My talented friend has caught the sewing bug. She’s taking sewing classes and just bought a sewing machine.

Last week she made an adorable skirt for Ducky. Doesn’t Ducky look like she’s just thrilled with her new skirt?

This issue of Prima Materia, which features OTBKB friend, Nancy Graham, was reviewed very favorably in Chronogram by Pauline Uchmanowicz. Nancy’s poignant short fiction, "This House is Talking to You,"  is about a woman’s first walk inside a huge Victorian house she is thinking of buying with the ailing owner who, sadly, must let go of the house he loves.

An excerpt from the review: Founded four years ago by Brent Robison to showcase new fiction by Hudson Valley writers, the literary journal Prima Materia‘s
latest volume includes poetry and memoir. Its brief and fleeting 32
selections progress like a slide show, projecting images of family,
home, landscape, and travel onto the pages. A fertile travelogue
emerges overall, though limited space allotted the prose pieces (some
excerpted from larger projects) makes the journey read like closely
spaced exit signs along a toll road. While Robison’s inclusiveness (24
local authors in all) is commendable, one might hope for fewer but more
expansive pieces in future issues. Still, Speeding Through the Night achieves a consistent sensibility, with several selections worth mining for their deftness and lyricism.

A young family goes house hunting in Nancy Graham’s "This House Is
Talking to You," a fine-spun story starring an aging seller who is
deeply invested in the hundred-year-old historic landmark with which he
must part. "There were large rooms with wide openings, gilt-edged
mirrors over fireplaces of twin parlors, bookcases framed by deep-set
windows for nestling on the margin between outside and in," one of the
would-be buyers notices.

Houses also appear in Wendy Klein’s arresting
memoir excerpt "Snapshots," composed of brief, interconnected frames
that amplify a quarter-century, beginning in 1963. "In a big white
house with hidden passageways and too many bedrooms, a black maid
serves us scrambled eggs on sunny mornings," Klein writes of childhood,
games of hide-and-seek foreshadowing secrets that over time splinter
and divide the family.

We stayed until the very last credit of Brokeback Mountain just to hear Rufus Wainwright sing "The Maker Makes" and to savor the the emotion of a very powerful film.

Hepcat thought the film captured that part of the country (Wyoming) like nothing he’s ever seen. The slowed-down time, the scale of the landscape, the affect of the people. It reminded him of Avedon’s photographic masterpiece, "West."

I loved the pace of the film. Especially in the beginning. It really put me into a very western mood. The lack of language, the physicality of the sheep rancher’s life, the brutal weather, the connection with the natural world…

It made the early sexual scenes all the more powerful. I was overtaken with the sex scenes and found them incredibly arousing. Sex between Innis and Jack in the tent that first time was just incredible – I’d never been as turned on by images of sex between men.

Of course seeing those me – Jake and Heath. It was, for me, a stimulating voyeurism that took my breath away.

Heath Leger as Innis is unspeakably wonderful – it is a performance where even a twitch could be construed as over-acting. Everything is communicated in the most subtle, phsyical of ways. I found myself watching his face, his posture, his walk, his eyes.

There’s so much rage within him and masked-over passion. When he bangs his head against the wall after that first summer in Brokeback Mountain – it is believably the only way this character knows how to express inner pain.

Innis’ relationship with his daughters is heartfelt and vivid – even though it is largely unspoken.

Jake G. is an amazing and, for me, a more recognizable character. He has passion and ambition within him. He wants to love openly and his desire to come out and live on a ranch with the man he loves is powerful and moving.

The women too were amazing. Alma’s silent suffering is brutal. She’s a compelling person locked into a tough rural life in the middle of nowhere. Ultimately, she leaves him. But she never stops loving Innis or feeling betrayed by his lies.

For me, the scenes after Brokeback Mountain didn’t have the power of those summer scenes – but it did convey and even create the longing to see those two men back together again. The lives they were both living away from one another made you long for the passion of those scenes n the tent. But nothing in the rest of the film ever measured up to the beginning – nor did anything in the lives of those men ever measure up.

The film set out to do some very difficult things: portray the lives of people who are largely inarticulate and withheld. As a portrait of longing for the unattainable, so  much of the film had to have a kind of flatness in order to convey what was missing.

In the end, Brokeback is film about absence – of words, of love, of sex, of truth. Like a negative space, the characters inhabit a world that lacks even the most basic human needs: to o be truthful about our selves and to live our lives expressing the passion that glows within.

