A new falafel place is set to open on Seventh Avenue near 8th Street and I was surprised that the name: Brooklyn Pita, had never been used before. It’s a good name. Maybe the falafel, the shwarma, the hummus and babaganous are good, too.
Report back to me if you get there before I do.
Here’s this week’s Smartmom from The Brooklyn Paper:
These days, Smartmom and Hepcat are like ships passing in the night. In recent weeks they’ve spent more time apart than together and people are getting suspicious.
“Everything okay between you two?” Groovy Grandpa asked the other day on the phone when Smartmom told him that Hepcat was in California.
He’s just visiting his mother in California, she told her nosy dad. Besides he needed to check on The Little Orange Car, the Porsche he inherited from his beloved uncle, which he keeps in a container behind his mother’s house.
“But you went away last week with the Oh So Feisty One,” Groovy Grandpa reminded her, obviously building a case that Smartmom and Hepcat are on the outs.
Well, they’re not and Smartmom wants to make that abundantly clear. When you’ve got two kids in different schools and different schedules you’ve got to divide and conquer in order to make things happen.
Everyone knows that (doesn’t he)?
And more to the point, when you’re as busy as Smartmom and Hepcat are — with different work schedules and deadlines — you’ve got to grab any downtime you can get.
Still, the conversation with Groovy Grandpa did make Smartmom wonder if it was normal for a married couple to take short trips independent of one another.
Normal schnormal! Who cares about normal? Smartmom may not be Marlo Thomas, but she believes that the freedom to be you and me is essential for a good marriage. And it’s major tenet of her relationship with Hepcat.
Still, Hepcat and Smartmom have been going solo quite a bit of late. So what’s up with that?
Well, last month, Smartmom decided on a whim to take OSFO to the Minerals Inn at Crystal Springs Spa in Vernon, New Jersey for a quick getaway during the seemingly endless winter break.
Before making the reservations, she asked Hepcat if he wanted to join them. But he had too much going on at the office. Besides, it didn’t sound like Hepcat’s kind of vacation. Too cushy. Too comfortable. Too bourgeois.
Hepcat grew up on a farm and is a rugged kind of guy. He still kvells about his three days alone in the woods with Outward Bound like it was three nights at the Ritz.
Hepcat’s idea of a vacation is an itinerary-free drive cross-country in The Little Orange Car, staying in Indian-owned motels.
But Smartmom and OSFO crave some R&R (or, technically, P&P — pampering and pillows) every now and again.
So Smartmom, OSFO and the Kravitzes went off for a fun and sporty weekend at the New Jersey spa. Third Street goes on vacation.
What’s not to like? Seven inter-connecting pools, including an outdoor heated pool for winter swimming under the stars, hot tubs, a steam room, sauna, an indoor track, an indoor basketball court, tennis, Pilates classes, a salon for massages and facials.
The kids had a first-class vacation and so did Smartmom and Mr. and Mrs. Kravitz (who picked up three bottles of red wine at the local mall). Plus, it was fun for them to hang out with good friends somewhere other than their identical dining rooms.
Once they got home, Smartmom told Hepcat all about the restful trip, but he still wasn’t convinced it was his kind of thing. And Teen Spirit, well, he was perfectly happy hanging out with friends and practicing his guitar (too loudly some would say).
A few weeks later, Smartmom went on an overnight to Boston with Best and Oldest, her best friend since fifth grad, to see Opera Diva, her high school best friend, sing the lead in “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.”
Well, Smartmom couldn’t exactly skip hearing her friend sing the lead in this rarely performed opera by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht.
But Hepcat couldn’t come along — someone needed to stay home to police Teen Spirit and OSFO. Plus, it meant being away on a Tuesday, and that’s Important Staff Meeting Day at the Edgy Startup where he works.
So Smartmom went solo. After the show, which was terrific, she and her high school pals drank martinis until 2 am with the cast and crew. It was the most fun the three old friends have had together since they each turned 30 in 19 — (we’re not telling!).
