Spent a few days with writer friends in the North Fork of Long Island. Just got back. Sorry for the late start. Thanks to No Words and Now I’ve Heard Everything for keeping the OTBKB light burning…

On May 13th from 6-8:30 PM at the Park Slope Armory (15th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) representatives from over 95 organizations will be on hand to share information about the various volunteer opportunities available.

Find out where and how you can help, whether you’re a high school student, a retired person, and/or someone who wants to sharpen skills or develop new ones. Admission to the event is free and light refreshments will be provided.

“This is a chance for the community to meet representatives from over 95 local non-profits, including those that focus on the environment, recreation, youth, health, the arts, community service and the elderly,” said Assemblymember Jim Brennan. “No matter what your interest, you’ll find a rewarding opportunity to get involved and to give back to your community.”

“Volunteering is for everyone. We have made it a point to include opportunities for students on up to senior citizens,” said Assemblymember Joan Millman. “Volunteering is a worthwhile way to use your skills, develop new ones, and connect with other interesting, dedicated people.”

“A real measure of a neighborhood’s strength is the extent to which its residents share their time and talents in their community,” said Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Brooklyn Community Board 6. “Brooklyn offers a tremendous range of volunteer opportunities at organizations that depend on the energy and skills of volunteers.”

“Volunteers help us in so many ways and are an important link between us and our community. We are looking forward to this event as a great way to meet potential volunteers,” said Lyn Hill, Vice President for Communication and External Affairs at New York Methodist Hospital.

The event is sponsored by: Assemblymembers Jim Brennan  and Joan Millman, Councilmember Brad Lander, Senators Eric Adams and Velmanette Montgomery, District Attorney Charles Hynes, Brooklyn Community Boards 6 and 7, New York Methodist Hospital, Park Slope Civic Council, Park Slope Parents, Park Slope 5th Avenue BID and Prospect Park YMCA.

Brought to you by The Feldman Family from their weather tower in Park Slope

Here’s a chance to help influence the reshaping of the City’s Comprehensive Waterfront Plan by attending the Department of City Planning’s Brooklyn workshop and offering your ideas and suggestions…

BROOKLYN WORKSHOP 
May 17, 2010, 6-8:30 pm
Brooklyn Technical High School
Dekalb Ave. & S. Elliot Pl, Brooklyn

In addition to the Brooklyn Workshop, there’s a Blue Network Workshop which will focus more broadly on the City’s waterways and include important discussions on topics of greatly emerging importance such as climate change and sea level rise…

NOTE: Date Change! The Blue Network workshop will now be held on June 24, 2010, 6:30-9 pm, P.S. 234, The Independence School, 292 Greenwich St., Manhattan.  This workshop will focus on the city’s waterways themselves.  We will examine and discuss the opportunities to enhance the Blue Network’s use for recreation, transportation, and education. We will also discuss the ecology of the water bodies and increasing the city’s resilience to climate change and sea level rise.

Click here for the event flyer, or use the following link:
http://www.brooklyncb6.org/announcements/#16

We know all about land grabs in Brooklyn. But Catherine Bohne, owner of Park Slope’s Community Bookstore, is currently living in Valbona, a village in Northern Albanania, where villagers are fighting the government to retain rights to land held in their families for hundreds of years.

We can help. Catherine urges Brooklynites to write letters to to the American Embassy in Tirana (see below). But first, here’s her account of what’s going on in a land very far away.

It’s Catherine, writing from an internet cafe in Bajrum Curri, Northern Albania — I’ve owed you all a long-promised email for a while now, but the longer I wait, the longer the story gets . . . . So now (typically) I’m writing to ask for your help.  As some of you know, since last July I’ve been spending a lot of time in Northern Albania.  It is the most beautiful, magical place, with some of the best people in the world (after Park Slope, of course!).  Also, typically, I’ve gotten involved in trying to help people here.  For the last 10 months that just consisted of basic stuff (websites, puttering), but in the last two weeks a situation has blown up here.  And of course I’ve sort of ended up in the middle of it.  The Valbona Valley where I’ve been half-living is traditionally one of the toughest places in Europe – they don’t call it these the Accursed Mountains for nothing!  Perhaps in order to survive the people have become both adapted to the land AND fiercely protective of each other — really GOOD to each other.  And to me!  Now the local government –  which, like most government inAlbania, is very corrupt – is moving to grab land in Valbona.  And the Selimaj, my adopted family, are standing up to them.  This really is the little guy fighting against huge forces.  Will you help?

