Donations for the families can be sent to:
Magassa-Soumare Family Foundation
C/O Islamic Cultural Center
271 East 166th Street
Bronx, NY 10456
Mosques throughout the metropolitan area are also collecting money for funeral
services for the victims of the fire.
The African Services Committee is also accepting donations to
support both families displaced by the fire. For more information, call
212-222-3882 or go to www.africanservices.org.
Taxi drivers are collecting money for Soumare. To help, send a
check made out to Mamadou Soumare, care of the New York State
Federation of Taxi Drivers at:
5811 Fourth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11220
(718) 492-7680The
Monthly Archives: March 2007
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY: HEPCAT’S WEEK IN CALIFORNIA
This week, No Words_Daily Pix has been telling a little story. Hepcat went to California to visit his mom on the farm. I can re-trace his steps. What a detective I am.
Saturday: Cool picture of the inside of a taxi cab. Tres interesting. Tres abstract.
Sunday: Pix of the floor of the Jet Blue terminal at Kennedy Airport. Very Arty.
Monday: Pix of Jet Blue television screen on the seat in front of where Hepcat was sitting.
Tuesday: Pix of walnut trees at what is now the edge of his family’s property.
Wednesday: Pix of woman reading at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Bookstore. And I thought he was looking at the art. Martini Republic, a blog in Los Angeles picked up that pix for Thursday.
Thursday: Pix of exhibition installation at SFMOMA.
Friday: Pix of walnut tree and two huge containers, where NW_DP keeps the Porsche aka "The Little Orange Car" he inherited from his beloved uncle, his grandmother’s paintings, his old photographs, dishes, old farm tools, computers of the ancients, Porsche memorabelia, and all of his other keepsakes. See today’s No Words_Daily Pix.
BATHROOM MONTORING BY KIDS AT PS 321?
So the kids are helping to monitor and keep the bathrooms clean. I’m not sure if this is school-wide or just a few classes. And what grade? Just so you know, they renovated the bathrooms last year and they’re gorgeous, complete with kid-made artfully hand-painted and colorful tiles on the wall. I for one am going to ask Marge Raphaelson, the Parent-Coordinator, tomorrow about this. She’ll know what’s going on. Will report back.
I didn’t know a darn thing about it but I read it on Park Slope Parents. An upset parent posted on PSP and set off a firestorm (not unusual over there). Some thought it sounded unhealthy, others weren’t bothered by it. The upset parent was surprised that no note went home about this. Here’s her latest post.
To John & anyone else who thinks I went over the teachers head by going to the
principal.
It was THE PRINCIPAL who enacted this plan without first contacting
the parents, not the teacher which is why I went to her in the first
place. I mean come on we get permission slips sent home for other
activities. Does anyone else think that maybe the parents should have been
notified first and given the option to not have her child participate in
activities that could affect the child's health. After all I have to
fill out a health card every year which clearly states all pertinent
medical info.
I have no problem with my child being a participant in upholding
community standards but I draw the line at bathroom duty.
I also would like to think that in an open forum such as this that is
intended to be an information sharing source that I could come out and
ask a question without being battered by anyone that does not agree
with me. The subject line clearly stated that it was a question for
parents of 321 students - NOT lets get the principal of 321 and hang her by her toes at dawn because she did something I didn't like.Let's all take it down a notch and take it for what it was - a question that I considered important and info that many others did not know...
Another PS 321 parent had this to say:
I believe the philosophy behind the monitoring system is that it will
encourage the kids to not make a mess because of peer pressure. This
new system takes a little time to work, but the bathrooms do seem
cleaner--and not just 'cause kids are being assigned to clean them. I
do recall that there was a written school-wide memo some time early in
the year.
DEALING WITH PRE-SCHOOL REJECTION LETTERS
A local parent posted on Park Slope Parents recently about her despair and anger after her child was rejected from two pre-schools.
I see that the PSP community reached out to help. Here is her latest post thanking those who came forward.
Thanks to everyone for your super supportive emails. I was really
overwhelmed by all the encouragement and empathy. I think I received
24 emails in total.
Here are some helpful suggestions that may be useful to others:
1) Call the admissions director near the end of summer since there are
job relocations or other factors that affect the admissions list
2) Call daycares and not preschools for openings
3) Wait another year since our generation didn't go to preschool till
4. In the meantime, enroll him in classes like art, music and gym so
he can get the socialization and class structure. There were several
parents who chose this route and in some cases it was an active
decision on their part to hold off another year.
