UPDATE ON JACKIE CORNER: There’s a really good reason why  Friends and Fans of Jackie Connor are rushing with a petition to rename First Street and Seventh Avenue Jackie’s Connor’s Corner: The City Council only accepts petitions for this kind of thing twice a year and the March 31 deadline is approaching.

Friends and Fans has a bio written and they have been assured that they have enough signatures for approval.  The steps in this process require Community Board 6, the City Council, and the Department of Transportation to sign off on dedicating the Corner. They all knew Jackie," writes Fonda Sara. "So really it is a no-brainer."

The corner of Seventh Avenue and Sterling is similarly marked: "Ed Rogowsky’s Way.” According to Fonda, "Ed was a city planner/Brooklyn advocate who came from the same "school" as Jackie."

FROM WEDNESDAY: How do you memorialize a remarkable person who spent her life advocating on behalf of the people and streets of Park Slope. NAME A STREET AFTER HER.  Already friends and fans of Jackie Connor are on it — taking their inspiration from Jackie, who always knew how to get things done.

Sign a petition to re-name the corner of Carroll Street and Seventh Avenue:
"Jackie Connor’s Corner"

This petition will be presented on Thursday evening to the Transportation Committee of Community Board 6.

Add your name
to support this petition: There is one hanging in the front entrance of PS 321.  You can also go to Bob and Judy’s Coolectibles on Fifth Avenue
between Union & President or Zuzus Petals on Fifth Avenue between 5th
& 6th Streets.

I took a spill yesterday. Some of the key words and phrases in this story are: Starbucks. Bay Ridge. Spilled latte. Twisted ankle

After a parent-teacher conference at my son’s high school, Teen Spirit and I walked over to a Starbucks at Third Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway.  He ordered an apple fritter and I had some kind of flavored latte.

We decided to take a car service home, so we waited in the Starbucks for our Eastern Car Service car. We thought we saw the car from the window and left the Starbucks through a glass- covered sidewalk cafe area of this Starbucks. I wasn’t even sure if there was an entrance/exit in this area, but we pushed one of the doors and it opened.

Next thing I know I am falling…I didn’t see a step and I am flying out as is my coffee cup. I spill latte all over my  brown down coat, which I was holding in my arms. I land on the sidewalk.

I do remember the feeling: I’m falling and there’s nothing I can do about this. There was a calm about it: I was resigned to it — there was no avoiding it — I am going down

"Mom, are you alright?" my son asked. He reached out his hand to me, but I decided to stay seated on the sidewalk. He picked up my coat off the sidewalk; it was covered in latte. A nice man came over at which point I started crying. "Can I help you," he said. Do you need any help?"

"No, that’s okay I have my son," and I did feel a grateful sensation that my son was there and I could just sit on the sidewalk and cry.

Seconds later I was standing. Another nice man came over. "If you just spilled your coffee you can go back inside and get another." He wasn’t a Starbucks employee. I thanked the man but declined.  We waited on the windy corner for our car.

Getting into the car I joked, "Maybe we should sue Starbucks." My son smiled in agreement. We rode home looking at the top of my foot, which was starting to swell. There was also a cut on my knee.

When moms fall apart in front of their children, there is a momentary realignment of roles. Teen Spirit had to help me up, hold my coat, make sure I was okay. I could tell he was unsettled by the event. The weird realization that mother’s cry: we experience pain, we can embarass the hell out of our children by crying on the street, our ankles can twist, we can fall.

We are human and our children must be strong. And he was. Yes, even moms fall apart and whimper all the way down Third Avenue to Park Slope feeling stupid, feeling pain, needing a Band Aid for my knee and a bandage for my foot..

We are human and our children must be strong. Sometimes.

Thanks to A Brooklyn Life, I just learned that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, one of the big indie bands du jour, got its name off a wall near the Gowanus Canal. A Brooklyn Life found the story at the Tucson Sun.

On the way to their first gig, they were driving through Brooklyn, near the Gowanus Canal, and saw the phrase "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" written on a wall in 6-foot-high letters. Not graffiti letters, but normal-looking letters, which seemed strange. They needed a name, and the phrase seemed appropriate. After playing together for a few months, the band recorded a self-titled album, and released it themselves.

READ MORE AT A BROOKLYN LIFE

A rave in the New York Times about Kate Valk and the Wooster Group’s "Emperor Jones"at St. Ann’s Warehouse.

A performance of much more recent vintage has inspired similar
effusions among a certain subset of New York theatergoers. Mingling at
an art opening or lounging in a club on the Lower East Side, some among
you may have been subjected to a harangue, delivered through a smug fog
of cigarette smoke, on the strange glory of Kate Valk in the Wooster
Group’s acclaimed production of "The Emperor Jones," in the latter days
of the last century.

Alas for these downtown hipsters and their
velvet ropes, this performance has not conveniently retreated into the
V.I.P. room of theater legend, never to re-emerge. The Wooster Group
production of "Emperor Jones" is back onstage at St. Ann’s Warehouse in
Brooklyn, and there, at its center, is Ms. Valk again, riveting,
haunting, altogether astonishing.

She is attired in
tatterdemalion regalia befitting a legend-in-the-making, in a
voluminous garment that resembles a cheapo king’s costume arrested in
the process of swallowing a kimono. But the oddity of this ensemble may
take a while to register, since the most arresting aspect of Ms. Valk’s
aspect is the thick, oily black makeup covering her entire face. The
petite, Caucasian, obviously female Ms. Valk is playing the title role,
Brutus Jones, a venal black train porter turned despot, in O’Neill’s
hypnotic play about the destructive impact of history on the shaping of
personality. And she is playing it in blackface.

A site called three layer cake has an interview with Park Slope’s own Grace Bonney of Design Sponge.

The multiple daily posts on design*sponge,
as effervescent and sunny as they may be, pale in comparison to the
real live woman who writes them.  Grace Bonney, a Virginia-native
living in Brooklyn, is the voice behind the design blog which attracts
over 12,000 readers a day.  Now that she’s on her own, she has the
potential to go even farther.

