PARK SLOPE FOODIES

The strollered tot would not stop squirming,

Annoying his mom a bunch,

Till finally she threw down the gauntlet:

"Stop, or no sushi for lunch."

pix by Jleighb

Bank space goes red (Gowanus Lounge)

Park Slope Books closed (Gowanus Lounge)

Brooklyn Industries in new location (Gowanus Lounge)

Storefront catacombs at 4th Avenue station (Brooklynometry)

Gowanus as national historic landmark? (Brownstoner)

To my knowledge Wednesday was the first time there was a tasting table at the Park Slope Food Coop—if I’m wrong about that I’m sure someone will correct me.

I felt like I was at Trader Joe’s or Costco.

Indeed, the  tasting table across from the refrigerator case that has eggs, Indian sauces, tofu, tempeh, and other refrigerator items, gave the Coop a mainstream supermarket vibe. Shoppers seemed surprised to see the free brownies. But few seemed to object—that’s for sure.

The women were promoting individually wrapped Greyston chocolate fudge, walnut, expresso bean and blonde brownies that the Coop will be selling.

I grabbed two pieces of blonde brownies by the toothpick and savored the delicious treat. When I went back to the table for more I noticed that the packaging said Ben and Jerry’s on it.

"I see Ben and Jerry’s is on the label," I said.

"Yes, we make the brownies for their ice cream," said one of the women from Greyston.  "It’s a good fit for the Food Coop. I wish we could come here every day," 

That’s Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie she’s talking about. That flavor contains chunks of yummy, chewy Greyston brownies. According to the Ben & Jerry website, Greyston provides employment and training to economically disadvantaged
residents of Yonkers. Ben & Jerry’s likes Greyston because "we get great tasting brownies and we also get to
support the good work they do to create economic opportunities in their
community."

So Greyston are social activist brownies and that’s why they had a tasting table at the Food Coop. That makes sense.

From the Greyston website:

Greyston Bakery is a force for personal transformation and community
economic renewal. We operate a profitable business, baking high quality
gourmet products with a commitment to customer satisfaction.

Greyston
Bakery provides a supportive workplace offering employment and
opportunity for advancement. Our profits contribute to the community
development work of the Greyston Foundation.

According to the Greyston Foundation website, they don’t hire people to make brownies, they make brownies to hire people.

The Foundation provides jobs, workforce development, low income housing, child care services, after school programs, comprehensive HIV health care, housing, community gardens and a gourmet baking business. In 2007, the foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007.

A Third Street neighbor, who works at a Starbucks in Manhattan, assured me that the milk foam in lattes and cappuccino’s at Starbucks will be much improved because of Tuesday’s re-training sessions at all 7,100 shops.

At the re-training sessions, employees were trained in the art of making frothy foam. Turns out, the majority of Starbucks baristas were doing it wrong.

My Third Street neighbor was an exception. One of the top three baristas at his Starbucks, he’s been doing it right all along I am proud to report.

From now on, he said, the coffee drinks should taste much, much better. The company, which has sales of over $9 billion dollars, has seen it’s profits plunge since 2006. They’re scared and are attempting to get back to basics to salvage their falling market share.

According to some reports, stores opened yesterday with a sign urging customers to complain if their drink wasn’t "perfect".

I haven’t been to the Seventh Avenue store since last week but am interested to see if things are different over there.

While I’m not a big fan of Starbucks coffee, I do like the staff at our local Starbucks.

Clyde Haberman: Crystal ball is cloudy (Brooklyn Heights Blog)

No run for Bloomberg (New York Times op-ed)

Independents best in bed, republicans the worst (Brooklyn Optimist)

Teaching journalism in Bhutan (Andrea Bernstein’s blog)

RIP: William F. Buckley, Jr (New York Times)

Earn an A and you can use your cell phone at a few Brooklyn middle schools (NY Times)

$60 million gift to SUNY Stonybrook from hedge funder (NY Times)

Gowanus Green in detail (Gowanus Lounge)

Online petition to link G to Atlantic Avenue station (Gowanus Lounge)

Well, the construction workers wouldn’t talk but the nice man in the newsstand had no problem spilling the beans about the new restaurant going in where Tempo Presto used to be. And speaking of beans, black beans, that is…

"A Mexican restaurant is going in there," the newsman told me Wednesday afternoon.

