Monthly Archives: February 2007

Postcard from the Slope

SEEDFOLKS: A VALENTINE FROM CREATIVE TIMES

I’d like to publically thank Creative Times, my sister blogger, for the lovely Valentine’s present of a book called, Seedfolks, a young adult novel by Paul Fleishman.

A vacant garbage-filled lot in Cleveland gets transformed into a community garden and hope springs eternal in this short, lyrical novel.

Here’s an excerpt from the first page:

I stood before our family altar. It was dawn. No one else in the apartment was awake. I stared at my father’s photograph–his thin face stern, lips latched tight, his eyes peering permanently to the right. I was nine years old and still hoped that perhaps his eyes might move. Might notice me.

The candles and the incense sticks, lit the day before to mark his death anniversary, had burned out. The rice and meat offered him were gone. After the evening feast, past midnight, I’d been wakened by my mother’s crying. My oldest sister had joined in. My own tears had then come as well, but for a different reason.

I turned from the altar, tiptoed to the kitchen, and quietly drew a spoon from a drawer. I filled my lunch thermos with water and reached into our jar of dried lima beans. Then I walked outside to the street.

The sidewalk was completely empty. It was Sunday, early in April. An icy wind teetered trash cans and turned my cheeks to marble. In Vietnam we had no weather like that. Here in Cleveland people call it spring. I walked half a block, then crossed the street and reached the vacant lot.

I stood tall and scouted. No one was sleeping on the old couch in the middle. I’d never entered the lot before, or wanted to. I did so now, picking my way between tires and trash bags. I nearly stepped on two rats gnawing and froze. Then I told myself that I must show my bravery. I continued further, and chose a spot far from the sidewalk and hidden from view by a rusty refrigerator. I had to keep my project safe.

I took out my spoon and began to dig. The snow had melted, but the ground was hard. After much work, I finished one hole, then a second, then a third. I thought about how my mother and sisters remembered my father, how they knew his face from every angle and held in their fingers the feel of his hands. I had no such memories to cry over. I’d been born eight months after he’d died. Worse, he had no memories of me. When his spirit hovered over our altar, did it even know who I was?

Postcard from the Slope

POWER DAY OFF: YOU CAN TRY IT

I was visiting Red Eft and Dadu in Kingston over the weekend. On Sunday morning, their 9-year-old son, WM Thing, walked past the guest room (after serving me breakfast in bed I might add) and announced: “It’s Power Day Off. Please try not to use any electricity today.” I knew what he meant because I’ve been reading his mom’s blog. Now don’t for a minute thing that this is a family of Luddites or low-techies. Every member of the family, including their 7-year-old daughter Falling Broken Wings has either a web site or a blog. Still the family likes to do without electricity and they’re really enjoying their weekly day off.

Power Day Off: Less, as always, is more from Oswegatchie.blogspot.com

You’ve heard of the power lunch and the power nap, right? Well our family is making a tradition of the Power Day Off. Like its namesakes, it is a souped-up, more intense version of the average day off. What makes it new and improved is: we use as little power as possible. It’s a day off of work for us and for the energy we use.

We break out the candles and don’t run the dishwasher, the vacuum, the dryer. We don’t turn on lights. We shun our computers. We light a fire and play Scrabble, or read, or fumble in the kitchen to cook (we do use gas; we do keep our fridge plugged in and open it for food; we do turn on the front light so our house isn’t completely black; we use the phone. So far.)

It’s a real day of rest. Quiet. Still. Dark. Nothing to do but be together. The seed of the idea came to me while reading Michael Lerner’s eloquent discussion of the Sabbath—the original day of rest—in his book, Spirit Matters. Despite the change in routine they bring, I haven’t found Saturdays and Sundays to be so very restful. Power Day Off fixes the problem, I think because when I’m near a machine that’s plugged in, the thing draws some power from the outlet and a whole lot of power from me.

Checking email, pressing buttons, proliterating tasks that aren’t really urgent—what a lot of ciphons. It becomes harder to take power for granted with an imposed limitation. Yesterday I entered a darkened laundry room and turned on the light without thinking, but once I noticed, I really noticed. I’m still getting used to giving electricity a sabbatical. Earth needs more than a day off from us, but it’s a start, so spread it around:

Power down

Civics and Urban Life

HUMMER KILLS 4-YEAR-OLD

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This was reported in the New York Sun and it is so f—ed up.

A 4-year-old boy was struck and killed yesterday by a yellow sport utility vehicle in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, police said.

The young boy’s name was James Javarrice. He was hit while crossing Baltic Street at 3:38 p.m. when a Hummer made a right turn off Third Avenue, police said.

