Monthly Archives: June 2009

Breakfast of candidates

Tidbits: City Council Candidates (Weekend News)

IMG_8589 Pardon Me For Asking reports that City Council candidate in the 39th district John Heyer (pictured left climbing the lamp post) was on hand for the renaming of Palazzo Way, a stretch of Henry Street, between Union and Sackett Streets. The block has officially been co-named "Citizens Of Pozzallo Way" in honor of the Society Of The Citizens of Pozzallo. He even got to climb lamp post and unveil the sign.

According to PMFA: "The Society was started in 1919 by immigrants from the Sicilian town of Pozzallo,
Italy who formed an organization, to 'promote fellowship and friendship
amongst its members and to educate them to the American ideals in order
to transition them to the American way of life and American citizenship.'"

Photo by PMFA

The politicians were out in full force at the Gay Pride Parade on Saturday night. I chatted briefly with Doug Biviano, candidate for City Council in the 33rd district, who asked me to sign his petition. "Sorry, I can't. I'm a 39er." Council Speaker Christine Quinn and City Council members David Yassky and Bill deBlasio were also in the parade.

Brad Lander and Gary Reilly were also marching in the  Brooklyn Pride Parade on Saturday night. Brad marched near his synagogue Kolot Chayeinu, which is informally
Brooklyn's gay & lesbian synagogue) so he wasn't up with the
other candidates and electeds.

A plan to honor gays and other non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution
in Brooklyn's Holocaust Memorial Park inspired Assemblyman Dov Hikind to say ridiculously: "the Holocausut is a uniquely Jewish event."

Mole 333, who writes a blog for Daily Gotham (and seems to be a supporter of Josh Skaller) had this to say: "And remember this is the same Dov Hikind who is helping City Council
Candidate Brad Lander in the Hasid community. Dov Hikind has previously
expressed support for racial profiling and segregated neighborhoods and
now denies the right of anyone but Jews to consider themselves victims
of Nazi Germany. I am now calling Brad Lander out on this one. Does
Brad Lander condemn the racism and intolerance of his political ally
Dov Hikind? How does Brad Lander feel about Dov's vilifying of
Muslim-Americans and African-Americans? How does Brad Lander feel about
Dov's Holocaust denial. And let me be clear on this: Dov's version of
Holocaust denial is JUST as disgusting as that of Iran or neo-Nazis who
deny that Jews were targeted for genocide."

Actually, Brad Lander did have something to say about Dov Hikind's Holocaust comment and it was published on Mole333's Daily Gotham blog.

I strongly support the New York City Parks Department’s
inclusion of the full range of victims of Nazi atrocities – Jews, gays,
Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the disabled, and political prisoners (as
well as Catholics, Slavs, trade unionists, and others) – in Brooklyn’s
Holocaust Memorial Park.

Honoring all victims of Nazi persecution does not diminish the
immensity of the six million Jews murdered by Hitler and the Nazis. It
is important to commemorate all victims of the Holocaust, both to
accurately record history, and to learn its lessons. To me, the lesson
of the Holocaust is never again to anyone, anywhere. I have been proud
to stand with Jews and many others in opposition to genocide in Darfur,
and to vicious bias murders in New York City – activism which stems
from a shared history of oppression, and an unyielding commitment to
human rights.

I am grateful to have the support of Assemblyman Dov Hikind in my
campaign for City Council (as well as Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State
Senators Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron, City Councilmember Rosie
Mendez, Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr, Ruth Messinger, and many others who
are champions in the fight for human rights). While Assemblyman Hikind
and I agree on the need for affordable housing, support for small
businesses, public safety, strong social service organizations, and
improved neighborhood quality-of-life in Boro Park (where his Assembly
District and the City Council district I am seeking to represent
overlap), I strongly disagree with him on this issue.

real estate

Do the ULURP: Contextual Rezoning of Carroll Gardens

Pardon Me For Asking (PMFA) wants everyone to mark their calendars for the meeting at Long Island College Hospital on June 25th at 6 pm of The
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for the contextual rezoning
of the Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Waterfront is starting on Thursday,
June 25th, at the Community Board 6 Land Use Committee.

Says PMFA: "This
is great news! This long-awaited rezoning will give this community the
protection it needs from out-of-scale development and will hopefully
preserve the unique character of our historic neighborhood."

The NYC Department of City Planning gave this overview on the re-zoning:

At
the request of Community Board 6, community and neighborhood groups,
and local elected officials, the Department of City Planning proposes
zoning map amendments for an approximately 86 block area of the Carroll
Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods within Community District 6
in Brooklyn.

The
rezoning area includes the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and
Columbia Street. The Carroll Gardens portion of the rezoning area is
generally bounded by Degraw Street, Warren Street and Douglass Street
to the north; Hoyt Street, Bond Street and Smith Street to the east;
3rd Street, 4th Street, 5th Street, Centre Street and Hamilton Avenue
to the south; and Hicks Street to the west. The Columbia Street portion
of the rezoning area consists of approximately 14 blocks bounded by
Warren Street to the north, a line between Columbia Street and Van
Brunt Street to the west, Hicks Street to the east and Woodhull Street
to the south. The areas proposed to be rezoned are zoned entirely R6.

The
rezoning proposal has been developed after extensive discussion with
the Community Board, elected officials, and neighborhood residents. The
rezoning responds to community concerns about recent out-of-scale
development permitted under the current zoning by mapping contextual
districts with height limits throughout the study area which would
preserve the existing built character while allowing for new
development and modest expansions where appropriate at a height and
scale that is in keeping with the existing context. The rezoning would
support and promote the local, vibrant retail corridors while
protecting the residential character of nearby side streets.

