All posts by louise crawford

Civics and Urban Life

This Weekend: Icky Fest at Brooklyn Children’s Museum

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This weekend, your kids can be a “grossologist” at Brooklyn Children’s Museums’ first Icky Fest – a weekend festival of yucky fun for all on November 22nd and 23rd.

Icky Fest is designed to educate children about the science behind
things that are usually considered gross, yucky and completely
distasteful but has role and purpose in the cycle of life.

Icky Fest features a variety of downright disgusting science related activities like creating snotty slime, dissecting regurgitated owl pellets, touching a hissing cockroach, watching a slithery snake eat lunch and the study of poop,  garbage and more!  Explore the slimiest and stickiest things throughout the museum – organ jars, snake skins, and worms.

Programs highlights include:

Saturday, November 22, 2008

The Magic of Chemistry with Lisa Lou – 1:30 PM

Magic tricks and circus skills help explain atoms, molecules, the elements, compounds, solutions, magnetism, and static electricity. Using ingredients found in everyday life, a balloon inflates all by itself, plain water changes colors and disappears, and liquids "magically" become solids. Ages 5 and up

Toss It Out!  – 11:00 AM

Join guest speaker Leslie Pearson from the NYC Department of Sanitation, and find out everything you wanted to know about New York City trash, but were afraid to ask! Discover where your garbage goes, how much waste people produce in the city, what a sanitation worker’s day is like, and more.

Saturday, November 22 & Sunday, November 23

Let’s Do Lunch! Snake Feeding – 1:00 PM

Don’t get grossed out when you see a snake dining on some delicate morsels.

Slimy Science /Snotty Slime – 2:00 PM

Calling all slime enthusiasts!  Create your own slime and explore the science of snot.

Magic Matter – 2:30 PM

Little scientists can get their hands sticky by creating a very special gooey stew. Ages 5 and under

The Scoop on Poop – 3:00 PM

Scat is where it’s at! Find out some of the clues animals leave behind, and discover how animals and people use dung. Meet the greatest garden pooper, see a dung beetle specimen, and make your creation out of elephant dung paper.

Owl Pellet Dissection – 3:30 PM

Little scientists will have fun learning about woodland owls and what they digest by dissecting regurgitated owl pellets.  It is going to be a hoot!

Sunday, November 23

Icky Sticky Bubbles! with BubbleMania – 1:30PM

Join Seth Bloom from BubbleMania for a show with visual comedy, quick wit, and big-band swing music.  Find out about the often unbelievable qualities and the beauty of spherical liquids.   Ages 5 and up

Civics and Urban Life

Sunday: Sweet Melissa Pie Baking Demo at Brooklyn Library

Just got this note from Sweet Melissa, founder of Park Slope’s Sweet Melissa’s:

Hi Louise, I was googling for an event I’m doing at the Brooklyn Public Library, and I cam across your Park Slope 100 list for 2007. I had no idea I was on it!  Thank you, I am thrilled!  These mentions from my customers and neighbors, means more to me than anything else.

So I am doing a baking demo at the Brooklyn Library this Sunday, the 23rd at 1:30 p.m. Here is the link  http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/events/culturearts/. 

I am going to do PIE DOUGH!  And my Pear Cranberry Pie with Gingersnap Crumble. 

There will be a tasting, demo, and audience participation.  It was in the Times yesterday, and I think it will go into Time Out New York this week, but there are 200 seats to fill, and I am scared to death that I won’t fill them! 

The Where and When

Sunday November 23, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Public Library (Grand Army Plaza)
Dweck Center

Postcard from the Slope

Michael’s Brooklyn Memoir: When Fanny Met Itsche

Here’s the latest installment of Michael Nolan’s Brooklyn Memoir:

One of the joys of genealogical research and the enormous amount of original source documents now on-line is the ability to check the veracity of family legends. One story often heard when I was growing up was that my Uncle Itsche (pronounced Itch-eh) would secretly meet his wife-to-be, my aunt Fanny, on the fire escape that connected their apartments on Rivington Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. How quaint. A Yiddish version of "West Side Story" – music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomashevsky.

Well, I found Itsche (nickname for Itzhak later Irving) Porgoman in the 1920 US Census living on Rivington Street with my mom, Lena, and aunt Etta, and in the very next entry was Frances Hirschkopf.

So, it’s very likely that they romanced there as teenagers and married quite young. And, come to think of it, since Itsche’s boat (the USS Grant, if you’d like to know) arrived in 1910, he probably expressed his words of love in Yiddish. Oy, I’m kvelling at the very thought of it.

Today, we live in an era of "play dates" and "on-line dating". I prefer the Proximity of Yore and love affairs blossoming on a fire escape.

