That’s because I went to the ribbon cutting ceremony without Hugh. No Hugh_No Camera. I did have my iPhone with me but I forgot about that camera.
The place looks great. The 1/8th of a mile Olympic sized track is awesome. But don’t take my word for it. There are sure to be gobs of pictures tomorrow. I saw some photographers there. And Channel 12…
I ran into a friend, a former Third Street neighbor, at the armory ceremony on Tuesday. She wanted to speak to Councilmember Bill De Blasio about the new parking meters on Seventh Avenue on 10th Street and above.
So we did.
When we left the building, said friend told me about a book called Tepper Isn’t Going Out by New Yorker writer, Calvin Trillin, about parking. Said friend has the same last name as the book’s protagonist.
Trillin’s book is the oh-so-New York story about a man who sits in his car reading the newspaper. Why? Because he has a great parking space. Here’s the blurb from the Random House website.
Murray Tepper would say that he is an ordinary New Yorker who is simply
trying to read the newspaper in peace. But he reads while sitting
behind the wheel of his parked car, and his car always seems to be in a
particularly desirable parking spot. Not surprisingly, he is regularly
interrupted by drivers who want to know if he is going out.Tepper
isn’t going out. Why not? His explanations tend to be rather
literal—the indisputable fact, for instance, that he has twenty minutes
left on the meter.But once New Yorkers become aware of Tepper,
some of them begin to suspect that he knows something they don’t. And
an ever-increasing number of them are willing to line up for the
opportunity to sit in his car with him and find out what it is.
Councilman Di Blasio knows that parking is probably one of the single most aggravating aspects of city life. Coming between a New Yorker and a parking space spells trouble. That’s why Bill says the DOT got it all wrong when they installed over 60 parking meters on Seventh Avenue without telling anyone.
Surprise.
Bill knows which way his bread is buttered. And he has to park his car, too. He asked the DOT to stop use of those parking meters and have a community meeting. Bill believes in the process. As he told me: "You talk to merchants, you talk to residents. you have a community meeting."
That’s how it’s done.
Said friend with the same name as Trillin’s hero told Bill: "Thanks for advocating for us, Bill."
And she meant it.
Remember Richard Grayson? Funny literary guy, author of I Brake for Delmore Schwartz, And to Think that He Kissed Him on Lorimer Street and With Hitler in New York?
He’s a sometime-columnist for OTBKB and writes about Brooklyn bus rides and his high school English teacher.
Well, today he told me something interesting. Maybe he’ll write about it:
I did go to something on Sunday afternoon at Bluestockings that was kind of interesting, a meeting of planners’ reading group at which they discussed a sociology book Bargaining for Brooklyn, a study of community-based organizations in Bushwick and Williamsburg
in the late 1990s. I didn’t write anything about it because it was
pretty academic although I will probably at least skim the book.
Every day I receive numerous e-mail digests from the Park Slope Parents list-serve in my in-box and even though I don’t have babies anymore, I always make it my business to see what’s going on.
Sometimes I am moved to answer a question. In the last few days someone asked others to share their c-section experiences and I was considering jotting mine down. Most of the time I just read. Recently someone wanted to know where to buy make-up and I put in my two cents about MYR. My sister frequently comments on matters pertaining to adoption.
A few weeks ago when my stepmother was in the hospital, I asked about local services that prepare and deliver food for sick people. I
got plenty of responses that were very helpful and illuminating.
PSP has 10,000 subscribers. Every day dozens of people exchange information about parenting and related topics. It’s hard to remember Park Slope without it. Sure, it’s easy to parody and make fun of and, indeed, the media has had great fun at its expense.
But it is a private conversation about personal and public matters. And what a fantastic resource it is for those who use it. That’s why it’s important that members (and that means anyone with kids) feel comfortable and safe about the information exchange.
And yet…it’s the Internet, anyone can read it, and there’s no stopping anyone from taking the information and doing what they wish with it.
PSP operates on a honor code of sorts. What plays in Vegas, stays in Vegas. There are rules of the PSP game and it’s important that people respect them.
