The NYC crime rate is the lowest it’s been in years. But the coverage of the brutal murder of Immette Saint Guillen is freaking me out. Even in a safe city: hideous, hideous things can happen.

Such brutality, such cruelty. There was this piece on WNYC about how people deal with the issue of late-night safety in our so-called safe city.

WNYC’s Dan Blumberg spent a night out asking people how they get home safely.

There was no one answer. Everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to walking the streets or taking the subway late night. And late night doesn’t begin at the same time for everyone either. For NYU graduate student Faye Hanlin, late starts pretty early.

HANLIN: Pretty much after dark I don’t take the subway. It’s just not worth the risk. I’m lazy, but it’s also just not worth the risk.

REPORTER: Faye, who grew up in Park Slope and now lives on the Upper East Side, says she also checks in with her friends before she goes to bed.

HANLIN: I definitely do the buddy system kind of thing when we go out. And after we go out I’ll call or text or whatever and say did you get home? And we definitely do that because we all go our separate ways at the end of the night and you never know.

REPORTER: Faye also occasionally carries mace, won’t get into a cab that isn’t yellow, and always has her keys out and ready when she gets out of her taxi. Her vigilance ranked high. Sienna Ferris was closer to the other end of the spectrum.

FERRIS: I don’t really ever feel unsafe in the city. I know it sounds strange, but there are usually so many people in the street that I could just yell.

REPORTER: Hanging out with friends at Gaslight on West 14th Street she said she takes cabs to get home to the East Village late at night, but not because she feels unsafe on the subway.

FERRIS: The subway takes too long at night… the L train, … when I first moved to the city I took the train, now that I make money – I mean I’m not rich – I take the cab… I don’t feel like waiting.

REPORTER: Sienna hardly sounds like she feels invincible– but she does worry about a friend who she thinks is a little overconfident.

FERRIS: I do have a friend who’s here somewhere and she walks home a lot and I get very worried about her, cuz she gets wasted.

REPORTER: Sienna’s friend is Aviva bat Avraham v’Sarah — a muscular black woman with a tongue ring, wearing a white tank top. She’s doesn’t worry about going out by herself because she considers New York to be so much safer than her hometown of Dallas.

AVIVA: I am very secure in my method of getting home and I have honest to god ….touch wood… never been accosted or anything like that… and I will walk home drunk like nobody’s business and I live off of Christopher Street so I’ll have crack dealers like follow me home and all kinds of s—t but nothing bad has ever happened.

REPORTER: Immette Saint Guillen was also apparently drunk and alone on the night that she was killed and there has been criticism of her for that. Walking home alone wasted is not exactly something the police department encourages people to do, but at the same time, crimes like the rape and murder of Saint Guillen are NOT the norm. It’s true that most murders happen at night – 78% of the 540 murders last year occurred between 8pm and 4am – but 82% of the victims were male. Usually, drugs are a factor, the victim knows his or her killer and both have criminal records. And when it comes to rape, so called stranger rape is by far the least frequent type.

Still, some night owls, like Liz from Staten Island, says there’s safety in numbers.

LIZ: We never go out by ourselves, that’s just stupid.

REPORTER: Why is it stupid?

LIZ: With the recent events on the news and everything it’s just not safe to be out by yourself.

REPORTER: NYU graduate student Annie Nichols says she also tries to stay with a group and she won’t take the subway after midnight. But what her guy friends?

NICHOLS: My guy friends, hahaha, that’s a whole ‘nother story… are probably not as cautious. They may take a cab, but they won’t necessarily take a cab all the way to their door and may end up wandering around…

REPORTER: Williamsburg producer Adrien Lie doesn’t mind taking the subway late or walking around at night.

LIE: My neighborhood is pretty safe. There actually was a mugging there a couple months ago, but I can take care of myself. It’s not like a boastful thing, but it’s you know I’ve never been mugged I’ve never encountered anything. I think New York is pretty safe.

REPORTER: Saskya Fonsugaten might agree with Adrien, but as she waited at the West Fourth St. station a little before midnight—her plan to get home seemed a little hazy.

FONSUGATEN: I don’t even know if I can take this train

REPORTER: As an E train pulled into the station, the foreign exchange student from Berlin who’s only been in the states for a few weeks said she stayed out a later than she’d planned and now had a long trip home.

