Tonight at the bandshell in Prospect Park as part of this summer’s stellar Celebrate Brooklyn schedule, catch Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his band

Look at those arms!

Says the Washington Post: “a near-deafening, funk-charged blast of percussion, brass, reeds and guitar distortion.”

Troy Andrews hails from New Orleans’ Sixth Ward, and he got his nickname at the age of 4 when his older brother saw him marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice his size.

Tonight at 7:30 PM.

I am always happy when Gina Barreca, author of It’s Not That I’m Bitter and a Professor of English and Feminism at the University of Connecticut, weighs in on a topic of sure interest to OTBKB readers. At Huffington Post today, she pens a column about Nora Ephron, who was certainly one of her heroes. Leave it to the very funny, very smart Gina to open with a great lede. Here’s an excerpt.

“Nora Ephron” was the answer the two-word answer to every ridiculous yet bizarrely persistent cliché concerning the ostensible fact that women

1. Have no sense of humor;
2. Have a sense of humor, but only if they are unattractive;
3. Have a sense of humor, but have no friends or family;
4. Have a sense of humor, but can never become successful based on their talents.

Ephron’s fiercely intelligent wit and ruthless cultural commentary braided together engaging personal revelation with topics so large they made several generations of women re-evaluate their lives. Her heroines were witty and perceptive even while being vulnerable and appealing; they were independent and capable, yet filled with that weird fear of overdoing everything or doing everything wrong that engulfs the most stunningly competent woman.

It’s been in the works for a long time. She’d mentioned it more than a year ago. It was good news, of course. She’d met someone, she was getting married again, she was moving to Staten Island.

Still, now that it is actually happening, well, it doesn’t seem quite right that I won’t be seeing Jacqueline—on Seventh Avenue, at one school or another, at various Park Slope events—anymore.

When someone special moves away from a community like Park Slope, it’s like losing a vital piece of the eclectic mosaic that makes this neighborhood tick.

For as long as I can remember, Jacqueline has been part of the texture of Park Slope and an active participant in so many aspects of life here. A mother of two, a working professional, and an environmental activist, this daughter of a jazz basoonist was hard to miss.

Indeed, this statuesque, beautiful woman with the big dark eyes and a bold intelligence has made her mark.

As she writes in her own good bye to the neighborhood on Facebook, “I’ve been a part of so many worlds in my time here — the vibrant group of women that made up our Megamom’s group, the dedicated group of people who fought with me for 4 years in Parents for Climate Protection, my wonderful myoho brothers and sisters, the Italian playgroup, the community of singers in the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale, the friends I made as part of the 321 community, my shift-buddies from the Food Coop.”

Continue reading Au Revoir Jacqueline: A Memory on Every Corner →

How’s about some New Orleans music to wind down your weekend?

Every Sunday from 5-8pm throughout July and August (it started two weeks ago), DJ Says Pitalo will be spinning New Orleans R&B oldies from artists like Irma Thomas, Fats Domino, Earl King, Larry Williams, Dr. John, the Meters, the Neville Brothers, and more at the Fifth Estate Bar (506 Fifth Avenue) in Park Slope. Free andouille sausage and excellent bloody marys also help ease out the weekend’s craziness…

Says Pitalo, the NOLA DJ: “I grew up just east of New Orleans, and my family currently lives there. I miss it, so when I noticed that there’s an interest in New Orleans culture in New York, I started an afternoon party that’s one part hangover cure, one part booty shake, and one part old-school musicology. I’m seeing an great mix of folks coming out, so I thought it might be something that “Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn” would be interested in.”

I am definitely going to try to catch one or  more of the movies at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Thursday nights this summer. Starting July 5th, they’ve got a cool line-up of films at Pier 1 Harbor View Lawn for the 13th season of the Brooklyn Bridge Park movie series. Music at 6:00pm, movies at sunset.