4) I even had a parent who emailed to DIY--teach your child at home.
17 CAMERA ANGLES ON HAMLET
Teen Spirit attended last night’s production of the Wooster Group’s Hamlet at St. Ann’s Warehouse and mostly enjoyed it. He loved the very unusual staging and acting by this very talented, very experimental theater troupe, pioneers in the field of experimental theater.
I found this on Fisherspooner’s blog. They did the music for the production.
The
Wooster Group’s Hamlet is an archaeological excursion into America’s
cultural past, looking for archetypes that shadow forth our identity. The Wooster group has been drawn to Richard Burton’s Hamlet, a 1964 Broadway
production which was recorded in live performance from 17 camera angles
and edited into a film that was shown for only two days in 2000 movie
houses across the US. The idea of bringing a live theater experience to
thousands of simultaneous viewers in different cities was trumpeted as
new form called "Theatrofilm", made possible through "the miracle of
Electronicvision". The Wooster Group’s Hamlet attempts to reverse the
process, reconstructing a hypothetical theater piece from the
fragmentary evidence of the edited film, like an archeologist inferring
an improbable temple from a collection of ruins. Channeling the ghost
of the legendary 1964 performance, the Group descends into a kind of
madness, intentionally replacing its own spirit with the spirit of
another.Show dates are:
Feb. 27-28
March 1-4, 6-11, 13-18, 20-25
All shows are at 8PM, except for Sunday’s which are at 4PM.
MAN GONE DOWN BY MICHAEL THOMAS
I am so loving this book, a first novel by a black writer who lives in Brooklyn and teaches at Hunter about four days in the life of a black Boston-born thirty-something living in Brooklyn and struggling to write while
supporting his white wife and their three children.
The protagonist is broke and he must
come up with more than $12,000 in these four days — money to rent an apartment, pay tuition at his kid’s private school and reclaim his family from his mother-in-law’s summer house.
The book’s masterful first-person voice is intense, poetic, angry, vulnerable, real, and full of thoughtful rage about race and class in New York City. Check out this passage and go buy the book — my copy is already promised to a friend.
“I thought, when he was born, that his eyes would be closed. I didn’t
know if he’d be sleeping or screaming, but that his eyes would be
closed. They weren’t. They were big, almond shaped and copper — almost
like mine. He stared at me. I gave him a knuckle and he gummed it —
still staring. He saw everything about me: the chicken pox scar on my
forehead, the keloid scar beside it, the absent-minded boozy cigarette
burn my father had given me on my stomach. Insults and epithets that
had been thrown like bricks out of car windows or spat like poison
darts from junior high locker rows. Words and threats, which at the
time they’d been uttered, hadn’t seemed to cause me any injury because
they’d not been strong enough or because they’d simply missed. But
holding him, the long skinny boy with the shock of dark hair and the
dusky newborn skin, I realized that I had been hit by all of them and
that they still hurt. My boy was silent, but I shushed him anyway —
long and soft — and I promised him that I would never let them do to
him what had been done to me. He would be safe with me.”
7 in 2007: PARK SLOPE CIVIC COUNCIL INITIATIVES
I attended the Park Slope Civic Council’s brunch/meeting last Saturday. The PSCC is a publically supported organization with a membership of more than 700 families. The approximately 30 trustees are drawn from this membership. Organized as the South Brooklyn Board of Trade in 1896, the Council is one of the oldest civic associations in Brooklyn.
It was the first Civic Council meeting I’ve ever been to but I saw a lot of familiar faces, including Fonda Sara, Bernie Graham, Lumi Rolley, Eric McClure, Susan Fox, Dave Kenney aka Dope on the Slope, and many other people whose faces I know but not their names. I also met a few people for the first time like Lydia Denworth, who leads the PSCC and was on the Park Slope 100, whose name I knew but didn’t know her face.
The special brunch was really a brainstorming session, a way to drum up ideas and initiatives for 2007. For me, the experience was an exciting and unusual exercise in local democracy.
The group met in a social room on the roof of the 9th Street YMCA. I got there a little late but people were already seated at eight round tables where small group discussions were taking place.
I was intrigued by the process — the way the meeting worked. At each of the tables, people were asked to come up with 1 or 2 ways to improve the quality of life in Park Slope. Each person presented their idea(s) to the table. Afterwards, the table voted and came up with the two most popular ideas to present to the room.
