Public school kids are on vacation. There are parking spaces. The temperatures are warm; Spring is in the air. Pink magnolia blossoms fill neighborhood trees. People are enjoying out door dining, walks in Prospect Park.
It’s a lovely week in the Slope
So how literary is Park Slope’s PS 107? Did they make it on the New York Observer’s Brooklyn Literary 100. And why not? There are some pretty big names in the parent body over there. And they get help from other Brooklyn literary types to put this fantastic series, which raises money for the school’s library. So here goes:
Brooklyn literati at PS 107 are at it again with their 4th Annual Readings on the 4th Floor Author Reading Series.
It’s a cool series in a cool space and a fundraiser for the school’s library. I’ve never been but I am always intrigued.
Brooklyn, April 18, 2008 – How do you go from literary agent to resident
expert on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart? This question and more will
be answered on Tuesday, May 6th at 7:30 pm as author, actor, and comedian
John Hodgman will present an evening of amusements that includes readings
from his forthcoming book, More Information Than You Require. Various
talented acquaintances he has met in a professional capacity will join
him, including Darin Strauss, author of the novels Chang and Eng and the
upcoming More Than It Hurts You, and Patrick Borelli, one of Time Out
NY’s Ten Favorite Comics and a regular contributor to Comedy Central and
Cartoon Network.John Hodgman, a New York Times Magazine contributor, is the author of The
Areas of My Expertise, a book that Publisher’s Weekly said attested to his
status as: “leading authority in the realm of informative false world
knowledge.” Hodgman has developed a diverse career that includes his
regular appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and his performance
as the “PC” on a series of Macintosh commercials. John was also the host
of the Little Gray Book Lectures—a wildly successful series of readings
and performances that was featured on This American Life. Hodgman, now a
native Brooklynite, is pleased to be a part of a reading series that
benefits public education.The reading will be held on the 4th Floor of PS107, which is located at
13th Street and 8th Avenue in Park Slope. Subway: F train to 15th Street.This event is a part of the 2008 fundraising series sponsored by the PTA
of PS 107. Proceeds go towards building the school’s library collection.
Tickets $15 (tax deductible). For advance tickets please visit:
http://www.ps107.org/
Let’s give Dorree Shafrir of the New York Observer, the author of the Brooklyn Literary 100, a taste of her own medicine. Send names that you think should be on the list. Thanks.
Writer Dorree Shafrir at the New York Observer did it; she put together the Brooklyn Literary 100. Like the Park Slope 100, it’s sure to get slammed. Lists are silly and fun.
Neighborhood by neighborhood, she did the who’s who of the Brooklyn literati. Interestingly, it’s not just authors but agents, editors and others.
And I love the Map!
Do I agree with her list? Of course not. Well, she does have some of the essential names for Park Slope. But there are so many others that she left out.
List making; it’s reductive thing. But hey, that’s what it’s about. It was interesting to read the names in all the other Brooklyn nabes, too. The who’s who and where they live. You know me, I love this sort of thing. It’s fun to hate. It’s fun to love.
The idea of a Brooklyn literary “scene” is one that has become so ingrained in the city’s consciousness that, in true Brooklyn style, it has now become fashionable to consider writerly Brooklyn in an ironic manner, to comment on the ridiculousness of the idea that a place can, in fact, be said to help define a literary community. Take, for example, Colson Whitehead’s cheeky New York Times Book Review essay—“I Write in Brooklyn. Get Over It”—from last month, in which he questioned the very idea that the borough could be said to inspire any kind of literary imagination. He wrote: “There was the famous case of the language poet from Red Hook who grew despondent when the Shift key on her MacBook broke. She couldn’t write for weeks. Overcome by melancholy humors, she jumped into the enchanted, glowing waters of the Gowanus Canal, her pockets full of stones. And … she was cured! The metaphors came rushing back. With eccentric spacing between the letters, but still.”