"Did Tempo Presto go out? a customer asked the man behind the counter. Where you been? I thought to myself.

"Three months ago. They were only there, what, six months?" the shopkeeper looked at me for confirmation.

"Yeah six, eight months," I concurred not really sure how long they’d been there.

"I never went there," his customer replied.  "Not much room in there for a restaurant."

"They’re going to have outdoor seating," the newsman said.

"But that’s only good in the warm weather," the customer laughed.

"Maybe they’ll put in a tent like Sette," I added pointing the Italian restaurant across the street.

"They’ll have to pay for the heat," the newsman said.

"That’s expensive," the customer said and walked out with his cigarettes.

Dr. Phillipa Gorden, a well-regarded pediatrician in Park Slope, put the word out on Park Slope Parents about two cases of measles in the area. She started with this concise post.

Not
sure
if
this
has
been
reported
yet,
but
there
is
a
little
outbreak of
measles
in
Brooklyn
—
and
it
is
homegrown,
not
imported
from
another country.

I am guessing that some PSP members got a little agitated. One woman, a self-described hypochondriac, wrote to say that she appreciated the heads
up,
but wondered what she’s supposed
to
do
with this
information? 
Watch
for
fever
and
red
spots? 
Avoid
indoor
public
germfests
like
B&N?

Dr. Gordon sent out this second post to allay her fears. But it sure contains some scary information.

Sorry
everyone,
I
did
not
mean
to
start
a
panic. It’s
only
2 cases! 
 

The
primary
case 
contracted
the
disease
and
passed
it
on
to an
unimmunized
family
member. 
But
why
it’s
interesting
is
that
the index
case
had
not
been
out
of
the
country, 
which
means
he
or
she
was exposed
to
the
disease
within
New
York
City.

Since 
the
mid-nineties, almost
all
cases
of
measles
have
been
imported
–either
visitors
to
USA from
other
countries,
or
US
residents
returning
from
trips
abroad. 
From a
public
health
point
of
view
this
is
extremely
interesting. 

Measles outbreaks
can
only
occur
when 
so-
called
"herd
immunity"
fails
—
that
is,
when
the
number
of
susceptible
people
in
a
community
increases
to
a
certain
percentage,
transmission
occurs,
but
if
the
number
of susceptible
people
in
a
community
is
low,
the
community
cannot
sustain an
outbreak. 

So
it
raises
questions
as
to
the
status
of
our
community with
regard
to
herd
immunity,
and
the
Dept.
of
Health
will
be
watching carefully. 
Occasionally
they
have
to
institute
quarantines
—
some
may remember
that
last
year
there
was
an
outbreak
of
chicken
pox
at
321
and the
DOH
came
and
sent
home
children
who
had
no
proof
of
immunity. 

Interestingly,
if
a
disease
becomes
very
prevalent,
some
people
who
are
immunized
will
catch
it
anyway.

As
far
as
what
we
as
parents
need
to
worry
about,
if
your
child
is
immunized,
no
problem. 
The
disease
consists
of
fever,
cough,
runny
nose,
conjunctivitis,
and
a
lacy
red
rash. 
Also
spots
inside
the
mouth
called
Koplik’s
spots. 
Kids
under
5
are
more
at
risk
for complications. 
Acute
encephalitis
causing
permanent
brain
damage
occurs in
one
out
of
a
thousand
cases,
and
death
occurs
in
one
to
three
out
of a
thousand
cases. 
In
addition
there
is
a
chronic 
irreversible degenerative
central
nervous
system
syndrome
known
as
subacute sclerosing
panencephalitis 
that
is
very
very
rare
and
has
hasn’t
occurred
in
the
US
in
many
years.

As
children
are
infectious
one
to
three
days
before
symptoms
occur,
it’s
a
crap
shoot,
but
staying
home
if
your
child 
have
fever
or
rash,
and
making
sure
your
child’s
immunizations
are
up
to
date
if
you
do
intend
to
vaccinate
them
are
the
best
bet
for
now.

Yesterday there was activity in the Tempo Presto storefront—a radio playing jazz and people inside moving around, cleaning up.

Strangely, there were also workmen moving metal pipes and other objects from the abandoned and boarded-up building on Third Street into a rental moving truck.

That’s the mystery building on Third Street next door to Tempo Presto.

"What’s going on?" a Third Street neighbor asked me. Any activity in that neglected building is big news on Third Street.

