Hop on over to Fifth Avenue this Sunday for the Fabulous Fifth Avenue Fair.

That’s right, the action begins on Sunday May 18 all along Fifth Avenue from Sterling to 12th St. 11 am – 7pm.

It’s a crazy, crazy crowded event that still has a great neighborhood vibe even if it has plenty of the generic street fair stuff (zepploe trucks, socks, weird brooms, etc). But hey, that’s a NYC street fair.

I wouldn’t miss it for the world (and never have).

There’s loads of local character and stands from all the great Fifth Avenue shops and restaurants we love. Best of all, it’s a great day for running into friends. So be there or be square. Here are some highlights.

Local Crafts & Artists (Berkeley to Third Streets)

Dine outside with Fabulous food from your favorite Fifth Avenue Restaurants, including Stone Park Cafe, Blue Ribbon, and others.

There’s the Puppetry Arts Theatre, where kids can make fun puppets ( 2nd & 3rd sts.) and that groovy Antique Car Show, where you can vote for your favorite (1st & Garfield)

This year there’s a M.S. 51 Flea Market & Talent Show ( 4th & 5th Sts.) and of course there are those kiddie rides between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Shop your favorite Stores for Antiques, Gifts, Apparel, Jewelry and more and enjoy live Music throughout.

Nancy Nancy, which will be closing on May 23rd will be sharing her wares in front of her shop (near Carroll Street) on Fifth. Say good bye to Mary, owner of Nancy Nancy and find out what she’s up to next. Or you can read her blog.

Thanks to Bob and Judi, those cool boosters and pioneers of Fifth Avenue for keeping in touch.

Photos by Urch at Flickr

The portraits that Hugh Crawford took of Brooklyn bloggers (mostly) at the Brooklyn Blogfest are online now.

If you want to use a picture on your blog, leave a comment or email Hugh and he will contact you.

Prints are available at prices ranging from inexpensive to pretty expensive depending on size and quality at Smugmug.

If you’d like a fine art print of one of the pictures, please get in touch with Hugh:  hugh(at)hughcrawford(dot)com

The Brooklyn Blogfest started in 2006 as a joke. Sort of. I run Brooklyn Reading Works, a literary reading series and decided that it would be fun to do a reading dedicated to bloggers.

On the poster I called it the First Annual Brooklyn Blogfest. It really was kind of a joke. I made the poster in September but as the date got closer and closer, I realized, hey, I better organize this thing.

By then, there were quite a few bloggers. So it really was the first annual blog gathering.

Initially I thought it was going to be like these geeky computer conventions I used to go to with Hepcat back in the late 1980’s. He was a big Amiga Computer guy and we’d travel up and down the east coast (and even out west) attending these conventions, including Siggraph on one occasion.

The first Blogfest was geeky and fun. A bunch of bloggers in the upstairs room of the Old Stone House. And just about everyone there spoke and did sort of a show-and-tell. It was a very long evening but a fun one.

You could describe it this way: a meeting of co-conspirators, who had never met in person but had been following the activities of one another

There was barely anything to eat or drink because I didn’t expect too many people to come. I thought it would be like a poetry reading. I didn’t know any of the bloggers personally and who knew they’d all show up.

They did. In droves.

Brownstoner came incognito because he still had a day job. Gowanus Lounge introduced himself to the crowd. No Land Grab and Norman Oder were there, as was Lost and Found and the ever lovable Dave Kenny of Dope on the Slope, delivered a hilarious PowerPoint presentation about the evolution of blogging beginning with cave paintings.

Joe’s NYC and Travis Ruse both presented incredible slide shows of their work. I read the opening paragraph of "Only the Dead Know Brooklyn" by Thomas Wolfe, the story that inspired the name of my blog.

That, my friends, was the first Blogfest.

The second Blogfest was in 2007. A huge number of people crowded into the Old Stone House. Some people had to be turned away due to concerns about fire code regulations. The program was a bit more organized. It wasn’t quite the fun, free-for-all of that first year but a lot of interesting ideas were shared. Lumi Rolley, of No Land Grab, gave Norman Oder a superhero cape for for his his journalistic masterwork,  Steven Berlin Johnson, talked about place blogging, Pastor Daniel Meeter blessed the event with a dutch benediction, Brownstoner talked about quitting his day job.

Afterwards, some complained that there was too much about development and real estate. Too much about Atlantic Yards.

Everyone, however, loved that the party was sponsored by Partida Tequila. Getting them as a sponsor was a real coup. And people enjoyed the margaritas and the Mexican food.

This year was a whole other kettle of fish. I knew we had to get a bigger space and when I toured the Lyceum I was smitten by that big, historic building and the feeling of the performance space. I also noticed the huge screen and video projector and got it into my head that we could show video.

There were rental fees involved, which there never were at the Old Stone House (because of Brooklyn Reading Works). This was going to be a much bigger deal.

Thankfully, many people got involved and I even had a slew of co-producers/partners in crime, including, Eleanor Traubman and Mike Sorgatz of Creative Times, Petra Syrmister of Bed-Stuy Blog and Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn. Blue Barn Pictures volunteered to make a video and Morgan Pehme of Brooklyn Optimist put together a beautiful Tribute to Brooklyn’s photo bloggers.

Twenty or so bloggers showed up to set up before the show and it was a wonderful collaborative effort.

