TWO YEARS AGO TODAY (okay, yesterday) I started OTBKB. As part of the festivities, here’s a piece about where I got the name. This line from the story is my mantra for this blog and a good metaphor for life: "It’d take a guy a lifetime to
know Brooklyn t’roo an’ t’roo. An even den, yuh wouldn’t know it all."

Curious about the name of this new blog? Here’s an excerpt from
Thomas Woolfe’s masterful short story, "Only the Dead Know
Brooklyn" written in thick Brooklynese:

"Dere’s no guy livin’ dat knows Brooklyn t’roo an t’roo, because it’d
take a guy a lifetime just to find his way aroun’ duh goddam town.

"So like I say, I’m waitin’ for my train t’ come when I sees dis big
guy standin’ deh — dis is the foist I eveh see of him. Well, he’s
lookin’ wild, y’know, an’ I can see dat he’s had plenty, but still he’s
holdin’ it; he talks good an’ is walkin’ straight enough. So den, dis
big guy steps up to a little guy dat’s standin’ deh, an’ says, ‘How
d’yuh get t’ Eighteent’ Avenoo an Sixty-sevent’ Street?’ he says…"

and

"Jesus! What a nut he was! I wondeh what evah happened to ‘m,
anyway. I wondeh if someone knocked him on duh head, or if he’s till
wanderin’ aroun’ in duh subway in duh middle of duh night with his
little map! Duh poor guy. Say, I’ve got to laugh, at dat, when I t’ink
about him! Maybe he’s found out by now dat he’ll never live long
enought to know duh whole of Brooklyn. It’d take a guy a lifetime to
know Brooklyn t’roo an’ t’roo. An even den, yuh wouldn’t know it all."