The
proposed rezoning builds upon the Department’s Carroll Gardens Narrow
Streets Text Amendment which was undertaken at the community’s request
and approved in 2008. That text amendment aimed to limit the size and
configuration of new buildings and enlargements on certain streets with
deep front courtyards which had been defined as wide streets under
existing zoning and therefore permitted a higher density that was out
of scale with the existing built context. The proposed rezoning of the
Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods fulfills the
Department’s commitment to return to the community with a more
comprehensive set of zoning recommendations for the larger area.

 Meeting Information

Thursday, June 25th at 6 p.m.

Landmarks/Land Use Committee Meeting
Public Hearing on Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Contextual Rezoning plan (ULURP No. C 090462 ZMK)

Discussion
and formulation of a recommendation on an application submitted by the
Department of City Planning (ULURP No. C 090462 ZMK) to contextually
rezone Carroll Gardens and a significant portion of the Columbia Street
District neighborhoods to protect the existing built form environments.

Long Island College Hospital, 339 Hicks Street

Music

OTBKB Music: Brooklyn Songwriters Exchange

Stay close to home and get to hear three upcoming singer-songwriters
for free.  It's the monthly Brooklyn Songwriters Exchange show at Union
Hall, where you get to sample three performers.  Tonight you'll hear:

RebeccahRebecca Hart,

Anneh  Anne Heaton, and

Benc Ben Carroll.

I don't know much about
these performers, other than seeing Ben performing with almost everyone
else at The Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room.  But that's
exactly the idea of this finely curated series: get to know someone who
you might not have otherwise seen and do it for free.

Brooklyn Songwriters Exchange, Union Hall, 702 Union Street (at Fifth Avenue), 7:30pm doors, 8pm show.

–Eliot Wagner

Music

Susan McKeown at Barbes

Susan08 I'd never heard of her but my friend Andrea has been a fan of Susan McKeown for a long time. She and I were emailing, talking about having dinner when she suggested we go hear McKeown, who was playing at Barbes.

I was intrigued and game as I am rarely disappointed by the music presented at Barbes, Park Slope's ecelctic club, which specializes in Slavic soul, klezmer, jazz, Mexican bandas,
Venezuelan joropos and Romanian
brass bands.

Indeed, the very intimate Barbes was a perfect venue to hear the literate and soulful Irish singer/songwriter Susan McKeown, who's stunning lyricism and eclectic sense of melody took my breath away. The performance felt like a conversation  between singer and audience as McKeown explained what the songs were about and what lines she had "stolen" from poets like Seamus Heaney, Ezra Pound and Samuel Beckett.

In most cases it was a fragment of a line. Clearly the Dublin-born McKeown is a perfectionist when it comes to the lyrics in her haunting image-filled songs that take the listener down the rivers of Ireland, the death of Ann Lovett, a young girl who died after the birth of a lillegitmate child, green fields, her mother's birth experience and the search for God.

McKeown who sings volcals on "Wonder Wheel" by the Klezmatics, 2007's Grammy winner for Best Contemporary World Album, has an elegant, almost sculptural face with defined cheekbones. Sometimes she sounds like Natalie Merchant, who actually sings on McKeown's 2002 album Prophecy (which McKeown was selling at Barbes). Merchant recorded Mckeown's song "Because I Could Not Stop" on her latest album Retrospective.

Reading her biography I see that McKeown has performed with many musical luminaries in addition to the Klezmatics and Natalie Merchant, including Linda Thompson, Pete Seeger, Mary, Margaret O'Hara, Billy Bragg, Arlo Guthrie, Andy, Irvine, Flook, Lúnasa, and the Scots fiddle master, Johnny Cunningham.

I just added Prophecy to my iPod library and will be spending a lot of time with the songs of Susan McKeown. And I'll be sure to let you know when she's playing at Barbes next.

BROOKLYN READING WORKS

Tonight at Union Hall: Brooklyn Writers Space Listening Party

Bws-web-reading Scott Adkins, who runs the Brooklyn Writers Space, sent word of the last BWS reading of the year followed by a Listening Party at Union Hall tonight at 5 p.m.

My friend playwright Rosemary Moore is reading tonight so I hope to make it over there. Scott writes:

"Come join us for the final readings in the 2008/9 reading series. It's
a fun night with playwrighters, a fictioneer and a creative
non-fictionaire…good times.

Presenting:
**rosemary moore**
Rosemary
Moore is a playwright who has also published fiction and non-fiction.
Her play “The Pain of Pink Evenings” was published in The Best American
Short Plays of 2001 (Applause Books). In 2000 she was selected as one of
five Emerging Playwrights in the Cherry Lane Alternative Mentor Project
for the development and production of “Aunt Pieces" (directed by
Michael Sexton, mentored by A.R. Gurney). She lives in Brooklyn and
teaches writing at Rutgers University.

**lorraine martindale**
Lorraine
Martindale is a recent graduate of the New School's MFA Program in
Fiction. She has published work in the online literary journal
Hitotoki, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two cats.