The presentation to my mind was diverse and interesting. There was a nice selection of bloggers, who brought up many interesting points about the lack of diversity both racial, economic and geographic. The videos were a high point, as was the Shout Out when more than 60 new bloggers got up to share their blogs with the crowd.

I got a variety of comments from people after Thursday’s Blogfest:

–quite a few people loved the event

–one blogger thought it was an exercise in self-congratulation and self-promotion.

–others found the ideas interesting

–one guy said there should be more readings from blogs and less speeches about blogs

–one guy said we shouldn’t charge for the event but should charge for the liquor; it should be a free event.

–someone said it just needs to be a party.

–others were inspired by the speakers and the shout-out; it made them feel like blogging.

All in all, it makes me wonder if there needs to be another blogfest and, if so, what the blogfest needs to be. A good question that I’m sure will be discussed in the coming weeks.

Whatever happens, it’s been a fun journey getting from that first one, which was conceived in jest to the third one which was a great collaboration and a thoughtful program and party.

Not surprisingly, there’s lots to read about the Blogfest.  I am feeling tired from last night so I swiped these links from Gowanus Lounge about the Blogfest. Thanks Bob (I knew you’d understand).

· Brooklyn Blogfest [Reclaimed Home]
· Gratitude [New York Shitty]
· Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 [Sustainable Flatbush]
· Blogfest 2008 Coverage [Flatbush Gardener]
· Blogfest 08 Photoset [Flatbush Gardener/flickr]
· Brooklyn Blogfest is a Hit [Brooklyn Optimist]

Everyone had a lot to say.

Brooklyn Skeptic  wrote with her signature skepticism that the Blogfest was an exercise in self-absorption. She did, however, like the free beer. Angela Freeburg with NBC Universal made a short video and had a more upbeat take on the event.

Hundreds of bloggers came out to promote their blogs, discuss the
evolution of blogging, and network while munching on Mexican food,
sipping Brooklyn Beer, and indulging in sweets like wasabi brownies
provided by Brooklyn Fudge.The blog-fest enabled blogging pros
and new bloggers to discuss the blogosphere, a rapidly changing world
that covers everything from vegan food to hyper-local news.

Creative Times listed some of her personal highlights, including

The evening concluded with the Shout Out, where roughly 60 bloggers
from the audience came to the mics up front to introduce themselves.

People
stayed well past the ending of the program to dine on the donated
edible goodies, mingle, and get their portrait taken by Hugh Crawford
of No Words Daily Pix from Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.

A
personal highlight from Blogfest was being part of the team of bloggers
and non-bloggers who pulled together as Staff to make every aspect of
the event go well, from the food to the DJing, to the sound system. It
definitely takes a village to raise a Blogfest.

New York Shitty, who delivered a terrific speech at the Blogfest about her life as a blogger, seemed to enjoy the fest even if it was in Park Slope:

Anyone in the know will tell you schlepping one’s ass from Greenpoint
to Park Slope and back is no picnic. This usually entails taking the G
to F. Getting to the Brooklyn Lyceum is a bit more complicated. Do I
want to transfer at the 4th Avenue Station for the M(aybe) or R(arely)?
No, I have more faith in my feet than those trains, thank you very much,

All in all, a good time was had by all. Personally, I’d like to thank Gerritsen Beach for all his help during the clean up help at the end of the night. I am now, officially, a fan of his blog, which is dedicated to Gerritsen Beach Offering current news, links and reviews and not memories.  

Continue reading Reaction to the Blogfest →

Like a bride at her own wedding, Thursday night’s Brooklyn Blogfest at the Brooklyn Lyceum is mostly a blur for But it was also an incredible gathering of a vivacious "tribe" of New Yorkers.

Brooklyn bloggers.

As I said in the Blogfest video by Blue Barn Pictures, Brooklyn bloggers are a smart, ambitious, entrepreneurial, creative, opinionated and enthusiastic group and they’re a lot of fun to hang out with.

The Blogfest back story is just as fun as the event. For months, there’s been lots of  behind-the-scenes planning and organizing by a large group of bloggers drawn from the Brooklyn Blogade, an constantly expanding group of bloggers who meet monthly all over Brooklyn. My co-producers Eleanor Traubman and Mike Sorgatz of Creative Times, Adrian Kinloch and Petra Symister deserve the lion’s share of the credit (their links are below). 

20 bloggers showed up at 6 p.m. to do whatever needed to be done. Bloggers set up video equipment, chairs, tables, food, beer; they made name tags, signs, manned the money table and more. It was a sight to behold.

You can be sure they did it with gusto. I thank them all. 

When Amanda from Brooklyn Fudge showed up with her signage and her pretty cake plates I wanted to kiss her. She helped set up the "hospitality area" along with Angela of Red Mango Bakery, the folks behind much of the vegan baked goods at many Brooklyn cafes and Danielle of Habeas Brulee who runs Jack, an occasional restaurant that is open for one seating per night every other week or so.

I was equally thrilled when Bierkraft delivered the 17 cases of beer, that were paid for by Outside.in, the company that is fast becoming an essential resource for place bloggers.

Pre-show, I had no idea what to expect. On Thursday I started to get the feeling that the event might be well-attended. But I also had my doubts. I always have doubts and lots of worry.

What if nobody comes?

By 8 p.m. I knew we’d have a crowd. A very good crowd.