Then a spokesperson from each table presented the table’s ideas. Afterwards, the meeting moved outside on the roof, because it was a gorgeous day (ah, remember last Saturday?). The eight top ideas were written out on big pieces of paper and participants were asked to vote using dot stickers.
Thanks to Nica Lalli of the Brooklyn Paper, who was at the meeting, here are the seven initiatives for 2007 that came out of Saturday’s brainstorming session/ brunch. Atlantic Yards, Whole Foods are on-going initiatives for the PSCC so they are not included here.
• Stop the transformation of Sixth and Seventh avenues
to one-way traffic, as proposed by the Department of Transportation.• Identify locations for more bike racks.
• Host the first Annual “Stoop Night” on June 21 (to celebrate the summer solstice).
• Form a study group to investigate tax breaks and grants to encourage more “green” action in Park Slope.
• Clean up commercial areas.
• Sponsor a “Buy Local” campaign.
•
Install new newspaper kiosks to eliminate clutter on area street
corners.
The idea that excited me was the Summer Solstice Stoop Night on June 21. Stoop sales, music, food, celebration all over the Slope. That was a hands-down favorite.
If any of the
initiatives interest you, volunteer by calling the Park Slope Civic
Council at (718) 832-8227 or by emailing mail@parkslopeciviccouncil.org.
SLOPE ACTOR CHARLOTEE MAIER IN INHERIT THE WIND
Beloved Park Slope actor, Charlotte Maier, will be appearing in a revival of Inherit the Wind on Broadway with Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy.
Previews begin on March 19th of this famous play about the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial, in which a Tennessee science teacher, John
Scopes, was tried and convicted for teaching Darwin’s theory of
evolution, violating a Tennessee law that forbade teaching any theory
that conflicted with the Biblical conception of Divine Creation.
This revival of Inherit the Wind
comes after the original 1955 mounting of the play, a 1960 big-screen
adaptation starring Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, and a 1996
revival.
Maier, shown left with her son, Teddy, is known to many in Park Slope for her small, but hilarious role in "The Pink Panther." She plays the voice coach hired by Inspector Clouseau (played by Steve Martin). "Hamburger, hamburger," she enunciates trying to help Clouseau lose his French speech impediment.
It was the best and funniest scene in the movie. According to Maier, they got the scene in one take. Steve Martin convulsed in laughter as he and the crew watched it on playback. "I think we got it," he said (or something like that).
It is a really funny scene.
Maier’s movie credits also include, Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant and Music and Lyrics with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant.
In Inherit the Wind Maier appears with the star of stage and screen, Christopher Plummer, known to all as Captain van Trapp in the movie version of The Sound of Music.
No, he will not sing "Edelweiss" at any performance.
If you’re interested in tickets for the show, which is at the Lyceum (149 West 45th) go to the Inherit the Wind website.
PARK SLOPE FIGHTS: ONE WAY NO WAY
We’ve even got a slogan. The big meeting is coming up on Thursday March 15th at METHODIST HOSPITAL. at 6:30 p.m.
Important Public Meeting organised by Brooklyn Community Board 6 at New York Methodist Hospital Auditorium, 506 6th Street, (7th & 8th Avenues).
Presentation and discussion of a proposal by the Department of Transportation to convert 7th Avenue (between Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Avenue) from a two-way street to a one-way southbound street and 6th Avenue (between Atlantic Avenue and 23rd Street) from a two-way street to a one-way northbound street.
Presentation and discussion of a proposal by the Department of Transportation to eliminate one northbound and one southbound travel lane from 4th Avenue (between Dean Street and Prospect Avenue) and replace them with improved left-turn turning lanes.
FMI:Streetsblog.org or BrooklynCB6.org or call CB6 at (718) 643-3027.
WHOSE SEVENTH AVENUE IS IT?
In this eco-friendly community of Park Slope, tell me we’re not going to make a radical change to our cherished Main Street to appease those who insist on driving.
What about those who ride buses north and south?
What about the pedestrians who enjoy the leisurely pace of walking down and across the Avenue?
What about the merchants who benefit from the "congestion," the sense of vitality on the Avenue.
I would sooner make Park Slope a car-free zone than cave into the needs of drivers and/or the Atlantic Yards traffic that is expected.
Understood, cars and trucks are needed to supply the stores and restaurants and to ferry children and other living things into the neighborhood.