Grace is extremely articulate and focused.  She has very clear ideas
about what she likes and dislikes and makes no bones about it.  That’s
not to say she’s brash—she’s the exact opposite, but even with her
demure demeanor (Southern like her accent), she makes her opinion heard
and respected.  She grew up in Virginia Beach, graduated from William
and Mary in Colonial Williamsburg with a degree in art and art history
and for the past two and a half years worked full time at a record
label and as an assistant at a Brooklyn PR firm that handled large
design accounts like Vitra. Working so closely with the design
community, Bonney rekindled her passion for interior and product design
and, as of March 6, she’s a ‘minipreneur’, running her own design website and working as a freelance design writer and consultant for various national publications….READ MORE AT three layer cake

These words were on a laminated wake card given out at Jackie Connor’s memorial. I believe they were written by Dr. Annette Hall of St. Francis Xavier School.

Jackie Connor was an advocate for the poor, the homeless, the underpaid, the tenant, the senior citizen, the child, and the teenager. For us who knew her, Jackie was the one you called for to help you spread the news about an injustice or something that needed fixing or taking care of. She believed in solving problems through the system. She had a strong voice, which was backed by her actions. She argued for fair rent for tenants, marched to keep youth programs open, attended school hearings and join committees to imporve public schools. Jackie was relentless in her efforts to make life better for those in need. Thos who disagreed with her had a formidable opponenet. She was an advocate who people respected. Government officials knew Jackie, the police officers on the beat adored her, and the store owners appreciated her wisdom. Her neighbors loved and respected her. Jackie will be missed, but what she has done for other people will be remembered. Her energy, drive, and caring will be the force in their hearts to help them carry on.

The Oh So Feisty One (OSFO) has been talking about getting her ears pierced since her last birthday. Somehow it was decided that she would get them pierced at The Treasure Chest in Park Slope the morning of her 9th birthday. Then it was decided that she would get them pierced the day before her 9th birthday. Then it was decided that she would get them pierced the weekend before her 9th birthday.

And that’s what happened.

The week before she kept saying: Shouldn’t we go in and make an appointment, shouldn’t we go in and tell them that we’re coming on Saturday. Shouldn’t we tell them…

I did go in a few days before and was told by someone working there that the person who pierces ears is in on Saturday and we wouldn’t need an appointment.

On Saturday we showed up at 10 a.m. and the same woman said, "So do you have an appointment?"

Okay. "The guy doesn’t get in until noon," she said. "But I can see if he’ll come in." The ear piercing guy showed up about an hour later – -and we amused ourselves at the PS 321 Winter Carnival.

We went back to the store and still had to wait for the ear piercing guy. He’s a young guy. Very young. i think he may be the son of the owner. He works very quickly. He got his tools – a drill-like thing – and asked OSFO to sit on a chair in the middle of the small shop.

He then positioned the drill-like thing and MAGIC ear 1 was done. He then looked at both ears like an artist trying to position the other hole. And MAGIC ear 2 was done.

I forgot to mention, in the time we were waiting, OSFO picked out pretty gold stud earrings with a red stone.

The guy told us to put Bacitracin on her ears 3-4 times a day. AND she must not take the earrings out for six weeks.

OSFO just loves to put her hair behind her ears so everyone can see that SHE HAS PIERCED EARS!!!!

A reader just sent me this note with a link to her blog , which is called Blah Blah Babycakes, where she posted my DUMBO piece from The Brooklyn Papers.  I told her I was thrilled.  She also thinks it was her nanny I was talking to in the Pirate Playground.

I wanted to write to tell you how much I enjoyed your piece on Dumbo moms.  It was funny and my husband and I had a good laugh.  I’ve posted a link and because it was a pdf actually pasted the text on my blog and I just wanted to let you know in case it was illegal, rude or breaking a blog rule. 

LIVE THERE? YOU’D HAVE TO BE  A DUMBO   by Louise Crawford

A BROKEN CLOCK is right twice a day, so when Dumb Editor asked Smartmom to look into the sudden influx of new moms in industrial DUMBO, Smartmom blew him off. But Dumb Editor persisted. “I can’t think of anyone better to investigate the phenomenon than you,” he said, buttering her up like a scone at Connecticut Muffin. “After all, these new moms are are you 15 years ago.” How old does he think Smartmom is? But Dumb Editor had a point. Smartmom was pushing Teen Spirit in a Combi stroller when Park Slope, like DUMBO now, was experiencing its first baby boom.

So Smartmom changed out of her schleppy Park Slope uniform (PS 321 Tshirt, black stretch pants), donned her snazziest jeans and leather jacket (so as to blend in with the DUMBO crowd) and took a car service to the Pirate Playground,located on the banks of the East River. With its views of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan, it is, arguably, the most spectacular set of monkey bars in the world.

Ever the urban anthropologist,Smartmom was eager to eavesdrop on DUMBO moms. Were their conversations like those in Park Slope, where the playground chatter seems to revolve around Food Coop suspensions, missed real-estate opportunities, or early intervention programs? Or did they whine about their art dealers? Smartmom discreetly sidled up to a couple of moms who were talking intensely while watching their sons play. But it turns out that DUMBO is the worst possible neighborhood for eavesdropping.

The traffic and subway on the Manhattan Bridge overwhelms the entire area, making the playground way too noisy for subtle surveillance. “How do you like living here?” Smartmom asked one of the moms, who was chicly dressed in a suede jacket, tight suede pants and Ugg Boots. Smartmom really wanted to ask how the heck they get their babies to nap, given the constant ruckus. Ugg Mom looked suspicious, but soon warmed to the idea of her 15-minutes of fame. “Oh I love it. Just love
it,” she said. “It’s so urban, so much more like Manhattan than Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights. There’s a great sense of community here.” Smartmom ran after Ugg Mom and asked her if there’s much to do with kids around here. “Tons.  There’s tons to do. It’s a fantastic, family-oriented neighborhood.” Then she shooed Smartmom away. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to talk to my friend.” Manhattan, indeed.

Nearby were two Caribbean nannies, so Smartmom chatted them up.  “I hate this neighborhood,” said one, as she rocked a bright orange Bugaboo.  “It’s so boring,” the other one added. They seemed eager to share the winter of their discontent.  “There’s nothing to do, especially in the cold,” said the first. “No bookstore, no indoor play space, no Barnes & Noble. There’s nowhere to take the children.” SMARTMOM found another mom who was watching her son in the row-boat sandbox. A Q-train crossed the bridge overhead.  “DO YOU FIND IT NOISY HERE?” Smartmom screamed. “It’s not too bad,” the woman said, clearly too deaf to notice anymore.