The SUV also struck an 18-year-old woman. Both were rushed to Methodist Hospital, where Javarrice was pronounced dead, police said.

Postcard from the Slope

READER TIP OR MARKETING SCAM?

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Holeydonutsbox4
A Reader wrote this. I think. But now I am wondering if this is really from a reader or a marketing representative from Holey Donuts? Is this a reader tip or a marketing scam? I’m suspicious because most readers know I report about Brooklyn and these donuts aren’t even from Brooklyn. He does link to a local donut blog — so maybe he’s for real.

"This would be an interesting thing to write about. What
goes better with coffee than donuts? But not those regular deep fried
fattening puffs of dough we all know about..the donuts of
celebrities like Tori Spelling, and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.

These magical great tasting donuts are LOW FAT! Yes, I said LOW
FAT!!!! And they taste amazing. I love the Boston Cream its crazy good! I saw them here: blognut.blogspot.com

    

 

      

Civics and Urban Life

LISTEN ON WNYC TODAY: DEBATE ON BUILD UP IN IRAQ

LISTEN TO THIS ON WNYC. TODAY.

The House of Representatives debates a Democratic resolution objecting to President Bush’s proposed troop buildup in Iraq. Many Republicans are unhappy that they aren’t being permitted to offer amendments, but a considerable number in the party still plan to vote in favor of the resolution.

“The American people have lost faith in President Bush’s course of action in Iraq, and they’re demanding a new direction,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in opening the session.

Postcard from the Slope

NIGHT AND DAY: YOU ARE THE ONE

1 Comment 
This from Cole Porter on Valentine's Day: 

Like the beat beat beat of the tom-tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick tick tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip drip drip of the raindrops
When the summer shower is through
So a voice within me keeps repeating you, you, you
Night and day, you are the one
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Whether near to me, or far
It's no matter darling where you are
I think of you
Day and night, night and day, why is it so
That this longing for you follows wherever I go
In the roaring traffic's boom
In the silence of my lonely room
I think of you
Day and night, night and day
Under the hide of me
There's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me
And this torment won't be through
Until you let me spend my life making love to you
Day and night, night and day
Civics and Urban Life

LAST MINUTE VALENTINES?

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Scaredy Kat: Fifth Avenue between President and Carroll. Cards, vintage-y toys, and books. Classics like candy necklaces, Be Mine candies, etc.

Lion in the Sun: Seventh Avenue and Third Street. Cards and more.

Sweet Melissa: Seventh Avenue between 1st and 2nd Streets. Candies, lollipops, Valentine cookies and cakes.

Cocoa Bar: Seventh Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. Chocolates

Dianna Kane: Seventh Avenue near Berkeley. Jewelry, lingerie, and more…

Postcard from the Slope

THE DANCE STUDIO NEEDS A NEW HOME

The Dance Studio of Park Slope is losing their lease. The owner of the building, which is on the corner of Union Street and Seventh Avenue the Dance, wants to turn the second floor space occupied by the Dance Studio into an office space.

The  For 25-years, the Dance Studio, has been teaching ballet, modern, gymnastics, musical theater, tap dance, aerobics, and other dance styles to young children, teens and adults. It’s an instituiton here in Park Slope — many a kid has taken a class there. Full disclosure, for more than ten years, my writer’s group has been meeting there thanks to the kindness and generosity of Jennifer.

Owner Jennifer Kliegel, who is one of the Park Slope 100, will need to  find a new home by June 30th. This week she sent a letter to  parents, students and neighborhood friends asking for help in locating a new space. In these times of exorbitant real estate values, it may take a while to find something as conveniently located and reasonably priced.

If anyone knows of a suitable space, please email louisecrawford@gmail.com and I will get this information to Jennifer. 

Postcard from the Slope

CAREGIVER AT DROP IN ASKS DIAPER DIVA: ARE YOU DUCKY’S GRANDMOTHER?

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I’m on a rampage now. A caregiver at the Beth Elohim Drop-In asked Diaper Diva if she was Ducky’s grandmother.

Her grandmother? Come on. Diaper Diva is the same age as me. We’re TWINS for god’s sake. Do I look like Ducky’s grandmother? You gotta be NUTS.

Ducky has two grandmothers. One is 80, the other 81. Do we look like we’re 80 or 81?

Park Slope is the capital of parents in their forties.

What a crazy thing to ask Diaper Diva (and by extension, me)? It’s just ludicrous. Granted, in other parts of the country (and the world) people have children younger.

But here in Park Slope "older" parenting is the norm.