"Dunno," I said. "I asked one of the workmen if the building had been sold and he said no. But maybe that was the wrong question."

"I think the city owns that building," my neighbor told me. "It’s been vacant for more than ten years."

More like 14 years. My guess is that someone wanted all that metal. It’s worth some money, isn’t it?

It was encouraging to see activity in that building which has been boarded up for as long as I’ve lived here. Back in 2001  it looked like the building was being turned into condos and there was consistent work going on there.

After 9/11 everything stopped. Either the money dried up or someone connected with the project was affected by 9/11.

There’s been almost no activity there. Until yesterday.

LEAP INTO LITTLE BOXES

Leap Year Day, that calendar curiosity,
Comes to Brooklyn with velocity
Bringing crossword puzzlers Friday
Hoping each to make it "My Day"
In the annual competition
For their peers’ recognition
As the verbal king or queen
Of the
Up-and-Down-word scene.
The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament,
Otherwise known as Connecticut’s ornament,
Shifts to Brooklyn (with its subway trains)
In the search for more room–and more brains.
Which is how the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott,
Famed for its ballroom and commissariat,
Landed the World Series of puzzles,
Sport of head-slaps and of
nuzzles.
Founder and director Will Shortz
Of course will be there with retorts
To questions of style and suitability,
Issuing rules of enforceability.
Six hundred crossworders will keep heads bent
At the the weekend-long event.
Shortz, the New York Times puzzle master
Overseeing the race-to-be
faster,
Won matinee idol movie status
Starring in "Wordplay" with charm apparatus.
Soft of voice, the ideal boss,
Will never utters a word that’s cross.
Brooklyn’s crossword-off welcomes visitors,
All except vocal kibitzers.

That’s because I went to the ribbon cutting ceremony without Hugh. No Hugh_No Camera. I did have my iPhone with me but I forgot about that camera.

The place looks great. The 1/8th of a mile Olympic sized track is awesome. But don’t take my word for it. There are sure to be gobs of pictures tomorrow. I saw some photographers there. And Channel 12…

Remember Richard Grayson? Funny literary guy, author of I Brake for Delmore Schwartz, And to Think that He Kissed Him on Lorimer Street and With Hitler in New York?

He’s a sometime-columnist for OTBKB and writes about Brooklyn bus rides and his high school English teacher.

Well, today he told me something interesting. Maybe he’ll write about it:

I did go to something on Sunday afternoon at Bluestockings that was kind of interesting, a meeting of planners’ reading group at which they discussed a sociology book Bargaining for Brooklyn, a study of community-based organizations in Bushwick and Williamsburg
in the late 1990s.  I didn’t write anything about it because it was
pretty academic although I will probably at least skim the book.

Brooklyn Reading Works presents THE MEMOIR-A-THON!

This is the Brooklyn Reading Works
event you won’t want to miss. Never heard of a Memoir-A-Thon?

That’s
because I made it up. It’s sort of a marathon reading of memoirs—but it
won’t be long and boring.

No way. That’s because the writers are each limited to 6 minutes and that will be strictly enforced by my little bell.

At 6 minutes: ding, ding, ding.

And what a group of writers: Branka Ruzak, Mary Warren, Marian
Fontana, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein, Nica Lalli, Kim Larsen,
Carla Thompson and MORE…

Come to this great event and hear the personal stories of these
unique writers. Books by these authors will be on sale at the event
which is at the Old Stone House at Fifth Avenue and Third Street.

PAULA BERNSTEIN & ELYSE SCHEIN are the authors of Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited,

MARIAN FONTANA is the author of A Widow’s Walk, a memoir of 9/11. 

NICA LALLI is the author of Nothing; Something to Believe In, a memoir of growing up an athiest.

BRANKA RUZAK has
been
a
writer,
producer
and
editor
for
commercial
and corporate
advertising
who
spent
many
childhood
hours
listening
to
her father’s
stories
and
playing
Croatian
folk
music.
Always
an
avid
traveler,her
studies
in
Hindusthani
classical
music,
as
well
as
her
enthusiasm
for Indian
novels,
textiles
and
a
good
cup
of
chai
have
taken
her
to
India
and other
destinations.
She
is
currently
working
on
a
collection
of
essays
about family,
identity,
culture
and
travel.

MARY WARREN is a freelance writer who teaches English at a local college. SHe has two blogs, Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary and Eat, Drink, Memory.