**michael lazan**
Michael
Lazan has had plays produced by and at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater,
Ensemble Studio Theater, Workshop Theater Company, Midtown
International Theater Festival (award for best production, nominated
for best play), New York Musical Theater Festival, Naked Angels,
Manhattan Theatre Source, Neighborhood Playhouse, among others. He has
been a finalist for the National Ten Minute Play Festival (Actors
Theater of Louisville). He is a member of the Drama Desk, the
Dramatists Guild and the Brooklyn Writers Space.

**susan gregory thomas**
Susan
Gregory Thomas is an investigative journalist, broadcaster and the
author of "Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and
Harms Young Minds" (May 2007: Houghton Mifflin) She has written for
U.S. News & World Report, Time, the Washington Post, Glamour, and
Babble.com. She has three children.

It's free! Doors open at 5p – readings start 5pish. Join us upstairs after'words' for an end of series drink.

Smartmom

Smartmom: Time for the Prom

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 Smartmom_big8

Here is this week's Smartmom first published in the Brooklyn Paper. 

Teen Spirit was dead set against going to his own senior prom. This
Smartmom learned the day after she wrote a $350 check to pay for prom,
senior breakfast, yearbook and graduation.

“No way am I going to the senior prom,” Teen Spirit told Smartmom. “It’s ridiculous!”

“But I just sent in the check,” Smartmom said.

Teen Spirit seemed pretty unconcerned about his mother’s huge output of cash in these dark, economic time. The bum.

“I hate the idea of prom,” he told her.

That made sense. Smartmom couldn’t really imagine Teen Spirit at a
prom — even if it was a groovy prom like the kind they have at his
progressive public school, which does just about everything in a
non-traditional way.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be a normal prom,” she told Teen Spirit.

But normal or not, he wasn’t going and that was that. As you can
guess, Teen Spirit is just not a prom sort of guy — not even in an
ironic way.

So Smartmom just mentally kissed that prom money good-bye. She
figured the senior committee probably needed the money anyway, and only
part of it was for meant for the prom. The rest could go to the
graduation ceremony, the senior breakfast and printing costs of the
yearbook.

Smartmom didn’t give it another thought until it was time for the prom at her friend’s daughter’s private school.

Smartmom got to “eavesdrop” on that whole adventure. She heard about
the girls waiting around to be asked by a boy to the prom, which made
her think, “What a throwback. How anti-feminist. How weird.”

Why couldn’t girls ask boys?

She heard about the girls spending boatloads of money on pretty
party dresses. That sounded fun. Smartmom wondered if the Oh So Feisty
One would enjoy that.

She heard about a group of kids renting a stretch limo to go to the prom in Manhattan.

She heard about the mothers of boys buying corsages for the girls
and pre-prom parties where parents got together and took pictures and
drank wine.

The whole thing sounded so over-determined. The parents were worried
about what would and wouldn’t happen on prom night. Would the kids be
safe? Would they drink too much? Would they stay out too late at the
after parties?

Would they practice safe sex if that sort of thing was going to happen (and it is happening, you know)?

Smartmom worried for the kids. After the big build up and
hullabaloo, what if they didn’t have a good time? Wouldn’t it be
awkward — all the slow dancing and stuff? The whole thing sounded like
an earlier time when things were more formal and ritualized.

And it seemed like an awful lot of energy and agita for something that was supposed to be fun.

Smartmom thought back to her own high school days. Unfortunately,
there was a big hole in her memory where a prom should have been. She
thought and she thought and she thought. She tried to summon up a
memory a fun festive party, a fluffy prom dress, and a fragrant
corsage.

Nothing. Nada. Nicht.

That’s because there was no prom. Graduating from high school in
1976, her classmates (herself included) didn’t believe in such
programmed events.

It was the 1970s. Smartmom and her female classmates met in a weekly
Women’s Group, where they discussed sexism, sexist high school boys and
teachers. They even organized a full-day event for International
Women’s Day.

It’s not like she didn’t like parties. Smartmom and her friends went
to plenty of wild parties in large pre-war apartments in buildings on
the Upper West and East Side, where they drank too much Bohemian beer
and made out with boys on beds strewn with overcoats (in that order).

Smartmom even had a boyfriend who could have taken her to the prom.

But they didn’t believe in proms at her progressive, left-leaning
private school. Proms were elitist, bourgeois and sexist. Right?

So on the night of her friend’s daughter’s prom, Smartmom found
herself envying the kids who were doing the traditional prom thing. It
all seemed so quaint and vintage. It even sounded like fun.

Suddenly, Smartmom understood why she had unthinkingly paid for Teen
Spirit’s prom without asking him. It’s called magical thinking. She
wanted him to go to the prom, so she wished him to go to the prom.

And then her wish came true. A few days after the private school prom, Teen Spirit came into the kitchen.

“Hey, did I tell you, I’m going to the prom?” he said nonchalantly.

“You are?”

“But I’m only staying one hour. One of my friends begged me to go,” he said.

“What are you going to wear?”

“I’ll wear dad’s seersucker suit …”

“And grandpa’s white shoes?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Smartmom was thrilled. It was the first time they’ve been in agreement about anything in ages.

“Should I have it dry-cleaned?” she said.

“Whatever,” Teen Spirit said by way of yes.

So Teen Spirit is going to the prom. Smartmom tried to be blasé, but
she was happy that Teen Spirit was doing something traditional to mark
the end of his high school career.

And in the process, he was making up for that thing she never got to do. Even if it was elitist, bourgeois and sexist. Right?