I was once asked if I was OSFO’s grandmother in a Papa’s U-Bake in Tracy, California. I acted shocked but chalked it up to the fact that the girl’s grandmother was probably the same age as me.

They have babies younger in Tracy, California.  But in Park Slope, you’re in the minority if you’re having babies in your twenties I used to hear that it’s hard for younger moms in Park Slope. Things are changing and mothers are getting younger and younger around here. Still…

What was that woman thinking?

(No insulting comments to this post, please. Only votes of support and cries of: "Of course you don’t look like you’re 80).

Postcard from the Slope

CLUB LOCO FOR TEENS AT OLD FIRST CHURCH IN PARK SLOPE

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Clublocoposter2ot5The poster to the left (by Chloe Dietz) shows the alley next to Old First, the venerable Dutch Reformed church on Seventh Avenue. The Kravitz’s are members of the congregation and they keep me abreast of all the good goings on there. The Pastor, Daniel Meeter, is an interesting fellow and a blogger (and you know how much I like that).

Now they’re doing something really nice for the nabe: Creating a fun space for teenagers ONE SATURDAY NIGHT A MONTH.

It’s called Club Loco and it’s organized by Park Slope teens for Park Slope teens.  The church is located on Seventh Avenue at Carroll Street (also known as Jackie Connor’s corner).

This Saturday February 17th, at 7:30 the show at Club Loco will feature:

—COOL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT:  "Really, we’re just thankful that people enjoy the music that we’re
making and that we get applause at the end of our songs. So just keep
coming to our gigs and we’ll keep loving you (just kidding, we’ll never
love you)."

—THE FLOOR IS LAVA!: "We’re five ninja turtles and one lucas making music in a Park Slope basement. THE FLOOR IS LAVA! was started by eli and jack after they got sick of eating cream cheese bagels over and over again. they got together with felix and then will. recently, we added a bass player, sam, who can actually breathe. sometimes.

we all have individual influences ranging from gang of four to slayer to the kinks. the best way to describe us is if you were to combine Kings of Leon with Guns N Roses and Gang of Four."

—DULANEY BANKS: A folk duo
from Brooklyn, they started out covering Bob Dylan favorites and soon
worked their way into a huge cult following in the Park Slope scene.
Banks’ astounding voice fills rooms and captures the crowd’s souls,
while Kane’s creamy licks and pounding beats work their way into their
gut. If you see either of them walking down the street (one of them
might be limping), come say hi and feel free to ask for their demo.

Club Loco organizers have created a really fun space with cool lighting, bar stools, tables and huge floor cushions, plus a nice stage for the music. Refreshments and soft drinks are on sale. For entry: kids must show high school I.D.  The show starts at 7:30 p.m.

A ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO: Old First Church for facilitating this important venue on Seventh Avenue for local teenagers to hear music on Saturday nights.  

Civics and Urban Life

INTERESTING WOMEN: INTERESTING STORIES

ON THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22 at 8 p.m. I have such a great Brooklyn Reading Works lined up. Three interesting women with interesting stories and a way with words. What could be better. A Brooklyn Reading Works you won’t want to miss.

Even better — fabulous refreshments. The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. Information and directions go here or here.

CARLA THOMPSON, an award-winning freelance writer and filmmaker, invites readers to travel the clay and paved roads of Montgomery, Alabama in her first book, a memoir, Bearing Witness: Not So Crazy in Alabama.

In Bearing Witness: Not So Crazy in Alabama, the Harlem native meets an itty bitty beauty queen, a redemptive ex-con, and a wheelchair-bound quiz kid among others and discovers that the American South is a complex intersection of race and class filled with people who go about the business of living the best way they can.

MRS. CLEAVAGE (AKA Mary Warren) author of the blog MRS CLEAVAGE’S DIARIES, is a single
mother who lives in  a cluttered apartment in East New York. She is
saucy, opinionated, creative, and a smarty-pants – not necessarily in
that order. Her blog is her story, live and unedited from Brooklyn. Mary received an MFA from Brooklyn College, where she won their MacArthur award for promising fiction.

BRANKA RUZAK was born and raised in the steel and rubber belt of northeastern Ohio, the youngest daughter of Croatian and Slovenian immigrants. Her passion for words and music was sparked as a child, where she spent many hours listening to her father’s stories and playing Croatian folk music in his tamburitza orchestra. Her current studies in Hindusthani classical music, as well as her enthusiasm for Indian novels, textiles and a good cup of chai have taken Branka further afield to India. Always an avid traveler, her essays and poems are journeys to different times and different places. Her essays “Hungry Heart” and “Mothballs: A Chemical Memory” is from a growing collection of writings about family, culture and travel.