Here’s the Park Slope list:
Park Slope
Paul Auster, author
Jonathan Safran Foer, author
Mary Gannon, editor, Poets & Writers
Ben Greenman, editor, The New Yorker; author
Colin Harrison, editor, Harper’s; author
Kathryn Harrison, author
Steven Berlin Johnson, author; blogger
Edward Kastenmeier, editor, Knopf
Porochista Khakpour, author
Nicole Krauss, author
Megan Lynch, editor, Riverhead
Sarah McGrath, editor, Riverhead
Suketu Mehta, author
Elissa Schappell, contributing editor, Vanity Fair
John Sellers, author
Darin Strauss, author
Alexandra Styron, author
Bill Wasik, editor, Harper’s; author
Larry Weissman, agent, Larry Weissman Literary
OTBKB fave author Richard Grayson wrote to say that Gawker attacked his book of sex stories for teens.
The upstart Dumbo Books of Brooklyn thought of a not-so-ingenious way to get real life teens to blurb their upcoming release of Queens writer Richard Grayson’s new book: Craigslist. With only a Blogger website to their name, the small press has turned to blind posting in ‘Writing Jobs’, looking for “18-25yo hipsters to blurb our cool forthcoming book of sex stories for teens…you must be cool-looking, smart looking.” High standards, but when you’re desperately seeking random blurbs for the tragically titled, Who Will Kiss The Pig? Sex Stories For Teens, you want the best. Hopefully they’ll omit the Miss Piggy-inspired cover from the PDF they promise to send along to chosen hipsters. And if you’re under 18, there’s still hope: just ask your parents if it’s OK to talk about how much you love this book/PDF about teen sex. After the jump, the full Craigslist post in all its glory..
Here’s the ad that Gawker is so snarky about:
Cool Brooklyn book publisher looking for cool 18-25yo hipsters to blurb our cool forthcoming book of sex stories for teens. We will send you a PDF of the book and ask for a blurb & headshot for advertising, website, publicity. Tiny honorarium of free books and our guarantee to read and consider your own book manuscript for publication. Our books have been reviewed in Phila. Inquirer, Kirkus, Hipster Book Club, Florida Book Review, etc. You must be cool-looking, smart-looking. Minorities encouraged to apply. Under 18, must have parents’ permission!
Last but not least, here is Grayson’s response to being called a Queens writer: “I am very insulted about being called a Queens writer.”
As readers of OTBKB know, Grayson is the Brooklyn author of: So I Kissed Him on Lorimar Street, I Break for Delmore Schwartz, With Hitler in New York and many more. We at OTBKB love his stories about his Brooklyn boyhood and his trips around Brooklyn by bus.
Finally. It’s been out on video from The Criterion Collection for a while and it’s been on my Netflix queue since last month. Finally. It arrived yesterday: Three Women, Robert Altman’s masterpiece from 1977 with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall.
I remember seeing it when it came out. I had almost no memory of what it was actually about but I could never get the mood of it out of my mind. And I’ve always wanted to see it again.
Apparently Robert Altman dreamed the film. Everything. The plot. The characters. The locations. The casting.
Last night we watched this strange, interesting, beautiful film, which must be seen. Here’s the synopsis from the Criterion Collection.
In a dusty, under-populated California resort town, Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek), a naïve and impressionable Southern waif begins her life as a nursing home attendant. There, Pinky finds her role model in fellow nurse “Thoroughly Modern” Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall), a misguided would-be sophisticate and hopeless devotee of Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Day magazines. When Millie accepts Pinky into her home at the Purple Sage singles complex, Pinky’s hero-worship evolves into something far stranger and more sinister than either could have anticipated. Featuring brilliant performances from Spacek and Duvall, Robert Altman’s dreamlike masterpiece, 3 Women, careens from the humorous to the chilling to the surreal, resulting in one of the most unusual and compelling films of the 1970s
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City Councilmember, Bill de Blasio, who is running for the Borough presidency is sponsoring: Plan For The Future Forum: The Gowanus
Co-Sponsors include, Community Board 6, Gowanus Dredgers, Gowanus Canal
Development Corporation and the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. The event is on 2nd Street at the Gowanus Canal. It’s on May 8 at 6:30. That’s the night before the Brooklyn Blogfest at the Brooklyn Lyceum for one and all.