But why change the flavor of what is basically a pedestrian strip. Why turn it into a speed zone like 8th Avenue or Prospect Park West. Those Avenues are so decidedly unfriendly to bikers and pedestrians. And scary.
Long live the Avenues that cater to the walkers. Walking is good exercise, environment-friendly, a good way to connect with one’s community, a boon to merchants, who rely on the foot traffic, and a perfect pace for all of us.
Changes like this make you wonder, whose Seventh Avenue is it? And whose problem are we trying to fix?
NEW ELECTION SAYS MATHIEU EUGENE
This from New York 1 about the continuing brouhaha about Mathieu Eugene, the winner of last month’s special election for City Council in Brooklyn, who still can’t take office under the current rules. Now he’s calling for a second shot at the seat.
"I will not enter [the City Hall] door behind me under this cloud," said Eugene.
Following questions about his residency, Eugene is now calling for a second special election in the 40th district.
"I won’t be able to properly serve the community under these
conditions,” he said. “We will not bog down this body with a lawsuit
that challenges its authority. That is not how I choose to enter
elected office.”City Council Speaker Christine Quinn applauded Eugene’s move and a
spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg says once the mayor has received
a written request from Eugene, he will call for a special election.According to the Board of Elections, the first available date for a
new special election would be April 24th. Another election would cost
about $400,000.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
STATE SUPREME COURT RULES THAT RATNER DOES NOT HAVE RIGHTS TO SOME AY PROPERTIES
This from New York 1: For in-depth analysis go to Atlantic Yards Report.
Just days after a dozen buildings at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards site
were cleaned for demolition the State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday
that the developer does not have rights to some of the properties.This decision terminates the leases Forest City Ratner bought from
another developer — who had a contract under Prospect Height’s
property owner Henry Weinstein.The judge said the leases of two buildings had been passed off to Ratner without Weinstein’s approval.
Full control was given back to Weinstein.
An attorney for Ratner says Weinstein plans to appeal the decision.
He also says Ratner does not think this will have any impact on the
progress of construction.
HOMELESS RATE REACHES NEW HIGH: COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS REPORTS
In a report released yesterday by the Coalition for the Homeless, the number of
homeless families in NYC climbed to 9,287 in February — a new record.
The total number of homeless New Yorkers grew
by 11 percent in the last year; the number of homeless families and children grew by
around 18 percent each.
These sobering statistics come midway through Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s five-year plan to combat homelessness.
“When something has been implemented and as gone this wrong, what
we need is for Mayor Bloomberg to step up, admit that the mistake has
been made, and to take corrective action immediately,” Mary
Brosnahan Sullivan of the Coalition for the Homeless told New York 1.
The report also says that the number of single
adults entering the shelter system has dropped for the second year in a
row.
FAMILY PLANNING PIONEER CELEBRATED AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE
New York University professor Esther Katz is the leading expert on family planning pioneer Margaret Sanger, who was placed on trial for opening the famed Brownsville Clinic here in Brooklyn just over 90 years ago. Katz, who recently edited the third volume of the four-volume The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger, published by Illinois University Press, will be the featured Herb Yellin Memorial lecturer at the Old Stone House of Brooklyn on Wednesday, March 21, at 7 pm.
Sanger – reformer, activist and crusader for women’s rights – was a fascinating and complex personality whose life exemplifies the exceptional circumstances and sacrifices still confronted by women today. Tickers are $5 and include refreshments. Books will be available.
Herb Yellin, the first chairman of the board of trustees of the Old Stone House of Brooklyn, helped sow the seeds for a new appreciation of the major role that Brooklyn has played in the development of this country. This lecture series is dedicated to him, and his abundant curiosity and energy.
The Old Stone House is in JJ Byrne Park, between 3rd and 4th streets, just off Fifth Avenue , in Park Slope, Brooklyn . For more information, please call 718-768-3195, or visit the Old Stone House website at www.theoldstonehouse.org.
THE NARROWING OF FOURTH AVENUE
Excerpts from a public letter from Kevin Burget, a local filmmaker, about changes to 6th and 7th Avenue traffic and THE NARROWING OF FOURTH AVENUE, which may be the real reason behind the DOT’s proposal. Here he lays out his objections to the proposed DOT changes.