BROOKLYN READING WORKS

Perfection: A Memoir by Park Slope’s Julie Metz

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41y58NmVBdL._SS500_ Park Slope's Julie Metz, who read at Brooklyn Reading Works' Memoirathon in 2008, just got a nice review in the Times from Janet Maslin about her new memoir, Perfection, A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal.

In addition to writing a memoir, Julie Metz is a graphic designer who runs design firm specializing in book covers, as well as identity and brochure design. Since 1988, her cover designs have appeared in the AIGA 50 Books, 50 Covers Show, as well as Graphis and PRINT magazine. Here's the  mention in the NY Times. The book is available at the Community Bookstore. 

"Julie Metz’s “Perfection” is a visual standout for good reason: Ms.
Metz designs book jackets. And she has given her all to the vibrant
tulip on her memoir’s cover. She also gave her all to what she thought
was a solid marriage. Then her husband died suddenly, in 2003, and left
behind a secret history of philandering, complete with e-mail trail. He
left one particularly devious lover in the same small town where Ms.
Metz found herself trapped as a new widow. How would she rear her
daughter there when the daughter’s best friend’s mother (chick-book aficionados can follow this, no problem) was her husband’s married girlfriend?

"Ms.
Metz provides a blow-by-blow account of how she processed these
revelations. Little did she know that the man who wrote her a florid
poem for Valentine’s Day
was also sending pornographic holiday e-mail messages to at least two
women with whom he was having affairs. (“I had to smile at the
efficiency of it all,” Ms. Metz writes about this cut-and-paste job.)
Little did she realize how truly distant her husband was. And little
did she imagine that she would ever be living one of the most basic
dreams of chick lit: going back to dating after years of marriage. Ms.
Metz changes the names of the men in this book, but she brings
refreshing candor to a startling, painful tale."

Music

Adam Matta: Middle Eastern/Jazz/Beatboxing Tour De Force

Adam.570x380 BAMcafé celebrates Muslim Voices with
a weekend of free concerts featuring New York-based Muslim artists
engaged in both traditional and innovative approaches.

Tonight: Composer/producer Adam Matta is a beatboxing tour de force, blending
hip-hop, electronic, jazz, and traditional Middle Eastern music into a
unique and driving sound. Performing with his friends Dr. Fawzia
Afzal-Khan (spoken word/voice), Nihan Devecioglu (voice), Noah Hoffeld
(cello), Remi Kanazi (spoken word), Eyal Maoz (guitar), and Kenny
Muhammad The Human Orchestra (beatbox), this second night of Muslim
Voices in BAMcafé is sure to impress.

Sat, Jun 13 at 9:30pm
BAMcafé
Free!

Civics and Urban Life

June 13: Fundraiser for PortSide New York at Brooklyn Lyceum

Hey, here's something to do on Saturday night and it sounds like a fun event and a chance to support PortSide NewYork,
a young, innovative non-profit organization developing
diverse programs about water and the waterfront, and moving soon to
Atlantic Basin.

FYI: they're the Brooklyn folks who brought you opera on the Mary Whalen tanker and
the revolutionary Kayak Valet.

Brooklyn Congresswoman Nydia
Velazquez will be on hand at the event, the first-ever
fundraiser for PortSide New York on Saturday, June 13, from 6 pm to 9 pm at the Brooklyn
Lyceum at 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street. Tickets are $50, and can be purchased at: http://portsidefundraiser.eventbrite.com.

In
conjunction with the fundraiser, PortSide is holding an auction on eBay
that will expire after the fundraiser on June 17. Items to be auctioned
include cool and unusual stuff including a gantry crane tour, blacksmithing lessons, tickets for ferries
and charter vessels, works from Brooklyn artists, an antique stove and
a sailboat.

PortSide will soon get its first publicly
accessible home. The New York City Economic Development Corporation
(EDC) is negotiating directly with PortSide NewYork to create a home
for the boat in Atlantic Basin, next to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
This will include a berth for the Mary Whalen, a pier where
they will host "visiting vessels of every description, and an interior
space that will house programs and interpretive spaces. Visible from
PortSide will be huge cruise and container ships, gantry cranes at
work, tugboats, charter, excursion and historic vessels."

Help them out!

Religion

Children of Abraham Peace Walk: Open Hearts and Curious Minds

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IMG_5397 Yesterday's intermittent rain didn't stem the enthusiasm or energy of the Children of Abraham Peace Walk. For the sixth year in a row, a group of approximately 75 Christians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Rastafarians, atheists, agnostics, and peaceniks (organized and sponsored by a large coalition of Brooklyn religious congregations) walked from one  religious institution to another with open hearts and curious minds.

The first stop on this uniquely Brooklyn walk was the Al Noor School, a private school on 21st Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, that provides a secular and Islamic education for grades K-12 and is one of the largest and fastest growing Islamic schools in the United States. The walkers went inside, where they learned about the school and watched "Cities of Light," a film about a time in Spain, over a thousand years ago, when Jews, Christians, and
Muslims, lived together and flourished.

From there the walkers walked to The Church of Gethsemane on 8th Avenue near 10th Street in Park Slope, a diverse Presbyterian congregation founded by men and women who have
been incarcerated, their families and friends. They share the church with Kolot Chayeinu, where Rabbi Ellen Lippman, one of the organizers of the walk, runs a progressive Jewish congregation made up of individuals of varying sexual orientations, gender identities, races, family arrangements,
and Jewish identities and backgrounds, who "share a commitment to the search for meaningful expressions
of our Judaism in today's uncertain world." A Vietnamese Buddhist group also uses the well-utilized space and the Children of Abraham Peace Walkers were treated to a brief chanting session with them.

