OTBKB is giving away copies of Lynne Greenberg's book, The Body Broken, a memoir about chronic pain and one woman's recovery from its devastation.
Email me at louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com with your address and you will receive a book. Do it fast. I only have a few.
Lynne Greenberg will be doing a Reading & Signing at
BookCourt,163 Court Street, Brooklyn , —
Tuesday, March 24th at 7pm www.bookcourt.org
I just got this press release about an event sponsored by Yveltte Clark (I think) for women who own their own businesses. And this line shot up at me: "Congresswoman Yvette Clarke is making women-owned businesses a priority."
A priority.
That's cool. I am so going to this meeting.
The speakers will include the District Director from the Small
Business Administration, the Womens Business Outreach Center and the
Executive Chief for the State Liquor Authority.
They will discuss the importance of women-owned businesses and how the stimulus will affect
them as well as the loans, grants and person-to-person services that are available to them through the SBA and the BOC network.
The SLA will talk women through the State licensing process for various business types.
Congresswoman Clarke is making women-owned businesses a priority,
Please R.S.V.P to the Brooklyn District Office of U.S.
Representative Yvette Clarke, Ph: 718-287-1142 Fax: 718-287-1223 or
Email: Deanna.Bitetti@mail.house.gov
Have you ever looked up Park Slope on Wikipedia? I have. It's a fairly generic description of our neighborhood with some good local history. It includes sections like: early history, 19th century development, baseball, crash of United Flight 826, blight and renewal, etc. The first paragraph section like this.
Park Slope is characterized by its historic buildings, top-rated restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as close access to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and the Central Library (as well as the Park Slope branch) of the Brooklyn Public Library system. [3]
The neighborhood had a population of about 62,200 as of the 2000 census,[4] resulting in a population density of approximately 68,000/square mile, or approximately 26,000/square kilometer.
In December 2006, Natural Home magazine named Park Slope one
of America's ten best neighborhoods based on criteria including parks,
green spaces and neighborhood gathering spaces; farmer’s markets and
community gardens; public transportation and locally-owned businesses;
and environmental and social policy.[5] Park Slope is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6.
But today a tipster wrote in to say that he's been following a bizarre "revert war" going on over at the Park Wikipedia article for the past week, and he thought OTBKB readers should know about it. Some guy keeps putting this bit of self-promotion:
"'''Jonatan Ramos Baizan'''" or as he likes to be called "[[Junior]]"
is the next big thing comming up in the media industry and is also a
resident of the streets of [[Park Slope]]. He is known as "'''The Talk
Of BK.'''"
Whoever this is is being
extremely persistent. I also find it interesting that this tipster follows what goes on at PS's Wiki site. I must ask him. So I did ask him and our tipster had this to say:
When you make a change to an article in Wikipedia, it offers to add the
article to your watchlist. It's just a matter of checking the box. I
don't remember ever editing the Park Slope article but I must have at
some point. I look at the watchlist maybe once a day to see what's
going on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Park_Slope%2C_Brooklyn&diff=277650479&oldid=277644951
I just got a tip that nurses at Methodist Hospital are protesting outside the Seventh Avenue hospital this morning. There was a live shot on Channel 11. My friend Gilly, who sent in this tip, believes it's about the nursing shortage.
According to another tipster, the nurses are saying that the hospital isn't scheduling enough nurses to cover shifts. This tipster had heard
this independently (except she can't now remember from where).
If anyone knows more before I get over to the hospital let me know.
Chandru Murthi enjoyed last night's unusual, and experimental performance of Macbeth at the Old Stone House. It will be playing there again tonight and he urges you to go. Here's an excerpt. Go to Seeing Green for the rest and a picture.
To give you an idea of what the performance was like,
consider these points:
Instead of a program with the usual notes on the actors and
the obligatory notice praising Actor's Equity, we're handed a "Rules of
Engagement…" which says, among several points, that all Actor must know
the entire text, and that each is "encouraged to play a Witch, Makbet
(Macbeth), and Lady Makbet at least once per enactment."
