Brooklyn Papers editor-in-chief, GERSH KUNTZMAN, has devised the perfect Hanukah or Christmas gift. OR SHOULD I SAY CHRISMUKKAH GIFT. THIS BOOK IS SURE TO TICKLE MANY A NEW YORKER.

CHRISMUKKAH: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE WORLD’S MOST BELOVED HOLIDAY by Gersh Kuntzman It’s a must-give gift, must-have, especialy around here where inter-marriage is rampant.  Read about what happened when Gersh did a reading at the Park Slope YMCA:

As tout le monde
knows, the cover of my book, “Chrismukkah: The Official Guide to the
World’s Most-Beloved Holiday,” features a statuette of Santa Claus
wearing a belt adorned with a gold Jewish star and hair featuring
Hasidic-style side curls (in white, to match his beard, of course).

As far as I’m
concerned, you can judge this book by its cover. To me, that
Jewish-leaning Santa is a cute icon that perfectly captures the spirit
of Chrismukkah.

But to some Park Slopers, it’s an offensive, horrifying image that must be censored!

The trouble
started last week, when organizers of the Writers on the Rooftop series
at the Prospect Park YMCA created a large poster to advertise my
reading on Dec. 4. 

Find out the rest of the story here.  Here’s the book’s blurb from Amazon, where you can order a copy. Or order it from our local indie booksellers, Community Books (she probably has it in stock) or Park Slope Books.

It’s Chrismukkah time of year again — yet all across America, Jews,
Christians and even famous Chrismukkan Sean Penn can’t figure out how
to celebrate this blessed day (or couple of days, maybe). Thank
goodness we have Chrismukkan scholar Gersh Kuntzman to share the
historical origins and rituals associated with this mixed-faith
hybrid holiday. Whether discussing traditional Chrismukkah rites such
as "the Measuring of the Children," "the Refusal of the Gift," or "the
Burning of the Sacred Herbaceous Green Plant," offering recipes for
such Chrismukkah delicacies as Ham Latkes and Savory Oyster
Hammentaschen, or uncovering the long-lost Charles Dickens novella A Chrismukkah Carol, Kuntzman’s wildly entertaining Chrismukkah treasury is the perfect remedy from those other holidays.

I got this email in my inbox today. It’s a nice tribute to a nice gesture made by one friend to another.

Today, I wanted to point out something that my friend, Fonda Sara did.
This past summer, our office worked to have the corner of Carroll &
Seventh dedicated as Jackie Connor’s Corner.   

As you may recall, we
decorated the pole with the maypole-like ribbons that were a fixture on
Seventh Avenue for many months after the street corner-naming. 

They
withstood lots of bad weather and were looking kind of tattered.   So I
am walking in the neighborhood on Saturday and notice that the old
ribbons were gone and NEW ribbons (in holiday colors) had replaced
them.   

I smiled to myself, because it had Fonda’s fingerprints all
over it.  Yesterday I called her just to say how great I thought that
was.  What a devoted friend and a great Park Slope neighbor.

I checked out artist Caroline Woolard’s blog and found this writing about her Have a Seat bench project, which was part of a show at ConFlux: the annual NYC festival for contemporary psychogeography
where international artists, technologists, urban adventurers and the
public put investigations of everyday city life into practice on the
streets. The show is no longer open.

Have a Seat
is Caroline Woolard’s gesture towards reclaiming public space. It is a
platform for a new vantage point on the street. As seating bolted to no
parking signs in New York, Have a Seat offers rest and contemplation in
transitional spaces. Installed for ConFlux in Brooklyn from September
14-17, these temporary seats are the culmination of three years of
prototypes in New York and Rhode Island.

In the city, the street
should be a destination in itself. Many people use the street to get
from one place to another, but it is an invaluable arena for immediate
interaction. Instead of walking to a park or other zone calculated for
relaxation, Have a Seat serves those people who want to pause amidst
action for a direct perspective on the momentum of the city. The seat
is a signal at the scale of the human body in a city of buildings that
consume space and light at the expense of pedestrians who are swept
forward by wind tunnels in the shadow of skyscrapers. Unlike monuments
that overpower people in scale and pretension, these wooden chairs wait
to be used by a single body on the street.