Naomi Village: In the heart of the PoconosOnce home, Smartmom and Hepcat barely got a chance to chitchat before he was getting on a Jet Blue flight for Oakland. Because it was the week of the fourth grade test, it was out of the question for Smartmom and family to join him.
Besides, he likes to visit the family farm and see his family by himself from time to time. He has lots of things to take care of out there and there’s always The Little Orange Car.
Yes, The Little Orange Car.
Okay, so Smartmom is a tad jealous of The Little Orange Car. It’s just that, Hepcat pays so much attention to HER. She’s his screen saver, for Buddha’s sake! When they’re together, he takes her for long scenic drives, buys her expensive gifts like piston rings, seat belts, and a $2,000 carburetor.
When was the last time Hepcat bought Smartmom a $2,000 carburetor? The Little Orange Car: she’s almost like his mistress. Except, well, she’s a car.
Hepcat came back on Saturday night and now they have only a few days together before Smartmom is off on her own little adventure at a writer’s conference in Rehoboth Beach. It’s called “Writers on the Beach,” but Writers on the Beach During Off-Season” sounds more accurate.
Smartmom has never been to a writer’s conference, but she likes the sound of it. It’s a professional trip, a serious investment in her writing career, a chance to mingle with important writers.
It’s also a chance to sleep in a hotel for three nights, eat dinner out, and be alone.
Smartmom hasn’t even told Groovy Grandpa about this trip. She’s afraid that it’ll only add to his sense that Smartmom and Hepcat are going through a rough patch and heading for the Big D.
But that’s not it at all. Smartmom and Hepcat know that the secret to their togetherness is their ability to be apart. They try to give each other the extra space they need when they need it. That way there are no built up resentments or hurt feelings.
Even so, Smartmom hopes the next time she goes away it’s with her Hepcat. She does enjoy being with the man she married every now and again.
Hi, thanks for running a great blog. I’ve put up a new blog, SOMETHING LOUD AND ANNOYING THIS WAY COMES, about a weird, loud, high-pitched sound that’s been sounding from somewhere near Montague and Court for the past two months.
I don’t know the exact source (and the police have been unwilling to go looking for it) but I live near 166 Montague. Could you refer your readers to the blog and pass along any suggestions if you have any? Thank you!
http://montaguestreet-piercingalarm.blogspot.com/
This is from the Writers at the Beach website:
Many of you know the story by now, the one about how “Writers at the
Beach: Pure Sea Glass” came into being. It started as a whim, a
half-formed longing on my part, to raise money for the United
Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF), the organization devoted to
research of this incurable and often terminal disease that severely
afflicted my then 7 and 12 year old nephews, Sam and Zachary. In
October 2004 when the idea for this “Writers at the Beach” first
occurred to me, I conceived of it as a one-time event, never never
imagining how the writers, participants and sponsors would forever
alter my life.In that first year, our authors came from
Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. They now hail from these states as
well as from California, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Tennessee, and West Virginia. All of them come here on their own dime
for a cause many had never before heard of. Their generosity has
allowed us to donate to UMDF over $10.000 each year while still keeping
the cost of this event substantially lower than any comparable writers’
conference, especially one boasting a line up of authors such as ours.At
this year’s “Writers at the Beach,” you will have a choice of twenty
workshops in four different genres—including, for the first time,
songwriting; you’ll have an opportunity to dine with an author of your
choice on Saturday evening, as well as an opportunity to have your work
evaluated ahead of time by an author, then discussed one on one. You’ll
hear readings throughout the weekend by some of our country’s best
writers; and you’ll have the chance to listen to Keynote speaker,
Marion Fontana, author of Widow’s Walk, a 9/11 memoir about
the loss of her firefighter husband, Dave Fontana, talk about why, more
than ever before, stories are essential.Enjoy looking
through the amazing choices of workshops and conversations that the
authors have made unique, compelling and challenging. I know it won’t
be easy to choose. Take a moment, too, to appreciate the sea glass
image, the use of which has been donated by artist and photographer
Celia Pearson, as well as the work of Franklin Parrish of Franklin
Parrish Design Systems, who has worked tirelessly these past two
months, at his own cost, to design this web site.For
those of you returning, all of us–the authors, the volunteers, my
family and I–look forward to seeing you again. For those joining us
for the first time, we are eager to meet you, to welcome you to an
event that will remind you that your story is important, that it should
be told, that writing, in a world that increasingly seems to devalue
words, still matters to us all a great deal.
