I just heard from Tai Allen, who is hosting a poetry slam at BAMCafe at 9PM tonight. You can get there earlier and catch the Happy Hour that’s 5:30 until 8PM. Here’s Tai’s email it’s kinda poetic:

hey folks,
i am long-time ny and bed-stuy resident (my life basically)…
i am also a pretty good poet/singer/visual artist/interactive developer.
and this week, while i am back from a short tour, i am presenting
a poetry event at BAM/BAMCafe via the Brooklyn Art Council.
http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2752

i know it is hella at the last minute but maybe we can have the event posted
on your site. AND we would love for you to come and enjoy too.
a lil blurb on me, to show i am repping the stuy properly:
http://bit.ly/taicentric

thanks for the moment of your time

So that’s happening tonight (Friday, Nov 19) at 9:00PM at BAM: Poetry, rap, ghost stories, and verbal duels duke it out in this animated evening of spoken-word fireworks, presented by Brooklyn Arts Council as part of Black Brooklyn Renaissance. Tai Allen hosts an evening to feature Edwina Tyler, Pamela Sneed, mTkalla keaton, Sabrina Gilbert, Hanifah Walidah, James Lovell, and George Davidson.

Grace: Fresh Poetry Daily

There’s no place like home: The Writer and the Wanderer

Drawing closer to nature: Art in Brooklyn

Another helping: Brooklynometry

Post-romanatic: Do the Math

The old man’s hat: The Spiral Staircase

Psalms 136-138: Water Over Rocks

Cherished, Estranged, Lost, Hurtful, Hopeful, Complicated Sisters and Brothers: Greenlight Bookstore

Singing Stand By Me on the F Train: And I’m Not Lying

Sharon Van Etten tour dates: Brooklyn Vegan

Thoughts on mitigated hell: Old First Blog

It’s not just a rumor anymore. Millenium 2, a replicate of the very popular and successful Millenium High School in Manhattan is coming to Park Slope’s John Jay High School building. What’s more: the principal will be Lisa Gioe-Cordi, who currently runs MS 447: The Math and Science Exploratory Middle School.

I heard the rumor last Friday from a VERY reliable source but didn’t want to irresponsibly spread it around before it was confirmed. But minutes ago, Joyce Szuflita of NYC School Help reports that an announcement was made last night by Principal Gioe-Cordi at a parent’s meeting at MS 447.

New High Schools are always coming online and are usually announced shortly before the New HS Fair in Jan. but news of Millennium II has leaked so Lisa Gioe made an announcement to her parents at MS 447 Math and Science District 15 last night.

Millennium 2 will be opening in the John Jay HS complex on 7th Ave. and 4th St. in Park Slope in Sept. 2011 with Lisa Gioe as principal. It will be a replication of the popular Millennium HS with the addition of an ASD NEST program like the one that has been instituted at 477. I believe that this may be the first program of its kind in a HS. It will also be an “advanced Exploratory Program supporting internships”. It will not be a choice on the Main Round application. If you would like to add the school to your list of HS you can do it during the short period after the New HS Fair in January when you are allowed to resubmit the application and add new programs that will be starting in fall.

For clarification, the ASD-NEST program means that five children with autism spectrum disorder are placed in a class with general education students. The students with autism have their own special education teacher, who travels with them from class to class and assists them with a range of therapies and support services. This program was innovated at MS 447 New Explorations in Math and Science and was the first middle school program of its kind in the city. Millenium 2 will be the first high school program of this kind.

The Second Annual Helping Hands Food Pantry 5K Fun Run will take place on Saturday, 11/20 @ 11:00 a.m.  in Prospect Park. The run begins at the Bartel-Pritchard  15th Street & Prospect Park West entrance of Prospect Park at 11:00.   Participants are invited to walk, bike or run.  All proceeds go to Helping Hands Food Pantry, which operates out of St. Augustine Church in Park Slope.

