This from New York 1:

A Brooklyn family is trying to cope with the death of a man they called their hero, a soldier who was killed while fighting for his country.

Sergeant Kimmel Watt was killed June 2nd in a roadside bombing in Iraq, where he had been stationed since January.

Originally from Jamaica, Watt moved to the U.S. in 1985 when he was ten. He lived in East New York and decided to join the Army right out of high school.

His stepsister says he was recently accepted into a computer engineering program at the University of Maine. He died one day after getting the acceptance letter.

“He hasn’t lived yet. This seems like just an obstacle, you know,” said Desrene Watt. “And he believed; you couldn’t tell him he wasn’t doing good, you know. He believed he was doing good and this was the right thing to do right now, you know. And he’s helping.”

Watt’s body will be flown home for funeral services in Queens. His wake will take place on June 19th at the New Jerusalem Church in Springfield Gardens.

He’ll be buried the following day at Calverton National Cemetery

.

Day for Night: Is this not the greatest film ever made about movie making? Francois Truffaut in the role of the director also directed the film. Starring Jacqueline Bisset.

Fanny and Alexander: Is there a greater psychological work about childhood, death, and the power of the adult world to enchant and terrorize children. Bergman’s 3-hour classic,  is a lavish and lusty treasure I was thrilled to experience again.

Full Moon in Paris: Eric Rohmer’s strange, conversational film centers on a young Parisian woman struggling to rescue her freedom (her youth, her solitude) while still in a relationship with a man in the suburbs. A stylish postcard of Paris you won’t want to miss.

Three Gemini’s in one family. Three birthdays in one week. It’s always a festive week full of celebration, gifts, and cake.

Hepcat: June 6
Manhattan Granny: June 10
Teen Spirit: June 12th.

An OTBKB reader and frequent commenter had this to say about the Soprano’s just hours before many Park Slopers settled in for a night of great television. He wrote this letter to the New York Times in response to Dick Cavett’s Op-Ed, “Soprano’s Grief.”

To the Editor:
I guess I must be a lone voice in the wilderness who does not find a connection with the kind of accolades Dick Cavett showers on the HBO show, “The Sopranos.” Having watched it sporadically over the years, each time hoping to find what Mr. Cavett did, I always came away disappointed. Well-written and well-acted the show definitely is, but for me that is part of the problem.

The mobster culture is presented very realistically in the series, much moreso than in any of the “Godfather” movies, for example. As such, these sociopathic men, and their masochistic women, reveal no redeeming qualities, just like their real-life counterparts do not. They are gluttonous, ruthless, bigoted, misogynous, violent, crass and incredibly self-righteous to boot. Mr. Chase and company have indeed quite skillfully depicted an accurate portrayal of the psychopathy of the hard-core criminal personality, but for me, that ultimately made The Sopranos too much like a reality show.

What does it say about our culture that such a show is so wildly popular, even to intellectuals like Mr. Cavett? That in our harried, stressed, guilt-ridden lives, we vicariously admire those without conscience or empathy? Among other things, it explains to me how George “The Smirk” Bush and Dick “The Scowl” Cheney were elected twice to be the heads of our American “family.”

Sincerely,
Peter Loffredo

Two events at the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets in beautiful JJ Byrne Park.

***10th Anniversary reading of the 808 Union Writing Group at 8 p.m. on June 11th.  Good writing, cocktails and fun people.  Just come. Did I mention cocktails?

***Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen perform Southside Stories excerpts from Giovonni Songs at 8 p.m. on June 16th (Saturday night).  Enthralling music, champagne, social hoopla. RESERVE TICKETS AT theoldstonehouse.org

The 10th Anniversary Reading of 808 Union Writer’s Group features:

Kevin McPartland reading a novel about pre-gentrified Park Slope gangs and all by someone who lived it.

Marian Fontana reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

Louise Crawford, AKA Smartmom, reading a short story called "Halloween Blonde."

Mary Crowley reading a beautiful set of poems.

Wendy Ponte reading from novel about a woman in search of her Portugese identity.

Barbara Ensor, author of "Cinderella (As if you didn’t already know the Story)" reading from her forthcoming young adult book, "Thumbelia, Runaway Tiny Bride."

Playwright Rosemary Moore presenting scenes from a new play with actors.