Have a Seat makes
everyday environments strange, pushing for a moment to reevaluate the
monotony of consistent routine. Robert Musil writes, in The Man Without
Qualities:
“Everything we feel and do is somehow oriented
“lifeward,” and the least deviation away from this direction toward
something beyond is difficult or alarming. This is true even of the
simple act of walking: one lifts one’s center of gravity, pushes it
forward, and lets it drop again- and the slightest change, the merest
hint of shrinking from this letting-oneself0drop-into-the-future, or
even of stopping to wonder at it- and one can no longer stand upright!
Stopping to think is dangerous.”

This project celebrates
individuals actively shaping shared space and the interactions in it.
It encourages pedestrians to stop and think. Although disembodied
conversations (Blackberry, cell phone, etc) and narrative accompaniment
(iPods) inevitably insulate individuals from this reality, I hope that
a symbol of rest amidst action allows some people to create immediate
connection with the street.

Pix: Light Molded to my Face by Caroline Woolard

Caroline Woolard, an artist and blogger in Williamsburg, went to the trouble to make sure New Yorkers have a place during the holiday season.The Brooklyn Papers broke the story but This from New York 1:

Caroline Woolard’s "have a seat" program involves small painted wooden platforms she has bolted to metal signposts throughout Williamsburg, Brooklyn and one in the East Village.

She says she installed them at night so she wouldn’t get in trouble, but so far she’s been happy with the popular response.

"So many people in the neighborhood have been really into it, so people just congratulate me, or I see people reading the morning newspaper, so it seems like it’s been positive," says Woolard.

"I think it’s a great idea, I mean utilizing your own street signs to make a comfortable space," said a resident.

"You’ve got a lot of old people in this neighborhood, so sometimes they do a lot of walking and they need to sit down and rest a little bit," added another.

"I wish you could put more of these seats on every sidewalk," said a third.

NY1 reached out to the city for comment, but have yet to hear back. For more information about the artist, visit www.carolinewoolard.blogspot.com.

Did anyone notice all the yellow signs that said, "Sit Here" around the Slope yesterday? I noticed one on the corner of Third Street in front of the derelict building just west of Seventh Avenue It was in an empty baby stroller.   

In front of Cousin John’s I also saw three of these yellow signs. Today I am determined to find out the origin of these signs.

I know they are unconnected to Caroline Woolard’s bench project. But I am very curious. Anyone have any info?

You know how your mother has been telling you for years to sit up straight and you’ve been telling that to your kids (if you have kids). Leif Parsons has a piece in today’s Times about research that may debunk the notion that anything other than sitting up straight is bad for your back.

Despite its persistence, that
advice is wrong. Parents may insist that sitting up straight with your
thighs parallel to the ground is the best way to sit, but a long list
of studies has shown that that position increases stress on the lumbar
disks in your lower back.

Thirty years ago, scientists first
showed this by inserting needles into the backs of volunteers and
measuring the amount of pressure created by various seating positions.
They found that a reclining position was ideal, placing the least
strain on the back and minimizing pressure that could lead to back
problems. Since then, multiple studies have confirmed that finding.

But
it was only in 2006 that scientists produced direct visual evidence. In
a study that used new magnetic resonance imaging machines that allow
people to sit instead of lie down, a team of researchers at the
University of Aberdeen in Scotland looked at 22 volunteers who sat in
three positions. The first two positions, sitting upright and sitting
with the body hunched forward, produced the greatest spinal disk
movement, causing the internal disk material to misalign. The third
position, in which the subjects reclined at a 135-degree angle with
their feet planted on the floor, created the least strain.

According
to the study, any position in which a person leans back, opening the
angle between the thighs and the back, is preferable to sitting up
straight.

THE BOTTOM LINE Sitting upright at a 90-degree angle strains your back; leaning back places less pressure on the spine.

Show your love for public transit. I got this email this morning in my in-box:

Hey Louise! It’s Newmindspace, the kids who did the union square pillow
fight, bubble battle + more.

We just released 24 one inch buttons featuring NYC’s various subway
lines,and we were hoping you could blog it! We are trying to raise money for
more trips to New York to host free, fun, public events, as well as help people show their love for the subway.

http://www.subwaybuttons.com is the website.

There is a good image here:
http://www.subwaybuttons.com/images/newmindspaceButtons.jpg

Thanks a lot :)

Kevin * Lori
Newmindspace

Continue reading WEAR YOUR SUBWAY LINE PROUDLY →

Park Slope resident and New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced yesterday that he would support Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the democratic nomination for president in 2008 if she should choose to seek it.

The
two had breakfast on Thursday in his office. Mrs. Clinton has recently held several such meetings to discuss her White House aspirations
with officials from New York and from important presidential nominating
states.