Postcard from the Slope

FEDS COULD BLOCK STARRETT CITY SALE

This from New York 1:

The federal government could soon step in to block the sale of the
Starrett City low-income apartment complex in Brooklyn.

Senator Charles Schumer and other elected officials say the deal to
sell the development to Clipper Equity could be a disaster for Starrett
residents. Critics say Clipper would have to price out many of the
current tenants to make a profit off the $1.3 billion deal.

Schumer says New York can’t allow that to happen.

"We are not going to abandon our responsibility just because there
is somebody who can pay top dollar and top profits and try to change
the nature of Starrett. The federal government kept this place going.
This is not a free market situation," said Schumer.

Alphonso Jackson, the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development,
says HUD is skeptical and will take a close look at the deal. He says
it could potentially threaten New York City’s low-income housing
market.

In response, Clipper Equity says it is, "crucial to protect
long-term affordability at the 5,881-apartment development” and that it
looks forward to further discussions on how to achieve that.

Meanwhile, Congressmen Anthony Weiner and Edolphus Towns say they’re also concerned about the sale of Starrett City.

They fear the sale would raise the rents of some 12,000 residents if Clipper Equity opts out of existing government subsidies.

"Given the widely inflated offer at $220,000 per apartment, the
owners are virtually – I mean you could see that in terms of where
they’re going," said Towns. "The fact that they paid $220,000 per
apartment, that’s a message."

"In order for the new owners to make a profit on these properties
they have only one place to look. And that is the pocketbook of the
tenants or new people that would move into Starrett City and Spring
Creek," said Weiner.

The sale still needs federal approval.

Starrett City, which is also known as Spring Creek Towers, is the country’s largest federally-subsidized apartment complex.

Civics and Urban Life

THE JEWISH LAW OF PHYSICS

Great post by Andy Bachman, rabbi at Beth Elohim in Park Slope, on his always interesting blog about — well you figure it out.

The faster it goes, the harder I work, the more things slow down.

How come no one explained this peculiar Law of Jewish Physics to me?

I
remember a time, back in 2002, when I ran the NY Marathon. In the first
8 miles I felt fantastic. I was high-fiving people left and right.
Imagine old film footage from the 1920s, black and white, hipsters and
floppers dancing the Charleston in fast motion. That was me. In Fort
Greene I felt a rumble, in Bed-Stuy I thought I might die, in
Williamsburg the Bais Yaakov Shul let me faciliatate use of their
facilities. The problem was solved and I pushed along, in regular time,
through Greenpoint and Long Island City. When I crossed the 59th Street
Bridge, I felt fine.

The crowds on 1st Avenue were wonderful;
but by about 110th Street, time slowed down. Significantly. I was in
the Law of Jewish Physics. I had entered the vaunted PARDES, spoken of
in the Talmud. I got to the place of pure marble. I wanted “water,
water,” but I knew what I really wanted was to “come out whole.” I bet
if I had tried to speak in the Bronx, I would have been
indistinguishable from a character in a David Lynch movie. Slow. For
those pre-digital readers, we’re talking 16 RPM.

I remember
seeing faces in Central Park. I remember ending. I remember throwing up
on my shoes. I remember my bones aching on the subway ride back to
Brooklyn; and I remember not being able to walk up or down the subway
stairs the next day.

And, finally, I remember it as the greatest just-under-four-hours of my life.

The Jewish Law of Physics.  Living my life in slow motion.

Read the rest…

Postcard from the Slope

COP TO TEA LOUNGE: MONITOR “SUSPICIOUS” INTERNET USAGE

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About two weeks ago, a friend was sitting at the bar at the Park Slope Tea Lounge on Union Street around 10 a.m. and a police officer came in and wanted to talk to the management.

One of the Israeli’s who works there came over and the policeman began to talk to her about being aware of terrorism, looking for bags, suspicious people, etc.   

"Like many Israelis she thought it was funny that he was telling her about how to spot a terrorist.  She was well acquainted with the techniques, coming from Israel," my friend writes in an email.   

Then he asked if there was free wireless at the Tea Lounge and he said that she should look out for terrorists coming in and using the Internet. He told her that if she sees someone reading pages that "looked suspicious" that she should notify the authorities.

It was here that my friend had to interupt.

"Are you really asking her to monitor what people are reading and then call the police on them?" my friend asked.

"If someone came in here with a gun wouldn’t you want her to call the police?" the police officer said.

"It’s hardly the same thing." my friend said.

The cop was finished talking to my friend. But he gave the Tea Lounge employee his card and he left.