Here are the two videos I made so far which summarize the situation – I was up all night making the last one, so I’m sort of blotto right now, and I think the videos will be clearer than I will be.

Valbona Land Grab – Part 1 (5/9/10)
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=WRH6zy7sYuE

Valbona Land Grab – Part 2 (5/10/10) (This one doesn’t seem to be working currently – but keep checking!)
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=CDWETQBCJtU

And yes, in case you were wondering, it WAS me with the camera, so Islam Byberi was threatening old men and a smallish woman in a little pink sundress.  Nice, eh?  It’s worth pointing out two other facts:

1.  50% of the population of Valbona is under the age of 18, the highest percentage of young people in any village in the Margegaj Komun (local district).  So the old men you see fighting in these videos are not just protecting their own interests, they are fighting for the future of the children of Valbona.

2.  The Komun has published reports to various foreign investors promising over 80 infrastructure projects to benefit the people of Margegaj Komun and Valbona specifically, including really important things like bringing running water to the houses of Valbona village.  They were supposed to start work this summer.  They haven’t.  Instead, they’re rushing to build this tourism complex (with Ping Pong) which (you may have noticed) employs mainly members of the Head of the Komun’s family (who live in Shoshan, not Valbona).

I have more video from the protest at the work site that I’ll send as soon as I can.  It shows the police arriving on Saturday, May 8th, and declaring that all work should stop until a judgment is made by the local court on Tuesday (tomorrow).  You should probably also know that yesterday, while I was in town frantically uploading the first of these videos, the Selimaj returned to the work site, and met workers arriving to continue construction, against the police order.  They police actually came with them, and the Selimaj protested.  The police upheld the order to stop work, at the cost of three Selimaj volunteering for arrest – Zenel Ahmeti (45), Gent Ademi (35) and Naim Selimaj (29).  While in police custody, the Chief of Police entered their holding cell, asked “Which one of you is Gent?” and then hit him.  This is of course illegal.  And if you’re wondering who the Chief of Police is . . . yup.  Another Byberi.  (Gent’s out now and charges are being filed.)

Continue reading Albanian Village Needs Help Fighting Gov’t Land Grab →

Doomsday mayoral budget steps closer: City Limits

Hate crimes by the numbers: City Limits

Shhhh. A thieving developer wants Daniel Goldstein quiet: Noticing New York

Moving day for Daniel Goldstein and Shabnam Merchant: NY Daily News

Pratt Post Office will be closed for a year: Brooklyn Paper

“So what is an edgy mom? Based on the reading I’d have to say it’s a mom who questions authority and group-think, and who tells the truth, even if it’s shocking. Also, judging from the night’s readers, edgy moms are funny!”

– Louise Sloan, author of Knock Yourself Up, A Tell All Guide to Becoming a Single Mom

Brooklyn Reading Works presents the Fourth Annual Edgy Mother’s Day on May 20, 2010 at 8PM at The Old Stone House in Park Slope. It’s motherhood without sanctimony and an evening  of maternal revelry, wisdom and irreverent fun.

This is not your mother’s Mother’s Day but a celebration of mommydom nonetheless that will shock, rock, and make you laugh ‘til your thongs snap!

Hear Brooklyn writers of non-fiction, fiction, memoir and poetry rant and rave about mothers and motherhood. They will shock, amuse, and entertain but won’t make you eat carrots before dessert.

Bring a friend. Or bring your mom.