The Working Families Party announced yesterday their endorsements of Brad Lander for Bill deBlasio's seat in the City Council's 39th District and Bill deBlasio for Public Advocate, a position currently held by Betsy Gotbaum.
Master continued: “There are a lot of great candidates in this race,
but Bill de Blasio is a cut above when it comes to sticking up for
regular New Yorkers – and that’s what the Public Advocate job is all
about.”
It was just a simple note on a yellow piece of paper on the door of Palma Pharmacy, on the corner of Garfield Place and Seventh Avenue.
But that's how Park Slope learned of the loss of a trusted member of the community. Pharmacist Marisa Palma-Muller, age 48, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. Since then word has been trickling into my in-box with remembrances.
One OTBKB reader wrote in to say: "She was the last of
a disappearing breed: the neighborhood pharmacist who knew all her
customers, had a nice word for everyone, tried to help customers
baffled by insurance regulations…"
Like that OTBKB reader, I am a Palma Drug Store customer. I choose to go there because I like to know my pharmacist and deal with people like Marisa, Frank
Calandriello and Marisa's husband, Peter Muller, who know me by name and are familiar with my family, our prescriptions and our health insurance.
I was always aware of Marisa when I'd go in there for my prescriptions. She was the person working hard in the back who would determine how long I needed to wait for whatever prescription I requested.
She was the one who called my doctors with a question or a clarification. She was the one I'd ask to recommend an over-the-counter solution for acid reflux or a common cold.
Frank
Calandriello and Peter Muller are really the faces of Palma Drugstore, the men who greet the public, read our doctor's illegible handwriting, locate our white prescription bags, and man the cashier. But Marisa was the sometimes unseen voice that was making it all happen. She was the expert who worked long hours bringing medication to the people of Park Slope. Marisa's father, Dominick Palma, also a pharmacist, founded the shop in 1962. Dominick died in 1999 and passed the shop on to his daughter, who had worked by his side for many years learning the ropes.
Many in the neighborhood are just starting to learn of Marisa's death. I heard from Community Bookstore owner, Catherine Bohne, who wrote to say: "I thought you should know that Marisa Palma died unexectedly of a
heart attack this week. She was 48. As a member of our community for
a long, long time, her loss is felt deeply, if quietly, by many."
The OTBKB reader quoted above wrote this remembrance:
I agree. This neighborhood, like many, used to have more local pharmacies. Rite Aid, which came to Seventh Avenue a few years ago, put at least one pharmacist, the one that used to be on the corner of 6th Street and Seventh Avenue across from Methodist Hopsital, out of business. Now the neighborhood has more than its share of drug store chains.
But Palma is the real deal: a pharmacy that, at times, feels like a neighborhood center. It is certainly a place I spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for prescriptions, listening to the latest flu symptoms spiraling around the neighborhood, and stealing a piece of the free hard candy that's always next to the cash register.
Please send your remembrances of Marisa Palma-Muller to louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com and I will post them.
Go here to see a video produced by Channel Thirteen's The City Concealed, an online video series exploring the unseen corners of New York. This show is about Weeksville houses, an interesting piece of Brooklyn history. Here from Bijan Rezvani, producer for The City City Concealed:
"The Hunterfly Road Houses of Weeksville are the discovered remnants
of a free African-American enclave of urban tradespeople and property
owners. The community provided safety for fugitive slaves and those
later fleeing the Civil War draft riots of lower Manhattan. By the
time of the Emancipation Proclamation, Weeksville was a thriving area
with its own doctors, teachers, publishers, and social services.
"The Houses help fill a historical gap between slavery and the civil
rights movement of the 1960s. The Weeksville staff clearly promote the
idea of a successful African-American project that can be remembered
with pride."
A $3 million restoration of the Hunterfly Houses was completed
in 2005. You can take a tour of these historic houses and attend lectures, preservation workshops, children’s
programs, cultural events and other programs rooted in the Center's
history and objects.