Around here we sometimes call the Mojo the Mojuah – giving it a fancy French pronounciation like we do when we say Targe (I need an accent over the e for the Francais) instead of Target.

Mo-Jew-ah

So today is the big re-opening day of the Mojuah. And it’s a big deal for those of us on Third Street who use the Mojuah for our daily coffee, our afterschool treats, a meeting place as in "I’ll meet you at the Mojo and then we’ll go from there…"

We are creatures of habit and we don’t like it when our favorite little routines change. So today we will find out what’s going on.

I appreciate Corey responding to OTBKB and setting things straight. Information is power, and those of us on Third Street felt a little out of the loop about our morning coffee shop.

So thanks, Corey, for clearing the air. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got goin’ in there.

GOOD LUCK!

Here’s a post I wrote last year after seeing Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen perform at Joe’s Pub.

ON MARCH 26th, 2006 at 7 p.m., the two are doing a benefit performance at The Old Stone House, a Park Slope museum and cultural venue. For reservations:  (Tickets are $40 in advance,  $50 at the door, e-mail  

He’s
in our midst. He looks just like everyone else. Drops his kid off at PS
321 and drinks coffee in the morning; he helps out with PTA activities
and does the Times’ crossword puzzle at the same table every day at
Starbucks.

Bu this man has another identity too. He’s a prodigiously talented
composer and songwriter. His work will make you swoon, laugh, even cry.
Just like I did. Lifted out of the every day, his work delivered me to
the worlds of Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and a white, Jewish guy
from the Southside of Chicago.

His name is Louis Rosen. And Sunday night at Joe’s Pub, Capathia
Jenkens, sang, among other things, a song-cycle he created based on the
sassy eloquence of Maya Angelou’s poetry. Rosen uses a variety of song
styles to bring the poet’s words to life – blues, jazz, musical
theater, classical – with suprising leaps of melody and harmony. His
music brings out the poet’s voice in a  way that enhances and
enthralls.

Vocalist Capathia Jenkins is a discovery. Like Rosen, she deserves
to be a star. The songs, which were created expressly for her
multi-timbered voice, give life to Angelou’s women. And Capathia
becomes these characters in an instant – her stance, the way she holds
her microphone or moves her hand. In tiny theatrical ways, she embodies
these phenomenal women and stirs the room with virtuousic blues in a
deep alto-to-high soprano range. Her earthy emotionality belies a
sophisticated vocal control.

What a pair. Louis and Capathia: a handsome, skinny guy from
Chicago’s Southside and a ravishing, voluptuous black woman with a
voice that makes you laugh and cry.

The audience at Joe’s Pub was in their thrall Sunday night. Louis on
the piano singing an autobiographical song about growing up. Capathia
endearing herself to the crowd while taking us on a journey through a
universe of identities.

The room took them in with all the cabaret-attention it could
muster. Waitresses served, people ate from plates of delicious food,
drinks were a-plenty, but the audience was rapt and they applauded
ferociously after every song-poem, honored to be among the few to see
what was probably the best show in town.

Monday morning I saw Louis in the Slope but I didn’t say hello.
Feeling a little awed, a little shy, I watched to see if there was a
spring in his step after such a phenomenal night. He kissed his son
good bye in the lobby of PS 321 and found his usual table at the local
Starbucks.

Back to being a regular guy. Someone who looks just like everyone else.

For reservations and tickets, here’s what you need to do:
Make your check to The Old Stone House (tickets are $40 per person). Mail to:

The Old Stone House

PO Box 150613

Brooklyn, NY 11215
See you there.

An OTBKB reader named Lefty (or Chris Z) sent word that he recorded the conversation between Norman Mailer and his son, John Buffalo Mailer, that was at the New York Society for Ethical Culture last night. To hear the discussion, go to Sound Posse. I imagine that it will be quite interesting.

Who: Norman Mailer, John Buffalo Mailer, moderated by Dotson Rader.

Where: The New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th Street, New York NY.

When: Thursday, March 2nd, 7:00 PM

What:
A conversation between a father and his son on "What it Means to Live
in America
Today." An intergenerational sparring match as they discuss
their new book, The Big Empty: A Dialogue on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker, and Bad Conscience in America. Presented by Nation Books and co-sponsored by the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Continue reading NORMAN AND JOHN BUFFALO MAILER →

The Mojo’s main man (and manager), Corey, wrote OTBKB to clarify some of the information in her piece about the Mojo and to assure everyone that there will continue to be be soft service ice cream at the Mojo.

