On Tuesday, November 25, at 8:30 am at Court and Montague Street in downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will be joined by Brooklyn elected officials and Gene Russianoff of NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign to blast the latest round of proposed fare hikes, as well as service cutbacks by the MTA that impact Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Eliminating the M and Z trains, cutting service on the G line, increasing wait times on the B, slashing weekend service on the 27 and 28 express bus lines while hiking express bus fares, reducing service on the B7, B48, B57, B65 and other bus routes, and increasing fares for Access-A-Ride would have a disastrous effect on elderly or disabled passengers and other hard-working Brooklynites.

Brooklyn holiday cards by Robert Brownstein of Objet De Carte have lovely and very graphic Park Slope and Prospect Park images.

Here’s a nice wrap up of the week’s news and views from Brooklyn Beat at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn. When you go over to the blog check out BB’s reading list. It astounds me how much this fellow reads.

Hillary is it, evidently trading her junior US Senator from NYC status for the Secretary of State, according to the NY TIMES:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/clinton-to-accept-secretary-of-state-job/?hp

Will
David Paterson be the next US Senator from NY (my speculation) in some
version of the Sarah Palin scenario described for US Senator Ted
Stevens (R- Alaska) before he was beaten at the polls. Reportedly,
Senator Chuck Schumer is seeking a less high profile junior Senator as
a replacement.

There was a very interesting interview with
Malcolm Gladwell last night on the Rachel Maddow Show (on MSNBC). The
author of Blink, the Tipping Point, and Outliers, found merit in the
President-elect’s selection of experienced Washington DC -hands, which
balances well with Mr. Obama’s own confident and intelligence which
will enable him to use these experienced Washington-hands (see "the
10,000 hour rule") as the levers to accomplish his plans.

See discussion here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#27831448

2025 – what the future holds for the US and the World, an intelligence report:

http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSN2041155720081120

The headline on yesterday’s daily news as the market dipped below 8,000 was both comic and tragic : "Only 7,997 to Go !"

Billion
dollar bailouts that go to corporations that spend the public mazuma on
massages and fine dining, while Detroit writhes… So we shouldn’t
enter the weekend without a little melancholy, as the tsunami of the
current world financial crisis begins to swell against the horizon,
like "The Last Wave," all we can do is keep breathing and wonder,
what’s next ?, a little reading:

Niall Ferguson on the whys and wherefores of the current mess/crisis, from December 2008 Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/12/banks200812

Mr. Ferguson in 2006, prescient wolf calls of inevitability in the night, VF, October 2006:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/10/empire200610

An enthusiastic audience at the Old Stone House enjoyed Thursday night’s reading of Michael Winks’ Baby Love. This Ionesco-esque one-act play is a thoroughly enjoyable and absurd take on contemporary parenting.

Winks describes the play as "an acerbic look at two self-absorbed parents who can’t be
bothered to tend to a cranky baby.  They trade him in for a "grownup" baby
who progresses in his development at such a speed, they hope to have
him off to college in a matter of months!"

Baby Love takes the audience on a wild ride and the trio of professional actors was more than up for the ridiculous fun.

Linda Larson, an experienced Broadway actor, was manic and humorous as a careerist turned stay at home  mom. 

Jim Stanek, who’s roles on Broadway include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Indiscretions and Lestat, gave a funny and wacky performance as a new dad loathe to give up his obsession with televised baseball.

Steve Insolera, who played the title role of the veterinarian in the OBIE award winning musical Corfax, Don’t Ask was perfect as Malcolm, the infant-man these parents get in exchange for their real baby.

Michael Winks is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s MFA playwriting program. His plays have been produced in Providence, Pittsburgh and New York and he has received playwriting grants from the state of Pennsylvania and from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation.  His plays, written for Miguel Paz, "Leaving La Paz" and "Mow, Blow and Go" will be read by the Sacramento Theater Company in January 2009.

Here’s an excerpt from Baby Love by Michael Winks.

HUSBAND
He came from your womb.

   WIFE
You sound awfully sure.

  HUSBAND
What’s that supposed to mean?

   WIFE
At
the hospital, you were out of the room while I was pushing.

   HUSBAND
So?

  WIFE
So
he came out…then they cleaned him up, took him to the nursery. I never got a good look at him, not
that I really wanted to at that point.

Even
if I had, it could have been a hallucination.

   HUSBAND
So then I went down to the nursery and they brought him out?

   WIFE
And
what did you see?

  HUSBAND
Baby, baby.

WIFE
And
what happened between the time they took him to the nursery and you got to see
him?

HUSBAND
You’re not saying?…

WIFE
Yep. The old switcheroo!

So my friend playwright Michael Winks, author of Baby Love, which was featured at Brooklyn Reading Works on Thursday night, says that Irondale Ensemble Project is cool. "The ensemble company has been around for years," he told me. "But they recently got their own space at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Ft. Greene."