After the playground, Smartmom was eager to check out Pomme, a wildly pretentious French children’s store. Children’s store? It looked more like the Whitney Biennial! Smartmom watched as a hip-looking local mom charged more than $200 on a credit card for extravagant birthday party gifts, while speaking French with the owner. IGNORING HER (who has time to speak French these days?), Smartmom occupied herself with the store’s publicity postcard: “Pomme is smitten with childhood; imaginary friends and security blankets. Sidewalk chalk, smocks, kneehigh socks.” Pretentious? Mais bien sur. But then again, the prices for cashmere sweaters, black under-wear sets, and French toys matched the shop’s inflated view of itself. Next, Smartmom walked past 70 Washington St., David Walentas’s condo, where lofts are selling for millions.

Around the corner at Foragers, a new Dean and DeLuca-style grocery, young mothers stocked up on expensive porcini mushrooms and hydroponic pommelos. It looked like a Manhattan version of the Park Slope Coop — without the low prices, neighborly co-workers and social consciousness. On Front Street, Smartmom peered into the window of a gigantic showroom for Thermador, Bosch and Gaggenau appliances: all the designer gadgets you need to perfectly equip the kind of huge loft kitchen that you never plan to use.

Nearby, a young mom struggled with a tantrum throwing toddler and a double-stroller on the bumpy cobblestone streets. “Do you need some help?” Smartmom asked, perhaps  with a note of condescension.  “No thanks,” Supermom said. But Smartmom persisted, asking how she puts up with the inconveniences of living in a still-industrial area. “What inconveniences?” Supermom said, completely mystified. Um, the cobblestones, the noise, the trucks. “Oh that,” Supermom said. “But we don’t hear anything once we’re upstairs.”

Finally, it was time for that expense account lunch at Bubby’s, the place to see and be seen among the Dumbo babyrati.  Like its sister restaurant in Tribeca, Bubby’s is an oasis of comfort food and thriftshop style. The large, two level space with Manhattan views was busy with tables of moms and kids. This is no place for Mr. Stroller Manifesto of Park Slope, but a perfect spot for a Bloody Mary and a midday repast.

Smartmom thought about what Dumb Editor had said:  Are all these moms the 2006 version of Smartmom, circa 1990? Well, just like the DUMBO moms, Smartmom and Hepcat left Manhattan when Teen Spirit was born, in search of a big apartment, a nearby playground, and a fairly quick commute to jobs in Manhattan.  But unlike these moms, Smartmom wasn’t nearly as well dressed. And she and Hepcat couldn’t afford to buy a luxury loft (then or now), furnish their kitchen with fancy European appliances, or dress Teen Spirit in French cashmere onesies. Back then, they lived in a fourth-floor walk-up on Fifth Street, which had a teeny tiny view of the harbor. From their living room, the Statue of Liberty looked like one of those plastic souvenirs you get at the South Ferry subway station. BUT SMARTMOM and Hepcat were happy.  There was a laundromat across the street, the Third Street Playground was close by, one of the best public schools in the city was just blocks away and Two Boots Restaurant had (and still has) the best pizza, and the most good-natured waiters in town.

Park Slope of old may not have been as “fabulous” as DUMBO — but it was definitely quieter and cheaper.  And it was home. You know what Dorothy said: there’s no place like it.

For those of you who couldn’t make it to Jackie Connor’s memorial at St. Francis Xavier School on Sunday night, here is the program. If you have any Jackie memories to share, post them as comments. I will send to her daughter for the scrapbook.

Thank you for coming to this celebration of Jackie Connor’s life.

She  died March 7 after fighting lung cancer with the same tenacity, honesty and humor she used to battle somany problmes in the community.

Some of us knew Jackie as a remarkable wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin and friend.

To others, she was simply the "Mayor of Seventh Avenue" or "the lady on the church steps," the person you went to for help, advice, or just a good story.

Those steps seem a lot emptier now, but we’re comforted by the knowledge that so many people can’t pass the corner of Seventh Avenue and Carroll Stret without remembering all the good she did and the hell she raised.

We invite you to share some of those memories at tonight’s celebration

After a welcome from her family and some doo wop music, you can take microphone and tell a favorite story about Jackie, write down your thought for our scrapbook or post a photo.

And when you leave here tonight, we hope you’ll take up Jackie’s fight to make Park Slope, Brooklyn, and the world a better place. She may not be sitting on the church steps any longer, but we’re pretyy sure she’s keeping an eye on everyone.

The NYC crime rate is the lowest it’s been in years. But the coverage of the brutal murder of Immette Saint Guillen is freaking me out. Even in a safe city: hideous, hideous things can happen.

Such brutality, such cruelty. There was this piece on WNYC about how people deal with the issue of late-night safety in our so-called safe city.

WNYC’s Dan Blumberg spent a night out asking people how they get home safely.

There was no one answer. Everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to walking the streets or taking the subway late night. And late night doesn’t begin at the same time for everyone either. For NYU graduate student Faye Hanlin, late starts pretty early.

HANLIN: Pretty much after dark I don’t take the subway. It’s just not worth the risk. I’m lazy, but it’s also just not worth the risk.

REPORTER: Faye, who grew up in Park Slope and now lives on the Upper East Side, says she also checks in with her friends before she goes to bed.

HANLIN: I definitely do the buddy system kind of thing when we go out. And after we go out I’ll call or text or whatever and say did you get home? And we definitely do that because we all go our separate ways at the end of the night and you never know.

REPORTER: Faye also occasionally carries mace, won’t get into a cab that isn’t yellow, and always has her keys out and ready when she gets out of her taxi. Her vigilance ranked high. Sienna Ferris was closer to the other end of the spectrum.

FERRIS: I don’t really ever feel unsafe in the city. I know it sounds strange, but there are usually so many people in the street that I could just yell.

REPORTER: Hanging out with friends at Gaslight on West 14th Street she said she takes cabs to get home to the East Village late at night, but not because she feels unsafe on the subway.

FERRIS: The subway takes too long at night… the L train, … when I first moved to the city I took the train, now that I make money – I mean I’m not rich – I take the cab… I don’t feel like waiting.

REPORTER: Sienna hardly sounds like she feels invincible– but she does worry about a friend who she thinks is a little overconfident.

