If the elevator is working, that is. It is still being installed and that seems to be the only thing left to do. According to Deep Joanna,  a friend who knows the TJ scoop, the dry foods, cereals, cookies, snack foods, and cans are on the shelves. They are so ready to open over there on Atlantic Avenue.

The only thing that holds the new Brooklyn Trader Joe’s from opening is the final installation of the elevator that transports perishables to the basement.

Talking to Deep Joanna, I got all kinds of info about the store, its training program, its corporate ethos and its almost anal retentive attention to freshness and detail.

The Brooklyn store will be the 301st store to open in the US.

Wow. They expect the Atlantic Avenue shop to be one of the most popular in the United States. The Brooklyn store is going to be their East Coast flag ship store because it has the most square footage of any of its stores and it’s the only Trader Joe’s in a landmark building.

TJ prides itself on its hiring policies and for the Brooklyn store they looked at 1,500 applications and took only 150 people. These employees are trained to be well-versed in all aspects of the TJ retail experience. They don’t want boredom during the 6-8 hour shift and require employees to change their activities every two hours.

The corporation, according to Deep Joanna, wants to create an  environment with a "mom and pop feel." The store prides itself on there only being two or three layers between a regular employee and senior management.

For the Brooklyn shop, half of the full time managers and supervisors are transplants from other stores, especially the Union Square store. The store aims to hire a friendly, attractive, diverse group of employees, whom they offer full benefits (dental, vision and health insurance) within 90 days. According to Deep Joanna, there’s an eclectic mix of actors, musicians, former Wall Streeters, people who never shop at TJ’s and those who do.

These employees learn the mantra of the store: quality control. This means that instead of delegating, everyone rotates responsibilities. They aim to work together as a team and follow the rules about freshness and perishability, and customer service.

The "Wow Factor" is also very important. They want employees to walk the customer to the product and acknowledge the customer and pay attention to them. They’re training the staff to be engaged and interested. Food tastings are also a key component of the Trader Joe’s employment experience.

According to Deep Joanna, Trader Joe’s is leasing the space on Atlantic Avenue and as a company they are debt- free. The shop will be on one level but there will be offices upstairs and a basement storage room. Decorating the walls are tinted and sepia old photos of Brooklyn.

Borough President Marty Markowitz and Senator Chuck Schumer will be present at the opening on Friday. A steel band will play; an employee of TJ’s is in that band. It should be a nice opening.

THE FIRST TAKEOUT

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Invite a young Italian mahn
Into his gleaming summer palace
And proved he bore no hint of malice
Unlike that century’s Japanese
Who treated strangers as disease.
"Welcome to Mongolia,
Where, as in sunny Italia,
We honor visitors from abroad
In proof we’re not a mongrel horde."
His guest was Venice’s Marco Polo,
Traveler extraordinaire and solo.
"I think I’ve found a home away
From home," M.P. was glad to say.
Indeed, it was the start of a stay
That lasted twenty years to a day.
But homesickness must have its sway
So  finally he sailed away.
However, the monarch Khan made sure
He left with a present from the store.
"Take gems or gunpowder, whatever,
As sign our friendship will never sever,”
K.K. told his Venetian amico.
(Who’d later settle in Puerto Rico).
"I’ve loved your cuisine so very much
That what I’ll ask for–just a touch–
Is a dish of your  exquisite lo mein,
Khan’s gift to belly and to brain."
And so he set sail with a plastico
Bag that held a prize fantastico.
The lo mein remained fresh and warm
Till he reached home—and would transform
Italian cooking through and through,
Both for the many and the
few.
Potatoes no longer headed the roster—
The king of cuisine became now  pasta.
But what to call the Chinese takeout?
Before he reached the final shakeout
M.P. tried many a different name,
But all turned out to sound too tame.
And that is when he remembered his roots
And the tree that bore his family fruits.
Marco, you see, had been
born Moishe Pippik,
Near the banks of the winding River Glippik,
In the  ghetto of his city-state
Set off by boundaries of hate.
So by dint of remembrance and of sweat, oh,
He called the novel noodle–spaghetto!
Much later, confusion with confetti
Caused a rechristening to spaghetti.
Repaying his service, the Doge (the boss)
Supplied a lifetime of tomato sauce.
Next time, good neighbor, you order takeout,
Please credit Marco for his breakout.

Thank you Not Only Brooklyn for this advice. To subscribe to NOB, an informative free arts and cultural events newsletter email arbrunr@aol.com

–Noon-5:  Brooklyn Country Fair in Prospect Park at Bartel-Pritchard Square.

