As a recipient of Zuzu’s "Ladies List" I received this email about what I guess is THE gift for the menopausal and peri-menopausal women on your shopping list Zuzu’s. She’ll be selling them tonight at the Snowflake (Buy Local, Buy Late).

Dearest Ladies List Ladies….

I’m almost a little late for work right now,
Lorraine will be there by herself in 15 minutes.
I couldn’t wait to send this email out to you.
The Hot Flash Flowerfans just came this week.

I figured out a while ago that the most important thing I can do everyday is make sure that whoever comes into the shop feels as good as or better when they leave as  when they came in.

It’s good for business and good for my soul.
We try to make that the Zuzugoal, creed, mantra….

Of course it doesn’t always work.

It gets easier when we have good material:
Unusual  fresh flowers, new table linens, special seasonal treats…toys.

The Hot Flash Flowerfan is good material.
When I ordered them I  pictured Lorraine
selling them, making slightly off color jokes,
getting personal, cackling the whole time.

Times like this we need our Joy.
We need to laugh and be good to one another.
Everyday at work, I try to focus on how lucky I am to have
Zuzus: the shops, the people I work with,
the regular fans, the newcomers.

Tonight we will break out the Reindeer Suits
wine, bread and cheese till 10 P.M. at The Big.
Come down for some hanging out.
We can play with the Flower Fans and
tell funny hot flash stories…are there any?

Oh…they’re $18.
Love to you all
Fonda

An ambitious American history Book Club is forming. Lloyd Miller, who is the founder of the club, sent me this information. If you are interested, read this post and get in touch with Lloyd. It looks like there are going to be two meetings — one in Park Slope and one in Ditmas Park.

I see that he wants to have kids at these events, which is an interesting idea. I wonder how that will work out in practice. Certainly older kids is a great idea.

Also, there will be a musical side of things. A sing-a-long. Lloyd is a member of the Deedle Deedle Dees, so it makes sense that music will be an important component.

Can’t wait to hear how it turns out.

A lot of people responded and so it looks
like we’re going to have two meetings sometime in mid or late January,
one in Park Slope and one in Ditmas Park. I’m going to let everyone
know about both meetings for this first month, then after that just the
one for your neighborhood. That way, if you have friends in the other
neighborhood who would like to come, you can let them know. Also, if
you’re unable to attend the meeting closest to you, maybe you can get
on the Q and visit the other group.

The January book is The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
by Jonathan Alter. As I mentioned in my original posts to the Yahoo
groups, our meetings won’t feature traditional book club discussions.
Instead, we’re going to be singing songs from the FDR era, writing new
songs, and creating visual art, poems, and other projects that we can
use to teach kids and other adults about the book.

I’ll be drawing heavily from a second book to help us with the musical side of things: Roosevelt’s Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on FDR
by Guido Van Rijn. This book has a companion CD full of amazing songs
written for and about FDR — apparently more songs were written about
him than any other president. We’ll also sing more famous tunes from
the era ("Happy Days," etc) but my focus is going to be on more
overlooked music of the time. If you’re a musician, I’ll be posting
chords and, if possible, rough transcriptions of songs that I’d like to
sing at our meeting on my blog, www.teachddd.blogspot.com.
I’m also going to put updates about our book club there and links to
more music and things to read. This blog is a slowly-building resource
for teachers and parents, a digital musical American history textbook.
I write lots of songs with my band about American history that I bring
into schools and I also write songs with school kids in their social
studies classes and kids and grown-ups in other settings. This blog is
where I’m starting to gather everything into one central place.

Some important questions:

When is the best time for you to meet? Please be specific (e.g., "Tuesdays after 8pm") and give two or three options in order of preference.

Should we have kids at our meeting? If yes, how can we make it work? Ideally,
I’d like this to be a family event that your kids can attend with you,
but obviously if your kids are young like mine (3 years and 10 months)
it would probably be useful to have two adults so that one can be
chasing the kid(s) while the other sings, plays, and makes stuff. Let
me know what you think. We could also do a grown-up meeting at night
and then have a family daytime meeting where we play and sing the songs
we’ve already learned and show off what we’ve made.