Here’s the blurb from De Blasio’s office:
What and Why: With Brooklyn’s current state of hyper-development it is
important that we recognize and plan for the impact that the growing
population has on our borough’s aging infrastructure.To begin this conversation I would like to invite you to be involved
in an open discussion with professionals from various New York State
and City agencies. The event will focus on the Gownaus Canal corridor
that is outlined in the framework developed by the Department of City
Planning (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/gowanus/index.shtml) and
the future development of the Public Place site.Topics can range from transportation, combined sewer overflow,
traffic, schools and affordable housing and more. The event will also
feature canoe rides by the Gowanus Dredgers. If you would like to
preregister question so the appropriate agency can better address them
at the event please email them to Tagray1@gmail.com or call
718-854-9791.Where: 2nd Street at the Gowanus Canal (off of Bond Street)
When: May 7th, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Groups Invited:
Department Of Transportation, Metropolitan Transit Authority,
Department of Environmental Protection, NYS Department of
Environmental Conservation, Department of Education, Department of
City Planning, Department of Buildings, NYPD, FDNY and NYC Park and
Recreation.
Brooklynite Catherine Swan is fighting the good fight with her blog Washington Square Park, the chronicles of a beloved park and a city government overcome by its own power. In her first post from February 2008 she had this to say:
Someone referred to Washington Square Park as “magical.” It took me awhile to see that. Certainly, I’d been to Washington Square Park over the years. I’d sat and listened to music or watched strange happenings within the fountain. I’d marveled at the almost laid back ’60’s bohemian feeling it retained which co-existed amongst college students, chess players, old-timers, newbies, dog walkers, families, tourists. Every type person coexists and intermingles within Washington Square Park.
My renewed interest in the Park — in relation to the massive changes and radical overhaul the City has planned for it — occurred late last year out of concern for the cutting down of the trees and what that would mean for the wildlife in the Park. I then realized what was going to be ‘taken away’ by these mysterious, suddenly “necessary” changes — changes that would affect the whole essence of the Park — the things that make it work… those inexplicable factors which make it such a special place for so many people. To want to change that seemed to me an extension of the long arm of gentrification and homogenization of our city(by our current Mayor, Mayor Bloomberg).
Then, it became even more important to oppose these changes. This is my attempt to document what I’ve learned in a short time and share that information.
Daily since then she has been documenting what’s going on in that park, as well as Union Square Park. One of her key posts is called, Connecting the Dots: A Guide to NYC Parks Department — Washington Square Park and Union Square Redesigns. Another key post: Honey I Shrunk the Park.
This Arbor Day, she reports, there’s a demonstration:
Street Artists, Activists, Community Members, Public Space and Free Speech Advocates (Everyone Invited) Gather to Protect Our Trees and Protest Privatization of Public Space
In Honor of Arbor (Tree) Day Friday April 25th
When: Friday, April 25th, 6-8 p.m.
Where: UNION SQUARE PARK, 14th Street betw. Union Sq East and Union Sq West by Gandhi Statue, Manhattan
Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s hyping of his “MillionTreesNYC” P.R. initiative, thousands of mature trees have been cut down in all five boroughs at our City’s Parks, mostly in the interest of privatization of public space, which has dramatically increased under Mayor Bloomberg.
A woman from Bushwick sent this note to me:
I work for Make the Road NY in Bushwick, and this year we’re starting up a Community Supported Agriculture program. We currently have spaces in the program available, and are recruiting members.
What is a CSA?
It’s basically when a farmer and a neighborhood partner up; the community members pay for a share of the harvest in advance, and then weekly (for 22 weeks in our case) from June ‘til Nov. the farmer brings vegetable boxes to each CSA customer.
Our farmer is Sergio Nolasco, of Nolasco Farms in Hackenstown NJ .