Hosted by Louise Crawford and Sophia Romero, here’s the evening’s line-up:

–Marian Fontana, author of A Widow’s Walk

–Rosemary Moore, author of Side Street

–Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl From the Left

—Jill Eisenstadt, author of From Rockaway

–Wendy Ponte, author of Mothering Magazine’s Having a Baby Naturally

–Sophia Romero, blogger, The Shiksa from Manila and author of Always Hiding

–Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of Breaking the Bank

–Michele Madigan Somerville, poet and author of WISEGAL and Black Irish

–Allison Pennell, parenting journalist and writer for Effed in Park Slope

–Kathy Fine, educator

Register now for the Fifth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest, which is now free on June 8th at the Brooklyn Lyceum thanks to its sponsor Absolut Vodka.

“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” ~ Sewell Chan, The New York Times

How many bloggers does it take to fill the Brooklyn Lyceum? Come find out on June 8 at 7:00 PM when the borough’s most opinionated and dedicated bloggers (and surprise special guests) step away from their keyboards to sound off about how and why Brooklyn remains such a rich source of material and inspiration.

But forget about filling the room. Here’s the real question the Brooklyn Blogfest will answer: How many bloggers does it take to wrap their arms around New York’s most happening borough? So, whether you are a blogger, wannablogger, reader, or media maven, you’ll want to come see for yourself. And meet up with this year’s most tenaciously keen tribe of bloggers as they gather to celebrate all the reasons Brooklyn is such a potent source of runaway creativity.

Since it was founded in 2005, the Brooklyn Blogfest has established itself as the nexus of creativity, talent, and insight among the blogosphere’s brightest lights. This year will be no different as a panel of blogging’s best disect the unique brand of entrepreneurial creativity flourishing here. Also on tap: a video tribute to Brooklyn’s most visionary photo bloggers, special networking sessions for like-minded bloggers (i.e. Blogs of a Feather), the return of the ever-popular Shout-out, when bloggers are invited to share their blogs with the world, and a roof-raising after-party with ABSOLUT^® VODKA cocktails, food and music.

“The borough of Brooklyn has always been front and center in the world of blogging,” says Louise Crawford, founder of the Brooklyn Blogfest and onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com. “Whether you live by a blog, blog to live, or live to blog, you’ll want to come out on June 8.”

Location: The Brooklyn Lyceum

227 Fourth Avenue at President Street in Park Slope Brooklyn

THIS EVENT IS FREE

The 2010 BROOKLYN BLOGFEST is sponsored by ABSOLUT^® VODKA

The “Bike Jumble” is  coming to Washington Park in Park Slope on May 16th. Organized by Harry Schwartzman organized the event will feature used bikes, parts and accessories. The cycles usually run from $50 to about $200.

There will also be a show of vintage bikes and an exhibit at the Old Stone House about the Coney Island Velodrome — a track that brought the thrills of bike racing to Brooklyn in the 1930s.

Brooklyn Bike Jumble at Washington Park. Third Street at Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195], May 16 from 10 am-4 pm.

Brought to you by The Feldman Family from their weather tower in Park Slope

Four years ago, Smartmom started Edgy Mother’s Day, an annual reading of fiction, non-fiction and poetry about motherhood and mothers at the Old Stone House in Park Slope. It’s motherhood without sanctimony and an evening of maternal revelry, wisdom and irreverent fun.

This is not your mother’s Mother’s Day, but a celebration of mommydom that will shock, rock, and make you laugh ’til your thongs snap!

Smartmom had sort of a vague idea of what she meant by “edgy mom,” but it was always hard to articulate when people would ask, “So what is an edgy mom, anyway?”

Well, she’s feisty and fun and a little bit zany. She whines to her friends and can be a bit of a martyr. She fantasizes about getting a room of her own on Block Island with a computer and a view of the sea. She lets her kids have dessert before dinner, reheated pizza for breakfast and NEVER remembers to bring Cheerios in a little Tupperware container to the playground.

Except when she does and then she feels victorious!

Her kids have seen her fight with their dad and yell at her mom and curse her sister on the phone. They’ve watched her cry.

She’s been known to throw away her children’s old toys and art supplies when they’re not around — and then pretend that she doesn’t know where they are when they ask.