As is often the case at special events, there were some pre-show technical challenges (video, ah video). Still thanks to a great crew spear-headed by Adrian Kinloch (Brit in Brooklyn), Morgan Pehme (Brooklyn Optimist), the guys from Blue Barn Pictures and two incredibly helpful guys from the Brooklyn Lyceum, we were ready to go by 8:20 or so.

While the crowd filed into the downstairs performance space, that used to be a bath, DJ Solo P from Groovalicious Entertainment entertained the crowd with a great selection of groovalicious music including calypso favorites and other fun stuff.

The Lyceum was full of friends and strangers when the video, Place Matters; Blogging My World filled the enormous screen.

Blue Barn’s video was, as expected, fantastic and it contained the biggest talking heads in High Definition video you’ve ever seen, who conveyed something of the feisty spiritedness of the small group of Brooklyn bloggers, who were interviewed.

The video, which included an appearance by NY Shitty’s mascot, Hannah the Hardhat, was followed by short, consistently interesting speeches by a diverse group of bloggers and journalists:

Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times spoke about the community that formed around the planning of Blogfest

Petra Symister of Bed-Stuy Blog, spoke about the need for diversity in the Brooklyn blogosphere, especially in the realm of place blogs, which, she said, are very homgenious in terms of race and economic class.

Greg Sutton, Megan Donis and Narina from Brooklyn Community Access Television spoke about their new series, A Walk Around the Blog and showed a short trailer.

Miss Heather of the blog, New York Shitty talked about the interactivity of blogging, "I am not merely putting something out in
the world for people to read. My blog is not a monologue; it is a
dialog with my readership," she said.

"Keep the dead rat stories coming," she said in closing.

Gowanus Lounge’s Robert Guskind, in his sonorous, low radio announcer’s voice, suggested that the word blog has less and less meaning because there is so much unique content online. He urged those who are "thinking about starting a blog to stop thinking about it and to start doing it." especially in underblogged areas like Sheepshead Bay and Sunset Park.

WNYC talk radio host and recent winner of a Peabody Award, Brian Lehrer, appeared in a video personally reaching to bloggers to send stories for his CUNY-television weekly news show. After Lehrer’s clip, Gersh Kuntzman, editor of the Brooklyn Paper, wondered aloud about the future of blogging and the destructiveness of mean-spirited blog comments.

Heather Johnston, producer of a wonderful food blog called sogood.tv talked about her evolution as a video blogger and delivered the Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers.

Big gratitude to Morgan Pehme of Brooklyn Optimist for his  Tribute to Brooklyn’s Photo Bloggers, a montage of photographs by some of the best, including Fading Ad Blog,  Joe’s NYC, Flatbush Gardener, Bed-Stuy Banana, Park Slope Street Photography, No Words Daily Pix, Brit in Brooklyn, Forgotten NY and many more. All I can say is WOW. It was a beautiful tribute to these hardworking and creative folks, who are capturing what’s going on on the streets and skylines of Brooklyn.

Chris Kreussling of Flatbush Gardener talked about the Brooklyn Blogade as an opportunity to attach a face to a blog at monthly meet ups. This group is constantly looking for new recruits: those who blog and
those who are thinking about blogging. The next one is on June 22 at
noon at Root Hill Cafe on Carroll Street and Fourth Avenue. Come one,
come all.

Finally, Rob Lenihan, the wonderful blogger behind the very well written Luna Park Gazette, told the crowd it was time for the Shout Out, everyone’s chance to announce their blog to the world.

Imagine my surprise when 50 or more people lined up for the microphones. Thank goodness  we had that timer/buzzer with us (operated by my daughter).

In the next few days I will post a list of all the bloggers who did the shout out; it was a high point of a great evening.

The party and the schmoozing went on until around midnight. A good time was had by all. For me it’s a bit of a adrenaline blur.

But I loved it. I really did. More thoughts to come…

Pix by Flatbush Gardener

If you order soon from the Brooklyn Blogfest Shop you can have this lovely Blogfest T-shirt with a cool logo design by award winning designer Elizabeth Reagh of Brooklyn’s Good Form Design.

Get back to basics with the Brooklyn Blogfest Value T-Shirt. Enjoy a great look and fit
at a reasonable price.

The Brooklyn Blogfest Value T is made of cool, midweight 100%
cotton and is perfect for casual summer days.

• Midweight 100% cotton
• Standard fit

Have you seen the 30-second promo for the Brooklyn Blogfest yet?

The video was produced by Blue Barn Pictures, an international multimedia production company located in DUMBO. 

At the heart of Blue Barn are producer/directors, David Castillo, Jim Farmer and a dedicated production staff committed to delivering projects with expertise and vision. .

Blue Barn has traveled around the world to work on projects for a variety of clients.

They’re a real interesting group of people. They spent an entire day interviewing 25 Brooklyn bloggers in their DUMBO studio on high definition video.

Currently they’re editing a 4-minute version of those interviews. That video will be called: Place Matters; Blogging My World and will premiere at the Blogfest on May 8th at 8 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum. 227 Fourth Avenue just steps from the R train’s Union Street station.

But for now, check out the 30-second Blogfest promo and see what good work they do over at Blue Barn Pictures.

The Brooklyn Blogfest is an annual gathering of bloggers, blog readers, those interested in blogging and those passionate about Brooklyn.

This year’s event is at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Fourth Avenue and President Street just steps from the R train’s Union Street station.

