http://youtu.be/4Muf6Gl2pHM
This Thursday, July 19, one of the episodes of Louis C.K. shot in the Community Bookstore airs at 10:30pm on FX. So they are going to have a viewing party, of course. But where?
At last report, they were still trying to find a site with cable TV and plenty of space (and alcohol).
I will let you know where the viewing party is when I find out.
The Coney Island Boardwalk: What a great spot for a talent show.
Be part of the 3rd Annual Coney Island Talent Show on the boardwalk (between 10th & 12th street) on Saturday July 28th from 3:30pm-8pm.
Categories for this year’s talent contest are:
Creative kids 9-12 years old
Creative kids 13-17 years old
Circus Freaks & Sideshow Geeks
Song & Dance
Best Drag Performance or Celebrity Impersonator
Over $4000 in cash and prizes!
This years celebrity judges include Dick Zigun of Coney Island USA, Miss Ekaterina, Broadway Brassy and artsy Waldorf kid, Sequoia Harrison!
Peter Luger, the renowned and historic steak house in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was recently named the best steakhouse in the United States byUSA Today.
Marty Markowitz had this to say about this carnivore’s emporium: “Now Americans across the country know what Brooklynites and New Yorker s have known all along: that Peter Luger is, hands down, the best place to eat a steak in America.”
The steak house has been around since 1887. Here’s a link to the USA Today story: http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/story/2012-07-12/The-USAs-best-steakhouse/56183522/1
Tonight is Dancing Under the Stars, the Fifth Avenue BID’s summer music/dance program (every Tuesday evening in July and August).
Coincidentally, I just ran into Irene LoRe, who runs the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID at Forty Weight/Sweet Wolf’s on Sixth Avenue and 12th Street.
Tonight DJ Chris Style in Washington Park will be spinning the beats for great dancing.
Starting at 6, of course, Park Slope’s favorite rock band, Rolie Polie Guacamole, will do an hour of music for kids.
At 7, Dj Chris Style will spin the dance beats that will get Fifth Avenue moving!
I think it’s probably just coincidence that the 92YTribeca sent this out on the heels of yesterday’s MTA rumored announcement that the G-Train extension would be permanent.
Coincidence or not, it sounds like a fun tour if you’re into those sorts of things (I am but I never get around to it. Note to self: do it). On Sat, Aug 11, from 11AM until 2:30 PM (tickets from $35), the 92YTribeca is sponsoring a Walking Tour called the Brooklyn Train Tour.
And it focuses on Brooklyn’s beloved G-train.
The G is the only train in the subway system that doesn’t stop in Manhattan. Durng this walk, you will hop on and off the line from Carroll Gardens to Clinton Hill and Williamsburg , taking in townhouses, campus facilities and other buildings along the way.
Actually, none of the extension stops will be included. Hmmm. Next time.
The guide, John Hill is an architect, blogger, adjunct professor at NYIT and author of Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture, which looks at more than 200 buildings built in the five boroughs since 2000. Meet in front of The Schermerhorn, 160 Schermerhorn Street , between Smith and Hoyt streets.
To all you crafty minded people who aren’t going to a beach this weekend, I’ve got something for you to do on Saturday, July 21 at the Brooklyn Museum, which is very well air-conditioned.
I just heard from Julia Santoli a member of the Adult Programs division of the Education Department at the Brooklyn Museum.
This Saturday, July 21 at 2 pm, the Brooklyn Museum is holding a Creative Art Making program called “Stitch This.”
Led by Etsy artist Jessica Marquez, participants will create bold, graphic works of art combining thread and paper with images and text. Participants will need to bring their own image (preferably as 5 x 5-inch photocopies), or be inspired to create something original.
There is a $15 materials fee, and registration is required. Register at www.museumtix.com or at the Museum’s Visitor Center.
Sounds fun, eh?
File under: maybe Yahoo won’t be such a crappy site/email service anymore.
The talk yesterday at a blogger’s event for a certain frozen yogurt shop in Park Slope, in addition to what flavor of yogurt to try, was about Marissa Mayer, the brand new executive of the troubled Yahoo (and my email service).
Many at yesterday’s event for mostly twenty-something Brooklyn social media mavens were enthusiastic about the choice of Mayer, who was a very early employee of Google, is a trained engineer, with a masters degree in computer science from Stanford. She ran Google’s search group, location and local division.