FONSUGATEN: Actually I’m a little scared since I have to go all the way to Far Rockaway. I’m not looking forward to travel at that length late at night, but I have to… I don’t know.

REPORTER: Eventually an A train arrived to take Saskya on a long local stops journey home.

For WNYC, I’m Dan Blumberg

A memorial service for Jackie Connor was held on Sunday evening at 5 p.m. at the St. Francis Xavier School auditorium. Many relatives, friends, neighbors, merchants, cops, garbagemen, school administrators and politicians were there. Maybe 150 or more.

There was Doo Wop music, speeches by her daughter, her brother, her husband, and anyone else who was moved to speak. Lots of food, dessert, and coffee.

I interviewed a lot of people and took notes on all the speeches and am writing a piece for this Friday’s Brooklyn Papers.

I was very moved by all of it and left with the feeling that this energetic, gutsy, caring, and selfless woman was responsible for a lot of good things in Park Slope. As David Yasky said, "I don’t think Park Slopers realize how much Jackie Connor did for this community."

Stay tuned for more about Jackie Connor. I am wondering what the neighborhood is going to do to memorialize her. I think there should be a bronze statue of her on the corner of Carroll  Street and Seventh Avenue – sitting on the stone fence at the Old First Church.

That would really be an appropriate memorial.

THERE ARE many Purim celebrations going on in Park Slope this weekend (Check Scoop du Weekend below). The following information is from Judaism 101:

It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform
plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. I have heard that the
usual prohibitions against cross-dressing are lifted during this
holiday, but I am not certain about that. Americans sometimes refer to
Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras.

Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination.

The story of Purim is told in the Biblical book of Esther. The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity.

The villain of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In a speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told the king, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every other people’s, and they do not observe the king’s laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them." Esther 3:8. The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to do as he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of the Jews.

Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people. This was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king’s presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned. Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself, then went into the king. He welcomed her. Later, she told him of Haman’s plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.

The book of Esther is unusual in that it is the only book of the Bible that does not contain the name of G-d. In fact, it includes virtually no reference to G-d. Mordecai makes a vague reference to the fact that the Jews will be saved by someone else, if not by Esther, but that is the closest the book comes to mentioning G-d. Thus, one important message that can be gained from the story is that G-d often works in ways that are not apparent, in ways that appear to be chance, coincidence or ordinary good luck.

Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar, which is usually in March. The 13th of Adar is the day that Haman chose for the extermination of the Jews, and the day that the Jews battled their enemies for their lives. On the day afterwards, the 14th, they celebrated their survival. In cities that were walled in the time of Joshua, Purim is celebrated on the 15th of the month, because the book of Esther says that in Shushan (a walled city), deliverance from the massacre was not complete until the next day. The 15th is referred to as Shushan Purim.

The word "Purim" means "lots" and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date for the massacre.

The Purim holiday is preceded by a minor fast, the Fast of Esther, which commemorates Esther’s three days of fasting in preparation for her meeting with the king.

The primary commandment related to Purim is to hear the reading of the book of Esther. The book of Esther is commonly known as the Megillah, which means scroll.

We are also commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is. A person certainly should not become so drunk that he might violate other commandments or get seriously ill. In addition, recovering alcoholics or others who might suffer serious harm from alcohol are exempt from this obligation.

In addition, we are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman’s pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman’s three-cornered hat. My recipe is included below.

I was googling the name of a friend I went to high school with and came across news of an anti-war  concert on March 20th. It’s quite a line up and an excellent cause. Here’s the information:

VETERANS FOR PEACE
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace!
"Bring ‘Em Home Now!" Concert for Peace on March 20, 2006!

MICHAEL STIPE of R.E.M.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

BRIGHT EYES

FISCHERSPOONER

PEACHES

DEVENDRA BANHART

STEVE EARLE
& special guests

CINDY SHEEHAN

& CHUCK D of PUBLIC ENEMY

at the Hammerstein Ballroom to commemorate three years of War in Iraq.

Proceeds will be donated to Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

A LIMITED BLOCK OF ADVANCE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT 10% DISCOUNT at Ticketmaster.com or by calling (212) 307-7171. Use code "PEACENOW".

Tickets are priced at $28, $35 and $150 VIP (including Meet & Greet with Cindy Sheehan and Peaches, open vodka bar and reserved balcony seating).