Info Session:
We’re also having an info session with the farmer – a potluck and meeting – this Monday April 28th from 6p-8p at the Make the Road office at 301 Grove Street , Brooklyn NY 11237 .
I’ll be signing up members after the meeting. We only have about 40 spots left.
It’s also a fundraiser. But I like the terminology.
And if you like Inside Schools as much as I do you might want to meet the people behind Inside Schools and contribute some much needed funds to what is an indispensable resource for NYC parents, who send their kids to public school.
The event is on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the home of Nancy Bruni
435 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn
At this event you get to meet the smart people behind Insideschools.org and its parent organization, Advocates for Children of NY, and learn how they’re helping to make the city’s public schools better for all our children:
Pamela Wheaton, Director of Insideschools.org
Kim Sweet, Executive Director, Advocates for Children
Clara Hemphill, Founding Director of Insideschools.org and
author of “NYC’s Best Public Schools” books
The suggested *minimum* donation for this event is $35.00 and wine and light hors d’ouevres will be served
If you can’t attend, but you’d like to support Insideschools.org, please click this link to make a secure online donation:
https://insideschools.org/home/membership/donate_now.php
(your donation to Insideschools.org is fully tax-deductable to the extent allowable by law)
Please RSVP by April 20, 2008
to Yung-Mi Lee at 917-544-9889 or
yungmil@yahoo.com
It was an interesting site:
Teen Spirit had four friends over to watch Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors. They crowded onto the green leather couch; there was a girl visiting from France in the group so they had the French subtitles going.
The film, with Martin Landau, Angelica Huston and SO many other great actors, is an interesting one. It’s got it all:
The big dark issues of mortality, ethics, and meaning Woody Allen style. The humor. The flashback scenes to the Jewish family seder, the relationship stuff. The funny lines:
“People don’t commit suicide in Brooklyn. They’re too unhappy…”
Lots of LOL stuff. But it’s a dark, dark film about justice and accountability in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of God. Here from Roger Ebert:
The implications of “Crimes and Misdemeanors” are bleak and hopeless. The evil are rewarded, the blameless are punished, and the rabbi goes blind. To be sure, justice is done in the low-road plot: Cliff does not succeed in leaving his wife to marry a girl for whom he would be the worst possible partner, and the rich and triumphant Lester gets the girl and will possibly make her happy, or at least rich. But in the main story Dolores lies in her grave, and Judah finds that life goes on — for him, at least. For Martin Landau, the performance is a masterpiece of smooth, practiced diplomacy, as he glides through life and leaves his problems behind. Landau is never more effective than when he is shocked and dismayed at his own behavior. It’s as if he’s regarding himself from outside, with a kind of fascination. He sees what he does, and does nothing to stop it. In his own world, he is the eyes of God.
Teen Spirit and a friend are watching EVERY Woody Allen film. Up next: Orson Welles. I forget who they’ve already done. They loved Hannah and Her Sisters.
It’s their own private extra-curricular course in film history.
This summer marks the 30th anniversary at Celebrate Brooklyn. Go to You Tube to see 30 Summers at Celebrate Brooklyn.
Barrio, the new restaurant at the corner of Third Street and Seventh Avenue, has been bustling at dinner time every night since opening on Monday.
They are taking 15% off the bill every night until May 1. It’s a great idea, a great way to get people in there. They must feel confident. Do they know that Park Slopers give restaurants one chance. And then the word of mouth—yay or nay begins.
So far, everyone I’ve spoken to seems positive.
Last night it seemed that everyone on Third Street was dining there. One friend, who was sitting with her family at a table near an open window said, “You can still socialize on Seventh Avenue while eating dinner.”
Food blogger, Heather Johnson, was eating there with friends and family. Her blog So Good: Video, Recipes and Wine for the Home Cook also has great cooking videos.
“How is it,” I asked curious about her opinion as she’s a real foodie.
“Very good so far,” she said. I don’t think she’d tried the entrees yet.
Two friends said they were there because of OTBKB. “Remember to get the 15% discount,” I reminded them.