Postcard from the Slope

On the Horizon at Congregation Beth Elohim

Look what’s going on at Congregation Beth Elohim:

Music Mogul Danny Goldberg, Dec. 4, 7:30 pm, CBE Chapel
Rock critic, record producer, and former manager to Kurt Cobain will speak about thirty years in rock ‘n’ roll.

Professor Moustafa Bayoumi, Dec. 7, 11:00 am, Rotunda
Professor
Moustafa Bayoumi (Brooklyn College) will discuss his new book, "How
Does It Feel to Be Problem: Being Young and Arab in America."

David Kaufman, Dec. 14, 7:30 pm

The Young Scholars Series continues with a discussion of historical and
imagined encounters between Jews and Native Americans, from the
discovery of the New World to the 19th Century.

Winter After School Begins Dec. 8
Registration
has begun–classes include ice skating, swmming, art, and much more!
Please contact Bobbie Finkelstein at bfinkelstein@cbebk.org

Yoga

Beginning in January, past Beth Elohim member Jennifer Brilliant will
offer beginning and intermediate yoga classes every Tuesday in the CBE
Social Hall.  Classes begin January 6 and will run for 8 weeks.  To
register please contact Benjamin.Resnick@gmail.com.

Postcard from the Slope

Tonight: Girl Guides Info Session

Girl Guides USA announces its inaugural Brooklyn Company!  Come be a part of a unique Girl Guiding program, launched in Brooklyn.

Girl Guides USA is an exciting new Scouting organization for
girls in grades 4 through 10, emphasizing youth empowerment, teamwork
and environmentalism.  Girl Guides provides girls with an
enlightening and empowering social education based on the principles of
Scouting and Guiding.  Girl Guides is a year-round program, with
meetings during the school
year that prepare Guides for a two-week camp in the summer.  Girl
Guides meet twice a month on weekends for afternoons, day trips and
overnights.  As long as the weather permits,
meetings involve outdoor activities including games, hikes,
canoeing, and more.  The grand finale of the year is camp, where Girl
Guides spend two
weeks each summer living in nature together and having tons of fun.
Girl Guides programs provide hands-on practice in using
teamwork, cooperation, creativity and ingenuity to solve problems and
achieve goals together.

Girl Guides USA is launching its first American program this
December in Brooklyn.  Come learn more about how to get your child (or
yourself!) involved in the inaugural Company.  Girls of all backgrounds are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The Where and When

Wednesday, November 19
6:30 p.m.
Park Slope Library
(431 6th Avenue at 9th Street)

For more information on Girl Guides USA, please go to www.girlguidesusa.org.

Civics and Urban Life

Today: The Blessing of the Brownstone Filials

This morning, Wednesday, November 19th at
10:45am, the  Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (Lafayette Avenue and South Oxford
Street in Brooklyn) will mark the completion of its bell tower restoration.


As part of this, four ornate brownstone finials will be blessed by the pastor, Reverend
David Dyson, and then hoisted up 90’ to sit on
top of the rebuilt pinnacles of the tower.  This event celebrates the culmination
of a two-year effort to restore the brownstone tower which stands at the corner
of South Oxford Street and Lafayette Avenue in historic Fort Greene.   

 

 

Center for the Urban Environment

Urban Enviromentalist: Eco Lens

Here is the occasional feature from the Center for the Urban Environment (CUE). In this submission Dan Trudeau, Coordinator of service learning at the Center for the Urban Environment, takes a close look at local bird migration patterns.

For most New Yorkers, Jamaica Bay is the broad body of water that they pass over after taking off from Kennedy Airport. But it’s a different type of air traffic that draws nature enthusiasts to the bay each fall.

Jamaica Bay is one of the largest wildlife refuges in the northeast, and it’s also a key destination for migrating birds coming out of the north in October and November. More than 325 species of birds have been identified in the refuge in the last 25 years. In addition to songbirds and raptors, the bay is the final destination for thousands of waterfowl that winter in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge each year. Comprised of the common and the exotic, this airborne raft of winter visitors attracts thousands of binocular-clad bird enthusiasts each year to one of New York City’s prime bird watching spots.

Among the avian attractions:

          o The Greater Scaup is a blue-billed salt-water duck that makes its winter home in Jamaica Bay’s saltwater marshes. The male of the species features a striking black-and-white pattern, while the dull brown females are known for making nests from feathers plucked from their own breasts. Scientists are unsure of the numbers of existing Greater Scaups, but there is fear the population may be declining.

          o The Bufflehead is a small, diving duck that holes up in abodes carved out by woodpeckers and flickers. The species was in decline for the better part of the 20th century, but the numbers have been looking up in recent years. Unlike most ducks, buffleheads tend to stick with one breeding partner for several years at a time.

          o The Ruddy Duck swims with its tail flicked up in air behind. White cheek patches help distinguish the species from other ducks, and breeding males take on an eye-catching red hue during mating season.