Doors open at 7pm, show at 8pm.

Presented by Josh Wood & Chris Wangro, in Association with The New Press and NY, America.

Hepcat and OTBKB had dinner at LITTLE DISHES. It’s a great place to have in the  neighborhood — a real keeper. Even if you do have to wait an hour to get a table.

We were okay with that because we enjoyed talking to the bartender, ordering Proseco, planning our meal, getting recomendations from the bartender, and talking to each other.

When we sat down — the service was EXCELLENT. We ordered right away. Bread, olives, water arrived IMMEDIATELY.

Our Little Dishes came quickly and they are the NAME OF THE GAME over there. Hepcat had a mushroom soup that was INCREDIBLE. OTBKB had a WARM MUSHROOM SALAD, which may be their SIGNATURE DISH

Hepcat loves lamb, that’s just something you have to know about him. He cooks it and ALWAYS orders it at restaurants. He read about Little Dishes’s lamb shank in the NY Times and he was good to go.

From table to table, everyone was eating LAMB SHANK WITH SPAETZLE. It comes in a bowl and it is QUITE SAVORY. The SPAETZLE with BLACK OLIVES WAS YUM, YUM, YUM.

The lamb was cooked a long time, very moist, came right off the bone, fun to eat. Hepcat liked it.

We had Proseco and Razor Edge Shiraz, a teriffic wine. 2 glasses of each. Woo hoo.

With its  brick walls, Thonet chairs, light wood bar, low lighting, the place is a pleasure to be. Staff: Excellent. The Maitre’D is the owner, her husband is in the kitchen…

COOKING UP A STORM. Small Dishes – We Like You A Lot and WILL BE BACK…

Dope on the Slope, is a blog that describes itself as chronicling the Brooklynization of two Tennessee Hillbillies.

This week they’ve got great photos and some interesting dope:

–News that Europa Cleaners, on Sixth Avenue between Union and President is closing. I happen to know the owners of that building and will report back what’s going on.

–Pix of two pigeons dubbed "The Pigeon Sisters" who hang out at the Flea Market

–Funny story about a "garish saffron gown was perched on a dress model outside of a frou-frou fashion store in Park Slope."

Continue reading DOPE ON THE SLOPE →

Maybe two months ago I was walking past the PS 321 flea market at dusk and saw two lecterns on the sidewalk lined up to be loaded onto a van.

I’ve actually been in the market for a lectern for a long time. And these were special. They had a vaguely "arts and crafts" feeling to them. Clearly hand-made, I could imagine them in a church somewhere, a preacher’s foot perched on one of the cross bars. It had character, and lots of it.

Those lecterns had history and spirit all over them and I wanted one or both.

I needed a lectern for Brooklyn Reading Works (and I wanted to give it to The Old Stone house for their other activities, too).

Because we didn’t have a lectern, we usually set up a table and a chair and offer writers the option of reading while sitting down, with their papers or books on the table. But it it’s a little awkward. Most of the writers choose to stand and read.

I also want a dictionary stand to keep at home or in the office. Since I am constantly checking the dictionary I thought it would be helpful to have it out and open all the time.

While I was pondering my need for a lectern, a man lifted one of the lecterns and started loading it into the van. I asked him how much he wanted for the lecterns and he said $75 dollars each. I immediately knew it was a good price so I checked my wallet. Unfortunately I only had $25 dollars in there.

"Can I write a check?" I asked.
"Don’t take checks," he said.

Sunny is the man’s name. He’s the guy who sells metal file cabinets, desks, and cabinets, who usually sets up to the left of the PS 321 entrance.

I asked him if it would be alright to give him $25 dollars now and to pay him later in the week or next weekend. He thought for a moment and after a little hesitation said that would be fine. We exchanged phone numbers.

He never called and I lost his number, which I had written with a bad pen on a faded receipt, which I probably threw out by mistake.

EVERY SATURDAY since then I have gone by the flea market to find Sunny and he hasn’t been there. Sometimes I ask other vendors, "Have you seen Sunny?" Yesterday I asked Fred, who runs the flea market what happened to Sunny and he said he was working his day job on Saturdays for the last few months and probably wouldn’t be back until April or May. I asked Fred to tell Sunny that I’ve been looking for him…

"Tell him the woman who bought the lectern wants to give him his $50 dollars." I said.