But she can’t let go of their artwork — even that sharp pointy wood sculpture that her son made at the Montessori school. She loves when they sleep over at a friend’s house. The apartment is so quiet, so serene, and so terribly lonely.

She looks forward to her late afternoon glass of wine. And once or twice, she has let her kids miss school when she feels like sleeping in.

Sometimes she takes a bath when she should be making dinner or reads “Anna Karenina” when she’s supposed to be helping with homework.

She watches shows like “Gossip Girl” and discusses the travails of Blair, Serena, Chuck and Dan with her 13-year-old daughter — even if the show isn’t appropriate for 13-years-olds

She’s not sure what is appropriate for 13-year-olds.

Sometimes she feels like the most boring person on earth, like someone’s mother and that’s all. But on a good day that seems like the greatest job in the world.

She tries not to tell my-kids-are-so-amazing stories, or say to new moms, “Enjoy it now; they’re gonna grow up fast” — even though it’s true.

She hates to sound like an old fart, an elderstates-mom or a know-it-all — even though she is.

And she tries not to say, “Do you mind if I brag?” — even though there is SO much to brag about. She’s made a lot of mistakes, some she would never ever admit to anyone.

She’s afraid she’s ruined her kids somehow. She knows that everything is her fault.

If only she’d followed those expert books. Or even read them. And she wishes that she didn’t let her kids get away with murder.

She hates to watch them puke or be in pain or feel sad when they’ve had their feelings hurt. She wants to kill anyone who hurts her child. Sometimes she even wants to kill her children. But just for a teeny, tiny fleeting second.

She tries to make eye contact when they have a very long story to tell — even when there’s so much else she needs and wants to do. And now that they’re teenagers, she practically grovels for attention, for those long stories she used to tire of.

She loves her kids with a passion that makes her ache, moan, yell and scream, and feel all gooey inside. Do you mind if she brags?

So that’s an edgy mom.

Edgy Mother’s Day with Sophia Romero, Michele Madigan Somerville, Wendy Ponte, Marian Fontana, Yona Zeldis McDonough, Kathy Fine, Martha Southgate, Allison Pennell, Jill Eisenstadt at the Old Stone House [336 Third St. between Fourth and Fifth avenues in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195], May 20, 8 pm.

Office-scape, used as a symbol or stand-in for contemporary culture: Art in Brooklyn

Harvard Law Dean on on Stevens’ succession: Self-Absorbed Boomer

The truth and every purpose: Truth & Rocket Science

Omer 36: Landscape: Water Over Rocks

Faith, hope and love: Old First

Brooklyn College reacts to Kent State 40 years ago: Dumbo Books of Bklyn

Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.

Does the name J. McLaughlin ring a bell? It’s a store that sells classic clothing and
accessories for women nationwide, including Madison Avenue, Palm Beach, Edgartown, Nantucket and places like that.

Now they’re gonna be in Brooklyn. Interestingly the clothing is manufactured in Greenpoint.

Kevin McLaughlin, chief creative director of J. McClaughlin, fell head over heels with the  historic Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.

“The vibrant, charming and historic community of Brooklyn Heights felt like the perfect fit for us. We saw a apparent disconnect in the area which is filled with stylish consumers but few appropriate retail spaces, so when something became available on Hicks Street we jumped at the chance to open a new store,” he said in a recent store press release.

The new store is located on Hicks Street between Montague and Remsen and is approximately 420 square feet.

A little off the beaten path, the tiny new shop is full of charm. This location will sell women’s and men’s clothing and accessories including grosgrain ribbon belts, hand-quilted jackets and their best selling brightly colored Catalina T-shirts.

I haven’t been to the shop yet but apparently the space was redesigned in the spirit of Brooklyn Heights’ architectural history,  including touches of exotic Orientalism of the high Victorian era to the neoclassical grandeur of the Beaux Arts period.

“We want the shop to feel like a Brooklyn brownstone on the inside and
on the outside,” architect and designer Doug Larson explains.

Take the Bensonhurt pizza tour with Jeffrey Tastes (Experiences in Eating in Queens, Brooklyn, NYC and Long Island).

