It's that time of year again. On Monday, December 14th I will roll out the 2009 Park Slope 100.

So what is the Park Slope 100?  Here's how I described it last year.

The Park Slope 100 is 100 stories, 100 ways of looking at the world, 100 inspiring people,
places and things in and around Park Slope. It can be a person, a place, a thing, even an event. Let me know who, what and where was notable and powerful and 2009. One tip: I especially like people who direct their energies outward towards the better good of others in some way. Suggest yourself, your spouse, your relative, your friend.

Send your suggestions to me: louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Here are some of the people that made the list last year. To see more go to The Park Slope 100.

BRENDA BECKER because in 2008 you decided to visit Prospect
Park every day as an urban adventure (and, not least, as a drug-free
antidepressant!), and to chronicle your discoveries. And you're still
trying to get to the park every day, and posting about it on your blog,
A Year in the Park,
a site the New York Times called "witty and engaging" in a profile last
July. "It was fun getting some Old Media attention for 15 minutes,"
comments Becker, "but the real gift was connecting to so many other
people, from cyclists to dog lovers, who are also passionate about
Prospect Park. The calendar is a way to share that passion."

SALLY BERMANZOHN because you were a labor organizer at the
Duke Hospital cafeteria with your husband Paul, who was critically
wounded in the Greensboro Massacre in 1979. Currently you are professor
and chairperson of the Political Science Department at Brooklyn
College, where you research and teach courses on the international
phenomenon of truth and reconciliation commissions. And that's not all. You're the author of Through Survivors’ Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro
Massacre (2003), for which you received the Brooklyn College Award for
Excellence in Creative Achievement. You are also featured in Adam
Zucker's documentary, Greensboro; Closer to the Truth.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN because as political director for
WNYC and
The Takeaway, your reporting of Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign was
always top notch, as were your stories from battleground states. Kudos
for
being one of 12 top U.S. journalists to win a Knight Fellowship at
Stanford University in 2006-2007.

CHARLES BLOW because as the New York Times' visual Op-Ed columnist and an award-winning art director, you
bring a decidedly visual style to that page, a great writing style and
a distinctive point of view.

BRADLEY FELDMAN because your geeky weather tower is working
24/7/365 days a year to bring Park Slopers the temperature, the
windchill, the humidity and a live image detailed weather,
radar/satellite map, 5-day forecaster and pollen levels. Your weather site is quite a service to the community.

PATRICK GASPARD because Barack Obama appointed you national political director of his  presidential campaign and the rest is history.

RICHARD GIN
because you are the self-designated photographer of the Brooklyn
all-ages music scene and you get the shots that everyone loves.
Pictured left Fiasco.

GINO'S COLLISION because you fixed my father's
Subaru for a reasonable price and we love the adorable bright orange
Fiat 500 that you park right outside. Classy.

JOHN HODGMAN because you play
the PC guy in those funny Apple commercials and we love your hilarious,
and completely fake, trivia books (“The Areas of My Expertise” and the
new “More Information than You Require”), your regular appearances as
the resident expert on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and your
citing of Park Slope as a utopian commune ruled by children. 

SARA HOROWITZ,
because as executive director of Freelancers Union and CEO of
Freelancers Insurance Company you're trying to bring affordable health
care to us freelancers. A lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY, you come
from a long line of
labor advocates, including your father, who was a labor lawyer, and
your grandfather, who was vice president of the International Ladies’
Garment Workers Union. You studied at Cornell University's School of
Industrial and
Labor Relations and later
earned a
master's degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.You
are the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Fellowship (also known a genuis award). 

ALISON HOUTTE because you are the flamboyant and fabulous owner of Hooti Couture,
a vintage store at 321 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, that specializes in
women's and men's clothes and accessories. Before getting into the
vintage business you worked as a model for more than 10 years in Paris
and Manhattan, appearing in everything from Vogue magazine to a Dr
Pepper television commercial—and you still look like one. Your store
has been featured in Women's Wear Daily, The New York Times and many
other publications