Enjoy a small town country fair in the fourth largest city in America, with Tie-Dyeing at 1; a Pie-Eating Contest at 2 and live music by bands including Zack Bruce and the Birdhive Boys; Rocketship Park and Balthrop, Alabama. FREE! 15th Street & Prospect Park West 596.3462

–5 until midnight: 5th Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival at Southpaw. $10

Tonight’s bands include Dock and The Ambassadors of Love at 6; M Shanghai String Band at 7; Sean Kershaw with the New Jack Ramblers at 8; Jessica Rose and the HighLife at 9; Jack Grace the martini cowboy at 10 and festival organizer Alex Battles & The Whisky Rebellion at 11. 125 5th Ave opposite Key Food, Park Slope, 230.0236

Check out prints of paintings of Jewish boxers by Park Slope artist Charles Miller at Cafe Colson—that cool Belgian cafe/bakery on the corner of 6th Avenue and 9th Street right next to Barbes.

I’ve heard about his paintings for years and was thrilled to finally see them. The prints are gorgeous and they are selling for $250 each.

Miller became obsessed with boxing when he lived near Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn Heights. And then he found a book called, When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport, well, the rest is history.

An artist found his subject. The Colson is filled with these intense and poignant portraits.

You just gotta see it.

Cafe Colson through the middle of October.

We got our map, hand drawn by Catherine Bohne, for the Seventh Avenue Restaurant Tour at the folding table in front of the Community Bookstore, where there was an  assortment of exotic cheese and crackers from Blue Apron Food.

Organized by the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce and the Buy in Brooklyn Initiative, the tour began at 7 p.m. Earlier in the evening Catherine described it as trick or treating for adults and that couldn’t have been more apt.

Seventh Avenue filled with adults and children who traveled to restaurants, food, wine shops and cafes along the Avenue to sample what these establishments have to offer.

It reminded many people of Halloween afternoon on Seventh Avenue when the stores give out candy to costumed children. As the evening progressed, the lines outside of Moim, Barrio Sette, Miracle NoNo New Orleans, Pizza Plus, Cafe Steinhof—everywhere—got long.

But people waited and socialized. It was old home night in the Slope. A great after summer way to say hello to neighbors and friends. The weather was perfect, people were in a good mood, the food was tasty and it was, all in all, a special night.

"Is Pino’s giving out food," my daughter asked. "I bet they’re giving out garlic knots," she said. Well none of the guys behind the counter knew a thing about the free restaurant tasting that was going on outside Other restaurants didn’t sign on either. But I bet you one thing: they will next year.

Where We Went:

Moim: kimchi pancakes and skewers of beef
Sette: Meat Balls
Miracle Grill: Summer rolls
Barrio: Tostidas and sangria
Second Helpigns: fantastic butternut squash soup
Russo Mozzarella: Pasta salad
Slope Sellars: Pinot Noir from Germany
Connecticutt Muffin: Cookies and Red Velvet Cake
Sweet Melissas: Biscotti
Naidres: Brownies

A note from Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman brought this news:

Here’s a shocker — the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn Community
Board 6 was just named the City’s "greenest" neighborhood according to
Time Out New York magazine.

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/features/60611/new-yorks-greenest-neighborhood

Agree, disagree, or indifferent to the matter, I thought you might like to know.

Best,  Craig

P.S.
CB6 isn’t ALWAYS in second place for recycling rates in the City.  We
do hit the number one spot several months of the year.

Readers of Gowanus Lounge were stunned by an ambiguous message yesterday that left many wondering what was going on; and why was Robert Guskind taking even a one-day break from his beloved blog?

Our apologies up front: GL will not be publishing today, having lost a
very big supporter and source of inspiration and intellectual kinship,
except for possibly posting some items submitted by our faithful
contributors. We are very, very sorry. Thank you from the bottom of our
hearts for reading these last 2 1/2 years.

(GL rightfully hates it when I pull a quote rather than link but I urge you to go over there if you are unfamiliar with his wonderful blog and take a look).

Today he’s left an even longer but still not entirely clear note about the future of Gowanus Lounge.

GL is still suspended indefinitely. It is a personal
decision that we’ve made. We hope to reverse it at some point, but we
don’t know if that means 24 hours, three days, a week, a month or
never.

Alas, I believe it is too soon to wax nostalgic about Gowanus Lounge and I refuse to do so. I just hope that Bob takes the time off that he needs and figures out a way to come back to the blog in a comfortable way.

We miss you already, Bob. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be here when you decide to come back. We’re not going anywhere and we know you just need some time to rethink, renew and relax.

Peace.

Leon Freilich sent this story from the New York Sun about a new restaurant going into the space that was Black Pearl on Union Street.