CARLA THOMPSON writes a blog, "The Ride: Life
Lesson for Those Who Can’t Draw a Straight Line", which features her
acerbic and sometimes witty musings on everything from politics to pop
culture. Carla has also written a variety of articles for Women’s
eNews, Black Enterprise, AOL Black Voices and the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution among other publications.

KIM LARSEN’S feature story, "Bad Blood," which
reports on the reintroduction of DDT in the fight against malaria in
Africa, is the cover story in the winter 2008 edition of OnEarth
Magazine. Her essay about the untimely death of a close friend appears
in the essay anthology, "The Oldest We’ve Ever Been."

PAMELA S. OUELETTE Pamela S. Ouellette is a speech language pathologist currently working with school-age children in the South Bronx and an adjunct lecturer at Baruch
College, CUNY.  She is writing a collection of not-so-comic,
not-so-nonfiction about her work with adults with traumatic brain injuries
entitled "Addled: Capering Amidst the Wisdom of the Traumatically Brain
Injured," about a recently divorced speech language pathologist who
attempts to discover who is more addled–she or the patients she treats and
learns that shattered minds can resuscitate arrested hearts.

JULIE MERZ (BIO TO COME)

Pix of armory/recreation center (Gowanus Lounge)

Park Slope Family Theater Closing (Gowanus Lounge)

Ft. Hamilton Army Base head tapped to work under General Petraeus (NY Daily News)

The New York Philharmonic played in Pyongyang, North Korea today. Park Slope’s John Schaefer, the host of WNYC’s Soundcheck, is traveling with the orchestra for this historic and controversial event.

The orchestra played the national anthems of North Korea and the United State and American in Paris by George Gershwin.

This is the  first time an
American orchestra has been allowed to perform in the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea. They also played Dvorak’s “New World”
Symphony and
Bernstein’s overture to “Candide."

Schaefer reported on WNYC this morning: "The ending of the concert
was very memorable…there was standing ovation which lasted after the
conductor, Loren Maazel, left the stage. The members of the orchestra
had to get up to start leaving. As they got up and left, members of the
audience waved goodbye," Schaefer said on WNYC this morning.

According to Schaefer, "The musicians were quite emotional. Wiping
away tears. None had ever had this  experience of an audience waving
goodbye. Tears flowing on both sides. I’ve never seen that at a
classical concert."

The broadcast of the full concert will be on WNYC on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

Thanks to Nelly Issacson, a member of the Park Slope Civic Council and a longtime neighborhood activist, I went (on the late side) to the ribbon cutting ceremony over at the new Park Slope Armory/Recreation center, on 8th Avenue and 14th Street.

Borough President Marty Markowitz, Coucilmember Bill De Blasio, and Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Robert C. Lieber gave speeches. De Blasio even paid a few rounds of hoops with the Commisioner of City Department of Homeless Services.

I spoke to Marty as he was leaving. Since I was a "speech guest" at the State of the Borough I shouted out:

"Hey give a quote to Only the Blog…"

"It’s all about family time and quality time. And fitness," Marty said. He told me that back when he was an assemblyman, he went with a group of neighborhood activist to an armory on 168th Street in Manhattan (Ft. Washington) that had a fitness center and  a homeless shelter.

"That was the model for this," he told me.

Indeed that armory in Upper Manhattan is proof that the combination of recreation center/ homeless shelter works very well in a large armory space like this one.

It’s been a long time coming. Sometimes it seemed like a pipe dream to South Slope residents. Maybe 15 years in the making. Neighborhood residents like Issacson can attest to that.

"It took centuries for this to happen," she told me.

City Councilmember Bill De Blasio deserves a lot of credit for pushing it through in the last few years. He told a reporter at the event:

"The hard part was getting the $16 million and fixing this place over the last three years. Now it’s the easy part: figuring out how it should be used. The YMCA was the perfect choice. They know how to do it. The city needs to approve that choice but by spring school groups, people in the community should be using this space. We’ve got an Olympic-sized track (1/8 of a mile). Part of the day there will be schools in here. Weekends we’ll have youth basketball and other sports leagues. Nights and weekends are for the community. We will charge a modest membership fee. But this area needs this."

I asked De Blasio who would have priority when it comes to usage. Clearly, it’s going to be an interesting balancing act.

For starters, the schools will get priority time in the space.