FERRIS: I do have a friend who’s here somewhere and she walks home a lot and I get very worried about her, cuz she gets wasted.

REPORTER: Sienna’s friend is Aviva bat Avraham v’Sarah — a muscular black woman with a tongue ring, wearing a white tank top. She’s doesn’t worry about going out by herself because she considers New York to be so much safer than her hometown of Dallas.

AVIVA: I am very secure in my method of getting home and I have honest to god ….touch wood… never been accosted or anything like that… and I will walk home drunk like nobody’s business and I live off of Christopher Street so I’ll have crack dealers like follow me home and all kinds of s—t but nothing bad has ever happened.

REPORTER: Immette Saint Guillen was also apparently drunk and alone on the night that she was killed and there has been criticism of her for that. Walking home alone wasted is not exactly something the police department encourages people to do, but at the same time, crimes like the rape and murder of Saint Guillen are NOT the norm. It’s true that most murders happen at night – 78% of the 540 murders last year occurred between 8pm and 4am – but 82% of the victims were male. Usually, drugs are a factor, the victim knows his or her killer and both have criminal records. And when it comes to rape, so called stranger rape is by far the least frequent type.

Still, some night owls, like Liz from Staten Island, says there’s safety in numbers.

LIZ: We never go out by ourselves, that’s just stupid.

REPORTER: Why is it stupid?

LIZ: With the recent events on the news and everything it’s just not safe to be out by yourself.

REPORTER: NYU graduate student Annie Nichols says she also tries to stay with a group and she won’t take the subway after midnight. But what her guy friends?

NICHOLS: My guy friends, hahaha, that’s a whole ‘nother story… are probably not as cautious. They may take a cab, but they won’t necessarily take a cab all the way to their door and may end up wandering around…

REPORTER: Williamsburg producer Adrien Lie doesn’t mind taking the subway late or walking around at night.

LIE: My neighborhood is pretty safe. There actually was a mugging there a couple months ago, but I can take care of myself. It’s not like a boastful thing, but it’s you know I’ve never been mugged I’ve never encountered anything. I think New York is pretty safe.

REPORTER: Saskya Fonsugaten might agree with Adrien, but as she waited at the West Fourth St. station a little before midnight—her plan to get home seemed a little hazy.

FONSUGATEN: I don’t even know if I can take this train

REPORTER: As an E train pulled into the station, the foreign exchange student from Berlin who’s only been in the states for a few weeks said she stayed out a later than she’d planned and now had a long trip home.

FONSUGATEN: Actually I’m a little scared since I have to go all the way to Far Rockaway. I’m not looking forward to travel at that length late at night, but I have to… I don’t know.

REPORTER: Eventually an A train arrived to take Saskya on a long local stops journey home.

For WNYC, I’m Dan Blumberg

A memorial service for Jackie Connor was held on Sunday evening at 5 p.m. at the St. Francis Xavier School auditorium. Many relatives, friends, neighbors, merchants, cops, garbagemen, school administrators and politicians were there. Maybe 150 or more.

There was Doo Wop music, speeches by her daughter, her brother, her husband, and anyone else who was moved to speak. Lots of food, dessert, and coffee.

I interviewed a lot of people and took notes on all the speeches and am writing a piece for this Friday’s Brooklyn Papers.

I was very moved by all of it and left with the feeling that this energetic, gutsy, caring, and selfless woman was responsible for a lot of good things in Park Slope. As David Yasky said, "I don’t think Park Slopers realize how much Jackie Connor did for this community."

Stay tuned for more about Jackie Connor. I am wondering what the neighborhood is going to do to memorialize her. I think there should be a bronze statue of her on the corner of Carroll  Street and Seventh Avenue – sitting on the stone fence at the Old First Church.

That would really be an appropriate memorial.

THERE ARE many Purim celebrations going on in Park Slope this weekend (Check Scoop du Weekend below). The following information is from Judaism 101:

It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform
plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. I have heard that the
usual prohibitions against cross-dressing are lifted during this
holiday, but I am not certain about that. Americans sometimes refer to
Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras.

Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination.

The story of Purim is told in the Biblical book of Esther. The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity.

The villain of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In a speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told the king, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every other people’s, and they do not observe the king’s laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them." Esther 3:8. The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to do as he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of the Jews.

Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people. This was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king’s presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned. Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself, then went into the king. He welcomed her. Later, she told him of Haman’s plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.

The book of Esther is unusual in that it is the only book of the Bible that does not contain the name of G-d. In fact, it includes virtually no reference to G-d. Mordecai makes a vague reference to the fact that the Jews will be saved by someone else, if not by Esther, but that is the closest the book comes to mentioning G-d. Thus, one important message that can be gained from the story is that G-d often works in ways that are not apparent, in ways that appear to be chance, coincidence or ordinary good luck.

Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar, which is usually in March. The 13th of Adar is the day that Haman chose for the extermination of the Jews, and the day that the Jews battled their enemies for their lives. On the day afterwards, the 14th, they celebrated their survival. In cities that were walled in the time of Joshua, Purim is celebrated on the 15th of the month, because the book of Esther says that in Shushan (a walled city), deliverance from the massacre was not complete until the next day. The 15th is referred to as Shushan Purim.

The word "Purim" means "lots" and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date for the massacre.

The Purim holiday is preceded by a minor fast, the Fast of Esther, which commemorates Esther’s three days of fasting in preparation for her meeting with the king.

The primary commandment related to Purim is to hear the reading of the book of Esther. The book of Esther is commonly known as the Megillah, which means scroll.

We are also commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is. A person certainly should not become so drunk that he might violate other commandments or get seriously ill. In addition, recovering alcoholics or others who might suffer serious harm from alcohol are exempt from this obligation.

In addition, we are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman’s pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman’s three-cornered hat. My recipe is included below.

I was googling the name of a friend I went to high school with and came across news of an anti-war  concert on March 20th. It’s quite a line up and an excellent cause. Here’s the information:

VETERANS FOR PEACE
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace!
"Bring ‘Em Home Now!" Concert for Peace on March 20, 2006!

MICHAEL STIPE of R.E.M.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

BRIGHT EYES

FISCHERSPOONER

PEACHES

DEVENDRA BANHART

STEVE EARLE
& special guests

CINDY SHEEHAN

& CHUCK D of PUBLIC ENEMY

at the Hammerstein Ballroom to commemorate three years of War in Iraq.