Just got this from my sister:
Just read in the NY Times that one of the auxillery policemen, Nicholas
Pekearo, who was killed lived in Park Slope. He was also a writer. He
worked at a bookstore on the Upper Eastside. The other man, Yvergeniy
Marshalik, 19, was a student at NYU. He was only 19. His family fled Chechnya when he was a young boy. He lived in Brooklyn, as well.
Read Seeing Green’s report on the One-Way No Way meeting at Methodist Hospital. As always incisive and interesting. He is. Here’s an excerpt. Read more at his place.
It was quite a night at the DOT presentation of the One-Way Street
Proposal, sponsored by Community Board 6, held at New York Methodist’s
auditorium last night. Raucous, exciting, noisy, super-well-attended
and, no surprise after seeing the level of protests around Park Slope,
with a happy outcome (so far.)I was lucky enough to have gotten there early enough to be able to
get a seat in the 200-seat room; there were literally hundreds of
people who had to stay outside, most in the hospital building, but
dozens and dozens of people overflowed into the street outside.CB6 had set aside about 30 seats for board members and other VIPs
and there was a threatened revolt a few minutes before the start as the
audience started chanting "LET THEM IN!"…shades of the 60’s…A
sturdy and unsmiling security guard closed the door and stood akimbo.Talking of which, the 60’s I mean, I found it both odd and oddly
reassuring, that the median age seemed to be 50 or so, and I fit right
in. All white haired and raring to go, I thought…where were the Gen
X-ers and Y-ers? Off for a spin in their SUVs? Or watching the latest
reality TV show instead of protesting as we were?
Read Gowanus Lounge’s report on the Community Board meeting at Methodist Hospital last night. I’m in Delaware so I wasn’t there. But there’s tons of coverage. Here’s an excerpt.
Nearly 500 people turned out for a Community Board meeting in Park Slope last night to oppose a Department of Transportation proposal to turn Sixth and Seventh Avenue into one-way streets.
More than 160 people squeezed into an auditorium before doors were
closed to chants of "Let them in! Let them in!" Another 200-250 people
listened in a vestibule outside the auditorium and even more people
stood outside on the sidewalk in the rain. The meeting was held at
Methodist Hospital in Park Slope.The DOT plan was presented by Deputy Commissioner Michael Primeggia. He faced a sometimes hostile and mocking crowd and presented the rationale for making Sixth Avenue one-way northbound between 23rd Street and Atlantic Avenue and for making Seventh Avenue one-way Southbound between Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Avenue.
"First and foremost it improves safety," Mr. Primeggia said to jeers
from the skeptical audience. Under the plan, he said, "half of all
pedestrian crossings will be unopposed and conflict free." The B-67 bus
would also have to be re-routed because of the change. The DOT Deputy
Commissioner listed added benefits adding parking spaces where bus
stops are eliminated, introducing muni-meters, giving more "green time"
to lights on cross streets. (There is an overall perception in the
community that the proposal is being made to eventually ease the flow
of traffic through Park Slope to Atlantic Yards.) Another proposal, to
eliminate a lane of traffic in each direction from Fourth Avenue and to use them as turning lanes we greeted more openly by the audience.
I want to thank the readers who responded to yesterday’s post about Hepcat needing a job. I am just thrilled—and so is he. All leads are being followed up on. What a great bunch of LEADS. How can I thank all of you? In the off chance that you didn’t see yesterday’s post, I am running it again in the hopes of getting even more responses. You can never have too many — it’s so competitive out there.
It’s hard to do justice to the many skills of Hecpat (No Words_Daily Pix). But we’re gonna try.
The new-fangled word for what Hepcat does is SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT.