Do you play an instrument? If so, which one? Do you read music? Can you read a simple chart? It’s fine if
the answer to all of these questions is no. I just want to figure out the best way to include everyone in our singalong.

Are
you an artist? (the answer is yes) A poet? An HTML code goddess? What
kind of art would you like to use to teach others about the book? I’ll
be supplying the musical materials we need, I need you guys to bring
other stuff you’d like to use, be it watercolors and paper, recyclable
materials for a sculpture, theater games, etc etc etc.

You can always write me at this address or thedeedledeedledees@yahoo.com if you have questions for me.

Buy Scout Tufankjian’s new book of photographs, Yes We Can, at PS 107, where she is doing a book signing, reading and slide show to benefit the school.

The Where and When

Tuesday, December 16
7-9 pm.
PS 107
8th Avenue at 13th Street
Go here for tickets

Hot off the presses. As hot as those waffles are gonna be from the Wafl & Dinges truck. And ice sculpture on Seventh Avenue. And as an added gift to the community for the season, strolling carolers will be on Seventh Avenue during the festivities. That’s right, members of the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Society and others will sing holiday favorites. They will begin and end at the Community Bookstore (143 Seventh Avenue) and stop in at various shops along the way. Just listen and you will find them starting around 7 p.m. 

Whoa. That’s so cool.

It’s all part of tonight’s Snowflake Celebration where you can buy local and buy late:

Local merchants once again throw open their doors to stay open late
and create a holiday atmosphere, enabling you, the people of Park
Slope, to do your holiday shopping . . . here!

Each participating
business will stay open until 10pm and  offer some special
promotion. It could be a sale, a giveaway, raffle, carolers,
snow machine (it’s been done!), mulled wine, special hors d’oeuvres,
etc. etc. The listings of participants grows daily!!!

Last
year we had 150 participating businesses — who knows what will happen
this year!?! In the current and impending economic climate, it’s more
important than ever to keep our local economy strong and healthy, so
let’s get together and Keep it Local!

Photograph by Rudolph Vernaz-Colas

Sarah Pollock is the Director of Development for 826NYC. She
will be participating in Buy in Brooklyn’s Snowflake Celebration during
the first two Thursdays in December with the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company,
who will be keeping their doors open late for everyone with a superhero on
their list.

Q: When did you start your nonprofit and why did you choose Park Slope?

A: 826NYC was
founded in 2004 (We’re now in our 5th year!!) to provide creative writing
education free of charge to students ages 6 to 18. We host drop-in tutoring and
homework help, field trips and evening workshops, in addition to our in-schools
programming. We chose Park Slope because we needed a location with a
store-front (for the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company) in a neighborhood that
students could access easily, and teachers would feel comfortable bringing
their classes. Our location on 5th Avenue is fantastic, because of the
proximity to MS 51, among other public schools.

826NYC Factiod:
They never considered putting their organization, 826NYC, anywhere other than
Brooklyn. They are thrilled, happy and very proud to serve Brooklyn public
school students (who make up more than 80% of their programming).

Q: Which of the Sustainable
Business Network NYC’s "Top Ten Reasons" to shop locally resonate most
with you & your organization?

A: Reason #3 definitely!
Local business owners invest in the community! One of our board members,
Brenda Casimir, owner of the Park Slope Tea and Coffee, is our
neighbor, board member and fervent supporter. (Her son Alex, quite possibly
attended more of our workshops than any other student in our history). And as
local business owners ourselves, we like supporting local stores whenever we
can. Which is why we’re happy to be a part of the "Buy in Brooklyn"
Snowflake Celebration!

Shop Local Factoid: Local businesses
are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and
are more invested in the community’s future. Local business owners often serve
on the Boards of nonprofits, merchants associations and community boards.

"Why Shop Local?" is a communication initiative of the Buy in
Brooklyn team. To learn more about Park Slope’s Buy in Brooklyn campaign, visit
their website at http://www.buyinbrooklyn.com/
The site, with its ever-growing list of participants and partners is updated
regularly.

Interview conducted by Rebeccah Welch

I was in Lolli’s looking for a holiday gift for my niece and the conversation rolled around to the Snowflake Celebration.