For those who participate, it is the virtual Seventh Avenue, a great place to spread the word about urgent matters like a rash of muggings on 8th Avenue, a restaurant closing or a new policy at a local bar.
Yesterday someone wanted to know humane ways of getting rid of a mouse. Admittedly, I am a particular fan of the posts about rodents and other pests.
Today’s roster on the listserve includes: Tell me about your c-section, alternatives to Ikea,
recommendation
for
tree
pit guards, and a request for info on the Brooklyn New School.
Park Slope Parents also has a public website that is community
built
and
commercially
supported. While the listserve is limited to parents and those who sign up, the website is open to everyone. From the organizers of PSP, here’s a guide to how
you
can
help
keep
Park
Slope
Parents
a
valuable
resource
for
area
parents:
—-
Send
a
Summary
If
you
ask
a
question
on
the
list
and
get
great
responses,
please
post
a
summary
to
the
list
and
also
send
it
to
summaries@parkslopeparents.com—-
Post
a
Review
Take
2
minutes,
log
into
the
website
and
post
a
review
(good
or
not
so
good)
about
anything
from
a
local
store,
home
improvement
specialist,
OB-GYN
or
daycare.—-
Tell
people
“I
found
you
on
the
Park
Slope
Parents
website”
or
“I
saw
your
ad
on
the
PSP
Website”
If
you
call
or
meet
someone
from
the
PSP
website,
please
let
them
know
you
heard
about
them
on
the
Park
Slope
Parents
website.—-
Promote
YOUR
business
(or
tell
other
people
to
promote
theirs)
We
have
advertising
opportunities
on
the
website
and
since
you
can
now
post
Commercial
Posts
(for
a
fee)
to
the
website,
promote
your
business
while
supporting
PSP.—-Be
A
Guest
Writer
(you
don’t
have
to
be
a
professional
writer)
If
you’ve
researched
an
area
of
parenting
that
would
be
of
help
to
other
folks,
ease
their
load
and
save
them
time
and
effort,
by
writing
up
an
article
for
the
website.
Contact
feedback@parkslopeparents.com
to
let
us
know
you
want
to
help.—-Be
A
Guest
Editor
See
some
typos
that
are
driving
you
nuts?
Be
a
guest
editor
and
help
us
clean
up
the
site!
Contact
feedback@parkslopeparents.com
to
let
us
know
you
want
to
help.
Brooklyn Reading Works presents THE MEMOIR-A-THON!
This is the Brooklyn Reading Works
event you won’t want to miss. Never heard of a Memoir-A-Thon?
That’s
because I made it up. It’s sort of a marathon reading of memoirs—but it
won’t be long and boring.
No way. That’s because the writers are each limited to 6 minutes and that will be strictly enforced by my little bell.
At 6 minutes: ding, ding, ding.
And what a group of writers: Branka Ruzak, Mary Warren, Marian
Fontana, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein, Nica Lalli, Kim Larsen,
Carla Thompson and MORE…
Come to this great event and hear the personal stories of these
unique writers. Books by these authors will be on sale at the event
which is at the Old Stone House at Fifth Avenue and Third Street.
PAULA BERNSTEIN & ELYSE SCHEIN are the authors of Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited,
MARIAN FONTANA is the author of A Widow’s Walk, a memoir of 9/11.
NICA LALLI is the author of Nothing; Something to Believe In, a memoir of growing up an athiest.
BRANKA RUZAK has
been
a
writer,
producer
and
editor
for
commercial
and corporate
advertising
who
spent
many
childhood
hours
listening
to
her father’s
stories
and
playing
Croatian
folk
music.
Always
an
avid
traveler,her
studies
in
Hindusthani
classical
music,
as
well
as
her
enthusiasm
for Indian
novels,
textiles
and
a
good
cup
of
chai
have
taken
her
to
India
and other
destinations.
She
is
currently
working
on
a
collection
of
essays
about family,
identity,
culture
and
travel.
MARY WARREN is a freelance writer who teaches English at a local college. SHe has two blogs, Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary and Eat, Drink, Memory.