I like the sound of that. In old style language: he’s a brilliant IT
guy with skills, brains, and computer know-how up the wazoo. And he
needs a job. He’s a creative and expert problem solver with top notch
an analytical skills and much experience in the world of computing.Resume and references available on request. Send inquiries to louise_crawford@yahoo.com
Any headhunters or HR people out there?
I’m in Delaware attending the Writers at the Beach writer’s conference rooming in a slightly faded mid-century modern hotel with a good friend.
It’s kinda like a slumber party. Fun to be sharing a room, talking, listening to music. Laughing a lot.
Dreary, dark rainy morning but it’s fun to be doing this — getting out of the normal routine — living the groovy writer’s life. At the beach in winter.
Something about being at the beach in winter. I’m thinking of Louis Malle’s "Atlantic City" or "Julia" with Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman.
Last night, after dinner at an ultra-Victorian style restaurants with fringed lampshades, pink velvet and teacups on dispaly, we took a walk on the dark, empty beach until the rain starting coming down.
I love the moodiness of this place. In the summer, I hear it’s quite the hot spot.
Last night there was a ‘meet and greet’ in the hotel restaurant but the band — kind of a funky, New Orleans style group — was too loud. You couldn’t really talk and my friend got a sore throat. We drank Bailey’s Irish Cream and talked to a English teacher from Baltimore, who spends summers at the beach.
Sounds like Rebobeth Beach has quite a writer’s community — a writer’s guild, writing groups, etc. The Browsabout Bookstore seems to be the epicenter of activity on the boardwalk.
This morning: registration, lunch and opening remarks, a reading and a three-hour workshop. Most of the workshops are sold out so we don’t what we’re gonna do.
Maybe go to one of the town’s multiple outlet malls and do some shopping. Or not.
Saw this on Park Slope Parents.
For any one who has or is going through a divorce in Brooklyn, you may be interested to know that the Judge Gerald Garson is finally on trial in Brooklyn.
Jury selection is taking place this week and the trial will go on for several weeks.
It is open court and a number of concerned citizens are attending the
trial to show that we will not tolerate corruption in the Brooklyn Courts.Garson is charged with accepteing bribes to fix a number of divorce and
custody cases, often with detrimental outcomes to the children. Google
the name and his cousin will come up, too. Seems it runs in the
family.There will be a number of concerned citizens there but we are hoping
that more people will attend.Supreme courthouse
at 320 Jay Street
the new tall supreme court building2nd floor – use escalators…Special Courtroom 1
M-Th 9am-4:30pm , no Fridays
Judge Berry has asked for no cell phones..so please…..don’t bring
themNOTE– the DA has made it clear that a protest would be fine……they
would be very happy with plenty of attention on this case. So lets
bring it!
It’s hard to do justice to the many skills of Hecpat (No Words_Daily Pix). But we’re gonna try.
The new-fangled word for what Hepcat does is SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT. I like the sound of that. In old style language: he’s a brilliant IT guy with skills, brains, and computer know-how up the wazoo. And he needs a job. He’s a creative and expert problem solver with top notch an analytical skills and much experience in the world of computing.
Resume and references available on request. Send inquiries to louise_crawford@yahoo.com
Any headhunters or HR people out there?
I got this email today from the PS 282 parents who wrote the letter to Chancellor Klein yesterday. They wanted to clarify their position — and thought that I may have misinterpreted their email. Yes, it’s true I may have misconstrued the meaning of their email. Or maybe they weren’t clear. Their inclusion of the link to the Militant Islam Monitor was misleading. This letter helps to clarify their position.
Dear Louise Crawford,
We are sorry if you have misunderstood the meaning of what we were writing, or maybe we didn’t express ourselves well.
Our letter was written as a personal missive and the meaning that you attribute to it is misleading.As has already been quoted regarding this blog, "The potential controversy about the school adds a potentially destructive further layer of complication to the situation. It’s clear that the Khalil Gibran International Academy will face opposition by MIM and like-minded ideologues wherever it goes."
This is the reason why the extreme radical article was included; only to show the worst of what outside feelings are already being voiced about the proposed addition to our school.