I knew it wouldn’t be remarkable as I approached. Drab floors, an insipid counterman, quiet dining area with a delivery boy just hanging out, and a history dating to around 18 years, all signs of mediocrity. But I tried it anyway. For these exploratory tours, I have […]

Read more at his blog

I saw one of these posters on 10th or 11th Street east of Fifth Avenue in Park Slope and it caught my eye.

It’s an image of a cartoon boy seen shouting “DON’T DRINK &#%+! DRINK WAT-AAH!”

I thought it might have something to do with that soft drink tax Paterson is proposing.

Then I thought it was an ad for a new product called WAT-AAH.

But now I get it. It’s a public service announcement encouraging people to drink water. Is WAT-AAH water with a Brooklyn accent or a baby crying or…

This campaign has an interactive element. You can fill in the blank…

“Don’t Drink ____, Drink WAT-AAH!” is WAT-AAH!’s new advertising campaign. This campaign encourages parents and children to fill in the blank with words such as “Soda,” “Sugar,” “Junk,” and even “&#%+!”

Someone is taking a stand against childhood obesity and other health issues, WAT-AAH! says that there is an alternative to soda and other sugary drinks… all while being fun, too!

FILM

Please Give, Babies, and Exit Through the Gift Shop at BAM.

Free movie at BAX on May 7th at 7PM: Sugar, The story of a Dominican pitcher’s journey to NYC to try to make it in the big leagues. (In Spanish with English subtitles.). Part of the Films on Fifth Festival.

EVENTS

On Saturday, May 8th BAM Block party and groundbreaking, an vent-packed neighborhood block party filled with outdoor performances, food vendors, arts & crafts, and more to celebrate the groundbreaking for BAM’s newest addition—the Richard B. Fisher Building. Located at the former site of the Salvation Army (321 Ashland Pl), the BAM Fisher Building will be dedicated to arts, education, and community programs.

ART

The Muriel Guepin Gallery at 47 Bergen Street in Cobble Hill has q show or paintings that will be open through May 31st.  “Looking In,” features paintings and mixed media works by Pauline Galiana, Hovey Brock, and Robert Szot. Hovey Brock’s paintings (one is pictured above) are composed of many layers of transparent washes of intense colors. His goal is for viewers to release the habits that govern the way they look, and to get “lost” in his paintings.

MUSIC

Sunday, March 9th at 7PM, Barbès and the Concert Artist Guild present a classical music concert featuring some of the best new talent in the classical world. This month: THE AFIARA STRING QUARTET. The all-Canadian Quartet (Valerie Li and Yuri Cho, violins; David Samuel, viola; and Adrian Fung, cello) is the graduate resident string quartet at The Juilliard School in New York, where they serve as teaching assistants to the celebrated Juilliard String Quartet.

Saturday, May 8th at 7:30PM at the Bell House: The Primitives emerged from the UK independent scene of the mid-80’s that spawned The Jesus and Mary Chain & My Bloody Valentine. Their sound distilled the shimmering guitar jangle of the Byrds with the buzzsaw style of The Ramones and 60’s girl group melodies, into two and a half minute pop gems. Morrissey named them his favourite band & a widely acclaimed first album, made them the UK’s indie-darlings. The huge success of Crash, saw them cross-over to a mass audience.

DANCE

May 8th at 7:30 PM at BAX: Dissonance Dance Theater presents: “What the Eye Sees,” a dance work compiled of specifically themed works that focus on the human perception of observed emotion and day to day situations. The work, musically, is a fusion of classical structure, with rock and hip hop ornamentation with the dance vocabulary ranging from contemporary ballet to hip hop. Inspired by the way we view familiar subjects.

The Red Door: CasaCara

Which shade of gray should I paint my kitchen?: Apartment Therapy

Big show this weekend: BKLYN Designs

Arty hangouts for birds in Brooklyn: Daily News

Room re-dos Recap: A Brooklyn Limestone in Progress

From the Brooklyn Paper:

The hair-raising traffic pattern on the western side of Grand Army Plaza will soon be tranquilized by a new red light to deter drivers from jockeying for position at the most dangerous point in what easily could have been Dante’s 10th circle of hell.

