Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Park Slope's Fifth Avenue on the Fourth of July

On All About Fifth, the new Fifth Avenue blog produced by the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, there's a list of things to do on Fifth:

Fifth Avenue is not just home to amazing restaurants, clothing boutiques, jewelry stores, toy stores, and so much more, but it is a burgeoning location for exciting events, like live music, public readings, and community building activities. Naturally, everyone is excited about celebrating the Fourth of July in style with a little barbecue with the family, but don't forget about the exciting list of events that are taking place Thursday and Friday nights. And, definitely be sure to keep visiting the businesses along the avenue that are participating in the 1st ever Fifth Avenue Art Walk. What other avenue in New York would turn businesses into one-long art gallery?

The Dinnersteins of Park Slope

The Dinnersteins of Park Slope were cited in 2006 in the very first Park Slope 100:

SIMON, RENEE, AND SIMONE DINNERSTEIN, artist, educator, acclaimed pianist, because they are the first family of Park Slope creativity.

NOw that Simone is making her New York Philharmonic debut on July 7th and 8th the New York newspapers are gaga, too.

Yesterday I ran into Renee on Seventh Avenue and she graciously thanked me for putting something about the Avery Fisher Hall concerts on the blog. She also told me about a nice piece in the New York Post about Simone and her family and their distinctly Park Slope story.

In fact, hers is such a Cinderella tale -- the whole Billboard-topping, Oprah magazine-raving, globe-hopping trip -- that playing with the Phil could seem almost anticlimactic.

Yeah -- as if.

"I never thought I'd play with them!" says Simone (sah-MOAN-ah), who'll play Liszt, not Bach, at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"I went there last week to try out the piano on the stage, and I could barely get out the words to the guard to tell him where I was going. This is what I saw, growing up, as completely unattainable."

She grew up where she lives now -- in Park Slope, the daughter and niece, respectively, of painters Simon and Harvey Dinnerstein. (There's a jewelry designer in the family, too.) She fell in love with the piano when she heard Chopin at dance class, but she wasn't given lessons till she was 7, which in these prodigy-ridden times is practically elderly.

Simone's father, Simon Dinnerstein, is wonderful painter, who likes to sketch distinctive Park Slope locals like Thomas Park, a barista at Connecticutt Muffin and Wajih Salem, one of the owners of D'Vine Taste. He was featured in a Brooklyn Paper article by me.

Renee's award-winning talents as a teacher are well known. In fact, when my son was first at PS 321 all the parents prayed that their children would get "the great Renee Dinnerstein" as a kindergarten teacher. I believe that she developed PS 321's Reading Buddies" program, which matches an older and younger student to spend a library period together throughout a school year.

That program is one of the many best things about PS 321. And the Dinnersteins are lovely neighbors to have.

CORD Supports Superfund for Gowanus

CORD (Coalition for Respectful Development) a group of concerned and active citizens in Carroll Gardens has decided that Superfund is the way to go for the clean up of the Gowanus Canal. I have to agree.

As the end of the public comment period rapidly approaches and all of the meetings have been held and a great deal of information disseminated, CORD is convinced now more than ever, that the nomination of the Gowanus Canal to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site is STILL the best thing that ever happened to our neighborhood.

We do not believe that the City of New York's "alternative" plan affords any tangible benefit to the community in terms of process, result or timeframe.

They also urge everyone to register their opnion because the public comment period ends on July 8th. Here's some info about that:

The City is sending their comments and their suggestions to the EPA. You should send yours. Please join us and proudly tell the EPA, “SUPERFUND ME!”

We all have the right, no, the RESPONSIBILITY, to demand that our environment be as healthy as possible! Superfund designation provides the will, the means ,the tools and the experience to make this a reality.

If you have not already done so, please go to. The comment period has been extended to July 8th. For instructions to submit comments go to http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/pubcom.htm or contact Dennis Munhall, Region 2 NPL Coordinator at (212) 637-4343 or munhall.dennis@epa.gov  Note Docket #EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063

You may have signed the petition at www.superfundgowanus.org , and that’s great….but your comments made directly to the EPA mean so much more! Please go there right now—take a look at some of the things your neighbors are saying--don’t be shy---speak up for our neighborhood ---beg the EPA to put the canal on the National Priorities List as soon as possible!

My Coney Island Walks

I frequently take the F-train to Coney Island to visit my friend Rose who recently had knee replacement surgery.

Currently she's staying in a rehabilitation hospital on 29th Street and Surf Avenue. Her room has a nice view of the ocean, the beach and the boardwalk.

I usually take a $2 cab from the Stillwell Avenue subway station to the hospital. But on my way home I always walk on the Boardwalk back to train.

Yesterday was an utterly blue-sky gorgeous day. Clearly I wasn't the only one who had the idea to walk on the Boardwalk. By 2 p.m. the beach was crowded and the Boardwalk was filled with walkers, bikers, and sunbathers.

There was such a strong summer at the beach vibe—amazing for an urban beach just blocks from City housing and a neighborhood in the midst of a controversial transition.

Up by 29th Street, people make quiet recreational use of the Boardwalk for jogging, walking, biking. Russian couples sit and read newspapers; the elderly take in the sun; young lovers make out; loners like me take slow, meditative steps.

The blue and white RIngling Brothers Circus Tents add a festive feeling to the Upper Boardwalk. I noticed  signs yesterday about a cafe and animal viewing area open every day until 9 p.m. Then there's Keystone Park with signs about upcoming games and the Wilco/Yo Lo Tengo concert coming up on Monday July 13th (doors open at 6 p.m.).

A large swath of the beach has been closed off for a stage and stadium seating for the 2009 Village Voice Siren Festival. This year's concert features Built to Spill, Spank Rock, The Ravonettes, Tiny Masters of Today and many more bands and will happen on Saturday, July 18, 2009 from 12:00 noon - 9:00 p.m.

As I got closer to what's left of the amusement park, the Boardwalk throbs with energy—even on a Tuesday afternoon. Radios balring Michael Jackson, girls parading around fearlessly in skimpy bikinis, boys in low cut surfer shorts, children slathered in suntan lotion.

I strolled into the area that used to be Astroland and was disgusted to see the poor excuse for an amusement park that the City (?) has put in there. There's a freak show thing as well with huge vintage looking circus posters about two headed ladies and babies. One exhibit boasts the world's largest rat. Gross: that one really freaked me out.

The new Flea By the Sea seems to be getting off the ground slowly. I've been there a couple of times and found it hugely disappointing with a scant number of vendors. Pretty pathetic. But an OTBKB had this to say. 

I know this flea market took a long time to pull together and it started off VERY slowly but it is now up and running and this weekend was a huge success...If you already went to the flea market when it was first opened please give it another chance, it is very, very much improved since those first days.  I am not one of the people running the flea market so I have no ulterior motive here but to let everyone know there is a great thing happening in Coney Island.

My walks in Coney Island are always a bouyant and moody mix. I think about Robert Guskind and how he should be still alive to walk around and take pictures.  I think about Rose in the rehab hospital and all the iterations of Coney Island she has witnessed in her 40+ years living there.

I think about my own Brooklyn relatives, living and dead, who surely spent time on the Boardwalk in their youth.

And now I am a regular walker there, too. Visiting my friend Rose and always enjoying my stroll from 29th Street to the Stillwell Avenue train. Taking in the breeze, the sky, the atmosphere on a summery Brooklyn day.