A summary of the proposed changes follows, but in even more of a
nutshell: The proposal is to turn 7th and 6th avenue into one-way
streets to handle the traffic overflow from a proposed NARROWING of 4th
avenue, the main route into Park Slope and much of Brooklyn
from outside the city. This will do so much to erode the local nature
of our neighborhood I can’t begin to express it. Park Slope will
become a drive-through neighborhood host to traffic trying to ride the
green carpet of one-way traffic lights on their way to and from
destinations such as Atlantic Yards. If you agree with the assessment
that follows please try to get the word out. I know that you steer
clear of things political, at least as a bookstore owner, but I do
think the neighborhood is effectively about to be steamrollered by
these proposed changes, and that does something to addle my own life of
the mind. It’s not simply a matter of old stodgy Park Slope being
unwilling to welcome new neighbors. I am all for changes that make
sense and continue to promote community. I think you’ll find these
don’t. Let me know your thoughts if you can. The most important
upcoming moment to confront this is:New York Methodist Hospital506 6th Street(7th & 8th Avenues)AuditoriumThurs. March 15ANYWAY, if you don’t know it already…. here’s the rap that I’ve
posted to Park Slope Parents. The Park Slope Civic Council and Park
Slope Neighbors Group are in agreement:
The plan:
The NYCDOT’s forthcoming proposal to reinvent Park Slope’s streets is to me big news and very worrisome.
http://www.streetsb log.org/2007/ 02/28/dot- to-propose- radical-new- traffic-plan- for-park- slope
It
seems to play transparently right into the hands of the developers
putting up new buildings along 4th avenue, as well as those developing
Atlantic Yards, while running roughshod over Park Slope in a way that
will forever change the character of the neighborhood, making it in
effect a runway or service road for these new developments.
The proposal is to do three things:
1) Narrow 4th avenue
2) Make 6th avenue run one-way north3) Make 7th avenue run one-way south
As to 1) narrowing 4th avenue: 4th
avenue has always been one of the main industrial arteries into most of Brooklyn
from outside the city. As such it carries an enormous amount of
essential traffic, much of it heavy trucks providing goods and
services. The decision to NARROW 4th avenue by eliminating 2 out of
its 6 lanes (1/3 of its capacity) could not be more wrongheaded. A
stadium hosting sports events is going up and tens of thousands of new
rental units. Narrowing the one barely viable conduit into Brooklyn
from the outside beggars belief. The only possible winners here are
perhaps thought to be the new tenants in the buildings along 4th
avenue, because they will have a little less street under their noses.
But that street will be like a clogged artery guaranteed to be filled
round the clock with smog and traffic.
Which
brings us to 2). Any incoming trucker in his right mind faced with a
NARROWED 2-way 4th avenue will of course want to get OFF 4th avenue at
the earliest opportunity, which according to this plan will be about at
23rd street at which point the trucker will turn up 2 blocks to 6th
avenue where he/she will be able to ride the green carpet of one way
traffic lights all the way to Flatbush. So 6th avenue, now a very
local-oriented tree-shaded residential avenue will be turned into a de
facto truck route. Most of Park Slope will suffer here from swift and
hurtling truck and car traffic trying to ride the green lights. This
has historically made such avenues more forbidding, less local, and
much more dangerous. A comparison has been made to 8th avenue or PPW,
which some feel are not so bad for the character of their traffic, but
these avenues have never been tasked with a fraction of the kind of
traffic that this plan will bring to 6th and 7th avenues.
7th avenue, under this plan, will become the exit route of choice for all heavy traffic leaving much of Brooklyn
and Atlantic Yards. Again, given the choice of 2-way traffic lights or
1-way, any experienced driver, whether of a truck or car, will opt for
the express. 7th avenue will become the route of choice. Its existing
character will be decimated as a result. Doing this to Park Slope’s
historical main street will make it so much more noisy and less
friendly for pedestrians that I predict store and restaurant owner’s
will suffer. Pedestrians will want to flee the noise and frenzy, and
cars won’t want to stop or even linger because of the crushing momentum
of the traffic they find themselves in. Its character will be more
akin to Flatbush, say, (although even Flatbush is 2-way…)
NEW SCIENCE CURRICULUM FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
NEW YORK, NY March
07, 2007
—The city will introduce a new science curriculum this fall. The
program will be phased in, beginning with grades three, four and six at
a cost of $60 million over the next two years.REPORTER:
Seventeen-year-old Rafael Klein-Cloud goes to Brooklyn Tech, a school
lauded by Mayor Bloomberg as an example for other schools in science.
