There is a vigil at Grand Army Plaza right now for the 3000 troops who have died in Iraq. 6-7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Iraq reported Tuesday that about 12,000 civilians were killed last year — the third full year since the U.S.-led invasion — with a dramatic rise in the last three months, when 5,000 died. Only about half as many Iraqi soldiers died in 2006 as American troops.

Come together with us in sorrow and anger to mourn the loss of all lives, American and
Iraqi, civilian and military in this senseless and wasteful war. National demonstrations marking this grim milestone, coordinated by American Friends Service Committee.

The Brave New World Repertory Company is doing a salon series at various sites around Brooklyn.  Check their site for all the plays and locations. It’s REALLLLLY COOL.

ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 11th:

They are doing a salon/dinner/reading of Samuel Beckett’s "Waiting for Godot" at Issue Project Room in February. Dinner at 4:30, the reading begins at 5 p.m. For tickets and information: bravenewworldrep.org

Seeing Green reminds Park Slopers to mulch their trees at the Mulchfest.

"MulchFest provides New Yorkers an opportunity to bring their Christmas
trees to designated sites where they are ground into wood chips. The
chips can then be placed in tree pits and gardens. Parks &
Recreation encourages New Yorkers to help the environment and their
community by participating in this event. MulchFest takes place on January 6 and 7, 2007 from 10:00am to 2:00pm. Participants are encouraged to bring bags to take advantage of the free mulch provided.

The FAQ on the Coney Island Polar Bears Club says it all. Today they are doing their annual New Year’s Day swim.

Are you folks nuts?

Not particularly. We’re just a group of people from all walks of life who deeply enjoy the activity of cold water swimming. Some do it for possible health benefits. Some do it for the love of water. Some do it to stay active at Coney Island. And others, well, maybe a few of us are nuts. But all do it for the fun of it. If it’s not fun, then stay out of the water.

Can’t you get hypothermia doing that?

It is possible to get hypothermia, but in Club memory, going back over twenty years now, no member has ever suffered from hypothermia or frostbite. We know our limits and look out for each other.

3000 US troops have died in Iraq. Tonight, Brooklyn Parents for Peace is sponsoring a vigil to commemorate this gruesome milestone in Grand Army Plaza. Does anyone know more about this. What time?  Please comment.

Our new Governor Spitzer made a strong speech at his inaugural in Albany early Monday afternoon.

"Over the last decade, we have seen what can
happen when our government stands still in the face of great challenge
and inevitable change," he plans to say.

"We’ve seen it in the burdensome property taxes and the health care we
can’t afford; in the jobs that have disappeared from our upstate cities
and the schools that keep failing our children; in a government that
works for those who hold office – not those who put them there."

Continue reading SPITZER SLAMS PATAKI LEGACY IN INAUGURAL SPEECH →

Last night, Hepcat and I went to see Spring Awakening, a rock musical about 19th century German school boys and girls that will make you rethink rock musicals forever.

The play, written in the 19th century by Frank Widenkend, was considered scandalous in its day.

This adaptation, with book and music by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, directed by Michael Mayer and choregraphed by Bill T. Jones, is exhilarating and wonderful.

The cast is very young: one of the performers is a student at Laguardia High School. Kids under 12 or 13 might be too young for this but it’s a must see for teenagers. I overheard a woman in the Ladies Room saying, "No one under 16 should be here," but I disagree.

Here’s what Charles Isherwood had to say in the Times.

"Spring Awakening" depicts or discusses adolescent sexuality in a
variety of guises, including (possible) rape, masturbation and
homosexuality. It explores the confusion and desperation that ensue
when the onrushing tide of hormones meets the ignorance of children
raised by parents too embarrassed or prudish to discuss what those new
urges signify. Two of the three lead characters are sacrificed on the
altar of propriety: one tormented by shame over sexual fantasies and
bad grades, the other, a girlfriend, the victim of a botched abortion.

Spring Awakening is at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre on 49th Street. For $31,00 you can sit on the stage (which would be very interesting). We paid $80 bucks for mezzanine  tickets but it was totally worth it.  Plus the usher upgraded us to the front of the balcony. Cool.

Tonight. At Grand Army Plaza. Midnight. Fireworks. Pass it on.

This from the Brooklyn Papers, fabulous year-end issue, which has a feisty interview with Marty Markowitz.

In these last
days of the year, Smartmom is busy, busy, busy organizing drawers and
closets. Christmas night, she took all of Oh So Feisty One’s shirts out
of her shirt drawer, refolded them and put them back in by color and
style.

Then she hit the
armoire in the foyer, which is stuffed full of art supplies, children’s
games, and all manner of miscellaneous junk like Littlest Pet Shop
figurines, bottles of dried non-toxic poster paint, file folders filled
with Teen Spirit’s pre-school art, and more ceramic bowls from Paint
Your Own Pottery than anyone could possibly need (Correction: TS’s pre-school art is not junk).