Note: I posted this on Thursday afternoon but I was in a rush and barely got all my thoughts down coherently. I had to stop for a Brooklyn Blogfest planning meeting and then my daughter' s piano lesson followed by drinks with a friend and then Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House. This morning I had to attend to some business at my son' s high school. So here goes again.
This blogger has the wrong attitude
I am talking about reporter cum blogger, Andy Newman, the editor of The Local, the New York Times' local Fort Green blog. He and Brownstoner's Jon Butler were guests on a recent Reporter Roundtable hosted by the Brooklyn Paper's Gersh Kuntzman.
Officials at the Times' asked him originally to do the blog in Park Slope, where Newman lives. "There's money there, rich people. We could get some advertising," he remembers the executive saying. "But I would never want to do a blog in Park Slope," Newman told Kuntzman. "Everything that is going to happen has already happened."
What does that mean? And what does that have to do with telling hyper-local stories?
Indeed, how does Newman define a good story? Do Newman's stories have to have the "this is important stamp" or the imprimatur of "this is a story about a place that is in the process of "happening."
Sounds like Newman already knows what kinds of stories he wants to tell and what kinds of people he wants to profile. Sounds like he's covering an idea rather than a place. Which is all well and good. But it doesn't make for good blogging, which requires walking-the-walk, keeping your eyes and ears open, developing a voice that resonates with your readers.
Obviously, he's talking about gentrification and covering a neighborhood in the process of gentrification. And that's an interesting topic.
But I don't know why he has to go putting down another neighborhood in Brooklyn in the process. This show hasn't aired yet but it's available for viewing on the Brooklyn Paper website.
Come on over to Bar Reis, have a cold beer and listen to the Tin Roof Trio, they're hot. Fronted by violinist Monica Smith, there's only the slightest chance that bartender Moe will sing Honeysuckle Rose.
Then again, she just might.
And here's the recession busting deal: $1 dollar off on any $5 dollar draft if you mention OTBKB while the band is playing.
It's a very hot club vibe over here at a very cool bar — a great place with a really high level of civil discourse, reasoned debate and unabashed revelry.
They band plays until 11:30 p.m. and by then things are pretty sublime but nobody is afraid to to flirt with the ridiculous.
My friend architect Gilly Youner seems to be involved in this effort to transform the St. Thomas Aquinas School at 4th Avenue and 8th Street, which was closed down in June 2005, into the Aquinas Arts Center,
Now that's what I call a stamp of approval that I respect. A member of the Park Slope Civic Council and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Youner is an experienced architect and a rock solid community activist with good judgment and loads of energy.
She's even pictured far left with Craig Hammerman and artist Shelia White (right) in this photograph that was sent out yesterday with Hammerman's press release about this proposal to bring Brooklyn artists and residents together by creating a mixed-use arts and learning center in Park Slope.
Hammerman, who is running for City Council in the 39th District, says:
“The future prosperity of our neighborhoods depends in large part upon supporting the cultural soul of our community…This area needs a non-profit contemporary community arts center that pulls together and showcases the finest our neighborhoods have to offer.”
Candidate Hammerman imagines this art space as something akin to PS 1 in Long Island City, I see what he's getting at:
Still it takes a lot of work and resources to become an art institution on par with a PS 1.
PS 1, like this project, is located in an old school building. Now run by MOMA, PS 1, is a world class art institution, with an excellent curatorial staff and the resources to present site specific art, as well as renowned artists.
According to Hammerman, the Aquinas Arts Center, will present the extraordinary breadth and diversity of talents of Brooklyn artists and would also offer arts classes to Brooklynites of all ages.
Okay.
“Since P.S. 1 reopened in 1997, it has become more than a world-renowned tourist destination, it has drawn remarkable artists of all media to live and work in Long Island City,” said Hammerman. “The Aquinas Arts Center will bring the artistic excellence of our community to the world, while bringing the finest artists in the world to our community," says Hammerman, who plans to make the development of Aquinas Arts Center a priority of his first term in the City Council. Affordable studio space would also be provided.