Klein-Cloud says he always excelled in the subject area because he was
encouraged to have a good time.KLEIN-CLOUD: My teacher was
pointing out that a lot of kids are afraid of science. It’s not like
something you can just read, there is a lot of memorization. If you get
exposed to it in real-life situations, you might get a different
experience and learn to love it.REPORTER: The city will also
spend $444 million to upgrade its labs. After the new curriculum is
introduced, science tests will be used to decide which children get
promoted to the next grade.
DOT: CHANGES TO 6TH AND 7TH REQUIRE COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Streetsblog reports that changes to Seventh and Sixth Avenue require community support. Well, that’s NOT gonna happen. That community board meeting on March 15th at Methodist Hospital should be quite the event. Be there or be ONE WAY. Here’s a quote from the press office at the DOT. More info from Streetsblog.
DOT would like to change Sixth and Seventh Avenues to one-way streets
to simplify the turning movements at intersections along the Avenues
which would enhance safety for pedestrians and motorists. DOT would
also make adjustments to the traffic signal progression along Sixth
and Seventh Avenues and narrow the travel lanes on Seventh Avenue to
keep vehicles from exceeding the speed limit. These plans need
community board support and if the community doesn’t support these
proposed changes we will not move forward with them.
PARK SLOPER SUES LANDLORD OVER BEDBUGS
I don’t like to think about them. I didn’t even want to put this story up on the blog But it is a Park Slope story and I figured — I can be brave…
Ellyn Gliksman-Sullivan lived in Park Slope for almost 25 years, but
had to evacuate her apartment in 2006. Attorney Alan Schnurman, who
represents
Gliksman-Sullivan said that eight months ago she awoke covered in
bites, and doctors diagnosed her as having been attacked by bedbugs,
and she went home to discover hundreds of them had infested her home.Schnurnan said she notified her landlord, who had an exterminator do
"cursory spraying," but that the problem persisted. She left because
she was afraid to stay and couldn’t sleep knowing the apartment was
infested, and because the landlord and building management did nothing
further to help, her lawyer said.Gliksman-Sullivan has been commuting four hours a day to her Manhattan job from her home in Upstate New York.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Kings County Supreme Court against
the owner, Manhattan Eight Corporation and Isaac Wade, the managing
agent.
MID CENTURY MODERN IN KENSINGTON
Yesterday I went to Kensington and finally figured out where Kensington is. Oh — let me re-phrase, I thought I knew where Kensington was — near the Parade Grounds, the Kensington Stables, etc. But I didn’t realize Ocean Parkway near Church Avenue was considered Kensington. And then when I walked to the Ft. Hamilton Parkway F-train station it all came together.
And I kind of loved it over there.
A friend is selling a cool apartment in a mid-century modern brick building on Ocean Parkway. Built in 1959, the seven-story, elevator building is 70% owner occupied. The residents are a mix of people who moved in in 1959 and much younger newcomers who were priced out of Manhattan, Park Slope, etc.
The apartment is really cool. Very mid-century modern. It would be perfect if we didn’t have two kids and a Hepcat who takes up so much space. It’s got two nice-sized bedrooms, a nice living/dining area and two, count em, two bathrooms.
Probably the biggest sell about the apartment is the light — it’s a corner apartment on the 7th floor and it has 14 windows. I loved that. It also has Lots of closet space.
The owner is a reader of OTBKB so if you’re interested email me and I will email her. The price is very reasonable (in these crazy times, that is).
The current owners have done a beautiful job decorating the place. The bathrooms have been nicely renovated and the kitchen’s renovation pre-dated the current owners.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
FREE TICKETS TO BABY LOVE THIS SUNDAY
FOR READERS OF OTBKB: free tix for BabyLove this Sunday March 11th @ 5:30pm.
Email for tix: christen@christenclifford.com
WHAT:
BabyLove
What happens when your infant son becomes The Other Man?
WHEN:
Saturday, March 10th @ 1pm
Sunday, March 11 th @ 5:30pm (free tix for this show).
Tuesday, March 13th @ 7:30pm
Friday, March 16th @ 7:30pm
WHERE:
part of FRIGID New York at The Kraine Theater
85 East 4th Street
(between 2nd and 3rd Aves)
first floor, no wheelchair access
DISCOUNT!
SmartTix CODES (regularly $14):
BBYLV $9.00 any show
2FOR1 $7.00 March 7th @9pm only
http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=BAB4
Infants on laps welcome! Sex toy giveaways!