Third Street is curious about their new outdoor dining experience. And everyone loves to hang out on the corner of Third Street and Seventh Avenue (location, location, location). If the food and drink is half-way decent—Barrio should be quite popular this spring and summer.
A STEP UP
Gowanus Lounge has the ‘tails about the old Dag/new Bank of America space on Seventh Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets.
And Bob (of GL) says Five Guys Burger and Fries, the made-to-order burger joint (with a branch on Montague Street) is going in there. Read more at GL
Midtown Lunch, the blogger who knows all about said theme, had this to say about Five Guys, when they opened in November 2007 midtown:
“Burger was decent, but no way in hell worth the wait,” seems to be the theme of a Friday that was supposed to be the “Grand Opening” of Five Guys on 55th. btw. 5+6th Ave. I was on a plane to San Francisco on Friday, and missed out on all the excitement, meaning that my Five Guys experience was limited to Thursday’s surprise opening, where the wait time peaked at around 30 minutes. Not so on Friday, where burger “Early Adopters” were forced to wait over an hour and a half for what is supposed to be fast food. Comments flooded in, and even Eater covered the madness.
Needless to say, the Park Slope branch won’t be that crowded at lunch time. I’m curious how people like the Five Guys in Brooklyn Heights. Any comments from those who have been?
I hear the burgers are great. And Midtown Lunch says it’s the closest thing to In and Out Burger on the East Coast.
That said, is Park Slope burger country?
So great to hear readers talking about the layout of OTBKB and problems with it. I am thinking about doing a re-design and would love to hear from those with ideas…
I am guessing that one of the problems right now is that there’s so much at the top before you get to the news. (i.e. No Words Daily Pix, The Current Weather in Park Slope, Photography by Lara Wechsler).
What is the first thing people want to see? How do people read the blog? What would people like to see in the blog? All comments welcome!
And where is No Words Daily Pix?
It happened on Fourth Street between 6th and 7th Avenues on Monday morning. Hepcat saw this on Gothamist this evening. I was out of the Slope all day. So I missed this:
Gothamist received an email from a 4th Street resident, there was a DEP/HAZMAT truck/mobile unit parked on the block. The resident called the 78th precinct on her block:
“An unidentified liquid has been removed from a residence. Nothing to be worried about.” The officer declined to elaborate further, and the street is currently blocked off.
An update on Gothamist says:
According to the NYPD, the incident in Park Slope this morning involved one fatality: 65-year-old Robert Siegel, whose body was found by his wife. The DEP tested the toxic liquid and determined the substance to be cyanide. Police say they do not suspect criminality at this time
Today every class at Park Slope’s PS 321 will participate in the GoGreen Walkathon in Prospect Park, a 2-mile walk around Longs Meadow in support of environmental issues in the city and around the world.
Last night, the 5th graders were given homework about organizations that are fighting to save the Amazon rain forest, Transportation Alternatives, Added Value, the organic farm in Red Hook and the Red Hook Farmer’s Market. The walk is also a fundraiser for these organizations.
Started in 2006, PS 321’s GoGreen is
a group of parents dedicated to promoting earth-friendly behaviors in children and raising the environmental awareness of all members of
the school community.
In that capacity, GoGreen is a source of support for teachers in
bringing environmental issues to the classroom, a source of information
for parents on topics related to green living, and an advocate for
reducing whereever possible the carbon footprint of the school
facility.
According to Newsweek.com, Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope is number 10 in a list of 25 of the top pulpit rabbis in the United. States.
Mazel Tov to Andy and to Congregation Beth Elohim, which hired him just over a year ago to be their main main.
Bachman brought with him a large number of new congregants to Beth Elohim, many of whom were members of Brooklyn Jews, a community of Jews in Brooklyn he founded dedicated to social programming, Shabbat celebration, social action projects, and Jewish learning.
The following criteria was used by Newsweek.com to make their list of the top US rabbis.