“Despite all other economic trends, the creative economy is growing in Brooklyn,” explained Hammerman. “City government has foolishly put all its eggs in the Wall Street and real estate baskets. We must diversify our local economy to insulate ourselves from the volatility of the markets. That means supporting the creative economy and doing a better job at supporting our small, locally-owned commercial businesses and manufacturing industries too.”
Hammerman hopes to begin construction as early as 2010, for this arts space, which would be located on the cusp of Park Slope and Gowanus and easily accessible by both the F, N, and R subway lines and the B75, B77, B37, and B63 bus lines.
An OTBKB reader sent in this letter about an incident that occurred in front of Key Food. He also sent it to CB 6. I guess I have a few questions about the incident and will be speaking to this person later today.
I'd like to take a minute of your time
to let you know about a problem I've had with the Key Food on 7th Ave.
and Carroll St. Last night, at around 9:53, I attempted to go to the
Key Food only to find that despite their posted closing time of 10
p.m., they were not letting people in because according to the sign they
lock their doors at 9:55. While that's an issue for Key Food to
address, I got a little hot under the collar at the Key Food employee
manning the door. When I turned to walk away, one of the indigent men
who station themselves outside, harassing pedestrians and shoppers,
took exception to my anger. He began threatening me and following me
down the street. I did not feel safe, and had I not called 9-1-1 and
had two Key Food employees not intervened, I am sure he would have
attempted to physically attack me.
It shouldn't be like this on our streets. Key Food has long tolerated
these people who beg outside their doors. They smoke; they're rude to
passers-by; and they are a general nuisance in the neighborhood. I am
writing to you in the hopes that you are the appropriate people to
address these concerns. I realize that personally, I acted out of line
toward the Key Food employees last night. That does not mean that I
should have to fear for my safety from mentally unbalanced people
begging on the streets on my block. I look forward to hearing from you.
It was an interesting workshop for sure.
Members and non-members of the Civic Council gathered for bagels and discussion in an upstair's room at the Park Slope YMCA.
At the meeting I learned that the Livable Streets Committee of the Park Slope Civic Council takes action on a wide range of issues affecting how the streets are used by all from mass transit service to the Civic Council’s semi-annual Civic Sweep and Clean Walk to School programs, to traffic and pedestrian safety, to the quality of life on our streets.
Small groups of 5-10 sat at separate tables and discussed their "Livable Streets Hotspots," areas of concern in the Park Slope area.
Each table presented their "Hotspots" to the larger group (more than 50 people were in attendance) and later each table presented some forward-thinking ideas about how to solve traffic, pedestrian and other types of vexing quality of life and environmental issues in the neighborhood.
Quite a few participants suggested that Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West be made two-way avenues. Conditions on Eighth Avenue, Prospect Park West, and Union Street are linked inextricably to traffic patterns at Grand Army Plaza, the subject of separate efforts by the Grand Army Plaza Coalition (GAPCo), NYCDOT, and others.
It was all very democratic and there was quite a bit of "out-of-the-box" thinking that emerged from the event.
I was impressed with the group and their ability to speak openly, succinctly and without getting bogged down in personal issues or argumentative gripes. This was a very constructive exercise in community democracy and I loved being part of it.
According to planners of the event, "the workshop was aimed explicitly at ordinary citi-
zens, not transportation or planning professionals or members of advocacy groups. The output of
the workshop would be a set of priorities that would inform the Livable Streets Committee in its
future activities and advocacy, which would be shared as well with City agencies and elected of-
ficials."
The following is from the introduction to this impressive report.
If this interests you, there's a way you can get involved. The Livable Streets Committee of the Park Slope Civic Council meets every Wednesday of every month, except July and
August, at 8.15 AM at Ozzie's, 5th Avenue at Garfield Place. To the group that assembed on February 7th, they wrote: You gave
a lot of good ideas and great energy at the workshop; now let's all
work together to bring them about.
"You need not be members of the
Civic Council to work with us, although we hope you will join! Go to http://www.parkslopeciviccouncil.org for details and on-line membership."