IMG_5693 I joined the group at the next stop on the tour: Congregation Beth Elohim on 8th Avenue and Garfield Place in Park Slope, where Rabbi Andy Bachman was waiting on the steps of the sanctuary. Once inside, he told the walkers that the synagogue was built in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War. "Times change, communities evolve, institutions remain. Abraham Lincoln was president when this synagogue was built. Could the people praying here then have imagined our president today?" Rabbi Bachman asked the group.

Rabbi Bachman introduced Jacob, a 13-year-old boy who will be a Bar Mitzvah in November and asked him to explain the meaning of certain aspects of the synagogue to the group.

"This is the ark where we keep the Torah, the most sacred text in Judaism," Jacob told the group. "And this," he said pointing to a lamp "is the eternal light that doesn't go out."

"There has to be an eternal light, which is God's presence," Bachman interjected. "This one is a light bulb and sometimes it has to be changed. Don't tell anyone I told you that." Everyone laughed. "It requires a certain suspension of disbelief which is a legitimate theological position."

4935_1107250573865_1604834493_30254557_3243631_n Jacob, standing on the stage of the sanctuary with an electric guitar, taught the group the words and melody to a song popular with members of the Israeli peace movement, which included the Hebrew and Arabic words for peace (salaam, shalom).

From there the group continued on to its final stop, the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Members of BSEC  welcomed the group as they walked up the steps of the elegant 1900 mansion, which is considered one of the best examples of the
rare neo-Jacobean style. It has been home to the Society since 1947.

The walkers sat down in the large parlor room of the mansion and listened as a member of the Society described Ethical Culture as a humanistic religious and educational fellowship that is ethics-centered. "We spell God with two O's," she said.

"The Society for Ethical Culture was started by German Jews escaping growing nationalism in Germany," one member told the group. "They were  immigrants hoping that democracy was more than a dream. They felt you could either do your good work with only your own or start something by joining with others."

Debbie Almontaser, one of the founders of the walk and a native of Yemen spoke movingly about Charlie Horowitz, the deceased
president of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, and another one of the  original founders of the Children of Abraham Peace Walk. "He felt it was
important to take this walk to different parts of Brooklyn as a way to
broaden the Brooklyn community together," she told the group. Alomontaser, a veteran of the NYC Public Schools was the founding principal of the  Khalil Gibran International Academy, a dual language public school that opened in 2007. She forced out before the school opened its doors because of a flap about a misconstrued comment that she made.

Rev. Tom Martinez, minister of the All Souls Bethlehem Church in Kensington and one of the organizers of the walk, told the crowd that he knew that they were hungry and tired but that there was still one more item on the program.

"This year we've expanded to include Vietnamese Buddhists and now a Rastafarian. My friend Oosagyefo will read a poem."

IMG_5734 Oosagyefo, a tall, handsome Rastafarian man with a rainbow colored knit cap on his dread-locked head stood in front of the room and performed his poetry using his arms with a dancer's grace.

Son of man tell Ian’ I
Something about life that have never
been said
Like how you will measured
The moments of infinity with
patient
Love your neighbor like yourself unconditionally
Entertain
strangers like they were your next of kin
Put an end to galactic wars

Sign everlasting peace treaty
That has no beginning and no ending

Like yesterday and tomorrow
Son of man tell Ian’ I
How to make this
earth dance again with your rhyme scheme 
How to breathe new life into
this ailing world with your prose
And how to rejuvenate this tired creation

With your metaphors
Write Ian’ I a poem to resurrect the dead
Give
sight back to the blind
Heal the cripple
Set the captive free
Make
your words sing a bittersweet Poetic melody
That even the Angels on Mount
Zion
Will once again sing in harmony
Yes we are knock knock knocking on
heavens door 
I say we are knock knock knocking on heavens door 

Yes we are knock knock knocking on heavens door 
Me say we are
knock knock knocking on heavens door.

And then it was time to break bread. This group of hungry and tired Christians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Rastafarian's, agnostics, atheists and peaceniks enjoyed a feast of Middle-Eastern specialties donated by one of the great food shops on Atlantic Avenue. Participants spilled outside into the large garden of the Ethical Culture mansion and talked to one another, ate, and relished the sense of unity and shared purpose.

Music

OTBKB Music: With A Little Help From My Friends

Tandy My friend George likes the group Tandy.  Really likes them.  He just
got an iPod Touch and an FM transmitter for his car and played Tandy's
song, Shine, 16 times in a row on a recent trip.

Although 16 times in a row might be a
bit much, George is not alone in his admiration of Tandy. 
Singer-songwriter Steve Earle said that "Tandy is my favorite NYC band
and the first music I ever played on my radio show."  And Gray's
Anatomy  picked the Tandy song Home to feature on its January 8th episode
this year.  Tandy's sound has been described as ambient folk rock, and
I think that's a fair description.

Tandy is centered around singer-songwriter (and Brooklyn resident) Mike
Ferrio (that's Mike's picture).   The band's current label is 2minutes59 Records, located here
in Park Slope. 

So I'll thank George and will recommend Tandy's gig this Sunday,
9:30pm, at the East Village's Lakeside Lounge (Avenue B and 10th
Street; F Train to 14th Street; 14A bus to Avenue A and 10th Street,
then walk one block east to Avenue B)

 –Eliot Wagner

Civics and Urban Life

Alice Neel Paintings and Film at David Zwimmer Gallery

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Moth-chil-nancy-olivia After yesterday's walk on the High Line, we hopped over to the Alice Neel show (through June 20th) at the David Zwirner Gallery located at 525 West 19th Street (between 10th Ave. and West St.).