Good cred, I’d say.
The company has not had great luck with leadership recently. A slew of execs have come and gone, including. Terry Semel, Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz, and Scott Thompson.
A young woman who works at Small Girls, the PR firm that is handling said new Park Slope yogurt shop’s PR suggested that Mayer might render Yahoo a cool place to work.
The plain yogurt was my favorite and I’m excited to see if Mayer, who happens to be pregnant, brings something new and exciting to the Yahoo table.
About a month ago, someone on Third Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues in Park Slope) wanted to get rid of an upright piano. They wrapped it in plastic and left it in their building’s front yard. Perhaps they were waiting for someone to take it, to sell it, or for bulk garbage day.
The Department of Sanitation provides “free curbside removal of large non-commercial ‘bulk’ items (items that are too big to be discarded in a container or bag) from residential buildings.”
A piano is definitely too big to be discarded in a container or bag.
On Monday afternoon, in preparation for bulk garbage pick up, the piano’s owners left the piano on the curb.
A talented local musician I know tried to convince his father to carry the piano to the apartment where he lives. When THAT didn’t happen, he had the idea to make a video of himself performing two songs using that piano. A group of his friends arrived on Third Street with a video camera and professional recording equipment.
The shoot lasted an hour or more. The piano is broken and more than a little out of tune. The local musician was able to make the non-working peddles work.
It was, I thought, a sight to behold. In the golden light of a summer afternoon, a young musician sat on an old television set, playing an out-of-tune upright on the Third Street sidewalk, surrounded by friends.
The songs, they were beautiful.
In 2009, the MTA added five stops to the G-train route in Brooklyn, including Seventh Avenue, 15th Street and Church Avenue. I for one was shocked the first time I saw a G train at the Seventh Avenue F-train station. Hey, what’s that doing here?
Interestingly, the addition of the five stops never had anything to do with rider convenience or the connecting of previously unconnected neighborhoods. It was all about track work on the F- line that prevented the G-train from doing its turnaround.
As far as the MTA was concerned: when the construction ended, the G-line extension would be history.
Over time, I made use of that G-train. I’d take it to Hoyt/Schermerhorn and connect to the A train into Manhattan or to Bed Stuy. I’d take it to Williamsburg. Like me, riders liked the extra five stops and the convenience and connections they offered. The only negative is when you’re waiting for a F-train into Manhattan and the G-train pulls into the station instead of the F. I have been known to utter: “Damn that G-train.” But there’s usually an G-train close behind.
Business owners along the new route liked it, too. Many local politicians, including Marty Markowitz, state Sen, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Daniel Squadron joined with riders and local businesses to pressure the MTA to keep the five extra stops.
The pressure worked, we’ve got our extra five stops for G-train travel and everybody is happy.
The following is an exchange that went on between me and Team Pinkberry. I noticed that someone from the new Park Slope Pinkberry was reading my blog posts and even chiming in about dates and times for their opening.
It occurred to me that it would be nice for them to advertise on OTBKB. So I sent them a message on Facebook. There is no Facebook page for the local Brooklyn business so I guess it went into some national Pinkberry message space.
Yesterday, I spoke with Ryan, the owner of Park Slope’s Pinkberry. He lives in Long Island and is very excited about opening a business here. I asked him directly if he’d like to advertise on OTBKB and he told me that he’d have to speak with the national office about advertising.
Today, I got this email from the national office. I think it’s a form letter response. I feel a little bit dissed, I have to admit.
Louse Crawford
Dear Team Pinkberry: Thanks for the comment on my blog and I will let the readers of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (a popular Park Slope blog since 2004) know that there will be an opening celebration on July 19th. Yay.
I’d like to offer you an inexpensive banner ad. If you send me a banner jpeg or gif, you can have the top banner spot on my blog.
Let me know if you’re interested and I will quote you a low price for 6 months!!!
People know and trust OTBKB and an ad here will speak volumes about our delight in the addition of Pinkberry to the Seventh Avenue landscape.
Best, Louise
Pinkberry
We are pleased to learn of your interest in partnering with the one-of-a-kind brand that is Pinkberry. We will be sure to share your contact information with the marketing team for further review and follow up. Thank you.
Thanks. Advertising with a local blog would show a real commitment to the community. And Brooklyn LOVES neighborhood-invested businesses. It must go both ways.
Park Slope’s Barnes & Noble got a lot of flack for not, initially, doing things in conjunction with local schools, etc. They changed their ways big-time and now are, I think, considered a part of the neighborhood when they do the gift wrap fundraisers and poetry readings for local schools. It is especially important for chains and franchises to show their love for where they are.
Riders around here LIKED those extra five G-train stops. They connected Park Slope, Kensington and Windsor Terrace to each other to Clinton Hill and Williamsburg. I for one found it very useful.
The MTA said no, it’s got to go. But the riders and pols spoke back.
Well, the people WON. The MTA has agreed to keep those five extra stops. And it’s a big win for straphangers.
NYC Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio had this to say:
“It’s hard to remember the last time we had good news about transit in Brooklyn. Our message to the MTA was simple: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It looks like we’ve been heard. Keeping these extra five stops is a huge win for commuters and businesses in the Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington.”
File this under: unabashed self-promotion.
On May 24, 2012, I announced my new venture, Brooklyn Social Media with a post on OTBKB. I made a quick logo (which is about to change), set up a Facebook page, and went out in search of clients.
Well, it didn’t take long.
I’ve had an exciting two months. From my office in Park Slope, I worked hard to define and refine what it is I have to offer. In the process, I’ve developed a rather extensive menu of deliverables, including a Social Media Kit, Blog Tours, a Social Media Strategy and an Editorial Plan for blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Video, Constant Contact, podcasts and more. I also offer coaching and short-term consulting and brainstorming.
First and foremost, I am helping creative entreprenuers and authors of all kinds (published, self-published, print-on-demand, etc) reach a wide audience using social media. One of the ways I do this is by interacting with book and special interest bloggers, who do book reviews and Q&As with authors.
You’ve heard of a Book Tour, well now a Blog Tour is the thing. And it’s armchair travel for the author. Some of these book bloggers can be quite influential when it comes to recommending books, featuring authors on their blogs, giveaways, and Q&As.
There has been a wellspring of interest in this from authors and publishers and I am currently hard at work on behalf of an interesting group of authors including Peter Matthiessen Wheelwright, author of As It Is On Earth (forthcoming from Fornite) and Ora Shtull author of The Glass Elevator, to name just two.
I am also happy to be working closely with Marian Brown PR. Marian has been called a new author’s dream. She was Anne Lamott’s publicist. Lamott writes: “Marian was my publicist when Bird by Bird came out, and it was a true pleasure to work with her. She was brilliant and efficient, hardworking and fun.”
I can tell you, Marian Brown is truly someone you want on your team.
Another client I am happy to be working with is Legacy Portrait Films, award-winning filmmakers who capture and preserve elderly loved ones on film. This is an amazing and urgently important service (and gift) for those with aging parents.
Today, I set up a twitter account for Brooklyn Social Media (@bksocialmedia) so please become a follower and I will be sending out tweets about all kinds of interesting books, authors, events, music, stores, people. Sort of like OTBKB but by tweet.
To you the readers of OTBKB, I ask you to please do a couple of things to help me create a sustainable business:
Please LIKE Brooklyn Social Media on Facebook (facebook.com/brooklynsocialmedia) AND become a friend.
Please FOLLOW Brooklyn Social Media (@bksocialmedia) on Twitter.
With gratitude.
Let’s throw some love over to Here’s Park Slope. He’s got pictures of some new signage on Seventh Avenue. The Community Bookstore has a new green awning with the lovely typography we wrote about a few weeks ago.
Also a new awning and renovations to the interior of Rice Thai Kitchen. Not pictured is a new hanging sign for Shawn’s Wine & Spirits.
File this under: it’s a Brooklyn thing but it’s taking place in Manhattan.
Plays by playwrights from Mac Wellman’s Brooklyn College MFA program are being presented in the seventh-annual Bring a Weasel and a Pint of Your Own Blood Festival.
Graduates of the experimental Brooklyn College program, led by the celebrated playwright Mac Wellman, have helped to shape New York downtown theatre over the last 10 years. Alumni of the program include Thomas Bradshaw, Annie Baker, Young Jean Lee and Ken Urban. This festival, now in its seventh year, has been called “a breeding ground for new work.”
How could I not post about something with a name like that.