My friend Pastor Daniel Meeter has a guest post about lent from Jessica Stockton, blogger of The Writtern Nerd, on his Old First Blog.
I was interested to read that she is blogging for the New York Times' new Local blog project for Fort Greene/ Clinton Hill.
So she's the literary blogger over there, which means, she'll be writing once every couple of weeks about the literary life of the neighborhood,
past and present.
.Here's an excerpt and a link from Old First Blog.
It was actually a French cookbook that deepened
my understanding. Amid the decadent recipes for Easter cakes and meats,
the author mentioned that in traditional French and European culture,
Easter was following on a long cold season where no one had eaten meat,
eggs, or milk. This was a kind of medieval detox, she suggested, that
made the spring Easter feast all the more enjoyable.
I hadn't
thought before that about how seasonally appropriate Lent is, or was in
a culture more connected to the seasons. Food was scarcer as stores ran
out, so we tightened our belts. It's not doctrinal, but it's a wise
strategy of the church, to deal with of the most difficult time of year
and use it as a way of understanding sin and suffering.
Coming
from the mild weather of California, this part of the year in the
Northeast has always been especially difficult for me. It's been so
cold for so long, and it seems to be getting colder, and it seems
there's so much more winter still to come. I chafe against the weather,
frustrated and angry and indignant. Lent is a way of accepting the
darkness and the cold as right and appropriate for its time. I look
forward to Lent because it makes sense of the darkness.
Making
Brooklyn Bloom tomorrow at BBG from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s presented
by GreenBridge, the same folks who run the Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest.
It's a free all-day event featuring plenty of
workshops, exhibitors, short films and more. This year’s theme is
“Growing Up Green: Guiding Youth From Gardening to Green-Collar
Jobs,” and it’s dedicated to informing Brooklynites about ways to
green their neighborhoods by mobilizing youth towards gardening and
growing fresh food. Highlights include:
·
16 workshops, including Kitchen Botany
and Rain Gardens for Beginners
·
interactive exhibits including miniature solar
cars, granola-making, and worm composting
·
an Emerging Green-Collar Jobs Panel
(featuring folks from Sustainable South Bronx, MillionTrees NYC, Added Value
Community Farm and more)
·
a presentation called “A Brooklyn
Girl’s Food Voice: Three Generations of Growing Food” by Annie
Hauck-Lawson, author of Gastropolis: Food & New York City
More information (and a flyer guaranteeing free admission)
is available here.
I’ve attached a media advisory too; hope you find it post-worthy (even at
this late hour). Thank you!
There's a new website on the block. Brooklyn Revealed provides a historic tour of Brooklyn neighborhood and explains the origins of more than 100 street names.
Produced by the New York Historical Society with the help of City Councilmember David Yassky, it looks like a fun—and informative—place to spend some time.
The origins of street names is a subject close to my heart. Years ago my father wrote an unpublished book called, Who Was Major Deegan? For that project he set out to research the origins of street names all over New York City.
This site is just dedicated to Brooklyn street names. But hey, it's a great borough. Here's the blurbage from the site:
Joseph Ditta and Susan Kriete, Reference Librarians at the New-York Historical and skilled researchers, selected the photographs, researched and wrote the text. Nina Nazionale, Director of Library Operations, shepherded the project from its start to completion, assisting with the research and writing as needed. Web Designer Ryan McCarthy brought everything together in a website that is visually appealing, easy to navigate and fun to use. Without Ryan, our text and images would still be flat and unconnected, spread out on a table in the library.
That kind of success can exact a price. Even in the
world of classical music, some A-list musicians fall for the trappings:
luxury hotels, five-star meals, gala receptions, fawning adoration from
moneyed admirers. Dinnerstein maintains a clear-eyed focus on what she
loves most about all of this: the music.
When she returned to our
studio this season, she seemed genuinely reflective, pausing to
consider each question for a moment, then speaking straight from the
heart. No matter the topic, her thoughts seemed remarkably well-formed,
as if she'd been sagely pondering these questions for ages. Her
continuing love of music by Bach. Her appreciation for a 21st-century
set of variations on Bach. How her new celebrity means more time away
from home, but deepens her connections with her husband and son. How
her playing has evolved in the last two years.