We would be happy to have both arabic language and middle east studies added to our current curriculum. Children should have the opportunity to learn about Aristotele as well as Ibn Rushd and of Plato as well as Abū ‘Alī al-Husayn; they should know were our mathematic and astrological systems come from and read the most beautiful poems by arab poets such as Omar Khayyám. Certainly this field of study has been largely ignored in American childhood public education.
Our children have a beautiful school with enough space to enable them in their learning that would be reduced substantially by the new installment. If you attended the PTA meeting you would probably agree that the group of presenters did not appear to have given any consideration to the effects it would have on the current school population. In fact they admitted that they had only looked at the "square foot per child" ratio of the building and were unprepared to address any issues of sharing between 5 yr old children and teenagers of school facilities like the cafeteria and bathrooms. Not to mention security issues.
If the promoters of the Khalill Gibran International Academy are given entry to our school so will their critics, and we think that by reporting what you could easily find with a simple google search, shows how low could be the tone of the debate. Whether or not you or we want it, this is the pressure that we are talking about and one element that our community, by default, will have to confront.
In addition to the loss of space and other physical adjustments, we as a community have to be aware of the kind of pressure this new school could put on our children.thank you for taking the time and giving space on your blog for this discussion and allowing us to clarify our opinions, again we apologize if our intentions were misleading or misunderstood.
best regards
Here’s No Land Grab’s round up of One Way No Way activity on blogs and elsewhere.
Everyone’s talking about One Way No Way in the Slope. I overheard Angela, the PS 321 crossing guard on 2nd Street, explaining to a parent why it’s such a terrible idea. "I don’t want children to get killed…" I overheard her saying.
I hope she’s planning on going to tonight’s meeting at the Methodist Hospital auditorium at 6:30 p.m. entrance on 6th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue.
Alas, I won’t be there. Going out of town.
Aaron Naparstek, the man responsible for convincing Commerce Bank to RETHINK its plans to make a drive through on Fifth Avenue, is at it again. (They didn’t build the drive-thru as everyone knows).
His Streetsblog has become the central locus of important information pertaining to the initiative by the DOT to change the direction of 6th and 7th Avenues. Today, he has a video on his site that is well worth looking at. Check out the video ad compare and contrast. As he says, "Which type
of street is more conducive to neighborhood life?"
In Park Slope, Brooklyn, the Department of Transportation has put forward a plan to convert a pair of two-way neighborhood avenues to one-way operation. DOT says that the plan is designed strictly "to make it safer for pedestrians crossing the street,"
but the noisy, fast-moving traffic that we filmed on one-way Eighth
Avenue, just a block up the hill, suggests that this plan is more about
moving traffic than helping kids and elderly people cross the street.
Watch as we use a speed gun and a noise meter to compare one-way Eighth
Avenue and two-way Seventh Avenue. Then decide for yourself: Which type
of street is more conducive to neighborhood life?
Tonight is the BIG MEETING, the community’s chance to express their opposition to this plan, at the Methodist Hospital auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Entrance on 6th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue.
OTBKB can’t be at tonight’s meeting but would love for a few people to report back on the meeting. The event will obviously be well covered by the local bloggers and media (the big guns will surely be there). I am looking for bloggy details: slice of life, interesting quotes, atmospheric reporting. What was the VIBE? How are people feeling? What was the upshot of the meeting?
In other words, anyone want to be a guest blogger? Please send bloggy reporting to louise_crawford@yahoo.com and I will post it.
Let me know in advance if you’re interested.
The Militant Islam Monitor asserts that the Kalil Gibran Internation Academy, that may go into the school building that houses PS 282 on Sixth Avenue at Lincoln Place in Park Slope, will be a magnet for Jihadi militantism.
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
The MIM believes (erroniously) that the school would serve as an INSTITUTION OF INDOCTRINATION with its staff and curriculum "mirroring the same
ideology as the 9/11 hijackers.:
To me, this sounds like such a load of racist crap. Here’s an excerpt from a post on MIM’s website. They want to block the creation of the Kalil Gibran Internation Academy:
Slated to be the school’s principal, Dhabah [aka "Debbie"]
Almontaser was presented an award by the Council on American Islamic
Relations [CAIR, the Saudi funded front group for Hamas and a
co-defendant in a 9/11 terrorism lawsuit] and more importantly, the
curriculum of her school has been designed by the radical American Arab
Anti Discrimination Committee [ADC].The ADC’s funder [and recipient of the ADC’s "Global
Achievement Award"] Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s 10 million dollar
donation to the 9/11 victims charity was rejected by then NY Mayor
Giuliani because of Talal’s claim that American policy towards Israel
was the reason for the terrorist outrage. Talal has also raised money
to reward the family’s of suicide bombers.The ADC is also in the forefront of filing discrimination
lawsuits and legal challenges aimed at obstructing the FBI, JTTF and
Homeland Security from investigating Arab and Muslims who pose
potential terrorism threats. source http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/671Six years after the attacks and still no memorial at Ground
Zero, instead 2007 will see the opening of the taxpayer funded Brooklyn
based madrassah aka "The Khalil Gibran International Academy for Arabic
and Islamic Culture."
Let’s be clear.
–Some parents at PS 282 oppose a new middle and high school going into their elementary school building on Sixth Avenue and Lincoln Place in Park Slope on grounds that it will overcrowd the school. The proposed school is called the Kalil Gibran International Academy. The parents would oppose the inclusion of any proposed middle or high school in their building.
—The Militant Islam Monitor opposes the Kalil Gibran International Academy on the crazy ground that it has a Jihadi agenda. They will oppose this school wherever it goes.
These are separate arguments. The parents will continue to oppose the new school going in. The MIM will also continue to oppose the school — but for very different reasons.
Including links to the MIM in a letter about a parent’s opposition to the school really muddies the waters.
Don’t you think?
What’s all this I hear about a new middle school and high school going into the building that houses PS 282, a local elementary school on Sixth Avenue and Lincoln Place?
Two parents at PS 282 wrote a letter to Chancellor Klein and sent it to me. I don’t know the whole story but I got a very weird feeling from the email I was sent.
The Kalil Gibran International Academy will be a school for arabic middle and high schoolers (100 pupils). Debbie Alontaser, who was listed on the Park Slope 100, is slated to be principal. Here’s a description of the school in today’s New York Sun:
A new public secondary school that is to include Middle Eastern
studies in its curriculum will focus on culture, not the region’s
political conflicts, Department of Education officials said yesterday.
"The school will not be a vehicle for political ideology," a Department
of Education spokesman, David Cantor, said of the Khalil Gibran
International Academy, due to open this September in Brooklyn.As for the sorts of topics the school will cover, the CEO of the
Office of New Schools, Garth Harries, gave as an example a math lesson
plan that would mention that an Arabic mathematician invented the
concept of zero. "It’s going to follow Department of Education
regulations," the director of the Arab-American Family Support Center,
Lena Alhusseini, who helped design the school, said. "It’s going to be
exactly like all the schools in the city, the same curriculum."
I am alarmed that at the bottom of this parent’s email to Cancellor Klein, the authors included links to the Militant Islam Monitor, which is vehemently opposing the creation of this school on the crazy grounds that it has a Jihadi agenda.
While I have heard that the PTA opposes a new school being "stuffed into" their long-standing elementary school, including links like Miltant Islam Monitor is incendiary and so off the topic — it really makes me wonder. What is the issue here, really? Is this racism or just a parent’s concerns about the future of their school. Here’s is the the email two parents sent to Chancellor Klein.
Dear Chancellor Klein,
This evening we were given, along with almost the entire PS282
community, some alarming news. What was most alarming to us however
was not the intention that you and New Visions have to open the
Khalil Gibran International Academy within our walls, it's the
arrogance with which it was done. This was the first communication
to anyone, except our principal who held back the news until the math
tests were over, and it was presented to us as if we have no choice.
When we asked Robert Hughes, president of New Visions, if he had
looked at the population of the school that he is about to invade
(yes, the parents feel it is an invasion) he told us that he hadn't
but that he had looked at the building's capacity. Both the breakdown
of the school's population and the building's capacity are on the
same report easily accessible on the DOE website!