Pack a picnic, grab a blanket, and experience opera under the stars
as the Metropolitan Opera returns to Prospect Park with Gounod’s Faust.

A summertime tradition in New York since 1967 and in New Jersey since
1987, the series opens with back-to-back concerts in Manhattan’s
Central Park on June 12 and 13, with six additional performances in
each borough of the city and two locations in New Jersey.

All performances begin at 8pm and are free of charge.

For more information and a full schedule, visit our Met
in the Parks web page.

For tips on what to bring and when to show up, read our parks primer

The Union Writing Group is having a 10th year anniversay reading on Monday June 11 at 8 p.m. It’s at the Old Stone House. Did I mention that there will be cocktails. Come listen. Hang out. Party. It’s a great group of writers, many of whom have been meeting every Tuesday night for ten years.

OTBKB fave and former Park Slope resident, Marian Fontana, whose critically acclaimed and best selling memoir “A Widow’s Walk” about life after her husband, Lt. David Fontana of Squad 1 died on 9/ll, will be reading from hilarious and poignant new memoir-in-progress about dating. She will have you laughing and crying: that’s her gift. Great for anyone whose ever endured the humiliation and promise of dating. Other readers include:

–Louise Crawford reading from a story called, “Halloween Blonde.”
–Mary Crowley reading a set of beautiful poems.
–Wendy Ponte reading a section from her novel about a woman in search of her Portugese identity.
–Rosemary Moore presenting two scenes from a new play.
–Barbara Ensor reading from her forthcoming “young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.”
–Kevin McPartland reading from “Brownstone Dreams,” a novel about gangs in Park Slope in the early 1960’s.
–Marian Fontana reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

The Union Writing Group is having a 10th year anniversay reading on Monday June 11 at 8 p.m. It’s at the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Did I mention that there will be cocktails? Come listen. Hang out. Party. It’s a great group of writers, many of whom have been meeting every Tuesday night for ten years.

Kevin McPartland, a novelist who grew up in Park Slope, went to Viet Nam and worked for Ma Bell for 30 years, will read from “Brownstone Dreams,” his un-published novel about Park Slope in the early 1960’s. It’s West Side Story meets Scorsese. This is pre-gentrfied Park Slope with a vengence and McPartland lived it first hand.

A must hear, must read for everyone — especially for those interested in powerful fiction and Brooklyn in the early 1960’s when it was a vastly different place. The other writers are:

–Louise Crawford reading from a story called, “Halloween Blonde.”
–Mary Crowley reading a set of beautiful poems.
–Wendy Ponte reading a section from her novel about a woman in search of her Portugese identity.
–Rosemary Moore presenting two scenes from a new play.
–Barbara Ensor reading from her forthcoming “young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.”
–Kevin McPartland reading from Brownstone Dreams, a novel about gangs in Park Slope in the early 1960’s.
–Marian Fontana reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

Come join us to take a stand against global warming!

Write (and if you like, decorate with your kids) a letter to Senators Clinton and Schumer to encourage them to pass federal legislation curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Parents for Climate Protection will have a table at the 3rd Street entrance of Prospect Park on Sunday, June 10th, 10-12a.m. We provide all the necessary supplies and we can even help you decide what to write. You only need to bring your family, your creativity and your outrage at the lack of action.

A single letter has the impact of 1,000 emails, so please join us!

See you on Sunday, June 10th, 10-12 a.m. at the 3rd Street entrance of Prospect Park .
Parents for Climate Protection

Karen Fuller
Claudia Friedetzky
Jacqueline Smith

I always love to watch  New York City’s second-largest Gay and Lesbian Pride event, the Brooklyn Pride Parade. It starts at Bartel- Pritchard Circle and goes along Prospect Park West from 15th Street to 9th Street and travels up 15th Street to Seventh Avenue, continuing north on Seventh Avenue to Lincoln Place.
It must have started around 9 p.m. I could hear the cheers and yelps from my apartment. We finally got out and the parade was just about over but OSFO and I walked north on Seventh Avenue and caught up with the beginning.
We saw Congressman Antony Weiner at Lincoln Place and I asked him for a quote. "One of the great things about Brooklyn is that it’s diverse. And today is a day that celebrates diversity," he said.
He pointed to Santa Fe Grill and said, that used to be an ice cream parlor. Then he pointed to Olive Vine and said, "And that used to be a bagel shop. I worked in the bagel shop in the morning and the ice cream shop in the afternoon. We didn’t go by our names, we went by ice cream flavors. I was strawberry.”
I asked him when that was. He said in the 1970’s. I asked him when he was born and he said 1965. "You’re younger than me," I told him.
Walking back up Seventh we saw Engarde, the gay and lesbian flag corps. They dance, swing flags and throw them up and down. It’s a great act.
Representatives from Kolot Chayenu marched as did the Park Slope Jewish Center, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Audrey Lorde Project, and Lesbians Against Facism.
OSFO bought three glow necklaces for five bucks. The parade ended at Lincoln Place but participants and onlookers seemed to head west on Union Street.