• Ability to inspire congregation through scholarship and oratory
• Success in growing and expanding congregation
• Community leadership and innovation
• Ability to meet spiritual and personal needs and goals of his/her congregation
• Leadership within denominational movement
Maria Barrett, the 11-year-old girl, who disappeared on Monday night, was found Thursday afternoon. At 7 p.m, a member of the Park Slope Methodist Church sent me an email. The church was
actively involved in the effort to locate Maria. Members of the church plastered the neighborhood with missing signs.
Today, a Park Slope elementary school will be taking a walk in Prospect Park.
It’s the second annual PS 321 GoGreen Walkathon. Beginning at 8:50 am, the entire school and some parents will walk up 3rd Street to
Prospect Park.
They will then walk a 2 mile inner loop
in Prospect Park. We are hoping that many parents will join us for
this event. Last year, it was an incredibly moving sight to see 1500
people all walking around the park to raise money to help make our
environment healthier!
It’s a fundraising event, too, for good environmental causes like
Brooklyn’s Added Value and the Red Hook Farmers Markets, NYC’s
Transportation Alternatives, and efforts to save the Amazon rain forest
(see below).
Last year, staff and parents
participated in deciding which of the many worthy environmental
organizations the school should support and identified organizations doing
important work that is understandable to our students. After much
discussion, the school decided to give the money they raise to three nonprofit
organizations.
PS 321’s School Leadership Team decided to make a three-year
commitment to these organizations:
• Added Value (www.added-value.org)
operates two Farmers Markets in Red Hook. The organization has a Youth
Leadership focus, and the Farmers Markets are run by teenagers trained
by Added Value. The organization has transformed an old asphalt area
into an urban farm. In addition to selling fresh, locally grown
produce, it donates food to those in need.
• Amazon Watch (www.amazonwatch.org)
is dedicated to the protection of the Amazon Rainforest–the lungs of
the earth–and its indigenous people. Amazon Watch supports Escuela
Senen Soi, a program that trains indigenous Amazonian leaders to
protect their environment.
• Transportation Alternatives (www.transalt.org)
is a New York City organization working on changing transportation
priorities to reduce cars , encourage safe biking, and improve public
transportation options. One of the projects that is particularly
accessible to our students is Safe Routes to School.
You are warned: Use public transportation if you’re going into Manhattan. He was at the United Nations and will be at Park East synagogue this evening. I hear much of the Upper East Side is a mess.
Continue reading Pope Causing Traffic Nightmares in Manhattan
Last night at 11:29 p.m. a member of Park Slope United Methodist Church on 6th Avenue and 8th Street sent me a jpeg of the flyer that’s all over Park Slope.
Maria Barrett and her family are members of the church. He told me that members of the church have been blanketing the neighborhood with the flyers.
Maria, age 11, has been missing since Monday night. She was last seen on 2nd Street between 6th and 5th Avenues.
If you have any information call Maria’s mother, Jane Barrett at 718-237-3400. Detective Gibbons is with the 78th precinct. His number is 718-636-6483
This is from Eugene Patron, the man who spreads the word about all things Prospect Park. There’s loads to do next week, which is a school vacation.
Celebrate Earth Week at the Prospect Park Audubon Center! This year’s Earth Week will have a different theme each day, with programming for environmentalists of all ages.
April 21 – 27 at the Audubon Center
Learn how to do your part through lectures, tours, activities, film screenings, workshops, recyclable crafts, and a daily exhibit. See the schedule below for a full list of what’s going on.
Monday, April 21 Earth Week Crafts, 1 – 3 p.m.
Connect with nature in a whole new way by making all-natural and recycled crafts! Drop in and create a take-home craft.
Discover Tour: Natural Revival, 3 p.m.
Audubon naturalists explain what can be done to protect nature in Prospect Park, the history and philosophy behind its restoration, and the future of the park. Binoculars provided.
Earth Day: Tuesday, April 22 Earth Day Pledge, 1 – 4 p.m.