Helping Hands, which has been in existence since 1992, distributes emergency food supplies to approximately 600 needy residents (men, women and children) in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Fort Greene Brooklyn each month. All staff work on a volunteer basis. Brooklyn Jubilee, a legal advocacy ministry, which began at Park Slope Presbyterian Church and operates in several Brooklyn locations, works in conjunction with Helping Hands twice monthly to offer free legal advice relating to housing, health insurance, and food stamps

For the past few weeks, Fanny Allié, a young French artist who now makes her home in Brooklyn, assembled clay alphabet letters into a sentence as part of her installation, Something Else, the latest show curated by Krista Saunders and Jill Benson of  G-Train Salon at Urban Alchemist, a Fifth Avenue shop that sells artisan  jewelry, clothing and objects d’art.

“I turned back and went to Stone Park Cafe I sat in the window and watched people passing by.”

At the opening earlier in November, Allié told me that she likes to use language in her work though she is not a writer.  “I write for myself, notes, journals. I like words and I think in English now,” the native-French speaker told me. In her artist statement she writes: “I explore the notion of trace 
that indicates the existence of others and my own. 

Trace also shows the passing of time. Many of my projects suggest the course
 of time as they examine memories, past actions or incidents, and events that 
happened at a specific and recorded time.”

Here’s is Fanny’s story in its entirety:

The stranger was walking on 5th Avenue in my direction when he got close enough he started talking to me.

He invited me for a drink at Ginger’s Bar. We spent hours talking about life.

At midnight we said good bye and we exchanged our numbers. The day after I was walking on 5th Avenue and I saw hm again.

I waved and I smiled at him but he didn’t respond. When I was near him I realized he wasn’t able to see me.

I turned back and went to the Stone Park Cafe. I sat near the window and watched people passing by.

This G-Train Salon made its debut in a living room on Flatbush Avenue and it is committed to showing the work of emerging artists from Brooklyn and Queens (hence the name G-train) in intimate and unusual settings. A discussion with the artist is an important part of the concept and adds immeasurably to the experience, the curator told me.

Cathie Black’s nomination for schools chancellor has certainly stirred anger and controversy this week. I think the anger is exacerbated by the general frustration with Mayor Bloomberg’s autocratic style of governing.

Because Black lacks experience in education or public service her candidacy is being questioned. The fact that Bloomberg made her selection a secret and presented her appointment as a fait accompli only added to already simmering tensions.

Black must get a waiver from State Education Commissioner David Steiner to verify that she is an  “exceptionally qualified person” nonetheless. Some parents, teachers, administrators and politicians think that waiver should be denied.

Petitions are circulating asking the commissioner to deny the waiver. Others, like Oprah Winfrey, support the mayor’s choice.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio may have the best solution. He advocating for a public forum where Black would have to speak publicly to parents, educators, and students about her plans.

Ultimately I think Bloomberg did a disservice to Black. If she is SO qualified he should allow her to speak publically about her managerial vision for the Department of Education. Hiding her in the closet seems like a great way to fan the flames of discontent among the naysayers.

At Inside Schools you can register your opinion on the nomination by Mayor Bloomberg of Cathie P. Black.

So far 9,887 people have signed the petition calling on David M. Steiner to deny the waiver that would enable Cathie Black to be the NYC Schools Chancellor.

Yikes. The last few weeks have been busy, nutty, frustrating, overwhelming and did I mention busy with high school tours, assessments, auditions, interviews and more running around.

I think I speak for all parents involved in this process when I say: WTF?

This morning we went to Williamsburg Preparatory High School and while I review my impressions I offer you links to the other High School Tour Confidential posts, as well as introduce our fab Illustration by Kevin Kocses: www.kevinkocses.carbonmade.com. His expressive and fun illustration really gets at the frustration of this experience. Thank you, Kevin.

Here are the links to the complete High School Tour Confidential Series:

Edward R. Murrow High School,

Midwood High School

the NYC iSchool

Brooklyn Latin School

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Beacon

Do Looks Matter?

The Test

At PS 321 there’s an early morning rally to protest the release of the DOE Teacher Data Reports (TDR) naming teachers. A PS 321 parent, Martha Foote of  Time Out from Testing, is spearheading PS 321’s efforts. On Friday morning other schools are also rallying – all at 8:15AM, including MS51,  the Secondary Schools at the John Jay complex, P.S. 29, P.S. 154 and P.S. 24.