DJs from Brooklyn Radio kick off the evening, shorts curated by BAMcinématek follow, and bike valet provided by Transportation Alternatives will be available all evening.

To maintain their luscious and green lawns, chairs are not permitted on the park lawns.

Thursday, July 5

Movie: E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial [PG]

Short: CatCam by Seth Keal

DJ: Ayres

Thursday, July 12

Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird [NR]

Short: Eye on the Stars by Rauch Brothers

DJ: $mall Change

Thursday, July 19

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire [R]

Short: Odysseus’ Gambit by Àlex Lorca Cercos

DJ: Emch Subatomic (of Subatomic Sound System)

Continue reading ET with a View at Brooklyn Bridge Park on July 5th and More… →

I just discovered a very interesting blog about homeschooling in Brooklyn. It is called Learn Me Project and it is written mostly by the father who has been homeschooling his son through middle school. His son also writes on the blog about his experience being homeschooled. The dad started the blog in 2010 and his son is going to a private high school in the fall of 2012. He writes:

Almost five months ago, early June, my wife (I’ll call her K or “Skeptic,” in order to maintain some pretense of anonymity) and I decided to home school our older son (“A” or “SchoolLess”), who is now twelve.

We both teach, for money— high school art in Gatsbyland for K, writing and literature at “The Small College of Big Dreams” in Downtown Brooklyn for me— but would rather be making art (pictures, stories, respectively).

We have a younger son, Z our “Smaller Man,” and an old fat cat. The cat, Abe, and I, Jason, will use our real names.

SchoolLess, though not SmallerMan, took active part in the seemingly-never-to-end-pros-and-cons-this-that-no-school debate. You’ll be hearing more about that torturous process soon.

Many of the folks whose counsel I sought about all this know me to be a writer by inclination (if in theory more than in practice) and they very quickly moved from a discussion of the relative merits of home schooling to an insistence that I write about the experience.

If a child is home schooled in Brooklyn and the experience isn’t documented publicly in excruciating (loving!) detail, does the kid get any education at all? Philosophy aside, I have ignored the exhorting crowd— “it’s easy,” “just do it”—long enough.

For years now, a guy by the name of Neil Feldman (pictured left) has devoted himself to an events newsletter called Not Only Brooklyn (NOB). It’s a selective look at “wondrous free arts and events” going on in Brooklyn and elsewhere that he sends out via AOL to everyone on his Emailing list.

I see Neil from time to time on his bike, going from one event to another. He’s very in the know about the arts. In fact, he’s passionate about what he does. For some reason he has resisted putting the newsletter online as a blog or website. I think he’s raising money to do just that. He provides a vital service. and if you or anyone you know would enjoy receiving NOB, send an email to NOBevents@aol.com with the message “Subscribe to NOB” and their first and last name.

That way, it is legal for Neil  to add them to his subscription list.

The only mention of Neil on the Internet is at the Bad Egg Collective. There Neil answered some questions about himself. Asked about his passions he wrote: “Besdies (sic) justice, honesty and intellectual integrity? Brooklyn arts, culture, letters. So I created the Not Only Brooklyn Arts, the most comprehensive guide to the above, emailed to all who want it. (3,000+/-).”

Today’s NOB is all about the Mermaid Parade:

As many of you already know, for three decades the first Saturday after the summer solstice has meant that great Brooklyn folk festival, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, beginning at 2:00. Join in the joyous annual celebration of history, mythology, raunch, kitsch and bad taste. Bring an open mind, lots of water, a camera, swim wear and a tolerance of crowds. Leave any sense of propriety or self importance at home.

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Do you want to be part of GO, “an epic, borough-wide open studio project of The Brooklyn Museum?” Then GO on over to an information session and GO Meet and Greet sponsored by the Workshop Gallery Artist Foundation from 4-7 PM this evening (Saturday, June 23rd ).

Whether you’re an art lover or an artist, you can be part of this innovative, crowd sourcing project.