Written and performed by Christen Clifford
Directed by and developed with Julie Kramer
Choreography: Julie Atlas Muz
WINNER!!! BEST OF FRINGE! 2006 San Francisco Fringe Festival
"Comically provocative! …revelatory and a comfort to other new parents….The uninhibited Clifford delves into some taboo topics with uncommon frankness and disarming charm. It’s daringly personal and, in Clifford’s unabashedly generous performance, as engaging as it is provocative."
– San Francisco Chronicle
"An extremely gifted talent! One of the most original new voices to come out of New York City in years. Her warmth, intelligence and killer wit …bring out the humanity in even the most outrageous situations."
-Catherine Burns, Artistic Director, the Moth
"BabyLove is the most important piece of feminist theatre since The Vagina Monologues."
-kulturevermitterlin
"Smart, sexy and funny! Clifford is a wonderful storyteller and she performs with such truth and authenticity that by the end everyone in the audience wants to be her little one."
-Mladina (like the Eastern European Village Voice)
"Christen Clifford is a fabulous writer and performer! BabyLove goes to places about motherhood that few would dare explore. Speaking the unspeakable is one of my favorite art forms and Christen has the guts to put BabyLove on stage, outing another one of society’s dirty little secrets."
-Betty Dodson, PhD, author of Sex for One
ABOUT THE SHOW: Clifford’s true stories expose sex and motherhood with refreshing candor and humor; by exploring the intimate, she illuminates the universal. A solo play with choreography by burlesque star Julie Atlas Muz and directed by Julie Kramer (Best of Fringe for Give Me Shelter, It’s a Hit!), BabyLove had its world premier in Ljubljana, Slovenia and was SOLD OUT and won BEST OF FRINGE at The San Francisco Fringe Festival in 2006. Developed in part through Hourglass Group’s Solo Lab.
ABOUT CHRISTEN CLIFFORD: Clifford has performed at Classic Stage Company, The Culture Project, The Public Theatre and been a mainstage storyteller at The Moth. She has published in Salon.com, Nerve.com, Blue, and Everything You Know About Sex Is Wrong (Disinfo). Clifford is a member of The Association for Research on Mothering as well as The Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality and is the winner of the 2006 New School MFA nonfiction writing competition. More info: http://www.christenclifford.com
READINGS ON THE FOURTH FLOOR: REPORTING FRM IRAQ
READINGS ON THE FOURTH FLOOR returns with what sounds like an incredible
event, a great fundraiser for the PS 107 library AND an important way to
acknowledge the beginning of the 4th year of the war in Iraq.
Readings on the 4th Floor returns for its third season. It starts up
again March 28th with Reporting from Iraq, a panel discussion with
George Packer, author of Assassin's Gate, Jackie Lyden of NPR,
and Michael Moss of the New York Times. Moderated by Leslie Gelb from the Council on Foreign Relations.Tickets this year can be purchased online at www.ps107.org.
All proceeds benefit the library at PS107.
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HIGH SCHOOL VAGINA CONTROVERSY
This from the blog, The Hall Montior (Keeping an Eye on Education), about a school in Westchester where three girls were suspended for reading a passage from Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues.
Three students have been suspended for saying the word “vagina”
during an Open Mic Night Friday at John Jay High School in Cross River.
School officials had warned the girls they would be reprimanded if they
said the word while reading a selection from Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues
The
girls had divided the reading into thirds, but all joined together in
saying the word “vagina,” which appeared only once. The girls each must
serve a one-day, in-school suspension.
Here’s what they read:
“My short skirt is a liberation
flag in the women’s army
I declare these streets, any streets
my vagina’s country.”Meanwhile,
classmates have expressed outrage over the suspensions, saying that a
school should be a place where students have the right to express
themselves. They plan to make t-shirts and posters to protest the
school’s decision.Do you think the students should have been suspended?
ADDITIONS TO NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY: ROLLING STONES, HOWL, NATIONAL DEFENSE TEST, VELVET UNDERGROUND, SARAH VAUGHAN
Every year the Librarian of Congress chooses a variety of sound
recordings to include in the National Recording Registry. The
recordings are nominated by members of the public and a panel of music,
sound and preservation experts, the library’s National Recording
Preservation Board. The 2006 additions to the registry are:
–”Uncle Josh and the Insurance Agent,” Cal Stewart (1904).
–”Il mio tesoro,” John McCormack, orchestra conducted by Walter Rogers (1916).
–National Defense Test, September 12, 1924 (1924).
–”Black Bottom Stomp,” Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers (1926).