Proceeds will be donated to Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

A LIMITED BLOCK OF ADVANCE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT 10% DISCOUNT at Ticketmaster.com or by calling (212) 307-7171. Use code "PEACENOW".

Tickets are priced at $28, $35 and $150 VIP (including Meet & Greet with Cindy Sheehan and Peaches, open vodka bar and reserved balcony seating).

Doors open at 7pm, show at 8pm.

Presented by Josh Wood & Chris Wangro, in Association with The New Press and NY, America.

Hepcat and OTBKB had dinner at LITTLE DISHES. It’s a great place to have in the  neighborhood — a real keeper. Even if you do have to wait an hour to get a table.

We were okay with that because we enjoyed talking to the bartender, ordering Proseco, planning our meal, getting recomendations from the bartender, and talking to each other.

When we sat down — the service was EXCELLENT. We ordered right away. Bread, olives, water arrived IMMEDIATELY.

Our Little Dishes came quickly and they are the NAME OF THE GAME over there. Hepcat had a mushroom soup that was INCREDIBLE. OTBKB had a WARM MUSHROOM SALAD, which may be their SIGNATURE DISH

Hepcat loves lamb, that’s just something you have to know about him. He cooks it and ALWAYS orders it at restaurants. He read about Little Dishes’s lamb shank in the NY Times and he was good to go.

From table to table, everyone was eating LAMB SHANK WITH SPAETZLE. It comes in a bowl and it is QUITE SAVORY. The SPAETZLE with BLACK OLIVES WAS YUM, YUM, YUM.

The lamb was cooked a long time, very moist, came right off the bone, fun to eat. Hepcat liked it.

We had Proseco and Razor Edge Shiraz, a teriffic wine. 2 glasses of each. Woo hoo.

With its  brick walls, Thonet chairs, light wood bar, low lighting, the place is a pleasure to be. Staff: Excellent. The Maitre’D is the owner, her husband is in the kitchen…

COOKING UP A STORM. Small Dishes – We Like You A Lot and WILL BE BACK…

Dope on the Slope, is a blog that describes itself as chronicling the Brooklynization of two Tennessee Hillbillies.

This week they’ve got great photos and some interesting dope:

–News that Europa Cleaners, on Sixth Avenue between Union and President is closing. I happen to know the owners of that building and will report back what’s going on.

–Pix of two pigeons dubbed "The Pigeon Sisters" who hang out at the Flea Market

–Funny story about a "garish saffron gown was perched on a dress model outside of a frou-frou fashion store in Park Slope."

Continue reading DOPE ON THE SLOPE →

Maybe two months ago I was walking past the PS 321 flea market at dusk and saw two lecterns on the sidewalk lined up to be loaded onto a van.

I’ve actually been in the market for a lectern for a long time. And these were special. They had a vaguely "arts and crafts" feeling to them. Clearly hand-made, I could imagine them in a church somewhere, a preacher’s foot perched on one of the cross bars. It had character, and lots of it.

Those lecterns had history and spirit all over them and I wanted one or both.

I needed a lectern for Brooklyn Reading Works (and I wanted to give it to The Old Stone house for their other activities, too).

Because we didn’t have a lectern, we usually set up a table and a chair and offer writers the option of reading while sitting down, with their papers or books on the table. But it it’s a little awkward. Most of the writers choose to stand and read.

I also want a dictionary stand to keep at home or in the office. Since I am constantly checking the dictionary I thought it would be helpful to have it out and open all the time.

While I was pondering my need for a lectern, a man lifted one of the lecterns and started loading it into the van. I asked him how much he wanted for the lecterns and he said $75 dollars each. I immediately knew it was a good price so I checked my wallet. Unfortunately I only had $25 dollars in there.

"Can I write a check?" I asked.
"Don’t take checks," he said.

Sunny is the man’s name. He’s the guy who sells metal file cabinets, desks, and cabinets, who usually sets up to the left of the PS 321 entrance.

I asked him if it would be alright to give him $25 dollars now and to pay him later in the week or next weekend. He thought for a moment and after a little hesitation said that would be fine. We exchanged phone numbers.

He never called and I lost his number, which I had written with a bad pen on a faded receipt, which I probably threw out by mistake.

EVERY SATURDAY since then I have gone by the flea market to find Sunny and he hasn’t been there. Sometimes I ask other vendors, "Have you seen Sunny?" Yesterday I asked Fred, who runs the flea market what happened to Sunny and he said he was working his day job on Saturdays for the last few months and probably wouldn’t be back until April or May. I asked Fred to tell Sunny that I’ve been looking for him…

"Tell him the woman who bought the lectern wants to give him his $50 dollars." I said.

"Sunny is a trusting guy and I guess he knew you were trustworthy. Take off your sunglasses, let me look in your eyes." Fred said.

I took off my sunglasses.
"Aaaaah. You have very honest eyes," he said.

"Yes, I am ridiculously honest," I said not sure what I meant.

"You can’t be too honest," Fred said. "It’s the most important thing in the world. "Obviously Sunny knew you could be trusted."

"Well tell Sunny that I want to pay him AND I want to buy the other lectern."

"Okay," Fred said. "I’ll tell  him the honest woman with the honest eyes has been looking for him."

At the last reading, the lectern really transformed the event as far as I was concerned. It made my introductions feel more solid, more….I don’t know what.

David Berreby, author of Us and Them, seemed very comfortable up there in a quasi academic way as he discussed his wonderful book, "US AND THEM."

The transformative powers of a lectern. Honest eyes. If I could only find Sunny and pay him.

FROM New York 1: Friends and family of a Manhattan man who contracted anthrax gathered Saturday for a vigil in a local church.

Drum-maker and African dancer, Vado Diomande contracted anthrax while working with untreated animal skins.

Daimonde’s friends plan to hold a "healing drum circle" ceremony
Saturday afternoon. They will play drums like the ones he uses in his
performances as a way to show their support for this recovery.

Doctors at the Pennsylvania Hospital where Diomande is being
treated say the he’s taken another turn for the worse, and been
downgraded to serious condition.

There is no word yet on what sparked the change in Diomande’s condition.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency says crews have
cleaned all but one of the six floors in the DUMBO warehouse where
Diomande worked with the skins.

When they are done, another round of testing will take place, to make sure the facility is clear of the bio-toxin.