At this Go event (located at 393 Hoyt Street between 3rd and 2nd Streets),  you will have the chance to meet the very friendly, very accessible (and knowledgable) Eleanor Traubman who is a neighborhood coordinator for GO. You can learn how you can be part of a new, much-publicized community-curated open studio project.

I keep hearing about this on WNYC. I am a fan of Studio 360, Kurt Anderson’s Peabody Award winning Sunday night radio show (is it still on Sunday night?). I guess I figured that he was taping Studio 360 from The Bell House but it seems that this is not an off-shoot of Studio 360. It’s something more akin to a Brooklyn-style Prarie Home Companion with comedy, music and general Brooklyn mayhem.

Kings County was created by WNYC’s Kurt Andersen (Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen) and Steve Bodow, co-executive producer ofThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart, with writing led by Paul Simms(The New Yorker, Flight of the Conchords, NewsRadio). The shows will spotlight incisive interviews, standup comedy and music performances with folks who emanate the spirit, if not the zip code, of the taste-making, hip-shaking borough.

This Sunday, June 24 at 7PM, Kurt Andersen and co-host performance artist Lucy Sexton welcome comedian Wyatt Cenac, the band Chairlift and a Top Secret Special Guest. It only costs ten bucks and then you may want to buy a beer or two at the bar. The Bell House is a real nice space.

I must say this sounds like fun and awesome exercise. Roller disco dancing at the Old Stone House on Saturday, June 23.

Is it gonna be like roller disco at the Roxy to “Heart of Glass” by Blondie?

Stop on by and find out. From  6 pm – 10 pm: Roller disco dancing, food and drink! All to benefit Piper Theater’s  production of “Xanadu” which will grace the park starting in July.

Meet at Old Stone House Terrace and 4th Street cul-de-sac. Crazy costumes encouraged, especially spangly stuff and white polyester. I’m assuming there will be skate rentals. Tickets $25 adults, $15 teens, $10 kids.

Read more and get your tickets here.

A few minutes ago I got a phone call from a photographer by the name of Gloria Golden who recently published a book called, Brooklyn Revisited: My Journey Back (Outskirts Press).

Golden was born in Brooklyn but now lives on Long Island. While on a sabbatical leave from teaching, she studied photography with Jules Allen at Queensborough Community College. Golden’s studies continued at the International Center for Photography in Manhattan, as well as courses in Woodstock, Maine, and Santa Fe.

Then she came back to Brooklyn in order to revisit places “blurred by time.” She writes, “It brought me to the realization that I have come full circle. My daughter moved to an apartment within a short distance of the home where I was born. Brooklyn is new again, and I gave myself a gift. . . photographing all the streets and neighborhoods stored in my memory.”

And that’s what she’s done. The book is a collection of these photos, which are quite striking. There are also short poems like this one about the building she lived in as a child on DeKalb Avenue. I think that’s the building pictured on the cover of the book.

I was born here
And so were my sisters
I remembered this address
But the building seemed
So much smaller to me
And I truly understood
How memory can be distorted
Through a child’s eyes

Check out what’s happening with  Make Music NY in Park Slope tomorrow. It’s meant to be very hot. But no worries: the music will be cool.

–Beer Table (Jazz)
427 7TH AVE
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord

–Fifth Estate Bar (rock)

506 5TH AVE
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM 212th and Hillside

Warren/St. Marks Community Garden

96 ST MARKS PL (Classical)
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Bella Voce Singers

Washington Park (JJ Byrne)
5TH AVE AND 4TH ST

If you’re wondering, Park Slope’s Famous Accordion Orchestra is playing in Manhattan.

My neighbor Bob Goldberg is particpating in this as he does every year. His group, Famous Accordion Orcehstra will be playing Terry Riley’s Music in C as part of this six-year-old event.