A painter of
people, landscape and still life, Alice Neel(1900-1984) is considered one of the great painters of the 20th century. Born near Philadelphia, Neel lived in Greenwich Village in the 1930's and was a member of the Works Progress Administration.

Later she made her home in Spanish
Harlem where she painted her Puerto Rican neighbours and people she encountered on the street.

In
the 1960s she created portraits of artists, curators and gallery owners, including Frank
O'Hara and Andy Warhol.

An outspoken woman artist, with strong views about politics and social justice, Neel was a powerful and complex personality who struggled to create her work while raising three children. She is featured in an excellent 82-minute documentary made by one of her sons about her life and work that is being shown continuously at the gallery to accompany the show.

Civics and Urban Life

The High Line! The High Line! The High Line!

3250553845_cdae9d0fec_b Yesterday was my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom) and she had the inspired idea to lunch down by the High Line so that we could take a look at Section 1 of this new elevated public park which opened to the public on June 9, and runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street.

The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive
public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. The High Line website describes how it "lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains
from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains
have run on the High Line since 1980."

We have Friends of the High Line, a
community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 to thank for this fantastic new addition to Manhattan. When the historic
structure was under threat of demolition, Friends of the High Line
works in conjunction with the City of New York to preserve and maintain
the structure as an elevated public park. Awesome.

What an adventure! What an incredible public project! What a gorgeous addition to the island of Manhattan!

An elevated public park is an inspired idea. 30 feet in the air is a wonderful vantage point from which to view the architecture and landscape of NYC.

The High Line park retains hints of its former life as freight train tracks and the design of the walkway and landscaping reflects that. Some of the plants look like they're growing out of rusted train tracks.

The High Line's plantings are inspired by the self-seeded landscape
that grew on the out-of-use elevated rail tracks during the 25 years
after the trains stopped running. Landscape architects James Corner
Field Operations and the Netherlands-based Piet Oudolf chose species
for their hardiness, sustainability, and textural and color variation,
with a focus on native species. Many of the species that originally
grew on the High Line's rail bed are incorporated into the park
landscape. The 210 species in Section 1 bloom from late January to
mid-November.

Walking uptown on the High Line, I kept thinking: this is the best thing to happen to Manhattan since_____. I couldn't quite fill in the blank but it made me want to spend more time in Manhattan. And that's a big deal for a Brooklyn girl.

The High Line is located on Manhattan's West Side and is open from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm daily.
It runs from
Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street, between
10th & 11th Avenues.

Civics and Urban Life

BAM: Remake of Richard III by Kuwaiti Director

June 9-12 at 7:30pm, BAM presents a remake of RIchard III by Sulayman Al-Bassam at the Harvey Theater. as part of the Muslim Voices Arts and Ideas Festival. Here's the blurb:

In an oil-rich kingdom, a dictator's bloody rise to power becomes an allegory of our own times in Richard III: An Arab Tragedy,
Kuwaiti director Sulayman Al-Bassam's groundbreaking remake of
Shakespeare's Machiavellian masterpiece. Grainy TV confessions,
sophisticated propaganda, and a wealth of Arab music and ritual lend
themes of leadership, religion, and foreign intervention an uncanny
relevance, turning this classic play into a cautionary contemporary
tale.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the Complete Works Festival.

Civics and Urban Life

Daily News: Unsafe Sewage Levels in Gowanus Canal

1 Comment

This was sent to me by a representative of CG CORD, the Coalition for Respectful Development based in Carroll Gardens about an article in yesterday's NY Daily News.

The Daily News featured an article by Erin Durkin yesterday (6/9)
entitled, "Unsafe Sewage Levels in Canal" / "Bacteria Count High in
Gowanus".  Below are excerpts:


Durkin writes:  "New tests have found sky high levels of bacteria found in human waste in the Gowanus Canal."


"Water quality test conducted by River Keeper ….late last month found
enterococcus up to 17,329 cells per 100 milliliters.  The Environmental
protection Agency (EPA) has said contact with water higher than 104
cells is unsafe."


"If enterococcus is there in that quantity, every other bug, every
other bacteria, or virus or pathogen that was in the untreated sewage
is probably there in equal proportion, including E. coli and
salmonella," said John Lipscomb, captain of the group's patrol boat."


That water is bad water, very bad water," he said.


"Water samples were collected in May 29 after two wet days dropped half an inch of rain on the city"……


"It didn't take a lab test to show there was something funky in the
water.  Oily residue coated the surface, and dozens of condoms,
sanitary devices, and gutter trash ….floated by when a Brooklyn News
reporter went out on a boat."


"This is a day that really shows how broken our wastewater system, Lipscomb said."…


"He said that of the dozens of locations Riverkeeper tests-from new
York City to north of Albany-only the Gowanus and Newton Creek show
contamination levels as high.."


Sewers overflow into the Gowanus up to 75 times per year dumping some
300 million gallons of sewage into the waterway said City Department Of
Environmental Protection spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla.  Some advocates
say the estimates are too low because they use outdated rainfall
data…….."  (edit)

Breakfast of candidates

Power Struggle in Albany: Who Are Brooklyn’s State Senators?