CARLA THOMPSON writes a blog, "The Ride: Life
Lesson for Those Who Can’t Draw a Straight Line", which features her
acerbic and sometimes witty musings on everything from politics to pop
culture. Carla has also written a variety of articles for Women’s
eNews, Black Enterprise, AOL Black Voices and the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution among other publications.
KIM LARSEN’S feature story, "Bad Blood," which
reports on the reintroduction of DDT in the fight against malaria in
Africa, is the cover story in the winter 2008 edition of OnEarth
Magazine. Her essay about the untimely death of a close friend appears
in the essay anthology, "The Oldest We’ve Ever Been."
PAMELA S. OUELETTE Pamela S. Ouellette is a speech language pathologist currently working with school-age children in the South Bronx and an adjunct lecturer at Baruch
College, CUNY. She is writing a collection of not-so-comic,
not-so-nonfiction about her work with adults with traumatic brain injuries
entitled "Addled: Capering Amidst the Wisdom of the Traumatically Brain
Injured," about a recently divorced speech language pathologist who
attempts to discover who is more addled–she or the patients she treats and
learns that shattered minds can resuscitate arrested hearts.
JULIE MERZ (BIO TO COME)
The 31st annual Crossword Puzzle Tournament is coming to the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott this weekend.
For years the tournament has been in Stanford, Ct. But this year, they’ve decided to do it in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Mariott is completely sold out. They are suggesting that people try the Holiday Inn Express on Union Street.
Have brunch at the Archive Restaurant (or over at the Holiday Inn Express) on Sunday and get help with the New York Times crossword puzzle. The tournament is directed by New York Times Crossword Puzzle Editor
Will Shortz. It is the nation’s oldest and largest crossword
competition.
Solvers tackle eight original crosswords created and
edited specially for this event. Scoring is based on accuracy and
speed. Prizes are awarded in more than 20 categories, including a
$5,000 grand prize. Evening games, guest speakers, and a wine and
cheese reception allow solvers to meet each other in a relaxed and
entertaining atmosphere.
Many at the Park Slope Armory/Fitness Center ribbon cutting ceremony seemed excited at the prospect of the Prospect Park YMCA running the facility.
I spoke with Sean Andrews, Executive Director of the Y, who seemed very enthusiastic. He told me that he reached out to Councilmember Bill De Blasio when he heard about the Request for Proposal to run the armory.
"We are thrilled to be a finalist and are especially looking forward to engaging the community." he told me. Obviously, it will be important how the Y schedules the space so that it reflects the correct mix of community usage.
"There will be mix of community, adults, kids, schools, and family. It will be a real balancing act. But a very transparent one," he told me. "We have an operating model. And the YMCA, while fee based, has a policy of not turning anyone away.
Last night a friend and OTBKB reader dialed up Red Hot Szechuan for delivery—and what do you know? No one answered.
She was miffed and a tad confused. You would be too if you were in the mood for some of their delicious Bok Choy or General Tsao’s Chicken.
Gowanus Lounge posted that he too heard that the place was closing. But being the ever-so-cautious journalist that he is, he’s calling it a "rumor."
"We add a grain of salt because the last time such a rumor floated
around it turned out the restaurant was being redone a little and was
only closed for a few days."
Well, I’m going to add a wallop of MSG to the mix. You know, this rumor might only last about an hour. But I think the place is closing. And I’ll go out on a limb with that.
Dear local shopkeepers:
if you’re going to close suddenly, can you leave a note, a Dear John letter or something. What’s a blogger to do? Let alone a customer in need of some wonton soup.
Sincerely,
In need of an explanation
I saw this play when I was in junior high and never forgot it. Written by Aristophanes, Lysistrata, is an antiwar—and feminist—classic.
LYSISTRATA, a bawdy and audacious antiwar classic, is filled to the brim with hilarious innuendo and exposes the shared humanity between two feuding peoples. The women of the warring factions wage a psychological battle of their own when they take over the Acropolis and withhold their sexual favors from the savage local men until such time as the insane conflict is ended.