Make Music New York, “the largest music event ever to grace Gotham” (Metro New York), is a unique festival of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, all on June 21st, the first day of summer. MMNY takes place simultaneously with similar festivities in more than 460 cities around the world — a global celebration of music making.

It all happens on Thursday, September 21. The first day of summer. Lovely. And it’s going to be a hot day.

Gail Albert Halaban is a photographer but she’s also a voyeur and she’s always been. At least that’s what she says in the essay in her new book, Out My Window.

She writes: “The Manhattan apartment where I grew up faces hundreds of windows, each providing its own show.”

I can so relate. I grew up in a ninth floor apartment with a telescope and binoculars. Which isn’t to say that we spied on people. Not exactly. We just enjoyed peering at our across the street neighbors on West Eighty Fifth Street. Especially the guy who used to sit on the fire escape naked with an umbrella.

Halaban is noted for her large-scale photographs of women and exhibitions called  “About Thirty” and “This Stage of Motherhood.”

The picture are interesting because they capture the small scale view of people  through the frame of their windows. It’s very evocative of living in New York and staring out absentmindedly at the world within windows.

The book happens to be published by Powerhouse Books in DUMBO. It’s coming out in October.

I just found out that the Oxford English Dictionary, that venerable doorstop sitting on my desk, has a blog. The OED calls itself the definitive record of the English language and the type is so small you need a magnifying glass to read it.

Started 150 years ago, the OED features the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world. You will find the history of individual words, and of the language.

The OED blog will have regularly updated articles, competitions, grammar tips, interactive features, games, and more…

I heard about Liz NYC, a photo blog (8 million stories, one photograph at a time) from a “friend” on Facebook and decided to take a look. I liked what I saw. The photos are interesting, she posts them big, and I especially like the titles of the shots. Hey, it’s a photo a day blog about NYC. Right up my alley. This picture to the left is called Pensive. I think he’s a barista at a cafe I go to in Clinton Hill.  The photographer writes:

“You can’t walk outside in New York City without seeing some amazing people. It’s one of the great pleasures of living here. My goal is to meet and shoot one of these amazing people every day, for 365 days. Whenever possible, I hope to talk my subjects a little bit, and get some sense of who they are.”

Here’s your chance to experience the Gowanus Ballroom. June 29 through July 7, there’s an art show with performances:

To the Stars on the Wings of an Eel is the name of the show and it “offers a chance to explore the urban unconscious of the Gowanus, to reimagine the past, decipher the present, and envision possible futures. Artists working in the neighborhood––some long-time fixtures, others recent arrivals––are breathing new life into a once stagnant and decaying quarter.

Join us as we transform the

Gowanus Ballroom, itself a former steel mill built in the nineteenth century, aims to “remap psychogeographies and investigating mysteries of the canal and surrounding areas. By exploring real and imagined tales of the past, we pursue today’s dreams and become the myth-makers of tomorrow.”

55 9th Street

Check their website for directions. It’s not easy to find.

I saw Moonrise Kingdom the weekend it came out, when it was only playing at two theaters in New York City. It was packed at the UA Union Square Stadium where it was playing every hour. Packed.

In a world where movies and TV shows are instantly available through Netflix and Hulu on your very own laptop or home television, it’s a delight to actually want to see a film in a movie theater. And this was one I wanted to see on a big movie screen,  the old fashioned way.

Now Moonrise Kingdom is playing at BAM and while it might be crowded it won’t be as crowded as it was that first weekend.

Some people find Wes Anderson prescious, twee and just this side of annoying. But I love him because his films are such enchanted and imaginative creations. Little doll house worlds that are so compelling.

This one is a beautiful, strange, fairy tale with two unknowns and Francis McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Bruce Willis. Need I say more? AO Scott called it one of Anderson’s “supreme achievements” and it’s been garnering good reviews all around.

This is Anderson’s first film since the The Fantastic Mr. Fox and it follows the budding romance of two 12-year-old runaways; the boy is attending a Boy Scout jamboree and the girl lives on the same island as the camp. It’s lyrical, weird, funny, romantic and beautifully imagined world visually and musically.