My friend found this to be pretty spooky and wondered if there was a program that the police were now doing that was trying to monitor what we read.

My friend wondered what would happen if someone was, say, reading a Hamas website. This friend has read a Hamas website from time to time. Would he have been called in for questioning?

Think of all the weird websites we all read from time to time. I hate to think that someone might report me.

My friend asks: "This doesn’t seem like something that should be going on in our neighborhood, don’t you think?"

Here’s the bigger question: Is there a police program to contact places where there is free wireless to get people to report each other.  I wonder if it is Park Slope specific, or New York wide?

Civics and Urban Life

WAYS TO PROTECT YOURSELF: ONION ROUTING

Hepcat said that Onion Routing is a way to prevent spying when using wireless Internet. Thanks Hepcat. I haven’t wrapped my head around this information yet — but it’s interesting. This info is from Wikipedia. 

The goal of onion routing (OR) is to protect the privacy of the
sender and recipient of a message, while also providing protection for
message content as it traverses a network. Onion routing accomplishes
this according to the principle of Chaum’s mix cascades:
messages travel from source to destination via a sequence of proxies
("onion routers"), which re-route messages in an unpredictable path. To
prevent an adversary from eavesdropping on message content, messages
are encrypted between routers. The advantage of onion routing (and mix
cascades in general) is that it is not necessary to trust each
cooperating router; if one or more routers are compromised, anonymous
communication can still be achieved. This is because each router in an
OR network accepts messages, re-encrypts them, and transmits to another
onion router. An attacker with the ability to monitor every onion
router in a network might be able to trace the path of a message
through the network, but an attacker with more limited capabilities
will have difficulty even if he or she controls one or more onion
routers on the message’s path.

Onion routing does not provide perfect sender or receiver anonymity
against all possible eavesdroppers—that is, it is possible for a local
eavesdropper to observe that an individual has sent or received a
message. It does provide for a strong degree of unlinkability,
the notion that an eavesdropper cannot easily determine both the sender
and receiver of a given message. Even within these confines, onion
routing does not provide any absolute guarantee of privacy; rather, it
provides a continuum in which the degree of privacy is generally a
function of the number of participating routers versus the number of
compromised or malicious routers.

The primary innovation in onion routing is the concept of the
routing onion. Routing onions are data structures used to create paths
through which many messages can be transmitted. To create an onion, the
router at the head of a transmission selects a number of onion routers
at random and generates a message for each one, providing it with symmetric keys
for decrypting messages, and instructing it which router will be next
in the path. Each of these messages, and the messages intended for
subsequent routers, is encrypted with the corresponding router’s public key.
This provides a layered structure, in which it is necessary to decrypt
all outer layers of the onion in order to reach an inner layer.

The onion metaphor describes the concept of such a data structure.
As each router receives the message, it "peels" a layer off of the
onion by decrypting with its private key, thus revealing the routing
instructions meant for that router, along with the encrypted
instructions for all of the routers located farther down the path. Due
to this arrangement, the full content of an onion can only be revealed
if it is transmitted to every router in the path in the order specified
by the layering.

Once the path has been specified, it remains active to transmit data
for some period of time. While the path is active, the sender can
transmit equal-length messages encrypted with the symmetric keys
specified in the onion, and they will be delivered along the path. As
the message leaves each router, it is encrypted using a different key,
and thus is not recognizable as the same message.

 


Civics and Urban Life

QUESTIONS ABOUT TEA LOUNGE STORY

1 Comment

Have other cafes with wireless been approached by the police?

Do the police really expect citizens to spy on their neighbors at Internet cafes and public spaces?

Can the police or others check the Internet records of a cafe or other public space with wireless?

Who do they need to get permission from. The cafe? The Internet service?

What are the ways that individuals using wireless in public spaces can protect themselves from spyware?

Is this story Tea Lounge specific, Park Slope specific, or city-wide?

New York Times

PLAINCLOTHES POLICE OFFICER SHOT IN PARK SLOPE: HUSBAND OF ANOTHER OFFICER CHARGED

THIS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:

A plainclothes police
officer was shot while patrolling a brownstone-lined street in Brooklyn
early yesterday, the police said, and the husband of another officer
was charged with attempted murder.

 

Officer Jacqueline Melendez
Rivera, the wife of the accused man, was charged with hindering
prosecution and was suspended from duty. About 4 a.m. at Prospect Place
and Sixth Avenue in Park Slope, the Police Department said, a man
pulled up in a sport utility vehicle alongside a car carrying four
plainclothes officers. He opened fire, hitting the driver, Officer
Andrew Suarez. The officer’s partners shot back.