 

Park Slope's Simone Dinnerstein to Make Philharmonic Debut on July 7th

Park Slope's Simone Dinnerstein, who has won numerous awards and honors for her piano playing, will be making her New York Philharmonic debut on July 7th and 8th at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Summertime Classics series.

Be there for the music and to take pride in this native Park Sloper who now lives here with her husband and son. She recently started a music series at PS 321 and next year, I hear, there are going to be four concerts with very top musicians; their performances are donated and all proceeds to P.S. 321.)

$2.25 for a Ride on NYC Subways and Buses

Single-ride bus and subway fares went up from $2 to $2.25 on Sunday. One-day MetroCards are now $8.25 (up from $7.50), 7-day cards are $27 (from $25) and monthly cards are now $89 (up from $81).

According to the NY Daily News, if you average it out, an average fare, with the pay-per-ride bonus, is up from $1.74 to $1.96.

Sat: Gowanus/Love Canal Day of Spectacle at BKLYN Yard

The BKLYN Yard on Saturday June 27th should be quite a spectacle. Winkel and Balktick, the two masterminds behind the city's most outlandish underground parties, are bringing their crazy antics to the baks of the Gowanus Canal.

In a tongue-and-cheek celebration of the canal’s toxicity, they are inviting their vast community to descend upon BKLYN Yard… dressed up like the mutants that must surely live in the nearby waterway.

Expect a aquatic symphony of music, dancing, art, performance, friends, picnicking, imbibing, and all shades of hedonism.

 

Featuring:

Live mutant ragtime music from The Xylopholks

Heart-throbbing house, rare groove, disco and techno from DJs Joro Boro, DJ $mallchange,  Dhundee.

Atomic fire spinning and breathing by The PYROphorUS PiXXies

Performances and antics from Groovehoops

Please attend dressed as an undersea love mutant, or ambassador of humanity’s remaining freak population.  Or wear nothing and get bodypainted by friendly mutants.

ALL AGES!  Kids with parents are free!
Full cash bar.  Please, no outside booze.

3pm - 9pm

FREE before 4pm, $7 after!

FREE afterparty in secret location!

info@WandBnyc.com

Vox Pop: Return Lady Liberty No Questions Asked, No Charges Pressed

An undisclosed eyewitness now says that  Brooklyn's Statue of Liberty was stolen from the front yard of Vox Pop Coffee Shot at 4:57 a.m. Monday morning. The shop is located at 1022 Corteylou Road in the Ditmas Park neighborhood.

"We're hoping it's in the neighborhood," said Debi Ryan, who runs Vox Pop a popular cafe, performance space and bookstore. "I just want the statue returned no questions asked.  Just put it back and no charges will be pressed."

Paul Auster Inducted Into Brooklyn Botanic Celebrity Path

Do you know the celebrity path in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden?

Since 1985, more than 160 Brooklyn notables, including Walt Whitman, Jackie Gleason, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Norman Mailer and Gil Hodges, have had their names embedded in an 18-inch by 24-inch concrete paver and decorated with a stylized leaf outline cast in bronze. Each paver also contains a bronze medallion of the Brooklyn Bridge , encircled by the phrase, “The Greatness of Brooklyn Is Its People.”

I think Paul Auster was pleased: “I've lived in Brooklyn for the better part of my adult life and it’s nice to know that this paver will be sitting in the Botanic Garden long after I’m gone,” said Auster.

Moe, Curly and Shemp Howard, also known as The Three Stooges and former borough president Howard Golden were also inducted.

39 Volunteers from Ohio Begin Restoration of Historic Brooklyn Church

Park Slope's Old First Reformed Church will begin the restoration of its historic sanctuary with the help of 39 volunteer workers, from a sister church near Columbus, Ohio. The volunteers, 30 youth and 9 adults, from New Hope Reformed Church of Powell, Ohio arrived on Saturday, June 20, and will stay at the church for the week, where they will sleep, eat, and work, work, work on the restoration. They will also have some free time to enjoy the neighborhood.

Designed by George L. Morse, the large, gothic revival structure of Old First, was dedicated in 1891. The interior decoration is considered one of the finest examples of arts and craft design in the United States. Currently the renovation plan is to do some interior painting. Pastor Meeter with committee members, worked with local interior designer and church member, Elaine Beery, to select the colors. Ms. Beery researched historical church records, and evolved a plan to restore the walls to their original color and palette of earth related, Florentine tones. Paint hues of these exact colors still exist in historic collections by modern paint manufacturers and an exact matching has been achieved. We thank the group from Ohio for donating their time and donating the paint!

Through the Reformed Church’s Project Samuel, volunteer groups work both on church renovations and in shelters, soup kitchens, and mission projects. The Ohio group's first trip to Old First was in 2005. Two groups from Illinois have helped us, one from Minnesota, one from Ontario, and a group from Wisconsin made two trips, and renovated the church's majestic thirty-foot chandelier last year.

The massive structure is offered back to the community as a spiritual sanctuary for every person, and for hospitality for the arts. The community is invited to stop by the church and watch the renovation in progress this week. Those who have already visited have been amazed at the vaulted ceiling, coffered with intricate flocked stenciling and gold fleur de lis. Among the treasured stained glass windows, are two made by the Tiffany Studios. Come see and say hello to our volunteers.

Lady Liberty Still Missing from Brooklyn's Vox Pop Coffee Shop

The Lady Liberty statue stolen from the Vox Pop Coffee Shop in the early morning hours of Monday morning is still missing. The police have been notified and staff and customers of the coffee shop are taking matters into their own hands by posting fliers and trying to get the word out far and wide.

The statue in question is an 8 ft replica of the Statue of Liberty, which usually stands outside Vox Pop, the popular local cafe in Ditmas Park.

Lady Liberty has been a fixture in the neighborhood for a long time. It was recently refurbished by a Ditmas Park local, who added a solar powered torch. As reported on OTBKB it was reinstalled as recently as last week.

That's what's so shocking. No one can figure out how or why anyone would take the statue. "Whoever took it must have planned this out. It was no simple prank because she was bolted into five foot wooden anchors, and wouldn't have fit into an ordinary size car or van," said Debi Ryan, who runs Vox Pop.

Photo Tom Martinez

Who Stole Lady Liberty?

It's the big mystery of Ditmas Park today. Staff and customers of Vox Pop Coffee Shop are wondering how and why someone would steal their 8 ft tall statue of Lady Liberty.

The statue disappeared during the early morning hours of Monday morning. Debi Ryan, who runs the cafe was shocked, "Everyone was so happy that she was restored,' she said of the recently refurbished statue.

Ryan and others are in the process of creating a flyer and will paper the neighborhood in the days to come. If you know anything about the missing lady liberty please get get in touch with OTBKB (louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Photo Tom Martinez

Mermaid Parade = Umbrella Parade

A picture from today's Mermaid Parade on Coney Island by Hugh Crawford. The rain stopped just in time for the actual parade. "At 2 p.m. it was raining cats and dogs," says Hugh Crawford. "And then it stopped. For most of the parade itself it sprinkled a little but it wasn't so  bad." Below: photo of woman with green umbrella by Tom Martinez.

Rain or Shine: The Coney Island Mermaid Parade Today at 2 p.m.