–”Wildwood Flower,” The Carter Family (1928).
–”Pony Blues,” Charley Patton (1929).
–”You’re the Top,” Cole Porter (1934).
–”The Osage Bank Robbery,” episode of ”The Lone Ranger” (Dec. 17, 1937).
–Address to Congress, Dec. 8, 1941, Roosevelt (1941)
–Native Brazilian Music, recorded under the supervision of Leopold Stokowski (1942).
–”Peace in the Valley,” Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys (1951).
–Chopin Polonaise, op. 40, no. 1 (”Polonaise militaire”), Artur Rubinstein (1952).
–”Blue Suede Shoes,” Carl Perkins (1955).
–Interviews with William ”Billy” Bell, recorded by Edward D. Ives (1956).
–”Howl,” Allen Ginsberg (1959).
–”The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,” Bob Newhart (1960)
–”Be My Baby,” The Ronettes (1963).
–”We Shall Overcome,” Pete Seeger (1963) recording of Pete Seeger’s June 8, 1963, Carnegie Hall concert.
–”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Rolling Stones. (1965)
–”A Change Is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke (1965).
–”Velvet Underground and Nico,” Velvet Underground (1967).
–”The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake,” Eubie Blake (1969).
–”The Wailers Burnin,” the Wailers (1973).
–”Live in Japan,” Sarah Vaughan (1973).
–”Graceland,” Paul Simon (1986).
FILM BASED ON JHUMPA LAHIRI’S BOOK OUT ON MARCH 9th
The movie based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s book, The Namesake, is set to open on March 9th. But before you see the movie (and you must, it’s directed by Mira Nair) Brooklyn blogger Pardon Me For Asking says, READ THE BOOK.
Before the March 9th opening of the movie "The Namesake" which is based
on Jhumpa Lahiri’s book of the same name, I urge everyone to read the
original.
Yes, I may be partial to Lahiri . Not only is she a
fellow Brooklyn resident, she is also an active opponent of the
Atlantic Yards project (see below) and a Barnard Graduate. Most
importantly, her writing is achingly beautiful. " The Namesake" is the
story of two generations of the Ganguli family and their transition
from Calcutta to Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s the classic story of
immigration and assimilation.
Though this story is about an Indian
family, it is my story too. Elegantly written, ever so restrained,
Lahiri perfectly invokes the sense of loss the newcomer feels, the
desperate attempt to hold on to one’s culture and customs and what
happens to the next generation which tries so hard to be American, just
to realize that it will forever be a blend of two cultures.
I
don’t know how good the movie is. I am not even sure I want to see it
for fear that it will rob me of the image I made myself of the
characters. I can only suggest that you read this little gem yourself.
To read a passage of the book, follow this link:
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/extra/bl-namesake.htmpardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2007/03/recent-great-reads.html
WHY ONE WAY NOW? DOT HAS AN ANSWER (?)
So you’re wondering why the DOT wants to change Park Slope traffic patterns NOW? Some people say it has to do with the Atlantic Yards. Even David Yassky says it has something to do with the Atlantic Yards. But here’s what the DOT press office had to say (reported on Streetsblog).
"This idea has been considered for years and since Sixth Avenue was
repaved last year and we have not yet installed permanent markings,
this seems like a good time to make these changes."
MORE DELICES DE PARIS GOSSIP
So what is the deal with Delices de Paris, the bakery on Ninth Street between 6th and 5th Avenues?
Here’s OTBKB’s take on it:
Zana’s Cafe opened on Seventh Avenue in the space next to Smiley Face Pizza. It is owned by Rosana, co-owner of Delices De Paris on Ninth Street.
Signs went up in the window at Delices De Paris saying that the two places were not connected. "Do not be fooled…"
Rumors spread about a nasty break-up between Zana and her husband, the baker at Delices de Paris. They still owned the place together but…
Then I heard that the Health Department shut the original place down.
I heard a rumor that the couple was back together — I thought that sounded odd.
I heard another rumor that Rosana bought out her husband and the place is set to re-open soon.
Anyone know what’s going on over there? Here’s a tip from an OTBKB reader:
there here have been many signs on that window since. Also some
apparent signs of improvement within since Rosa took over. I’m just sad
they’re closed for now, doing some of the needed improvements many of us
have noticed. Now I have to walk all the way up to 7th to get my morning
latte and almond croissant. Just as good as always… but no place to
sit down. Maybe they should put stools in.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