Lolli’s will be open late this Thursday night (December 11). One of the owners said that last Thursday night was slow but there were shoppers and she seemed to think it was a good idea for the neighborhood.

A customer in the store said that at PS 107, they’re having a movie and pizza night (showing Cars) so that parents can go shopping in the neighborhood.

Now that sounds like a great idea and a great way to get more people involved in the festivities.

She thought that they may be doing something at PS 321 like that, too.

Anyone know?

Yes, I say. I like the idea a lot. This from the New York Times:

While Caroline Kennedy is maintaining her public silence about whether she wishes to succeed Senator Hillary Clinton, her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, has been working behind the scenes on her behalf, according to Democratic aides.

In recent days the Massachusetts senator has called Gov. David A. Paterson and Senator Charles E. Schumer, as well as Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who took over last month as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee when Mr. Schumer stepped down.

From the NY Daily News:

Brooklynite Scout Tufankjian, 29, knows something about foresight.

Tomorrow, photos she started taking two years ago featuring a political long shot named Barack Obama hit bookstores in a sweeping, intimate portrait ("Yes We Can," PowerHouse, $29.95) of the President-elect’s historic campaign.

But, as Tufankjian tells it, the opportunity to go behind the scenes with Obama is something she almost passed up.

A photographer for the Polaris Images agency, Tufankjian built her portfolio working in Northern Ireland and the Gaza Strip.
Assigned to cover what she assumed would be a "deadly-dull"
book-signing, she wondered if the event was worth the five-hour drive
from her home in Brooklyn to New Hampshire, where it was taking place.

That drive, she notes, was "probably the best decision I ever made."

The man signing books was Barack Obama, who had at that time only
hinted at his presidential run. By the end of the day, Tufankjian was
on the phone with her editor, telling her that when Obama stepped onto
the road to the White House, she’d be with him.

Last summer, my father ordered tickets for 8 operas during the 2008-2009 Met season. How optimistic that was. It makes me want to cry. I remember seeing the page of the Met brochure with his circlings of the operas he wanted to see.

When he was in the hospital last August he did say something like, "You guys are going to have to use those opera tickets."

We wouldn’t even discuss it. It felt too morbid, too unbearable. I remember looking away.

The opera tickets have become a bittersweet reminder of my dad’s influence. Every few weeks or so we figure out who gets to go.

Hepcat has been to the most operas so far. He saw Faust with my stepmother, Queen of Spades with my sister and Thais with me.

My father’s seats are in the Family Circle. He swore by those seats; the sound is very good up there even though it’s miles from the stage. For decades my maternal grandparents had season tickets in the middle of the orchestra but those were dropped a few years back.So as a family, we’re very spoiled about our seating at the Met. Still, my father liked those Family Circle seats.

"You know how he liked a bargain," Hepcat said last night as we trudged up the stairs. But it’s actually quite fun up there.

Thais is a late 19th century French opera by Massenet about a beautiful courtesan who is convinced by a monk to take the path of chastity and become a nun.

It is a lyrical and wrenching portrait of a woman, who is  attached to the worldly notion of herself as an earthly and sensuous beauty — a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown who literally sees the light.

Trouble is, the monk falls in love with her…

Listening to the swooningly romantic music — sung by the great Renee Fleming — I was just dumbstruck by the power of this opera. At one point there’s a long and exquisite violin solo, it’s called the Meditation, that reminded me of something in a Charlie Chaplin film like City Lights.

Oh there was also a sexy belly dance and a kinky kiss on the lips between the belly dancer and a female singer.

So it was with joy not sadness that we sat in my father’s seats taking in the gorgeous singing, the stunning scenery and the sweeping lyricism of this opera, a Met Premiere.

I imagined my father circling this opera in that brochure: it was obviously something he wanted to see (the fact that it is rarely performed at the Met? Renee Fleming? Something else?)

I can’t say for sure what he would have said about it: his commentary was always informed and sometimes surprising.

But somehow I think he would have swooned over the voice of Diva Fleming and that violin solo that had me at hello.

Gorgeous.