1 Comment

The world watches as the State Senate in Albany is in chaos after two Democratic senators crossed the aisle in a Republican power grab. Seems like a good time for a refresher course on the State Senate and the names of those who represent Kings County.

If you don't know in what district you live, you can find out
everything you need to know by entering your address into the New York
City Board of Elections' website right here.

Thanks to The Brooklyn Optimist for this list.

17th SD: Martin Malavé Dilan
18th SD: Velmanette Montgomery
19th SD: John Sampson
20th SD: Eric Adams
21st SD: Kevin Parker
22nd SD: Martin Golden
23rd SD: Diane Savino (also represents Staten Island)
25th SD:  Daniel Squadron,
27th SD: Carl Kruger

Civics and Urban Life

Deborah Harry to Perform at Seaside Concert Series in Coney Island

9 Comments

Debbie The Brooklyn Paper reports that Deborah Harry will perform on August 13th at the free Seaside Summer Concert
Series at Asser Levy Park in Coney Island. Pat Benatar will be on the same bill.

Hall & Oates will appear on
Aug. 6, and on July 16th Credence Clearwater Revisited and Mountain take the stage.

The Seaside Summer Series,  is in Asser Levy Park on West 5th Street and Surf Avenue in Coney Island. All shows begin at 7:30 and rental chairs are available. The full schedule will be released on June 15th. Stay tuned.

Civics and Urban Life

Statement on Behalf of John A. Roebling’s Family About City Council Vote

3 Comments

3613111066_180790b5c1 The City Council approved 39-9 the rezoning that will allow Jed Walentas to build a controversial 17-story
tower next to the Brooklyn Bridge. Here is a statement from Kristan Roebling, a descendant and spokesperson for the family of John A. and Washington Roebling, the designers and builders of the Brooklyn Bridge. She lives in Brooklyn. 

“I am writing today to express my utter shock
and befuddlement at the passing of Two Trees Management’s proposed
high-rise condo abutting the Brooklyn
Bridge on
Dock Street , and to
also express my horror at the manner in which this travesty was allowed to
happen. As has now become completely clear to anyone with an interest in
perusing the now publicly available documents in regards to Two Trees’s
Dock Street project, certain municipal servants whose solemn responsibility it
is to uphold the rule of law for the benefit of every New Yorker have
essentially been bought and paid for so that a structure which vandalizes the
Brooklyn Bridge can be built.”

 “This is not just a tragedy for the
architectural legacy of one of the world's great national monuments; it is also
a devastating tragedy for the fair and balanced execution of the Democratic
process in our city. Just like when the Brooklyn
Bridge was first built, the ghost of
Boss Tweed once again presides over New
York 's political machine, and a new and insidious
Tammany Hall has shown its face through these proceedings. Shame on the
business people and politicians who allowed this to happen.”

“For those of you who fought so hard to see to
it that the will of New York City was heard in
regards to this proposed development, you can comfort yourself by knowing that
you are on the right side of New York 's
history, and that this moment represents the loss of a battle more so than an
entire war. The alarming evidence of impropriety in the vetting of this project
must be thoroughly investigated, before a single stone is allowed to be
set.  Just as the destruction of the original Pennsylvania Station
resulted in the establishment of a sweeping move to preserve America's
architectural treasures, so too can this current travesty become a battle cry
that inspires New Yorkers to see to it that their city's remaining treasures
are treated with the respect that they deserve, and that morally bankrupt, or
simply ineffectual, politicians are drummed out of office at the voting polls
by a democratic process that will not allow our quality of life to be
determined by backroom deals.”

Brooklyn Bridge Polaroid by Bruce E. Huston


Religion

Today: Children of Abraham Peace Walk

The Sixth Annual Children
of Abraham Peace Walk is today. This uniquely Brooklyn event begins at the Al-Noor School at 4 p.m. and continues on to the Church of the Gethsemane/Kolot Chayeinu, Congregation Beth Elohim and concludes at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture.

Organized by Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, Rev. Tom Martinez (OTBKB's Witness Photographer) and Adem Carroll, the Children of Abraham
Peace Walk brings together Jews, Christians, Muslims and those of
other faiths and all ages, who walk together and learn about each
other’s traditions and houses of worship.

In past years the Peace
Walk has explored Brooklyn Heights, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge over
to Ground Zero; and has visited many congregations, including an
Albanian mosque. This year, the Ethical Culture Society on Prospect Park West in Park Slope is the final venue.

The 2009 Peace Walk begins at 4 p.m. at the Al-Noor School (675
4th Ave. near 21st St.), where participants will view the film "Cities
of Light" and learn more about the school. "Cities of Light" is part of
the “Many Religions One Community” initiative.

The group will then begin the Peace Walk
around 5:15. The first stop is the Church of Gethsemane/Kolot
Chayeinu) at 1012 8th Ave. between 10th and 11th
streets. It is the home of both a Presbyterian congregation formed as an
“intentional community” of and for prisoners and their families and
loved ones; and the progressive synagogue Congregation Kolot Chayeinu
(which means Voices of Our Lives).

The Peace Walk will then progress to
Congregation Beth Elohim/Garfield Temple, (Reform branch) at 8th Ave.
and Garfield Place. The Walk concludes at the Brooklyn Society for
Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West (between 1st and 2nd streets),
where participants will eat, talk, hear poet Osagyefoo and see a repeat
viewing of Cities of Light.