 

 Rain or shine, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade is today. TODAY! It starts at 2 p.m. and King Neptune is Harvey Keitel and Queen Mermaid is Daphna.

Also: there's a new parade route for the Mermaid Parade this year:

--The Parade will now start at West 21st Street and Surf Avenue
--The Parade will roll east to West 10th Street
--at West 10th Street the Parade will turn south towards the boardwalk
--cars and motorized floats can park on West 10th Street
--At the Boardwalk, the marchers and push-pull floats will turn west and head towards West 15th Street
--At West 15th Street the Parade will disband
--The new route is much longer- about twice the size so wear appropriate footwear for a long walk on the pavement.

Information from Mermaid Parade Website:

Check In/Registration/Staging Area is at a new location!

PUSH PULL FLOATS AND MARCHERS will register at Surf Avenue and West 21st Street.

MOTORIZED FLOATS AND ANTIQUE CARS will register at Surf Ave. Side at West 19th and West 20th street.

The Soup Shop and Peggy O’Neill's will both sell FOOD on West 21st Street inside the staging area. There will also be WATER available for purchase.

If you plan on driving to the parade, you may purchase parking in the expanded KeySpan parking lot- conveniently located on West 22nd Street and Surf Avenue.

1992 and 1994 Photos of Mermaid Parade by Jamie Livingston

Seventh Heaven: Children's Book Authors and Bernette Rudolph

As always, Seventh Heaven is chock full of special events this year, including the Scavenger Hunt, readings by children's book authors and more local artisans than ever.

--If you are in the mood to be read to by local children's book authors
this Sunday you will be in luck. In a tent outside Community Bookstore Barbara Ensor, author of Cinderella (As If You Didn't Already Know the Story) and Thumbalina (Tiny Runaway Bride), and other authors (names to come) will be doing just that. Their names and other salient details will be posted here any minutes.

My friend Barbara Ensor will be reading at 2.30.

My friend and neighbor Bernette Rudolph, will take to the street his Sunday with her gorgeously graphic work (pictured). She writes: "The SUN WILL SHINE !!!!! Come see me on 7th Ave. in the Slope between 2nd &3rd street."

Bernette Rudolph, an internationally recognized artist is always in the forefront of ideas, innovation and exploration. Her love and skill with wood has earned her a reputation for inspiring and captivating exhibitions. Passionate collectors praise her work. Her personality, energy and timeless creativity influence and touch the soul of the viewer's eye.

Second Annual Herring Festival at Two Boots

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the Second Annual Herring Festival in Park Slope. Organized by Pastor Daniel Meeter of Old First Dutch Reformed Church with one of the owners of Two Boots, there was more raw herring than you've ever seen from Russ and Daughters on the Lower East Side.

"So what's the occasion?" I asked Meeter. He looked at me incredulously. "It's the celebration of the new herring," he told me.

According to Meeter, the celebration of the new herring is an old and treasured tradition in Holland. Sliding a herring down your throat is just one way to participate in the festivities. As demonstrated by Meeter, you just pick up the little fish by the tail and lower it into your mouth.

As Meeter explained, herring was a diet staple in the Netherlands for hundreds of years.

It was always plentiful in the North Sea and Dutch fishing boats didn't have far to go for those little fish. But the tastiest herring were the newly matured fish caught in late spring: the green, ‘new’ herring.

The problem was figuring out how to preserve the new herring once the fishermen made their catch: Cleaning the fish on board ship and salting it was the way to go.  According to an article on the About European Travel website, "as early as the 14th century the Dutch made an important innovation. In cleaning, for the sake of speed, they removed only the innards, and left the head, spine and scales. But they did not remove the pancreas. Somehow they had discovered that the pancreas contained enzymes that it continued to secrete, even in the dead fish. These enzymes seasoned the meat, very slowly, to render it tender and fit to eat raw."

So there you have it: the arrival of the "Hollandse Nieuwe" is a cause for joy all across Holland. And it looks like new herring is going to be an annual event here in Brooklyn, too.

Two Boots was a perfect venue for this burgeoning Park Slope tradition. Also on hand were bottles of Genever, an aged Dutch gin that is mighty good I can attest to that. "It's closer to Aquavit than regular gin," Hugh Crawford said. "Yummy stuff, though and good at cutting through the taste of herring which is quite a feat." In addition to the tasty herring treats and demonstrations of proper herring sliding techniques, friends and neighbors wandered in for a taste and spirited conversation.

See you next year!

June 27-28: NYC Zine Fest at the Brooklyn Lyceum

A Blogfest for Zines. Sort of. Whatever it is I am so there.

First, do you know what a zine is? They are self-published, homemade, independent, and small publications. Sometimes they're artful, poetical, radical, cartoonical, informational. You name it. They're like blogs. On paper! And they pre-date blogs and are very independent and cool.

Okay. Now that we've clarified that: The first annual NYC Zine Fest '09 will be held June 27-28, 2009, at the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It runs from 12 - 7pm each day, and is a FREE event. NYCZineFest.org has all info and the programming schedule.

The mission of the NYC Zine Fest is to circulate and promote self-published, homemade, independent, and small publications called zines. The Fest aims to support and expand the network of creators who self-publish these zines, as well as independent publishers and distributors in and around the NYC metro area.  

There will be more than 70 zinemakers, publishers and institutions participating in the Fest, including Printed Matter, World War 3 and the Barnard Zine Library. There will be workshops, discussion groups and a screening of zine documentary '$100 & a T-Shirt' - the latter which will run at 5pm both days.  As zines gain popularity and respect, this fest welcomes a wide audience to attend, meet the artists, participate in the free workshops, and buy and learn about zines. There will be food, beer (supplied by Brooklyn's Sixpoint Craft Ales), coffee, and music!

The Fest will also include a raffle with prizes consisting of rare zines, books, gift certificates, art, and more. Raffle donors include Spoonbill & Sugartown, Printed Matter, Melissa Staiger, Picturebox Inc., Opal Massage, Microcosm, 92YTribeca and Trong Nguyen.

The NYC Zine Fest will take place at the Brooklyn Lyceum. The Lyceum, which opened initially in 1910 as NYC Public Bath #7, is a historically significant, landmarked building which has been host to many arts events since 2000, most recently it's notable Craft Market series. It is located on an easily accessible block in Park Slope, at 227 4th Avenue, right atop the R train station at Union Street.   More information athttp://www.BrooklynLyceum.com. 

For info and programming schedule:   http://www.nyczinefest.org.

Official Sponsors: Sixpoint Craft Ales, DUB Pies, Minuteman Press Brooklyn, Brooklyn Creative League, Old Stone House.

Scaredy Kat Moving to a New Location Across the Street

Yup. Scaredy Kat, one of the early settlers on the new Fifth Avenue is moving to larger digs right across the street at 232 Fifth Avenue, right next store to Playa

A neighborhood card & gift shop, Scaredy Kat has been the go-to card and gift shop for me since they opened in July 1999. It's definitely an OTBKB favorite and they've been on the Park Slope 100 for sure.

They have a unique aesthetic that's hard to describe: vintage meets great design. Letter press meets cool illustration. Old photos with zany captions. That sort of thing. Suffice it to say I love the place and their sense of style (and humor).

And they've got a blog called Kat's Treats, too.

