brooklyn College, where you research and teach courses on the international phenomenon of truth and reconciliation commissions. And that's not all. You're the author of Through Survivors’ Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro Massacre (2003), for which you received the Brooklyn College Award for Excellence in Creative Achievement. You are also featured in Adam Zucker's documentary, Greensboro; Closer to the Truth.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN because as political director for WNYC and The Takeaway, your reporting of Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign was always top notch, as were your stories from battleground states. Kudos for being one of 12 top U.S. journalists to win a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University in 2006-2007.

CHARLES BLOW because as the New York Times' visual Op-Ed columnist and an award-winning art director, you bring a decidedly visual style to that page, a great writing style and a distinctive point of view.

BRADLEY FELDMAN because your geeky weather tower is working 24/7/365 days a year to bring Park Slopers the temperature, the windchill, the humidity and a live image detailed weather, radar/satellite map, 5-day forecaster and pollen levels. Your weather site is quite a service to the community.

PATRICK GASPARD because Barack Obama appointed you national political director of his  presidential campaign and the rest is history.

RICHARD GIN because you are the self-designated photographer of the Brooklyn all-ages music scene and you get the shots that everyone loves. Pictured left Fiasco.

GINO'S COLLISION because you fixed my father's Subaru for a reasonable price and we love the adorable bright orange Fiat 500 that you park right outside. Classy.

JOHN HODGMAN because you play the PC guy in those funny Apple commercials and we love your hilarious, and completely fake, trivia books (“The Areas of My Expertise” and the new “More Information than You Require”), your regular appearances as the resident expert on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and your citing of Park Slope as a utopian commune ruled by children. 

SARA HOROWITZ, because as executive director of Freelancers Union and CEO of Freelancers Insurance Company you're trying to bring affordable health care to us freelancers. A lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY, you come from a long line of labor advocates, including your father, who was a labor lawyer, and your grandfather, who was vice president of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. You studied at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and later earned a master's degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.You are the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (also known a genuis award). 

ALISON HOUTTE because you are the flamboyant and fabulous owner of Hooti Couture, a vintage store at 321 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, that specializes in women's and men's clothes and accessories. Before getting into the vintage business you worked as a model for more than 10 years in Paris and Manhattan, appearing in everything from Vogue magazine to a Dr Pepper television commercial—and you still look like one. Your store has been featured in Women's Wear Daily, The New York Times and many other publications