First, I want to say that Corey is the de-facto face of the Mojo Cafe. I have the sense that as long as he’s the manager, he will insure that the Mojo continues to be the vital community coffee (and ice cream) spot it has always been. Here’s what Corey had to say:

It’s not that we are looking to upset the children of Park Slope or force
their parents into ordering $2 ice cream from what some call Maggie
Mooch. We are, however, looking to stay above water, calling Park Slope our
home and pay what is put here in the blog: "sky-rocketing Seventh Avenue rents."

I must say that I personally have had coffee from around the
neighborhood and they just aren’t as good as ours. I’ve had cheesecake
from other places and they just arent as good as ours ( ask the 500
people worlwide who believed Marion Burros — food section editor of the
New York Times — and ordered a cake online after having never tried a
piece).

I’ve worked here 6 years and I’ve had ice cream from other shops,
comparable yes, but not as good, and that is why we decided to keep the
ice cream cakes(which are all made fresh on the premises).

The myth is
that we have been a Carvel franchise since being sold a new to owner,
but we havent; we were selling premium(which was made here on the
premises) ice cream that was better than Carvel’s. To really move
foward as the home of the Slope’s best coffee and the world’s best
cheesecake, we had to produce an ambiance that would makes people feel that they
are getting a quality product, and I believe most people would agree
that they dont go into Haagen Daz for a great cup of coffee.

Having
said that I look foward to seeing all of you for our grand re-opening
party on Saturday March 4th. C’mon down. There’s free samples.

Oh, parents and kids: I forgot to mention that Mojo will be serving ice cream:
chocolate and vanilla soft serve only. I know its a far cry form the 16
hard flavors in addition to the soft serve , but we aren’t mean monsters
and we don’t hate kids, we just had to compromise. We are looking to pay
the $96 a square foot and rising rent. So if you love our soft serve
ice cream, or if you feel like Maggie Moos and Haagen Daz are just too
much then come on down and get a cup or cone after school.

FROM NY 1: The Brooklyn woman who nearly died in an apartment building fire in
Crown Heights Wednesday was reunited with the firefighters who saved
her life Thursday.

A fire forced Cheryl Ann John onto her window ledge, 25 stories
above the ground. The mother of four was pulled to safety by several
firefighters.

After being treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation, John was
able to visit the Crown Heights firehouse and personally thank her
heroes.

“Well I feel love in my heart right now,” said John. “I thank God
that they came the time that they came. I don’t know what would have
happened."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation

My friend just told me that watching AMERICAN IDOL is like rubber necking at a car wreck. I kinda know what she means. She probably thinks that watching it means  partaking in the worst of American culture – and she’d be right about that, too.

There’s not much good you can say about the show. It’s not edifying, uplifting, or inspirational. But it is addictive. That’s for dang sure.

Before this season, we never watched American Idol. Never even took a peek. We had sworn off television for 7 years – and lived for the most part without the boob tube, except for video rentals. 

This year for reasons I don’t completely understand, we put the television antenna back on the TV. We have reception. We can watch network TV (no cable here. Is that next?) It felt like time. We’re fairly restrained about it. And we’ve been enjoying the family togetherness aspect of sitting in front of the television. Together. In the living room.

Hepcat sits at his desk and groans. He just hates it.

AMERICAN IDOL just pulled us in (me, OSFO, and Teen Spirit grudgingly) and wouldn’t let go. For starters, the auditions were fun to watch in a kind of sadistic way. Sadistic voyeurism. Many of the performers were pathetic. Few were worth a second listen. Anyone with any talent really stood out.

Like Taylor Bickford. He’s the guy with gray hair, a Ray Charles voice, and the harmonica. That was pretty novel for Fox television. A harmonica.

Yes, there is something addictive about the show. And as it progresses, we get familiar with the characters in a sit-com way. We have our faves. OSFO, Diaper Diva, and I have come up with nick names: Frank Sinatra, Smiley (who did an incredible version of Sam Cooke’s "A Change is Gonna Come") the Gray Haired Guy, Cutie (the boyish looking teenager from Levittown, NY), Bucky (the cute, dopey southern rocker), Baldy (the really good rock and roller pictured above) and Big Ears (his name is Eliot and he’s really talented).