Come one, come all. There’s a suggested donation of $10 and only $5 for students. There will be light refreshments and other goodies from Maria’s Mexican Bistro, Red Mango Bakery, Brooklyn Fudge, and beer courtesy of Outside.in

Blue Barn Pictures is also a sponsor of the Blogfest.

The 90-minute program also includes the annual Shout Out, a chance for new bloggers to spread the word about their blogs to the world. Afterwards there will be plenty of time for networking, beer and conversation.

Here’s the line-up for the program. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Video: Place Matters: Blogging My World by Blue Barn Pictures

Speaker: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (Louise Crawford)

Speaker: Creative Times (Eleanor Traubman)

Speaker: Bed-Stuy Blog (Petra S.)

Video: A Walk Around the Blog Promo by Brooklyn Independent Television

Speaker: New York Shitty (Miss Heather)

Speaker: Gowanus Lounge (Robert Guskind)

Video: A Word from WNYC’s Brian Lehrer

Speaker: Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers presented by So Good (Heather Johnson)

Speaker: Top Ten Tips for Photo Bloggers presented by Brit in Brooklyn (Adrian Kinloch)

Video: Tribute to Brooklyn’s Photo Bloggers (produced by Brooklyn Optimist)

Speaker: Bloggers Reach Out: The Brooklyn Blogade presented by Flatbush Gardener (Chris)

The Shout-Out: Introduced by Luna Park Gazette (Rob Lenihan)

For information about the Blogfest as it develops, go to www.otbkb.com/the_brooklyn_blogfest. See that logo that says Brooklyn Blogfest on the right hand side of this page. Just click on that.

Over there you’ll find all kinds of info about the Blogfest. If you have more questions, get in touch with me, Louise Crawford at my email: louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Here are the basics:

Date/Time: May 8, at 8 p.m.

All are invited, no need to RSVP or get tickets. The Lyceum holds 300. Everyone welcome, bloggers and non-bloggers alike. It’s for those who blog, who read blogs, who are interested in blogs, and/or passionate about Brooklyn.

Location: The Brooklyn Lyceum at 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street in Park Slope. Just steps from the R train’s Union Street Station.

Suggested donation is $10 and $5 for students to offset costs of this big event.

The program will last approximately 90-minutes. Afterwards there will be ample time for beer, snacks, conversation and networking.

See you at the Blogfest!

Join Brooklyn’s blogging community at the Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on May 8th at 8 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum.

From my vantage point, the planning of this event has been an amazing coming together of all the smart, creative, and collaborative energy of the Brooklyn blog community!

Thanks to Creative Times, Michael Sorgatz, Bed Stuy Blog, Brooklyn Optimist, Gowanus Lounge, Brit in Brooklyn, Blue Barn Pictures, Habeas Brulee, Outside.in and many more, this will be the best Blogfest yet.

And don’t forget, this event is for bloggers, fans of bloggers, and people who wanna blog.

Find out why Brooklyn is the bloggiest place in the United States at the Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on May 8th at 8 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum at 270 Fourth Avenue (at President Street) in Park Slope.

“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” wrote Sewell Chan in the New York Times last year.

The blogfest is an event for bloggers and non-bloggers alike and it brings together citizen journalists, place bloggers, photo bloggers, special interest bloggers, and the creative, quirky, and personal bloggers that make the Brooklyn Blogosphere such a fascinating place to be.

Come hear: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Creative Times, Bed-Stuy Blog, Gowanus Lounge, New York Shitty, Flatbush Gardener, and Luna Park Gazette.

Special features include a video by Blue Barn Pictures, a salute to Brooklyn’s photo bloggers, Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers plus a special message from WNYC radio talk show host Brian Lehrer and promo for Brooklyn Independent Televisions, A Walk Around the Blog.

Learn about blogging; be inspired to blog. Best of all, participate in the annual SHOUT-OUT: A chance to share YOUR blog with the world!

Plans for the Brooklyn Blogfest are afoot and OTBKB just met with Brit in Brooklyn about the audio/video aspects of the Blogfest.

Brit in Brooklyn is the Blogfest’s AV guy! How cool is that?

He will also be putting together a Top Ten Tips for Photo Bloggers that will be a takeaway at the Blogfest. There will also be a Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers takeaway.

Brit in Brooklyn really knows the photo blogging turf and has lots of great advice. I really look forward to seeing what he comes up with.

Just to be clear: Bloggers and non-bloggers alike are welcome at the Blogfest, a public event for one and all, on May 8th at 8 p.m.

The Lyceum is BIG and we can hopefully accomodate everyone who wants to be there.

Come to the Brooklyn Blogfest and find out why Brooklyn is the bloggiest place in the United States at the Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on May 8th at 8 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum at 227 Fourth Avenue (at President Street) in Park Slope.

“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” wrote Sewell Chan in the New York Times last year.

An event for bloggers and non-bloggers alike, the Blogfest brings together citizen journalists, place bloggers, photo bloggers, special interest bloggers, and the creative, quirky, and personal bloggers that make the Brooklyn Blogosphere such a fascinating place to be.

Come hear: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Creative Times, Bed-Stuy Blog, Gowanus Lounge, New York Shitty, Flatbush Gardener, and Luna Park Gazette.

Special features include a video by Blue Barn Pictures, a salute to Brooklyn’s photo bloggers, Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers plus special message from WNYC radio talk show host Brian Lehrer and a promo from Brooklyn Independent Television’s: A Walk Around the Blog.