The National Parks Service’s Jamaica Bay Unit is welcoming back the bay’s seasonal residents with a series of weekend events throughout November. For more information, call (718) 338 – 3338 or visit www.nps.gov/gate/.

SOURCES:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide

http://www.brooklynbirdclub.org/jamaica.htm

http://www.nps.gov/gate/upload/JBU%20Fall%202008.pdf

Postcard from the Slope

Is Hair Concern Closing?

I got this email last night from an OTBKB reader concerned that Hair Concern, upstairs on Seventh Avenue near Third Street, is going out of business.

Is Hair Concern going out!?? The hairdresser above the candy store on seventh ave between 2nd and 3rd Streets.

I started going there when I first moved to Brooklyn in
1982 when they were all the way down by flatbush on seventh. i called
sunday for an apptmt, left msg, no one called back, i walked down and
saw big for rent sign in
window.

A guy from dentist’s office who works in same building said one of the stylists is still coming in but that the owner was sick? He called him Mike but the guy i was thinking of was Peter.

Sad sad sad! I went there all these years because they had a
great motto: Haircutters who listen. Desperado for a trim, I went to Medusa Hair Salon and must say i got a wonderful cut – the girl who cut my hair
said medusa was started by someone who once worked at hair concern.

I
was worried they might try to dye my hair purple or something since the
girls in there are all very cooleo but they totally tuned in to me and
did a great job. I guess if i have to lose my old fave hair concern,
it’s good that i have a good new option.

Postcard from the Slope

Third Grade Teacher at PS 321 Dies of Aneurysm

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An OTBKB reader and parent at PS 321 wrote me with this sad news. Karen Rothman, a third grade teacher at PS 321, died Sunday night of an aneurysm. She was recently married and six months pregnant. Sadly, the baby didn’t survive.

One can only imagine the scene at PS 321 on Monday morning. The principal told the children of their teacher’s death. Undoubtedly the staff and administration were devastated by this sudden tragedy and worked quickly to provide the children with the support they needed.

Rothman was described by one parent as "very creative, very intuitive, and someone who really got what each child was about. She did some wonderful things with the children."

Condolences to the family and friends of this extraordinary teacher.

Civics and Urban Life

The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder

Wilde About Appearance

You pass a sidewalk fruiterer   
And spot a ripe banana 
That’s firm and full of warming sun,
A form of heavenly manna.

You buy a bunch and head for the park,
Your spirits now quite high,
Or maybe take the subway home,
Assured that  pleasure’s
nigh.

You reach into the bag that came
From the banana buffet
And what comes out is soft and brown–
The curse of Dorian Gray.

Michael's Brooklyn Memoir

Michael’s Brooklyn Memoir: Irishtown

Meaghan_lowery_wright_on_the_tour_2
The second installment of Michael Nolan’s Brooklyn memoir.

In my role as family reunion convener, I enjoy a certain latitude in choosing the dates and places where we might meet, always within the bounds of cousinly respect and consultation. So this year, since I was traveling (I could have said schlepping, but I won’t) all the way from California, the Zhelazny Reunion from my mom’s Jewish side took place on Saturday, Aug. 23 at cousin Jo Shifrin’s house in Ardsley, Westchester County, NY, and the Lowery-Nolan Irish reunion on Sunday, Aug. 24 at Holy Cross Cemetery in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn followed by a luncheon at Buckley’s tavern and restaurant near Marine Park. (Where Joe Torre and I played baseball as teenagers in the Parade Ground League.)

My musician daughter, Rosy, now a 5-year resident of Brooklyn, joined me and four other cousins on the cemetery tour. I had made a reconnaissance trip a few days prior to scout out the locations of where our ancestors were buried and made a map. We visited the humble grave-site of Rosy’s namesake and great-grandmother, Rosanna Lowery Nolan and husband James Joseph Nolan. Just a simple stone block with the name "Nolan" on it and a cross below. Rosy placed a bouquet of flowers at the site.

I had come to this very place as a young boy with my dad and brother. Jimmy and I would join our father and knelt, crossed ourselves, and said: "God bless Grandpa and Grandma Nolan". I treasured these moments of intimacy with my father who would not often display his fervor for the sake of the humanistic Ethical Culture choice he and my Jewish mother had made for the religious upbringing of their children.