This morning I got this email from Joseph McCarthy, development director for Irondale and he sent along this podcast of an interview with Terry Freiss, the executive director of Irondale, which provides an good, broad-ranging discussion of what they’re up to.

http://www.nytheatrecast.com/wordpress/archives/187

3,000 loyal readers are doing without Not Only Brooklyn, a free, twice (sometimes thrice)-weekly eNewsletter/tip sheet about cultural events in Brooklyn, because it has been temporarily shut down by AOL for unspecificed reasons.

The account was suddenly shut down on November 7th and Neil Feldman, who runs NOB with an urgent and single-minded sense of purpose and passion, tried to find out why he’s been blacklisted at AOL.

Feldman assumes that it’s probably a computer error and thinks the matter could be resolved quickly if he could just get someone on the phone

In the past, if there was a problem with his account, Feldman would contact the company’s Community Action Team, where he could speak to someone on the phone about a service problem.

No more. "That department has gone black box," says Feldman. That’s why he enlisted the help of Borough President Marty Markowitz, who responded swiftly to Feldman’s call for assistance in resolving this matter.   

A legal counsel for the Borough President’s Office did leave several messages at AOL, without any response. Now Feldman is wondering if it’s time to leave a message for Ron Grant, AOL’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

According to Feldman, thousands of people are being inconvenienced and Brooklyn cultural institutions are experiencing reduced patronage as long as the cancellation of NOB persists. 

"The whole situation is preposterous; it should take no more than five minutes for an AOL executive with authority to resolve.  And isn’t it ironic that AOL algorithms, not humans, shut down a much appreciated public service that the company should be proud chooses to use it?" Feldman wrote in an email.

Not Only Brooklyn is a discriminating and well-written tip sheet about arts events in, but not limited to, Brooklyn. The mission is clear: To bring more people to the arts, to bring the arts to more people. It’s a win-win for audience members and cultural institutions who are struggling during these tough economic times and don’t have big marketing budgets.

Feldman, whose newsletter is an unpaid labor of love, is rigorous in his efforts to keep abreast of  what’s going on in the music clubs, art galleries, performance spaces, and other cultural institutions in Brooklyn.

But for Feldman, the issue is even bigger than the temporary termination of his eNewsletter, a much appreciated free and non-commercial community resource, one that its users had all requested in writing. He asks:

"How is it that AOL allows its algorithms to terminate customer accounts without human oversight. And why AOL customers get no explanation or recourse, as AOL has removed and blocked the access to its Community Access Team that it did allow its customers until a few years ago."

Good questions all. Feldman hopes this matter will be resolved quickly  as he  is desperate to get back to work writing and researching NOB.

"This is my life," he told OTBKB. "This is what I do."

The Black List Project, a collaboration between photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and cultural critic, Elvis Mitchell, opened yesterday on the first floor of the Brooklyn Museum.

Striking.

Housed in an intimate exhibition space within the voluminous first floor space, 25 large-scale color portraits of a wide-range of subjects from the world of politics, arts, sports, religion and business makes quite an impression. In addition, flat screen monitors play selections from the HBO documentary that was made as part of this project.

The Black List includes dancer Bill T Jones (left), actor Chris Rock, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, sports legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actor Keenen Ivory Wayans, artist Lorna Simpson, Reverend Al Sharpton, playwright Suzan Lori-Parks, author Toni Morrison, author Zane and others.

I asked Mitchell, a former film critic at the New York Times and the host of the public radio show "The Treatment," who was at the press preview, "Why Brooklyn?"

"What better place," was his quick reply. "This museum has a commitment to the community of color that it is in."

Later he explained his motivation for doing this project.

"We created this for people like me, people who are curious about culture. I wanted to present a different take on African-American culture. Most images of African-Americans are reductive and archetypal. They are portrayed as victims. For this we wanted to show people who are not cowed by oppression, those who put destiny in their own hands. Those who have a sense of history and their place in it."

Making a list of this kind is always a challenge, especially when limited to only 25 names. Mitchell agreed but said that it actually wasn’t that hard to choose the people they wanted to put in this first iteration of the project (a second volume is already in the works).

"We want the The Black List Project to be a catalyst; we want people to say why didn’t you choose this person or that person," Mitchell told me.

In this way, The Black List Project opens the conversation and raises the question: Who’s missing and who else should be on it?

Indeed, there is one very conspicuous absence in the show. No Barack Obama. Mitchell and Sanders tried to get him but that was more than a year ago "at a time when he needed to raise $80,000 every hour that he was awake," Mitchell says.

Asked what he would say by way of an introduction to one of the many Brooklyn school groups that will attend the exhibition

"Anything is possible with drive, determination, and perseverance. Despite obstacles, you can’t be stopped because of the amount of your own energy."

Another installment from Michael Nolan’s Brooklyn memoir.