Gowanus Lounge has the report and the pix. And it sounds like it was quit the political and media event.

It was anything but a typical Saturday at the Red Hook Ballfields as Sen. Charles Schumer dropped by to demand that the city drop plans that could lead to the eviction of its Latino food vendors. The vendors’ most prominent and politically influential advocate was joined by Red Hook Vendors Committee director Cesar Fuentes, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, food writer Ed Levine and chef Andrew Carmellini. About a half-dozen TV crews and assorted bloggers, print journalists and photographers took in the scene.

It’s been a bit more than a week and Smartmom hasn’t had General Tso’s chicken from Hunan Delight, a slice of whole-wheat pizza from Pino’s or a buttery croissant from Cousin John’s.

She hasn’t eaten even one M&M or thought about ordering a cheeseburger deluxe from Grand Canyon.

It’s been salad, salad, and more salad, which is pretty boring. But that’s OK, because Smartmom has to lose weight and she has to lose it bad.

On Sunday morning, Smartmom even let Diaper Diva convince her to join the Weight Watcher’s meeting at the Montauk Club.

Smartmom is a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. She joined in 1998 to lose those pesky post-pregnancy pounds that just refused to go away.

Back then, she attended the Wednesday meeting at the American Legion Hall on Ninth Street — a far cry from the elegant second-floor ballroom at the Montauk Club. At that meeting, the women would strip down to shorts and t-shirts in the bathroom before their weigh-in.

Smartmom got very attached to that meeting’s leader, a Catholic schoolteacher from Bay Ridge with a great sense of humor.

She’d lost 100 pounds and had managed to keep it off for years by avoiding “muffins the size of your head.”

Once Smartmom reached her goal weight, which took about five months, she stopped going. She remembers her first summer after the weight loss.

Ah. The joy of not hating her body (OK, she still hated it a little). But it was such fun to try on swimsuits, mini-skirts and sexy lingerie.

After September 11, however, Smartmom started putting the weight back on. It was from all the comfort food and wine she put into her body in an ill-fated attempt to feel better during the worst of times.

A couple of years later, she decided to try Zoloft. At first, she lost some weight and ran the Brooklyn half-marathon (13 miles from Coney Island to Prospect Park). But after the race, she started putting on the pounds.

She couldn’t fit into her usual size of jeans, her usual size of dress, her usual size of…

It was pretty humiliating.

Weight gain is a very common side effect of Zoloft. But Smartmom didn’t feel like switching to another anti-depressant because she liked the new, less irritable Smartmom.

But it quickly becomes a problem when the anti-depressant starts to make you depressed every time you step on the scale. Something had to give — either she had to limit her portion sizes of pastel-colored cocktails, Mallomars, and Haagen Dazs, or she had to tear up her prescription.

She kept the pills — and also gained 15 pounds.

The other night, Smartmom came home from her writer’s group and found herself huffing and puffing as she reached the third-floor landing.

“I’m concerned about you,” Hepcat said when he saw that she was out of breath.

“What do you mean?” Smartmom asked.

“I’m concerned about your health,”

“My health?” she said.

“I don’t want you to suddenly drop dead,” he said.

Smartmom was furious. Deep down she knew that he was trying to be nice (maybe). But his so-called concern made her feel like the fat lady at the circus with a triple chin and calves like buoys. She felt like she was living life on the verge of cardiac arrest.

As usual, Hepcat said the wrong thing. And Smartmom wouldn’t forgive him. No matter how many times he tried to explain. She went straight to bed and faced away from Hepcat for the entire night. He’s the one, she thought, who never exercises and has a potbelly.

The next morning, Smartmom decided it was time to get healthy. No butter, no cheese, no donuts, and no gelato. And she knew she could lose the weight because she’d done it before. And once Smartmom makes up her mind…

On Sunday morning, as Smartmom got ready to meet Diaper Diva at the 10:30 Weight Watchers meeting, the Oh So Feisty One asked if she could come along. This made Smartmom nervous. What if she gets the wrong idea? What if she decides that she wants to be supermodel thin?

But OSFO insisted; she really wanted to see Diaper Diva and Ducky. So Smartmom relented.

“What do we do at the meeting?” OSFO asked on the way.

“I’m going to weigh myself,” Smartmom told her.

“Can I weigh myself, too?” she said.

“Absolutely not. You don’t need to lose weight,” she told her. “Besides. This isn’t about the way I look. It’s about my health and the way I feel. I want to stop eating unhealthy foods.”

“Should I stop eating unhealthy foods?” OSFO asked.

“No. Well, yes. Candy and sugar aren’t great for your teeth,” Smartmom told her. “But otherwise, you can keep on eating what you’ve been eating.”

The conversation was making Smartmom very uncomfortable. She wants OSFO to feel good about her body and she’s scared to death that she’ll hate her body as much as Smartmom hates hers. Most of the moms of girls she knows are terrified that their daughters will develop anorexia.

Buddha knows they don’t want their daughters to spend the rest of their lives wanting to be as thin as Kate Moss.

One friend is worried because her daughter has stopped eating breakfast and lunch. Another friend’s daughter is on diet to lose 10 pounds and she’s already razor thin.

Still another mom worries that her daughter is overweight but she doesn’t know what to say. And then there’s Mrs. Cleavage, who is worried that her 9-year-old son doesn’t know how to tell when his stomach is full.

So there’s a whole lot of worry out there and confusion abounds. Smartmom wants OSFO to feel good about her looks. At all times. Without end.

Maybe Smartmom should just relax. No one is really sure what causes eating disorders anyway. It tends to strike between the ages of 14 and 18. Some researchers think it’s about control. During puberty, girls (and boys) feel like they don’t have much control over their lives. By controlling their own bodies, they regain some control — even if it is done in an unhealthy way.

Smartmom decided that it was time to tell OSFO the truth.

“I’ve never liked my body very much,” Smartmom told her.

“What don’t you like about it?” OSFO asked.

“Well, my belly is like Bluto. My upper arms are flabby. I guess I wish I had a different body sometimes.”

“But then you wouldn’t be you,” OSFO said simply. And it was the sweetest thing Smartmom had ever heard.

OSFO spotted Ducky and Diaper Diva off in the distance and ran over to them. She’d had enough of Smartmom’s true confessions and it was time to play. Smartmom was proud that her girl has a good head on her shoulders.

Smartmom went upstairs for her weigh-in. She didn’t really want to be skeleton-thin like Calista Flockhart or sleekly Amazonian like Uma Thurman. She just wanted to be a healthier and more beautiful version of herself. That’s why she was at the Montauk Club on a Sunday morning staring at an unspeakably high number on the scale.

Yikes.

But Smartmom was OK with it. She bought a Monthly Pass and a Starter Kit, which included a three-month eating journal. Smartmom knew she was making progress.

Anyone want to go out for pizza to celebrate

Streetsblog has the story and a picture. Cyclists be warned.

I got to the Seventh Avenue Barnes and Noble late because it’s hard getting two fourth graders out of the house when they’re having a great playdate.

But get there we did. And by 5:45, there was a standing room only crowd in the basement near the cookbooks.

The kids were having a great time. As was the MC, PS 321 parent John Elrodt, who did a superb job in that role. Funny, enthusiastic, and encouraging to each kid as he/she made his way up to the microphone, John gave them the choice between a PS 321 baseball cap or a beret to wear while they read.

No one had a problem with that. The kids seem to love reading their poems. Some read LOUD. Some read soft. Some had MEMORIZED their poems. Some had not.

It was a beautiful thing. To hear the expression of these kids in such a free, fun, and open way. The opposite of pretentious: the event was inclusive, inviting, and very inventive.

The audience cheered, clapped, and snapped their fingers (in faux beatnik style) after each reader. Some of the poems were from this year’s Pandamonium, the school’s poetry magazine, which includes a poem from every child in the school. A couple of parents got up and read poems they had memoirzed at children or written themselves.

Fourth grader, Charlie Schine, read his Pandamonium poem:

IMAGINE THAT by Charlie Schine

Observing kids imagine
They don’t see me
Their imagination
has overtaken them
They’re running through lava
or falling from big heights
or maybe even going back
in time
I remember that
because I too
had a huge imagination
that overtook me
We all had huge imaginations
Then it starts
to fade
like smoke.
As your age goes up
your imagination
goes down
but some people
are fortunate
Some adults have their imagination
still
They are the lucky ones
The ones that keep their imaginations
And here’s some important advice
for you
Don’t ever
forrce yourself
not to imagine
If you do
you might
Never
imagine
Again
Imagine That

Last night had the feel of a summer night in the country. Smartmom sat on one of the new green, Mission-style plastic chairs, talked with her neighbors, and munched on snap peas from the Coop.

The kids — three families combined — were a wild and running band of playful children. They numbered 8. Four from one family and two each from the other two.

Maybe it was the chill in the air but it felt like an August night on Long Island or Cape Cod. The Third Street traffic was our ocean. The wind, a reminder of the natural world that so often gets drowned out by city racket.

The kids exercised an inventive playfulness that reminded me of summer night spent building playhouses out of a refrigerator box on the lawn at a friend’s country house in Orient Point.

Or romping with a huge family of four at Candlewood Lake back in the 1960’s. Feeling that rugged freedom borne of summer friends and country air.

Glow sticks seemed to be the thing. So as the kids ran, little wands of green and orange light accompanied them. At one point, one of the glow sticks got caught on a high ledge of the building and they had to figure out, as a group how to get it down.

They started a club called the Glow Stick Club, OSFO told me. “It’s fun having a club,” one of the other girls whispered to her mom.

Mr. Kravitz brought home a bottle of fancy Partida tequila from the office.

“Gotta make Margaritas, I guess,” said Mrs. Kravitz.

Smartmom told her that she had Triple Sec and lime juice. That there was a Margarita recipe on the label of the Triple Sec. The two made a bee-line to Smartmom’s apartment for the ingredients.

Smartmom ain’t no drinking girl since she decided to lose weight and liquor is just sugar. Still she sampled a sip of Margarita and it was tasty. And it went to her head (two weeks of not drinking, what do you expect?)

And it went to other people’s heads, too. The conversation was light and playful. Something came up that Mr. Kravitz told Smartmom she couldn’t write about but Smartmom has no memory of what that was.

Mrs. Kravitz told of having a tough week. Mother of Four, a new character in these tales, is a divorced mom with four children and a wonderful white mutt named Rufus, shared an inspiration she had that day about what she wants to do with her life.

Hepcat came down to fix a broken night-lite that one of the kids was really sad about. Smartmom was deep in thought about the things she is deep in thought about. Distracted, sad. There is much on her mind.

Somehow, the old “how I met my husband, how I met my wife stories” came out, which sequed seamlessly into birth stories…

Tales of Petosin, epidurals and cesarians in hospitals; stories of babies coming out so fast and sudden at home that there wasn’t even time to call the midwife, call the doctor.

Summer breezes. Sugar snaps. It was that kind of night at the Third Street Cafe.

Gowanus Lounge reports that Senator Charles E. Schumer wants to save a Red Hook Treasure. Yay: Schumer.

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer will criticize a move by the Parks Department that could force food vendors operating at the ball fields in Red Hook out of business TOMORROW, Saturday, June 9 at 1:00pm in Red Hook. Every weekend, the vendors sell high-quality, affordable food, mostly Latin-style, at the ball fields and have become a much beloved weekend destination for families throughout Brooklyn and the entire city. However, the Parks Department informed the vendors that they would now have to competitively bid for permits they have held for years, which could result in an exponential increase in rates or the prospect of being out-bid by corporate conglomerates. Schumer said that these vendors are Brooklyn treasures, and are a symbol of the diverse cultural vitality of the community that should be preserved and supported, not subject to the City’s bottom line.

Planning and producing events is one thing. Publicizing them is something else entirely. Getting people to leave the comfort of home is quite another.

I begin to feel like a broken record: Come to this, Come to that. But building an audience is the name of the game when it comes to arts events.

SO PLEASE COME TO THIS 10TH ANNIVERSARY READING OF THE UNION WRITER’S GROUP. HEAR ME AND MY WRITER-FRIENDS ON JUNE 11TH at 8 PM AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE ON FIFTH AVENUE AT THIRD STREET IN JJ BYRNE PARK.

Playwright Rosemary Moore is bringing actors to read two scenes from her new play; Barbara Ensor, author of ” Cinderella: As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story,” is reading an excerpt from her forthcoming young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway; Kevin McPartland is reading from a novel about gangs in pre-gentrified south Park Slope; Marian Fontana is reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

–I’m reading from a story called, "Halloween Blonde."

—Mary Crowley is reading a set of beautiful poems.

—Wendy Ponte is reading a section from her novel about a woman in search of her Portugese heritage.

—Rosemary Moore is presenting two scenes from a new play.

—Barbara Ensor is reading from her forthcoming “young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.”

—Kevin McPartland is reading from Brownstone Dreams.

—Marian Fontana is reading from her new memoir about dating.

The time limit per reader is 8 minutes. Strictly enforced. We all believe that less is more. There will be cocktails and it should be a fun, social evening on Monday, June 11 at the Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Mrs. Kravitz called this morning to say, “Did I offend you last night?”

Smartmom didn’t have a clue what Mrs. Kravitz was talking about. Last night at the Third Street Cafe was so pleasant what with the margaritas, which she barely drank due to her diet, and the good conversation.

Turns out that Mrs. Kravitz said, “Don’t mention ____ on your blog.” Afterwards, she thought Smartmom got quiet and looked offended.

Smartmom was not offended. She is perfectly fine when people tell her that things are off the record. Generally when SM thinks something would make a good blog post she’ll say, “OOOOH, this is good. Can I blog about it?”

In fact, that’s her policy.

When people go out of their way to say: Don’t blog about this, it’s clearer than clear that SM shouldn’t mention it. It might sound like a casual thing to her, something worth mentioning. But obviously it’s not and she respects these three words: OFF THE RECORD.

Sometimes people will turn to her and say, “Don’t put that that on your blog,” and she’s very suprised because it would never have occurred to her to put it on her blog; SM has no interest in putting someone’s personal business on her blog. That’s gossip and SM doesn’t trade in gossip.

Have you ever read anything unseemly and unduly personal about someone on this blog? Really. Then again, Smartmom does do slice of life and stories that inspire her. Maybe she’s included details about people’s health and well-being that were crossing the line. Maybe she compromised people’s trust in that way.

It’s a tricky business this being the town blogger. People sort of love to be mentioned on OTBKB but also HATE it even if they are not mentioned by name.

PRIVACY. It’s an important thing. Mrs. Kravitz and Smartmom talked for quite some time this morning. She told her not to worry. She would always make it clear by saying, “Ooooh this is interesting. May I blog it?”

And if Mrs. Kravitz says, “This is off the record,” It’s off the record. OFF THE RECORD MEANS OFF THE RECORD.

She enjoyed some great fruit, veggies, and more at the Food Coop:
Check out the Food Coop’s Blog, too for new organic produce arrivals.

Sugar Snaps
Peaches to die for
Pluots to die for
Vegan sushi
Nectarines
Herb salad
Amazing tomatos
Corn on the cob
Egg Beaters
Gazpacho Soup to die for
Carrot Soup with Cilantro
Cucumbers
Artichokes

She also ate the garden salad at Olive Vine twice this week with a side order of Tabouli. She sat in the air-conditioned tented backyard area; the mint iced tea is tasty.

She succumbed to a cup of rice pudding flavored ice cream at Tasti D-lite on one occassion.

Skim lattes at Sweet Melissa’s were a treat.

When she wasn’t eating in one of the above places, Smartmom chomped on a lot of baby carrots.

Oh yeah, she and Hepcat dined at Fifth Avenue’s Blue Ribbon Restaurant for his birthday and Smartmom had an artichoke and a order of grilled fish and fennel salad.

And the Brooklyn Paper has the story.

And don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt.  Here’s an excerpt. Read more at the Brooklyn Paper.
Dana Rubinstein was the scribe on this one:

Still hobbling from his nearly fatal car accident in April, New
Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has poached beloved police-beat reporter Lilo
H. Stainton from The Brooklyn Paper to be his new press secretary.

The governor’s office made the announcement on Tuesday.

Before
joining The Brooklyn Paper staff in 2005, Stainton, 37, worked for six
years as a reporter in Gannett’s capital bureau in Trenton. Earlier,
she was a staff reporter on central Jersey’s Home News Tribune and the
New York Daily News.

While at Gannett, Stainton won two New
Jersey Press Association awards and one National Headliner Award for
Public Service for individual and team coverage of pay hikes in the
executive and legislative branches of the New Jersey government.

She
had been working for The Brooklyn Paper for nearly two years when she
got a call “out of the blue a couple weeks ago from a friend … in
Democratic politics down there,” she said.

Last night at the Park Slope Civic Council meeting, Kim Maier, executive director of the Old Stone House and "watchdog journalist" Norman Oder were presented with the Lovgren Professional Award and the Lovgren Volunteer Award respectively. 

No Land Grab’s Lumi Rolley presented the award to Norman Oder, who runs the Atlantic Yards Report and Susan Fox, of Park Slope Parents presented the award to Kim.

Kudos to Kim and Norman!

In other news, the Park Slope Civic Council endored Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan.

A rocker kid from the band, the Defenestrators got into trouble at the Liberty Heights Tap Room last week And the Brooklyn Paper’s Ariella Cohen was there. She thought it was just grand and writes: "I had to give the graffiti kid some credit. I mean, at least he’s
learning that playing the part of a punk comes with more dire
consequences than a hefty iTunes bill."

Read more.

Weather from 1010wins:

Forecasters are calling for high temperatures in the low to mid 90s.

The National Weather Service office in New Jersey is issuing a heat advisory for the urban sections of Mercer, Gloucester, Camden and Burlington counties from noon till 8 p.m. Friday.

Forecasters say the heat will combine with humidity to make it feel uncomfortable.

Officials say people should drink plenty of water and avoid prolonged exposure outside to ward off the dangers of heat-related stress.

What about Brooklyn Reading Works, Piper Theater, The Little School of Moving Pictures, historical and educational events and a great party space at the Old Stone House?

Then support the Old Stone House by attending a ravishing musical event. Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen perform  South Side Stories. JUNE 16 at 8 p.m. at the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th. 40 bucks gets you a great show, a lot of good karma for supporting free arts in the Park, as well as champagne and light refreshments.
Here’s a note from Louis
DEAR BROOKLYN FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS:
I wanted to let you know that my splendid collaborator, Capathia Jenkins (a 2007 Drama Desk Award nominee), and I are scheduled to perform our second benefit concert on behalf of The Old Stone House on Saturday night, June 16th. The proceeds will go to supporting The Old Stone House’s rapidly growing arts programming, including this summer’s Piper Theatre at OSH production of Macbeth, Brooklyn Film Works and the excellent Brooklyn Reading Works.

The performance will mark the Brooklyn concert premiere of the songs from our recently released and highly acclaimed debut recording, South Side Stories, songs of youth, coming of age and experience, inspired by the Chicago neighborhood where I grew up. We’ll also be offering a "sneak preview" of a excerpts from my newest work for Capathia, Giovanni Songs, on words by the renowned poet Nikki Giovanni. Capathia and I will be joined by two splendid musicians, the pianist Kimberly Grigsby, and Dave Phillips on acoustic and electric bass.
The evening is being billed as a "Champagne Cabaret," which means champagne and dessert will be served at 8 pm, and the concert will begin at 8:30. Last year’s benefit sold out as the room only holds 90 people so we hope that you make the scene.

The Old Stone House is at J. J. Byrne Park at 3rd Street and 5th Avenue.
Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door.
Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.nycharities.org, or you can RSVP by calling 718 768 3915.
By the way, the South Side Stories CD s now available for downloading at www.itunes.com, www.rhapsody.com and most other online sights, as well as available for purchase at www.cdbaby.com, and in Park Slope at the Community Bookstore on 7th Avenue.
Best Regards,
Louie

Michael Ruby + Nancy Graham
poems, prose + a collaboration based on Samuel Beckett’s Texts for Nothing
June 21, 2007
8 pm
The Old Stone House in Park Slope, Brooklyn
JJ Byrne Park on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Street
$5.00 includes light refreshments

Thanks Dana Rubinstein for writing such a nice piece about Stoopendous in the Brooklyn Paper. She explains how the summer solstice event came about and gives fun details about what’s being planned. One note: the All-Slope Solstice Shout-Out will not be limited to KAZOOs. You can make a whole lot of joyful noise any way you want to. By the way, have you seen any of the gorgeous posters, designed by Good Form Design, yet?

Park Slopers will celebrate the longest day of the year by sitting
on their stoops and blowing kazoos — part of the first annual
“STOOPendous” party to celebrate Brownstone Brooklyn’s trademark
feature.

On June 23, the neighborhood-wide stoop party will (at
least its organizers hope) culminate in an 8:31 pm, kazoo-blowing,
all-Slope solstice shout-out.

Technically, summer solstice falls
on June 21. But Thursdays aren’t all that convenient for full-on
sun-worship, with most adults basking in the fluorescent lights of
sun-starved office buildings, and children growing pale in school.

So Saturday it is. And what a stupendous STOOPendous it will be.

The idea stems from a brainstorming session held earlier this year by the Park Slope Civic Council.

“This
was overwhelmingly the most popular idea at the brunch,” said Council
President Lydia Denworth, whose recollections were interrupted by
sneezing (spring equinox allergies).

“It’s important and exciting
to celebrate the community we have, and this is such a Park Slope way
of doing it,” said Denworth. “These are the kinds of things that help
build the spirit of the community, which helps when you have to do
other stuff, like the hard work of advocacy.”

Even though the
Civic Council is underwriting the event with $1,250 worth of
advertising and kazoos, Denworth herself won’t be sitting on her stoop
on STOOPendous day.

“Unfortunately, I have a long-term commitment
to go visit my mother,” said Denworth. “I’m really sad. But I will be
blowing my kazoo from Maryland.”

Not so Susan Fox, a trustee on
the Council and the founder of Park Slope Parents, who will be hosting
a meet-and-greet in her building’s courtyard.

“Our building
doesn’t really have a stoop,” said Fox. “But STOOPendous is going to be
everything you can think of. Some blocks will have a street-wide stoop
sale. … Some people are having wine and cheese on their doorstep. Some
people are bringing out the chalk. We are planning a children’s art
show.”

Lest anyone think this is another example of Brooklynites
romanticizing the past, the stoop has always been a prized possession
and symbol of Brownstone Brooklyn, according to Simeon Bankoff,
executive director of the Historic Districts Council.

“The
wonderful thing about stoops is that they became this semi-public space
where you could sit,” said Bankoff of the stairways fronting the
late-19th-century rowhouses. “In Park Slope, you didn’t really have
yards. It was like a porch.”

Whether this inaugural 21st-century STOOPendous is a success, however, remains to be seen.

“If
you build it, they don’t necessarily come,” said Fox. “At this point,
the next three weeks will be all about getting people excited and
interested.”

The Atlantic Yards lawsuit was dismissed yesterday. Check out Atlantic Yards Report and No Land Grab for the gory details. Here’s an excerpt from AYR.

In an emphatic yet potentially questionable decision, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. GaraufisGoldstein v. Pataki,
the federal lawsuit challenging eminent domain that Atlantic Yards
opponents have considered their best hope for stopping the project.

In his decision,
Garaufis ruled that even if public benefits—including new tax revenues,
housing, jobs, and the elimination of blight—are less than promised,
they’re sufficient to overcome allegations that the project is a
sweetheart deal benefiting developer Forest City Ratner.

“Because
Plaintiffs concede that the Project will create large quantities of
housing and office space, as well as a sports arena, in an area that is
mostly blighted, Plaintiffs’ allegations, if proven, would not permit a
reasonable juror to conclude that the ‘sole purpose’ of the Project is
to confer a private benefit,” Garaufis wrote. “Neither would those
allegations permit a reasonable juror to conclude that the purposes
offered in support of the Project are ‘mere pretexts’ for an actual
purpose to confer a private benefit on FCRC.”

Despite the
setback, the plaintiffs, 13 owners and renters whose properties lie in
the southern segment of the 22-acre footprint, outside the longstanding
Atlantic Terminal Renewal Area (ATURA) that encompasses the Vanderbilt Yard, vowed to appeal.

yesterday dismissed