Learn about what you can do to help the environment by reducing waste, conserving energy, recycling, saving water, and protecting our natural resources. Make an Earth Day pledge that will be posted at the Boathouse.
Advocacy Station Craft, 2 – 4 p.m.
Speak out! Design and make an advocacy button that displays your most passionate environmental issue opinion. Supplies and button maker provided.
Wednesday, April 23 Film Screening: the BBC’s "Planet Earth: Seasonal Forests", 4 p.m.
Watch this Emmy Award-winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough. This episode surveys the coniferous and deciduous seasonal woodland habitats—the most extensive forests on Earth. Appropriate for all ages. 44 min.
Thursday, April 24 Earth Week Crafts, 1 – 3 p.m.
See April 21.
Discover Tour: Natural Revival, 3 p.m.
See April 21.
Friday, April 25 Arbor Day Celebration: Children’s Story Time, 2 – 3 p.m.
Story readings from some of the most famous children’s books that have trees as their subjects.
Tree Walk, 3 – 4 p.m.
Learn what magnificent and famous specimens call Prospect Park home on a tree walk with a Naturalist.
Saturday, April 26
B’EarthDay Bash
Celebrate the birthdays of John James Audubon, Frederick Law Olmsted, and James T. Stranahan, along with the sixth anniversary of the Prospect Park Audubon Center. Expect a fun-filled day of special guided walks, craft workshops, and more.
Children’s Craft: Nature Journals, 1 – 3 p.m.
Like all great naturalists, John James Audubon was famous for his nature journals. Keep his spirit alive by creating your own out of recycled materials, then take your journal out on the nature walk at 3 p.m. and record your first observations.
John James Audubon-inspired Nature Walk, 3 – 4 p.m.
Join our Senior Naturalist on a nature walk influenced by the spirit of John James Audubon. Tour Prospect Park’s most interesting natural areas while gaining an understanding of Audubon’s passion for the natural world. Binoculars provided.
Artist’s Reception: Leaf and Circle, 5 – 8 p.m.
Join this reception for artist Jessica Baker’s unique exhibit.
Sunday, April 27
Bicycle Tune-Up Center, 1 – 4 p.m.
Riding a bicycle instead of driving a car is a simple way to help the environment. Bring your bike to the Audubon Center and get help tuning it up for spring. Also, learn quick lessons for maintaining your bike and improving its performance.
Think Locally! 2 – 3 p.m.
Ever wonder what it really takes to get everyday goods and resources such as groceries or electricity into your home? Join us for a presentation on the topic of bioregionalism—learn what it is, how you can practice it, and what working examples exist in Brooklyn today.
Discover Tour: Get Inspired! Get Motivated! 3 p.m.
Inspiration leads to motivation, and motivation results in action! Take a tour of the beautifully restored Midwood forest and lend a hand to help clean up the area. Learn about the Midwood’s ecological history and what is being done to restore it. Binoculars provided.
Thanks to Brooklyn Based for this schedule about Earth Day activities at Habana Outpost in Ft. Green this Saturday. Habana Outpost. 757 Fulton Street (corner of South Portland) Brooklyn, New York
Kid’s Corner-Saturday and Sunday 12-6
Throughout the weekend there will be free arts & crafts, games and entertainment
for children focusing on recycling and nature.
The ABC’s of Bees and Beekeeping – Saturday 2:00pm
Local beekeeper John Howe (the Brooklyn Bee) will explain how honey is made
with a live observation hive and arts and crafts projects.
Finders Keepers!!!! Tossers Weeepers!!!- Saturday 3-4 & Sunday 2-3
Recycling within Your Environment – This hands-on workshop will explore how to reuse what is in your home, community and environment. On this day, that environment will be Habana Outpost! Children will be asked to go on a scavenger hunt through the Habana Outpost area and use what they find to create new objects or give old objects new purpose and meaning. Brought to you by the Leadership Learning Lab
Composting With Red Worms – Sunday 1-2
Learn the basics of composting at home with live red wiggler worms! Use kitchen waste to make valuable, all natural plant food…compost.