Here's what owners Nora and Damond say about the beginnings of the shop:

"Scaredy Kat began as a way to combine our aesthetics, experience, and creative energies into one project (and to try and make a living as well!). At the same time, we started a line of greeting cards to satisfy our creative side as well as keep us busy."

I'm not sure if they're still doing their line of cards but they do produce  custom products such as invitations, announcements, and note cards and they love to do weddings, baby announcements, birthday parties, holiday cards - you name the event, and they'll work with you to create a set of cards as individual as you are.

It's June 16: Have You Thought About Park Explorers?

It's June 16th: Do you know where your children are spending the summer? Think about Park Explorers if you're looking for an experience that includes lots of time outside in the summer sunshine (and rain) and healthy fun all summer long (this camp really does run ALL SUMMER LONG). Different activities daily; no two days alike!

Park Explorers (PE) has been  bringing children to Prospect Park with trips in and around the Park Slope Brooklyn area for twenty-five years! I can attest to the fact that children love the many activities; swimming, sports, arts and crafts, hiking, singing, dancing, chess, karate, gymnastics, exploring, running, climbing with plenty of time left for imaginative play because my son was a camper in this program for 6 or 7 years. He loved it and made many good friends there. 

Hey, at Park Explorers he learned all his Guy Walks into a Bar jokes from an incredibly funny and smart counselor whose name escapes me at the moment. But he was a great guy.

And the camp really is fun and it's run by Chris Altman, one of the Park Slope 100, a talented woman who understands kids and has YEARS of experience running this camp.

And now the camp has even more activities than ever:

--Actors enjoy PE's intensive Exploring Theater camp.

--Athletes can join PE's total sports program and new this year is a program that combines dance, tumbling and circus arts, Rhythmic Gymnastics.

It is certainly true that parents enjoy Park Explorers flexible weekly schedules and extended day options. And the price is right.  Call 718-788-3620 if you're looking for something for your child this summer.

Location:        Park Slope Brooklyn

                        611 8th Avenue (corner of 6th street)

                        Basement of Saint Saviors Church

Season:          June 29 to September 4.

                        Choose the weeks that you want;

                        the weeks need not be consecutive.

Be a Bunnette at Nathan's 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest

Become a bunnette at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest

They are often overlooked at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, but their role is critical.  Not only must the Bunnettes tally hundreds of hot dogs eaten at a dizzying speed, they must entertain the crowd and serve as ambassadors for the sport.

To ensure that the Bunnettes are equal to the task, Nathan’s Famous will run a Bunnette Bootcamp at its flagship restaurant in Coney Island on June 27 prior to its last regional qualifying contest for the Fourth of July event.

Veteran Bunnette Laura Leu will lead the would-be eating contest boosters through a grueling set of challenges to determine the three candidates best suited to the job.  Those Bunnettes who are chosen to be on stage on the Fourth of July will appear before tens of thousands of fans, and millions of television and ESPN viewers, in the traditional Nathan’s Famous cheerleader outfit.

“It’s a gut check when you realize that you’re the one reporting the hot dog count to a horde of media and fans who have traveled thousands of miles to attend this event,” said Leu.  “I don’t want to put my girls in that position unless they are prepared to handle the pressure.”

Last year, Coney Island authorities stated that 40,000 fans crowded the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island to witness Joey Chestnut’s rematch with Takeru Kobayashi.  Over one million households viewed the contest’s live telecast on ESPN.  Chestnut, a San Jose resident, ate 59 hot dogs in the 10-minute contest and ended up in a tie with Japan’s Kobayashi.  Overtime ensued, and in just 50 seconds Chestnut consumed an additional five hot dogs to secure his second Nathan’s Famous title.

Men and women age 18 and older who would like to participate can email info@ifoce.com for information on the event on June 27, 2009 at 1310 Surf Avenue (Surf and Stillwell avenues) in Coney Island, Brooklyn.  Nathan’s Famous and Major League Eating reserve the right to determine participants at their sole discretion.

What's the Purpose of this Saturday's Recession Survival Fair?

This Saturday's Recession Survival Fair, a non-profit community service event meant to  assist Brooklyn and New York City residents in tackling the challenges springing from the economic recession, is certainly a timely event.

Very timely. Figures released today show that the unemployment rate has hit 9.4% (the good news is that job losses have slowed).

Organized by Brooklyn for Barack in association with The Stuyvesant Heights Parents Association, the Fair takes place on Saturday, June 6, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, 230 Decatur St. (near Lewis Ave.) in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

So what is it?

Attendees will have free access to important information and professional help on a range of relevant topics, including healthcare, food and nutrition, job search, debt and personal finance, and tenants’ rights and foreclosure.

And who is it meant to serve?

Ellen Enders, one of the organizers behind the Recession Survival Fair, came up with three hypotheticals (based on people she knows) of people the fair could help.

A freelance graphic designer from East Williamsburg who is underemployed now and who has no health insurance, is having trouble paying bills now and has diabetes.

We can help him with free fitness resources, resources specifically for diabetes care, a source to help w/ prescriptions, some budgeting advice, nutrition info for diabetes, prescreening for food stamp eligibility, and advice on how to negotiate and prioritize his bills as well as maybe some job hunting tips or business start up resources.

A 56 year old woman was laid off this fall as an accountant at a financial firm.  She's worked there her whole life.  She has lost a significant amount of her retirement savings.  Her emergency fund is gone.  She is dipping into her retirement savings.  She has stopped paying for COBRA to save money so no longer has health insurance.  She is losing weight because she is depressed and worried.  She is sending her resume out but is not getting any calls.  She is overwhelmed.  

We can help her with counseling support resources, Medicare/Medicaid or healthcare resources for uninsured.  We have lists of classes she can take about eating healthfully on a budget and she can get pre-screened for food stamps.  We will have financial counselors there who can sit with her privately and come up with a plan of attack.  We have resources for resume and cover letter classes as well as information about social networking for work and finding a job in the internet age.  She can find out about jobs of the future in NYC and focus her job search at companies in those sectors.  In addition, we are setting up a bartering system so that she can exchange her accounting skills for yoga classes.

A 43 year old man who is working but whose hours have been cut back by his company has a house in foreclosure.  He has accumulated some credit card debt since his work hours were cut back and he has lost some of his retirement savings.  His mother lives with him and his family and she is suffering from the aftereffects of a stroke.  His wife is trying to go back to work but they have two young children.  None of them have health insurance.

We can help him with both legal help for his foreclosure as well as private financial counseling to straighten out his debt and get a savings plan in place.  He can attend our debt and credit repair presentation and our panel discussion about foreclosures.  We have resources for eldercare, and information about stroke.  We have counselors who can help the family find a combination of health insurance resources that suit them.  We can help his wife with job search information and childcare resources so she can go back to work and help with the family financial crisis.

Park Slope's Steven Johnson Pens Time Twitter Cover Story

  Park Slope's Steven Berlin Johnson, the author of 6 books including The Invention of Air, Everything Bad is Good for You and Ghost Wars, has a story about Twitter in this week's Time Magazine. He is also the founder of outside.in, a local news web network.

How do I know? He twittered me about the article this morning.

"I've written this week's Time Cover story about how Twitter is changing the way we live and showing us the future of innovation. Buy a copy."

He followed up with this tweet:

"Here's the twist: that last tweet about the Time cover story "is" the cover of Time this week. Wrap your head around that!"