Proximity certainly contributed to how Harold Francis Nolan and Lena Zelda Porgoman (nee Pergament) met. Mom was a graduate of the Columbia College of Pharmacy and Dad had taken courses in chemistry at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. In the late 20s, they both found themselves working at Schieffelin & Company on the Bowery in lower Manhattan, just south of Cooper Union. Lena worked in the laboratory; Harold operated tablet machines.

As a young boy, when we would drive by the place in our 1936 Plymouth, my parents would point out the place to me. The sign out front read: "Schieffelin & Company, the oldest drug house in America. Founded 1794." Today, they are a major liquor distributor – so still in the same line of business of alleviating pain.

Lena and Harold were married in a quiet civil ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall on September 5, 1931. My Aunt Etta, my mom’s younger sister, was a witness. After the ceremony, Lena went home to live with her father Beryl, a baker, in Jersey City, and Harold with his parents, James and Rosanna, in Brooklyn, pending two additional ceremonies by a rabbi and a priest.

I have my parents’ correspondence from this period. Here’s an excerpt from a letter from my Dad to my Mom on Sept. 17, 1931. They’re married but still not living together.

"My Dear Mrs. Nolan, I admire the way you stay home in anticipation of my phone call. It just cost me 15 cents to have your Dad tell me you were not at home…. All joking aside for the present darling. What I really want to to find out is, how soon can we be married by the Rabbi. This week? I’d like to get the ceremonies over with before I start school.

"You see kid, the technicality of my ceremony depends on the performance of yours first. Let’s get it over with. My mother will loan us the money. I’m afraid we’re going to need it. The dispensation costs $10, the Priest gets $5 besides and the Rabbi $10. It’s worth every bit of it. I’ll be ever so much more happy as I’m sure you’ll be. Get busy on the matter kid and give me a ring (at home) Thursday evening. Yours lovingly, Hubby"

Happily the ceremonies took place and my parents moved in with my paternal grandparents on East 2nd Street in Brooklyn. It was the depths of the Depression and it would be several years before they could afford their own apartment.

When Berkeley Carroll closes its Child Care Center at the end of his school year, 57 1-3 year-olds will be deprived of what has been a very successful early childhood experience. This is a loss for them and their parents who love the center’s approach and hours. There is really nothing else like it in the Slope.

So why did Berkeley Carroll decide to close its doors?

My assessment after talking to someone familiar with the situation is that it just didn’t make sense economically or otherwise.

A little history. Until nine years ago, Methodist Hospital ran the Child Care Center and it was called the Methodist Hospital Child Care Center. The building is owned by Methodist and the center served the community, as well as employees of Methodist Hospital.

Nine years ago, Methodist Hospital wanted out of the day care business and Berkeley Carroll, a private pre-k through 12th grade private school decided to take it over. Methodist gave Berkeley Carroll a five year lease at a below market rate and the school was good to go.

Obviously, Berkeley Carroll did an exceptional job running the program. Every year people line up on a specific day to apply for admission to this program for 1-3 year olds. There are only 57 spots and even at the cost of $24,000 per year, there is no shortage of people in Park Slope who are willing to pay for it.

Four years ago, the lease was up and Berkeley Carroll wasn’t offered another long term lease by Methodist Hospital. Clearly, Methodist had plans for this building.

At the time, officials at Berkeley Carroll began to rethink the idea of being in the day care business. Not surprisingly, the school makes no money on the child care center as running expenses are quite high.  For four years, it seems, the school knew that it was highly likely that the school would eventually close. Yet, they remained committed to providing this service in the meantime.

Thus the charge that they should have said something. But what could they have said: We’re thinking of closing the center but we don’t know when.

Push came to shove when Methodist Hospital told Berkeley Carroll last summer that they wanted their building back. Bingo, the decision, which Berkeley Carroll officials had been struggling with for years was made.

It seems with heavy hearts and a spread sheet.

I happen to know quite a few people on the board over at Berkeley Carroll (though I did not speak to them for this article). These are not big, bad corporate types who only think of the bottom line. But it is their job to do what is prudent both financially and philosophically for the school.

Yes, they knew they were providing a service to 57 families willing to pay top dollar for child care.

Contrary to some accusations, they explored many options to keep the school open. But over time it became clear that it just didn’t make sense economically or otherwise for the school, which is primarily pre-K through 12th, to do day care. And contrary to some claims, the child care center is not a feeder school for the 4-year-old program at BC.

In researching options to keep the school open at another location, school officials found that the costs were astronomical for a part of the school that is not a money maker to begin with. There’s the cost of

–costly real estate
–renovation
–retrofitting to make the school work spatially
–costs to meet licensing requirements
–salaries
–supplies
–and more

The board, after much hand wringing I am told, decided it was time to do the inevitable. In a sense, they did what Methodist Hospital didn’t do 9 years ago. At that time, Methodist was able to pass it on  to Berkeley Carroll—and avoid the negative publicity such a closure would have generated. Back then, Berkeley Carroll was probably viewed as the heroic saviors of the Methodist Child Care Center.