Location: East 13th Street Theatre, 136 East 13th St
(btwn. 3rd & 4th Ave – 4, 5, 6, N, R train to 14th St, Union Sq)
Dates/Times: Thurs. August 9, Fri. August 10 & Sat. August 11 @ 8 pm
Tickets: $18/15 students, reserve tickets at bringaweasel@gmail.com
How remarkable. That’s Venus and Jupiter out my bedroom window, visible in the predawn darkness and morning twilight. According to Earth Sky, you should be able to see two planets just before and after dawn throughout July.
I was having trouble sleeping and I popped out of bed.
Our bedroom window faces north but gives us a view of the east. Venus and Jupiter are the sky’s brightest and second-brightest planets. Very bright tonight!
Good thing I couldn’t sleep.
From my window, it looks like they’re straight up from Second Street and Seventh Avenue. It’s a sight to behold. Such bright planets, here in Brooklyn.
And there’s more planet watching to come. Earth Sky says: “mid-July 2012, the waning moon will pass the bright planet Venus and Jupiter, making for some spectacular predawn sky scenes.”
July 28 through August 19 see how the artists of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition responded to the challenge: “What is color?”
There will be over 1000 works of art in all media exhibited in BWAC’s amazing 25,000 square foot Civil War-era warehouse gallery with great views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.
The first floor of the exhibit will be devoted to a special juried show of 120 works of art in all media submitted by artists from around the country. Brooke Kamin Rapaport was the show’s sole juror. An independent curator and contributing editor and writer for Sculpture magazine, she is also the former curator of the contemporary art department of the Brooklyn Museum.
Ms. Rapaport writes: “Through the deliberate choice of riffing on color, artists work in cellophane or video, digital photography or ink jet prints, acrylic or oil paint, loom loops or felt, and corrugated cardboard or collage. There are traditional landscape photos tweaked to magnify the photographer’s vision of a polychrome cityscape. There is an assortment of abstract painting, some referencing color theory and much of it looking nostalgically to 1950s and 1960s modernist canvases. There are great swaths of color in these installations, sculpture, paintings and photographs.”
D. Nurske was the Brooklyn Poet Laureate two poet laureates ago (Tina Chang currently holds that honor). His books of poems are published by Knoph, which makes him an unusual poet because “major publishing houses” don’t publish much in the way of contemporary poetry.
He’s considered a major American poet, I guess.
A resident of Brooklyn, he is the author of nine books of poetry, including Voices Over Water, The Fall (Knopf) and, Burnt Island. He has received in Whiting Writers’ Award, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Tanne Foundation Award.
I’ve saw him read at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore in 2008 and he was quiet, thoughtful and compelling, as are his poems.
Now he has a new book out called A Night in Brooklyn, which you can get as a paper-and-glue book or as an eBook. Here’s the wonderful title poem from the book and it’s about a night of love in a narrow Brooklyn bed. I love it.
A Night in Brooklyn
We undid a button,
turned out the light,
and in that narrow bed
we built the great city —
water towers, cisterns,
hot asphalt roofs, parks,
septic tanks, arterial roads,
Canarsie, the intricate channels,
the seacoast, underwater mountains,
bluffs, islands, the next continent,
using only the palms of our hands
and the tips of our tongues, next
we made darkness itself, by then
it was time for daybreak
and we closed our eyes
until the sun rose
and we had to take it all to pieces
for there could be only one Brooklyn.
Thinking of having a block party like we did?
On the NYC.gov, 311 website, there’s all the information you need if you want to have your block closed to traffic so you can have a block party. You just have to file an application with the Street Activity Permit Office also known as SAPO.
“The Mayor’s Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO) issues permits for street fairs, festivals, block parties, green markets, commercial/promotional and other events on the City’s streets and sidewalks.
“SAPO accepts online permit applications from the public available at E-Apply. If you are unable to apply online, only 2012 paper applications will be accepted and can be obtained at the SAPO office located at 100 Gold Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10038. It is recommended that applicants utilize E-Apply as it will allow for real time status updates, the ability to pay the processing fee by credit card, and quicker issuance of permits.
“All street events, including block parties and street fairs, are required to recycle. Non-compliance with recycling regulations is punishable by fines starting at $25 and increasing to $500 for repeat violations.
“Event applications may be submitted online, mail or hand delivered to CECM – Street Activity Permit Office, 100 Gold Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10038.
“Should you require further assistance please call 212-788-756.”
What a well-organized, well-orchestrated and fun block party we had on Park Slope’s Third Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues) today.