The EPA tests on Diomande’s West Village apartment are complete and
officials say it is clear of any remaining traces of anthrax.

The EPA says test results on the warehouse should be available early next week.

Continue reading Vigil for Drum-maker and African Dancer →

From the  New York Times today, news about the Brooklyn House of Detention, that most "repellent" of Brooklyn buildings:

By almost any measure, the Brooklyn House of Detention, 10 stories of razor wire and wire-mesh windows in Boerum Hill, is a repellent sight.

But, the city reasons, it need not be so. So, to attract people other than criminal suspects to the 760-bed jail, the Correction Department has decided to convert part of the complex into 24,000 square feet of retail shopping space.

"The site is going to be redeveloped," Martin F. Horn, the correction commissioner, said in an interview this week. "One way or another, retail is going to be there."

Under Mr. Horn’s jail-with-retail plan, three sides of the block that the jail now occupies, along Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place, would be converted to one-story retail space beginning this summer. The jail entrance, now on Atlantic, would be moved to the fourth side of the block, along State Street.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. Horn said, "enthusiastically" supports the redevelopment plan, part of a $240 million reconception of the jail that will most likely also add more cell space. Mr. Horn declined to say exactly how many more inmates a bigger Brooklyn jail would hold.

Which retailers would be asked, or be willing, to open a shop on jail property remains to be seen, several city and local elected officials said. But Mr. Horn and several elected officials in Brooklyn, including Marty Markowitz, the borough president, and David Yassky, a city councilman from Brooklyn Heights, floated a few ideas this week.

An upscale food market, Mr. Horn suggested; a children’s clothing store, Mr. Yassky offered; law offices, Mr. Markowitz mentioned.

Mr. Markowitz, who is known to gush about how great Brooklyn is, said that even a boutique hotel on jail grounds would be nice — but only if the city razed the existing structure and rebuilt it from scratch.

"If it’s designed in such a way that the guests feel totally comfortable," he said yesterday, "why not?"

Mr. Markowitz added that although he would prefer to see the jail closed permanently, if it is to be open it should also have retail and, preferably, residential space.

"Let’s make it something that we never would have dreamed about," he said.

As a 2006 recipient of a Brooklyn Arts Council Grant (BAC) I was invited to the Brooklyn Arts Council 2006 Community Arts Regrant Awards Ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall. I bought a orange silk jacket at City Casuals to the event, which I figured would be artsy-dressy.

Borough President Marty Markowitz was the host. There were other speakers, too. Ella Weiss, President of BAC, Kate D. Levin, Commissioner, NYC Department of Culutral Affairs, and others from JP Morgan Chase Foundation, and the New York S tate Council on the Arts.

It was so great to hear the word ART over and over in thick Brooklyn accents. AHT. Even better – so great to be in a municipal building – in the magnificent courtroom no less – and hear politician after politician state the importance of the arts (ahts) and artists in particular to the social, economic, and cultural health of a city.

Roseanne P. Evans, Grants Manager, Kay Turna, Folk Arts Director and Eleanor Geryk announced the names of the 133 winners, including Brooklyn Reading Works (me), 826NYC (Brookyn Superhero Supply Store), The Arab American Family Support Center (Intro to Arab-American poets), Colab for Artwalk ’06, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Caribbean American Sport and Cultural Youth Movement (steel drum workshops), Brooklyn Sax Quartet, Green-wood Cemetery site project, Volcano Love (Teen girl programs), Kwame Brandt-Pierce (for a storytelling project), Regina Opera, Brooklyn Ballet, CIRCUSundays at the Hudson Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge, GRIOT Circle (Yoruba woodcarving), Kristin Brenneman Eno for her Digital Story Workshop, Chez Bushwick Studios, Making Menorahs; Saving Jewish Tradition, Phat Phun Poetry Workshops, Documenting BRownsville, Fifth Annual Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair…

There were many more. The myriad ways that BAC enriches Brooklyn by helping Brooklyn artists is incredible – and I was thrilled to be part of it.

Needless to say, with 133 recipients there was no time for my "Oscar" speech. We were just asked to stand after they listed our names (in groupings depending on which grant group we were in – mine is New York City Department of Cultural Affairs). But I did have a speech ready…

The party afterward was fun – wine, cheese, cucumber sandwiches, chicken satay, turnovers, and more…A really interesting Brooklyn crowd. People networked, socialized, picked up their checks, congratulated one another…

When it was over, Hepcat and I ducked into the Borough Hall subway station that was right outside the door…

For a totally fun art show – the kids and teens will love it –  get over to the Brooklyn Museum for the Willilam Wegman retrospective.

DOGS AND MORE "Funney/Strange," the first retrospective of William Wegman’s art in more than 15 years, opens Friday at the Brooklyn Museum. The show includes photography, painting, collage, and video, all with Mr. Wegman’s blend of light humor and darker undercurrents. He has created children’s books, television spots for "Sesame Street" and "Saturday Night Live," photographs focused on his dogs, and, most recently, a series of collage paintings that incorporate scenic postcards with drawing in addition to paint.This weekend, Mr. Wegman leads a gallery talk through his exhibit, followed by a book signing (Saturday, 3 p.m.). Exhibit: Friday through June 4, Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway at Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-638-5000, $8 general, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 12.

I didn’t know her but she was a fixture on Seventh Avenue for as long as I’ve been around. Sitting on the steps of Old First Church, walking up and down Seventh Avenue with her shopping cart, Jackie Connor was a beloved figure around here.

My friend Marian Fontana called me today to say that Jackie died. Marian has special feelings for Jackie because after 9/11, Jackie gave Marian and all the guys at Squad 1 little angel figurines. Apparently, she collected angels and bought many of them at the Clay Pot, where she was always welcome. I imagine she was a collector of things. She once bought a pair of leather boots from one of my Stoop Sales – for her daughter I think.

I noticed a few months ago that she had no hair. Her hair was always short but she was bald and I thought to myself: she must be undergoing chemo.

Indeed, cancer claimed Jackie’s life. The Slope won’t be the same without her and her gift of angels. We will miss our neighbor, who just like us, lived her life on the Avenue.

Brooklyn fiction writer, Martha Cooley, is the author of this wonderful first line in her acclaimed novel, The Archivist.