I say go. It’s at BAM.

Bloomsday is June 16th and it is an annual celebration of the  day that James Joyce’s Ulysses’ takes place. The book’s protagonist is Leopold Bloom.

I grew up with this Berenice Abbott portrait of James Joyce. A framed print of it was in one of the bathrooms (we actually had 3) of my family’s apartment. Before I knew who James Joyce or Ulysses was, I thought he was a  relative or an old family friend.

Why not? We had a portrait of him in the bathroom.

My father was a bit of a Joyce afficianado and of course they both loved photography.

For a couple of years my friend Michele Madigan Sommerville organized a Bloomsday reading at Ciol, a pub on Smith Street. It wasn’t a start to finish reading of Ulysses (all 265,000 words  (like they do at Symphony Space) but a reading of various exceprts and it lasted a few hours and was accompanied by mugs of beer and the like.

This year on June 16th there will be a Bloomsday in Brooklyn pub crawl. There will be Irish music, readings from Ulysses at every stop, as well as food and drink. Even the Old Stone House is getting in on the act! The other participating pubs and non-pubs are:

The Black Sheep Pub

Union Hall

Benchmark

The Old Stone House

Jackie’s Fifth Amendment

Smith’s Tavern

The great jazz pianist Gerri Allen and the acclaimed video artist Carrie Mae Weems are teaming up for a special world premiere commission at Celebrate Brooklyn on Saturday, June 16. Gates open at 7PM.

The work is called, Slow Fade to Black and it combines Weems’ projections with Allen’s music featuring Allen’s new trio with fellow jazz giants Esperanza Spalding and Terri Lyne Carrington and many more musicians.

Weems is set to have a  three-decade retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in the fall of 2013, explores issues of gender, race, and identity in her work.

On Saturday night, watch as live performance and video comingle in ways hat sound intriguing.

Father’s Day is just a few days away and if your father is no longer alive, the day can be fraught with feelings of absence and pain.

My father died four years ago at the age of 79, and I still think about him every day. While I have many pictures of him, sometimes I just wish I could see him rub his hands together the way he did before he came to the punch line of a joke.

And what I wouldn’t give to hear him tell the one about…

It was Father’s Day that inspired filmmakers Betsy Reid and Ken Ross to start their new business, Legacy Portrait Films, a company that “captures and preserves the ones we love on film.”

“The inspiration for this company came for me because both of my parent died without my ever having a chance to do a film of them that I would be able to look at when they were gone,” Betsy told me in an interview over the phone. She lives in Carroll Gardens.

Betsy and Ken are experienced filmmakers with many projects to their credit, including documentaries, independent experimental films, commercials, music videos and TV shows. Their work has appeared on ABC, HBO, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, and PBS.

They both bring their love of film portraiture to their work, as well as a deep interest in the ways that people are remembered. As a business, Legacy Portrait Films is straight from the heart and something they truly believe in.

“You get to see and hear them and not just look at a photograph,'” Betsy told me “I didn’t get to have it and I wish I had.”

The two filmmakers work closely with clients to create their Legacy Portrait Film, which is at its core a filmed conversation. The two filmmakers are especially adept at creating a comfortable, safe interview environment that serves to elicit genuine, lively and heartfelt responses.

In their Legacy Portraits, Betsy and Ken hope to capture the specificity of the person the film is about. “”We preserve their smile, a song, a gesture…as well as stories, advice, wisdom and humor,” Ken told me.

Years ago my son interviewed my father on video for a school project about the advertising business. My father spoke candidly and told many fun and funny stories for my son. I don’t know where that interview tape  is and I wish so much that I did.

If my father was alive I would do a Legacy Portrait Film of him. For sure.