Please know that the parents are mobilizing and organizing a protest
that will not end until this plan has been rethought. We will
contact every news outlet in the city and in the country.
Our son is in the third grade LEAD program, he and his classmates
have the highest test scores of the school, he is one of few non-
african americans in his class. He is fluently bilingual and bi-
cultural and we want him to keep an open mind, and it is for this
that we chose PS282 over other neighborhood schools, public and
private. We will not keep him in the school if he loses one piece of
the curriculum that he is presently offered or the space for that to
take place in, nor will we keep him in an educational environment
that "is an abdication of the basic principle behind public education
to set up separate schools to teach uncritically one history and one
culture."
Although the news has been public only for a short time, please read
below what a quick google search comes up with about your new
school. Why do you want to put this kind of pressure on a small,
neighborhood school in the midst of growing with such great potential?
Sincerely,
Jennifer Bacon Fossati and Filippo Fossati
parents of Paolo Fossati, class 3-209, PS282
NYU professor Esther Katz, the director of the Margaret Sanger Papers
Project will speak. Sanger – reformer, activist and crusader for women’s rights – was a
fascinating and complex personality whose life exemplifies the exceptional
circumstances and sacrifices still confronted by women today. Tickers are $5 and include
refreshments. Books will be
available.
Park Slope says NO to changing 7th and 6th Avenues to one-way streets. The big DOT hearing is tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Methodist Hospital Auditorium. Entrance on 6th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. Be there and let your voice be heard. Or just come to show your support. It should be quite a meeting…
Any headhunters out there or employment specialists. How about HR people?
A brilliant IT person with skills, brains and know-how up the wazoo needs a job. NOW. He’s creative, he’s an expert problem solver, he’s analytical, he’s highly experienced. Resume and references available on request.
.
Please email me: louise_crawford@yahoo.com or leave a comment here.
Residents rejoiced Sunday after blocking the construction of a
high-rise apartment building in their low-rise neighborhood in the
Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.After pressure from the Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors, a
proposed 12-story building that was to go up on a former parking lot on
42nd Street will instead be trimmed down to five and half stories.The group calls it the first of many victories.
"We created an organization, Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors, to
mobilize this effort and push our elected officials to make that
change, and it worked,” said Ivette Cabrea."I think that when the community come united and unified against a
project with the same objectives they know they can accomplish a lot,”
said Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz.The group says it plans to keep fighting what it calls "out of context development" in Sunset Park.
Read Pastor Meeter’s fascinating thoughts on the moral issues surrounding the Atlantic Yards controversy. Meeter, the pastor of the Old First Dutch Reformed Church, evokes the Tower of Babel, the Garden of Eden, and Naboth’s Vineyard. Read more at Pastor Meeter’s blog, yes he’s a member of Park Slope’s blogging clergy (see Andy Bachman,too).
The moral issue is what kind of country do we want? What kind of
concentrations of power? What protections of private property? Who
determines the public good, especially when the differences in scale
are so great, and the government is drawn to the interests of the
economically powerful? In the Torah, the public good is determined by
the interests of the small piece of private property.The second Biblical image is the Tower of Babel. It’s in Genesis 11. The Torah is pretty clear on this. God was against it.
Not
because God is against big buildings and skyscrapers as such, but
because of the concentration of power which the Tower represents. Such
concentrations always require hierarchies, and bosses, and dictators,
and centralizations, and the sublimation of the individual to the
vision of the leadership.The second reason that God was against
the Tower is because it represents the refusal to accept our limits. We
don’t know when to stop. We don’t know how to say No, Enough.It’s not wholly different from the original sin of Adam in the Garden. The chance to not
eat the fruit is what made Adam a human being, and the opportunity to
say no to the fruit is what gave him wisdom. He had to use his
judgment. He had to accept his limits.
So much is happening at the Jewish Music Cafe right across the street from Barbes. This Saturday,
401 9TH STREET (Between 6th & 7th Ave.)