So far, I’ve only mentioned the men. That’s because they are SO MUCH BETTER than the women. Sad to say, most of the women are like Barbie Dolls who sing. And they are about as talented (or untalented) as that sounds. It comes from the sexism that says a female performer has to look a certain way. Few of these women seem to really be about  the music.

Catherine McPhee was an exception. She stood out initially for having a really good voice and good taste in songs. Then there’s Paris who  is hot, she’s only 16 and super talented. Big Lady is pretty damn great. And I guess I like Pickney, the blonde who did that Bonnie Raitt song (and doesn’t like calimari) and Lisa Tucker who is also very young and very talented.

I have to say, the judges are the most interesting aspect of the show. There’s Randy with his: "Dude, what was going on?"  Or "Dude, that was hot." Or his ultimate compliment, "You’re a dog!" He really knows popular music and is good at sussing out whether someone has any talent at all.

Paula Abdul is the adoring sister. She always looks like she’s going to start crying, especially with the boys and finds each one more adorable than the next.

And Simon. Simon is so unforgiving, so impatient, so on the money, and SO FUNNY most of the time, that, for me, he is the show. He also has something good to say: again and again he gives the performers good advice. Advice we could all take to heart:

–Be original

–Give it your all

–Pick a song and or style that expresses who you are

–This is your only chance so make something of it

–Think about what makes you unque and put that forward

It all seems kind of obvious – but it’s so easy to mis-fire when you’re trying to be creative. It’s tempting to do something that is safe. Or to try to master a style that you like but is not your own. Really, what’s the point? The essence is to put what you have to say out there – for better or worse – and try to make something new.

Otherwise why bother?

I was moved by this post by Calla Lillie. Hepcat and I are a bi-coastal family (he: Northern California. Me: Manhattan) and I can relate to much of what she has to say. She is embarking on marriage and that, alas, is also something I did 17 years ago.

It’s weird and new to find that I have two families now, one on each
coast. I find it gratifying and fascinating to watch my Almost Husband
interact with his family—it gives me glimmers of what he must have been
like as a child, insights into pieces of him that I would never know or
understand without the context.

It must be incredibly difficult to have a child living on the other
side of the country—even more so when he has fallen in love and begun
to lay down more permanent roots so far away. To me, that makes it all
the more important that we visit as much as we can, to learn about and
from one another as the concept of family grows and expands. And
expand, indeed!

Here’s to
families and coasts and the things that connect us—growing and changing
as time hurtles forward—transforming us daily, ever so slightly, into
who we are.

READ MORE AND SEE PIX AT CALLA LILLIE

OTBKB spoke to Corey, the manager of the Mojo, the cafe on Seventh Avenue at Third Street that until recently doubled as a Carvel franchise. The shop was sold a few months ago to the owner of Ainsley’s Cheesecakes. Last week, the new owner closed the shop for a week of renovations. Open again, the shop is now a bakery cafe that also sells panini sandwiches, wraps, and salads.

According to Corey, who was manager of the Carvel/Mojo and is still manager, the ice cream business on Seventh Avenue is a bust. You just can’t make any money at $1.00 a scoop, he says.  Especially if you have to pay $25,000 a year to Carvel. So it was essential, he says, that the new owner get rid of the Carvel franchise.

Corey, sounding like an MBA, seems to be really on top of the dollar and cents aspect of the ice cream/coffee/dessert business. The new owner plans to offer dessert items and some sandwiches and salads. Said Corey, with his number-crunching hat on, You may sell less cheesecakes per day but based on the price per cake, it’s whole lot more profitable.

The Mojo might be good spot for a bakery. Between Cousin Johns (near Berkeley Place) and Two Little Red Hens (on 8th Avenue near 12th Street) there is no bakery. Regina closed on February 27th, another casualty, I would guess, of the skyrocketing rents on Seventh Avenue. There is the Cocoa Bar one block up from the Mojo, but they’re not selling whole cakes and pounds of cookies.

I asked Cory if he was optimistic about the new direction of Mojo and he said he was a whole lot more optimistic once they got rid of the ice cream stuff.