A reading and discussion of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s newly published Park Slope Neighborhood and Architectural History Guide with OTBKB fave Francis Morrone, an  architectural historian and writer.

7 pm.  $10 suggested donation

The Where and When

Thursday, December 11 at 7 p.m.
The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue and Third Street  in Washington Park

Amos Eno Gallery is pleased to present “Close,” an exhibit of new
photographs by Anthony Cuneo, on display from November 25 to December
20, 2008. A reception for the artist will be held December 4th from
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
There will be a reading by Ellen Ferguson, Marian Fontana, Louise Crawford and others as part of this opening in DUMBO.

Anthony Cuneo began work on the images comprising “Close” in
2007, shooting in venues as different as New Mexico and suburban New
Jersey, and exploring subjects as diverse as the birth scars left on a
landscape by seam volcanoes or the root systems of invasive plants.
Working digitally from film originals, Cuneo adjust his images, on
occasion combining them into pairs or triptychs, sometimes presenting
them in a straight-forward manner, sometimes manipulating their colors
and values in a tactile fashion.

An awareness of touch and texture is very evident in these new
photographs and the viewer frequently senses that the objects shown
echo other forms and traditions; the word “close” refers not only to
the distance from which the images were shot but the sense that the
resultant pictures contain meanings held close within, layered behind
the ostensible subjects and needing close reading to be understood.
Located within the shadow cast by the photographer (an homage to Lee
Friedlander), a pair of rocks read as a heart or lungs. Shot suspended
in space, roots twist and curl like capillaries. Elements of landscape
are treated as objects, the objects become bodies, the bodies reveal
their own internal landscapes. Closely observed textures and forms
paradoxically seem powerfully, palpably solid and dangerously fragile.

Cuneo received his M.F.A. in painting from the University of
Pennsylvania and has been exploring photography over the last several
years. With this exhibit, he begins to treat his photographic works in
a painterly way, manipulating and combining images. He has an extensive
national exhibit record and is represented in numerous private
collections. Cuneo’s work is remarkable for its compelling aesthetics
and expressive power.

The Amos Eno Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Where and When

December 13, 6 pm – 8 pm
Opening of Close and Reading
Amos Eno Gallery
111 Front Street, #202 In Dumbo
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Did you know that the NYC Department of Education prohibits gifts from individuals of more than a modest nature to teachers in public schools?

While class gifts are permitted — although only modest amount should be asked from each family. — all names of families and children must be on the card whether or not that family contributed.

According to a note from the administration of PS 321, It is very important that you follow this regulation or else you put teachers in danger of violating conflict of interest regulations.

Below is the Chancellor’s Regulation C-110 with more information about gifts for teachers:

E. Gifts, Fundraising, and Celebrations for
  New or Newly-Promoted Staff Member

1. Gifts and Fundraising       
      

No student, parent, guardian, school class, official or employee is required or expected to contribute toward any gift or testimonial to an official or employee of
  the Department of Education. No class, student, parent, official or employee shall be expected or required to
  participate in any fundraising activity.

      

a. Gifts from individual students, parents
  and/or guardians

      

Individual students, parents and/or guardians
  may wish to make gifts to officials and employees at the end of the year and at similar occasions, such as holidays,
  weddings, and the birth of an official’s or employee’s child. However, discretion must be used to ensure that
  officials and employees do not accept gifts of value from individual children, parents or guardians. Only those gifts
  that are principally sentimental in nature and of small financial value may be accepted.

      

b. Gifts from School Classes

      

In addition to individual gifts, sometimes an
  entire school class may wish to make a gift to officials and employees at the end of the year and at similar occasions,
  such as holidays, weddings and the birth of an official’s or employee’s child. Officials and employees may
  accept gifts from whole classes of students, their parents and/or guardians, provided that each student, parent or
  guardian in the class has the opportunity to sign the card or note that comes with the gift, whether or not the
  student, parent or guardian contributed to the cost of the gift.

  Ever innovative, the Brooklyn Museum of Art is doing the social networking tihng:

A
first-of-its-kind new socially networked
Membership tier has been created at the
Brooklyn Museum and will debut on January 3,
2009 at Target First Saturdays. The
program,
known as 1stfans, will offer paperless
benefits through the social networks
Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, as well as
exclusive live events at the Museum’s monthly
Target First Saturdays, all for an
annual fee
of $20.