"District 15 and District 20 certainly need this. There’s not enough gym space. Especially in the old school buildings like PS 107 and PS 39, which is 125 years old. There’s no gym."

I spoke with representatives of CAMBA (Church Avenue Merchants Block Association) who run the homeless shelter in the armory. They added  that the 70 residents of the homeless shelter would also be scheduled into the mix.

Joan McFeely, who works with CAMBA said that after years of meetings it is very gratifying to see the armory finally fixed up and ready to be utilized in this way.

My sister, father and stepmother were all wondering the same thing. I just got this email from Leon Freilich. If you couldn’t find the Brooklyn Paper in print, got to brooklynpaper.com

I couldn’t find a print edition of the Brooklyn Paper along Seventh Avenue this weekend, not even 10 minutes ago.

Any idea what happened to the distribution?  Could Rupert’s rascals have out-muscled Gersh’s goons?

This story from ABC news:

An American Airlines passenger died after a flight attendant first
refused to help administer oxygen and then tried to help her with
faulty equipment, including an empty oxygen tank, a relative said.

The airline wasn’t saying much Sunday night, but confirmed the flight
death and said medical professionals had tried to save the passenger,
Carine Desir, who was returning home to Brooklyn from Haiti.

  Desir had heart disease. She died of natural causes, medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Sunday.

   Desir said she was not feeling well and was very thirsty on the Friday flight from Port-au-Prince. 

The poetry just keeps coming out of him. Here’s Monday’s offering from OTBKB’s verse responder, Leon Freilich:

         FRIGID AIR TIP

Boom–warmth to the full.

    UP/DOWN TOWN

Take a blow to the guts.

         ALEUT HOOT

None dare call it reason.

Embracing the Future: Making Connections to Grow your Business is a conference sponsored by the Brooklyn wing of the New York City Council (along with HSBC
and
SBS and others).

The goal of the conference is to help
minorities
and
women
who
own
their own
business to
gather
information
on programs
and
how
they can
improve
their
business
with
the
city.

This
is
a
public
event on Friday March 7th from 8 am – 4 pm at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.

Workshops include:
–Restaurant Boot Camp
–Understanding the NYC Puchasing process
–Financial and technical assistnce for small business owners
–Nailing down a contract in the construction industry

Organization:
The
City
Council,
Small
Business
Services
&
HSBC
Bank
Event:
Minority,
Women
Small
Business
and
Entrepreneur
Conference:
Making
Connections
to
Grow
Your
Business
Date: March 7, 2008
Time: 8am-4pm
Location:
Medgar
Evers
College,
1650
Bedford
Ave,
Contact
Information:
212-788-6687

Brooklyn Reading Works presents THE MEMOIR-A-THON!

This is the Brooklyn Reading Works
event you won’t want to miss. Never heard of a Memoir-A-Thon?

That’s
because I made it up. It’s sort of a marathon reading of memoirs—but it
won’t be long and boring.

No way. That’s because the writers are each limited to 6 minutes and that will be strictly enforced by my little bell.

At 6 minutes: ding, ding, ding.

And what a group of writers: Branka Ruzak, Mary Warren, Marian
Fontana, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein, Nica Lalli, Kim Larsen,
Carla Thompson and MORE…

Come to this great event and hear the personal stories of these
unique writers. Books by these authors will be on sale at the event
which is at the Old Stone House at Fifth Avenue and Third Street.

PAULA BERNSTEIN & ELYSE SCHEIN are the authors of Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited,

MARIAN FONTANA is the author of A Widow’s Walk, a memoir of 9/11. 

NICA LALLI is the author of Nothing; Something to Believe In, a memoir of growing up an athiest.

BRANKA RUZAK has
been
a
writer,
producer
and
editor
for
commercial
and corporate
advertising
who
spent
many
childhood
hours
listening
to
her father’s
stories
and
playing
Croatian
folk
music.
Always
an
avid
traveler,her
studies
in
Hindusthani
classical
music,
as
well
as
her
enthusiasm
for Indian
novels,
textiles
and
a
good
cup
of
chai
have
taken
her
to
India
and other
destinations.
She
is
currently
working
on
a
collection
of
essays
about family,
identity,
culture
and
travel.

MARY WARREN is a freelance writer who teaches English at a local college. SHe has two blogs, Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary and Eat, Drink, Memory.