My question now is this: if there is such a great demand for a child care center of this kind for 1-3 year olds, why hasn’t anyone else come forward?

Probably for the same reasons that Berkeley Carroll wanted out of the day care biz. Yet, isn’t it possible that some entity might be in a position to provide these much needed services to this community?

Obviously, any cost analysis will reveal what BC found out: opening a child care center is very expensive. It would take an institution or an existing school with a big pockets, a commitment to early childhood education and vision to take on a project of this kind.

Some parents have discussed taking over the school and it will be interesting to see what happens on that front. 

There has been much discussion of this situation on Park Slope Parents, in local newspapers and even the New York Times. There’s been a lot of bitterness and accusations that Berkeley Carroll misled parents and betrayed their responsibility to this community.

While this is obviously an enormously frustrating experience for the parents of the 1 and 2 year olds, who hoped that their children would continue at the school, it must be said that the school did give the parents a heads-up in time for them to apply to other schools.

I have also heard that the head of lower school admissions at Berkeley Carroll has been working hard to help parents place their children elsewhere.

Finally, when a private institution decides that it wants to go out of business or change direction, it is the right of that institution. In the same way that a parent might decide not to continue at a particular school.

Okay, time for the positive spin. Maybe this whole controversy demonstrates what an engaged and vocal community we live in. Seventh Avenue has always been a space for free discussion, dissemination of information and gossip. Now add to that blogs and list services like Park Slope Parents. In sum, this very democratic community suffused with avenues for free expression gets to dissect everything in a free and hopefully intelligent way.

Sure, some feelings get hurt and mud gets flung this way and that. Perhaps, the lesson is this: It’s important to read between the lines, ask questions, and not be too quick to point fingers. There’s always a lot of gray in most situations.

And that makes life equally interesting and wholly frustrating.

TONIGHT: November 20 at 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Reading Works:

Michael Winks’ absurdist comedy “Baby Love,” takes an acerbic look
at two self-absorbed parents who can’t be bothered to tend to a cranky
baby.  They trade him for a “grownup” baby who progresses in his
development at such a speed, they hope to have him off to college in a
matter of months!  But to quote Radiohead,  the “Karma Police” will
have their way with this couple.  Oh, Baby!

The Where and When

Thursday, November 20 at 8 p.m.
The Old Stone House
in Park Slope’s JJ Byrne Park Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
718-768-3195

$5 donation much appreciated. Includes wine and light refreshments.

Photo by King Kong 21 on Flickr

An OTBKB reader has been sending me items related to a post a few weeks back about getting a job in the Barack Obama White House. Here’s an excerpt about Jim Messina, director of personnel, and his deputy, Patrick Gaspard from a blog called the Politico.

Whatever you do, don’t expect Messina to be impressed with your fancy degree.

“I believe that politics is truly a merit-based world,” he told High
Country News magazine in August. “If you work hard and you’re honest —
and you keep winning — you’ll get to rise. [In my early political
jobs,] I was the kid who was the first in the office and the last to
leave. And it’s still kind of true. … I’ve been chief of staff to
three famous members of Congress and I work for a fourth, and when
[each] hired me, I don’t think any of them even asked me where I went
to school — they just asked me what I had done, and I love that.”

Says Barrett Kaiser, communications director for Sen. Max Baucus
(D-Mont.) and a longtime colleague and friend of Messina’s: “He’s a
brilliant guy who walks around with a pocketful of long knives for his
enemies and big bearhugs for his friends.”

Which suggests that you might want to know Messina’s résumé as well as
you know your own: A veteran of political campaigns from Alaska to New
York and a former chief of staff to Baucus, Dorgan and Rep. Carolyn
McCarthy of New York, Messina has been in Democratic politics since
1991. He was Obama’s campaign chief of staff, and he’ll be a White
House deputy chief of staff.

McCarthy, who counts Messina as a friend, says there’s one “don’t” when
dealing with him: Don’t oversell yourself. “Jim has terrific instincts,
and if someone is trying to gloss over their qualifications, he will
sense it.”

Kaiser puts it this way: “If you’re friends with Jim Messina, you have a friend for life. But if you cross him, God help you.”

(On second thought, cancel that pizza.)

As for Gaspard, he’s also a runner. But if you run with him, make sure you don’t tell a soul.

Those who know Gaspard say he’s an under-the-radar guy who doesn’t like
name-droppers or showboaters. One former colleague describes him as
“hardworking, loyal and very private” — with an emphasis on the
private. 

Gaspard comes to the Obama team from Local 1199 of the Service
Employees International Union, where he was executive vice president
for politics and legislation. The “loves of his life are his family
[and] his workers,” says Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of SEIU. So
try talking about your kids, public schools or that time you were shop
steward.

Or you might want to bone up on Haiti, from which Gaspard proudly hails, or Park Slope, Brooklyn, where he lives now.