Learn about blogging; be inspired to blog. Best of all, participate in the annual SHOUT-OUT: A chance to share YOUR blog with the world!

For additional information call or email: Louise Crawford at 71-288-4290 or louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

Find out why Brooklyn is the bloggiest place in the United States at the Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on May 8th at 8 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum at 270 Fourth Avenue (at President Street) in Park Slope.

An event for bloggers and non-bloggers alike, the Blogfest brings together citizen journalists, place bloggers, photo bloggers, special interest bloggers, and the creative, quirky, and personal bloggers that make the Brooklyn Blogosphere such a fascinating place to be.

Speakers include: Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Creative Times, Bed-Stuy Blog, Gowanus Lounge, New York Shitty, Flatbush Gardener, and Luna Park Gazette. Special features include a video by Blue Barn Pictures, a salute to Brooklyn’s photo bloggers and a special message from WNYC radio talk show host Brian Lehrer.

Special features include a video by Blue Barn Pictures, a salute to Brooklyn’s photo bloggers, Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers, and a special message from WNYC radio talk show host Brian Lehrer.

Learn about blogging; be inspired to Blog. Best of all, participate in the annual SHOUT-OUT: A chance to share your blog with the world!

Best of all, participate in the annual SHOUT-OUT: A chance to share your blog with the world!

For additional information, call or email: Louise Crawford at 718-288-4290 or louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

I just got word from Lisann of Found in Brooklyn that some of her collages will be in an art show at Vox Pop opening tonight:

Hey there….Last minute announcement I know but I’m
going to be in a group Art Show at Vox Pop in
Brooklyn. If you can’t make the opening which is
Thursday night from 7-10pm, try and swing
by during the month!

I will be featuring my “Debt Consolidations”,
assemblages made out of my cut up bills and credit
card offers. A paper shredder would of been easier but
I always seem to do things the hard way!!

Diaper Diva began her blog, Mama in Waiting, when she was waiting to adopt her daughter in Russia. That was in 2004. Her daughter is now a spunky three year old Park Sloper who attends pre-school, loves to dress up in princess costumes, play with her stuffed animals, and put together jigsaw puzzles.

Recently Diaper Diva decided to get back to blogging and is writing about the months leading up to the adoption and the trips she and her husband took to Russia before she forgets all the details. I will be running excerpts from her blog on OTBKB in serial form. Here is an early post from 2004 called, Letter to S, written months before their first meeting. I have decided to use initials instead of real names. DD uses real names on her blog.

Dear S:

I think about you all the time and hope that you are being well cared for, played with, hugged, snuggled and loved. It is very hard for us to know that you are there and we can’t come to meet you. We are saddened by this but know it will be very soon when we get to hold you ourselves.

Your father is very excited to meet you. He took a lot of time and thought in picking out your stroller – it’s quite comfy and we think you’re going to enjoy riding in it.

We also fixed up your room. We bought you a lot of beautiful furniture. A lovely crib that your father says looks like Noah’s ark; an armoire which is already filling up with adorable outfits for you; and a bookcase that is already filled with books from your Aunt and cousins. There are also some very cute stuffed animals, some of which have been given to you by your cousin A. Your grandmother gave you a nice panda bear and he is sitting on the shelf right now, waiting for you.

A enjoys coming over and playing in your room. Yesterday afternoon, she came over and put her stuffed dog Sandy in your crib. She also put a diaper on him and cut a hole for his tail. It was actually quite funny. I know that she loves you already. She gets very anxious when we talk about all the delays and the political issues surrounding the adoption. She says to me: “Stop talking, it’s boring…”.

I think she just wants you to be here already, as we all do.

Your room is so cozy. We hung a very cute paper mobile over your crib. Your grandmother has already knitted you a lovely and soft pink blanket. It’s one of the biggest knitting projects she has ever undertaken. She is almost finished. Perhaps we will bring it to Russia with us.

Until then, we will be thinking about you all the time and love you very much.

Today’s the day!

The video shoot for the Brooklyn Bloggers video is TODAY. Here are some video tips for participants from video producer, David Castillo, of Blue Barn Pictures. Call me if you don’t have a time slot for your interview: 718-288-4290

So you’re going to be filmed; there are a few things you will need to know in advance.

The Date: Saturday, March 29th (TODAY!)

Please refrain from wearing:

1.White clothing
2. Shirts with logos (Mickey Mouse, Rolling Stones, Nike, I love Dick Cheney or anyone who will sue). If you have a shirt with your blog’s name on it, please wear it.
3. No clothing with tight striped lines ( New Yorkers remember Crazy Eddie, we don’t want you looking like his blazer)
4. Please bring a spare shirt.
5. If you wear makeup, please do not apply it until you arrive, HD does not like make up. You can apply some make up here.

Directions to Blue Barn Pictures’ studio
F train to York station
Walk one block down Jay st
Make a left on Front St
The first door on your right 147 Front
Walk up one flight of stairs past the coffee shop
There will be someone to greet you at the lobby.

To confirm (if you haven’t already), change, or back out of this amazing project and be hunted down to the Queens border email louise_crawford(at)yahoo.com

Contact on the day of the shoot:
If you get lost, are running late, or just need a soothing voice please contact: Louise G. Crawford
cell: 718-288-4290

We look forward to seeing you all and having a lot of fun.