It began with an inflatable space walk, which delighted the children for hours. Later FDNY’s Squad 1 stopped by in a firetruck. The firefighters were wonderful and the kids had a blast climbing on the truck, pretending to drive it, playing with the hose, and posing for pictures.
An open sprinkler was a perfect way to cool off on a humid afternoon. Later in the day there was a pet show and a game of musical chairs.
Throughout the day, neighbors set up stoop sales, barbecues and picnics. In the evening my building got in on the act, and one family made delicious Korean barbecue ribs, burgers and corn on the cob and shared their bounty with everyone.
Gratitude to the block party organizers for making this such a special day on Third Street.
It was interesting for me to observe today’s block party. I say “observe” because as a parent of older children, I felt a little on the periphery because a block party is a child-centered activity and I, alas, am no longer the mother of young children.
A variety of thoughts and feelings fluttered within me throughout the day. One was regret, because my children never got to enjoy a block party on our block. Watching the young children barreling down the middle of the street on bikes and scooters, interacting with neighborhood firefighters, and jumping in and out of an open fire hydrant made me pine.
Too bad my kids didn’t have a day without traffic on Third Street.
I felt old and acutely aware of the passage of time because my kids, ages 15 and 21, are growing up and no longer a part of this street’s street life. Our years of hanging out on the block are over. For the most part, I am happy about that as we spent PLENTY of time sitting in our front yard. Still, it brought up feelings of loss for me.
I didn’t realize quite how many children live on this block. It’s really quite amazing. Young neighbors are just beginning their lives as parents on this street I call home. Funny to be done with those years of my life. But you know what they say, that’s life.
At 8PM, the street returned to normal. The garbage can blockade was removed, and cars were allowed back on the street. The end of a playful urban day without cars on Third Street and the flurry of feelings it brought up.
See: http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com/2012/07/14/why-is-this-our-first-block-party/
To mark Saturday Night Fever’s 35th anniversary, Celebrate Brooklyn is screening the original film with the career-making performance by John Travolta as Tony Manero and the hit soundtrack by the BeeGees.
Staying Alive.
It also put the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn disco scene on the map.
Staying Alive.
There will be a pre-film set by Tragedy performing a heavy metal tribute to the Bee Gees. Tony Manero costumes welcome.
It is 4;48 in the afternoon and the Associated Press reports that smoke is “billowing” from a fire at South Street Seaport.
There’s a large cloud of smoke over the East River. The two-alarm blaze is being fought by firefighters.
Photo source unknown. Found on Twitter.
The Brooklyn Bridge Park Pop-Up Pool is now open. With water three-and-a-half-feet deep, the 30-by-50-foot pool is quite the cool place to cool off. Photo from McBrooklyn!
Coming soon: swim lessons for kids will be offered in the morning (at an affordable fee) before the pool opens to the public. Swimming daily 10am–6pm through Sept 3.
Do you remember the Little Bear books, I ask my 21-year-old son. “That was the very first book I ever read,” he tells me.
I’d forgotten that.
Else Holmelund Minarik has died at the age of 91. Those books were very popular when I was a girl; it was the very first I Can Read Book. Elsa Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated respectively these lovely, simple stories.
There was one called “Birthday Soup,” Who can forget “Birthday Soup.” Little Bear can’t find his mother and assumes that she has forgotten his birthday.
Guests are set to arrive and there is no cake in sight. So Little Bear prepares a birthday soup Just as everyone is about to sit down for birthday soup, Mother Bear shows up with a big, beautiful birthday cake. “I never did forget your birthday, and I never will,” she says.
To my son I say: I will never forget the first book you ever read. I promise.
Talking to some longtime residents of my block, I have confirmed that there has never been an official block party with a street closing on Third Street between 6th and 7th Aenues.
“311 has made things so easy. Now you can find out how to do things we never knew how to do before,” said one Third Street resident of more than twenty years.
I’d always heard that you couldn’t close off a two lane street.
“That’s not true, we were lazy,” she said.
In the past there were mini-block parties, three or four buildings would get together and there would be food, music, musical chairs and a talent show.
“The woman who organized this, she did a good job,” another neighbor said.
Third Street between 6th and 7th Avenue is having its first block party ever. EVER.
Finally, after all these years, one of the newer residents decided to organize one and she did a great job.