With a little effort, anything can be shown to connect to anything else; existence is infinitely cross-referenced. And everything has more than one definition.  A cat is a mammal, a narcissist, a companion, a riddle.

Speaking of connections, Martha, who also wrote, "Thirty-Three Swoons," called the other day to tell me all about the new MFA program at Adelphi (which is in Queens). And to invite the readers of OTBKB to an Open House introducing its new MFA program to interested potential applicants.   

The evening will include a short program of faculty readings, a question and answer session and an informal conversation.  Refreshments will be served.  Monday, March 27th at 6:00 p.m., 75 Varick Street, 2nd floor (Adelphi Manhattan Center)

Martha is trying to get the word out to SERIOUS WRITERS LOOKING FOR AN INTERESTING, TOP NOTCH MFA PROGRAM IN THE NYC AREA.

In addition to getting a chance to study with Martha Cooley, here are some other reasons you might want to check out Adelphi’s MFA program:

Why go for an MFA in Creative Writing at Adelphi University?  To become a better writer, of course.  To gain the versatility, confidence, and discipline to sustain yourself through a lifetime in the arts.  And to step off the sidelines, engaging actively with the literary realm at large–and with the particular cultural pleasures of New York, where novelty, variation, and flexibility constitute the most venerable of traditions. 

In our new Creative Writing Program, fiction writers, poets, and playwrights refine their skills in small, single-genre writing workshops, literature courses, and exchanges across the borders of prose, poetry, and drama.  Our students participate in a lively community encompassing not only Adelphi’s campus in Garden City, Long Island, but also nearby New York City’s artistically active boroughs

Adelphi’s creative writing faculty provide one-on-one mentoring for each MFA student.  Our students will have opportunities to run a reading series in SoHo, edit our literary journal, pursue lit-blogging and other on-line ventures, guide undergraduates at the university, and teach in public schools.  They will emerge from the program with a novel or set of stories, a play, or a collection of poems and a realistic sense of what a "life of letters" is all about.  They’ll connect with professional networks and opportunities in teaching and publishing, freelance writing, editorial consulting, and community-based writers’ workshops and organizations.  And they’ll be involved in the off- and off- off-Broadway stage as well as regional theaters.    

Faculty:

Judith Baumel, Poetry
Martha Cooley, Fiction
Imraan Coovadia, Fiction
Anton Dudley, Playwriting
Kermit Frazier, Playwriting
Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Poetry
Jiri Wyatt (Igor Webb), Non-Fiction Memoir

For more information, call the Department of English (516-877-4020).

I learned about this Jenny Holzer piece, titled,  "Le Courbusier" on Curbed and went to James Wagner’s site for more.

James Wagner lives in New York and writes about art and politics on jameswagner.com. He is the editor, along with Barry Hoggard, of the arts calendar ArtCal. He had this to say about the piece at the new 7 WTC.

I think it will look fine, perhaps even very, very fine. At least
from a distance the Childs building seems to be an improvement over the
old 7 WTC, even if much of its virtue may be tied to its glassy near
invisibility. I worked in the old fortress for years, and even with a
lobby stocked with decent, large-scale late twentieth-century art I
shuddered every time I had to walk to or from the elevators. The
Lichtenstein, the Held, the Nevelson and the Bleckner [all destroyed]
were all basically add-ons inside that pompous and brutally cold
corporate control center lobby.

Today’s article describes some of the process of the collaboration
between the artist, architect David Childs and developer Larry
Silverstein. While it clearly won’t be one of Holzer’s more provocative
projects (the texts which had to be cleared by Silverstein, will
apparently be as close to sweetness and light as Manhattan ever gets),
we may still be able to hope for more later on: "I hope to feed it
again," Ms. Holzer said. "It would be nice to keep it alive."

For the sake of all of us, I wish her success.

*
the complete quote reads:

The George Washington Bridge
over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of
cables and steel beams, it gleams in the sky like a reversed arch. It
is blessed. It is the only seat of grace in the disordered city. It is
painted an aluminum color and, between water and sky, you see nothing
but the bent cord supported by two steel towers. When your car moves up
the ramp, the two towers rise so high that it brings you happiness;
their structure is so pure, so resolute, so regular that here, finally, steel architecture
seems to laugh… The second tower is very far away; innumerable vertical
cables, gleaming across the sky, are suspended from the magisterial
curve that swings down and then up. The rose-colored towers of New York
appear, a vision whose harshness is mitigated by distance.

The quote is by Le Courbousier

Sometimes I don’t see the No Words_Daily Pix until I get into my office. Hepcat posts the picture from his home computer while I’m in the shower, making breakfast, or searching for Teen Spirit’s shoes. Then it’s time for OSFO’s donut at the Mojo and drop off in the school yard. 

When I finally see the pix – it’s always a nice surprise. But today’s picture really made me smile with pride:

Hepcat has such a great eye. He has been a photographer for most of his life. Growing up on a farm in Northern California he discovered art at an early age as his grandmother and mother were both artists. He picked up a camera when he was a pre-teen and has had one around his neck ever since.

As a teen, he had an annual art show  at the local library with his grandmother (who studied painting with Hans Hoffman). Their work would hang side by side; huge vote of confidence and support from his family about his interest in art and his desire to pursue it as a career.

At Bard College he studied photography with Doug Baz, who was and is an important mentor (and now a reader of OTBKB).  He also studied painting with Elizabeth Murray andfilmmaking with Warren Sonbert. When he graduated from college he arrived in SoHo ready to embark on a photo career. He assisted Larry Williams, a great editorial photographer, from whom he learned a great deal on the set of rock album cover shoots and spreads for Rolling Stone Magazine. He even had some pictures in Rolling Stone.

Graduate school at CalArts followed, where he studied with John Baldassari and got an MFA with plans to teach at the college level.

Back in New York, the  Amiga computer, marriage, kids, the need to make money, the Internet, the dot.com boom and bust, Cisco — it all converged to keep him away from photography for a few years.

Then he came back. In 2003, he was outsourced and given a severance. "There were no computer jobs anyway, so it seemed like a great time to try to be a photographer, again," he always says.

The digital photography revolution was the right moment of re-entry for him, as he knows everything there is to know about computers, cameras, and photography (if it sounds like bragging, I’m allowed. As his wife and all).

Hepcat is an all or nothing kind of guy and he threw himself into the photography like he throws himself into everything he does…Intensely.