So the ice cream biz on Seventh Avenue (just one block from a big public school) is lousy. I imagined (as many did) that the place was doing great business – but I never really sat down and did the numbers…

Sitting in the Mojo this afternoon, about ten kids and parents came in between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. looking for ice cream or Krispy Kremes. While they were disappointed, in most cases, they picked something else to order.

The kids have the most to lose. I tried to explain to OSFO that selling ice cream to kids just isn’t that profitable. "But it makes it such a happy place," she said. "Why don’t they just raise the price of the ice cream."

A true capitalist.

Saturday is the grand re-opening. There will be a lot of dessert items on hand, says Corey. I hope they plan on adding tables and chairs. It must be hard to make a change like this with a whole bunch of opinionated, busy-body neighbors chiming in.

But that’s the way it is in Park Slope.

Thank you Brownstoner
for bringing to my attention news about a block I walk on practically
every day to visit Diaper Diva and Ducky. And on Tuesdays OSFO takes
piano lessons at Poly Prep. Wow. Look what’s going up on 1st Street
between Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue.

Community Board 6 gave a new addition to
Poly Prep’s Prospect Park West campus the thumbs up last Thursday
night. In other words: look what’s going up on First Street between Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue.

GO TO BROWNSTONER FOR MORE OF THE STORY

There’s big news on Third Street. The Mojo Cafe re-opened after a week of renovations and they no longer sell ICE CREAM.

There goes the neighborhood.

OTBKB asked one of the guys behind the counter and he said, "No more ice cream. I’m not sure what the owner has in mind." They do still have ice cream cakes.

Where are all those kids, parents, and caregivers going to do? There’s always Maggie Moo’s, I guess.

In the past week, the new owner of the Mojo has been busy renovating. Not a fancy renovation – just your basic clean up, paint job, some minor construction. They painted the space brown; got rid of a lot of the tables — I assume they’re getting more, and added a couch. That’s right. A couch.

The place is obviously not finished but it is open. They added a tall refrigeration case that has some cheesecake, some wrap sandwiches and some salads. Not the most appetizing selection.

And no Krispy Kremes. That did it. OSFO said, "This place used to be my favorite place. Now I hate it."

While I was in there this afternoon, a mom came in and saw that they had NO ICE CREAM in there: "Let’s go kids. We’re going to have to find a new place to get some ice cream," she said.  Then she turned to me and said, "Does this guy know how much business he’s going to be losing?"

I’m sure he does. It’s possible that he did the numbers and decided that the ice cream business wasn’t worth the hassle, the kids, the afterschool mayhem. Maybe he thinks the REAL MONEY is in coffee, cheesecake and wrap sandwiches.

Take this all with a grain of salt, make that ice cream, readers. I could be jumping to conclusions. But I will tell you this: there is no ice cream freezer for hard ice cream in there.

You read it here.

Last February Central Park was awash in orange curtains.  Remember? I wrote this back then.

What was it about The Gates that kept bringing 9/11 to mind?

The color for one thing. Christo and Jeanne Claude’s choice of hue
was both an acknowledgement and a joyful defiance of the city’s
perpetual orange alert.

One friend said the plastic orange structures reminded her of the
twin towers. And the way everyone kept looking up at the fabric
recalled those nightmare September days when everyone was looking up at
the sky.

Someone else said that when The Gates are dismantled, it will be
like life after September 11th. The way we still see the twin towers in
their absence; ghost images in the skyline of what once was and will
always be.

The Gates united our city in much the same way that 9/11 did. But
this time we weren’t joined in grief, fear, and confusion. The Gates
were about joy, about the meaning of art, about being alive.

It was a carefree walk in the park for our neighbors and friends.
And for that The Gates was worth every penny Christo and Jeanne-Claude
spent on them.

I just visited Rare Device’s on-line shop and I plan to make a trip up to the South Slope store (open Wednesday through Sunday) at 453 Seventh Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. The web site looks fantabulous and I saw just the thing for a friend’s 40th birthday present: a gorgeous necklace designed by the shop’s owner, Rena Tom.

A razor blade necklace by Brooklyn-based Analogous Jewelry also jumped out at me. Here are some details about Rena and her very cool shop. And don’t forget to check out Rena’s blog. That’s how I found the shop in the first place.

What is Rare Device?

If you are an English major or an English teacher, you know that ‘Rare
Device’ is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan. (If you are
a true bookworm, you know that Ray Bradbury took a stab at that phrase
too.)