"Sunny is a trusting guy and I guess he knew you were trustworthy. Take off your sunglasses, let me look in your eyes." Fred said.

I took off my sunglasses.
"Aaaaah. You have very honest eyes," he said.

"Yes, I am ridiculously honest," I said not sure what I meant.

"You can’t be too honest," Fred said. "It’s the most important thing in the world. "Obviously Sunny knew you could be trusted."

"Well tell Sunny that I want to pay him AND I want to buy the other lectern."

"Okay," Fred said. "I’ll tell  him the honest woman with the honest eyes has been looking for him."

At the last reading, the lectern really transformed the event as far as I was concerned. It made my introductions feel more solid, more….I don’t know what.

David Berreby, author of Us and Them, seemed very comfortable up there in a quasi academic way as he discussed his wonderful book, "US AND THEM."

The transformative powers of a lectern. Honest eyes. If I could only find Sunny and pay him.

FROM New York 1: Friends and family of a Manhattan man who contracted anthrax gathered Saturday for a vigil in a local church.

Drum-maker and African dancer, Vado Diomande contracted anthrax while working with untreated animal skins.

Daimonde’s friends plan to hold a "healing drum circle" ceremony
Saturday afternoon. They will play drums like the ones he uses in his
performances as a way to show their support for this recovery.

Doctors at the Pennsylvania Hospital where Diomande is being
treated say the he’s taken another turn for the worse, and been
downgraded to serious condition.

There is no word yet on what sparked the change in Diomande’s condition.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency says crews have
cleaned all but one of the six floors in the DUMBO warehouse where
Diomande worked with the skins.

When they are done, another round of testing will take place, to make sure the facility is clear of the bio-toxin.

The EPA tests on Diomande’s West Village apartment are complete and
officials say it is clear of any remaining traces of anthrax.

The EPA says test results on the warehouse should be available early next week.

Continue reading Vigil for Drum-maker and African Dancer →

From the  New York Times today, news about the Brooklyn House of Detention, that most "repellent" of Brooklyn buildings:

By almost any measure, the Brooklyn House of Detention, 10 stories of razor wire and wire-mesh windows in Boerum Hill, is a repellent sight.

But, the city reasons, it need not be so. So, to attract people other than criminal suspects to the 760-bed jail, the Correction Department has decided to convert part of the complex into 24,000 square feet of retail shopping space.

"The site is going to be redeveloped," Martin F. Horn, the correction commissioner, said in an interview this week. "One way or another, retail is going to be there."

Under Mr. Horn’s jail-with-retail plan, three sides of the block that the jail now occupies, along Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place, would be converted to one-story retail space beginning this summer. The jail entrance, now on Atlantic, would be moved to the fourth side of the block, along State Street.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. Horn said, "enthusiastically" supports the redevelopment plan, part of a $240 million reconception of the jail that will most likely also add more cell space. Mr. Horn declined to say exactly how many more inmates a bigger Brooklyn jail would hold.

Which retailers would be asked, or be willing, to open a shop on jail property remains to be seen, several city and local elected officials said. But Mr. Horn and several elected officials in Brooklyn, including Marty Markowitz, the borough president, and David Yassky, a city councilman from Brooklyn Heights, floated a few ideas this week.

An upscale food market, Mr. Horn suggested; a children’s clothing store, Mr. Yassky offered; law offices, Mr. Markowitz mentioned.

Mr. Markowitz, who is known to gush about how great Brooklyn is, said that even a boutique hotel on jail grounds would be nice — but only if the city razed the existing structure and rebuilt it from scratch.

"If it’s designed in such a way that the guests feel totally comfortable," he said yesterday, "why not?"

Mr. Markowitz added that although he would prefer to see the jail closed permanently, if it is to be open it should also have retail and, preferably, residential space.

"Let’s make it something that we never would have dreamed about," he said.

As a 2006 recipient of a Brooklyn Arts Council Grant (BAC) I was invited to the Brooklyn Arts Council 2006 Community Arts Regrant Awards Ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall. I bought a orange silk jacket at City Casuals to the event, which I figured would be artsy-dressy.

Borough President Marty Markowitz was the host. There were other speakers, too. Ella Weiss, President of BAC, Kate D. Levin, Commissioner, NYC Department of Culutral Affairs, and others from JP Morgan Chase Foundation, and the New York S tate Council on the Arts.