A TOUCH OF THE LOCAL The Park Slope space that used to be Black Pearl is slated to reopen at the end of next week as a modern American restaurant and wine bar called Bussaco (833 Union St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, Brooklyn, 718-857-8828).

Former Gotham Bar & Grill general manager Scott Carney is in charge of the place, and he is also the wine sommelier. Brooklyn suppliers will be providing coffee, beer, and such interior touches as the communal table, made out of a first-growth fallen oak from Prospect Park.
The chef, Matthew Schaefer, is local, too, as he lives in nearby Cobble Hill. His résumé includes stints in Manhattan at Aquavit, JUdson Grill, and Le Bernardin.

Menu offerings will include mini-lobster rolls, clam pizza, veal cheek pot pie, and an oyster pan roast, as well as more refined items such as oven roasted wild striped bass with manila clams. Deborah Snyder, formerly of Lever House, has been brought on as pastry chef.

http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/kitchen-dish-double-crown-bussaco-and-tierra/86024/B A

Read all about James, a new restaurant at 605 Carlton Avenue (St. Marks Avenue), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn in yesterday’s New York Times. And don’t forget to check out the audio slide show over there. Here’s an excerpt from the story. Has anyone been?

…they didn’t reach to consultants for help with writing the
succinct, appealing menu, which takes advantage of herbs they grow
themselves in an outdoor garden adjacent to their apartment, on the
roof of a garage next door. James is a Mom-and-Pop operation for the Alice Waters era, giving locavores sage, basil, oregano and rosemary they can feel especially virtuous about.

It’s
also an example of how quietly sophisticated the food at restaurants
fashioned as affordable neighborhood bistros has become. No bigger,
brasher restaurant around town served me an heirloom tomato salad this
summer that I enjoyed any more than one at James.

News item: While Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers were piling on record
losses,  Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were turning a profit.

IT’S NOT THE ECONOMY, STUPID

Mega-rewarded CEOs
At Lehman and at Bear
Both blame their economic woes
On a market ruled by fear.

Yes, flying a kite on a breezy day
May make you feel a master
But skill comes in when the wind goes away
And you plunge to earth, a disaster.

Have you ever wondered what Alexander Technique is. Well, my friend Jane Tomkiewicz is offering workshops in Park Slope. And it sounds like just the thing if you have muscle aches, back pain, tendonitis and more.

Musculo-skeletal pain?  Concerns about posture? (spending too many hours in front of your computer?) Performance issues? (i.e. losing voice, tendonitis, inability to get to “next level”). Or just curious about how and why things (our bodies for example) work or don’t work well?  These are the various motivations that lead people to take lessons in the Alexander Technique. Learn fascinating and immediately applicable information about how your brain and body work together. “Experiential anatomy” and “fun physiology” will provide many “aha” moments about our incredible design and function.

Study on back pain by the British Medical Journal confirms Alexander Technique efficacy

Alexander Technique teachers recently received official confirmation of what we have known to be true for some time now.  The British Medical Journal announced on 8/19/08 favorable results of a study conducted on back pain and The Alexander Technique.

Alexander Technique Series for our community: a great opportunity in Park Slope for new or continuing students in a small group (limit 5)

included in the series:

1 free introductory hands-on demonstration

4 classes (an hour and a quarter each)

1 private lesson (45minutes)

Fee:  $150

About Jane:
I have been teaching the Alexander Technique to groups at the 92nd St. Y since 1992 and privately in Manhattan since 1990.  I’ve served as the Executive Director of the American Center of the  Alexander Technique from 1996-2008. I’m very pleased to begin teaching group and private lessons in Brooklyn at the Feldenkrais Center of Park at 375 5th Ave (between 5th & 6th).

For more information about the Technique or class series please email or call 718)369-3092 or 347)387-2366.

The days after my dad’s death were so full of activity I barely had time to think. In fact, I felt numb when it came to my dad though I was full of love for him and excited to share his amazing qualities with the world. That’s why I threw myself into writing his eulogy almost immediately. It distracted me and helped me get through the first days.

Clearly, I wasn’t really feeling the loss. That was and remains too huge and unfathomable. Instead I threw myself into the funeral and the social rituals of mourning.

This week has been a bit harder. There’s less to do. The shiva is over and while that was a bit overwhelming it was heartwarming and fortifying to be around family and friends.

Now people keep asking me how I feel; I appreciate their concern but I just don’t know how to describe it.

Tired is what I say. I’ve been sleeping a lot. I feel unfocused, fuzzy, spacey, not very present in my life. I’m here but I’m not here; and I’m not sure where I really am. 