Rare Device is, simply, good stuff for you and your home. Rena
Tom, the proprietress, has been designing jewelry on the West and East
coast for a couple of years, selling to stores and directly to happy
customers at shows. She was so inspired by all of the fabulous,
creative designers she met along the way, both in person and online,
that she decided she had to share her discoveries, and she opened Rare
Device in October 2005.

The studio/storefront is a place to promote these designers as well as
her own work. Every object in the store has its own story, and has been
chosen because it is either handmade, well-designed, useful, beautiful
or all of the above. The aesthetic is modern and quirky while remaining
warm and inviting.

Who’s in charge here?

Rena Tom has lived her entire life
in California until very recently. She has a background in both liberal
arts and engineering, not being put to very good use these days.
Previously, Rena was involved in the Internet world before deciding to
be crafty for a living. She used to own a ’67 Mustang Fastback and a
Kelsey printing press but has traded them in for snow boots and a
Metrocard. She loves fonts, ice cream, balls of yarn, broadband
wireless, grainy Holga photos, fancy chocolate bars, rickety
rollercoasters and abundant sunshine.

453 7th Avenue (between 15th and 16th Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York 11215
Hours: Wed – Sat, noon to 7pm; Sun, noon to 6pm

Those who have been following the love story of Danny and Annie Perasas on Morning Edition, will be sad to hear that Danny died on February 24, 2006. His funeral is in Bay Ridge today.

Did I mention that Grace of the blog Design Sponge (d*s) made it into NEW YORK MAGAZINE’S list of peopel to watch in 2006? I thought that was pretty cool (Who says blogging isn’t the happening thing?)  also  learned on Rare Device, that Grace has a piece in  NEW YORK HOME MAGAZINE about Park Slope style. Check it out if you can find the mag (details to come).

I just visited D*S for the first time in a while and I see that she’s done a total rehab/redesign of her site and she’s really moving and shaking. I really like her new logo.

If you’re interested in decor, design, furniture, and all that kind of stuff, you’ve got to know about Design Sponge. Here’s her news on what’s been going on over there.

Things
have been crazy at d*s lately and i wanted to thank all of you for your
support, emails and tolerance of the numerous coding snags we’ve had
trying to get the new site up (my coder and designer are saints for
putting up with me through this). i’m talking with another coder
tomorrow morning to try and get this thing up and running, so in the
meantime, i wanted to give you a sneak peek into what’s coming on
monday (new look or not):

• d*s mini trends!:
  this little sponge likes to window shop new trends, so why not share my
  finds with everyone? this column will be a weekly look into micro
  trends cropping up in the industry and examples (with links!) of how to
  bring each look into your home. the first trend article will set sail next monday…
• sponged!:
  links to the latest and greatest on the design world (including
  magazine, newspaper and design articles that are must reads for the
  week)
• ask d*s!: i get so many emails during
  the day asking for shopping suggestions, so i’m going to share the
  results with readers twice a week so we can all benefit from a little
  spongey research
• d*s reader recs!: you guys
  know your stuff so now d*s readers can take advantage of our design
  savvy audience by sending in a picture of their own home for advice on
  paint colors, furniture arranging, furniture, etc. send in YOUR photo now for next week (subject: reader rec)! once or twice a week depending on demand)

As a psychotherapy groupie, I’ve always enjoyed the essays of Adam Phillips, a psychoanalyst and the author, most recently, of "Going Sane: Maps of Happiness." His earlier work: On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored; Essays on the Unexamined Life" is worth a read. This piece appeared on Sunday’s OpEd page. needless to say, it caught my eye.   

PSYCHOTHERAPY is having yet another identity crisis. It has manifested
itself in two recent trends in the profession in America: the first
involves trying to make therapy into more of a "hard science" by
putting a new emphasis on measurable factors; the other is a growing
belief among therapists that the standard practice of using talk
therapy to discover traumas in a patient’s past is not only unnecessary
but can be injurious.

That psychotherapists of various
orientations find themselves under pressure to prove to themselves and
to society that they are doing a hard-core science

On February 25th, Wall Street Journal wine columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher invited anyone who’s been holding on to a special bottle of wine to uncork it and report on their experiences, for the seventh annual

FROM NEW YORK 1

Authorities are probing whether the fire ignited in the stairwell of
1033 Pacific St. is linked to three other arsons on the same
Bedford-Stuyvesant block since December.