Lysistrata opens March 15 and runs through March 30, 2008 (12 performances only). Performances take place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM; Sundays at 3PM. Additionally, The Gallery Players is offering a Saturday matinee performance at 2PM on March 22nd and March 29th only.
Tickets are $18 for Adults, $14 for Senior Citizens and children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased 24/7 online at www.galleryplayers.com or by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101 (phone hours 9-9 weekdays, 10-6 weekends).
The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St. , between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn . Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street . By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.
Director Cynthia Wade and Producer Vanessa Roth made Park Slope
proud on Sunday night when they won the Oscar for Freeheld, their short documentary.
Both women live with their families in Park Slope and have production companies here, too. Roth’s company, Big Year Productions, was established in 1994 to produce social issue documentaries and outreach programs that "challenge systems and promote progressive social change."
Interestingly, Roth is at work on a feature documentary about teachers with author and 826nyc and McSweeney’s founder, Dave Eggers.
Their Oscar-winning film, Freeheld, is the story of Laurel, a female detective, who spent 25 years investigating
tough cases in New Jersey protecting the rights of
victims and putting her life on the line. She had no reason to expect
that in the last year of her life, after she was diagnosed with
terminal cancer, that her final battle for justice would be for the
woman she loved.
This film documents her struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. With less than six months to live, Laurel refuses to back down when her
elected officials – the Ocean County Freeholders -deny her request to
leave her pension to Stacie, an automatic option for heterosexual
married couples.
The New York Philharmonic played in Pyongyang, North Korea today. Park Slope’s John Schaefer, the host of WNYC’s Soundcheck, is traveling with the orchestra for this historic and controversial event.
The orchestra played the national anthems of North Korea and the United State and American in Paris by George Gershwin.
This is the first time an
American orchestra has been allowed to perform in the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea. They also played Dvorak’s “New World”
Symphony and
Bernstein’s overture to “Candide."
Schaefer reported on WNYC this morning: "The ending of the concert
was very memorable…there was standing ovation which lasted after the
conductor, Loren Maazel, left the stage. The members of the orchestra
had to get up to start leaving. As they got up and left, members of the
audience waved goodbye," Schaefer said on WNYC this morning.
According to Schaefer, "The musicians were quite emotional. Wiping
away tears. None had ever had this experience of an audience waving
goodbye. Tears flowing on both sides. I’ve never seen that at a
classical concert."
The broadcast of the full concert will be on WNYC on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
Thanks to Nelly Issacson, a member of the Park Slope Civic Council and a longtime neighborhood activist, I went (on the late side) to the ribbon cutting ceremony over at the new Park Slope Armory/Recreation center, on 8th Avenue and 14th Street.
Borough President Marty Markowitz, Coucilmember Bill De Blasio, and Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Robert C. Lieber gave speeches. De Blasio even paid a few rounds of hoops with the Commisioner of City Department of Homeless Services.
I spoke to Marty as he was leaving. Since I was a "speech guest" at the State of the Borough I shouted out:
"Hey give a quote to Only the Blog…"
"It’s all about family time and quality time. And fitness," Marty said. He told me that back when he was an assemblyman, he went with a group of neighborhood activist to an armory on 168th Street in Manhattan (Ft. Washington) that had a fitness center and a homeless shelter.
"That was the model for this," he told me.
Indeed that armory in Upper Manhattan is proof that the combination of recreation center/ homeless shelter works very well in a large armory space like this one.
It’s been a long time coming. Sometimes it seemed like a pipe dream to South Slope residents. Maybe 15 years in the making. Neighborhood residents like Issacson can attest to that.
"It took centuries for this to happen," she told me.
City Councilmember Bill De Blasio deserves a lot of credit for pushing it through in the last few years. He told a reporter at the event:
"The hard part was getting the $16 million and fixing this place over the last three years. Now it’s the easy part: figuring out how it should be used. The YMCA was the perfect choice. They know how to do it. The city needs to approve that choice but by spring school groups, people in the community should be using this space. We’ve got an Olympic-sized track (1/8 of a mile). Part of the day there will be schools in here. Weekends we’ll have youth basketball and other sports leagues. Nights and weekends are for the community. We will charge a modest membership fee. But this area needs this."