In the article he writes,

This is what I ultimately find most inspiring about the Twitter phenomenon. We are living through the worst economic crisis in generations, with apocalyptic headlines threatening the end of capitalism as we know it, and yet in the middle of this chaos, the engineers at Twitter headquarters are scrambling to keep the servers up, application developers are releasing their latest builds, and ordinary users are figuring out all the ingenious ways to put these tools to use. There's a kind of resilience here that is worth savoring. The weather reports keep announcing that the sky is falling, but here we are — millions of us — sitting around trying to invent new ways to talk to one another.

Help Emily's Brother David Brundige Make a Park Slope Comedy Film

A woman by the name of Emily Brundige, an animation artist and blogger, is sending around an email to Park Slopers because her brother David Brundige is trying to raise funds to make his first feature film, which takes place in Park Slope and is called "The Prospects."

This is a Park Slope story, folks. And maybe a movie worth supporting.

Filmmaker David Brundige says that he has  "infused this movie with all that I love about Park Slope, and the story of romance and friendship that comes with it is derived from that deformed funny bone lodged in my heart."

Making a Park Slope film served two purposes for the filmmaker: "First, there were a hundred things from which to draw and inform our movie; fascinating scenarios, settings and people were abundant. The second benefit is that we knew the streets, as it were. This meant that shooting would be easier as we procured locations and recruited local faces to appear in the film. Containing the movie in Park Slope meant limiting the number of locations, and their proximity to one another assured smoother company moves-all boons for filmaking on a budget."

According to Brundige, her brother, who grew up in Los Angeles, is an incredibly gifted screenwriter and director, and she's been watching him make ingenious short films and videos since he was in high school. 

To help Brundige make his movie, you can decide to pre-purchase a DVD for $25 (which will help fund the film), donate less if you can't afford the $25, or if you happen to be in a good position to donate more, you can donate over $25 and recieve special bonus perks.

Here is Emily's brother David in his own words on his website.

The idea to make a feature film on a shoestring budget came to us a few years ago, when I was already two years into my search for investors for my $5M project called Kidnap the Princess. Jeremy Weissman, Charlie Hewson and I were living together at 465 13th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and were inspired by the neighborhood around us, especially during the summer. For me, having grown up in L.A., Park Slope epitomized that "neighborhood feel," as Charlie, Jeremy and I became friendly with many neighbors, store clerks, and waitresses who saw us every day.

Making a movie about this rich area served a double purpose. First, there were a hundred things from which to draw and inform our movie; fascinating scenarios, settings and people were abundant. The second benefit is that we knew the streets, as it were. This meant that shooting would be easier as we procured locations and recruited local faces to appear in the film. Containing the movie in Park Slope meant limiting the number of locations, and their proximity to one another assured smoother company moves-all boons for filmmaking on a budget.

What has taken so long to get to this point is not the laboring over a script, nor the fact that I moved back to L.A. a year and a half ago. For me, it was $5M that has been dangled in front of my face over and over again by potential investors for Kidnap the Princess, an amount that would mean an instant rocket boost onto "the map." As phony investors and bad deals came and went, I fell into a perpetual cycle of finding part-time jobs that would allow me to pay rent and go to meetings, talk to lawyers, and get investment packets together at the drop of a hat. I managed to stay away from Top Ramen, but I did scrape my knee on the poverty line. The last deal that fell through this March with a top Hollywood producer was the proverbial last straw.

The past five years have been emotionally draining on my self-confidence as a filmmaker and on my general development into becoming the person I want to be. Filmmaking is so tied into who I am and how I perceive myself, that not making films has been, let's just say, hard. I don't mean to depress you, only to help you see why making this film means so much to me, and why it has to be filmed right now.

One other reason for the film's urgency is that 465 13th Street, the brownstone that we shared as friends and that Charlie has now lived in for five years, is being sold by its owners. The next two months will be our last chance to use it for filming, as we had always planned. It is now or never for this film.

I have infused this movie with all that I love about Park Slope, and the story of romance and friendship that comes with it is derived from that deformed funny bone lodged in my heart. I hope you'll decide the DVD is worth your $25 and that you might help push this film over the edge by donating more.

All money raised will go into making the film. If we raise in excess of $25,000, the extra funding will be used to entice a name star to appear in the film. Some hopefuls are Sophie Okonedo, Paula Patton, and Meghan Good to play Cherise, and Laura Linney or Patricia Clarkson to play the old man's daughter. Thanks for reading and thanks even more for caring.

- David

Saturday: Recession Survival Fair in Bed-Stuy

Norm Elrod runs the blog, Jobless and Less, a blog for the employmentally challenged, where he writes about his current experiences with unemployment. He is also helping out with this Saturday's Recession Survival Fair in Bed-Stuy, which is being organized by Brooklyn for Barack in association with the Stuyvesant Heights Parents Association.

The Recession Survival Fair will be a non-partisan community service event to assist Brooklyn and New York City residents in tackling the challenges springing from the economic recession.

Attendees will have free access to important information and professional help on a range of relevant topics, including healthcare, food and nutrition, job search, debt and personal finance, and tenants’ rights and foreclosure.

DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow donor center, will also be conducting a drive for potential donor matches. All help will be provided free of charge, although participants will also be invited to offer their own expertise to the community in exchange. Here are the particulars...

Who: Brooklyn for Barack (http://www.brooklynforbarack.org; 718-757-8572) in association with The Stuyvesant Heights Parents Association

What: Recession Survival Fair, to provide professional info and help to Brooklyn and New York City residents hurt by the economic recession

When: Saturday, June 6, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, 230 Decatur St. (near Lewis Ave.) in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

How: Subway: A, C to Utica Ave; Bus: B15 to Bainbridge Street; B25, B26 to Lewis Avenue; B43, B46 to MacDonough Street.

Kensington Post Office Gets Self-Service Machines

After years of complaints about the inadequacy of the Kensington Post Office, the US Post Office finally did something about it.

This densely populated Brooklyn neighborhood, like Park Slope (but I think their problem may be worse) has endured long lines and much exasperation about the workings of their local post office.

So today's big news: the post office at 419 Mcdonald Avenue in Kensington was recently equipped with an Automated Postal Center (APC).

Oh gosh. Is it like that automatic check out at the Key Food with a voice and everything or is more like an ATM. Hopefully the latter.

The APC is a self-service machine designed to assist customers in 85% of the possible retail transactions, including mail priority and express letters and packages as well as purchase stamps and request delivery confirmations.

Okay. That sounds very hopeful. I hope the machines are as good as they say. City Council Member Bill deBlasio's sent out this announcement:

"High foot traffic has long been a problem at the Kensington post office.  It is not uncommon for lines to reach the door, causing frustration for patrons.  The APC, it is hoped, will alleviate this pressure and allow the post office as a whole to provide efficient service to more satisfied customers."

Okay. Let's see if machines can fix the problem. 

Tom Martinez, Witness: A Rose is a Rose is a Rose...

June is Rose Month at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden when the Cranford Rose Garden is in full bloom. 

Photo by Tom Martinez

Tonight: Able Danger at Vox Pop Where It All Began

Paul Kirk, director of the film, Able Danger, wants OTBKB readers to know that his film was released on iTunes today.