90,000 pictures later: "You gotta shoot and shoot to really get your chops back," Hepacat’s got his chops back.

And then came a phone call from a Start-up in Manhattan. He’s back in the computer biz…and pretty happy about it. The photo biz isn’t the most profitable.

He’s hoping for a gallery show soon. And he can print any of the No Words_Daily pix pictures for you. He’s also available to do amazing portraits for you…

The guy’s got a great eye.

A Brooklyn Life is doing the brunch thing. Here’s what she has to say about our beloved Stone Park and others.

Midweek is the perfect time to start thinking about the weekend again. And what activity more thrills the hearts of Brooklynites everywhere? Brunch! I had a good one last weekend at the Stone Park Cafe on  5th Avenue. Gothamist recently gave the bistro a nod for its egg-topped burger (known as the short-rib sandwich), and not too long after it opened, Frank Bruni raved about it for its bone marrow in the Times. While I’m sure both of these are excellent, do try the brunch.

Read more at A Brooklyn Life

For a serious article I am writing about religion in Brooklyn, I’d love to hear from you about your experience looking for and/or finding a suitable religious situation for yourself.

Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Unitarian, and more, I am interested. Post me a comment, or email me at louisecrawford@gmail.com

Include your phone number (in the e-mail) if you don’t mind being interviewed. Interview by e-mail is fine, too.

Here are my questions (specifiy your religion):

What were you looking for?

What is important to you in a church, synogogue, etc. experience?

How did you go about looking for it?

Where did you end up?

Did the reality measure up to the reputation of the church, synogogue, mosque, etc.

Continue reading SHOPPING FOR RELIGION →

Park Slope writer, Steve Berlin Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You, a book that Hepcat is always talking about, has a self-named blog. While it is definitely a book promotion site, he also talks about bloggy stuff that is of interest to him. Here is his bio, and some words about his book.

Steve Berlin Johnson is the best-selling author of four books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience. His writings have influenced everything from the way political campaigns use the Internet, to cutting-edge ideas in urban planning, to the battle against 21st-century terrorism.

His latest work, the national bestseller Everything Bad Is Good For You, was one of the most talked about books of 2005. Steven argues that the popular culture we love to hate—TV, movies, video games—are getting better and are making us (and our children) smarter. In addition to his books, Steven is a contributing editor for Wired magazine and a monthly columnist for Discover magazine. He is a Distinguished Writer In Residence at the New York University Department of Journalism. He lectures widely on technological, scientific, and cultural issues, both to corporate and education institutions.

Steven’s argument in Everything Bad Is Good For You builds on brain research he investigated in his previous bestseller Mind Wide Open: Your Brain And The Neuroscience of Everyday Life. In that book, Steven uses his own personality as the test case for describing how the new brain science is yielding new understandings of human personality. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software was on four prestigious "Best Book of the Year" lists and was named a New York Times Notable Book. It was a finalist for the 2002 Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. Steven’s books have been translated into a dozen different languages.

He was the cofounder and editor-in-chief of FEED, the revolutionary web magazine blending technology, science and culture with a truly innovative interface. Newsweek named him one of the “Fifty People Who Matter Most on the Internet.” In addition to his columns, he’s published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, and many other periodicals. He’s also appeared on many high-profile televisions programs, including The Charlie Rose Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

He also blogged about the fact that Malcom Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point" and "Blink," has a blog. A warm welcome to Blogville to Malcolm and Steve. 

Very cool — Malcolm has a blog. This should be fun:

    In the past year I have often been asked why I don’t have a blog. My answer was always that I write so much, already, that I don’t have time to write anything else. But, as should be obvious, I’ve now changed my mind. I have come (belatedly) to the conclusion that a blog can be a very valuable supplement to my books and the writing I do for the New Yorker.

Work has begun on Number One Prospect, Richard Meier’s glass building that is going up in the lot next to Union Temple in Grand Army Plaza.  Here’s a photo from Transfer
nyc’s chronicler of architecture, bad, good & otherwise.

I told you the Brooklyn real estate bloggers would be all over yesterday’s magazine section (see below).

Brownstoner has pictures and comments on Bushwick, Midwood, Victorian Flatbush, and more.  And I haven’t even seen Curbed yet.

Speaking of real estate, did anyone see my pieces in BKLYN MAGAZINE? Beverley Square West, Issue Project Room, Sculpture in a Stoop, and Perch. Check it out. I think you can read on-line if you don’t hate PDF’s.  The URL for Erin Joslyn’s site may be wrong. I am gonna check and correct ASAP right here.

From Sunday’s OTBKB:

Real Estate. Read all about it in today’s  Magazine section.

"We are our houses, in other words, and over the last decade, as prices
have soared to impossible heights, real estate has occupied a much
larger part of our conversation. This week, we devote an entire issue
to the topic of real estate and how it changes us. Some of these
transformations are about broad economic forces: how Bushwick, one of the most crime-ridden places in New York, began to be populated by trendy restaurants and artists’ lofts; how an accidental tax deduction came to be thought of as the foundation of homeownership in the United States; and one economist’s surprising views on why housing prices are so high in some cities.

They should be talking about it all week in the real estate Blogosphere…

Tonight we will watch the Oscars at the home of Best and Oldest. She’s a screenwriter with lots of film biz smarts. So it should be fun.

We will, of course, be rooting for all the nominees with Brooklyn connections.

PARK SLOPE
First and foremost, we wish NOAH BAUMBACH all the luck that Park Slope can muster in his bid for the original screenwriting Oscar. Noah you and your brilliant film, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, make Park Slope proud. GO NOAH!!

BOREUM HILL
Next, we’re proud as punch to be neighbors of HEATH LEDGER AND MICHELLE WILLIAMS. Brooklyn continues to be the cool celebrity locale. And both of them were stellar in Brokeback Mountain.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

EVEN TRUMAN CAPOTE is a bit of a Brooklyn star. He wrote "IN COLD BLOOD" while living in a brownstone share in Brooklyn Heights. PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN as Capote is, in my opinion, the true owner of the 2006 Best Actor Oscar. You just have to look at that adorable, scruffy man to KNOW that his portrayal of Truman was a skillful act of transformation. 

PAUL GIAMATTI, the beloved star of SIDEWAYS is up for another Oscar in CINDERELLA MAN. I never saw the film. But Brooklyn is rooting for Paul, anyway!!!