Monthly Archives: January 2008
MIDDLE SCHOOL BLUES
Check out Brooklynometry. She is applying to public middle schools for her 5th grade daughter. Just like me. Her piece perfectly characterizes the panic I am feeling right now. Applications are due on Monday and we’re all in a tizzy.
Thanks Brooklynometry for Last Exit to Middle School.
POETRY READING AND OPEN MIC: BROOKLYN READING WORKS
Don’t miss tonight’s reading at the Old Stone House.
Tonight: Brooklyn Reading Works presents Word Girls: 4 poets associated with Word Tech Press.
Plus: an open mic following the reading, which I will be reading in.
AWP: The Association of Writers and Writing Programs, an annual conference and book fair is in town and some of the participants are coming out to Park Slope.
Brooklyn Reading Works is at the Old Stone House in Park Slope. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope. Take the F-train to Fourth Avenue or Union Street and walk. The R train to Union Street. Directions are here. For information or questions: 718-288-4290 (if you get lost or need better directions).
WORD GIRLS with poets published by Word Tech: BARBARA CROOKER, MEREDITH DAVIES HADAWAY, KIM GARCIA, ERIN MURPHY. OPEN MIC TO FOLLOW. Starts at 8 p.m.
DEBATE PARTY IN PARK SLOPE AT THE DRAM SHOP
This is an event sponsored by supporters of Hillary Clinton. It is located at a nice looking new bar on 9th Street called Dram Shop (details below).
When: Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Where: The Dram Shop
339 Ninth Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
General Area: Park Slope
Join fellow Brooklyn Hillary supporters on debate night in Park Slope – at the newly opened Dram Shop, a terrific bar with a great atmosphere – 7:30PM – 10:00PM. Location is 341 Ninth Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues – close to the F and M/R lines. Please bring your friends to network, watch the debates and get motivated to get out the vote for Hillary in the NY primary February 5th!
Please rsvp by registering at the Hillary Clinton site, http://www.hillaryclinton.com/actioncenter/event/view/?id=7284
NOT MUCH OTBKB TODAY
Busy. Busy. Busy. Will try to post later on. For news about the tragic construction death on Clinton Street and video of the Carroll Gardens down zoning rally go to Gowanus Lounge.
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
BROOKLYN READING WORKS: POETRY AND OPEN MIC
AWP: The Association of Writers and Writing Programs, an annual conference and book fair is in town and some of the participants are coming out to Park Slope on Thursday night at 8 p.m. That’s January 31st at 8 p.m.
. Brooklyn Reading Works is located at the Old Stone House in Park Slope. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope. Take the F-train to Fourth Avenue or Union Street and walk. The R train to Union Street. Directions are here. For information or questions: 718-288-4290 (if you get lost or need better directions).
WORD GIRLS with poets published by Word Tech: BARBARA CROOKER, MEREDITH DAVIES HADAWAY, KIM GARCIA, ERIN MURPHY. OPEN MIC TO FOLLOW. Starts at 8 p.m. Note to readers: I will be reading at the open mic.
ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
Winter plant show at Botanic Gardens (NY 1)
Bay Ridge pharmacy owner linked to sterioids found dead (NY 1)
Lowen’s pharmacy in Bay Ridge (Bay Ridge Blog)
New York Matters Film Festival curated by Isabel Hill (Spoke the Hub)
Carroll Gardens zoning rally (Gowanus Lounge)
Interview with Major Owens on Barack Obama (Brooklyn Optimist)
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
BROOKLYN READING WORKS WELCOMES THE ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND WRITING PROGRAMS
AWP: The Association of Writers and Writing Programs, an annual conference and book fair is in town and some of the participants are coming out to Brooklyn on Thursday night at 8 p.m. That’s January 31st at 8 p.m.
BROOKLYN READING WORKS AND THE OLD STONE HOUSE WELCOME AWP 2008 (The Association of Writers and Writing Programs).
Come on out to Brooklyn for a a great reading. There are many great restaurants and bars right nearby on Fifth Avenue. Brooklyn Reading Works is located at the Old Stone House in Park Slope. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope. Take the F-train to Fourth Avenue or Union Street and walk. The R train to Union Street. Directions are here. For information or questions: 718-288-4290 (if you get lost or need better directions).