Artist Nicole Dextras created three of these plant and flower dresses for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Spring Gala and After Party. To make these luscious creations, she starts with fabric base and then layers on  live moss, leaves, grasses, roses, and hydrangeas.

Hydrangeas.

My friend Dede of DPK Designs (event planning and design with flair), was helping her out with these and she posted this picture on Facebook. There are more pictures at the BBG website. There are still tickets to the After Party. Not sure about the Gala. But you can check at the website.

I remember bits and pieces of 1999. We had a big Y2K bash out in California and celebrated with a Balthazar of champagne and sparklers. People thought the technology grid was going to collapse or there would be some other catastrophe.

Nothing happened.

It was, however, a great year for movies. We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary by going to see Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut which opened on Friday, July 16, 1999 at the Ziegfield in Manhattan. Other films that opened that year: Magnolia, Being John Malkovich, Toy Story 2, The Matrix, and All About My Mother by Pedro Almodovar.

On Friday, June 29th from 10PM until 3Am, The Bell House is resuming  its Party Like It’s 1999 series with a Sleepless in June Edition. Sleepless in Seattle was a 1993  film but hey:

The last weekend of June in 1993 saw people around the country flocking to theaters to see Tom Hanks find love with Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle. We’ll mark the occasion by spinning the best rock, pop, R&B and hip-hop that could inspire your own romantic comedy with a significant other — or perhaps someone you just met that night — in the Frontier Room for free!

(Just don’t expect us to meet you on top of the Empire State Building. We don’t like heights. Or The Heights, honestly.)

It’s strange to be the mother of a 21-year-old man. I am in awe of his youth, his talent, his intelligence, his height, his looks, his charisma.

How to be the mom of a 21-year-old?

I am learning to let go and let him be. It’s hard to do. He’s his own person now. Well, he’s always been his own person. But he’s officially his own person now.

I try not to smother him with affection, attention and concern. That said, I’ll always be the fixing, nagging, kvelling mom. And yet, it’s his turn now to make his life happen.

He’s making his own life now.

Like many kids these days, he’s living at home. I think we co-exist nicely. He’s not in my way, I try not to be in his way. We try to respect each other.

On his birthday I remember his beginnings: I had to stay in bed for five-and-a-half months (pre-term labor). The nurse shouted out, “He’s cute!” when he came out. The gentle, tender way my husband held him as the doctor sewed up my C-section.

The love that was instant and forever.

So many years between then and now. So much much to savor and adore. So much more to say but not saying it might just be the best gift I could give him.

He’s 21 after all.

Everyone is alone.

Yup. That seemed to be the message of the finale of Mad Men’s fifth season. The last scene of the episode had Don Draper ordering an Old Fashioned at a bar. A young blonde woman at the bar asks, “Are you alone?”

Cut. We won’t know Don’s answer until Season Six. But we do know that the end title music was “You Only Live Twice,” the James Bond classic.

Some of the Monday Mad Men recaps are saying that Don is returning to his old ways (he ordered an Old Fashioned after all).

Other characters were seen alone at the end of the episode, too. Peggy alone in a hotel room, peeks out the window and sees two dogs mating.

Roger standing naked by a window, looking like he’s about to fly. Tripping on LSD all alone.

Pete in Trudy’s arms. She’s just told him that he needs his own place in the city after he comes home bruised from the fight on the train.

Pete’s love interest Beth undergoes shock therapy treatment and Pete visits her in the hospital (after a brief tryst at a hotel the day before). She doesn’t recognize him because her memory has been wiped away by the treatment. After a season of Pete the A-hole, he’s really quite compelling in the hospital room scene, as he tells Beth about his “friend”;  his speech is a spectacular piece of writing.

“He needed to feel that … he knew something. “That all this aging was worth something.”

Whoa.

Some people are calling the finale tame but I think it was a slow, steady burn into the hiatus leaving us with lots to think about after an incredible fifth season.

The Brooklyn Museum is reaching out to all artists in Brooklyn (with studios) with an interesting new crowd sourcing project called GO.

I just heard about this today. My friend Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times is helping to organize this. It’s called GO and it’s sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn-based artists are being encouraged to open their studios to the community on September 8–9, 2012.

Curator Sharon Matt Atkins had this to say on the Brooklyn Museum blog: “We wondered if there was a way to reach even more artists and to give the public greater access to Brooklyn artists. The Brooklyn Arts Council registry alone lists 6254 artists working here—too vast a number to be able to approach. We needed to figure out a way to access more of the great talent right here in our neighborhood (albeit an 81.8 square mile one!). At the same time, we also want to give the community a voice in the process and to see whose work you find interesting.”

Hello: GO.

This weekend long event is a combination Brooklyn-wide open studio weekend and contest to decide who should be included in an art show at the Museum. The ten artists with the most nominations will receive studio visits from Brooklyn Museum curators.  Two or more nominated artists will be chosen by the curators to have their work displayed as part of a Brooklyn Museum group exhibition opening at Target First Saturday on December 1, 2012

Talk about crowd sourcing.

If you’re an artist, you can get involved. If you just like looking at art, you can get involved, too.

And here’s how it works. On your mark, get set, GO:

–Community members registered as voters will visit studios and nominate artists for inclusion in a group exhibition to open at the Brooklyn Museum on Target First Saturday, December 1, 2012.

–Artist registration begins online June 4, 2012, and ends June 29, 2012. To participate, artists must have a studio in Brooklyn and be present during the open studio weekend, September 8–9, 2012.

–During the open studio weekend, voters will visit your studio and check in using text messaging, the GO mobile app, or the GO mobile website by entering a unique number identifying your studio.

–After voters have checked in to at least five studios, they will be eligible to nominate three artists from their visits for inclusion in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

–The ten artists with the most nominations will receive studio visits from Brooklyn Museum curators. Two or more nominated artists will be chosen by the curators to have their work displayed as part of a Brooklyn Museum group exhibition opening at Target First Saturday on December 1, 2012

I think I got pulled into some kind of Facebook meme. A friend put up a post about prayer (the friend happens to be a minister). He wrote that a friend had asked him to post it as a profile message for an hour. I’m guessing it was a friend of a friend of a friend of a…

So I put it up. Which isn’t to say that the words didn’t move me because they did. It began:

A friend asked that folks post this as a profile message for an hour: My friends (including me) who are going through some issues right now: Let’s start a prayer avalanche. We all need prayers right now. If I don’t see your name, I’ll understand.

But it was also a  little weird (If I don’t see your name, I’ll understand).

Still, I put it up as my status and immediately got responses from my friends. More than a few. It was from people I don’t usually hear from. They sent words of support my way. I had the sense that they thought something was going on in my life that rendered me in need of prayer. I felt sort of funny about  it. I would never ask people to pray for me and yet…

I Am With You, But I Really Don’t Know How To Repost On My Phone. We Are In need Of Prayer Also. This Is To Let You, And Everybody Know You have My Prayers.

Sending Love & Light!

Will pray and light a candle, it helps! I do care for you Louise, you are a great mom, …

Don’t know anyone who couldn’t use this.

I was touched by the response. A request for prayer really does touch others. I have my own way of praying and I certainly pray from time to time. I think of meditation as prayer. I’m not exactly sure who or what I am praying to but I am praying. I am reaching out to something larger than myself, larger than this reality, reaching towards something sacred…

Here’s the rest of what I think is a Facebook meme.

May I ask my “FB Family” wherever you may be to kindly copy, paste and share this status for one hour to give a prayer of support to all those who have family problems, health, struggles, worries and just need to know that someone cares. Do it for all of us for nobody is immune. I hope to see this on the walls of all my friends just for moral support. I know some will!! I did it for a friend and you can too. Share some faith, love, and spiritual healing for all in need. Thank you