Currently, all Prospect Park West- or Union Street-bound cars traveling northbound inside the white-knuckle roundabout must wait for the briefest of moments to scurry across at least four lanes of traffic to get across Flatbush Avenue.

Transportation officials will fix this problem with a new traffic light on the southbound lanes of Flatbush midway between the top of the circle and the bottom.

“It’s a difficult weave,” said Ryan Russo from the Department of Transportation. “You might call it ‘hell behind the wheel.’ You pretty much have to get your ‘Brooklyn’ on every time you want to drive through.”

As part of the ongoing Census coverage, WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show presents YOUR ANECDOTAL CENSUS – a county-by-county look at the stories emerging from each neighborhood in 2010. The series debuted Tuesday with Manhattan , and continues each Tuesday at 11am through September. Guests will include county executives, mayors and other policymakers who matter in your community, as the program explores how the census affects policy.

On Tuesday, May 25th, tune in to Brian Lehrer for a special look at Brooklyn, New York . You and your readers are invited to share your stories about the county of Kings by visiting its homepage at http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/bl/blogs/scrapbook/2010/may/04/your-anecdotal-census-schedule/.

Sample questions include:
How has the housing boom changed your community?
How have the politics of your community changed? If power has shifted in your community, how and why?
What’s an untold story of change in your community that needs to be told?
How is your community different today than it was 10 years ago?

These questions lead to interesting anecdotes indeed. In the Manhattan segment, a listener mentioned being able to order brown rice in Chinese restaurants in his West Harlem neighborhood –  above 96th Street! For him, this was unheard of before 2001.

The featured counties – including NYC’s five boroughs and the metropolitan area – are listed in order of on-air schedule at the link provided above.

Brian is known for crowd-sourcing and collaborating with his listeners for the show. He asked me to get the word out to my readers and encourage them to help develop this series. No doubt there are endless stories just waiting to be told.

And it looks like a blog.

Wonder if he’s coming to Blogfest to “shout out” about it.

Councilmember Steve Levin (D-33^rd) launched his new website this week, a blog aimed at updating constituents on all the latest events and news in the district.

The site, stephenlevind33.wordpress.com, contains detailed information about the district, the councilmember’s legislative record, events and related news articles. Constituents can subscribe to the blog, leave comments or contact Councilmember Levin directly via email. The site also provides links to the Councilmember’s Facebook Page and official City Council site.

Councilmember Levin serves the 33^rd Council District of Brooklyn, which includes DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights , Park Slope, Williamsburg , Gowanus, and Greenpoint.

Twas a rainy Monday morning and I was moving some things into my mother’s basement storage room. Wearing rubber rain boots, I walked on a wet rubber ramp, when — splat — I violently twisted my ankle and it was as if my foot folded beneath me. I found myself lying on my back screaming: “I think I broke something. I think I broke something.”

“Did she break something valuable?” my mother apparently said to my sister (they were in the storage room).

“No I think she means she broke herself,” my sister reports telling her.

The pain was excruciating but somehow I was able to go upstairs to my mother’s apartment. Within a half hour my foot had swollen to the size of a nerf football and my mother and I went cross town to have it x-rayed.

“It’s not fractured,” the radiologist told me. “You can go now.”

“But what do I do? ” I asked plaintively.

“We can’t help you. You’ll have to call your primary care doctor.”

I wanted to cry. Sure, I was relieved that it wasn’t broken or fractured but clearly there was something wrong with it and I needed some advice about what to do.

Standing on the corner of 84^th Street and Lexington Avenue in the cold rain with a throbbing foot, I called my primary care physician who told me to “go home and if you can’t walk tomorrow call an orthopedic doctor.”

That seemed exceedingly unhelpful at that moment. Finally the doctor gave me the number of a nearby orthopedic practice (“the only one who will take your insurance,” she grumbled). My mom and I  went into a restaurant, ordered some pizza and dialed the number she gave me.