A reward is now being offered in connection with the deadly fire.

Four people

FROM NEW YORK 1

Thousands of volunteers are expected to hit the streets Monday night for the annual count of the city’s homeless.

The count – now in its fourth year – is an effort to help the city track its progress in getting New Yorkers off the streets.

For the first time last year, all five boroughs were included in the count.

More than 2500 volunteers will scour areas like parks, streets and subway stations and record the number of homeless New Yorkers they find.

"We want to come out on a cold winter night to make sure that we’re counting the chronic homeless people who are living on our streets and to find out how many there are and where they are," said the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services

Once again this year volunteers will also run into some decoys, posing as homeless people to help test the accuracy of the count.

Critics, however, say the count itself is inaccurate, because it doesn’t include people living in cars, abandoned buildings, or other hidden places.

What is going on in Carroll Gardens?  Curbed seems to know

A mere 18 years after the movie’s release, Moonstruck mania continues apace in Brooklyn. By now you probably know that the famed Moonstruck house is on the market in Brooklyn Heights for $5 million. A Curbed correspondent in Carroll Gardens reports on another Cher connection:

So this bakery on Court Street near Union is closed for renovations and apparently they’re reopening in conjunction of the Cammareri Brothers, whose bakery was used in the movie "Moonstruck" (the bakery was later the Red something or other brunch spot and now it’s Naidre’s). And I’m assuming were the inspiration for Nic Cage’s last name in the movie.

READ MORE AT CURBED

The Spring issue of BKLYN Magazine is OUT. Some SUBSCRIBERS have already received their copies in the mail. I didn’t get mine yet but Diaper Diva did and she said it looks good. 

OH. Didn’t you know that BKLYN is now a subscription magazine? It’s also available at Brooklyn and Manhattan newstands. By Tuesday (2/28) it should be in the Seventh Avenue and Court Street Barnes and Nobles, Book Court (163 Court Street), Musicians General Store (213 Court Street, A Novel Idea Bookstore (8415 Third Avenue) and Shakespeare’s Sister (270 Court Street).

It used to be free (when it was part of the Heart of Brooklyn group). But now BKLYN is its very own thing. So you MUST SUBSCRIBE so that it can AFFORD TO BE its very own thing. And so that you can receive it four times a year. Hopefully it will be coming out even more often. Soon. 

It takes a while for a magazine to find its way and BKLYN is finding its way. And it’s starting to feel like a hip, in-the-know mag filled with great stories you want to read cover to cover. It buzzes a little and will make you laugh. It’s got important stories – politics, art, real estate, books, food and more. And I’m in there, too.

Read me in this issue. I’ve got a wordy (!) piece about a local activist in Beverley Square West who is trying to get that area landmarked, despite opposition from those who prefer red brick exteriors and don’t want the government to  tell them what they can and can’t do with their houses.

And I’ve got shorter pieces in there about Issue Project Room, Perch, and a 400 lb. bronze sculpture somewhere in Brooklyn, owned by someone in Brooklyn. Read all about it in BKLYN.

There’s other good stuff, too. David Berreby talks about his smart, thought-provoking book, "Us and Them" and helps us understand the inner tribalness in all of us. Plus "The Messiah of Eastern Parkway" and "The Race for District 11."

Good stuff in there. Read it. Subscribe. Keep me employed.

I visited Udge’s blog and found these flowers and this note. Cheer up Udge. Your flowers are so pretty.

Spring is nearly here, it’s tulip time – even if these came from a
hothouse in Holland or Egypt. I haven’t had flowers on my desk at home
for quite a while, it hasn’t seemed worthwhile with the amount of time
I’ve spent working elsewhere, but today I decided to give myself a
little present, to cheer myself up a bit.

I do need some cheering up today.

Remember the Surreal Cafe. It was on the corner of Prospect Place and Fifth Avenue. Well, now it’s Miriam, the brand new Israeli restaurant that people are talking about. New York Magazine seemed to like it. Actually the review here is quite the rave:

Miriam’s is neither a hut nor a shack. It

Dear Vacation Diary,

This vacation week is just flying by thanks in part to my sister, Diaper Diva, who has been kind enough to include OSFO in all of Ducky’s infant activities.

OSFO is completely smitten with 18-month-old Ducky and wants to spend as much time with her as possible.