When the
police went looking for the gunman’s car, a white Acura with bullet
holes, they found it a little more than a mile away. Behind the wheel
was Officer Rivera, a law enforcement official said, and she told the
police that she was moving the car because her husband had parked it
illegally. Officer Rivera and her husband live less than two blocks
from the site of the shooting.

Officer Rivera, 37, and her
husband, Jose Rivera, 31, were brought in for questioning, although
detectives did not think she had been in the car during the shooting, a
law enforcement official said.

Mr. Rivera was accused of
attempted murder, defacing a firearm, criminal possession of marijuana
and other charges, the police said. Besides being charged with
hindering prosecution, Officer Rivera was accused of tampering with
evidence, possession of marijuana and obstructing governmental
administration, the police said.

Officer Suarez was in critical
but stable condition, city officials said, and the shooting left a
trail of shattered glass and bullets at Prospect and Sixth.

Officer
Suarez and three other members of the department’s anti-crime unit were
patrolling in an unmarked car when they locked eyes with people inside
the Acura, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.

“Initially there was a glance exchanged, but no words were exchanged,” he said.

Mr. Kelly, who with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg visited the injured officer at New York Methodist Hospital, gave this account of what happened next:

The
Acura began tailing the unmarked car, and Officer Suarez, a policeman
for three and a half years, pulled over. The Acura then drew alongside
them, and its tinted passenger window slid down.

The Acura’s driver leaned across the passenger, and yelled, “You got a beef?”

Then
the driver pulled out a gun and fired twice, just as Officer Suarez
raised his arm in defense. A bullet pierced his underarm, just clearing
his bulletproof vest, and tore across his back before lodging beneath
his neck.

Then the Acura sped off, and the other three officers
opened fire on it, firing 13 shots in all. One of the bullets went
through the front and back windows of an unoccupied Subaru Legacy
Outback parked nearby, ricocheted upward and was later found 20 feet up
in a tree, the police said.

Bullets also pierced the Acura and shattered several of its windows, but no one inside was hit, the police said.

Officer Suarez’s colleagues then took the wheel of the police car and drove him to Methodist Hospital.

Helicopters
buzzed overhead as dozens of officers descended on the neighborhood,
taping off the site of the shooting and searching the streets for the
Acura. It was spotted at Prospect and Fourth Avenues, with Officer
Rivera driving.

Investigators also went to 33 St. Marks Avenue,
where the Acura was registered, a four-story row house near where
Officer Suarez had been shot.

Officer Rivera lives there with
her husband and three young boys, neighbors said. Mr. Rivera and
another man were seen being led from the house in handcuffs by the
police shortly before dawn yesterday, neighbors said. The identity of
the second man was not released. And another woman and three small
children were also led out, neighbors said.

The police also went
to the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Officer Rivera works,
and took her guns from her locker. Investigators did not believe they
had been used in the shooting, a law enforcement official said.

About
5 p.m. yesterday, the police said they found a 9-millimeter Ruger
handgun, with one round in its chamber, in the bushes at the fence line
in the backyard of 33 St. Marks Avenue. The gun had not been issued by
the Police Department, the police said, and it was not yet known
whether it was used in the shooting.

Yellow tape and police cars
sealed off access to Officer Rivera’s house and neighboring homes into
the evening yesterday, drawing curious stares from passers-by pushing
strollers.

Neighbors were not sure how long the Riveras had
been married but said they met about four years ago, salsa dancing at a
club. Officer Rivera, whose two oldest sons are from a previous
marriage, is pregnant with her fourth child and was recently overjoyed
to find out the baby was a girl, neighbors said.

Mr. Rivera is on
parole for first-degree assault, after having served four and a half
years for shooting someone in the leg and the chest after an argument
in Brooklyn, according to records from the State Department of
Correctional Services. More details of that shooting were not
immediately known.

Officer Rivera was taken to the 78th
Precinct, and was being questioned there along with the two men
believed to have been in the Acura, one of them her husband, the police
said.

Millie Santiago, 58, a longtime neighbor, said Officer
Rivera inherited the row house from her parents and rented out its
upper floors. “She’s a good parent, she’s a good wife,” Ms. Santiago
said. Officer Rivera is a veteran of the Persian Gulf war and has been
with the Police Department for 13 years, the police and neighbors said.

Other
neighbors said lately there had been friction on the street because
Officer Rivera parked her car outside the house in front of a fire
hydrant, with her Police Department permit displayed on the dashboard.

Officer
Suarez underwent surgery yesterday, and was expected to fully recover,
Mr. Kelly said. It was not clear whether the gunman initially knew he
was firing at an officer, a law enforcement official said. Officer
Suarez was the first New York City police officer to be shot on duty
this year, Mayor Bloomberg said.

Ann Farmer and Kate Hammer contributed reporting.

 

Civics and Urban Life

NEW BLOG ON THE BLOCK: BAY RIDGE JEWISH CENTER

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Rabbi Michah Kelber just sent word that the Bay Ridge Jewish Center has an interesting blog. I interviewed Rabbi Kelber for an article in the Brooklyn Paper last year — so I am aware of him and his work. Micah and BRJC blog: Welcome to the Brooklyn Blog Zone.

Here’s an excerpt from  interesting post called Where We’re From.

This is a photograph of the grandfather Eliezer Bloshteyn, one of the
members at the Bay Ridge Jewish Center. His name is Ze’ev Shleyfer. He
was called Wolfe in Yiddish, and Vladimir in Russian. He was born
around the year 1870 in the shtetl Ovruch, which is in the center of
the Ukraine, close to the shtetl where Rabbi Nachman was born. In 1941,
their family had left Odessa and moved to Tashkent where he died. In
Odessa, he was a shoemaker and a serious man. In the community, he was
considered to be a very dignified person. Eliezer and his family lived
on the third floor of the building and his grandparents lived in the
basement. His grandparents’ apartment was always clean and light.
Inside of their apartment there was a big storage cabinet with Kosher
plates and forks. They always ate kosher food.

He was
religious, but in private, as you were forced to be in the Soviet Union
at the time. In 1937, Stalin had taken a lot of people and put them in
jail, not because they were Jewish, but because they believed in God.
So few people prayed in the synagogues out of fear and eventually they
were closed. The Jewish newspapers and other institutions were closed
down as well. So, Ze’ev would put his siddur on the window ledge, put on his tefillin and davin facing
the light. Eliezer remembers him putting his talis on his shoulders and
making Eliezer say prayers. He remembers distinctly the words “Modeh Ani Lifanecha.”  (“I acknowledge that you are before me.”)

Check it out.

Civics and Urban Life

SMARTMOM: VALENTINE’S IN THE AIR

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper:

Something is in the air. Two of Smartmom’s lovelorn friends are finding love again. And that is so inspiring.

These
are friends who’ve been through the emotional mill. Harried Harriet
endured an unpleasant marriage that resulted in an unpleasant divorce.
And Marian Fontana lost her firefighter husband on 9-11. Grief
stricken, she learned how to be a single mom as she struggled to heal
and move forward after that life-changing event.

Harried Harriet
found love on eHarmony. And a really good man who loves her back.
They’re living together and planning to get married soon. When her
divorce comes through, that is.

Marian met her guy on a blind date, sort of. The man she was supposed to meet chickened out and he sent his friend instead.

They
hit it off right a way. When Marian told Smartmom and Divorce Diva
about her blind date over drinks a year ago at Black Pearl she told
them, “He’s the one.”

If raised eyebrows could talk. Divorce Diva
and Smartmom could barely contain their skepticism. Take it slow, they
cautioned. What’s the rush?

“We just don’t want you to get hurt,” Diva said.

To
be honest, there was surely a spray of jealousy in the air. New love
sounded like such fun to long-married Smartmom and the recently
divorced Divorce Diva. It had been a long time since either of them had
been wined and dined at the Rainbow Room.

As time went on,
Marian’s new love affair escalated unabated. A couple of months in,
“the One” told her that he wanted “Ring of Fire” to play at their
wedding.

Now she was telling him to slow down. Besides, she thought it was an odd choice of song. Considering.

Still,
things moved fast as they often do when two decisive people fall head
over heels in love. Plus, her new man was crazy about her son. And
vise-versa.

It was a match made in heaven.

Sure, they had
their ups and downs. Arguments. Heavy talks. Nights spent sleeping on
the couch. It wouldn’t be a real relationship without all that. In
fact, one of the reasons Marian loves “the One” as much as she does is
that he is willing to talk, analyze and talk some more about just about
everything.

In other words, he’s in therapy. And there’s nothing more romantic than a guy in therapy.

So, last week, on the anniversary of their first date, he proposed. And he did everything right.

First, he told her 10-year-old son what he had in mind to make sure he was on board. And boy-oh-boy was Marian’s son excited.

Then, he went to Green-Wood Cemetery to ask for permission from Marian’s late great husband, Dave.

On a cold January day, he waited and waited. It’s not easy to get a thumbs-up from the dead, but “the One” did receive a sign.