CARLA THOMPSON writes a blog, "The Ride: Life
Lesson for Those Who Can’t Draw a Straight Line", which features her
acerbic and sometimes witty musings on everything from politics to pop
culture. Carla has also written a variety of articles for Women’s
eNews, Black Enterprise, AOL Black Voices and the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution among other publications.

KIM LARSEN’S feature story, "Bad Blood," which
reports on the reintroduction of DDT in the fight against malaria in
Africa, is the cover story in the winter 2008 edition of OnEarth
Magazine. Her essay about the untimely death of a close friend appears
in the essay anthology, "The Oldest We’ve Ever Been."

Life in a Marital Institution (20 years of Monogamy in One Terrifying Hour) is Jame Braly’s tour-de-force monologue playing at 59E59, a theater located at 59 East 59th Street in Manhattan February 19-March 16. www.ticketcentral.com
 

Go see it. It could help (your marriage, that is).

OTBKB friend and fave, Anna Becker of Deep End Productions, is the producer and the word on certain Park Slope blocks is that the show is very funny, edgy, smart, and full of insight and poignancy about the state of contemporary marriage. Becker also runs the Insights and Revelations Performance series in Westchester.

Love, lust, betrayal, death and dinner parties, this well-written show was directed by Hal Brooks (a Pulitzer Prize finalist) and has been at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, the Whitney Museum, and on NPR.

After the March 6th show, there will be a discussion with a matrimonial lawyer. And on March 9th, a discussion with the Executive Director of The Moth, New York’s premiere storytelling venue and Braly. Friday night, they had an after-show discussion with a marriage counselor.

Here are some of the great reviews the show has been garnering in its various incarnations. They loved it at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh.

“A masterpiece of storytelling full of humour and pungent observation. There can be few more engaging acts on this year’s Fringe than James Braly.”
    — The List

"An hysterically funny, often profoundly affecting one-man show.Mesmerising.”
      — The Scotsman

“Excellent. This is a stylish monologue, reminiscent of those of Spalding Gray.”
  — The London Times
 

The OSPO (The Oh So Prolific One) can find inspiration anywhere Here’s another epic from Leon Freilich.

Butt offs and cut-offs: I like it a lot.

MACHKNEESMO

Let it snow, let it sleet, let it blow, let it freeze,
What you see all this winter’s a glut of bare knees.
They belong to the walkabout Boys of Park Slope
As they saunter the streets, somehow daring to cope
With a wind chill of twenty or even of zero,
Leading oldsters to sputter, My dear, oh my dear, oh.
For these "boys’" are no youngsters, not by a long shot
Nor are they a species that time has forgot.
These are men plainly thirties and forties and fifties,
So eternal youth is not one of of their gifties,
Though observing the group as they walk in their shorts
(Just as if they were guests at posh summer resorts)
Makes you wonder what drives them to go in bare legs.
Too much vino? Excessive time spent with beer kegs?
Seeing them for the first time makes some think they’re runners,
Yet they’re  no
more that than they’re  aircraft gunners,
For as any Park Sloper can obviously tell,
The bare-legged battalion are clientele
Of the Food Coop or Key Food, whose bulky groceries
They are carrying home in their carts with great ease;
Or they’re back from a bank, either Chase or Astoria,
Always looking much gladder, not a whit any soria,
With their bellies sucked in and their shoulders held back,
All leg muscles a-bulge wholly prepped for attack.
They’re determined to show no effects of the cold,
Being made from a sturdier, manlier mold,
And the shorter the covering, the taller they reach,
These amazing specimens of Snowy Beach.
So here’s to the guys in the wintertime cut-offs
For whom macho means more than does freezing their butt offs.

Gawker has word that writer Lynn Harris is writing another piece about why people hate Park Slope. This time it’s for New York Magazine. Back in 2006, she wrote a piece for Time Out Kids about the very same topic. Here’s my post from that time:

A bunch of locals spoke to Time Out Kids for an article called, Why Do
People Hate Park Slope. The  article is out now in the June issue of
the magazine on page 8.

The reporter, Lynn Harris, sent an email to those who were quoted to
prepare them. She thinks that the tone of the piece was "far more
snarky and anti-Slope than her original version." 