Dinnerstein
creates a similar mood when she plays piano: It's contemplative and
insightful. Thoughtfully grounded, but at the same time suggesting
something more — a timeless, numinous beyond.
Turns out this was one of Fred Child's favorite sessionns so he put it on the WNYC website. For the enjoyment of OTBKB readers, here's the
link to the interview http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101102623
Over at the Picnic House in Prospect Park production designers have transformed that space into a Dean and De Luca/Pain Quotidian type of bakery/cafe for some important scenes in the Untitled Nancy Meyers Project.
Meryl Streep plays an Alice Waters type of character, a recently divorced middle-aged chef/baker who has recently divorced her husband. Alec Baldwin plays her ex and Steve Martin is the new man in her life.
IMDB describes the film this way: A romantic comedy in which two man vie for the affection of a woman.
The movie takes place in somewhere near Santa Barbara. But they're shooting all the interiors in New York City.
THIS EVENING: Park Slope's Lydia Denworth is having a book launch party and talk at the Old Stone House (in
conjunction with the Community Bookstore) on Tuesday March 3rd at 7
p.m.There will be books for sale and signing.
She is the author of Toxic Truth: A Scientist, A Doctor and the Battle Over Lead, the first book to tell the incredible story of the two men behind the bitter thirty-year fight to protect children from lead.
Join Denworth for this party for her book. A writer and editor based in New York City. A former reporter for Newsweek and bureau chief for People, Denworth's writing on science, education and social issues has appeared in the New York Times, Redbook, Health and other publications.
In
2009, she'll be teaching in the journalism department at Long Island
University. She serves on the boards of trustees of the Berkeley
Carroll School and the Oliver Program, which expands the educational
opportunities of black and Latino students.She lives in Park Slope Brooklyn with her husband and three sons.
The Where and When
Join Lydia on Tuesday March 3rd at 7 p.m. for
The Toxic Truth Book Launch and Talk (With books for sale and signing)
The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue and Third Street (in JJ Byrne Park)
6 people got tickets last night to the Whitest Kids U' Know show at The Bell House. I just heard from Tim, was one of the lucky winners:
I asked him to write in about the show. Anyone else want to tell us about their act? I couldn't go because I was feeling too sick—and watching 30 Rock. But I'm dying to hear.
Someone tipped me off that the working title for the film set to shoot in Prospect Park next week is: The Untitled Nancy Meyer Project. So I did a little quickie research.
Director Nancy Meyer is the uber-Hollywood director of some very hot romantic comedies: The Holiday, Something's Gotta Give, Father of the Bride, Baby Boom and Private Benjamin.
She may well be the most successful non-acting woman in Hollywood.
This film is described on IMDB this way: "A romantic comedy in which two men vie for the affection of a woman."
But check out the cast: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, John Krasinski, Zoe Kazan…
I'm guessing this OTBKB reader would prefer Brooklyn or Manhattan locations. But bring on the names if you know of some good naturopathic practitioners in the NYC area.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Somthing to do with the kids on a cold Sunday afternoon at Southpaw sponsored by Park Slope Parents. Doors open at 1 p.m. Show from 2 – 4 p.m.
Date: Sunday February 22, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
DOORS OPEN AT 1:00PM
Location:
SOUTHPAW, 125 Fifth Ave. ( Sterling and St. Johns )
Doors open at 1:00pm with crafts downstairs with Artcetera
$12 tickets
under 12 months – FREE
Get your tickets to this concert here:
<http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=662644>
And there's more to come in March and April!
Sunday, March 22nd The Suzi Shelton Band
Sunday, April 26th Randy Kaplan
Check out Gustafer Yellowgold at http://www.gustaferyellowgold.com.