The day after Christmas, Smartmom, re-folded everything in her own shirt and sweater drawers.

Later she went
through Teen Spirit’s dresser and pulled out everything that doesn’t
fit anymore. Black jeans with a size-30 waist: Out. Small or medium
Threadless brand t-shirts: Out (no matter how cool the design).

Then, she put
all these non-fitting items in a bag for Housing Works and folded the
rest. Neat as a pin. It should stay that way for at least five hours.

Later, when OSFO
was busy playing with her new Nintendo DS, Smartmom made a beeline for
the toys on her over-stuffed shelves. Out with the old, in with the
new; Smartmom filled a couple of shopping bags full of toys that OSFO
never touches. She doesn’t have enough space for what’s she’s got let
alone all of her new Christmas and Hanukkah gifts (Uh oh, she noticed…).

So what gives? Why all this straightening?

Smartmom doesn’t need her fabulous therapist to tell her that she gets a feeling of control from all this organizing.

The world is going to hell in a Key Food basket, and there’s not a whole lot she can do about it.

There’s a war on
in Iraq, and hideous conflict all over the world. Global warming is an
inconvenient truth and the Atlantic Yards project was approved. AIDS is
destroying Africa and there are more impoverished people than voters on
American Idol.

There’s little
she feels she can do in her daily life to alleviate the pain and
suffering of those around the world, right around the corner, and in
her very own extended family.

So the cleaning
is her way of coping with feelings of hopelessness. Things may fall
apart and the center may not hold, but, boy, can she re-fold OSFO’s
shirts.

John F. Kennedy
famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you
can do for your country,” but he should have added, “…and when you run
out of ideas, the cabinet underneath the sink is a whopping mess.”

So daily life
goes on. The clock ticks, the Internet connection hums, the children
need dinner and there is the laundry (cleaned at the seriously nice Equadorian laundry on Sixth Avenue) to be put away.

The daily grind
keeps Smartmom going when nothing else does. So, from the home office
on Third Street, here’s Smartmom’s top 10 list of the ordinary things
that helped her get through a lousy 2006:

1. Smartmom’s
solitary first cup of coffee of the day, while listening to NPR in the
kitchen (and the new toaster that doesn’t burn her toast).

2. The innocent
post on Park Slope Parents that sparked a flurry of gender-related
controversy: “Friday, at the corner of 11th Street and Eighth Avenue,
[I found an] adorable navy blue, or maybe black, fleece hat with
triangles jutting out of it of all different colors.” Just don’t call
it a “boy’s” hat in Park Slope!

3. Her daily breakfast conversations with Teen Spirit before OSFO and Hepcat wake up.

4. Running into the oh-so-independent OSFO with her school friends on Seventh Avenue during lunch hour.

5. Watching two-year-old Ducky push her toy stroller and bunny baby down First Street. And Ducky kisses.

6. Hepcat’s photographs of the Gowanus at dusk. And his scallop risotto.

7. Mr. Kravitz’s new kidney courtesy of Mrs. Kravitz.

8. The Smartmom readers who stop her on the street and tell her which column they liked (or didn’t).

9. Standing with OSFO inside a voting booth at John Jay High School and giving George W. Bush a thumpin’.

10. That blessed
time of day when Smartmom clears all the books, coins, and
Build-a-Bears off her bed, lies in it, reads a magazine, and drifts slowly
off to sleep. Ahhhh.

I know a couple who are running the midnight 5K run in Central Park. On New Year’s Day they are doing a private reading of W.H. Auden’s poem, "New Year’s Letter.

Central Park Run

Resolving to get in shape for the New Year? Start 2007 off right with the
Midnight Run in Central Park
organized by the New York Road Runners Club. The evening begins at
Tavern on the Green with a DJ and dancing, a costume contest and
parade, and then fireworks and the 5K at midnight. Champagne at the
halfway point will keep you tottering toward the finish line, and
Emerald Nuts, the race sponsor, is offering a $300 cash prize for the
"Emerald Nuttiest" costume. Non-athletic friends and family can
volunteer with the Road Runners. At 10, Tavern on the Green, Central Park West and 67th Street, 212-860-4455, nyrr.org, $35 registration fee for nonmembers who sign up before December 16, $40 after that.
A.B.

Bargemusic
This all-Bach performance proves that you can find classical music
right on the water, for both culture and fireworks: Bargemusic is a
floating chamber-music hall on the Brooklyn side of the East River.
Price of ticket includes hors d’oeuvres and wine. At 7, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn, 718-624-4061, $125. A.B.

This from New York 1:

The streets in Times Square were littered with “practice confetti”
Friday, as the city prepares for Sunday night’s party.

Organizers of the big New Year’s Eve bash tested the airworthiness
of the confetti being used this year by dropping it out of an eighth
floor office.

