This year the Park Slope Halloween Parade is scheduled for Sunday, October 31.  The parade kicks off at 14^th Street at 6:30 pm, and will probably begin turning onto Third Street around 7 pm.

The finale will take place on the turf field on the 4^th avenue side of the Old Stone House, and we’re trying to encourage people not to park on the block of Third Street between 5^th and 4^th Avenues, since that’s where the parade will enter the park.

At the end of the Parade there will be music from Paprika and a steel band – long-time parade participants – and the post-parade party will end by 10 pm.

Prior to the parade, a costume contest will take place on 7^th avenue in front of the John Jay High School Building at 4 pm.

For more information on the parade details, visit the Park Slope Civic Council website.

The last day to register in person for the November 2, 2010 general election is October 8, 2010. The office will be opened until midnight.

I’m guessing that you can register at the Brooklyn Board of Elections, which is located at 345 Adams Street on the 4th floor. The phone number is: 1.718-797-8800
To register to vote in the City of New York, you must:

1. Be a citizen of the United States (Includes those persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
2. Be a New York City resident for at least 30 days.
3. Be 18 years of age before the next election.
4. Not be serving a jail sentence or be on parole for a felony conviction.
5. Not be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court.
6. Not claim the right to vote elsewhere (outside the City of New York).

Although you can register any time during the year, your form must be delivered or mailed at least 25 days before the next election for it to be effective for that election.

Polling places opened late, poll workers weren’t trained, there weren’t enough “privacy sleeves,” and some scanners jammed: those were just some of the problems discussed at yesterday’s City Council post-mortem about problems connected with the new voting procedures on primary day last month.

What a great idea: Al Di La in your very own kitchen. In other words: a cookbook dedicated to the new Brooklyn restaurant and artisan food movement.

Husband-and-wife duo Melissa and Brendan Vaughan have created The New Brooklyn Cookbook featuring the best of Brooklyn food (and we’re not talking Juniors and Nathan’s):

The book includes instructions for preparing Doug’s Pecan Pie Sundae, a real treat heretofore only available at Buttermilk Channel in Carroll Gardens. It’s awesome.

Other dishes in the book: Steak and Eggs Korean Style, The Good Fork; Cast Iron Chicken, Vinegar Hill House; Tofu with Broad Beans and Chili Bean Paste, The General Greene; Spaghetti Alla Vongole, Al Di La; Beef Sauerbraten with Braised Red Cabbage and Pretzel Dumplings, Prime Meats; Hoppy American Brown Ale—Homebrew Recipe, Sixpoint Craft Ales Brewery.

Yum.

Included in the book are profiles of Brooklyn’s best food makers and purveyors, from cheesemakers and picklers to chocolatiers and bakers. The result is an inside look at the ingredients behind all your favourite restaurant dishes.

You have just 9 days to vote for the Brooklyn Do Gooder Awards. 200 “do gooders” have been nominated by people all over Brooklyn and the public voting period is going on now and ends on October 15, 2010.

After the public voting period a group of judges, including novelist Peter Hedges, WNYC’s Laura Walker, Brooklyn Industries’ Lexy Funk, Laurie A. Cumbo of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Stephen Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery, Sara Horowitz of Freelancers Insurance among others others, will select five winners from among the 20 finalists.

The criteria: The Brooklyn Do Gooder Awards campaign celebrates the altruism, philanthropy and commitment of five Brooklyn Do Gooders working towards a stronger, better Brooklyn.

“These are individuals who embody the highest value of community service and philanthropy; exceptional individuals who display an outstanding sense of giving back locally–with time, talent and/or charity.”

The winners will be honored at the Foundation’s anniversary celebration on November 3, 2010 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

So how do you find out who’s been nominated?

Well, it’s a little overwhelming. But your best bet is to go to the Brooklyn Do Gooder Awards website. There you will find pages and pages of small photographs of the nominees. If you put your cursor on a photo you will see the name and category of that person (Arts for All, Caring Neighbors, Education and Youth Achievement, Community Development, & Green Communities). If you want to learn more you can click on the photo.

It’s actually really fun and interesting to learn about the people who have been nominated.

I am also getting emails from the friends of nominated individuals campaigning on behalf of their friends and colleagues.

The Park Slope Civic Council is holding its monthly trustees meeting on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 8PM at the New York Methodist Hospital Executive Dining Room. This meeting is always open to the public. In fact, if you want to make a presentation to the Civic Council about a pertinent issue you can. It’s too late for this meeting because you need to give advance notice of at least ten days in writing but here’s the way to do it for the next meeting:

1. Application. Download an application form from our website and send it to mail@parkslopeciviccouncil.org.

2. Advance Notice.
(a) People wishing to make purely informational presentations -– in other words, a vote of the Civic Council is not requested –- must inform the Civic Council Secretary at least ten (10) days prior to a monthly meeting.
(b) People wishing to make a presentation for which a vote of the Civic Council is requested must inform the Civic Council Secretary at least thirty (30) days prior to a monthly meeting.

3. Presentation Materials. Any materials (handouts, etc.) that are intended to accompany a presentation must be submitted in electronic format at the same time the request to make a presentation is made. (Elected officials and their representatives are exempt from this requirement.) Acceptable file formats are Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, PDF, and Google Docs. Please e-mail them with your application form to mail@parkslopeciviccouncil.org.
Also, please be sure to provide all audio/visual equipment needed to make your presentation.

4. Timekeeping. Unless a longer time is approved in advance by the Civic Council, all people making a presentation to the Civic Council will be limited to five (5) minutes.

Keeping versed on Vito: Bushwick BK

Greenfield Clothiers: Bushwick BK

Dunkin’ Donuts Conversion: Gerritsen beach

PSA: NY Shitty

Winner of Senior Idol: Sheepshead Bites

People at Food Coop hire hookers: Effed in Park Slope

The great pupkin: Clinton Hill Blog

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.

Cool headed appraisal of weather weirding: Noticing NY

Chinese investors in AY project: Atlantic Yards Report

A gooseless city?: Brooklyn Paper

Gov’t puts $25 in Vito’s pacts on ice: NY Post

Developers, architects and more cash in after writing Vito checks: Daily News

Upstart winner challenges Brooklyn Democratic leadership: NY Times

Sorry for the dearth of content.

First I thought it was thunder. Then it sounded like an explosion that went on and on and on. Then I thought it was drumming, really, really loud drumming.

According to the Brooklyn Bugle the sound emanated from the Deepavali Festival put on by the Association of Indians in America at the South Street Seaport.

Fireworks, I guess.

You can catch the second day of the  annual Citywide High School Fair today,  Sunday, October 3,  at Brooklyn Technical High School (29 Fort Greene Place off DeKalb Avenue)

The fair is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days.

This fair tend to get crowded and is a tad overwhelming and exhausting (for parents, anyway). However, it’s a good opportunity for parents and students to speak with representatives from the City’s public high schools.

There will also be various information sessions related to the high school admissions process. Translated materials and interpretation services will be available. For more information, visit the High School Admissions website.

The Ensemble Studio Theater’s Octoberfest 2010 presents an unstaged reading of a new play called Finks by Joe Gilford on Thursday, October 14th at 7PM.

Directed by Lonny Price, Finks is a drama about New York actors during the dark years of the 1950s blacklist. It is based on true events in the lives of Jack and Madeline Gilford. Admission is by your generous donation. For reservations & information: 212-247-4982 or at the EST website.

Interesting story in the Brooklyn Paper about a chemical company with plants in Red Hook that has agreed to help pay for part of the Superfund cleanup. Trouble is: the comapny is bankrupt. So how are they going to pay? Here’s an excerpt from the BP story:

A chemical company with two dirty Red Hook plants agreed this week to help foot the bill for the $1-billion Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal — oh, but there’s one catch: the company is bankrupt.

Chemtura Corporation, a Connecticut-based specialty chemicals maker, agreed on Thursday to pay $3.9 million toward cleansing the fetid waterway, the Department of Justice announced.

No timetable was given for when Chemtura would pay, but the feds cheered the agreement — and said that they expect the sum to be “fully paid in cash.”

Movies

The Social Network, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, The Town at BAM

The Social Network, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, The Town, Easy A, Let Me In at the Pavilion

Next Wave Festival at BAM:

Now through October 9 at BAM: Pina Basuch’s Vollmond: “This season, Bausch’s splendid company Tanztheater Wuppertal (Bamboo Blues, 2008 Next Wave; Nefés, 2006 Next Wave) returns to BAM with the arresting Vollmond (Full Moon). The work shimmers—literally—as water runs in manic rivulets over a giant rock, rushes across the stage, and rains down, drenching the dancers. A study in Bausch’s unparalleled mix of abandon and supreme control, Vollmond is at once urgent, athletic, and sensual—channeling the unrelenting energy of its maker.”

Music:

Here is Brooklyn Vegan’s list of what’s going on Friday in the NYC music scene.

Friday, Oct 1 at 7PM at Barbes: Opera on Tap. “Most people don’t seem to realize how much fun it really is. In order to prove it, Opera on Tap has taken its act to barrooms where they found out that beer on tap enhances the operatic experience. The company is made up of young singers and instrumentalists who relish the direct contact with audiences not inhibited in their reactions by the looming menace of giant chandeliers.”

Saturday, Oct 2 at 7:30 PM at The Bell House: Van Dyke Parks. “Besides being Brian Wilson’s collaborator during the Beach Boys’ psychedelic period, he has worked with performers including Grace Kelly, the Byrds, Loudon Wainwright III, Ry Cooder and Joanna Newsom, and has released several of his own records (and a new record is in the works).”

Saturday, Oct 2 at The Rock Shop: Czech Legends Uz Jesme Doma

Stay tuned for more…

Here is an excerpt from Rabbi Andy Bachman’s powerful reaction to the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University. It is a direct address by the Rabbi of Park Slope’s Congregation Beth Elohim, to the  youth of this community (and other communities around the world). You can read the rest at his blog Water Over Rocks.

I’m your Rabbi.  As such, I am occasionally asked to share a few words or thoughts when bad things happen to good people.  In this case, I want to write some words, directly to you, about Tyler Clementi’s tragic suicide last week.  If you haven’t read about it, you can read the story here from today’s New York Times.

Tyler was secretly filmed having a sexual encounter with another guy on the Rutgers campus and that scene was broadcast on-line, to his own humiliation, which authorities think was the major factor in deciding to take his own life.  Rutgers University, where Tyler was a talented, quiet and kind student, and the local police, are in charge of an investigation, the results of which we’ll keep reading about in the coming days.

But I want to address you directly, whomever you may be.  If you’re gay or straight or bi or transgender or you just don’t know, as a Rabbi in the community, I care about you as a person made in the Image of God.  It really truly doesn’t matter what other people think about your struggle to be who you are in the process of becoming.

Painter Arthur May: Art in Brooklyn

The golden apples: Brooklynometry

Awards, books, posters: Do the Math

Becoming a kidney donor: The Spiral Staircase

Prayer is asking for help: Old First Blog

What’s going on Friday: Brooklyn Vegan

Comic social club: Ditmas Park Blog

Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.

New York, New York it’s a hell of a town. Or a hellish town if your kids go to public school because they have to apply for school when they reach middle and high school age.

Why you ask?

Because there are no neighborhood middle and high schools (i.e. no Park Slope High or Cobble Hill Middle School, etc) where you can just send your kids as you would in a suburban area. No, they’ve got to apply and then qualify (based on test scores, assessments, portfolios, auditions, etc) to get into a decent (and competitive) school.

New York, New York, isn’t it fun?

It wasn’t always this way. As one woman said today on the tour of the NYC iSchool. “I grew up in New York. When I was a kid you either went to your zoned school or you applied to Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech…”

In my day we could also apply to Performing Arts (of Fame fame), Music and Art and Art and Design. Now there’s LaGuardia and many other art and/or science and math themed schools.

It was necessary to do this because if you lived in a good neighborhood you probably had a good school but if you lived in a poor neighborhood…

Change was necessary and choice is mostly a good thing. The problem is the complexity of the admissions process requires a lot of time, energy and smarts and those with less time and less money can’t always devote the time necessary to help their kids.

Truthfully, it’s a huge hassle for parents and kids to figure out which school to put on their list of twelve and that’s not even counting a separate list, which is for the “specialized” schools like Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Brooklyn Latin, and others…

So it’s a lot of tours. The guidance counselor at my daughter’s school said you don’t want to put any school on your list of 12 that you haven’t seen because you don’t want a big surprise if, god forbid, your child gets their 10th choice.

So that’s at least twelve tours and probably more.

This morning we visited the NYC iSchool. Lest you think it’s a school filled with iPhones and iBooks: it’s actually a collaboration between the Department of Education and Ciscso Systems. You can see a video about is here though I think the tour puts it in a better light than this video does.

Inside Schools, the go-to online information resource about the NYC public school system, had this to say about the NYC iSchool: “What’s Special: Imaginative and creative projects combined with computerized test prep. Downside: Rundown building with no gym.”

The good thing about no gym is that kids can do physical education as an independent study and being on a team, taking a yoga or dance class, jogging, biking, works for credit.

Suffice it to say, I was very impressed by this small, rigorous school that seems to be doing things in a very creative and innovative way while still being quite organized and rigorous.

But don’t take my word for it, take a tour.

Next week: Edward R. Murrow High School!