WORD GIRLS with poets published by Word Tech: BARBARA CROOKER, MEREDITH DAVIES HADAWAY, KIM GARCIA, ERIN MURPHY. OPEN MIC TO FOLLOW. Starts at 8 p.m.
BARBARA CROOKER is the author of more than 575 poems published in over 1675 anthologies, books, and magazines She is the recipient of the 2006 Ekphrastic Poetry Award from Rosebud, the 2004 WB Yeats Society of New York Award, the 2004 Pennsylvania Center for the Book Poetry in Public Places Poster Competition, the 2003 Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award and many more. A twenty-six time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, she was nominated for the 1997 Grammy Awards for her part in the audio version of the popular anthology, Grow Old Along With Me–The Best is Yet to Be (Papier Mache Press).
MEREDITH DAVIES HADAWAY’S collection of poetry, Fishing Secrets of the Dead, was a Word Press First Book Selection in 2005. Her poems have appeared in Poet Lore, Spillway, Bayou, Isotope, Gulf Stream, Margie, California Quarterly, the South Carolina Review, River Oak Review, and the Delmarva Quarterly as well as in the Literary House Press anthology entitled Here On The Chester. She is a contributing editor for Hunger Mountain and a book reviewer for Poetry International. She is also a musician who has performed in the U.S. and Ireland.
KIM GARCIA lives and writes in Boston. Her poetry collection Madonna Magdalene was published by Turning Point books in the fall of 2006. Her work has appeared in many publications and she is the recipient of an AWP Intro Writing Award, a Hambidge Fellowship and an Oregon Individual Artist Grant.
ERIN MURPHY’S poems have appeared in The Georgia Review, Field, Nimrod, The Paterson Literary Review, Literal Latte, Kalliope, and elsewhere. She received her M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was a Poetry Fellow. Her awards, include the 2003 National Writers Union Poetry Award judged by Donald Hall; a Pushcart Prize nomination; and a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award. She lives in Pennsylvania and teaches at Penn State-Altoona. She is the author of three books of poetry: Dislocation and Other Theories (Word Press, 2008); Science of Desire (Word Press, 2004); and Too Much of This World (forthcoming)
A THEATRICAL VERSION OF THE ATLANTIC YARDS BATTLE
The Daily News reports that The Civilians, a performance group that combines investigative reporting with stories, song and dance, will prepare a play or musical about the Atlantic Yards Project for their 2009-2010 theater season.
Here’s what I want to know? Who’s playing Bruce Ratner? Frank Gehry? Daniel Goldstein? Lumi Rolley? Norman Oder?
PARK SLOPE IS SAD ABOUT THE CLOSING OF THE SECOND STREET CAFE
Yup, it’s closed. Closed down for good.
The women who work at Met Food said the rent was too high. Another local shopkeeper said that they weren’t making any money. Maybe the renovation did them in. A neighbor saw the tall, white haired owner crying.
It’s very sudden. Everyone’s asking, “What happened to Second Street?”
One local shopkeeper told me that she loved the old decor, the pictures on the wall. She thinks they were ill advised to change anything. Moving the door from Seventh Avenue to 2nd Street may have been a problem as well.
Wherever I went today people said, “What happened to Second Street Cafe?” It was definitely the talk of the neighborhood. And there were many expressions of appreciation for the owners, the food, the staff, and the old pictures on the wall.
So sudden. So strange. The block between 2nd and 3rd Street on Seventh Avenue has had three closings in two months (Tempo Presto, Seventh Avenue Books, Second Street Cafe). Park Slope Books will be out in March.
Prior to Second Street that storefront had a liquor store and then an ill-fated Mexican restaurant. Second Street went in ten years ago. Then they made the changes and now they’re gone.
My sister had a dream that she walked into the Cafe and all the old crayon drawings were back.
Good bye Second Street: we will really miss you.
ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
Bush’s last State of the Union (NY Times)
Bloomberg to Spitzer: Thanks for Nothing (NY Daily News)
Hot selling market on Third Street between the Gowanus and Hoyt Street (Gowanus Lounge)
Recycling at construction sites proposed by Brooklyn Assemblyman (NY 1)
Idiotarad: the idiocy and the ecstasy (Brooklyn Optimist)
Brooklyn calendar girls curbed (Brooklynometry)
Joanna Newsom and the Brooklyn Philarmonic (NY Times)
Paul Simon to be celebrated at BAM, including concert staging of The Capeman (NY Times)
Swimming in the Sea of Death by David Rieff (NY Times)
Hot water from tap should never be used for cooking or drinking (NY Times)
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
PARK SLOPE POET’S BOOK ONE OF THE BEST-SELLING SMALL-PRESS BOOKS
I was excited to see this in the New York Time’s Book Review yesterday. Yay to Lynn Chandhok, a Park Slope Poet, for being #8 on this list.
It ain’t easy to be a poet. And it’s even harder to get your work out there and published. Congrats to Lynn, who book is immediately available at the Community Bookstore. Until recently it was on the front counter. Lynn read at Brooklyn Reading Works in October.
INDEPENDENTS’ DAY: What are this country’s
best-selling small-press poetry books? Small Press Distribution — a
nonprofit distributor that represents books by some 450 small
publishers — knows. On the friendly S.P.D. Web site (www.spdbooks.org) you can find the following list, which reflects sales for December, the most recent month available.1) “Sleeping and Waking,” by Michael O’Brien (Flood Editions).
2) “This Is What Happened in Our Other Life,” by Achy Obejas (Midsummer Night’s Press).
3) “Necessary Stranger,” by Graham Foust (Flood Editions).
4) “You Are a Little Bit Happier Than I Am,” by Tao Lin (Action Books).
5) “Eulogies,” by Amiri Baraka (Agincourt).
6) “The Line,” by Jennifer Moxley (Post-Apollo).
7) “Case Sensitive,” by Kate Greenstreet (Ahsahta).
8) “The View From Zero Bridge,” by Lynn Aarti Chandhok (Anhinga).
9) “Newcomer Can’t Swim,” by Renee Gladman (Kelsey Street).
10) “Lip Wolf,” by Laura Solorzano (Action Books).
CHILD DIES AT HONEYDEW DROP DAY CARE CENTER
Somehow I missed this story. This from WNBC
Police said they responded Thursday afternoon to a 911 call about a child having a seizure. Investigators said 2-year-old Carly Silberman was rushed to a hospital. She was pronounced dead about an hour later.
Authorities said they don’t suspect foul play in the girl’s death, but the medical examiner will determine how she died.
Calls to
Honeydew Drop Child Care in Park Slope wasn’t immediately returned Thursday evening.
SECOND STREET CAFE CLOSING
Second Street Cafe was closed on Friday: there was paper up in the windows and it really looked closed for good. An employee told someone at Park Slope Parents that they were suddenly laid off a few days ago. They were given two days notice.
What is going on? Does anyone know?
BROOKLYN ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL AT KANE STREET SYNAGOGUE
I just got word about the 4th Annual Brooklyn Israel Film Festival at Kane Street Synagogue. This event will feature three nights of thought-provoking and award-winning films, plus discussion with the filmmakers. You can see a preview of each movie by going to the festival’s website.
Thursday, January 31 (8:00 pm): “Souvenirs,” a humorous, compassionate documentary about a soldier in the Jewish Brigade during World War II who returns to Amsterdam with his son to see if he left behind any “souvenirs”. Winner: Best Documentary, 2006 Israeli Academy Awards (Ofir).
Saturday, February 2 (8:00 pm): “Someone to Run With, a heartfelt drama based on the best-selling novel by David Grossman. Noah Stollman, the film’s screenwriter will speak after the screening. Winner: Best Supporting Actor, 2006 Israeli Academy Awards (Ofir) plus nominated in 11 other categories.
Sunday, February 3 (7:00 pm): “Watermarks,” about the champion women swimmers of Hakoah Vienna, the legendary Austrian Jewish sports club. Director Yaron Zilberman will speak about his film. Winner of several film festivals including the Grand Prix in the International Paris Cinema Film Festival and Best Cinematography, 2004 Jerusalem Film Festival.
The event will take place at Kane Street Synagogue, located at 236 Kane Street , between Court and Clinton Streets in Cobble Hill. Cost: $10 per film or $25 for the entire series. Tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Subway: F to Bergen Street ; 2, 3, 4, 5, M, N, R or W to Borough Hall/Court Street .
SMARTMOM: OLD MOM FRIEND STIRS NERVES
Here’s this week’s Smartmom from Brooklyn Paper.