But his underlying passion would occasionally break through when he would intone the Latin Mass with his mellifluous Irish tenor voice, or take us through St. Jerome’s Church or to the cemetery. I loved his tales of parochial school. His imitation of "Sister Smackerlips" was a favorite or describing his days as an altar boy.

Perhaps it was not surprising that I would take three years of Latin at my public high school, Midwood. Or in my early 40’s decide to enroll in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults and become baptized Catholic at St. Kevin’s Church, here on Bernal Heights in San Francisco.

The picture above is of my cousin Meaghan Lowery Wright on the recent
Holy Cross Cemetery tour at the monument for our great-grandparents, James Joseph Lowery, an immigrant from Culdaff Parish, County Donegal
and Susan Farren Lowery, a native of Kentucky.

In the second half of the 19th century, my relatives lived, worked and married in the "Irishtown" section of Brooklyn along the East River waterfront between the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn Bridge—a section now enjoying a revival under its historic name of Vinegar Hill.

James and Susan had 14 children, some of whom did not survive birth or early childhood. My grandmother, Rosanna, did. She had 13 children, 6 of whom survived, including my dad, Harold Francis.

Soon, I’ll post a Google map I’ve created which shows how the Lowery’s and Nolan’s migrated from the waterfront where they worked on the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Navy Yard, or ran hotel, bar, drygoods and liquor establishments in support of the workforce, inland towards Flatbush where they often took jobs with the City as firemen and policemen.

Postcard from the Slope

Annual AIDS Day Candlelight Service and Ribbon Project at Park Slope Church

Red_ribbon_2
The Gay and Lesbian Ministry of Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church announces its second annual World AIDS Day Candlelight Service and Memorial Ribbon Project.

The Candlelight Service will take place on World AIDS Day December 1, at 7:00 pm in St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 116 Sixth Avenue, between Park and Sterling Places in Park Slope, Brooklyn and will feature a talk by designer and teacher Jim Morgan co-founder of Friends House in New York City, which offers housing and support to persons with AIDS, and Kisangura Friends Secondary School in Tanzania for children orphaned by AIDS.

The exuberant and inspiring Gay Men’s Chorus of Manhattan, a group of choral musicians dedicated to educating through song, who use the gift of voice to promote tolerance and acceptance for GLBT and all peoples, will perform.

The Ribbon Project will installed beginning in mid-November through World AIDS Day 2007. "It is our hope that the red ribbons bearing the names of some who have died of AIDS lining the iron fence that surrounds Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church will serve as a stark and reverent reminder of the continued need to strive to improve AIDS/ HIV education, support all who live with HIV and AIDS and press for a cure," writes one of the events founders.

With an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 HIV- positive individuals living in the U.S., and approximately 40,000 new infections occurring every year, the U.S., like other nations around the world is deeply affected by HIV/AIDS. On December 1, World AIDS Day, it is fitting to reflect on the way that the pandemic of HIV and AIDS affects us on local, national and international levels. The World AIDS Day 2007-2008 call to "Keep the Promise" brings emphasis to the importance of holding individuals, religious leaders, faith organizations, international and national governments and agencies accountable for the commitments they have made to fight HIV and AIDS.

The church invites all those who wish to do so to take part in their Ribbon Project by submitting names of loved ones who have died of AIDS. Send names, with or without last names — informal or ‘nicknames’ are acceptable — and dates of birth and death if these details are available.

This information may be mailed or hand-delivered, through the mail slot, to the St. Augustine Church Rectory (at 116 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn; mark envelopes: “Ribbon Project”) or sent by email to staugustinegay@gmail.com. Names inscribed on the ribbons will be read aloud as part of the prayer service. (deadline: November 28)

For further information please call St. Augustine Church (718 783 3132), write to staugustinegay@gmail.com or visit www.brooklyngaycatholics.blogspot.com .

Postcard from the Slope

DOH Says No To LICH Closing of Maternity Dept.

Brooklyn Paper had this breaking story about Long Island College Hospital:

The state Department of Health has turned down Long Island College
Hospital’s request to close its maternity, pediatrics and dentistry
divisions in what the hospital’s management company portrayed as a
last-ditch effort to stave off financial ruin at the 150-year-old
medical center, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

“[The] plan is not acceptable at this time,” James Clyne, the
state’s deputy commissioner for health systems management, wrote on
Monday to the hospital’s overseers, the Manhattan-based Continuum
Health Partners.

“There is insufficient capacity in the hospitals immediately around
LICH and in much of Brooklyn to clearly demonstrate that women will
have appropriate access to obstetrical and maternity care if LICH closes these services," he continued.