Smartmom won’t say how he knew. Marian is a writer and that’s her story to tell.

Last
week, Smartmom, Divorce Diva, Cinderella, and Marian got together at
Santa Fe Grill for a congratulatory glass of champagne (except, they
don’t serve champagne there, so they had to settle for the house
Chardonnay).

Marian remembered last year’s raised eyebrows. “You guys thought I was crazy,” she said.

The group wanted to hear every detail of “the One’s” proposal. And Marian obliged with her usual gusto.

Then she showed off her beautiful new engagement ring that she was wearing on her pinky finger.

“Why is it on your pinky?” Smartmom asked.

“The
One” had grabbed a ring from her jewelry box so he’d know her finger
size. Problem was, he snatched a pinky ring. The new ring needs to be
resized.

Staring at Marian’s pinky-sized engagement ring,
Smartmom realized that along with happiness, her friend was also
experiencing just a smidgen of pain. It can’t be easy getting engaged
when you’re still someone else’s wife.

Like the ring, this engagement would take a while to really fit.

While Marian will never stop loving Dave, the father of her adorable child, she can still create a great life with someone new.

Her love for her late husband and her love for “the One” are not mutually exclusive. And that’s something “the One” understands.

And
that’s why he is “the One.” It won’t always be easy, but the openness
these two share will go a long way toward making this a wonderful and
lasting marriage.

Civics and Urban Life

TWO YEARS AGO ON OTBKB: SAY CHEESE

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Hepcat’s camera is broken so we won’t be able to do this again. But we did it in 2005. And the pictures are wonderful.

A soggy night didn’t  keep friends and neighbors from the Be Your Own Valentine
event at Mary Warren’s shop, Fou Le Chakra. Photographer Hugh Crawford
set up a small photo studio in the front of the store with his nifty
strobe light and the old gray backdrop that he’s been using for years;
it’s practically his signature.

Party guests enjoyed sparkling wine, assorted hor doeuvres and sweets
while taking  turns getting their picture taken with or without kids,
with or without significant others.

For some it was like going to the dentist – "Oh, is it my turn?" For
others it was pure bliss: "I’m ready for my close up, Mr. C."

A former house photographer at Fiorucci and the nightclub, Xenon,
Crawford has plenty of experience taking portraits at special events.
After a ten year stint in the computer biz, he’s returned to
photography full time concentrating on editorial and fine art
portraiture, Times Square street photography and a series of pictures
called Earth. Water. Fire. Air. His photographs of Park Slope appear
daily on Only the Blog knows Brooklyn (see No Words_Daily Pix).   

Crawford managed to keep his cool as a band of wild children, fueled
by chocolate chip cookies and too little supper, ran in and out of the
pictures unable to resist the cool photo studio in their midst. My
daughter was disappointed that her photographer-dad wouldn’t let her
help as much as she wanted to.


Postcard from the Slope

A DAY WITHOUT OTBKB

I was gone for twenty-four hours. Exactly. Took the 5 p.m. bus on Saturday to Kingston. Returned on the 5 p.m. from Woodstock on Sunday.

I attended a writer’s workshop led by Regina McBride called Inner Lives: Developing Characters. She’s the author of four novels, including "The  Nature of Water and Air" and "The Marriage Bed."

The workshop was in a beautiful, rustic house outside of Woodstock, where we sat by a fireplace and did Regina’s writing exercises.

If you’re interested in future workshops in NYC or Woodstock let me know.  It’s actually a two day  intensive workshop but I had to miss Saturday. She teaches a fascinating approach to fiction writing.

A day without OTBKB.

Civics and Urban Life

HEPCAT: RESTAURANTS SUITABLE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

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1. Home. Not the restaurant on Cornelia Street but the one on Third Street (suggested by OSFO)

2. Stone Park Cafe

3. Nathan’s Hot Dogs in Coney Island

4. Al Di La

5. The Rainbow Room (where Hepcat and Smartmom had their pre-wedding rehearsal dinner).

6. Great Jones Cafe (where Hepcat had his very own seat at the bar before and after he met Smartmom in 1986).

7. Fanelli’s (where Smartmom and Hepcat went the night they met in 1986).

8. 48th Street Howard Johnson’s except its been torn down

9. One of those Indain places on 6th Street (big night out for Hepcat and Smartmom back in the day).

10. Restaurant Florent (site of many a late night meal when Smartmom was pregnant with Teen Spirit — Hey don’t you dare take a bite of my Evelyn’s goat cheese salad!).

11. Snack bar of the Staten Island Ferry (that would be romantic, wouldn’t it?)

Nathan’s pix on Flickr by ain’t no joke.