I asked De Blasio who would have priority when it comes to usage. Clearly, it’s going to be an interesting balancing act.
For starters, the schools will get priority time in the space.
"District 15 and District 20 certainly need this. There’s not enough gym space. Especially in the old school buildings like PS 107 and PS 39, which is 125 years old. There’s no gym."
I spoke with representatives of CAMBA (Church Avenue Merchants Block Association) who run the homeless shelter in the armory. They added that the 70 residents of the homeless shelter would also be scheduled into the mix.
Joan McFeely, who works with CAMBA said that after years of meetings it is very gratifying to see the armory finally fixed up and ready to be utilized in this way.
At the armory ribbon cutting ceremony, a buoyant Bill De Blasio spoke with me and a 10th Street resident about the 64 new parking meters on Seventh Avenue above 10th Street.
"I was walking on Seventh Avenue one day and I saw the meters and I said, What the…?" De Blasio told me. Clearly he knew nothing about it in advance.
So, the Department of Transportation installed 64 parking meters on Seventh Avenue without warning neighborhood residents—and politicians.
"And there was no process," De Blasio said. "There has to be a process. You talk to residents, you talk to merchants. You have a community meeting."
He talked about the process that went into the rejection of the proposal to turn Seventh and Sixth Avenues as one-way streets and the community’s input into the successful plan to put a bike lane on 9th Street.
In this case, the DOT just surprised the neighborhood with absolutely no warning. Like no one was going to notice. Come on, parking is everyone’s hot button issue. Car owners spend way too much time parking their cars not to notice. Adding 64 meters to Seventh Avenue spaces that were previously Tuesday/Thursday spaces. Not good.
"They did everything wrong," De Blasio said about the DOT. "It was wrong all around.
For now, he has formally asked the DOT to discontinue use of the meters and has asked them to organize a neighborhood meeting.
The Park Slope Armory, which today celebrated its $16 million transformation into a state-of-the-art recreation center, opened in 1895 and has two distinct sections: a drill floor, which is 50,000-60,000 square feet and a garrison, which once housed offices.
Since the 1980’s the garrison has been used as a 70-bed dorm for homeless women, which is managed at this time by the Church Avenue Merchants Block Association.
The drill floor is what they just renovated. It offers a variety of activities, including adult fitness, a teen center, an after school program and a day camp as well as other programs for youth and family.
The 1/8 of a mile indoor track is gorgeous and the space can also accommodate basketball, volleyball, tennis, gymnastic, badminton, boxing, fencing, judo, table tennis, tae kwon do, handball, weightlifting, wrestling and aerobics.
The YMCA, pending approval by the city, has been tapped to run the facility. They plan to operate the recreation center seven days a week from 7 am – 11 p.m.
That’s a whole lot of recreation.
The dirty window view from jury duty (Callalillie)
Bay Ridge’s Gregory Hotel claims 2nd stab victim (Bay Ridge Rover)
Body found in bathtub of Bay Ridge hotel (NY Times)
Anthony Weiner: Making NYC the middle class capital of the world (City Room)
Countdown to Spring (Right in Bay Ridge)
Happy Birthday Johnny Cash (Bay Ridge Blog)
Lacrosse for kids (Clinton Hill Blog)
The media training begins (WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein in Bhutan)
My sister, father and stepmother were all wondering the same thing. I just got this email from Leon Freilich. If you couldn’t find the Brooklyn Paper in print, got to brooklynpaper.com
I couldn’t find a print edition of the Brooklyn Paper along Seventh Avenue this weekend, not even 10 minutes ago.
Any idea what happened to the distribution? Could Rupert’s rascals have out-muscled Gersh’s goons?
Beating out three songs from the Walt Disney film, Enchanted, Glen Hansard and Marteta Irglova won the Oscar for best song for Falling Slowly from the film, Once.
From Glen Hansard:
Thanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made
this film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three
weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we
would come
into a room like this and be in
front of you people.
It’s been an amazing thing.
Thanks for taking this film
seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us.
Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the
people who’ve helped us, they know who they are, we don’t need to say
them.
This is amazing.
Make art.
Make art.
Thanks.
From Marketa Irglova:
Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so
much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other
independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time
struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the
fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far
out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those
who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a
perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no
matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us
along way. Thank you.
This story from ABC news:
An American Airlines passenger died after a flight attendant first
refused to help administer oxygen and then tried to help her with
faulty equipment, including an empty oxygen tank, a relative said.The airline wasn’t saying much Sunday night, but confirmed the flight
death and said medical professionals had tried to save the passenger,
Carine Desir, who was returning home to Brooklyn from Haiti.Desir had heart disease. She died of natural causes, medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Sunday.
Desir said she was not feeling well and was very thirsty on the Friday flight from Port-au-Prince.
The poetry just keeps coming out of him. Here’s Monday’s offering from OTBKB’s verse responder, Leon Freilich:
FRIGID AIR TIP
When icy winds are cutting
And frozen breathing’s strutting,
A scarf on nose and mouth
Makes you feel you’re in the South,
And if it’s scratchy wool,
Boom–warmth to the full.
UP/DOWN TOWN
February days are troubling,
Punctuated by gusts;
Turn a pleasant, temperate corner–
Take a blow to the guts.
ALEUT HOOT
The total benefits of winter:
Vivaldi’s best Season
And airing out our drawer of woolens.
None dare call it reason.
The word on Seventh Avenue is that one of the two filmmakers (Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth — I’m not sure which), who made the short subject documentary about domestic partners in New Jersey
struggling to win the right to share survivor’s benefits, is a Brooklyn
resident and a mother of a Berkeley-Carroll student. Here are the filmmaker’s acceptance speeches:
Cynthia Wade:
Vanessa Roth:
And to all our supporters and
families who believe that even a 38-minute
movie could change minds and lives
and our children who remind us
about what’s really important. And to Stacie, who’s here tonight, who’s really auto mechanic by day
but hero in life who always did what was
right.
And she’s here tonight.
So thank you so much.
Embracing the Future: Making Connections to Grow your Business is a conference sponsored by the Brooklyn wing of the New York City Council (along with HSBC
and
SBS and others).
The goal of the conference is to help
minorities
and
women
who
own
their own
business to
gather
information
on programs
and
how
they can
improve
their
business
with
the
city.
This
is
a
public
event on Friday March 7th from 8 am – 4 pm at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.
Workshops include:
–Restaurant Boot Camp
–Understanding the NYC Puchasing process
–Financial and technical assistnce for small business owners
–Nailing down a contract in the construction industry
Organization:
The
City
Council,
Small
Business
Services
&
HSBC
Bank
Event:
Minority,
Women
Small
Business
and
Entrepreneur
Conference:
Making
Connections
to
Grow
Your
Business
Date: March 7, 2008
Time: 8am-4pm
Location:
Medgar
Evers
College,
1650
Bedford
Ave,
Contact
Information:
212-788-6687
WNYC’s Political Director and Park Sloper, Andrea Bernstein, has been selected to train 20
Bhutanese reporters as the country prepares for its first-ever
elections to Bhutan’s national assembly.
It was the editor-in-chief of Bhutan’s first daily newspaper, Kuensel, who issued the invitation to Bernstein, who will be in Bhutan through the end of the week. She will be blogging here about her experience:
Three weeks ago, in the wee hours of January 29th, I was sitting in a
hotel room in Miami Beach, filing a story on what proved to be the last
rally of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. “Hi Andrea” read the
subject line of an email from a friend of mine, Kinley Dorji the
editor-in-chief of Bhutan’s first daily newspaper, and like me, a
Knight Fellow last year at Stanford University. “I don’t suppose you
have the time to come to Bhutan.” “Well, no” I thought, and after
several campaign road trips over the last months, I didn’t feel like I
DID have the time.But…Bhutan, a land-locked Himalayan nation bordered
by China, India, and Nepal is not an easy place to get to. Tourism is
tightly controlled, and you need to be invited to go. And the reason I
was being invited? Irresistible. To train political reporters who are
covering the Kingdom’s (yes, it IS a kingdom) first elections ever. To
be a sort of midwife in the birth of a democracy. Who could say no? Not
me.So despite the fact that I’d been missing my family and felt too
familiar with too many hotel rooms and airports, and despite the fact I
was at that very moment lamenting the fact that I was arriving in Miami
Beach at midnight only to check out at 7, I said Yes. And tomorrow I am
leaving for a flight that takes two days. I am going to the Himalayas.
After so many hours spent stuck at O’Hare airport on the way to and
from Des Moines, Iowa, I am going to a Buddhist Kingdom. If ever the
word “Karma” should be invoked, it is now.
That is the question at this free symposium about mayoral control after Bloomberg on Thursday, March 6, 2008 from 8:15 am to 10:30 am at the Tishman Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street (between 5th and 6th avenues)
The event will feature a presentation by Joel Klein, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education. Here’s the blurb from the invitation:
When Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office one of his top priorities was to repair the city’s ailing public schools. The state gave him control of the school system five years ago and must soon decide whether to extend that power to future administrations. Are the schools more accountable today? Students and teachers more successful? Parents more engaged? Principals more effective? What’s the track record of mayoral control—and should it continue after 2009?
Other speakers will include:
Christopher D. Cerf, Deputy Chancellor for Organizational Strategy, Human Capital and External Relations
Carmen Colon, Executive Director, Association of NYC Education Councils
Ernest A. Logan, President, NYC Council of School Supervisors and Administrators
Hon. Alan Maisel, Member, New York State Assembly (D-Brooklyn)
Merryl Tisch, Vice Chancellor, New York State Board of Regents
MODERATOR: Samuel G. Freedman, Columnist, “On Education,” The New York Times, and Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Light breakfast will be available beginning at 8 a.m. You must reserve a spot at this event. Go to centernyc.org
This new exhibit at MOMA, which runs from February 24th through May 12th, shows how design helps people adapt to change:
In the past few decades, individuals have
experienced dramatic changes in some of the most established dimensions
of human life: time, space, matter, and individuality. Working across
several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps
and nanoscale images, gleefully drowning in information, acting fast in
order to preserve some slow downtime, people cope daily with dozens of
changes in scale. Minds adapt and acquire enough elasticity to be able
to synthesize such abundance. One of design’s most fundamental tasks is
to stand between revolutions and life, and to help people deal with
change. Designers have coped with these displacements by contributing
thoughtful concepts that can provide guidance and ease as science and
technology evolve. Several of them—the Mosaic graphic user’s interface
for the Internet, for instance—have truly changed the world. Design and
the Elastic Mind is a survey of the latest developments in the field.
It focuses on designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in
technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or
reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into
objects and systems that people understand and use.
I’d heard through the blogvine that the under-construction storefront on Seventh Avenue between Berkeley and Union was shaping up to be a frozen yogurt shop and I figured it was a new branch of Oko, the eco-friendly,
organic yogurt and tea shop at 152 5th Avenue
Well, today Gowanus Lounge has pix. Seventh Avenue frozen yogurt revealed. Still no name, no sign. Why the big mystery?
Factoid: Oko means eco in Hungarian.
Gothamist has the latest Prospect Park Zoo news: Apparently there’s a new panda in town and his name is Mao Mi.
Yay something new to see at the Zoo. I was getting sick of going nose-to-nose with the prairie dogs and those hamadryas baboons with the red bottoms. Just kidding. I could never get sick of those hamadryas baboons.
Yes, it’s a well-designed, jewel of a zoo, but new animals and exhibits are always good.
Mao Mi is a Red Panda and the newest addition to Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn. He arrived last week from Michigan’s Binder Park Zoo as part of a Wildlife Conservation Society breeding project. Red Pandas
are an endangered species with fewer than 2,500 adults thought to
remain in the wild in Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Nepal and Burma.Mao Mi will probably be mated with this young lady,
who has been residing at the zoo since at least last year. If Brooklyn
is lucky it could see its own Red Panda birth in the near future.