How to impress him? Be like him: smart, committed, disciplined and low-profile.

“He is very discreet, very professional and all about results,” says
Jennifer Cunningham, a New York lobbyist and political consultant who
was Gaspard’s boss at 1199 for seven years. “He has an enormous work
ethic.”

Once again OTBKB is thrilled to bring you the latest installment of Why Shop Local?

Daphne Scholz and Benjamin Granger are owners  Bierkraft. They will be participating in Buy in Brooklyn’s
Snowflake Celebration during the first two Thursdays in
December (12/4 and 12/11) by offering a 10% discount off any purchase over $15
with a receipt from that day from any fellow Park Slope merchant participating
in the Snowflake Celebration, free hot chocolate to sip as you shop and a free
mini spreader with any 1/2 lb or more purchase of cheese (as long as supplies
last).   

Q: When did you open for business and why did you choose Park Slope?

A: We opened in November 2001 and
my husband and I chose Park Slope because we live here.  We have a home
between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and we were excited to see the restaurant
selection expanding on Fifth Avenue.  It seemed logical to have a business
within easy commuting distance and where we would know our customers and they
would know us.  Though Ben does not live in Park Slope, he is engaged to
our daughter, who grew up here, so the neighborhood ties are strong. 

Bierkraft Factoid: Their cheese
case is inhabited! They keep little plastic animals, dinosaurs and Mardi
Gras crawfish (come see for yourself) amongst the cheeses in their cheese
case.  Although they are very serious about our cheese, they don’t take
themselves seriously. Customers are welcome to play with and rearrange the
beasties while they are at the shop as well as take a creature home with them,
as need be. 

Q: Which of the Sustainable Business
Network NYC’s "Top Ten Reasons" to shop locally
resonate most with you & your business?

A: Reason # 7. Local business owners invest in community.
When folks come to us looking for donations for fundraisers we are often happy
to oblige with a gift certificate.  That way we get to support worthy
causes within the community and the gift certificate brings people into the
shop.   

Shop Local Factoid: Local businesses are owned by people
who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in
the community’s future.

"Why Shop Local?" is a communication initiative of the Buy in
Brooklyn team. To learn more about Park Slope’s Buy in Brooklyn campaign, visit
their website at http://www.buyinbrooklyn.com/.

Interview conducted by Rebeccah Welch

This morning, Wednesday, November 19^th at
10:45am, the  Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (Lafayette Avenue and South Oxford
Street in Brooklyn) will mark the completion of its bell tower restoration.

As part of this, four ornate brownstone finials will be blessed by the pastor, Reverend
David Dyson, and then hoisted up 90’ to sit on
top of the rebuilt pinnacles of the tower.  This event celebrates the culmination
of a two-year effort to restore the brownstone tower which stands at the corner
of South Oxford Street and Lafayette Avenue in historic Fort Greene.   

November 20 at 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Reading Works:

Michael Winks’ absurdist comedy “Baby Love,” takes an acerbic look
at two self-absorbed parents who can’t be bothered to tend to a cranky
baby.  They trade him for a “grownup” baby who progresses in his
development at such a speed, they hope to have him off to college in a
matter of months!  But to quote Radiohead,  the “Karma Police” will
have their way with this couple.  Oh, Baby!

The Where and When

Thursday, November 20 at 8 p.m.
The Old Stone House
in Park Slope’s JJ Byrne Park Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
718-768-3195

$5 donation much appreciated. Includes wine and light refreshments.

Just got an email from artist Jason Feinberg, founder of the Brooklyn-based *Jailbreak Toys, who explore" the intersection of popular art and history with his original line of Toys for Smart People." 

In the last few months Feinberg has had great success with his Obama action figure, subtitled "The Figure With the Power to Transform a Nation." In his own words:

The Obama Action Figure hit the retail market in June and has enjoyed
phenomenal success. Created as a way for Feinberg to support the
candidate, ($1.00 from each figure sold went directly to the campaign)
the 6” figure includes 8 points of articulation and is packaged in a
window box with original Obama illustration art.

The figure retails for $12.99 and is available on the company website,
such online destinations as Amazon.com, Gifts.com and Target.com as
well as in over 700 retail outlets throughout the nation.

According to his publicist, Feinberg also created a John McCain Action Figure. However, after
the election Feinberg decided to giveaway his extra surplus instead of
continuing to market the figures.

Last week on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Conan gave each member of the
audience a bag with 30 McCain figures. 6,000 figures were given away in
all.

Feinberg has also created the Oddfellows collection, which includes three-inch, expertly sculpted vinyl figurines representing historical icons from the world of Art, Literature, Science and Politics.

Perfect for that special someone on your gift list who happens to be obsessed with Malcolm X, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Ghandi, Picasso, Sigmund Freud and many others.

I know what I’m getting Hepcat for Hannukah/Christmas: The Nicolas Tesla action figure. Alright.