 “Able Danger” is the story of Thomas Flynn, a Brooklyn 9/11 truther (played by Adam Nee), who falls into a noir pastiche when a mysterious Eastern European beauty (played by Elina Lowensohn) arrives at his bookstore cafe with proof of American secret intelligence involvement in the planning and execution of 9/11.

When Thomas is implicated in the murder of his friend and employee, he’s forced to unravel her complex web of lies while attempting to fight his natural attraction to her. My friend Charlie Libin was the cinematographer.

http://itunes.com/movies/abledanger

To celebrate it’s release on iTunes, Able Danger is playing for the first time —in color— in front of an audience.

That’s right, Able Danger is playing at VoxPop in Brooklyn — where it all began...

Tonight at 8pm if you'd care to see it with an audience.
Entrance is free and the beer is cheap.

http://www.voxpopnet.net/

Tonight at Union Hall: Adult Education Does Urban Travel

I love the idea of this monthly series at Union Hall. I haven't made it over there yet but I plan to. Eventually.

Adult Education is a Brooklyn-based monthly lecture series devoted to making useless knowledge somewhat less useless. In June, Adult Education welcomes a panel of presenters to speak on the theme of "Urban Travel."

The line-up will include:

EDDIE JABBOUR, "Building a Better Subway Map"
Can the NYC subway map be improved? Designer Eddie Jabbour thinks so.

SUZANNE REISMAN, "Take the A Train"
Author Suzanne Reisman provides a guide to hidden treasures along the A
train's route.

MATT MURO, "The Passive-Aggressive Turd From the Suburbs"
How one man learned about the true nature of his soul after building
what he thought was a silly website:
http://www.peoplewh ositinthedisabil ityseatswhenimst andingonmycrutch es.co\
m/.

CULLY LONG, "Underground Life Drawing"
On the subway, you might see people reading, sleeping, listening to
music, or just generally zoned out. Cully Long sees models for his
sketches.

All hosted by Charles Star.

ADULT EDUCATION PRESENTS: "URBAN TRAVEL"
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - 8 pm (doors at 7:30)
Union Hall in Park Slope
702 Union St. @ 5th Ave
$5 cover
http://adult- ed.net

Gifts for the Zuzu Mom

Another promo/poem from Fonda at Zuzu's Petals.

 the zuzumom:

she can be impulsive but never dangerously so.

she has lots of friends who also like each other.

she has one friend she holds most dear.

she loves to sleep late, but can't resist getting up early.

she loves her house. it is an extension of herself.

she has a great collection of take-out menus.

she loves to cook up a storm in the kitchen when she has the time.

she likes to be comfortable in her clothes.

she is comfortable in her skin.

she loves growing things out in the garden as well as in the house.

she loves handmade, re-cycled, vintage, collectible,  natural, unusual, simple, fresh, silly, original, clever, sweet, funny, sentimental.

got a zuzumom in your life?

celebrate her...we can help.

Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanic: A Glorious Rite of Spring

What a glorious day yesterday was for the press preview of the Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

The press (and members of the public who happened to be in the gardens yesterday) were treated to short previews of what's to come this weekend. There was an unbelievably adorable group of pint-sized Suzuki violinists from the children's music program at Brooklyn College, parasol dancers in elaborate kimonos, a J-pop star and  taiko drumming.

But the real stars of the event were, of course, the voluptuous blossoms of the cherry trees that as of yesterday were in close to full bloom. From the height of the stairs near the entrance of the Gardens, they looked like a tantalizing pink canopy in the distance. Up close and personal they were a sight to behold.

There is even a Japanese word for the enjoyment of these trees. Hanami is "the cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry blossom season." The idea is very lovely, a chance to be present in the now-moment to stroll, savor and share the beauty of the blossoms.

Trouble is, the event tends to get unbelievably crowded. That's why it was such a gift  to go when it was only slightly crowded but empty by Sakura Matsuri attendance standards.

And if only they didn't make me sneeze. Yesterday the pollen count must have been through the roof and I had an allergy attack almost immediately. Advice to allergy sufferers: Bring antinhistamine with you or take in advance of this weekend's festivities.

On their website, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden calls this event New York City's "rite of spring," And I have to concur. This is the 28th year of an annual event that always makes me sneeze -- and smile.

Park Slope Neighbors Group Strongly Supports Superfund Designation

Park Slope Neighbors, a neighborhood organization "committed to the protection and enhancement of quality of life in Park Slope, Brooklyn," articulated its support of designation of the Gowanus Canal as an EPA Superfund site in their recent e-newsletter.

Park Slope Neighbors strongly supports the designation of the Gowanus Canal as an EPA Superfund site.  The fact that the EPA would even consider adding the Canal to its Superfund list certainly calls into question the wisdom and appropriateness of proposed development along the Canal, including the Toll Brothers, Public Place and Whole Foods projects.  We believe designation as a Superfund site is the best hope for a true, comprehensive clean up of the Gowanus, especially since the Bloomberg Administration, which opposes Federal intervention, has now admitted that a city-led clean-up effort would be woefully inadequate.

They also strongly urge community members to submit their own comments:

You can do by clicking on the following link.  The web-based form also allows you to upload attachments such as photos or documents.

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648094b7d2

Or, you can send your comment via email to superfund.docket@epa.gov.  Be sure to include the ID number for the Gowanus Canal nomination: NYN000206222.

The Daily Dish on the Brooklyn Food Conference

Anne Pope our friend at Sustainable Flatbush created a great little animation. Check it out. 

Your food has issues. Find out more at the Brooklyn Food Conference, May 2, 2009.
http://sustainableflatbush.org/sendcard/sendcard.php?view=1&id=Dttz4CpepMVH

How a Bunch of Park Slopers Brought an Opera to Park Slope

Here's a nice story about Williamsburg's OperaoggiNY and its upcoming performance of Puccini's Suor Angelica in the auditorium at St. Francis Xavier in Park Slope on May 1, at 7:30 p.m.

So how did this all come about? 

Like I said, it's a good story. And I learned about it when I got an email from a woman named Phyllis Wrynn who plays an important role in this story.

In fact, she's one of the "free impressarios" who decided to bring OperaloggiNY to the neighborhood after she was blown away by a performance in Williamsburg. Here it is in her own words:

"This is a very LONG story, but Mitch and I and two great friends saw a sublime performance in Williamsburg by a local opera company, OperaoggiNY. 

"After the performance, we met with the director/conductor to express our amazement at the superb quality of the performance. We were so moved!

"The company is peripatetic in its conception and my friend Haydée von Sternberg suggested St. Francis Xavier's auditorium as a venue and interfaced with the church to arrange the props and is doing ever so much more. 

"One thing led to another and we all sprang into action as the "Free Impresarios", figuring out the venue issues, poster, flyer and program design (by Julio Vega), the printing, and the myriad of other details in order to bring an opera company to Park Slope for a performance.

"It has been a wild ride and everything is coming together beautifully.  The 1907 school auditorium of St. Francis Xavier on President Street is the venue, with its glorious stained glass ceiling, beautifully decorated walls and historic murals. I've lived in Park Slope since 1967 and I never knew what was inside that building!

"There is only one performance, the very reasonable tickets benefit the opera company and help the school via the rental.

"It is a wonderful and short opera by the glorious Puccini, Suor Angelica."

So that's Phyllis' story. And it sounds like an evening you won't want to miss AND a great way to support a very worthy opera company and enjoy a spring evening.