The New Yorker Describes Gustafer Yellowgold in this way:
Sunshiny Day By Shauna Lyon
"Some catchy songs are irritating ("Macarena," or anything by
Weezer), some are not (everyone has their own examples; let's just say
that Stevie Wonder and the Beatles were good at this). Scientists have
studied the catchy-song-running-through-your-head phenomenon, and have
determined that there is nothing you can do about it but wait. So, it
goes without saying, when parents are introducing their kids to music,
they have to be careful.
Morgan Taylor, the author and performer of the Off Broadway kids' show
"Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow
Sensation"
(at the DR2, on
Saturdays at 11 and 2, through May
17), has some pretty catchy, mellow
songs. With his Gustafer act, he has opened for bands such as Wilco and
the Polyphonic Spree, and combines a Beatles-esque sound with brightly
hued animation of the world of Gustafer Yellowgold, a little yellow guy
who has a pet eel and counts a pterodactyl among his friends. At a
recent show, attended by children aged twelve months to twelve years
(and their parents), Taylor , between tunes, amiably fielded questions
from the audience, such as "Why did Gustafer once live on the sun?" The
answer? Because he was born there, of course."
Park Slope's Lydia Denworth has a must-read book coming out in March called Toxic Truth: A Scientist, a Doctor, and the Battle over Lead.
This fascinating book tells the interconnecting stories of Clair Patterson, a geochemist, who measured the composition of rock, ice, and rain in Greenland and New Zealand and Herbert Needleman, a
psychiatrist, who measured children's performance in poor urban schools.
By
the 1960s and 1970's, their work demonstrated that the world was filling up with lead, a toxic substance that was doing irreparable harm to
children.
The pair took on the lead industry. Ultimately lead was banned from paint,
gasoline, and food packaging, beginning in the late 1970s.
By the 1990's, the lead level in Americans dropped 90 percent, an incredible achievement and one of the great public health success stories!
Meet Lydia Denworth and learn more about these heroic scientists and their important story at a book party at the Old Stone House on March 3rd at 7 p.m.
GrowInStyle, a company run by a Sheephead Bay mom of a toddler and a newborn is a Brooklyn company that carries a variety of organic Eco Friendly Diaper Cakes .
How does she do it. Two kids and a growing business. Wow. I'm impressed!
No, an organic diaper cake is not something you eat. It's a 3-tier cake made out of brand new organic diapers.
Owner Elena writes that they make "extravagant baby shower centerpieces."
But here's the deal: diaper cakes are 100% pure and natural. Constructed
with no preservatives, artificial flavors or chemicals.
GrowinStyle has more 100% natural and safe baby products and a wide selection of Organic Baby Gift Boxes, BPA free teethers, organic plush toys and more.
Okay, the idea of an organic diaper cake caught my eye. They also have cup cakes. Only good if the parents are planning on using cloth diapers, of course.
Fashion Week in Manhattan is ovah, but things are just getting started in Williamsburg. See where up-and-coming Brooklyn designers are taking fashion. The
presentations are anything but ordinary or predictable, with
show-specific live music scores and artist performances.
When: Friday, February 20th, and Saturday, February 21st, 2009.
Featuring the collections of eight Brooklyn designers.
Four collections on Friday. Four collections on Saturday.
Where: At Glasslands Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Doors open at 8 PM.
On Friday, fashion shows run from 9 PM to 11 PM.
On Saturday, fashion shows run from 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM.
After party starts immediately after fashion shows.
The after party continues the fun into the night with killer bands and… The Trilateral Commission DJ set.
Door Admission — for the public: $8.- on Friday. $8.- on Saturday.
(Note: No advance ticket sales.)
Members of the Press and Buyers are strongly encouraged to RSVP to
"tommcalisternyc at gmail dot com".
This event is open to the public (i.e. non-press and
non-buyers) for the low-priced admission charge of $8 each night —
which entitles one to stay for the afterparty at no additional charge!
(no advance ticket sales).
Dress code: Inspire us!
Writer Jordana Rothman dropped me a note to share her published response in Time Out to news that a small group of Park Slope Coop members proposed boycotting Israeli products at the Food Coop at a recent Open Forum. They plan to bring it up at the upcoming General Meeting.