*(Thanks to JanetG and Printer’s Devil for catching the error in the headline)

This weekend, your kids can be a “grossologist” at Brooklyn Children’s Museums’ first Icky Fest – a weekend festival of yucky fun for all on November 22nd and 23rd.

Icky Fest is designed to educate children about the science behind
things that are usually considered gross, yucky and completely
distasteful but has role and purpose in the cycle of life.

Icky Fest features a variety of downright disgusting science related activities like creating snotty slime, dissecting regurgitated owl pellets, touching a hissing cockroach, watching a slithery snake eat lunch and the study of poop,  garbage and more!  Explore the slimiest and stickiest things throughout the museum – organ jars, snake skins, and worms.

Programs highlights include:

Saturday, November 22, 2008

The Magic of Chemistry with Lisa Lou – 1:30 PM

Magic tricks and circus skills help explain atoms, molecules, the elements, compounds, solutions, magnetism, and static electricity. Using ingredients found in everyday life, a balloon inflates all by itself, plain water changes colors and disappears, and liquids "magically" become solids. Ages 5 and up

Toss It Out!  – 11:00 AM

Join guest speaker Leslie Pearson from the NYC Department of Sanitation, and find out everything you wanted to know about New York City trash, but were afraid to ask! Discover where your garbage goes, how much waste people produce in the city, what a sanitation worker’s day is like, and more.

Saturday, November 22 & Sunday, November 23

Let’s Do Lunch! Snake Feeding – 1:00 PM

Don’t get grossed out when you see a snake dining on some delicate morsels.

Slimy Science /Snotty Slime – 2:00 PM

Calling all slime enthusiasts!  Create your own slime and explore the science of snot.

Magic Matter – 2:30 PM

Little scientists can get their hands sticky by creating a very special gooey stew. Ages 5 and under

The Scoop on Poop – 3:00 PM

Scat is where it’s at! Find out some of the clues animals leave behind, and discover how animals and people use dung. Meet the greatest garden pooper, see a dung beetle specimen, and make your creation out of elephant dung paper.

Owl Pellet Dissection – 3:30 PM

Little scientists will have fun learning about woodland owls and what they digest by dissecting regurgitated owl pellets.  It is going to be a hoot!

Sunday, November 23

Icky Sticky Bubbles! with BubbleMania – 1:30PM

Join Seth Bloom from BubbleMania for a show with visual comedy, quick wit, and big-band swing music.  Find out about the often unbelievable qualities and the beauty of spherical liquids.   Ages 5 and up

Just got this note from Sweet Melissa, founder of Park Slope’s Sweet Melissa’s:

Hi Louise, I was googling for an event I’m doing at the Brooklyn Public Library, and I cam across your Park Slope 100 list for 2007. I had no idea I was on it!  Thank you, I am thrilled!  These mentions from my customers and neighbors, means more to me than anything else.

So I am doing a baking demo at the Brooklyn Library this Sunday, the 23rd at 1:30 p.m. Here is the link  http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/events/culturearts/. 

I am going to do PIE DOUGH!  And my Pear Cranberry Pie with Gingersnap Crumble. 

There will be a tasting, demo, and audience participation.  It was in the Times yesterday, and I think it will go into Time Out New York this week, but there are 200 seats to fill, and I am scared to death that I won’t fill them! 

The Where and When

Sunday November 23, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Public Library (Grand Army Plaza)
Dweck Center

Wilde About Appearance

You pass a sidewalk fruiterer   
And spot a ripe banana 
That’s firm and full of warming sun,
A form of heavenly manna.

You buy a bunch and head for the park,
Your spirits now quite high,
Or maybe take the subway home,
Assured that  pleasure’s
nigh.

You reach into the bag that came
From the banana buffet
And what comes out is soft and brown–
The curse of Dorian Gray.

I got this nice note from Ellen at  Willie Dawgs, the ultra cool, very artful and humane hot dog place on Fifth Avenue:

You guys have such a nice sense of what is going on in Brooklyn, I thought I would let you know that we (Willie’s Dawgs, the little hot dog shop in Park Slope that promotes dog adoption through dog portraits) are doing a short film screening at The Old Stone House in JJ Byrne Park on December 4th.

The event is to benefit The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation – a non profit group that trains rescue dogs to become search and rescue dogs and places them with firefighters, ems and cops who are then deployed as temas  in the event of a disaster. And I admit it, the event is also to have some fun.

The Where and When

December 4 at 8 p.m.
Film Screening and event sponsored by Willie’s Dawgs
The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets

How do you spell Backlash? Or much ado about nothing. Or some ado about something. You decide.

Motrin’s new Twitter campaign is getting quite a negative response around town. Hepcat found this at Marketing Pilgrim. He sent it over with this note:

A story about parenting , public relations, blogging, and screwing everything up

They’re even talking about it on PSP with this headline:

Ad strikes dismissive tone on attachment parenting.