Composting Workshops for Adults – Saturday & Sunday 2:00 & 5:00
Brought to you by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Department of Sanitation,
these fun workshops will teach you how to start composting at home.
Electronic Waste Recycling – Saturday & Sunday 10:00 – 4:00pm
Recycled Art Show- Awards ceremony Sunday at 4:00pm
Local high school and elementary students will create art out of trash. The work
will be on display throughout the weekend and the winners will be announced
Sunday at 4:00pm
Umbrella Recycling – Saturday 12:00 – 4:00pm
Umbrella Recycling: A BYOBU (bring your own broken umbrella) Design Project
Bring your own broken umbrella (BYOBU) to recycle, rehabilitate or re imagine. Learn how to craft a reusable (grocery) bag out of a dead umbrella. All other materials provided. Meet up under the solar panels with master tailor and sewing teacher Bonnie Barton.
Shop Green – Saturday & Sunday 12-6
Local vendors and designers will showcase green products and services in an outdoor market
Featuring: Trixe and Radar, Lower East Side Girls Club and Recycle a Bicycle.
Get Involved – Saturday & Sunday 12-6
Meet local eco-minded groups and individuals to find out how you can get involved!Participating Groups: Good Magazine, Green Home NYC, Green Brooklyn, Greenopia, Atomseco, The Society of Clinton Hill, Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance
Films -Sunday at 3:00 pm
The Water Under Ground: In spring of 2006, the Lower East Side Ecology Center partnered with
Center for Urban Pedagogy, City-as-School, and RECYouth to explore the Water Underground-the millions of gallons of water that enters the city, gets used in various ways and discharged to local waterways each day. The Water Underground video is a 25-minute student-led exploration of where water comes from, where it goes and what happens along the way.
Rooftop Bees: A film by Melissa Lohman Wild – John has an unusual hobby for a longtime resident of New York City. He maintains three beehives on his Brooklyn rooftop. This short doc gives a glimpse into the practice of urban beekeeping and shows how John’s bees are helping to pollinate the Big Apple.
Ever wonder what it looks like inside the Park Slope Food Coop? Check out my segment of A Walk Around the Blog.
Watch me interview Joe Holz about the elimination of plastic water bottles at the Coop. You can even see me shopping in the produce area.
It’s a fun piece; well shot and well edited. Watch all the other blogger sements, too. They’ve done Reclaimed Home, owanus Lounge, Sustainable Flatbush and Brooklyn Optimist. More segments are planned. I am too lazy right now to do links.
The Park Slope Civic Council is organizing a civic sweep around the neighborhood this Saturday.
Help us clean and beautify our neighborhood! Put on your old clothes and come to the Park Slope Civic Council’s Spring Civic Sweep on Saturday, April 19, 10 am to 2 pm. Meet us in front of the Prospect Park Y on 9th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
Tools and supplies will be provided to pick up litter, scrape signs and paint graffiti off lampposts, mulch trees and plant daffodils. Community Service vouchers will be available.
Bring your non-working compact fluorescent light bulbs for recycling. Bring your working and non-working electronics (computers, fax machines, shredders, scanners – no TV’s, please) for recycling by Per Scholas in partnership with the Council on the Environment of NYC. Bring your kids to participate in the Center for Urban Environment’s Children’s Composting Workshop from 10 am to noon.
Enjoy traditional bluegrass “with a twist” by Vincent Cross and Good Company.
A Vermont man is researching a book about Brooklyn’s motorcycle history. He sent this request my way. If anyone has information or materials that might be use you might want to get in touch with him. I told him to speak with Francis Morrone, who knows a great deal about Brooklyn’s history. He’s already in touch with the Brooklyn Historical Society.
I am searching for information on Brooklyn’s history relating to motorcycles…….Brooklyn was the motorcycle mecca in the early 1900’s. Bedford Avenue had many motorcycle shops during 1905-1920. I’m looking for photos,literature,etc for a book project im involved in.
Scott
cycles past co.
cyclespast@vermonteldotnet