“We can’t see you until later in the week,” the receptionist told me.

“What should I do in the meantime?” I asked tearfully, my foot still radiating pain.

“I can’t tell you anything until the doctor examines you,” the receptionist said coldly.

Tears filled my eyes. I tried not to sob into my pizza. But I felt helpless. My foot was becoming black and blue…

“Excuse me,” a beautiful Indian woman walked over to their table holding a small, white business card. “I’m sorry to eavesdrop but it was awful what you just went through on the phone,” she said.

The woman’s kindness made me WEEP with gratitude.

“Why don’t you go around the corner to see the doctor I work for. He’s a Physiatrist and he’s wonderful. Tell them Samantha sent you.”

I did just as good fairy Samantha told me to do. We walked around the corner and Dr. Loren Fishman, an elfish man in a red bow tie and round glasses, was able to see us almost immediately.

When I told Dr. Fishman what happened he measured the good ankle and the sprained ankle and concluded that, indeed, my ankle was very, very swollen.

Fishman, the author of Yoga for Osteoporosis, and many other books and papers, told me to keep my foot elevated. He said the best thing  I could do was lie on my back and put my leg up against the wall.

My mother and I were both enchanted by Dr. Fishman. We spent close to an hour with the good doctor (my mother told him about all of her foot problems…). He told me to come back in a few days for physical therapy “so as to preserve your range of motion” and gave me prescriptions for an anti-inflammatory and an air cast…

Thanks to caring practitioners like Samantha and Dr. Fishman.  I needed to be taken care of and they took care of me. Mucho gratitude.

As for me, I am taking things slowly, trying to stay off my foot and feeling better day by day.

Kate and Alex (Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt) are vultures, preying on the dead, purchasing their furniture and selling it for profit. Like the vultures in the animal kingdom food chain, they serve a purpose as part of a financial subsistence.

The film capturing this ecosystem, Please Give, doesn’t make judgments about them. Kate, rather, judges herself. Her guilt, part of this cycle, is becoming a guiding principle in her decisions and her relationships with others. Her handouts to the homeless are increasing, she takes stabs at volunteering, she won’t give in about her daughter’s (Sarah Steele, perfect) wish for designer jeans, she purchases no-value furniture out of pity. Kate is wonderfully drawn and not always likeable, as is the case with many of the alive and layered characters in Please Give. While the film has been read by a lot of critics of a story about affluent guilt, it is so much more due to these deep characters and a story that is bursting with themes – age, beauty, guilt, value, family – and how they add up to a world that keeps New York’s heart beating.

The film opens with a sequence close-ups of mammograms and distinguishes itself immdediately as a film that will deal with women differently than other contemporary films. The film ends with a final scene that is truly brilliant, all the more so for being incredibly simple. Between these bookends is director Nicole Holofcener achieving beyond her previous works. While Lovely & Amazing and Friends With Money hinted at her gifts, Please Give is miles beyond. Tender and brutal, full of honesty and thoroughly engaging, Please Give is an important new American work.

One is silver, the other gold: A Cake Bakes in Brooklyn

Artists plant corn fields in Boerum Hill: Brooklyn Paper

Jacques Torres chocolates for Mom: NY Times

Happy hour and Mother’s Day brunch: BAM

Run your home kitchen like a restaurant kitchen: Purple Kale Kitchen

Brought to you from the Feldman Family weather tower in Park Slope.

The Famous Accordion Orchestra returns for its Spring Tour of Parks and Gardens!  The Orchestra has been working hard on new tunes, but hasn’t forgotten the old favorites.  Come on down, and you’ll hear us play tunes from the 18th Century to the 21st, with our characteristic flair and squeeziness.  It’s free, too!  Treats and plants will be sold.

Saturday May 8, 2010 – 3:00 PM (Rain Date: Sunday May 9, same time, same bat-channel)
6-15 Green Garden Spring Festival
6th Avenue and 15th Street
Park Slope, Brooklyn
nearest trains: F to 7th Ave/9th Street; R to Prospect Ave/4th Ave
nearest buses: B67 (7th ave) B63 (5th Ave)

This event is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC).