I can so relate to this post about parent/teacher conferences. Why, they’re a new urban team sport. It’s from My Sidewalk Chalk, which focuses on education.

In addition to navigating parent/teacher conferences, My Sidwalk Chalk blogger, Joyce Joyce Szuflita, consults with families who are looking for a good fit for their kids nursery school through high school, public or private. She knows Brownstone Brooklyn and she can help. 718 781-1928.

Let me explain the rules. You wait with hundreds of other parents in a giant shivering mass outside the school doors like it’s a Who concert with festival seating. (Imagine how those teachers feel, trapped inside with only an endless line of “issues” before them)

If you are an “elite” NUTS player like myself, you have a list of teachers and room numbers coded by location. In a school the size of Murrow, this is key. You race to the farthest room, sign your name on the list outside the door and repeat on all lists in the near vicinity. Then you send your husband who is having trouble reading the map to sign up on other floors. (This may be a tactical error)

If you are positioned outside the door when your name comes up on the list, you may go in and have your 3 minutes. If you arrive back to the classroom after your name has already been called you go to the end of the now endless list. The art of it is to fit in a couple of the less popular teachers between the majors.

The team who finishes all their conferences in the least amount of time gets to go home and have a stiff drink

!

Saturday night Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink was the place to be. GL’s got the pix, too:

Some history was made in Coney Island last night when Dianna Carlin opened her Dreamland Roller Rink in the landmarked Childs Building on the boardwalk. It was only the second public event the historic structure in the last half century. The building–which has been made available by Taconic Investment–was decorated in white lights and billowing pink and orange fabric. The event was sponsored by Glamour Magazine and Tommy Hilfiger, which provided money for the rink, courtesy of a contest that Ms. Carlin won. They were shooting a documentary about the project last night. A rink was set up in the middle of the building. Entertainment included what one would expect at a Coney event: hula hoop people, stilt walkers and a number of scantily clad performers. Singer Ashanti made an appearance, as did actress Marissa Tomei, who spent a lot of time on skates. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand for time, and most fixtures on the Coney Island scene, such as Coney Island USA’s Dick Zigun were there for a while. It was an excellent night

The Henrys in New York came to my attention yesterday.

The blog records the journey of the Henry family, who left a perfectly nice, ordered, well-connected life in arguably the world’s most liveable city, to relocate halfway around the world to live in arguably the world’s most exciting city.

Reading the blog I feel like I am experience Brooklyn for the very first time through the eyes of these hyper alert, hyper interesting bloggers from Melbourne.

They write about the Food Coop, JJ Byrne Park, the Brooklyn Museum, their first Easter in New York, even walking to work in Soho, which Mrs. Henry videotapes.

The blog is intended primarily as a letter back home and that’s why it has this open, descriptive and unabashedly enthusiastic vibe. Every post has an addendum called What I’m Loving, which is a shout out about a book, a place, a TV show, even a new taste sensation like eating their first Reuben sandwich. It’s a great feature.

Happy Easter to the Henry’s and welcome to the Brooklyn Blogworld. Here’s a post called How We Found Park Slope

Step 1: ask friends from Melbourne, living in NY since mid-2007, where families with young kids live.

Step 2: research said suburb’s proximity to future office, and map out potential commute.

Step 3: get a visual by hunting for clips on YouTube:

Step 4: start researching apartments on craigslist.com (from Melbourne) to get our eye in re prices, sizes, desirable streets

Step 5: continue to pick up leads on school zoning etc. Then fly there and ‘just do it’!

Today I’m Loving the prospect of watching ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ in 90 minutes, thanks to a free sidwwalk TV found this morning on my way to work (thanks to Mark who was still at home, picked up the phone then dashed around to nab it).

And if you’re a Brooklyn blogger, who’s been blogging for at least three months with some frequency you need to be part of it.

Here are the ‘tails:

The video shoot is on March 29th from 11 am until 7 pm at Blue Barn Pictures in DUMBO.

I met filmmaker David Castillo of Blue Barn at the recent Brooklyn Blogade brunch in Kensington. I liked his work, and immediately approached him about doing a short video for the Blogfest. He thought it was a great idea and we’ve been brainstorming about it ever since.

But we need your help. You gotta come and be interviewed on March 29th!

No, you don’t need to be there all day. Email me with a 90 minute time slot that works for you. There’s a wine bar in the building where everyone can wait for their close up and loosen up. my email: louise_crawford(at)yahoo.com

David Castillo of Blue Barn Pictures will interview you. All the interviews wil be edited together into a short, fabulous video for the Blogfest and elsewhere.

Do this for me. For OTBKB. For the Blogfest. For posterity.

Starting April 6, Brownstoner is launching a great new outdoor market called the Brooklyn Flea!

And Greenjeans , a wonderful shop that sells American handmade goods for conscious living at 449 Seventh Avenue in the South Slope, will be taking their show on the road.

Here’s the plan: The Flea will be held every Sunday
at the Bishop Loughlin High School schoolyard (on Lafayette Ave. btw.
Vanderbilt & Clermont Ave.) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of
Brooklyn.

Our plan is to bring work by different artisans every week. We’ll post the roster on the blog for you.

We’re excited that Greenjeans is coming out of the "box" and onto the street. Starting April 6th: you can find them at the Brooklyn Flea!