Artists from Swoon’s studio will be on hand
to help
launch the initiative at the January Target
First Saturday, the Museum’s popular evening
of art and entertainment in which the Museum
is open until 11 p.m. with free admission
beginning at 5 p.m. They will create prints
on found paper to be provided that evening by
new 1stfans.

"Traditionally, Membership has meant a
connection between one person and an
institution," comments Membership Manager
William Cary. "By engaging our Members
through online social networks and with live
events at Target First Saturdays, we
have created a way for visitors to become
associated with
the Museum and with each other. 1stfans isn’t
just an online category of Membership; it’s a
completely new way of using Membership to
grow our Museum community."

A groundbreaking benefit of the program will
be a unique method of utilizing Twitter, the
free social networking and micro-blogging
service, to connect with 1stfans. Twitter
technology enables its users to send and read
other users’ updates, known as tweets, text
posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Each month, the 1stfans Twitter Art Feed will
provide original content from contemporary
artists exclusively to 1stfans, providing
them with unique access to the perspectives
of many contemporary artists. The January
Twitter Art Feed artist will be announced in
mid-December.

It always sounds so easy. "Let’s go skating." Three simple words and you envision yourself peacefully gliding on Kate Wollman Rink next to the lake and those picturesque reeds swaying in the wind.

But first you have to find your skates in your overstuffed closet. And do OSFO’s still fit? Don’t forget the down vest, the scarf, the hats, the gloves.  Oh, mittens will do. But you have to have something to protect your hands from the ice!

Finally you’re dressed in your skating gear and you get overheated waiting for Diaper Diva to show up in the car. Once in the car:

"How do we get there?" she asks.

Simple you say. Just take Prospect Park West, take the traffic circle, then Prospect Park Southwest, another traffic circle, over by the Tennis House, enter the park, stay right, left into the parking lot…

Finally the car is parked and as you approach the rink you notice a long line of people who had the same exact terrific idea. Luckily, the line moves quickly…

"They don’t take credit cards," Diaper Diva grumbles. 

Obviously. We pay cash and add $6.50 so that Ducky can rent a pair of skates. She’s got the baby skates with her but Diaper Diva wants to try her on the real thing.

And what about a lock for the locker? You need somewhere to put all this crap…

Okay. Lacing up is an essential part of the process. The process. Yes, it’s the process not the product. That means slow down and honor the lacing of your  skates and the skates of all the children with you. Bend down and Enjoy it. Do it again. Tighter. How does that feel?

Oh my back.

Finally. Finally. The group of  four gets onto the ice and yes, memories return, of going skating with a 4-year-old (even a highly coordinated one).

She does a good job of standing up but only with the help of mom and cousin on either side of her slowly, slowly going ’round the rink.

After two times around, Diaper Diva is ready for hot chocolate at the snack bar. They get back onto the ice and after once around…

"Everyone off the ice." A voice over the PA system booms. Time for the Zamboni.

A total of three times around the ice and it’s time to go home. Ice skating. Such a nice, simple idea.

Riding home in the car. "Let’s go ice skating next weekend." And instantly, visions of peacefully gliding around the rink…
 

This month you can see The Limbo Room, a film by Park Slope writer, Jill Eisenstadt and her sister, Debra Eisentadt on the Sundance Channel. The first screenin gis at 10 p.m.. For other times, check the listings on the Sundance channel website.

This modern day drama about life in the theater and the politics of sex
revolves around a long time Off Broadway understudy. Ann receives a
much-needed dose of hope when a fellow understudy (Russell) takes over
a principal role to much acclaim. But, when an on-stage rape scene
sparks an off-stage affair between Russell and his co-star (KC), the
line between reality and fiction becomes blurred. Soon KC is accusing
Russell of really harassing her during the performance. Is KC truly a
victim? Is Russell actually a villain? No one can tell. Thrust into the
middle of the conflict, Ann questions the motives of everyone around
her while allowing her own vanity and ambition to lead her astray.