She put together a planning committee, she got a permit from the city to close the street, she organized activities for children and, best of all, rented one of those spacewalks.
Bernette Rudoph, an elderly and talented artist, is doing a wood sculpture activity with the kids.
What’s really fun is that the street is closed to traffic and the kids can ride their biks and scooters up and down the streets. Also, there’s fire hydrant sprinkler, a time honored way for city kids to cool off.
Back in September of 2006, I had an allergic reaction to something I ate at Della Femina restaurant in East Hampton. A day or so later I wrote a blog post titled, Itchy Hands and Feet. With 126 comments, it is by far the most commented upon blog post ever on OTBKB. It was posted on my old grey, black and orange site that was hosted on Typepad.
It was a very brief post, about 100 words. But it seemed to resonate with many who have itchy hands and feet for one reason or another. Here’s an excerpt from that post:.
“I had a weird allergic reaction and I have no idea what caused it. My hands and feet itched under the skin. My right eye got swollen and my nasal passages got stuffed up. I had a hard time swallowing and was generally very uncomfortable.
The itching on the palms of my hands and soles of my feet was probably the worst part of it…”
For years, this little post was the TOP Google hit for “Itchy Hands and Feet”. In the last year or so, a bunch of pharma companies figured that out and must have bought the words “Itchy Hands and Feet” so they are now higher ranking then we are.
It isn’t the top hit anymore because a lot of pharmaceutical companies are doing Pay Per Click for “Itchy Hands and Feet.”
Why not. It’s smart Search Engine Optimization.
David Carr and A.O. Scott chatting on video on the front page of the New York Times website. Talking about Brooklyn.
Scott, film reviewer for the Times, lives in Brooklyn (Lefferts, I think) and his family harks from here. Carr, NY Times technology columnist, doesn’t know from Brooklyn but he’s funny so that’s okay. So what do they talk about when the talk about Brooklyn?
“Brooklyn has gone global, this Brooklyn brand. It’s become an adjective. In Paris they say: “tres Brooklyn.”
“Brooklyn has always been a real place with a diverse population.”
“Brooklyn is not just a place, it’s an aesthtic, with an emphasis on the material over the production values…”
“This leaf on lettuce was grown on this roof garden in Bushwick…”
“When all you really wanted was a salad.”
“There’s always stuff you can make fun of, especially when young people are doing it…”
“Lettuce with a back story…”
It came in the mail today. The dreaded Juror Qualification Questionnaire. Well, it may not be as bad as getting a jury summons but it still does cause a trill of anxiety.
I am required by law to fill out this questionnaire and I must respond within ten days. And it’s all because my name was chosen at random from my voter, DMV or tax list. Just pulled out of a hat.
What bum luck.
What is your date of birth? Can you understand and communicate in English? Are you a resident of Kings County? Are you at least 18? Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
Have you eve been a juror?
Yes, of course I’ve been a juror. It was June of 2005, a criminal case that lasted for about three weeks. Truly, one of the most interesting and influential experiences of my life.
I found it so interesting, so emotionally gripping, that it inspired me to train, for one year, to become a court reporter. After one year at the New York Career Institute, I decided that court reporting was not my cup of tea. It wasn’t exactly a waste of time, but it was a misstep.
Now I can check that off my bucket list.
So today when I got my juror qualification questionnaire, it brought to the fore many thoughts and feelings.
Firstly, has it really been six years since I was on a jury? Yes, June of 2005 was seven years ago.
Then, will I really have to do it again?
Likely. And it was so interesting last time. It’ll probably be even more interesting this time now that I know so much more about the legal system, about the law, about courtrooms, about court reporting.
I’ll probably want to stare at the court reporter the entire time with true admiration, awe and relief that it is she and not me.
Brooklyn Castle, a new documentary, is the story of a public school chess team at Williamsburg’s IS 318. With rankings higher than Albert Einstein’s and students from mostly low-income and immigrant homes, this dedicated chess team has captured over 26 national chess titles, more than any other middle school in the United States.
Facing budget cuts and the threat of losing the chess after-school program, the instructors students and parents band together to help save the program.
This uplifting, must-see film will be presented by Rooftop Films on their very own rooftop in Park Slope/Gowanus on Saturday, July 21. Location: The Old American Can Factory (232 Third St. @ 3rd Ave). Doors open at 7:30PM. At 8PM, there will be a mini-chess tournament. The film begins at 9PM.