The word smugness managed to migrate into the piece and it wasn’t her word. I sort of expected snarky because of the subject matter. Here’s the lede:

"It
had to happen, Now that Brooklyn’s brownstone-laden Park Slope is more
fashionable, it has become de rigueur to bash, slam, and otherwise
trash-talk the nabe. The Slope has arrived — with its famous authors
and Hollywood actorsensconced in fancy fansions — and so have its
detractors."

Harris talked to Steven Berlin Johnson,
Susan Fox, Catherine Bohne, Peter Loffredo, a frequent commenter on
OTBKB and Park Slope Parents and others, including me.

What I was
getting at was why Park Slope is easy to hate — because it seems like
we’ve got it all. We were easier to love when we were scrappier,
schleppier Legal Aid lawyers and social workers. Now it’s rich people
in fancy brownstones with a great school and a small town feeling. It
seems like we have it all.

Who wouldn’t hate Park Slope?

This just in from Eliot, a reader of OTBKB, about the building on Seventh Avenue and 2nd Street dubbed "The house that whimsy built" by a New York Times headline writer. The former home of the Landmark Tavern, the building is a neglected mess.

Here’s what Eliot had to say: The notice, a photo of which is attached, was taped to the door of the
Landmark Tavern when I went by it this afternoon.  It states:

Sidewalk shed does not meet building code specifications.
Note: (1) sidewalk shed platform is approx 16 to 20" away from building
facade at the corner of 2nd St. side of the building (2) side deck
enclosre [sic] missing in two areas on the side of 2nd St. side.

Remedy: provide proper sidewalk shed

A hearing date of April 21 has been set on this matter.

Photo by Eliiot. Thanks.

From the Oh So Prolific Leon F., here’s poem about the Miss Brooklyn contest, which is coming back to the borough after 16 years away.

BEAUTY & THE BOROUGH

Coming back?  What
arrant nonsense.
Anyone who’s been away
Sixteen years–or 16 hours–
Would miss Brooklyn every  day.

Total lunar eclipse from Brooklyn Heights (McBrooklyn)

Why do people hate Park Slope so much? (Curbed)

Marty loves Bloomie (NY 1)

Brooklyn’s crankiest super (NY Daily News)

DOB to inspect scaffolds across city (NY 1)

Something fishy at the Coney Island Aquarium (Gowanus Lounge)

Cafe La Fortuna: Casualty of high rents on Upper West Side (NY Times)

Brooklyn Parks commish (NY Times)

The funky Clinton performing in Greenpoint (Brooklyn Optimist)

Her trip to Cancun (Brooklynometry)

Heights swastika man has day in court (McBrooklyn)

Josh, who runs the Modern Literature Book Club at Community Bookstore wrote to say that that next week the group will be reading Dubliners by James Joyce. If you care to come dressed as James Joyce et al you get BONUS POINTS.

Just a reminder that next week, on Wednesday, February 27, at 7:30, the Modern Literature Book Club will be discussing Joyce’s Dubliners. We will focus on the following stories: “An Encounter,” “Araby,” “Two Gallants,” “Counterparts,” “Grace,” and, of course, “The Dead.”
I hope you will come out. We don’t get to read many short story collections in this group, so it should make for an interesting evening…. Extra bonus points for anyone who comes to the meeting dressed as James or another member of the Joyce family (e.g. Nora Barnacle, Stanislaus Joyce, Lucia Joyce).

As always, the book club is open to all. A Joycean refreshment will be served.

Take care,
Josh

P.S. Here’s a link to an interesting site that has hypertexted (?) Dubliners. You can search it as you would a concordance. Enjoy! http://www.doc. ic.ac.uk/ ~rac101/concord/ texts/dubliners/

Thank you Pastor Dan of Old First Blog for this lovely robin sighting. Prayer window. That sounds nice. Can I have prayer window, too? And what is it exactly?

My morning prayer window looks out over Prospect Park Southwest.

Friday morning I heard my first robin of 2008, cheerfully chirping its morning song. Today I heard a lot of them as I walked through the Park, but they haven’t started grazing yet.

Jazz musicians confront health care issues (NY Times)

Hiatus from Brooklyn (Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn)

A bizarre evening at restaurant New Orleans (Clinton Hill Blog)

Carbon Dieting (I’m Seeing Green)

Old computer manuals (Callalillie)

Bushwick exhibition: Pop Subversion: Food as Art? (Bushwick BK)

Eat more chicken of the sea (Eat, Drink, Memory)

I got fired by email (Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary)