“And it is not only your afternoon, you, my written and painted thoughts, for which alone I have colors, many colors perhaps, many motley caresses and fifty yellows and browns and greens and reds: but nobody will guess from that how you looked in your morning, you sudden sparks and wonders of my solitude, you my beloved—wicked thoughts.”

From Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Fifty years ago tomorrow tragedy struck.

On December 16, 960, 134 people lost their lives when United Airlines Flight 826 and TWA Flight 266 collided over the skies of Staten Island. The United aircraft crashed down at the intersection of Sterling Place and Seventh Avenue.

Destruction rained down on the streets of Park Slope on a cold wintry day just like today.

An 11-year-old boy survived for 26 hours after the crash. He died at Methodist Hospital, where there is a plaque. People on the ground died, too, including a Xmas tree salesman, a church caretaker, a doctor walking his dog. Many buildings were destroyed.

On Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010, at 9:45 a.m. — 50 years to the day of the tragic crash — Green-Wood Cemetery will be honoring those who perished, both in the sky and on the ground, by unveiling a new eight-foot memorial. The granite monument will stand sentinel near the gravesite where the unidentified remains of victims have rested for half a century.

This special unveiling ceremony and memorial service, sponsored by Green-Wood Cemetery, is free to the public. Participants should gather at the cemetery’s main entrance at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue at 9:45 a.m. The service will begin promptly at 10 a.m. (RSVP with Isabella Vlacci at 718-210-3024).

Community tree lighting: Gerritsen Beach

Van sits for 6 months, despite complaints: Sheepshead Bites

Live from the town hall meeting: NY Shitty

A tour of Bushwick’s movie meccas: Bushwick BK

Heavenly scents: Pardon me for Asking

Two views on a mugging: The Local

PS: The neighborhood in 1960: City Room

This morning I saw a picture of the house on Howard Place, a quaint block in Windsor, Terrace Brooklyn, with lovely attached houses and white porches, where Ryan Devaney, the man who stabbed his parents yesterday and then tried to kill himself, lived with his parents.

His mother, Margaret, inherited the house from an uncle five years ago and moved there with her husband and son from Long Island. She turned the basement into an apartment for her son, who had a history of mental instability and numerous arrests.

Yesterday morning Devaney stabbed Margaret in the eye and abdomen and she later died. He stabbed his father, who is reportedly in critical condition, and then threw himself in front of a G Train at the 15th Street F train station near the Pavilion movie theater. Ryan lived.

Tragedy on every level.

According to the New York Times. Ryan had a history of mental illness and numerous arrests. Relatives had requested orders of protection from him. He was a dangerous person with dangerous mental issues. In the NY Times, a neighbor familiar with the family said, “Ms. Devaney had been adamant that she would care for her son despite his troubles.”

Tragedy.

Yesterday my mind tried to fill in the blanks of a story I had only a few details of. I was upstate with a friend celebrating her birthday. I’d been caught in the subway meltdown that resulted from Ryan’s attempt to kill himself at an F train station. I was one of the mob of commuters who had to figure out other ways to get to their morning destinations.

At the 4th Avenue station where many refugees from the F-train found themselves, there was anger in the air and frustration. The  subway announcer’s  piercing voice blared from an overloud PA system. People were cursing each other (“Get out of my way” “move it” ). It was as if there was a particle of violence in the atmosphere. And this was many blocks away from the tragedy and few knew what had really gone on.

A woman at the 4th Avenue R station told me a bare bones version of the story. But that was enough. The mind tries to fill in the blanks especially when a tragedy of this nature happens so close to home.

All day I wondered what compelled this individual to stab his parents. As a mother it’s a particularly harrowing thought. Matricide.

I checked the news this morning to see if the father’s condition had improved. Was he still in critical condition at Lutheran Hospital? Would he live? It is reported that Ryan is in stable condition.

A dead mother, a dead wife, a dead woman named Margaret.

“We were in a middle space then, in a cone of white, father and son moving forward at a certain speed. Side-by-side, not truly quiet but quiescent, two gnarls of human scribble, human cipher, human dream.”

From Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

This morning  I was at the F train station at Seventh Avenue at around 9AM. The platform was crowded with hundreds of disgruntled commuters waiting for the train. Then I heard an announcement about there being no F train service because of a police investigation at the 15th Street Station at Prospect Park West.

A frustrated parade of commuters marched over to the Fourth Avenue G train station. The crowd was so big, there was a line to get down the stairs. A woman told me that she’d heard the real reason for the police investigation: someone had stabbed his parents and then jumped in front of a train.

It must have been around 9:30am when I heard that. I was on my way to New Paltz via Port Authority to visit my friend Nancy on her birthday.

The R-train was so crowded I got out of the station and took a  car service to Atlantic Avenue, where I got the 2 train into Manhattan.

Indeed, a 31-year old man stabbed both of his parents and then jumped in front of a G train at the 15th Street station.
The man’s mother is dead, his father is in critical condition and the son is in stable condition at Lutheran Hospital. Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Paper story.

Witnesses told police that the violence erupted inside a quaint brick-faced one-family home on Howard Place between Windsor Place and Prospect Avenue at 8:15 am when Ryan Devaney lashed out on his parents, plunging a knife into his 57-year-old mother’s eye and abdomen, killing her, and slashing his 50-year-old father’s throat.

The father stumbled out of the home, holding his blood-soaked neck while his son ran from the home en route to the F and G station in nearby Bartel Pritchard Square.