At times like these the need for attention is endless, as is the desire to dwell in the fullness of the person you’ve lost.

I find myself telling perfect strangers: You know, my dad just died. It’s as if I can’t be in the same space as someone without revealing that key bit of information.

You must know this about me.

I know I’m afraid to feel the absence; I’m avoiding that right now. He still feels very much present even if I’m not with him. The world is very full of my father right now. He hasn’t gone very far away at all.

The stars are realigned when a parent dies. It’s a new world order yet everything (superficially) is the same. That’s the problem. Everything is the same and yet it isn’t.

I found this on the Buy in Brooklyn website.
It helps to explain the 7th Avenue Restaurant Tour that begins at 7
p.m. TONIGHT!!! See you there.  For a list of participating restaurants, go
to the website.

Come out and nibble your way down 7th Avenue (ahem. And Environs)!

Tired of eating at the same 3 restaurants?

Feel weltschmerz at buying the same ol’ cheese from the same ol’ place?

Think there’s only one good Salad on Seventh Avenue?

"Bosh!" We say —

On this night, you can stop in at any one of the following local
businesses, and try a little soupcon of quelque chose! Heck, what does
that mean? It means, Margaret, that this is a once-a-year opportunity
to sample the goods of all your wonderful local foodie-type businesses.
Restaurants will have hors d’ouevres, wine shops will have tastings,
food businesses will have samples, and other creative
glomming-on-businesses will think of other brief things to delight and
entice you. The idea is to allow you to saunter through a wonderful
Movable Feast, and let you discover, sample and try things you never
even new existed!

What? What’s that you ask? Does it cost you anything? No! IT’S FREE! So put the kids to bed, and come on out!

Yes, Margaret, there is a Santa Claus — and he’s portly for very
good reasons! Come out and celebrate (aka: eat your way through) our
local riches on September 18th, and you can be portly too! Or at the
very least, you can snatch a taste of all the wonderful stuff you can
spend the rest of the year eating to gay abandon with admirable
non-portly-making reasonable restraint!

Sounds like a deal? It is! Brought to you by the friendly Buy in
Brooklyn campaign (funded by the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce) which,
as always, urges you to support the local businesses which are a large
part of what makes your locality what it is! Remember: Anyone can live
in a strip mall … Oh. Actually, probably no one can live (well) in a
strip mall, but anyhow — if you want something better, you can have it

A John Jay student was stabbed. Two students were arrested. Fifth Street was closed off for hours on Monday night. There’s a story in the Brooklyn Eagle about it:

PARK SLOPE – Cops arrested a teenage boy Tuesday in connection with a
stabbing in Park Slope Monday, after which a 16-year-old high school
student was hospitalized as the result of multiple knife attacks.

Tuesday afternoon, police announced the arrest of a 14-year-old
connected with the attack. Armed with information from witnesses,
detectives apprehended the young suspect at 3:25 p.m. in his home on
Sixth Avenue, a block from where the incident occurred.

Cops said they are still searching for two accomplices, two male white Hispanics, ages 14 and 16.

According to eyewitness reports, on Monday afternoon at approximately
2:15 p.m., the victim was standing or walking in front of 460 Fifth St.
when he was approached by a group of other teens. It was not clear what
the dispute was about, and there was no evidence of a robbery attempt,
but cops did say that the victim and the suspect “were not known to
each other.”

When the fight was over, the 16-year-old lay bleeding on the street
with multiple stab wounds. EMTs transported him to Lutheran Medical
Center, where he was treated for his wounds, the most serious of which
was a punctured liver. He is listed in stable condition.

Because of the ages of the victim and the suspect, police did not
release their identities. It is unclear whether the suspect in custody
will be tried as an adult or as a juvenile, but police did say that he
is facing a charge of Assault 1, a major felony, and misdemeanor
Weapons Possession.

Neighborhood blogs Tuesday raised questions about the incident, some
saying the fight was connected to a nearby high school. Police did not
confirm or deny these details.

Verlyn Klinkenborg wrote a beautiful piece on the editorial page of the New York Times about David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide over the weekend. They were both on the faculty of Pamona College.

He had the very rare gift — something he shared with Seamus Heaney
— of carrying the greatness of his ability intact within him and never
letting it obtrude upon his colleagues. He was just a laborer in the
field along with the rest of us. To his students, he was especially
generous. Many nights I have left my office in Crookshank Hall at
Pomona College and seen Dave, in the office next door, deep in a
Druidical conversation with a 20-year-old who was staggered by the
possibilities of writing. In a sense, Dave and I conversed through our
students. My students taught me how much he had taught them, and I hope
the reverse sometimes happened, too.