Here’s what Marketing Pilgrim had to say and the ad:

Whenever I counsel clients about the use of social media, I always
advise they speak to their target audience and figure out what
messaging (and channel) would appeal to them.

I’m not sure if the manufacturer of Motrin
followed that advice, but judging by the enormous backlash the company
is facing over it’s new Motrin “Mom-Alogue” video, I suspect they
didn’t speak to a single mother (at least, they didn’t speak to any
that use Twitter).

Taking a look at the negative Twitter conversations surrounding #motrinmom
demonstrates that Motrin is, in just a few short hours, facing a huge
reputation disaster–initiated by the very audience Motrin hoped to
target, “Mama Bloggers.”

The Irondale Ensemble is the new off-Broadway theater in Brooklyn. Boy, is it off Broadway, it’s in  Fort Greene to be exact. Apparently they just closed an incredible production of Peter Pan, which I am sorry that I missed. Joe McCarthy, the development director of Irondale had this to say:

Hope you made it to Peter Pan.  It was terrific.  We’re a little sad the run was so short.  The production was magical and audiences were starting to build.  Here’s a link to a great review: http://offoffonline.com/archives.php?id=1487.

Now he tells me about the next production, which is called London Cries, directed by Di Trevis, starring Jenny Galloway, both Brits. After this world premiere, it is scheduled for Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic next year.  Di Trevis and Frank McGuinness adapted the play with music from Henry Mayhew’s classic book, London Labour and the London Poor.  Music is by Dominic Muldowney and includes thirty original songs from the London Music Hall.

This blurb makes it sound really, really cool if you like your London very Dickensian. And I do:

"Drawn from first-hand accounts of the traders and prostitutes, the sewer- men and flower-girls, the criminals and con-men who hacked a precarious living from the streets of the metropolis, the ghosts of yesteryear step forward from the crumbling walls and recesses of an old London theatre to share with us their lives, their loves and the lilting melodies of a bygone Victorian era."

Folks, this is Irondale Ensemble Project’s second show in their new Off-Broadway theatre, which is in the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. I know and love that church.

The Where and When

November 21-December 20
The Irondale Center (at the historic Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church)
85 South Oxford St, Bklyn, NY bet. Lafayette and Fulton Street.
The show runs Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM.
Tickets are $40/ $15 seniors and students and can be purchased by going to www.ovationtix.com or by calling 212.352.3101.

Something new from WNYC’s John Schaefer (a Park Sloper) and host of the show Soundcheck. They invited musicians and artists to help create a map of their favorite destinations in New York City – where they go in this hectic city for creative inspiration or just for fun.

From parks and coffee shops to bowling alleys and museums, jazz clubs to vintage shops, musicians and artists such as Quincy Jones, Rosanne Cash, Simone Dinnerstein share their “note-worthy” spots. There’s also strong representation from emerging artists, such as The National’s Bryan Devendorf and Nicole Atkins, and even Soundcheck host John Schaefer checks in.  Can you guess his favorite spot?  Have a look at www.wnyc.org/noteworthynewyork.

Quincy Jones on Birdland, “Well, Birdland was my favorite place.  Birdland and The Palladium.  I used to go there with Brando. That was where I’d hear Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis. Those were my idols. The original Birdland is gone. There aren’t many places left, you know. There’s the Village Vanguard and then all that stuff from the old days—the Five Spot, Birdland.”

Now they’re inviting listeners to submit their favorite creative locations as well. Description of less than 200 words should be sent with your full name, neighborhood, age and address of the place in question to soundcheck@wnyc.org.

They’re getting quite a bit of buzz: I’m looking at a Village Voice review that says "Brooklyn-based Pinataland druge up forgotten historical oddities and pin them into songs…"

The New Yorker described Pinataland as eclectic with an oompah flavor "and an obsession with the overlooked, often bizarre, corners of 20th century history…"

I haven’t even listened to the album they sent me yet but I am intrigued. Will keep you posted.

Depressing/ interesting: Rachel Gets Married at 7:10 and 9:40.

Confusing/interesting:  Synechdoche at 7 and 9:30

Funny/zany: Zach and Miri Make a Porno: 6:45 and 9

The day just flew away from me. Just flew. Woke up early and couldn’t take my head out of the teriffic book I’m reading: Free Food for Millionaires.

Then there was nothing in the fridge and I had to go out in the teeming rain to get the basics. I was all set to got but the exterminator came and ya can’t refuse the exterminator.

Before I left OSFO added some "essentials" to the list: don’t forget the double- stuffed Oreos, the caramel, the cookies and cream ice cream…

Out into the crazy morning rain, it was like a flash flood with huge pools of water in the curbs on Seventh Avenue, which inspired me on the spot to buy a pair of Hunter rain boots at Good Footing.

When I got home I realized that I didn’t even get the most important item on my list: Dawn dish soap. Back out in the rain with my sturdy new Hunter rain boots.