It was so great to hear the word ART over and over in thick Brooklyn accents. AHT. Even better – so great to be in a municipal building – in the magnificent courtroom no less – and hear politician after politician state the importance of the arts (ahts) and artists in particular to the social, economic, and cultural health of a city.

Roseanne P. Evans, Grants Manager, Kay Turna, Folk Arts Director and Eleanor Geryk announced the names of the 133 winners, including Brooklyn Reading Works (me), 826NYC (Brookyn Superhero Supply Store), The Arab American Family Support Center (Intro to Arab-American poets), Colab for Artwalk ’06, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Caribbean American Sport and Cultural Youth Movement (steel drum workshops), Brooklyn Sax Quartet, Green-wood Cemetery site project, Volcano Love (Teen girl programs), Kwame Brandt-Pierce (for a storytelling project), Regina Opera, Brooklyn Ballet, CIRCUSundays at the Hudson Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge, GRIOT Circle (Yoruba woodcarving), Kristin Brenneman Eno for her Digital Story Workshop, Chez Bushwick Studios, Making Menorahs; Saving Jewish Tradition, Phat Phun Poetry Workshops, Documenting BRownsville, Fifth Annual Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair…

There were many more. The myriad ways that BAC enriches Brooklyn by helping Brooklyn artists is incredible – and I was thrilled to be part of it.

Needless to say, with 133 recipients there was no time for my "Oscar" speech. We were just asked to stand after they listed our names (in groupings depending on which grant group we were in – mine is New York City Department of Cultural Affairs). But I did have a speech ready…

The party afterward was fun – wine, cheese, cucumber sandwiches, chicken satay, turnovers, and more…A really interesting Brooklyn crowd. People networked, socialized, picked up their checks, congratulated one another…

When it was over, Hepcat and I ducked into the Borough Hall subway station that was right outside the door…

Brooklyn fiction writer, Martha Cooley, is the author of this wonderful first line in her acclaimed novel, The Archivist.

With a little effort, anything can be shown to connect to anything else; existence is infinitely cross-referenced. And everything has more than one definition.  A cat is a mammal, a narcissist, a companion, a riddle.

Speaking of connections, Martha, who also wrote, "Thirty-Three Swoons," called the other day to tell me all about the new MFA program at Adelphi (which is in Queens). And to invite the readers of OTBKB to an Open House introducing its new MFA program to interested potential applicants.   

The evening will include a short program of faculty readings, a question and answer session and an informal conversation.  Refreshments will be served.  Monday, March 27th at 6:00 p.m., 75 Varick Street, 2nd floor (Adelphi Manhattan Center)

Martha is trying to get the word out to SERIOUS WRITERS LOOKING FOR AN INTERESTING, TOP NOTCH MFA PROGRAM IN THE NYC AREA.

In addition to getting a chance to study with Martha Cooley, here are some other reasons you might want to check out Adelphi’s MFA program:

Why go for an MFA in Creative Writing at Adelphi University?  To become a better writer, of course.  To gain the versatility, confidence, and discipline to sustain yourself through a lifetime in the arts.  And to step off the sidelines, engaging actively with the literary realm at large–and with the particular cultural pleasures of New York, where novelty, variation, and flexibility constitute the most venerable of traditions. 

In our new Creative Writing Program, fiction writers, poets, and playwrights refine their skills in small, single-genre writing workshops, literature courses, and exchanges across the borders of prose, poetry, and drama.  Our students participate in a lively community encompassing not only Adelphi’s campus in Garden City, Long Island, but also nearby New York City’s artistically active boroughs

Adelphi’s creative writing faculty provide one-on-one mentoring for each MFA student.  Our students will have opportunities to run a reading series in SoHo, edit our literary journal, pursue lit-blogging and other on-line ventures, guide undergraduates at the university, and teach in public schools.  They will emerge from the program with a novel or set of stories, a play, or a collection of poems and a realistic sense of what a "life of letters" is all about.  They’ll connect with professional networks and opportunities in teaching and publishing, freelance writing, editorial consulting, and community-based writers’ workshops and organizations.  And they’ll be involved in the off- and off- off-Broadway stage as well as regional theaters.    

Faculty:

Judith Baumel, Poetry
Martha Cooley, Fiction
Imraan Coovadia, Fiction
Anton Dudley, Playwriting
Kermit Frazier, Playwriting
Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Poetry
Jiri Wyatt (Igor Webb), Non-Fiction Memoir

For more information, call the Department of English (516-877-4020).