To me, it sounds like a story for the Park Slope 100. Okay, so you've heard it before: a small group of people with an idea can make a difference....

And we get to enjoy the music!

The Where and When

OperaloggiNY
Friday May 1 at 7:30
St. Francis Xavier School Auditorium
763 President Street
Tickets are $20 available ONLY at the door.

Ringling Brothers Coming to Coney Island This Summer

Okay. We just paid a fortune to see Ringling Brothers at Madison Square Garden and now Vin Cipolla, President of the Municipal Art Society, writes to tell me that the Ringling Brothers Circus is coming to Coney Island this summer. They don't mention any dates or a location. But I'm all ears and will continue to research it.

"MAS congratulates the City of New York on its success in bringing Ringling Brothers to Coney Island this summer. The City has taken a vital step toward making Coney Island the world's greatest seaside stage once again.  To secure Coney Island’s revitalization we need this kind of exciting, interim programming while we also plan for its long-term future.”

The Municipal Art Society of New York, founded in 1893, is a non-profit membership organization that fights for intelligent urban planning, design and preservation through education, dialogue and advocacy. For more information, please visit  HYPERLINK "http://www.mas.org" www.mas.org.

Photo by Alice Crawford
model: ellie the elephant

On Earth Day: No Paper Cups at Slope's Red Horse Cafe

The Red Horse Café at 497 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Red Horse Café will celebrate the planet by not serving beverages in disposable paper or plastic on Earth Day.

And there's more: On Earth Day (April 1  22 ), Red Horse Café will debut a new line of stainless steel and ceramic mugs with the café’s rocking horse logo. Guests of the café are also encouraged to bring their own mug to the café. Guests of the busy neighborhood café are enthusiastically supporting the growing efforts to become more green.

In addition to recycling, composting and reducing energy consumption, “No Paper Cup Day” is the latest effort from the husband-and-wife owners at Red Horse Café toward reducing the café’s carbon footprint. In January 2009, the café launched an initiative called “Bring Your Own Mug”. This initiative works similar to a coat check, in which guests bring a mug from home and leave it at the café on a shelf behind the bar. The guest takes a number that hooks onto their keychain and then shows the number when they return to the café. Thus far, “Bring Your Own Mug” has been a phenomenal success and guests have said that they feel a sense of community by having their very own mug at the café.

Most recently, Red Horse Cafe owner Carolina Whitson, in collaboration with the Events and Marketing Coordinator, Carolyn Gilles, built a solar powered horse and cart at a recent Solar 1 “I ♥ PV” event in Brooklyn. Upon testing the design and functionality among other contestants, judges determined that the solar powered horse and cart by the Red Horse team won a blue ribbon. The winning model is on display at the café.

Photo by Carolyn Gilles

DOT to Close Third Street Vehicle Entry & Exit to Prospect Park

Big news!  At Thursday's Community Board 6 transportation committee meeting, the DOT proposed the closing of the 3rd Street entrance/exit at Third Street. They also proposed the closing of the exit at 16th Street.

A project manager presented this plan (complete with Powerpoint of course) and said that planned closures help to strike "an appropriate balance between bikes/pedestrians/vehicles and will lower the amount of vehicular traffic in Prospect Park."

At Third Street the entrance area will be re-striped for bikers and pedestrians. To block traffic going in and out there will be French barricades, movable metal fences that are easily moved by emergency and maintenance crews.

When the Third Street entrance/exit closes, Grand Army Plaza will be the only way to enter the park drive. There is an entry/exit for Wollman Rink usage on the other side of the park.

Tuesday Night's Gowanus Superfund Meeting

I wasn't able to make it to the Community Forum about Superfund status for the Gowanus Canal last night at PS 32 but Pardon Me for Asking and Found in Brooklyn were there. Here are excerpts from their reports. Read more at their sites linked below.

From Pardon Me for Asking:

Pardon me for asking, but at last night's meeting on the Gowanus Canal Superfund Nomination, did you hear that the EPA normally measures pollutants in parts per millions, and sometimes in trillions, but that in the Gowanus Canal , pollutants are measured in parts per hundreds?

Did you also hear that on the Hazard Ranking System, the minimum score of eligibility is 28.5? The Gowanus scored 50 out of 100 on the very first test. No further tests were necessary to convince the US EPA to nominate the canal as a Superfund site.

And Found in Brooklyn:

It pretty much felt like the Gowanus Canal becoming a Superfund site was a done deal at this meeting. Walter Mugdan, Director of Emergency & Remedial Response Division of the Environmental Protection Agency gave a clear and coherent overview of just exactly the objective of this project is. It was SO refreshing to hear someone with an actually scientific background say that “there is no RATIONAL DEBATE” regarding the fact that this area needs to be cleaned up BEFORE (unlike the Toll’s plan) building. THANK YOU!!!

April 15: No Taxation Without Stimulation

Babeland, Park Slope's sex shop for women, has a little tax relief (and free vibrators) on April 15th.

No taxation without stimulation! That’s our motto, so on that day when all hard-working American pay their taxes, Babeland steps up to bring your some immediate relief.

There are two ways to cash in on April 15, 2009:

1. Free Gold Digger Vibrator ($15 value)
 The first 100 people to come into any of the stores (Babeland Brooklyn-462 Bergen Street) and tell us they filed their tax returns will receive a Gold Digger vibe. On Babeland.com, the first 100 web orders on April 15, 2009, will receive a Gold Digger vibe (no minimum purchase).
  
 2. Sales Tax is on Us on April 15, 2009
 And to reward patri-erotic duty, Babeland will pick up the sales tax on all in-store and online purchases made on April 15, 2009 (in the form of a 10% off discount).

Brooklyn Author Discovers Buddhism As Path Through Painful Divorce

Gabriel Cohen, the Brooklyn author of Boombox and the award-winning mystery, Red Hook, has a new book just out called "Storms Can't Hurt The Sky" “about Buddhism as a path through a painful divorce.

When Cohen's marriage fell apart, he discovered that Buddhist insights and meditation were just the thing he needed to help him deal with the anger, resentment, loss, and grief of a breakup. 

So, instead of  sitting down to write another novel, mystery or otherwise, Cohen decided to write this divorce memoir, which is also a guide to meditation. Cohen's book is actually the first book to focus on Buddhism and divorce. About the book, Publisher's Weekly wrote:

Sound advice and short chapters fill his narrative of recovery, unadorned by bullet-pointed lists, side-bars or “get-enlightened-quick scheme[s],” which should do much to engage readers and keep them that way. Encouraging and accessible throughout, Cohen’s book will make a useful tool for readers going through a difficult break-up.

Cohen, who also coordinates the Sundays at Sunny’s in Red Hook reading series, also has a new crime mystery coming out. Neptune Avenue, se in the emigré community of Brighton Beach and Crown Heights, features Jack Leightner, the Brooklyn South dectective hero of Cohen's previous book, Red Hook. 

Brooklyn Indie Market: Back for Year #3

The Brooklyn Indie Market is open for its third year and they'll be open for business ever Saturday and Sunday through December starting at 11am in the red and white striped tent on Smith Street at Union Street.

So what is the Brooklyn Indie Market?

Brooklyn Indie Market is a collective of fashion and product designers. We provide a connection between emerging designers and consumers, retail buyers, stylists, personal shoppers and the press. Our aim is to connect one another and the greater NYC public to our traveling markets, fashion events, showcases, workshops and more in and around the New York area. We also welcome non-New York area designers who are interested in our mission.