His work does not say how
much common sense he had or that there was something tender, as well as
demanding, in his privacy. It suggests that his presence might have
been excoriating, when it was merely attentive and thoughtful. The
roguishness of his author photos turned out — in person — to mean a
fondness for torn T-shirts and no love for shaving his long jaw.

I saw the article in the New York Times last week but with everything that’s been going on I didn’t really take  the time to process it, to take it in.

A confession last week by Morton Sobell, a co-defendant and classmate of Julius Rosenberg, revealed that he and Rosenberg did indeed pass information about the atomic bomb to the Soviets.

There is no real reason not to believe Morton Sobell’s confession.

This certainly doesn’t mean that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg deserved to be executed. Goodness, no. But it does solve one of the most painful mysteries of Cold War America.

Ah, the Rosenbergs.

Think of of their sons, Robert and Michael Meeropol, who have spent their lives defending their parents and trying to prove them innocent. They attended Elizabeth Irwin High School in the West Village, the same high school my sister attended many years later. Kindred spirits, I guess. We always felt a connection with them

In 1953 they lost both their father and mother, Ethel, and were adopted by Abel and Anne Meeropol. The Times’ today has the an interesting story about the brothers.

Ah, the Rosenbergs.

"We believed they were innocent and we tried to prove them innocent," Michael Meeropol told the New York Times. "But I remember saying to myself in late 1975, maybe a little later, that whatever happesn it doesn’t change me. We really meant it, that the truth is more important than our political position."

This from Rebeccah Welch at the Center for the Urban Environment

Urban Environmentalist NYC – Ask the Expert

Jeffrey Chernick, CEO and Co-Founder of rideamigos.com, launched the ridesharing service with his partner and childhood best friend Evan Meyer in September 2007 (pictured here, left to right).  They have since taken the site from a NYC-based taxi-sharing service to a global ridesharing solutions company. Chernick will be speaking on the subject of “Navigating NYC: From Pedicabs to Green Car Services” at Green Brooklyn.. Green City on September 18th. For more information visit www.greenbrooklyn.org.

CUE: What is Ride Amigos, where did this idea come from—and, most importantly, how does it work?

Chernick: rideamigos.com is a free online tool that matches people going the same way at the same time so that they can share a taxi or fill a carpool anywhere, anytime on planet Earth.  Using is easy: simply enter where you are going and what time you want to arrive, and then whether it’s a one time ride (i.e. airport) or recurring ride (i.e. commute).  Where did the idea come from?  To be honest, my own annoying NYC subway commute.  Instead of taking the 50 minute "V" train, I wanted to share a 10 minute taxi right up First Avenue.  I found another rider, Abigail, who wanted to save time and money and boom, I had a rideamiga the first day we launched.

CUE: What do you think are the biggest challenges facing urban residents in terms of transportation—and does Brooklyn have any distinguishing features in this regard?

Chernick: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends eighteen cents of every dollar earned on transportation – that makes our cars the second largest expense behind housing.  That amount plus expensive parking makes transportation a Brooklyn budget nightmare.  So take public transit, some would exclaim!  Unfortunately, not everyone lives near a convenient subway or bus line.  And it’s not always a financial question.  The stress of waiting on a bus line or for a crowded subway can be hellish.

CUE: From a transportation perspective, what are the top 3 things an average city resident can do to reduce the carbon footprint of New York City?

Chernick: 1)  Ride a bike or walk – healthy for your body, healthy for our Earth; 2)  Take public transportation -the more people taking mass transit, the lighter the New York City carbon footprint; 3)  Rideshare!  If you are going to drive or take a taxi, use rideamigos.com or a service like it and find a commute partner.  You never know who you might meet while cutting cost and resource use in half!

CUE: What are the statistics on cab use in NYC? Has that changed over time—and what accounts for that change?

Chernick: According to the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), 600,000 Yellow Taxi rides are taken daily with an average of 1.4  passengers per ride, with an average ride costing $10.95.  What’s more, there is an average of 13,237 yellow taxis on the road at any given time.  These numbers continue to rise, mainly because gas prices dissuade drivers from taking their own cars and demand for rapid transport is higher than ever.

CUE: This is a little bit of a lead question… but is there a social and civic mission to ride sharing, a goal of bringing isolated city residents together through shared transportation alternatives?

Chernick: Absolutely!  Ride sharing is all about meeting new people, forming relationships, and interacting with other humans.  Finding a ride share partner fortifies existing community relationships and encourages neighbors to interact and connect.  The more local residents participating, the more tight-knit the entire New York City community will be.

Interview conducted by Rebeccah Welch—Associate Director of Public Affairs at the Center for the Urban Environment. As a guide to a more sustainable New York City, the Center is dedicated to educating individuals about the built and natural environments. For more about our work visit www.thecue.org.

Rebeccah Welch, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Public Affairs
Center for the Urban Environment
718.788.8500 x263
rwelch@bcue.org
www.bcue.org

Green Brooklyn…Green City!  On September 18th, join us at the largest green event in the borough: www.greenbrooklyn.org

Brooklyn Beat of Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn sent this post about the 2008 school report cards that were released yesterday.

Well, despite the hue and cry about grades and tests, whether it is due
to schadenfreude, or disagreement, or satisfaction, we find the results
endlessly fascinating.

So, here are a few of the results from the 2007-2008 Progress report
just posted by the NYC Department of Education. Visit the DOE web page
and enter the school borough and number (K=Brooklyn, R=Richmond,
M=Manhattan, X=Bronx, Q= Queens) in "Find a school"/ Go to the school
website, and select "Statistics" from the left hand column, and go to
"Progress Reports." Then, either gloat or read m and weep.

http://www.schools.nyc.gov

For convenience, a very incomplete list of a few of the grades for schools familiar to readers are as follows:

School 2007-08/2006-07/COMMENT

K008 F/ F :TO BE CONTINUED
K020 C/ B :CLINTON HILL
K029 A/ A
K051 A/ B
K217 A/ B :A STONE’S THROW FROM POMME TERRE
K261 C/ C
K321 B/ B :SAY NO MORE.. the original
K443 A/ A :NEW VOICES

Last night this news was announced by New York’s Governor David Patterson. Read more at the New York Times and everywhere else.

WASHINGTON — Fearing a financial crisis worldwide, the Federal Reserve
reversed course on Tuesday and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that
would give the government control of the troubled insurance giant American International Group.

The decision, only two weeks after the Treasury took over the federally chartered mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is the most radical intervention in private business in the central bank’s history.

With time running out after A.I.G. failed to get a bank loan to avoid bankruptcy, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke,
convened a meeting with House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill about
6:30 p.m. Tuesday to explain the rescue plan. They emerged just after
7:30 p.m. with Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke looking grim, but with top
lawmakers initially expressing support for the plan. But the bailout is
likely to prove controversial, because it effectively puts taxpayer
money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other
institutions it does business with.

In my wanderings around the Slope I heard or overheard these reactions to Wall Street’s free fall from a wide variety of local citizens.

"This is scary."

What does this mean?"

"How does this effect me?"

"What will happen to New York real estate?"

"How will this influence the election."

"People are going to want daddy now. Old man McCain."

"It’s good for Obama. McCain is an idiot about the economy."

"I can’t get unemployment on the phone, the message says to call back later. I guess it’s the Lehman Brothers thing."

"$85 Billion bailout? That’s like the government buying a Mercedes for every person in San Jose."

"It’s the end of American Capitalism as we know it."

"Thank you, Nostradamus," she said in reply to the above statement.

"You can’t cry over losses in the stock market. It’s not real money. It’s only on paper."

"We’re screwed."

"This will trickle down and affect everybody."

"I haven’t been following the news, the TV, the radio, what’s been going on?"

"Oh just the end of the world."

"I am freaking out."

"It’s like after 9/11."

It’s like 1987, remember 1987?"

"It’s like 1929."

"Yikes."

I have gotten many lovely expressions of sympathy by email; some from people I don’t even know. I am very grateful for all these notes and plan on responding to each and every one; the loving kindness comes through no matter what the format in my opinion.

If you wrote me an email condolence note I would appreciate if you’d send me your snail mail address so that I can send you a card. louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

A friend wrote yesterday:

Louise, I hope I’m not being tacky be emailing my condolences.  I am truly sorry for your loss.

I wrote her back that I didn’t think it was tacky at all. In fact, it’s a quick and thoughtful way to make contact with someone going through a loss. The question is, what is the proper way to respond to these sympathy emails: with emails or, as is customary, with a thank you card?

News item: Former city official suggests selling bridges for needed NYC revenue.

  GOLD IN THEM THAR BRICKS

The Brooklyn Bridge could easily

Put a billion in the treasury;

No reason why motorists should get

A free ride in crossing over the wet

To The City, as Brooklyn natives call it.

And a toll pays big, so
let’s install it.

Of course the private sector does better

Than government, a hopeless debtor,

So it’s incumbent on the mayor

To sell to an experienced purveyor.