Here is the letter from Martha Foote:

As a member of the PS 321 community, I oppose the public release of the Teacher Data Reports (TDRs).  While I fully support meaningful teacher evaluations, the TDRs – which rate teachers based on their classes’ state test score changes from one year to the next in English Language Arts (ELA) and math – have several problems.

1.      Experts agree that progress based solely on test scores is a poor way to measure student achievement or teacher effectiveness.  Learning is complex; assessment should be, too.

2.      The TDRs are full of errors due to inaccurate and unverified data.  For example, classes have been listed to the wrong teachers and non-math teachers have been given math ratings.  Teachers on child care leave have been given ratings even though they weren’t in the classroom.  One principal reported errors on nearly ¼ of her teachers.

3.      The TDRs are calculated using a flawed model that does not take into account a host of variables that affect test scores.  In fact, a recent analysis demonstrates that the TDRs have an average margin of error of 34-61 percentage points out of 100.

4.      Principals report that many of their best teachers have received poor ratings on their TDRs due to the flawed model.  For example, a minute .05 change in math test scores, from 3.97 to 3.92, landed one teacher in the bottom 6% of the rating scale.

5.      The DOE has used flawed test data to calculate the TDRs.  The State Education Department announced this summer that the state test scores have been inaccurate for the past several years, yet these inaccurate test scores are the basis of the TDRs.

Furthermore, I fear the release of the TDRs will harm public education in New York City as excellent teachers will resign rather than face the public humiliation of an inaccurate bad rating.  Additionally, there will be even more test prep in our schools as teachers will be compelled to drive up test scores instead of providing a quality education for all our children.

I am compiling a list…

It’s that time of year again. Time to compile the Park Slope 100. What is the Park Slope 100?

Good question. Here’s how I’ve defined it in the past:

“100 stories, 100 ways of looking at the world, 100 inspiring people, places and things. The list is in alphabetical order. There are no repeats from last year. There are always serious omissions.”

The 100 is culled from suggestions and nominations from visitors like you. Send me names of people YOU think should be on the Park Slope 100.

So what does it take to be considered?

You need to have done something interesting, strange, noteworthy, crazy, fun or original. You don’t have to be famous. No, not at all. And in some way you need to give outward or connect with the neighborhood or the world with generosity or flair.

I’ve already got about 10. Send me yours (louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com. I usually roll out the list in early December so I better get cracking.

Today at 1PM, the MetroTech Business Improvement District (BID) announces the initial deployment of the Downtown Brooklyn Wayfinding Sign System.

The  first two signs of a seventy-eight (78) sign system will be unveiled in front of 209 Joralemon Street and off the Northwest corner of Adams Street (Brooklyn Bridge Boulevard) and Joralemon Street.

This pedestrian friendly system consisting of 45 kiosks containing maps and locations of key destinations in Downtown Brooklyn, together with 33 directional signs, will be installed over the next few months, in a large area of Downtown Brooklyn from Fort Greene to DUMBO.

The signs identify twelve “neighborhoods” in Downtown Brooklyn and contain info about  local destinations, directions, historic and cultural anecdotes and subway locations.

The design and content was reviewed and contributed to by many of the neighborhood associations and institutions located in Downtown Brooklyn and approvals were granted by Community Board #2, the Department of Transportation, the Landmarks Commission and the Public Design Commission.

The signs were designed by Two Twelve Associates and fabrication and installation will be done by Design Communications LTD.

Please stop playing rocks: Gerritsen Beach

Best sandwiches in Sheepshead Bay: Sheepshead Bites

Pigeons: NY Shitty

Why do people bully?: Bushwick BK

Now you see it, now you don’t: Pardon Me for Asking

Having sex in Prospect Park: Effed in Park Slope

Lucas Fine Foods closes: Here’s Park Slope

New public K-8 proposed: Ditmas Park Blog

Don’t leave District 13, stay and help: The Local (Ft. Greene)

Taste of Hawthorne shut down: Hawthorne Street