Funny that Jordana wrote in because I was already typing my own little story, which was basically a retread of the Jewish Daily Forward story.
Maybe this is developing into a big deal. Looks like I'll be going to the next general meeting, which happens to be at Congregation Beth Elohim.
Here's an excerpt from Jordana's funny post-Jewish response in Time Out ("we're putting our hooked noses
back to the grindstone. Though clashing politics may simmer in the
produce aisle at your local Co-op, for now anyway, your persimmons are
safe," she writes). Jordana, a self-proclaimed "angry Jewess," writes about food for Time Out New York. Browsing a list of her articles, it looks like good stuff.
The irony that the place is essentially a neo–urban kibbutz (members
pledge to work shifts at the grocery, making the desert that is the
Slope’s affordable, responsible grocery options bloom…as it were) has
not escaped us, being neighborhood residents ourselves. But the motion
feels born from the very stiff and self-righteous soapbox awareness
that many naysayers feel makes the Co-op unpalatable under normal
circumstances.
The Forward quotes Rabbi Andy Bachman, whose synagogue
plays host to Co-op meetings: “It will remain an irrelevant gesture to
5 million Israelis and 2 million Palestinians, but it will make someone
in Park Slope feel really good about themselves. That’s what this is
about; it’s about the political purity, which is part of Park Slope’s
unique self-absorption.”
We’re inclined to agree. And while we support the Co-op’s open forum
for this kind of divisive dialogue, we’re also comforted by the seeming
smallness of the gesture—the Forward reports about ten members (a minyan, in Heeb parlance) looking to discuss the boycott at a future meeting.
Sexy Moms Series: Sex and the New Parent
Wednesday, February 25, 7-8pm, Free
Babeland Brooklyn, 462 Bergen Street
New parents can discover how to put the zing back into their sex
lives, with tips and advice from guest speaker Jocelyn Hart, a midwife
at the Morris Heights Health Center. This topic is ideal for new moms,
moms-to-be, and parents of small children who are wondering why their
sex lives took a detour once the baby arrived! Complimentary
refreshments. The Sexy Moms Series is jointly sponsored by New Space
for Women’s Health
I read about this in the New York Times this morning. Good New York story.
Apparently a 3-year-old Queens boy left his mom at a Roosevelt Avenue McDonalds, got on a subway train and rode alone for seven stations until he was tracked down by police.
According to the Times: a detective from the Vice Major Case Team was having lunch at that very same McDonalds when he saw a hysterical woman crying "My son. My son. What happened to my son?" He issued an alert after checking the store's surveillance video. At around the same time, a subway passenger noticed the boy riding solo and told a transit worker who notified the police.
I love the quote from the boy's dad, Jose Lino Marquez, 40: “Everything now is O.K.. My son likes trains,: he told the New York Times.
I checked my Facebook page this morning and found a Terms of Use Update at the top of my home page. Apparently, Facebook has received a lot of negative feedback about the new Terms of Use policy they posted two weeks ago. I wasn't aware of this because I'm a newcomer to Facebook.
Because of the negative response, Facebook has decided to return to their previous Terms of Use until they figure things out. There's a Facebook Blog, where there is more discussion of this. Big surprise: there is also a Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities group where Facebookers can share their thoughts.
Facebook offered some clarification about the following issues that were brought up by Facebookers, who feared that Facebook was claiming ownership over people's content.
2.
Facebook doesn't claim rights to any of your photos or other content.
We need a license in order to help you share information with your
friends, but we don't claim to own your information.
3. We won't
use the information you share on Facebook for anything you haven't
asked us to. We realize our current terms are too broad here and they
make it seem like we might share information in ways you don't want,
but this isn't what we're doing.
4. We will not share your
information with anyone if you deactivate your account. If you've
already sent a friend a message, they'll still have that message.
However, when you deactivate your account, all of your photos and other
content are removed.
5. We apologize for the confusion around
these issues. We never intended to claim ownership over people's
content even though that's what it seems like to many people. This was
a mistake and we apologize for the confusion.