Postcard from the Slope

The Gowanus Summit

Today New York City Councilmembers Bill de Blasio and David Yassky will endorse the "Gowanus Summit." These are, apparently, principles for responsible development of the Gowanus Canal area. 

Just in time for City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden’s visit to the neighborhood it seems.

The Gowanus Summit, a coalition of community organizations, labor unions, and advocates for blue-collar jobs.  The principles include guarantees for affordable housing, to preserve space for artists, artisans and light manufacturing, to create good jobs, to require responsible contractors, and to maintain high environmental standards.

The endorsements will come shortly before City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden comes to the neighborhood to present City Planning’s proposal for rezoning the area to the Land Use Committee of Community Board 6.

Councilmembers and Gowanus Summit groups welcome the presentation, as many aspects of Commissioner Burden’s proposal align with their responsible redevelopment principles. 

They will ask City Planning to work with them to insure that their remaining goals are addressed as the rezoning process moves forward.

EDUCATION

New Barrier-Free Playground at PS 10

P.S. 10, a Magnet School for Math, Science and Technology, located at 511 7th Avenue (between Prospect Avenue and 17th Street), is opening its new barrier-free playground, which will be open to the public each school day until dusk.

Barrier-free?

That means the playground gives access to the school’s  children with physical challenges as well as to families
in the community at-large. Their old playground equipment was inaccessible to
many of its students until now.

P.S. 10’s playground was funded by a lead grant of $250,000 from the office of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the New York City School Construction Authority and funds provided by P.S. 10 students, families and alumni.

"New York City’s Best Public Elementary Schools: A Parents’ Guide" by Clara Hemphill calls PS 10 a notable school. The  school received an "A" on the 2008 New York City Department of Education school progress reports. Interestingly, the school has educational partnerships with The Metropolitan Opera, Education Française à New York, New York University and others.

Marty Markowitz will be on the scene today at 12:45 pm.

Civics and Urban Life

Dec 4: Willie’s Dawgs Event at the Old Stone House

I got this nice note from Ellen at  Willie Dawgs, the ultra cool, very artful and humane hot dog place on Fifth Avenue:

You guys have such a nice sense of what is going on in Brooklyn, I thought I would let you know that we (Willie’s Dawgs, the little hot dog shop in Park Slope that promotes dog adoption through dog portraits) are doing a short film screening at The Old Stone House in JJ Byrne Park on December 4th.

The event is to benefit The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation – a non profit group that trains rescue dogs to become search and rescue dogs and places them with firefighters, ems and cops who are then deployed as temas  in the event of a disaster. And I admit it, the event is also to have some fun.

The Where and When

December 4 at 8 p.m.
Film Screening and event sponsored by Willie’s Dawgs
The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets

Michael's Brooklyn Memoir

Michael’s Brooklyn Memoir: I Could Write A Book

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Harold_nolan_kids
Imagine my delight when I got this note from Michael David Nolan, a former Brooklynite, who now resides in San Francisco.

Would love to blog my Brooklyn memoir installments. I grew up in
the Midwood section but went to Sunday School in Park Slope at the
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture at the corner of PPW and 1st.

So I asked Michael Nolan to send me his bio:

Michael David Nolan was born on June 21, 1941 to Harold Francis Nolan, a native of Brooklyn, and Lena Porgoman, a native of Kaluszyn, Poland, who grew up on the Lower East Side. Michael attended PS 217 (Coney Island Ave. & Newkirk) and PS 99 (East 10th & Avenue K).  He grew up just down the street. He played center field for the Avenue J Spartans as a teenager. He attended Midwood High School and graduated from Columbia, class of ’63.  Active in peace and civil rights movement of Fifties and Sixties.  Worked for CBS News (1965-67) and Pubic Broadcast Laboratory (1967-69).   Moved to California in 1969.  Resident of San Francisco since 1970.  Member of SF Mime Troupe and co-founder of Pickle Family Circus.  Public relations consultant for last 20 years.  Elected member of the SF Democratic County Central Committee.   Father of Rosy, 30, of Brooklyn, and McLean, 26 of Oakland.  Produced and performed in BrasilCuba-SF Carnaval Contingent this year.

So here’s the first installment of Michael’s Brooklyn Memoir

I first told my children, Rosy and Mac, a year ago on my summer solstice birthday in Brooklyn that I was going to write a book about my family and my home borough. I had a rough concept and a title: "Proximity" and it was to describe the value and influence of living and working close to one another in previous generations. And how much of that has been lost in my generation when many of us migrated west to California.