5/22: Moonlight Tour of Green-wood Cemetery
6/4: Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival
6/6: Local Produce Festival
6/20:  Old Stone House
6/21: Make Music New York

Hit the Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge yesterday, just fifteen minutes from the French Quarter.  Really beautiful.  The wind was apparently very mild out at sea so the oil hasn’t hit the shore.  So there was an eerie quiet hovering over the sanctuary.  Today I’m hoping to get to an animal rescue operation in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Here is the FULL Schedule of this year’s Celebrate Brooklyn concerts. All shows except for benefit shows are free with a $3 suggested contribution.

NORAH JONES

Wednesday, June 9, 8 pm

The pianist, singer and songwriter — and now, Brooklyn resident — performs her

first free outdoor show in the borough.

ALLEN TOUSSAINT/ DAVELL CRAWFORD

Saturday, June 12, 7:30 pm

An undisputed architect of New Orleans music and a national cultural

treasure.

EUGENE MIRMAN & PRETTY GOOD FRIENDS

Thursday, June 17, 7:30 pm

Brooklyn comic and impresario Eugene Mirman has been described by Esquire as

“equal parts Andy Kaufman and Andy Warhol.” Spin has said that “Mirman has a

skewed observational wit rather than a sweaty Friar’s Club shtick — and kills

with self-deprecating ease.” Here he hosts a scaled-up version of his

regular comedy spectacular, which has become something of a local

institution. John Hodgman, Michael Showalter and Hannibal Buress are

scheduled to appear, along with others TBA, plus music and other oddball

surprises.

JG THIRLWELL’S STEROID MAXIMUS / DR. LONNIE SMITH

Friday, June 18, 7:30 pm

The prolific Australian composer, producer, performer, visual artist and

longtime DUMBO resident JG Thirlwell is an elusive but profoundly

influential presence in New York City’s underground music world. Working

under many pseudonyms, including Foetus, Manorexia, Baby Zizanie, Clint

Ruin, and Wiseblood, his varied body of work — which stretches the gamut from

orchestrations, big band, cathartic noise-rock to abstract electronics and

sound sculpture, chamber music, serial music and imaginary soundtracks

(sometimes all in the same album) — is linked by a dramatic intensity and an

evocative, cinematic quality. He has collaborated with the likes of Nick

Cave, Lydia Lunch and Soft Cell, done remixes for NIN and Pantera, scored

Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim series The Venture Brothers, and been

commissioned by Kronos Quartet and Bang on a Can. Celebrate Brooklyn! is

proud to present the New York debut of Thirlwell’s rarely heard large

ensemble Steroid Maximus, a big band/exotica mini-orchestra. The evening

will begin with a set by Dr. Lonnie Smith, the turban-wearing Hammond B-3

wizard.

Celebrate Brooklyn! & CareFusion Jazz Festival Present

BITCHES BREW REVISTED, WITH GRAHAM HAYNES, JAMES BLOOD ULMER,

MARCO BENEVENTO, DJ LOGIC, LONNIE PLAXICO AND

CINDY BLACKMAN / MIKE STERN TRIO

Saturday, June 19, 7:30 pm

This concert brings together a dazzling, multi-generational array of artists

to explore the legacy of the Miles Davis landmark on the 40th anniversary of

its release. The night begins with a performance by the virtuosic Mike

Stern, one of the premier jazz-fusion guitarists of his generation and a

veteran of Davis’s band.

ORQUESTA BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB FEATURING OMARA PORTUONDO / NELIDA TIRADO

Thursday, June 24, 7:30 pm

The great Omara Portuondo, the female voice of the original Buena Vista

Social Club, is a living legend of Cuban music. She now fronts the

extraordinary Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, which on recent tours has

taken “the atmosphere up to a breathless level” (The Independent) in

performances that “left audiences awe-struck” (Financial Times). Opening

will be flamenco dancer Nelida Tirado, who moves, The New York Times says,

“as if her body were a medium for some unearthly force.”

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