So Bob over at Gowanus Lounge got a reader tip about the name of the new Mexican restaurant going into the space vacated by Tempo Presto on Third Street and Seventh Avenue.

It’s Barrio. Read the tip over at GL.

The realtors call it Caton Park but Brenda at Crazy Stable coined another term: NoProPaSo, sounds like something Julie Andrews sings with the Von Trapp kids in the Sound of Music.

And she told it to a  New York Times reporter for Peaked Roofs, Crossed Fingers, an artcile about the landmarking of Victorian Flatbush in the City Section. Here’s her post about that article.

In this morning’s Times City Section, a full-page story
tells the tales of how many Victorian Flatbush enclaves yearn for
landmark status to avoid being pillaged by developers and scarred by
teardowns and high-rises. The CrazyStable’s little sliver of Flatbush,
Caton Park, is given a respectful and fairly accurate accounting:

Caton
Park, which sits just south of the Parade Grounds athletic fields, is
one of Victorian Flatbush’s smaller micro-neighborhoods, with about 50
Victorian homes on a handful of blocks. Its diminutive size means that
each house remodeled (or, as many in Victorian Flatbush like to say,
“re-muddled”) represents a blow to the neighborhood’s prospects for
preservation.

The reporter, Evan Lerner, gets it
slightly askew when he says thatWilliam Styron "lived in one of the
many large homes that were subsequently converted into boardinghouses"
(Styron lived on the corner in a home that had already been converted to a boardinghouse), but I quibble. Here is the gem:

Some
residents worry that too many homes have already been torn down or
remodeled beyond recognition. The neighborhood also has the
disadvantage of being the product of a number of different designers,
unlike some of the areas to the south. But these drawbacks
have not stopped the community’s more preservation-minded residents
from seeking to keep intact the area they call NoProPaSo (North of
Prospect Park South).

Gack! There is just one problem here: Absolutely
nobody on earth calls Caton Park NoProPaSo except…me. As a joke in
the blogosphere. A joke I shared,  with broad eye-rolling irony, with a
New York Times reporter.

Reclaimed Home, a great blog dedicated to low impact housing and renovation options for thrifty New Yorkers, now has weekly feature on affordable housing in the New York area.

RH is SO on a roll with this really "sticky" and useful idea that must keep readers coming back for more.

Today she’s got Upstate New York under $100K

Last week she did: 5 boro rentals: what you get for under $1,200.

And a few weeks back: Houses for under $500K in Brooklyn.

Take a break from Spitzermania and watch a video about a harbor seal.

According to Brownstoner, “a harbor seal made an “unusual” appearance on the rocks in the Harbor in Red Hook yesterday.”

There’s a video all about it from iReport, which features unedited, unfiltered news. Check it out.

Shelleytown, a blog by a Texan who recently moved to New York, provided this piece about Brighton Beach.

Even the sky was Russian.

At the end of the line, people from another world shuffle and saunter the streets of Brighton Beach, buying mysterious delights on the corners and in the brightly lit delis and tea shops. Everyone has a potato or meat-filled pastry to offer. Pink lips, rhinestones in the most unlikely locations, fur, fur and more fur. One furrier’s shop window even included a little stuffed dog wearing, of course, fur.

Out on the boardwalk, the water is the same color as the early evening sky, and as far away. The sand is flat and flat, the end of the world crossed with millions of tiny gull prints. A lone figure on the beach works a parasail, as if even he were somewhere else. The water must be cold. Old couples slowly make their way up and back, indistinguishable from each other. Do you take this man? Do you take this woman? A young ruffian whips by, hands-free, on a mountain bike, dangerously close to the boardwalkers, and nobody, including me, flinches.

Joyce of Bad Girl Blog had the idea to tell everyone to bring something to read.

Well, over at Old Brick Cafe Lounge, where we were wined and dined, every blogger in the room read something from their blog. And there was a lot of talent in the room.

In Crazy Daisy, Joyce tells the story of buying seeds from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. But things don’t turn out the way she expected.

Still, if you’ve given birth to the ugliest baby in town, that baby is yours and you planted its seed, so you’re going to love it no matter how ugly it is, right? That’s why I was so upset when I came home from work one evening, checked my flower beds as usual, and saw to my horror that more than half of my big ugly babies had been ripped right off their stalks and disappeared. Why, why, oh why would anybody want to attack my flowers? I felt sick and violated.

The gossip started to spread. I asked my fellow gardening committee members if they knew what had happened, and I talked to other neighbors in our building, who talked to other neighbors on our street. Kensington has a diverse population of people who come from many lands: Park Slope, Williamsburg, Chicagoland (that would be me), Poland, Russia, Uzbekistan, Albania, Israel, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mexico and the Caribbean. It’s a lively mix of immigrants, but we don’t always understand each other. There’s lots of gossip (but don’t just take my word for it–there’s a good sampling of local gossip on Kensington Blog.)

Finally, I talked to our super, Willie, who has lived in the neighborhood for years and years.

“Joyce, do you know what callaloo is?”

“Calla-who?”

“Callaloo. It’s a plant from the West Indies, and they make soup out of it. There were some ladies come by the other night and they took some of your plants to make soup.”

Willie and I looked at each other, and we laughed.