To help usher in 2007, confetti will be released hourly from 6 p.m.
until midnight – and this year, there’s a lot more of the stuff than
usual.

"We have three times as much confetti because we’ve worked with
Target and they’re sponsoring practice countdowns at the top of the
hour with word-fetti – with words that are related to New Year’s
inspiration, things like ‘cheer,’ and ‘hope,’ and ‘peace,’ and
‘celebrate,’" said Treb Heining, a confetti master.

More than 100 volunteers, so-called confetti dispersal engineers,
will drop the confetti from around a dozen Times Square buildings.

"Show up and enjoy the night and enjoy celebrating New Years Eve,
with not just a million people in Times Square but 100 million
domestically on television and a billion worldwide," said Tim Tompkins
of Times Square Alliance.

And, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will once again start the official Times Square countdown, but he will not be alone.

He will be joined by representatives of the various branches of the
armed forces and the United Service Organizations just before midnight.
They will trigger the Times Square ball to start the final 60-second
countdown to 2007.

Last year jazz great Wynton Marsalis joined the mayor to help the ball drop.

IF YOU’RE GOING

As usual, security will be tight in Times Square for the New Years
event. No large bags or backpacks are allowed and alcohol is
prohibited.

"We urge people to get there early, not to bring backpacks with
them or any alcohol, it will be confiscated," said Police Commissioner
Ray Kelly.

Major traffic restrictions will begin in the afternoon, and revelers are encouraged to leave their cars at home.

Starting at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Seventh Avenue and Broadway will be
shut down between 42nd and 59th streets. In addition, 43rd to 47th
streets will be closed to traffic between Sixth and Eighth avenues.

The closings will spread as the area gets more packed later in the evening.

There will also be changes on the mass transit system.

Starting at 7 p.m. on Sunday, the N, R and W trains will skip the
49th Street stop and northbound 1 trains will pass the 50th Street
station.

On the subway a few months back, I met Isabel Hill, the filmmaker who created this documentary. We talked a bit and  she told me about this film that she was working on about the Atlantic Yards. I am amazed that it is already completed. It sounds very interesting and I will definitely try to catch this screening.

On Thursday, January 4th, at 6:00 p.m., the Center for Architecture – home to the New York City chapter of the American Institute of Architects – will screen “Brooklyn Matters,” a documentary by Brooklyn filmmaker, urban planner and historian Isabel Hill. The timely and urgent film exposes how powerful interests are circumventing community participation and skirting legal protections to push the “Atlantic Yards” project forward at any cost.

Ms. Hill, a Brooklyn resident, and former planner in New York City’s Department of City Planning, directed the award-winning “Made in Brooklyn,” a documentary about the borough’s manufacturing industry.

What:
Brooklyn Matters, a documentary film by Isabel Hill.
Panel discussion to follow.

When:
Thursday, January 4th
Doors open at 6:00 pm
Film starts at 6:30.

Where:
Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place (between West 3rd Street and Bleecker Street)
Greenwich Village
For mass transit access, take the A, B, C, D, E or F subway to West 4th Street

Another person left off the Park Slope More Than 100, Douglas Rushkoff, is an unbelievably prolific writer, an impressive resume, and an apartment in Park Slope. He was mugged on Christmas Eve while he was taking out the garbage. He tells the story on his blog:

I got mugged at knifepoint while taking out the garbage Christmas Eve at 9pm.

I negotiated with him for my health insurance card
– not only because it has my Social Security number and was really hard
to get, but because I knew that such a request would humanize me in the
mind of my attacker, and make it harder for him to stab me. Such are
the benefits of studying human behavior. All I lost was my phone,
cards, and money.

Getting a knife pushed into your ribcage now
and again is just part of the price we pay to live in a city, and New
York is supposedly one of the safer of the bunch. But I have to admit, it
makes me question working two extra gigs (I won’t divulge which ones
they are) in order to pay the exorbitant rent in this part of Brooklyn – when the streets are less safe than they were in the supposedly bad parts of Manhattan where I used to live.

It
may just be the humiliation of not fighting back that’s getting me
down, but I fear that Brooklyn may be a crock. And with a two-year-old
daughter, I feel a strong urge to spend my effort elsewhere.

Here’s some info about fellow Park Sloper Douglas Rushkoff. Check out his blog, too. 

Winner of the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He sees "media" as the landscape where this interaction takes place, and "literacy" as the ability to participate consciously in it.

His ten best-selling books on new media and popular culture have been translated to over thirty languages. They include Cyberia, Media Virus, Playing the Future, Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism, and Coercion, winner of the Marshall Mcluhan Award for best media book. Rushkoff also wrote the acclaimed novels Ecstasy Club and Exit Strategy and graphic novel, Club Zero-G. He has just finished a book for HarperBusiness, applying renaissance principles to today’s complex economic landscape, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside