Simone Dinnerstein (left), the daughter of Park Slope fine artist, Simon Dinnerstein and educator, Renee Dinnerstein will perform this Sunday November 19th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was featured recently on WQXR:

Named in a September article The New York Times as one of five artists "on the cusp of promising futures," Brooklyn pianist Simone Dinnerstein is presented this Sunday afternoon in the "Accolades for Pianists" series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ms. Dinnerstein’s program comprises works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann and Copland. It’s program of works with depth and substance, much like Ms. Dinnerstein herself, as WQXR’s  Jeff Spurgeon discovered in this conversation with her. Click
here to listen this interview in MediaPlayer.

November 19, 2006

Simone Dinnerstein

Copland Piano Variations
Schumann Kinderszenen, Opus
15
Beethoven Sonata No. 32 in C
Minor, Opus 111
Bach—French Suite No. 5

Call 212-570-3949 for tickets.

Only New York recital


3:00 p.m.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Single Tickets: $20

Hepcat and I had a nice dinner after OSFO’s parent-teacher conference last night at the Second Street Cafe on Seventh Avenue and 2nd Street.

The well-run restaurant is owned by two locals with lots of experience in the restaurant business.

We haven’t had dinner in there in ages. We’ve been there for breakfast and lunch but not dinner. Seems that there’s a new menu (about a year old) with lots of choices.

For dinner, they offer an extensive menu of sandwiches, entrees, green market entrees and specials. They also have a deal where you can order four interesting side/appetizer type dishes for $12.00.

That’s what I had. It was so fun to order. I had Chicken Satay, Crab Cakes, Brussel Sprouts and Mashed Potatoes.

It arrived on a large, white rectangular plate and was beautifully presented. Almost like a sushi platter but with Second Street comfort food.

Hepcat had venison with delicious potatoes and turnips, which he enjoyed.

The Second Street has an extensive wine list.

While I was looking for the spelling of the name of Soterios Johnson, one of the morning newscasters on WNCY, for a post I was writing, I came across a Brooklyn-based band by the name of Satirius Johnson, that was named for the WNYC newscaster. I also found an article about Johnson from the Columbia University web site. I listened to the band on their MySpace page and thought they sounded interesting. I’m dying to hear the song about Soterios Johnson.

I am hearing his voice right now. It’s hard to describe. It’s expressive, smart, easy to listen to; flawless without being smooth. I like it very much. He got his start in radio at Columbia University’s WKCR, a legendary station.

In addition to news from WNYC reporters, Campbell and Johnson watch the newswire and television monitors for breaking news, and nearby are copies of local and national newspapers. In the early morning, they have a general idea of what stories they plan to broadcast, but events dictate changes and Johnson and Campbell quickly write and rewrite stories during the course of the show.

Johnson edits everything he will say; he adds ellipses and breath marks to the page to indicate where to pause to add clarity to his delivery. “You try to write news and deliver it in such a way that listeners can understand it the first time around,” he says. “Keep the subject and verbs close together without a lot of clauses muddying things up.”

Though he is known as “So-Jo” at WNYC, the name Soterios intrigues many listeners. A variation of soter, Greek for “savior,” it refers to Jesus in the New Testament and comes from his maternal grandfather, who died in Athens before the two met.

The last name was born out of an American experience. Johnson’s paternal grandfather arrived in New York from Cyprus with the name Ioannou, a patronymic that in English means “son of John.” According to family legend, on the day he became an American citizen, Johnson’s grand-father went out in the morning an Ioannou and returned home a Johnson.

The singular name and standout personality seem to inspire New York artists. A Brooklyn-based rock band took the name “Satirius Johnson.” Singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton, who says he wakes to Johnson’s “soothing” voice every morning, wrote an entire song about him, “Dance Soterios Johnson Dance.” In Coulton’s song, the newsman possesses a secret identity as a club dancer. “I’m quite honored,” Johnson says. “It’s a clever and catchy song written by a very creative guy.”

            
            
            

I ran into a friend on Seventh Avenue who was walking with his little four-year-old boy. The child is a student at the Park Slope Childcare Collective, a school located in the Seventh Avenue church that recently had a fire.

Somehow I didn’t put two and two together.

Seems that the school had to relocate because the church is being renovated. Luckily, quite a few local institutions, including Old First Reformed and PS 321 have made space for the PSCC kids and teachers.

What a drag for parents of kids to have this kind of disruption during a school year. Pre-school is a hard enough transition for little two, three, and four-year-olds.

The renovation at the church will take six months. The school is currently looking for a temporary space to use until their space is fixed up.

Nice to see that the community reached out to help the collective, a day care that’s been around as long and probably longer than I’ve been in Park Slope.

The child pictured has nothing to do with the PSCC. She was photographed by Hugh Crawford.

This from NY 1:
Although the Stillwell Avenue subway station recently got a
multi-million dollar renovation, trash and graffiti are what greet
visitors to Coney Island once they get to the street. But developers
envision a grand new entrance for the area. Something like a tower of
water with a light show and an observation deck overlooking a
magnificent amusement park.

“It’s this ‘wow’ of an introduction,” explained architect Stanton
Eskstut. “An orientation to everybody that well, you’ve just arrived,
wait until you see what else there is.”

Eskstut has been hired by development company Thor Equities to help
transform ten acres along the Coney Island Boardwalk. Included in the
plans are movie theaters and an indoor water park, and the first major
roller coaster to be built in the city since the Cyclone in 1927. The
ride will take coaster enthusiasts through buildings.

“What we’re sketching right now is to how to bring it into the
water park, bring it around the cinema lobbies, and integrate it around
the carousel,” said Eskstut.

The carousel will be a three-story centerpiece with canopies
overhead and glass walls for use year round. The idea is to change
Coney Island from a seasonal to a year round destination, complete with
hotels, restaurants and stores.

“It’s going to be a place that’s a constant show, where lights,
water, color, and sound is integrated throughout every corner, every
block,” said Eskstut.

Developers say the new park will enhance the landmark rides and
provide a bridge between Keyspan Park on one end of the strip and the
New York Aquarium on the other. The aquarium will soon undergo its own
renovation. By year’s end a committee is expected to choose which of
three designs will become the new exterior for the aquarium.

“The concept behind these designs is to find a way to enhance the
aquarium as the eastern anchor of Coney Island,” said Cynthia Reich of
the NY Aquarium.

Planners for both projects say they will make sure the boardwalk is
incorporated into their plans. Thor Equities said creating its vision
could cost $1.5 billion and wants the approvals process to start early
next year so that construction can begin. The hope is to have a new
amusement park by the year 2011.

Pix by the master himself, Hugh Crawford

Pitt
told Esquire magazine (October edition) Brangelina nuptuals are on hold until legal restrictions are lifted in the U.S. and
”everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally
able.” So he probably doesn’t want to get married in wax either.  This from the New York Times:

Organizers of a fantasy wedding on the Las Vegas
Strip between Hollywood’s hottest unmarried couple got cold feet.
Madame Tussauds nixed the plan to stage a depiction of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt tying the knot after a representative for Pitt protested, representatives for the actor and the wax museum said Monday.

”I
personally found it a little odd that they were re-creating a wedding
that never really happened,” said Cindy Guagenti, Los Angeles-based
spokeswoman for Pitt. ”As Brad’s representative, I found it
disturbing.”

Adrian Jones, general manager of the wax museum at
the Venetian resort, said in a statement that the decision was made to
not cross the stars.

”Since Madame Tussauds enjoys excellent
relationships with the celebrity community, we made our own decision
not to create the wedding scene,” he said.

The Brangelina wedding had been scheduled Wednesday to mark the unveiling of a Jolie wax figure. Pitt’s already got one.

The scene would have had wax figures of George Clooney,
standing in as best man, and the Rev. Robert Schuller, pastor and
president of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., officiating.

Wax witnesses would have included the likenesses of the likes of Elvis, Liberace, John Wayne, Bugsy Siegel, Frank Sinatra, Ben Affleck and Luciano Pavarotti.

Instead, Jolie’s wax figure will be introduced Wednesday, without the wedding bells.

Guagenti
said Pitt was unaware of Madame Tussauds’ plans. He and Jolie were with
their three children in Mumbai, India, where Jolie is filming a movie
about slain journalist Daniel Pearl.

THREE GREAT WRITERS at the Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. 8 p.m.

Elissa Schappell is the author of USE ME, which was a finalist for a Pen/Hemingway award. She is co-editor with Jenny Offill of THE FRIEND WHO GOT AWAY and the forthcoming MONEY CHANGES EVERTYTHING. The  co-founder of TIN HOUSE with Rob Spillman and Win McCormick, Elissa also writes the HOT
TYPE column in Vanity Fair.

Ilene Starger, is a poet whose work has appeared in
Bayou, Oyez Review, Georgetown Review, and numerous other magazines.
She was a finalist for the 2005 Ann Stanford Prize.

Darcey Steinke is the author of SUICIDE BLONDE (chosen as a New York Times notable book of the year), UP FROM THE WATER and JESUS SAVES.

Come one, come all. You won’t want to miss this one.

This from NY 1:

A mailman was robbed while on duty this afternoon in Brooklyn.

It happened just before 3 p.m. in Sheepshead Bay. Postal officials
say someone snuck up on the carrier while he was delivering mail on
foot and grabbed two bundles and ran off. The mailman was not injured.

Postal inspectors are investigating, but so far they have not released any details about the suspect. 

There seems to be no end of interest in the pink house on Garfield Place. Does that house have a publicist. This from Sunday’s CIty section of the New York Times.   Personally, I love it because it exemplifies the human need to differentiate oneself from the pack.

The brownstone at 233 Garfield Place in Park Slope has the same
carved wood door as the house next door, at No. 235, and the same
stonework as the house at No. 237. What makes No. 233 unique, as
everyone in the neighborhood well knows by now, is something rather
less subtle: its color.

Or is magenta the word for 233 Garfield Place?

 
   

The house has been pink for
decades — since before the Park Slope Historic District was created in
1973 — but turned a brighter shade a few months ago when its owner,
Bernie Henry, gave it a new coat of paint.

“Now,” said Craig
Hammerman, district manager of Community Board 6, “it’s a really bright
magenta. It used to be a softer, pastel-type pink.”

Ever since
Mr. Henry, who is 90, had the house repainted, it has been a magnet for
reporters and attention-seekers. Neighbors rattle off the names of
local television stations that have sent camera crews, and the house
has even attracted its own tourists, as Anne Joseph, who lives on the
next block, discovered when one of them stopped her partner on the
street.

“He said: ‘We’re driving around; we’re from Staten
Island; where is that pink house?’ ” Ms. Joseph recalled one morning
recently.

As for why the house was painted pink in the first
place, Mr. Henry, reached by phone, shed little light on the matter.
“So what’s wrong with the house?” he said. “I’ve been through that
already. Why are you asking me about it? Get somebody else’s house.”

In
the professional opinion of Ken Herbert, a Manhattan resident who the
other day was sitting on the stoop of a nearby brownstone and who owns
a flooring and painting company that was renovating the neighboring
building, the house is “bubblegum pink,” and is one of the strangest he
has seen. But Mr. Herbert

Looks like Kiwi, the Seventh Avenue dress shop, is set to re-open in its new space today or tomorrow. I saw the Kiwi ladies pushing a clothing rack up Seventh Avenue from their old shop on Seventh near Berkeley to their new space where Soundtrack used to be (on Seventh Avenue between Carroll and President).

The opening of a new shop on Seventh Avenue is such a big deal. Especially if it’s not a real estate firm. The windows are always covered with brown paper to enhance the suspense.

Ooooh. What kind of store is this going to be? What’s it going to look like?  Ooooh.

Seventh Avenue is our urban theater. We all walk up and down that street so often, it’s like being tuned to the same channel and there’s a new show.

Oooooh.

Word has it that Kiwi is spending upwards of $8000 per month on rent. That’s a lot of moola. They are a popular store and they’ve already moved from a side street to the main drag. This move could be the tipping point for them. I hope they don’t have to raise their already heady prices.

Everyone I knows likes their clothing especially their corderoy pants and sweaters. They’re local designers and entrepreneurs so we’re happy about that. My one complaint, they’re a little pushy when you walk in. I like to shop very quietly with very little interaction (I am very self conscious when I shop).

One friend said they always say that whatever she tries on looks FANTASTIC. But knowing her, it probably does look FANTASTIC.

Whatever. Shop and support local talent. Good luck Kiwi ladies in your new digs. 

Something clicked at Liberty Heights Tap Room Saturday afternoon as all four teen bands played their hearts out and each presented a very unique sound. The New York Times was there so expect a piece in the Style section soon. With pictures. This scene isn’t just cute anymore. These are talented kids, who are taking their music very seriously. Impressario Steve DiPatula seemed stoked – he genuinely likes to support the kids who have made his stage their home away from home.

Cool and Unusual: In their longest set ever, they were tight and melodic. They alternated between their  polyrhythmic  instrumentals and complex, well-crafted originals. The vocals were spot-on and the bass and drums were, as always, cool and unusual. Highlights included: 2L, the Test, Rain Song and the Odyssey. They brought back an old favorite cover,  "Where is My Mind" which sounded great.

Dulaney Banks: Think Janis Joplin singing with Robert Johnson and you’ll get some idea of this incredible vocal and blues guitar duo (Kane Balser and Julia Banks Harris). Handpicked work songs from Alan Lomax’s collection, lots of blues, some originals and a really dirgey, down and dirty,  "Me and Bobby McGee."

Fiasco: In a 40 minute instrumental set, they improvised like free jazzers banging, strumming, picking, reverbing and changing instruments. Quite impressive the way they held it together and held the attention of the audience.

Jet Lag: An edgy Jimi Hendrix vibe with the intense and lanky Luca Balser on vocals. He even played piano at one point. With tight bass, drums, and guitar, they are good to go as one of the new major bands in this thriving teen scene.

My friend Shawn Dulaney FINALLY has a website. And it is GORGEOUS. I am so excited for her and very tempted to buy one of these mono prints for my office (it would be so hard to pick a monoprint).

I am lucky to be the proud owner of quite a few Shawn Dulaney’s. Here’s who she is:

Noted painter Shawn Dulaney has exhibited her work nationally for
more than two decades, including important venues in New York, Santa
Fe, California, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

From The New York Times (Sunday, April 27, 2003):
"Stylistically, the paintings are a cross between the atmospherically
intense seascape paintings of J.M.W. Turner, and the impulsive,
intuitive abstractions of Cy Twombly. One distinct characteristic of
Ms. Dulaney’s work is the use of poetry; enigmatic words inscribed
directly into the wet acrylic paint. A soupy, drippy texture to the
acrylic paint characterizes all these works. The exquisitely painted
surfaces of all are a pleasure to see."

 

A small trash recepticle at the Bank of America ATM (on Seventh Avenue and Union) has been moved between the two ATM machines. That makes it much easier for ATMers to toss their receipts and paper detritus. It used to be by the desk. It may be a little too small for the amount of paper garbage that’s generated over there but it’s a good start.

It seems to have made a huge difference. Overall, the place looks a lot neater.

I got a kick out of the fact that it was moved over there. Do you think someone who reads OTBKB put it there?

Photo by Sad Sweet Songs on Flickr

A few of us from the building were talking today and we decided that we are going to have a yard cleaning day on Saturday.

Doesn’t that sound fun? We’ll rake leaves and bag them. Throw out (or deal with) the dead plants of summer.  I’ll bring the apple cider and banana bread (just kidding about the banana bread).

We’ll make decisions about things that have  accumulated out there, including Teen Spirit’s decorated school desk, which he found in a dumpster at PS 321 and decorated with a Sharpie. A female friend did the same on another desk (but she took hers home).

This desk is very important to him but most of the neighbors are tired of having it out there. Understandably, Mrs. Kravitz and Phizz wants it outta there. They’ve both hauled it to the curb on garbage night on different ocassions and someone (Teen Spirit?) keeps bringing it back.

Teen Spirit: if you want to save it take it upstairs and put it in your bedroom.

There was a flood in the basement the other day and a lot of stuff stored down there may be water damaged. We’ll also be tossing a lot of that stuff this weekend.

Fall cleaning and purging of stuff. Can’t wait.

PHOTOS BY CHLOE

I grew up in Manhattan but my mother, her sister and brother-in-law and many others we knew were born and raised in Brooklyn.

"Where did you go to high school?" was always an important question to that generation of Brooklynites. And they could always tell you where Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand and others went to school.

My mother was in the first graduating class of Midwood High School. Her
sister and her husband went to Madison High School. They were and still are proud of their alma maters.

My uncle tells a story about a group of Madison High School alumni who wanted to make a  gift to the school and were told that the school needed a trophy case. My uncle, a big high school and college athlete back in the 1930’s and 40’s, assumed it was for sport’s trophies.  Nope. It was for all the chess trophies that the school has. Apparently they have (or had) an incredibly good chess team.

Here’s some news from the Brooklyn Record about Madison High School that will really make my uncle proud.

This week’s elections named Rep. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from
Vermont, as the successor to retiring Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of
Vermont. At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast earlier this week
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted the historical significance of
this win — when Sanders takes office, it will mark the first time the
the Senate would include a Democrat (Schumer himself), a Republican
(Norm Coleman of Minnesota), and an independent (Sanders) who all
graduated from the same high school — Brooklyn’s own James Madison High
School, a public school in Midwood. Can anybody report on how things
are going at H.S. 425 nowadays? According to Inside Schools, "Some 85%
of graduates go on to four-year colleges," and "unfortunately, metal
detectors are building fixture, something the principal is not crazy
about."

Does this happen to you? You go into Manhattan – the big city as I call it – and you see a familiar face from Seventh Avenue. And both of you smile like, "Hey, what are you doing outside of Park Slope? I didn’t know they let people out of there?"

Sometimes I will actually converse with the familiar face as in: "Hi, don’t I know you from Park Slope?"

Times like that I feel so provincial like a Park Slope mouse venturing in the big city. Better get back before midnight or you’ll turn into a pumpkin.

…because of OSFO’s piano lesson with piano teacher extradoniare, Helen Richmond, who uses a room at Old First Church. Sometimes the lesson is in the Sanctuary, which is really awesome (literally) place for a piano lesson. And for me, it’s great for meditating during the lesson.

But it gets cold in there and Helen has moved the lessons upstairs to room used by the Old First Nursery School, a glorious room with a vaulted ceiling and lots of light.

There are also lots of Little Tykes vehicles, legos, a plastic toy kitchen and plastic fruit and food. All kinds of equipment for the pre-school.

The room is infused with the spirit of the kids who play there during the day. Their names emblazoned on their cubbys. Their life-sized self-portraits on the wall.

OSFO is learning to make lovely music in that room. I listen, observe the room, answer the door downstairs for the next student.

Thursday has it’s own unique rhythm.

This from New York 1:

Republican Senator George Allen conceded to Virginia Democrat Jim Webb
Thursday, officially giving Democrats control of the Senate.

The results of the election were released last night, showing Webb
ahead of Senator George Allen by a little more than 7,000 votes, but it
was not until just this afternoon that Allen gave the official word he
was conceding.

Allen, who had been considered a possible presidential candidate
for 2008, said he believes a recount would not change the outcome of
Tuesday’s election.

"The people of Virginia, who I always call the owners of the
government, they have spoken, and I respect their decision," said
Allen. "The bible teaches us that there is a time and place for
everything. And, today I have called and congratulated Jim Webb and his
team for their victory."

Webb’s win gives the Democrats a sweep of six Republican Senate seats.

"We’re gonna work hard to bring a sense of reponsibility on our
foreign policy that will, in my view, result in a diplomatic solution
in Iraq," said Webb.

The breakdown in the Senate is now 51 Democrats to 49 Republicans, with Virginia giving Democrats the edge.

The Democrats have also won control the House, marking the first
time in 12 years that the party has controlled both houses of Congress.

The shift in power in the House was more decisive.  Democrats won more than two dozen Republican seats to take control.

Representative Nancy Pelosi will take Republican Dennis Hastert’s
spot as Speaker of the House, making the California Democrat the first
female speaker.

Hastert has decided not run for minority leader. 

TODAY AT BOROUGH HALL: 11:30 until 5 p.m.

Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment is excited to present the 2006 Green Brooklyn Conference: The Sustainable City, sponsored by Con Edison.

Location:
Borough Hall
209 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY

Directions:
Take the M/R to Court Street or the 2/3/4/5 to Borough Hall.
Click HERE for a subway map of NYC.
Click HERE for an interactive road map.

Admission: FREE!

Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment
is excited to present the 2006 Green Brooklyn Conference: The
Sustainable City, sponsored by Con Edison. Featured speakers are: Jeffrey Hollender (CEO of Seventh Generation) and Co-keynote speakers Matthew D. Berman and Andrew Kotchen (Co-Principals of workshop/apd).
With discussion panels, hands-on workshops, and exhibitor tables; the
conference will bring new energy and excitement to discourse on the
built and natural environments and how to transform Brooklyn and all of
New York into a more sustainable city. The moderated discussion Panels
are entitled, "The Built Environment: Sustainable Development for the
21st Century" and "The Natural Environment: Conservation, Energy and
Sustainable Food for a Cleaner Greener Environment." Workshop topics
include: "Worms: Turning Waste to Wonder" and "Sustainable
Transportation". Panelists and Exhibitors will include: EPA Region 2,
Council on the Environment of NYC, NYC Office of Sustainable Design,
NYSERDA, Earth Pledge, Slow Food USA, Bettencourt Green Building
Supplies, Jonathan Rose Companies, Green Maps, Food Change, Sustainable
South Bronx, and many more.

Photo: from flickr

THIS FROM NEW YORK 1:

Police have arrested a woman after they say she hit and killed a 5-year-old boy in Brooklyn Wednesday.

According to police, Bertilde Gabriel tried to leave the scene after her SUV jumped the curb and collided with a family walking down Flatbush Avenue near Glenwood Road.

The boy, Christopher Frombaum, died at the scene. His 24-year-old mother Rachel Dorce is in critical condition. Two other children, 6-year-old Aldeline and 8-year-old Joshua, are also in the hospital.

Witnesses say the Green Ford Explorer collided with another SUV before jumping the sidewalk.

"A green SUV made an illegal turn over the yellow line," said one onlooker. "It hit the black SUV, and came onto the sidewalk and mowed over the whole family from the back. They never saw it coming."

Gabriel’s husband said she has had heart problems and has blacked out three times, the most recent being right before she hit the family.

"She tried to control it herself," said her husband. "After that, she didn’t know anything."

Gabriel was hospitalized with chest pains but is now in police custody. Police at the 70th precinct charged her with criminally negligent homicide.

The bar at Two Boots in Park Slope was the place to be when news came across the televsion that the Democrats took control of the house.

A small crowd gathered around the bar, one couple with a newborn baby. There were others having drinks in the small front room.

Cheers, hoots, scattered applause erupted at the news.

From the San Francisco Chronicle: 

The last time a Democrat held the House speaker’s gavel was in January 1995, when then-party leader Dick Gephardt handed it to Newt Gingrich after an election that Republicans branded a revolution.

The gavel will now be handed back to Democrat Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who will become the first woman and first Californian to serve as speaker, following a coast-to-coast repudiation of Republican leadership.

"We are on the brink of a great Democratic victory," predicted Pelosi, as Democrats solidified their new hold on the House of Representatives, adding to their margin of seats after sweeping Republicans from that chamber and gaining seats in the Senate.

Artist David Konigsberg had this to say today:

DAMN IT, VOTE

Dear Friends

I hope and trust you will vote today, even if it’s a hassle . . . And that those of you in Connecticut will consider pulling the lever (or touching the screen or whatever) for Ned Lamont and, upstate, Kristin Gillibrand  and John Hall. painting by DK

Welcome PARK SLOPE PHOTO BLOG and thank you for bringing your blogginess to OTBKB’s attention.

Your pictures are cool — black and white, very artistic. So far two interesting pix of store windows and one street scene.

This from our friend at Seeing Green

Change that Light bulb!

GE
claims that "if every household in America replaced one 100-watt bulb
with a GE compact fluorescent, the savings would be enough to power
more than one million homes for an entire year."

Presumably non-GE bulbs cannot achieve a similar effect, but no matter. GE developed this campaign with the help of Green Order,
a New York based "sustainability strategy and marketing firm. " Green
Order has lots of top notch clients, Office Depot, General Electric and
GE among them, and has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s "Green 50" in
the November 2006 issue. The power of going Green is rapidly being
co-opted by the corporations to sell products, which may be the best
thing for the future of sustainability, given that our national leaders
are not doing much.

This from the New York Post:

November 7, 2006 — Students and parents at a Brooklyn high school
where a teen was removed from class for dressing as Adolf Hitler on
Halloween marched in protest of the costume yesterday – and were joined
by the teen.

Walter Petryk, 16, and his parents strolled with about 50 people from
the Leon M. Goldstein HS community to the nearby Holocaust Memorial
Park.

"They called it a walk of tolerance and respect, so I
figured I would go and show my tolerance and respect for other people’s
views of my costume," Petryk said.

vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *vote * vote *

How long should people keep Jack-O-Lanterns? Many of them are rotting now. Their faces look all droopy and sad. Some are beginning to smell. They all look interesting and a little grotesque in a "I’m a rotted pumpkin" way. There were two spectacularly rotted pumpkins in the window of Slope Sports last week but I think they disposed of them.

Is this part of the symbolic fall ritual of death?

In honor of Udgewink, I am re-posting this from two years ago. Udgewink was the first person I didn’t know who commented on my blog (I was on blogger then). We keep up with each other’s blogs. I even got him a piece of orange fabric from The Gate’s in Central Park. He thanked me with a delightful package of European chocolate.

A blogger in Stuttgart has been reading Smartmom’s blog. As far as she
knows he’s the only person in Europe who actually reads Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. He’s certainly the only European ever to leave a comment:

Hey
Smartmom, just wanted to say a quick "hello, yes, there is somebody out
here" and we are listening. I like your writing, especially your knack
for picking good anonyms. You could offer that as a service!

And yes, I know and love "next blog." I spend far too much time in the blogger universe.

Smartmom visits the blogger from Stuttgart on a regular basis(udgewink.blogspot.com)
He writes nicely and seems to have a lyrical and eccentric take on the
world. In his blogger profile, he lists favorite movies (To Have and Have Not, Apocalypse Now, Stardust Memories), books (The Great Gatsby, Proust, The Alexandria Quartet) and music (Steve Reich, Sam Cooke, Brian Eno and Robert Johnson).

Smartmom is fascinated to learn how Udge discovered OTBKB
in the first place. There are apparently tens of thousands of blogs on
Blogspot. Clearly, Udge spends a good deal of time browsing the Blog
Universe. Smartmom has also done a bit too much exploring herself and
has discovered that there’s mostly crap out there. But Udge is
different — he seems to have interesting things to say.

Recently, before Udge went on vacation to Venice, he wrote a few words about that city:

I’m
off to Venice (and I don’t mean California), call it my summer holiday.
Seven whole days in the Pearl of the Adriatic (well, OK, two of them
spent mostly on trains) sucking down the Campari Soda and the Dolce
Vita in dizzying doses. Oh, and not to forget the cappucino, and the
restaurants. Ah, and the beach at the Lido. And the Biennale, of
course. Architecture this year, can’t be helped.

I love Venice.
I’ve been there almost every year since moving to Europe twenty-seven
years ago. At a dinner party recently, a pretentious Parisian poseur
proclaimed that one cannot "love" Venice, no no, the city is so
terribly touristic and those tourists are such awful people (meaning:
not like us). But he was wearing yellow shoes and no socks, so we may
safely discount his opinion.

Smartmom admires that city as well and swiftly sent Udge a response:

I
have always had a rather sentimental feeling for Venice because I was
conceived there. Yes, it’s true, my parents lived there for a few
months many (I won’t say exactly how many) years ago. In 1990 when my
husband and I visited there I just fell in love with the place as I
knew I would. You can tell that poseur with the yellow shoes to stay in
Paris and leave Venice for those who deserve it. And those who began
life there.

To which he responded:

Being conceived in Venice has a certain cachet which even Brooklyn cannot top. You clearly chose your parents well.

In a post called "Starry Morning," Udge wrote poetically about the change of seasons in Stuttgart:

Ezra Pound said it best:

Winter is icumen in
Lhude sing Goddam!
Raineth drop, and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm!

The
most obvious sign of impending winter is the darkness. As I began
blogging, the sun would be shining brightly at this time of day. This
morning, the sky is full of stars: Orion hangs low over the drugstore
on the corner.

Talk about lofty — he even quoted Ezra
Pound. Smartmom is quite impressed. Clearly, there’s a qualitative
difference between Udge and many other bloggers on Blogspot. Udge’s
post inspired Smartmom to write her own (more pedestrian) reflection on
the coming of winter in Brooklyn which she sent Udge’s way:

The
mornings are dark in Brooklyn these days. Steam hisses up the radiators
to our apartment as we pull our blankets up to our chins feeling cold
and not much like getting out of bed. We walk the kids to school
wrapped in long-forgotten coats, even gloves. None of us are pleased to
admit that winter is close at hand, that life is bringing us something
new. Soon we will get out the bag of winter hats, the scarves. We
wonder if this winter will be as fierce as last — a string of urban
blizzards in January and February.

This Sunday or the next we
will set our clocks back. Fall Back, as they say. And we must accept
the changing of the seasons, the passing of time, the fact that even we
are aging. Saw the leaves yesterday driving upstate to see old friends.
The patterns of red, orange, yellow and green delighted us as we sped
up the New York State Thruway.

–written in October 2004