The song title above, "I Could Write a Book" was composed by Lorenz Hart (music by Richard Rodgers). Hart is one of my favorites. He wrote the lyrics to "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and "My Funny Valentine". Turns out he was the son of Jewish immigrants and attended Columbia where he met Rodgers. Two things he and I share in common. But for the fact that my Polish Jewish immigrant mother married an Irish Catholic from Brooklyn.

So here it is… the preface of my book. How am I doing so far?

VERSE RESPONDER: LEON FREILICH

The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder

       Wedding Cake Tiers

The lovely bride walks up the aisle

As teardrops moisten many a smile

And here comes the rangy handsome groom

To gasps of approval that fill the room.

So fresh, so young, these radiant teens,

So ready for  new grownup scenes.

What glorious changes await the pair

About to enter the adult sphere.

First home, their first joint bank account,

Chaotic stuff beginning to mount

Await the smiling groom and bride,

Who beams with confidence at his side.

I know at heart I’m much too gentle

With tears that brand me sentimental

But in an age of marital sheddings

I always cry at first weddings.

Civics and Urban Life

Publicity Nightmare for Motrin b/c of Twitter Campaign That Targets Sling Moms

1 Comment

How do you spell Backlash? Or much ado about nothing. Or some ado about something. You decide.

Motrin’s new Twitter campaign is getting quite a negative response around town. Hepcat found this at Marketing Pilgrim. He sent it over with this note:

A story about parenting , public relations, blogging, and screwing everything up

They’re even talking about it on PSP with this headline:

Ad strikes dismissive tone on attachment parenting.

Here’s what Marketing Pilgrim had to say and the ad:

Whenever I counsel clients about the use of social media, I always
advise they speak to their target audience and figure out what
messaging (and channel) would appeal to them.

I’m not sure if the manufacturer of Motrin
followed that advice, but judging by the enormous backlash the company
is facing over it’s new Motrin “Mom-Alogue” video, I suspect they
didn’t speak to a single mother (at least, they didn’t speak to any
that use Twitter).

Taking a look at the negative Twitter conversations surrounding #motrinmom
demonstrates that Motrin is, in just a few short hours, facing a huge
reputation disaster–initiated by the very audience Motrin hoped to
target, “Mama Bloggers.”

EDUCATION

Plans to Close the Berkeley Carroll Child Care Center Stirs Controversy

1 Comment

There’s an unusually interesting conversation going on over at Park Slope Parents about Berkeley Carroll’s decision to close its child care center. This decision has caused some controversy around the Slope.

Understandably, parents with children at the child care center are fighting mad that the school is closing as it is one of the only program of its kind in the neighborhood for full day, year around, early childhood education in Park Slope. Of course the closure has consequences beyond the parents and children at the school as one PSP parent writes:

This closure puts twenty-two exceptionally dedicated, creative, and hard working early childhood educators out of work in the worst economy seen in decades.  All of the jobs eliminated are held by women – and roughly half of these are women of color.  Most of the teachers are also mothers (and grandmothers).  This is a significant issue of racial, gender, and economic justice.

An article in the New York Times on Sunday, November 9, 2008 angered some parents because a spokesperson from Berkeley Carroll School called the child care center a "luxury,"

Boy, was that a dumb thing to say. Everyone knows that affordable and good early childhood education is not a luxury but a necessity for working families.

Yes, the price of child care is exorbitant, tuition at the child care center comes to something like $11 dollars an hour, which is actually less than what most people spend on an in-home care giver. More from a PSP parent:

It is expensive to care for children – primarily because you (or your agent in the form of a school) must employ other people to do the job.  We can talk all we want about "affordable" child care, but that conversation isn’t realistic until we factor in what it costs to employ people – to pay market salaries, health insurance, retirement benefits, paid sick and vacation time, professional development, and so on.  Someone has to pay for this.  Personally, I believe that we should have publilcly funded daycare (hey, lets all move to Sweden!) that offers teachers this sort of package of fair compensation. 

The fact of the matter is: we have no such thing in NYC.  I have many students who are from the most economically impoverished communities in the city – the "public" daycare that their children are often forced to attend (because there are no other choices, and people now have to work in order to continue receiving public assistance) would – I assume – be thoroughly unacceptable to all of us in terms of the standard of care.  These daycares are thoroughly unacceptable to the young parents I know who are forced to use them – but they have no other options.  Given this context, I do not think it is a fair criticism to argue that the CCC does not deserve our support because it is not "affordable" or "publicly funded.

So what are the child care center parents doing?

Some have banded together to try to keep the school open. This effort has met with much difficulty as well. Another PSP poster had this to say about the effort to take over the Berkeley Carroll Child Care Center. Note: New York Methodist Hospital owns the space  where the child care center is located. 

New York Methodist Hospital and Berkeley Carroll have created a circular argument where NYMH insists that they have not evicted Berkeley Carroll Child Care Center in ’09 and that they would offer a final lease extension to Berkeley Carroll but to no one else (not to a parents collective, not to another neighborhood institution willing to make a permanent home for the Center or anyone else).

And then Berkeley Carroll states that NYMH really does want them out and that they have a bad relationship with Methodist and thus refuse to ask for OR accept an extension.

What is intriguing is that both institutions stand firm to their talking points, both refuse to move position, yet each maintains that neither wants to label the other – ‘the bad guy’.

The families have pursued possible take-over partners and have been generally met with enthusiasm and follow-up efforts.  However, it would take a near miracle to secure the partner, the site, renovate to meet new Dept. of Health Child Care Ctr. codes, get through the permitting and licensing process – let alone make contracts with teachers and parents by the spring / summer ’09 (either by a collective or a take-over). 

The families who signed on for daycare this year had no idea that they would be spending their fall, just 4 weeks after the start of the school year, looking for new daycare and single-handedly running the entire effort of finding a permanent home for this program within four months [mid-Feb. when generally is asked to make financial commitments for the fall of ’09].

BC Child Care Center families have asked that both institutions sit together in a room with parent reps. and negotiate to grant a final year lease extension for ’09-’10 so that a take-over plan can be implemented.  They have decisively refused this.

It is apparent that the Child Care Center is a thorn in the side of both institutions and they simply want to be done with it.  Fair enough – but to definitively turn-down a reasonable request which would allow for the Center to be transferred to new leadership and permanent location, allow for the existing daycare slots to survive, and keep teaching staff employed in rough economy: this does not compute – and this is why all the fuss persists.  Berkeley Carroll has said that the Center is profitable enough, allowing for a final transition year from either institution is not going to upend either one.  The negative PR is bound to continue for both institutions until one of them actually takes some proactive position.

And yes, even though it has the Berkeley Carroll name on it, it is still a daycare that costs me $10-$11 / hr. depending on hours used (far less than my former babysitter), has a fantastically warm and capable family of teachers, a legendarily low rate of staff turnover (most have been there over 10+ years, a few for 20 yrs.), a real preschool curriculum, and lots of fun and action.  Most importantly, the kids love it and the parents do not worry for a moment about what is happening during the days that they have to go to work.

Our goal: keep as many of the teachers together and continuously employed for the same terms or better.  Keep as many of the families, who have become like family or at least good friends, together for the period they had expected to be together.  We are reaching out to whoever can help us accomplish this.  Neither institution is actively participating or willing to compromise.  As a Berkeley Carroll spokesperson told the NYT City section reporter this past Sunday – "the daycare center is a luxury to parents and not a community service leaving the neighborhood."  They clearly don’t get that their own Center is actually comprised of a pretty diverse group of people, including many who can’t afford to go to private schools, let alone pay $10-$11/hr. without some serious sacrifice.

It is deeply confusing and distressing to see two of the largest institutions in Park Slope fall so vastly short of what one would hope is part of the mission of an educational non-profit and a neighborhood hospital, with goals for a positive relationship with the community.

Civics and Urban Life

London Cries at Irondale

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The Irondale Ensemble is the new off-Broadway theater in Brooklyn. Boy, is it off Broadway, it’s in  Fort Greene to be exact. Apparently they just closed an incredible production of Peter Pan, which I am sorry that I missed. Joe McCarthy, the development director of Irondale had this to say:

Hope you made it to Peter Pan.  It was terrific.  We’re a little sad the run was so short.  The production was magical and audiences were starting to build.  Here’s a link to a great review: http://offoffonline.com/archives.php?id=1487.

Now he tells me about the next production, which is called London Cries, directed by Di Trevis, starring Jenny Galloway, both Brits. After this world premiere, it is scheduled for Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic next year.  Di Trevis and Frank McGuinness adapted the play with music from Henry Mayhew’s classic book, London Labour and the London Poor.  Music is by Dominic Muldowney and includes thirty original songs from the London Music Hall.

This blurb makes it sound really, really cool if you like your London very Dickensian. And I do:

"Drawn from first-hand accounts of the traders and prostitutes, the sewer- men and flower-girls, the criminals and con-men who hacked a precarious living from the streets of the metropolis, the ghosts of yesteryear step forward from the crumbling walls and recesses of an old London theatre to share with us their lives, their loves and the lilting melodies of a bygone Victorian era."

Folks, this is Irondale Ensemble Project’s second show in their new Off-Broadway theatre, which is in the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. I know and love that church.

The Where and When

November 21-December 20
The Irondale Center (at the historic Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church)
85 South Oxford St, Bklyn, NY bet. Lafayette and Fulton Street.
The show runs Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM.
Tickets are $40/ $15 seniors and students and can be purchased by going to www.ovationtix.com or by calling 212.352.3101.

Postcard from the Slope

Sandi Franklin: Citizen of the Year

Sandi Franklin, Executive Director of the Center for the Urban Environment, which is located in the Park Slope/Gowanus area, was awarded Citizen of the Year by the Executive Council at its sixth annual “New York Ten Awards.” 

The award represents a selection of ten companies and individuals in the greater New York business community that display extraordinary innovation and leadership in their industry and beyond.   The competition for the award was strong, with over 130 nominees. “The energy in the room was palpable. But I was particularly honored to share the stage with one of my heroes,” said Franklin of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  who delivered the keynote address for the evening.

In accepting her award, Franklin underscored what she saw as an exciting era of innovation and opportunity and lauded her peers in the business community for their ability to recognize the importance of supporting nonprofit organizations and join with them “to lead our world towards a more sustainable future."The next day, Franklin joined fellow awardees to open the NASDAQ.

One of only a few nonprofit leaders awarded, Sandi Franklin’s relentless style and unwavering personality has allowed her to build an organization, inspire advocacy, and touch lives in communities across New York City.

Civics and Urban Life

WNYC Wants to Know: What’s Your Favorite Creative Location

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Something new from WNYC’s John Schaefer (a Park Sloper) and host of the show Soundcheck. They invited musicians and artists to help create a map of their favorite destinations in New York City – where they go in this hectic city for creative inspiration or just for fun.

From parks and coffee shops to bowling alleys and museums, jazz clubs to vintage shops, musicians and artists such as Quincy Jones, Rosanne Cash, Simone Dinnerstein share their “note-worthy” spots. There’s also strong representation from emerging artists, such as The National’s Bryan Devendorf and Nicole Atkins, and even Soundcheck host John Schaefer checks in.  Can you guess his favorite spot?  Have a look at www.wnyc.org/noteworthynewyork.

Quincy Jones on Birdland, “Well, Birdland was my favorite place.  Birdland and The Palladium.  I used to go there with Brando. That was where I’d hear Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis. Those were my idols. The original Birdland is gone. There aren’t many places left, you know. There’s the Village Vanguard and then all that stuff from the old days—the Five Spot, Birdland.”

Now they’re inviting listeners to submit their favorite creative locations as well. Description of less than 200 words should be sent with your full name, neighborhood, age and address of the place in question to soundcheck@wnyc.org.

Monte Ghertler

How We Honor Our Dead

On a personal note, tomorrow my family goes to the cemetery for the unveiling of my uncle’s grave stone.

It is customary for the grave marker to be put in place and
for an unveiling ceremony to be held after the Kaddish period, approximately one year after the death.  

According to custom, there is usually a recitation of psalms and various Jewish prayers. The veil covering the headstone is removed.

Before leaving the grave-site, family and friends will place a
small stone on the marker to indicate that someone has visited the grave. In these ways, we will honor my uncle, Jay Fidler, a great son of Brooklyn, who died on October 31, 2007.

He is remembered by a  large community of friends, neighbors, and colleagues, who
were touched by his robust spirit—at work, at play, at Brooklyn’s
Madison High School, in the Army, at Brown University, in business, at
home in  Westchester and all the other places where he shared his warm
personality and zest for life.

He was a leader in every sense of the word. Jay projected strength
of character, good humor, kindness, smarts, and strong moral and
ethical values in every thing he did.

A born athlete, he was a great storyteller, a respected boss, a
loving father and grandfather, and a wonderful and devoted husband to
my Aunt Rhoda, his wife of more than 60 years.

Born in Brooklyn, Jay was the son of Irving and Beatrice Fidler, of
Lefferts Gardens. He attended Madison High School, where he played
football and distinguished himself in the arts.

Jay married his high school sweetheart, Rhoda Wander, and attended
Brown University, where he was a football hero and later served on the
Board of Trustees.

During the Second World War, Jay served in the US Army. Afterwards,
he started working for Hercules Chemical Corporation at its office and
factory in lower Manhattan in New York City. The company, then a small
family-held corporation started by my grandfather, Samuel Wander, grew
substantially under his leadership.

In the 1950’s Jay designed his family’s home, a Frank Lloyd Wright-style house, built with glass, brick and cement block.

Jay leaves behind three loving and devoted children and his wife
Rhoda, who advocated for his health and well-being during a long
illness with vigilance and dignity until the very end.

He also leaves behind five exceptional grandchildren, a wonderful brother, and many loving relatives and friends.

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