I didn’t know her but she was a fixture on Seventh Avenue for as long as I’ve been around. Sitting on the steps of Old First Church, walking up and down Seventh Avenue with her shopping cart, Jackie Connor was a beloved figure around here.

My friend Marian Fontana called me today to say that Jackie died. Marian has special feelings for Jackie because after 9/11, Jackie gave Marian and all the guys at Squad 1 little angel figurines. Apparently, she collected angels and bought many of them at the Clay Pot, where she was always welcome. I imagine she was a collector of things. She once bought a pair of leather boots from one of my Stoop Sales – for her daughter I think.

I noticed a few months ago that she had no hair. Her hair was always short but she was bald and I thought to myself: she must be undergoing chemo.

Indeed, cancer claimed Jackie’s life. The Slope won’t be the same without her and her gift of angels. We will miss our neighbor, who just like us, lived her life on the Avenue.

For a totally fun art show – the kids and teens will love it –  get over to the Brooklyn Museum for the Willilam Wegman retrospective.

DOGS AND MORE "Funney/Strange," the first retrospective of William Wegman’s art in more than 15 years, opens Friday at the Brooklyn Museum. The show includes photography, painting, collage, and video, all with Mr. Wegman’s blend of light humor and darker undercurrents. He has created children’s books, television spots for "Sesame Street" and "Saturday Night Live," photographs focused on his dogs, and, most recently, a series of collage paintings that incorporate scenic postcards with drawing in addition to paint.This weekend, Mr. Wegman leads a gallery talk through his exhibit, followed by a book signing (Saturday, 3 p.m.). Exhibit: Friday through June 4, Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway at Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-638-5000, $8 general, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 12.

I learned about this Jenny Holzer piece, titled,  "Le Courbusier" on Curbed and went to James Wagner’s site for more.

James Wagner lives in New York and writes about art and politics on jameswagner.com. He is the editor, along with Barry Hoggard, of the arts calendar ArtCal. He had this to say about the piece at the new 7 WTC.

I think it will look fine, perhaps even very, very fine. At least
from a distance the Childs building seems to be an improvement over the
old 7 WTC, even if much of its virtue may be tied to its glassy near
invisibility. I worked in the old fortress for years, and even with a
lobby stocked with decent, large-scale late twentieth-century art I
shuddered every time I had to walk to or from the elevators. The
Lichtenstein, the Held, the Nevelson and the Bleckner [all destroyed]
were all basically add-ons inside that pompous and brutally cold
corporate control center lobby.

Today’s article describes some of the process of the collaboration
between the artist, architect David Childs and developer Larry
Silverstein. While it clearly won’t be one of Holzer’s more provocative
projects (the texts which had to be cleared by Silverstein, will
apparently be as close to sweetness and light as Manhattan ever gets),
we may still be able to hope for more later on: "I hope to feed it
again," Ms. Holzer said. "It would be nice to keep it alive."

For the sake of all of us, I wish her success.

*
the complete quote reads:

The George Washington Bridge
over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of
cables and steel beams, it gleams in the sky like a reversed arch. It
is blessed. It is the only seat of grace in the disordered city. It is
painted an aluminum color and, between water and sky, you see nothing
but the bent cord supported by two steel towers. When your car moves up
the ramp, the two towers rise so high that it brings you happiness;
their structure is so pure, so resolute, so regular that here, finally, steel architecture
seems to laugh… The second tower is very far away; innumerable vertical
cables, gleaming across the sky, are suspended from the magisterial
curve that swings down and then up. The rose-colored towers of New York
appear, a vision whose harshness is mitigated by distance.

The quote is by Le Courbousier

A Brooklyn Life is doing the brunch thing. Here’s what she has to say about our beloved Stone Park and others.

Midweek is the perfect time to start thinking about the weekend again. And what activity more thrills the hearts of Brooklynites everywhere? Brunch! I had a good one last weekend at the Stone Park Cafe on  5th Avenue. Gothamist recently gave the bistro a nod for its egg-topped burger (known as the short-rib sandwich), and not too long after it opened, Frank Bruni raved about it for its bone marrow in the Times. While I’m sure both of these are excellent, do try the brunch.

Read more at A Brooklyn Life