Back at home: food for the family. It’s like I’m a short order cook around here. Grilled cheese. Bacon. Eggs. Coffee. Toast. Do you want butter on that?

Then just as I was thinking about blogging sleep pulled at me like a tug or war. I tried to resist but the green leather couch beckoned…

Sleepy sleep sleep slumber.  What better way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon…

How about seeing Rachel Getting Married tonight?

On Sunday, November 16th Israel
Siriri, a member of the Jewish community in Uganda, is going to be
speaking at Congregation Beth Elohim


Israel Siriri, Sunday, November 16, 7:30 pm

Israel Siriri, chairperson of the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda,
will visit CBE on Sunday, November 16, at 7:30pm.  He will speak about
Jewish life in Africa.

Mr Siriri’s trip is sponsored by Kulanu an
organization dedicated to finding and assisting "lost" or dispersed
Jewish communities throughout the world, including those of Africa,
India, Burma, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China.  Kulanu’s activities
concerning these groups, include research, education, donation of
religious books and other materials, facilitation of Orthodox
conversion when requested, and help with relocation to Israel if
desired.

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann (right) of Park Slope’s Kolot Chayeinu, a progressive Jewish congregation, delivering signatures and resources to Ms. Deanna Bitetti of Congresswoman Yvette Clark’s District 11 office.

Rabbi Lippmann organized the meeting with support from the Metro NY Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Yvette Clark has been out front in her opposition to the US occupation of Iraq and it’s hoped that she will take a leadership role on the pressing human rights issue of torture.

Photo by Tom Martinez

The 92YTribeca is a cool new space in Tribeca with a screening room, a main stage, an art gallery, a cafe, a lounge. It is located at 200 Hudson Street at Canal and Hudson. It’s pretty easy for Brooklynites to get to so they’d love to see a lot of us there. And the programming should be of interest to many OTBKB readers. They also have classes in: cartooning, creative Hebrew, From Trash to Treasure: a recycled crafts sampler

These two events at the new 92YTribeca caught my eye. I particularly like the idea of the screening of Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film, Local Hero, with a tasting of scotch (I love scotch!).  

Sat, Nov, 15 at 8 pm

SHORT SLAM #1

It’s a poetry slam for the screen! Show your film (10 min or less on DVD only, please) and pad the house with your friends—audience noise determines the winner. Sign-up is on a first-come basis and will begin a half hour before the screening. Hosted by ATO Pictures producer Jonathan Dorfman. www.92YTribeca.org/film

Sun, Nov 16, 5 pm and 7:30 pm, $12 

LOCAL HERO

Join us for a special screening on this film’s 25th anniversary, complete with a scotch tasting (mmm). Q&A with star Peter Riegert at 5 pm screening and introduction at 7:30 screening. Director: Bill Forsyth. 1983. 111 min.

www.92YTribeca.org/film

Local merchants once again throw open their doors to stay open late and create a holiday atmosphere, enabling you, the people of Park Slope, to do your holiday shopping . . . here!

Each participating business will 1). Stay open until 10pm, and 2). Offer some special promotion – Could be a sale, could be a giveaway, raffle, carolers, snow machine (it’s been done!), mulled wine, special hors d’oeuvres, etc. etc. The listings of participants grows daily!!!

Last year there were 150 participating businesses — who knows what will happen this year!?! In the current and impending economic climate, it’s more important than ever to keep our local economy strong and healthy, so let’s get together and Keep it Local!

The Buy in Brooklyn webpage is updated to reflect the 2008 Snowflake Celebration (go to www.buyinbrooklyn.com).

The Where and When

December 4 and 11
7 p.m. until closing
Snowflake Celebration
Stores on Seventh and Fifth Avenue

Don’t forget about: “Cosmopolis: Immigrant Writers in New York,” the free literary discussion series, which introduces three trendsetting fiction authors to Brooklyn readers, as they join WNYC talk show host Leonard Lopate at the Brooklyn Public Library for a reading and dialogue about their work.

Ya missed my fave Junot Diaz. And Dalia Sofer, author of The September of Shiraz.

But Lara Vapnyar, author of Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love, will appear on Saturday, December 6 at 4 p.m.

As the Associated Press recently observed, she is “one of a growing group of Soviet-born immigrants to emerge as popular writers in the United States. Mixing drama, satire and personal experience, they explore the bitter, confusing but often comic tales of Russian and Soviet immigrants stuck between their troubled homeland and the country where they long sought to live but to which they have not yet adjusted.”

Having learned to speak English after emigrating to the U.S. from Moscow in 1994, Vapnyar has been called “a talented writer, possessed of an ample humor and insight and a humane sensibility” (New York Times Book Review). Her story collection was released in hardcover earlier this year by Pantheon Books.

The Where and When

December 6 at 4 p.m.
Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library
at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn
(#2 or #3 train to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum).
The event is open to the general public and tickets are free.