Sponsoring congregations include,
as of press time: Al-Mahdi Islamic Foundation; Al-Noor School; All
Souls Bethlehem Church; the Arab Muslim American Federation; the Arab
American Association of New York; Beit El Maqdis Islamic Center; Brit
Tzedek v’Shalom, New York chapter (Jewish Alliance for Justice and
Peace); the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture; Brooklyn
Congregations United; Church of Gethsemane; Congregation Beth Elohim;
Council of Peoples Organization (COPO); Fellowship of Reconciliation;
Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives; the Muslim Consultative Network;
the Park Slope Jewish Center; Temple Beth Emeth v’Ohr Progressive
Shaarei Zedek; and the Islamic Mission of America.

Civics and Urban Life

This Week: Coming to The Old Stone House Near You

Wine, Shakespeare and Photography at the Old Stone House…

–Friday June 12
Summer Winetasting Fundraiser

with Heather Johnston of So Good TV

Canapes by Stone Park Cafe

6-8 pm at OSH

$40 in advance www.nycharities.org
$50 at the door

Support Summer Film and Theatre in Washington Park/JJ Byrne Playground!  

–Saturday & Sunday, June 13 & 14

Much Ado About Nothing

A Family Oriented Comedy Set in the World of Baseball

Presented by Theater Smarts
4 pm
Outdoors in JJ Byrne Playground

Free! 

–Through June 30
Essence and Accident:
Photographs by Hugh Crawford
Upstairs at OSH
Fridays, 4-7 pm and by appointment
www.hughcrawford.com

–For more information, visit www.theoldstonehouse.org
or call at (718) 768-3195, or by email at info@oldstonehouse.org

Old Stone House of Brooklyn
Washington Park/JJ Byrne Playground
3rd Street bet. 4th and 5th Avenues

Breakfast of candidates

The Petitioners Are On The Streets: Take the Time to Sign

2 Comments

They're all over the place. At subway stations; on all the avenues and streets; Petitioners are going door to door all over the city collecting signatures on ballot nominating petitions
to help the candidates get on the ballot.

Just so you know: during the petitioning period which lasts from June 9th until June 15th, you are being NOT asked to commit to a candidate, you're only be asked to add your signature so that a particular candidate can be on the ballot.

Just so you know: You can only sign one petition and you must be a registered Democrat in the District where you are signing the petition.

Just so you know: Each candidate needs to get 900 signatures of registered Democrats in the district. But they usually try to get more to insure their place on the ballot.

Just so you know: The process is entirely
volunteer-driven, which means that the supporters of all the candidates are out their meeting their neighbors and convincing them to sign the petition.

Just so you know: If you want to see a Green candidate on the ballot in November you must wait until the July petitioning period. Since you can only sign one petition, don't sign a Democratic petition if you are waiting to sign the Green Party petition.

Civics and Urban Life

Today City Council Votes on Dock Street

1 Comment

Today the City Council will vote on the proposal by Jed Walentas of DUMBO's Two Trees Management to build
a 325-unit tower on Dock Street that has a lot of people up in arms because it will partially blockviews of the Brooklyn Bridge.

David Yassky, City Council member in the 33rd district which includes DUMBO, opposes the tower as planned as do many community groups.

Perhaps the most outspoken and articulate opponent of the project is David McCullough, who wrote The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972), and had a column in  Newsweek, a few weeks ago:

The most long lasting of great American works, the structure
destined "to convey some knowledge of us to remote posterity," said a
New York writer long ago, was "not a shrine, not a fortress, not a
palace, but a bridge."   That was in the spring of 1883, 126 years
past, when the completed Brooklyn Bridge
opened to the most exuberant public celebration of the era, complete
with the president of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, leading the
grand parade on foot from New York to Brooklyn over the bridge high above the East River.

"The
Great Bridge" was news everywhere. It was the moon shot of its time, a
brave, surpassing technical triumph, and more. For it was besides a
great work of art and a thrilling overture to the high-rise city in
America. Its giant granite towers stood taller by far than anything on
the New York skyline, taller indeed than any structure in all of North
America then. Over the years it has been photographed more than
anything ever built by Americans. It has been the inspiration for
songs, poems, paintings, no end of personal reminiscences and
thesetting for scenes in movies. It has remained New York's most
famous, best-loved landmark…

…In the years since, its importance has seldom ever been doubted or
seriously challenged. The sanctity of its own space has been unviolated
by and large. Until lately. Now, alas, plans are proceeding to build an
18-story luxury apartment building within a hundred feet of the bridge
on the Brooklyn side. (A vote in the process is expected this week.)
The building, as proposed by the Two Trees Management Co., would stand
184 feet high and just about ruin the view of the bridge from on shore,
as well as the view from the bridge looking toward Brooklyn—in other
words, the view for just about everyone except those living in the
apartments. To permit such a project so close to the bridge would be a
shameful, inexcusable mistake. There is no other way to say it.

Would
we wish to see an 18-story building go up beside the Statue of Liberty,
or next to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, or beside the Washington
Monument? Of course not.

Would the city of Paris permit an 18-story building beside the Arc de Triomphe or Notre Dame? Unthinkable.
Usually Council members go along with the local council member
on matters that pertain to that member's district. But not in this
case.

Last week the Land Use Committee of the City Council approved the Two Trees' plan. They didn't go with Yassky and many say that's because
the Council Speaker Christine Quinn is in favor of the Walentas project as well. 

So what will happen today. My bet: the City Council will approve Dock Street. Sadly.