Now George Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ owner,

Is known for taking the limpest boner

And turning it
into a solid gain,

No waste, procrastination or pain.

Ole George’d be happy to buy the bridge–

If he had a billion in his fridge.

No problem.  A simple subsidy

(It’s done all the time) is the remedy.

And he’d collect the tolls and split

Them with the
city, as finances permit.

His Yankee Stadium accountants can

Be counted on for a fairness plan

And in gratitude we’d rename the span

To honor this unique great man.

The Steinbrenner Bridge! It has a ring,

Like good old-fashioned Civic
Sting

…at this month’s Brooklyn Blogade, a monthly meeting of Brooklyn bloggers. These monthly gatherings, which meet all over Brooklyn, are open to bloggers, blog readers, those interested in blogging, and those thinking about blogging. Here are the ‘tails:

This month’s blogade takes place on Sunday September 21 at 1 p.m. in Williamsburg at Juliette – just
off the L at Bedford (great large roofdeck perfect for margaritas)
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/juliette/

We’ll be gathering on the rooftop (weather permitting) at 1PM and
talking about how to build your personal brand (your blog’s identity)
and how to use social media (like Twitter and Facebook fan pages) to
grow your brand and expand your audience.

Please RSVP: email directly: christine.brodi…@gmail.com.

In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to get started setting up a

few social assets, please open the following accounts and friend/

follow me:

www.facebook.com (start your account and search for Chrissie Brodigan

and send me a friend request – and, if possible set up a Facebook Fan

page for your blog)

www.twitter.com (start your account and give me a follow at chrissieb

– and I will follow you back!)

This morning I ran into Sara Bennett Holmes, co-author of the book, The Case Against Homework and operator of the blog, Stop Homework.

She told me that she’d seen my posts about my dad and that her friend, psychologist Kate McReynolds, died two days before he did at Calvary Hospice.

McReynolds sounds like an incredible person and you can read about her on Sarah’s blog where Sarah quotes McReynolds’ last article, “Children’s Happiness,” published in the Spring 2008 issue of Encounter Magazine: Education for Meaning and Social Justice where she was Associate Editor, she wrote:

If we were to look squarely at the ordinary unhappiness
of just one child—that is, if we pondered it until we had achieved the
deepest understanding of his or her experience—what would happen? I
believe that, like my son’s middle school teacher, we might be brought
to tears. We might recognize that forces behind our own unhappiness,
how we ourselves have suffered from unremitting pressure to make the
grade and the subsequent narrowing of all that was meaningful to us. If
we then let compassion overtake us, we might do something remarkable.
We might, for example, take a leave of absence to give ourselves more
time in the present. We might adopt a more modest lifestyle that
balances work with devotion to our deepest values. We might, in other
words, decide that the happiness children naturally seek is the most
important thing in life–for them and for ourselves as well.

The Potato Eaters
Susanne Lara Ruppert (foreground, right) studies Vincent Van Gogh’s, 
"The Potator Eaters," one of the paintings on view as part of a MOMA exhibition examining Van Gogh’s relationship to the night.  The exhibit opens to the public on September 21st and runs through 
January 5th at the Museum of Modern Art.

Game Stop, the enormously successful video and computer game shop, is going in on Fifth Avenue near 12th Street.

Beacon’s Closet will be relocating to the storefront that was a card shop at 92 Fifth Avenue at Warren Street. They old location is Fifth Avenue near President.

There’s a new wine shop at Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Street. The name escapes me just now.

The shop on the corner of 4th Street and Fifth Avenue will be a new Italian restaurant; it used to be Cocotte. That’s all we know.

The Bell House, the new club owned and operated by the folks who brought you Union Hall, is opening this week at 149 7th Street in the Gowanus area. It has 25-foot arched ceilings,
450-square-foot stage, and possibly perfect sightlines and can welcome up
to 350 at a time, with an additional 150 in the bar in front all on one floor.

Eric NYC, the upscale women’s shoe store will be opening soon on Seventh Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
 

As is the custom in New York, people are leaving Korean market flowers on the lamp post at Carroll Street and 8th Avenue in memoriam for a biker who was killed there last week. The Brooklyn Paper had this report.

Witnesses said Jonathan Millstein, who lived in Boerum Hill with his wife and
two sons, had been wearing a helmet during his crash, which occurred
just after 8 am. There were no children on board the bus that killed
him, and police did not issue a summons or arrest the driver, cops said.

At first I didn’t make the connection. But then I did. Jonathan Millstein, 50, was a friend of a friend of mine at the New Lincoln School, a private high school in Manhattan. He was Johnny; Johnny Millstein. I met him at Westbeth, where my friend lived. .

Then he married another childhood friend. He and his wife, Emily, owned a shop called Design East in the East Village. They were famous for their Regular t-shirt that a lot of people wore in the 1980’s: A nice silkscreen of a Greek coffee shop coffee cup. Underneath it said "Regular."

I loved their shop and their designs.

They were pioneering people. A t-shirt and silkscreen shop in a building on Second Avenue near Houston Street settled by squatters,  where they sold their own designs. A cool and ironic t-shirt that sold well. Early settlers in Brooklyn.

Millstein was also known for helping out troubled teens. An article in the Daily News has a nice tribute.

A beloved Brooklyn
man known for giving struggling young men a second chance was killed
Wednesday when he was hit by a bus while cycling, cops said.

Jonathan Millstein, 50, suffered massive head wounds when slammed by an empty school bus while biking in Park Slope at 8:15a.m., police said.

Millstein, who owns a silkscreen design and printing shop in Manhattan,
apparently rode through a red light at President St. and Eighth Ave.
when the school bus barreled into him, witnesses told police.

"I’m shocked that he died in such a horrible fashion," said Steve Herrick, 47, a friend who knew Millstein from the building where he runs Works In Progress NYC, a company that designs and prints graphics.

Millstein, a father of two who lived with his wife, Emily, in downtown Brooklyn, was known for employing teenagers and young men from programs for troubled youth.

"Jon was a really nice guy," said Selassie Samuel, 22, a former intern at the victim’s shop. "He was a lenient boss as long as you got the job done."

Someone over at the TKTS Booth in Downtown Brooklyn sent this to me:

I wanted you to know that for the TKTS Booth in Downtown Brooklyn there is a daily email blast called TKTS Today that we send around 11am, the time TKTS Downtown Brooklyn opens from Monday – Friday, saying what shows on Broadway, Off Broadway and in Brooklyn are available. 

We offer this to people who live in work in Brooklyn, and you’re blog has really helped me learn a lot about Brooklyn since we opened the booth there (I’m from Queens, so what do I know?)  The TKTS Downtown Brooklyn  booth  is at 1 MetroTech Center at the corner of Jay and Myrtle.

Here is the link to the place for people to sign up.
https://secure2.tdf.org/TKTSToday/

An OTBKB reader wrote to me with this terrible news about the Cocotte mural on the corner of Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue.

"According to the signage, Cocotte—-the much-missed Fifth Avenue French
restaurant-—will reappear as a bistro. But, sadly, La Cocotte-—the
lovely lady in red whose picture graced the restaurant’s Fourth Street
side-—has been painted over with yellow paint. Many of us will miss the
mural that taught us the two definitions of Cocotte—-a small fire-proof
dish, and a lady of the night."

Photo by David Emmett.

A few minutes before a Jewish funeral begins, there’s an interesting Jewish ritual of mouring: the tearing of one’s garment or a special ribbon. Called Kriah, this custom is many centuries old.

In the room next to the funeral chapel at Frank E Campbell, Rabbi Bachman instructed us in what to do and offered an explanation. By ripping the ribbon, we face grief directly. Sometimes men rip their neck ties. He gave each close family member a black ribbon pin to wear for a month.

Before the rip was made, the rabbi said a prayer, the words of Job, “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken, blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

And then we all pulled at the end of our ribbons.

I was going to wear that ribbon for a month but it fell off my lapel the day after the funeral. Today I went into Fiber Notion on Union Street to buy a piece of black grosgrain ribbon.

The owner didn’t have any grosgrain in stock but she did have some black velvet ribbon. As I began to describe what I was doing with it, she artfully tied the ribbon into a a small bow tie bow with two pieces of ribbon dangling below. She cut it with a scissor as I described the ritual of tearing one’s garment or special ribbon.

While she was making the Kriah, the song Lullaby of Broadway came across the radio. I told the woman that this was one of my father’s favorite songs, especially the version by Chris Connor. I don’t know who was singing it but it did have a nice swing to it.

The owner of the shop found a lovely purple safety pin in her drawer. Voila, I have a lovely velvet ribbon Kriah. It’s quite different from the one I lost after the funeral. But hey. It was made with a lot of heart and some music, too.

Have you ever heard two turtle doves
Bill and coo when they love
That’s the kind of magic
Music we make with our lips
When we kiss

And there’s a weepy ol’ willow
He really knows how to cry
That’s how i cry in my pillow
If you should tell me
Farewell and goodbye

Lullaby of Birdland whisper low
kiss me sweet & we’ll go
Fliyin’ high in Birdland
High in the sky up above
All because we’re in love