We launched the Brooklyn Indie Market website as a joint mission among independent Brooklyn-based designers to share information, learn from each other's small business challenges, and to inspire and foster a community of creativity and authenticity.

Our designers converge under the red and white striped tent on Smith & Union Street, offering the public a first glimpse of the many new names in fashion and product design.

Brouhaha On Park Slope Parents About Membership Fee

Is $2 a month really so much to ask members of Park Slope Parents to pony up for their right to participate in that incredibly valuable list serve? 

Some members seem to think so.

But what are the options? A fund-raising drive? Advertising? Do members really want to see advertising on that site? To me that sounds far more intrusive than asking for a  mere $2 a month. And a fund-raising drive is labor intensive. An auction, an event? Those kind of things take up a lot of volunteer time and don't always make as much money as you think. 

Running Park Slope Parents, an incredible resource for local parents,  takes volunteers, time and money and maybe it's not so bad to make members contribute only $2 a month or $25 per year.  I think more and more, people forget that there are people behind the scenes who deserve to be paid for their blood, sweat and tears. Improvements and maintenance costs money, too.

One member wrote in today to say that on  Yahoo, it is illegal to pay to use a yahoo group. But  someone else noted how many alternative solutions to the fee have been suggested but most of them will only involve more work on the part of the "volunteers."

"People seem afraid of change, but realistically, with a fee I expect we will see many things change for the better, including updates to the website based on recommendations in the emails so the information is not so outdated," one member wrote.

Tom Martinez, Witness: Coney Island Opening Day

Sorry Neighbor For Blocking Your Car Signs Available

The Park Slope Civic Council really made a splash with their red laminated No Flyers signs. Turns out there's also polite sign to put in the window of a car that you are blocking. They're both available at the following locations:

Community Bookstore
143 7th Avenue between Carroll and Garfield

Lion in the Sun
232 7th Avenue near 4th Street
 

Brown Harris Stevens

100 7th Avenue at Union Street

 

Warren Lewis Realty

123A 7th Avenue between Carroll and President Streets

 

Orrichio Anderson Realty

302 7th Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets

 

Assemblyman Jim Brennan's District Office

416 7th Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets

Tarzian Hardware
7th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.

tb shaw realty associates
197 7th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets

 

You can also download a "No Flyers, No Ads, No Menus" sign, a legally compliant (but less attractive) version of the sign, or a  "Sorry Neighbor for Blocking Your Car" double-parking placard.

Old First Pastor in New York Magazine

Pastor Daniel Meeter was walking through Union Square when a reporter from NY Magazine asked if he'd be willing to be interviewed for a story called "The Getaway Plan: New Yorkers' Escape  Fantasies Made Real."

They took his picture, too. Here's what he said:

"I work 24/7. I am the president of all the Reformed churches in Brooklyn, and we are having a tough time. Religious organizations are under tremendous financial stress. A lot of our volunteer organizations, like child care, caring for the sick, caring for thee poor, caring for the homeless, are under stress. I could  use an escape from all that. I am drawn to Istanbul because it's both Mulism and Christian, European and Asian. I'd like to find a version of Islam that's progressive. The other thing is the architecture, the food. I love Turkish food."

Meeter thinks he actually said: " I like the progressive version of Islam in Turkey."

Picture from Brooklyn Paper. Daniel Meeter (left) with Rabbi Andy Bachman (right).

John Wray and Lowboy at Community Bookstore Tonight at 7 p.m.

Tonight at the Community Bookstore in Park Slope at 7 pm: John Wray, author of Lowboy reads and signs books. 

This third novel by one of today’s coolest writers takes place almost entirely underground—specifically, in the tunnels and trains of the Manhattan subway system—as William Heller, a sixteen year-old schizophrenic, attempts to save the world from global warming. 

 
"Lowboy is uncompromising, often gripping, and generally excellent.”  Charles Bock, New York Times Sunday Book. 

Say Happy Birthday to Catherine while you're over there. 

Love the Brooklyn Headhunter

Check out McBrooklyn for a list of jobs in Brooklyn. Anything for me there?

Schumer Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Bob Zuckerman, the openly gay candidate for City Council in the 39th district, was the first one to tell me that Senator Chuck Schumer came out yesterday in support of same-sex marriage. Here's Zuckerman's response to the great news. 

I was thrilled to learn that Senator Schumer now supports the right to marry for same-sex couples as well as a full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. As a public servant, weighing the human rights of the minority is as equally as important as weighing the desires of the majority. This certainly has been the case in gay and lesbian couples’ quest for the right to marry. 

Senator Schumer is right: it is time.  It is time for New York State to put into law what our neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts have done, which is simply to allow same-sex couples like myself and my partner of 12 years, Grant Neumann, to have a civil marriage before our family and friends right here in our home state. It is time to allow my partner and I to share the same 700 rights that New York State grants opposite couples.  And it is time to stop the discrimination of same-sex couples who pay taxes like anyone else but are often treated like second-class citizens. 

I applaud Senator Schumer for coming around on this vitally important issue, and I urge him to use his considerable influence with New York's elected officials to ensure that the now Democraticaly-controlled State Senate pass a marriage equality law this year, so that we in New York can once again become a leader in the fight for civil rights and equality for all.

Oh Joy: MTA Set to Approve Higher Fares

Just what you need during tough economic times: higher subway, bus, and LIRR train fares. This'll go over like news of a sick passenger on a subway train. There will also be cuts in services, as well as a freeze on certain improvement projects. 

It sounds like MTA is in big trouble—in need of a transit rescue package—and commuters are being asked (forced) to bail them out. The base subway fare in NYC would rise to $2.50 (up from $2). A 30-day MetroCard would cost $103, up from $81. 

Whoa. Bad news for subway riders that's for sure.   Here from the New York Times: 

Adult Education at Union Hall: Color Schemes

Adult Education is a Brooklyn-based monthly lecture series devoted to "making useless knowledge somewhat less useless."

It's at Union Hall on April 7th at 7 p.m. Union Hall is located on Union Street just east of Fifth Avenue. The show is downstairs.

Each month is devoted to a given theme, and several speakers address some aspect of that theme using visual aids. Apparently, Adult Ed has been a frequent Critic's Pick in Time Out New York, while The Onion AV Club declared that "Adult Education ... manages to be both informative and thoroughly entertaining."

In April, Adult Education welcomes a panel of presenters to speak on the theme of "Color Schemes." The line-up will include:

Megan Montague Cash, "Crayon Boxes Through the Ages"
Hang on tight! Megan Montague Cash takes you on a wild ride while exploring the history of crayon packaging.

Laurie Rosenwald, "Mutant Bastard Yucky Colors of the Apocalypse"
Lavender is the yellow of Japan. Hot pink is the navy blue of India. So how did dusty rose, teal, suntan, and what the author Douglas Coupland calls "veal" become America's first palette? Laurie Rosenwald investigates.

Jennifer l. Knox, "The Making of Brown"
Jennifer L. Knox explains the historical evolution of the primary colors, their permutations, and why sleeping in a red t-shirt three nights in a row can give you a sinus infection.

Jude Stewart, "Decoding Color"
From blue collars to white telephones, Jude Stewart explores colors and their meanings.

http://adult-ed.net