Smartmom was walking on Lincoln Place when she saw Old Mom Friend walking in the opposite direction. Neither of them paused to say hello at first.
Although Smartmom has always enjoyed their sidewalk conversations, on this particular day she wasn’t sure she was in the mood for what might be an anxiety provoking conversation about college.
Frankly, Smartmom didn’t feel like getting agitated about the future of the tall guy with the low voice and facial hair who lives in the bedroom next door to where she sleeps.
At 16, Teen Spirit is such a work in progress. It’s his life now. A quick review of what he’s been up to doesn’t really express the scope of who he is.
Suddenly, Old Mom Friend stopped in her tracks and turned around. “I haven’t seen you in ages,” OMF said.
“I didn’t recognize you with that big winter hat on,” Smartmom said. It was only partly true.
The conversation went just as Smartmom expected. OMF wanted to know if they’d visited any colleges yet. Smartmom wasn’t sure what to say. The truth is, Teen Spirit, doesn’t even want to talk about college.
OMF wanted to know if Teen Spirit was thinking of applying to music schools.
She wanted to know if he had a list of the schools he’s interested in.
Standing on the corner of Lincoln Place and Seventh Avenue, Smartmom felt the anxiety rise up inside her like acid reflux.
OMF and Smartmom go way back. They used to talk in the backyard of PS 321 when their boys were in the same second grade class with an enchanted teacher named Ian, who taught the class the history of baseball and directed the kids in a play about the subway.
Over the years, they shared anxieties about their sons, their teachers and the curriculum at PS 321. When it came time to apply to middle school, Smartmom remembers many an anguished conversation about that cheerful topic.
Teen Spirit and OMF’s son both attended MS 51, a public middle school on Fifth Avenue. There were few opportunities for the moms to share anxiety anymore. The kids no longer needed their moms to take them to and from school. At the occasional school art show or play, however, Smartmom and OMF would run into each other and have a quick worry fest about something or other.
When the boys were in eighth grade, the moms ran into each other on one of the high school tours and shared plenty of agita as they walked nervously through the hallowed halls of the High School for Telecommunications Arts and Technology.
The boys ended up in different high schools. Two years ago, Smartmom ran into OMF at the Subway sandwich shop on Seventh Avenue, where they yakked about how nervous making it was to have their boys taking the subway alone.
When Smartmom saw OMF the other day she almost kept on walking. It’s not like Smartmom is in denial about all this college stuff. It’s just that, she’s trying to stay calm for as long as possible.
But here in Park Slope, you’re supposed to be ahead of the curve, ready for the next phase, seriously way in advance because…
That means you’re paying attention.
Smartmom and OMF wished each other the best of luck. They were going to need it over the next year or so: college tours, SATs, applications, financial aid, admissions letters.
But most of all: those anxiety provoking conversations on Seventh Avenue.
PS…I LOVE YOU: WAFEL AND DINGES
This week PS…I Love You discovers Wafels and Dinges. Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Paper column by friend and fave, Wendy Ponte.
There would be no real Belgian waffles in Park Slope if not for Cynthia Wang’s e-mail message. “Dear waffle truck,” she wrote. “Please come out to Park Slope. We won’t care if you double-park, everyone does it! God knows the babies and stroller-moms would gobble them up. Help a freelance designer out, save me from boring soft-serve ice cream and bagels. … Bring me the waffles au’ Belgique!”
Then came the swift reply from Thomas DeGeest, owner of the Wafels & Dinges truck:
“Dear Cynthia, I have good news for you. The Belgian Ministry of Culinary Affairs has just agreed to accept your application for the position of Special Wafel Envoy to Brooklyn. That means that you are now in charge of planning the first visit of the Wafels & Dinges truck to Brooklyn, more specifically to Park Slope. We’ll come with the truck; you line up the moms, dads, babies and strollers and keep Mr. Softee at a safe distance
.
ZUZU’S PETALS TO GO
The best florist in New York City is adding something fun to their roster.
In the spirit of their new Fifth Avenue neighbor, “Get Fresh” and their “ready to cook meals to go”….
Zuzu’s Petals is introducing:” Zuzu To Go”…
A small gathering of Fresh Cut Flowers in a frosted Lavender or Lime take-out food box.
Doesn’t that sound nice? Order ahead and we’ll have it ready for pick-up.