Horrified commuters watched as he jumped in front of a Queens-bound G train.

You can read the rest at the Brooklyn Paper.

The other day I noticed that there was some great Christmas lights action on 7th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues and on 9th Street between 5th and 3rd Avenues. So you don’t have to go far from Park Slope to see festive electricity.

Carroll Gardens is also a great place to see extravagant front yard and house decorations.

A Child Grows in Brooklyn has the list of where to see it all in Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge and elsewhere. Here’s an excerpt:

If you hear the words “Brooklyn” and “Christmas lights’ in the same sentence, chances are the person is talking about the Dyker Heights holiday lights. The famous holiday tradition has been on national news, TLC and featured in a dedicated PBS documentary. While this is the “grand slam” of holiday lights in Brooklyn, there are a couple of serious competitors that shouldn’t be missed either!

Bert Jansch, legendary British songwriter and guitarist, will be playing at The Bell House on Wednesday night at 9PM (doors open at 8PM).

According to the Bell House blurb: “Bert Jansch began performing his unique synthesis of folk, blues and jazz on the folk club scene of the early 1960s, having hitch-hiked to London from his hometown of Edinburgh. His first album, Bert Jansch (played on a borrowed guitar and recorded on a reel-to-reel tape deck) was legendarily sold to the Transatlantic label for 100 pounds. On its release in April 1965 Bert Jansch caused a sensation for its innovative guitar technique and powerful songs and it has been phenomenally influential to this day, cited by legions of guitar players (famous and otherwise) as a major inspiration.”

This is a rare opportunity to see a legend —right here in Brooklyn. A Bert Jansch show is a guitar playing master class and an impressive catalogue of some of the most haunting songs in the British canon.

Don’t know about you but I will be there.

December 16th is the 50th anniversary of a terrible day. That morning in 1960, 134 people lost their lives when United Airlines Flight 826 and TWA Flight 266 collided over the skies of Staten Island.

The United aircraft crashed in Park Slope, at the intersection of Sterling Place and Seventh Avenue.

On Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010, at 9:45 a.m. — 50 years to the day of the tragic crash — Green-Wood Cemetery will be honoring those who perished, both in the sky and on the ground, by unveiling a new eight-foot memorial. The granite monument will stand sentinel near the gravesite where the unidentified remains of victims have rested for half a century.

This special unveiling ceremony and memorial service, sponsored by Green-Wood Cemetery, is free to the public. Participants should gather at the cemetery’s main entrance at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue at 9:45 a.m. The service will begin promptly at 10 a.m.

Please RSVP with Isabella Vlacci at 718-210-3024.

On Saturday I got a Christmas card from Marty and Jamie Markowitz in the mail and I did a double take when I saw it because the card is a pointed joke about the Prospect Park bike lane.

In other words, that card has sharp elbows.

The picture, an illustration by Denis Adler, shows  a crowed street (i.e. Prospect Park West) divided into a bike lane, a sitting lane, a holiday only lane, a car lane and a walking lane.

It’s actually a very “cute” illustration. And I guess it’s not surprise that Marty would politicize his holiday greeting. But IMHO I felt it was in bad taste considering that, according to a recent survey, the public seems to be in favor of the bike lane.

Inside the card were the  following words to the tune of “My Favorite Things” from the Sound of Music:

Lanes fit for Fido and lanes make for lovers

Hikers and bikers, significant others

A lane just for Santa, but please don’t complain

These are a few of my favorite lanes

Stroller and schleppers and skaters and joggers

Holiday lanes just for al lthe eggnoggers

Let’s not forget cars – it’s getting insane

Welcome to Brooklyn “The Borough of Lanes.”

When the horn hons, when the dog bites, when the bikers stray

I isimply remember my favorite lanes

And then I just say…Oy Vey!

It’s Brooklyn, folks. And even the Beep’s Christmas card is picking a fight…

Did I say I was going to roll out the Park Slope 100 on Monday? Well, that’s not going to happen because nominations are still coming in and blurbs are still being written and…

Trust me, it’ll be here soon.

Art in a Box Benefit for Children at Risk: Art in Brooklyn

The Last Play by William Schmidt: NY Times

What Merry Christmas Means Now: Brooklynometry

Interview with Jonathan Kesselman: Water Over Rocks

Mary Christmas: Fresh Poetry Daily

Advent 3, promise and fulfillment: Old First Blog

Are we any closer to finding extraterrestrial life?: Self-Absorbed Boomer

Book Mark: The Luna Park Gazette

Against Mixology: Three Penny Review

Norman Oder has harsh words for Marty Markowitz for promoting the Atlantic Yards in China as if there isn’t any opposition. His piece, which he calls the editorial that hasn’t appeared, is now appearing on his website, Atlantic Yards Report. Click on read more to read an excerpt from Oder’s blog.

Continue reading Norman Oder: The Editorial about Markowitz that Hasn’t Yet Appeared →

The addition of a replica of Millenium High School, a selective Manhattan high school, into the John Jay High School complex in Park Slope is inspiring mixed reactions from students, teachers and administrators at the schools already in that building.

In an article in her school newspaper, Cheidy Perez, who is currently a student at the Secondary School for Research (one of the schools in the John Jay High School complex in Park Slope, Brooklyn ) reacts to news that Millenium 2 is going into that building in the Fall of 2011. Click on read more to read an excerpt from her remarkable article.