On Monday they went swimming at Eastern Athletic and saw "Curious George," the perfect G-rated movie with its adorable story and cool Jack Johnson soundtrack.
 
Today, the three of them went to Music Together. Later on, the super indulgent Aunt took OSFO into Manhattan and they ended up at Build-a-Bear-Workshop on Fifth Avenue of all places. Suffice it to say, OSFO came home with a birth certficate for a dog named Spot. And the stuffed animal too.

OSFO joined me at the office and made use of the time taking advantage of all the office supplies for arts and crafts projects.

The evening was spent in the thrall of imaginary play with her downstair’s neighbor while the men of American Idol competed for America’s votes.

A daily vacation diary presented in the hopes that it will give you activity ideas for your kid’s vacation.

Dear Vacation Diary,

OSFO survived the slumber party. Reportedly, the girls went to bed at 2:30 a.m. after playing a rigorous game of "Girl Talk," which sounds like a board game version of Truth or Dare with some sparkle make-up thrown in for good measure.

I picked her up this morning at 10 a.m. and she seemed quiet and tired. Didn’t say a whole lot about the party but I could tell that she’d enjoyed herself. Or so I hoped.

She took a long nap and then went to see "EIGHT BELOW" with Diaper Diva. They thoroughly enjoyed the film:

Abandoned by their masters when a storm hits Antarctica, eight amazing
huskies find themselves instantly anthropomorphized. All alone, they
must scavenge for food, tangle with sea lions and practice their
sentimental reaction shots.

Tuesday evening passed in a flurry of "American Idol" and female figure skating on the Olympics. Skating anyone?

American Idol. It’s taken five years, but we’re finally getting into it, looking forward to it. talking about it. Enjoying Simon. Cringing at his nasty insults. Agreeing with him most of the time.

I was mostly unimpressed with the females. But there were a few I liked. My favorite, since the San Francisco auditions, has been Katharine McPhee. Tonight she sang a knock out version of "Since I Fell For You" and I think she will win my VOTE.

She’s only 21. But her mom is a voice teacher and her idol is Barbara Streisand. Look, she’s not
Fionaapplenorahjoneslucindawilliamsbethortonmarthawainwrightnataliemerchant or any of my other faves.

But she’s good.

Paris Bennett and Lisa Tucker were also great. Paris is only 17 and she did an incredibly confident "Midnight Train to Georgia."

SHUT UP! we say. Brooklyn resident complained about noise to 311 more often than other borough. From New York 1:

Brooklyn residents have more complaints about car alarms than residents of any other borough.

According to the New York Post, the mayor’s office reported that
the most complaints to the 311 line about car alarms came from
Brooklyn.

Oddly enough Brooklyn only has half as many cars as Queens, but
more cars are apparently stolen in Brooklyn than in any other borough.

The Post reports that 568 car alarm calls to 311 came from Brooklyn
last year out of the 1,865 total complaints about car alarms.

The City Council is doing its part to stop the noise pollution.
Last year it banned motion sensor-activated car alarms that don’t
automatically shut off after 3 minutes.

Tonight, OSFO’s is at the much looked forward to slumber party of her best friend.  Oy, the preparations. The planning. The countdown until the day.

Which pajamas?  Which stuffed animal? Which sleeping bag, pillow, tooth brush, outfit for tomorrow/

She made sure to get a good night’s rest on Sunday because, I guess, she’s wasn’t planning on sleeping much tonight. They never do. At the other sleepover party she went to, the girls were up until 4 a.m.

Tired, cranky the next day. But it was worth every tired, cranky minute.

I hope she’s doing okay (motherworry). She’s probably having a great time (I hope I hope). Is she homesick? (She is prone toward homesickness, doesn’t much like to be away from home.P I hope she’s okay (more motherworry). Hate for her to be sad. Lonely. Frightened.

If I close my eyes, I can communicate good, loving, protective feelings her way (motherpower) Don’t be homesick. Have fun little OSFO. I know you are…

I’m sure she’s okay (motherhoping). Hope we don’t get a call in the middle of the night to come get her. Homesick, needs to come home.

Can’t imagine we will but what if…Come on. She’s a fun lovin’ girl. Probably hasn’t thought of us once. Not even once?

It’s so quiet here. We’re not used to her being away (mothersad). Missing her. Wishing, hoping she’s enjoying herself (motherwishing).

We’ll get through this. We will..