Starting around $25.00 and up depending on the ingredients.
Big Zu 718 638-0918
Little Zu 718 636-2022
AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO
Here’s an excerpt from our Pete weighing in on the issue of tots at the bar. The rest is at his blog Full Permission Living.
I frequently rail on about the epidemic of parental over-involvement that runs rampant among so many enclaves of educated Baby Boomers these days. My over-involvement in this issue stems from my awareness as a therapist of the damage being done to so many children by these otherwise well-intentioned parents. I have said more than once to said parents that they are creating a generation of “cranky narcissists,” and I have, of course, gotten a lot of angry responses back. (I have also dared to suggest that parents should focus a little more on their sex-romance lives, and boy did that really go down like a lead balloon!)
Yet, this is no small matter from which I intend to back away, and here’s why: narcissism, which can be initiated in almost any stage of early childhood, and can be part of any character structure, is an insidious, crippling disorder.Read the rest at Peter Loffredo’s blog, Full Permission Living
ONLY THE BLOG LINKS
A President Like My Father by Caroline Kennedy (NY Times)
Park Slope food bombshell (Gowanus Lounge)
A kid for a better future (Brooklynometry)
Squirrels fighting for their lives in Prospect Park (Brooklynometry)
Idiotarad: the video (Gowanus Lounge)
Twin Bat Mitzvahs (Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn)
Thinking about Kaddish (Andy Bachman’s blog)
An interview with Park Slope’s murder blogger, Paul LaRosa (Brooklyn Optimist)
February 10th Brooklyn Blogade meet-up on Smith Street (Creative Times)
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
GONE FISHING
Dear Readers,
I will be out of the borough for couple of days (and far from my computer) so there will be no OTBKB posts on Saturday and Sunday. However, No Words_Daily Pix will be up and running.
Posts will resume Sunday night/Monday morning. Sorry for the disruption in service.
Have a great weekend.
Louise
NO OFFICIAL WORD FROM UNION HALL
But I do think I can confirm the fact that Union Hall has to enforce a ban on kids and strollers. They are obviously under the gun for some reason that they haven’t put forward officially yet. While they might not want to make a big deal about it, not talking about it seems to be making it into an even bigger deal (Thanks to the blogs).
It might make sense to tell the community what’s going on.
A Union Hall employee, who did not want to be quoted, did want me to remind readers that they still have all ages shows from time to time on Saturday afternoons.
Hopefully, they will continue to do that.
Look’s like mom’s groups with strollers and parents who like to go to bars with their kids may need to find somewhere else to hang out.
WHAT IS THE IDIOTAROD?
It’s all about racing shopping carts down the streets of NYC. Hepcat has a friend who is participating. For those in the dark about this event here’s some quick info from their website.
The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. The IDIOTAROD is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York City.
The fifth annual event happens January 26, 2008. Teams of five will race for cash prizes and glory.
BARNES AND NOBLE: WE WERE RIGHT
According to a post on Park Slope Parents, a customer service supervisor at Barnes and Noble told the woman who was kicked out of the store because her son was making a ruckus that the store manager’s actions were justified.
What ever happened to “the customer is always right?”
The woman who was kicked out of the store posted about it on Park Slope Parents. She then received an email ostensibly from someone at Barnes and Noble suggesting that she speak to a customer service supervisor at their 800 number. Here’s what happened.
I just had the oddest phone conversation with a supervisor from B&N
customer service. Apparently B&N customer service not only read the
email I sent them but read the posts and responses on Park Slope
Parents. I received an email asking me to call a customer service
supervisor at their 800 number. I called and was surprised to find out
that the she wasn’t interested in apologizing or explaining the store
manager’s actions but rather in pointing out that I had disrupted
their business (i.e. because my questions held up the line although
there were, I think, two people in line and at least three cashiers
working at the time) and that this was, according to B&N policy,
grounds for throwing me and my son out of the store.Although her lack of concern for the poor customer service isn’t
really all that surprising, I am disturbed by the idea that B&N
customer service representatives read Park Slope Parents. I know PSP
isn’t an exclusive club but, up until now, I thought the participants
were parents and members of the community. I’ve posted some fairly
personal concerns about myself and my family on this list–I’ll be
much more wary of doing so in the future.I guess you never know who’s reading your posts…