I went home and googled “callaloo,” of course, and here’s what I learned from wikipedia: “Callaloo (sometimes calaloo) is a Caribbean dish that is most popular in Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad & Tobago. Jamaicans are known to use callaloo in a plethora of dishes. The main ingredient is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth (known by many local names including callaloo or bhaji), or taro or Xanthosoma species (both known by many local names including callaloo, coco, tannia, or dasheen bush). Because the leaf vegetable used in some regions may be locally called ‘callaloo’ or ‘callaloo bush,’ some confusion can arise among the different vegetables and with the dish itself.”

Oh, there was confusion, all right. Mine. How the hell did my daisy seeds from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden give spawn to callaloo? Once I understood the misunderstanding, though, I went from feeling violated to highly amused, especially after my first-floor neighbor, I’ll call her Velma, told me that she saw those West Indian ladies sneak into our flower beds late one night to take the food I’d been growing. Velma and her dog are the self-designated eyes and ears of our building.

Velma called out to the ladies to ask what they were doing, and they explained that it was harvest time. They had been watching the callaloo’s growth, too, and figured they should collect some before the leaves and stalks got too tough. Velma chased them off anyway, saying they had no right to steal our plants–and they hadn’t even used scissors to cut them, they were just using their bare hands and pulling any old which way. She last saw the West Indian ladies running down the street, callaloo stalks in hand, their heads surely filled with plans for the pepper pot soup they were going to make. Here’s a recipe for it on the Jamaica Me Krazy web site: pepper pot soup

At Sunday’s Blogade Brunch, Found in Brooklyn read a terrific piece about the first time she marched in the Mermaid Parade:

I was married at the time and my husband who had a fantastic imagination, would always comment on the name “Harry Van Arsdale Jr.” every time we went past the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. exit on the Grand Central. In his mind, Harry Van Arsdale Jr. was an ascot wearing, martini drinking bon vivant who welcomed all the new Queens arrivals with a fresh martini. He was pro immigration. He knew that anyone who moved to Queens worked hard and deserved to relax and live the American Dream, as our families both did. “Welcome to Queens and join us for Happy Hour!”(I am not lying about this!) Hubby would be in Harry Van Arsdale character from that exit until at least we hit the Koskuisko Bridge. Somehow we came up with a plan that Harry would spread his good cheer to Brooklyn with a bunch of mermaids, me being one of them. Our theme developed as a good friend that got the whole Harry Van Arsdale concept decided to join us as -drum roll- Major. Deegan (Harry’s arch nemesis). Never mind that the two had absolutely nothing to do with each other in their actual lives. Harry Van Arsdale was actually a tough guy labor leader and Deegan was a tough guy Commisioner of Housing. One was from Queens the other from the Bronx (just like my parents!). It sounded good to us.

It was a festival of great writing at Sundays Blogade Brunch in Kensington. Here’s a selection from Luna Park Gazette.

On my first day as a student at Brooklyn Technical High School, I was so frightened I couldn’t enter the building.

I was terrified by this huge, forbidding structure that looked like a state prison and seemed to be inhaling students off the streets by the hundreds. I was scared of the Fort Greene neighborhood, so different in every possible way from my little enclave in Bay Ridge.

My father had given me a lift in his car that morning and he quickly sensed my anxiety—there was no way to miss it. Instead of getting angry or shouting “Be a man!” and kicking me out of the moving car, he took me for a spin around the block.

As other students went inside, we cruised in the vicinity of this massive fortress like a four-wheeled sputnik orbiting a distant planet. My father told jokes and stories to calm me down while I gripped the armrest to keep from jumping out the window and running all the way home.

People who live in this up and coming area today wouldn’t recognize the place it was in the seventies. There were burned out houses on every block, suspicious characters on every street corner and an amazing shortage of white people.

With my father’s help, I finally calmed down, got out of the car and started my high school education. It was a long time ago, and I like to think I handle could things better now, but I’ve never forgotten those warm-up laps around Fort Greene Place in my father’s car.

Today at the Brooklyn Blogade bruch at the great Old Brick Cafe Lounge in Kensington (East 5th Street and Church Avenue) our hostess, Joyce of Bad Girl Blog, asked everyone to bring something to read. Flatbush Gardener, who has been an organizing force behind the Brooklyn Blogade brunches, read this piece about other online communities he’s been part of.

There were these things called computer bulletin board services, BBS for short. Your computer told your modem the phone number of the BBS. Your modem dialed, their modem answered, and both modems connected with each other. Then your computer could talk to their computer. Directly. No Web, no Internet. Machino a machino. You could leave messages for other BBS members; the precursor of email. You could even chat with someone else who was also logged in; the precursor of IM today.

I was a member of a BBS based in New York City called The BackRoom. It was, as one might guess from the name, a gay BBS. It was an online community of gay men, mostly, living in NYC, mostly. We had handles, like CB radio users (1970s technology). My CB handle in the 1970s, 30+ years ago, was Green Thumb. My BackRoom handle was Crazy Diamond, after the Pink Floyd song, “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond.”We were an online community. A community of humpy nerds, of which I was one. We were not only virtual. We also met, face-to-face, at a periodic event called the Backroom Bash. Sometimes we met at a bar, sometimes at the home of a member or the Backroom founder and sysop, Art Kohn. We built community online, with handles and anonymity. We met in person, still with our handles, and less anonymity, and built community there as well. Our virtual community was enriched by our interactions in 3D, and vice versa.

Last night [the Blogfest] reminded me of that.