Photography by Lara Wechsler: Thru Green
The Oh So Prolific One: Leon Freilich, Verse Responder
EATERY, BLEATERY, CROCK
In the bad old days, pre-Bloomberg,
Folks in restaurants
Had to hie outside to light up
Furtively like cons.
Now the air’s been fully cleared,
Smoke no longer annoys;
But something hovers in its place:
Ear-polluting noise.
Blame the iPod blasting music
Into tender ears?
Point to architects who pander
To the owners’ fears?
They don’t want a cemetery
Still as snow in descent;
Restaurants must throb with life,
Promise merriment.
At that table over there,
However, bells like hell’s
Ring from entree to dessert,
Crashing decibels.
Move to the other end, you say,
Pockets of quiet exist;
Make like someone positive,
Make like an optimist.
Don’t be a fuddyduddy churl,
Don’t be such an ogre;
Be an easygoing chap,
Stick to playing pogre.
Easy for you and your friends to say
–Keep your cool, be stable!–
You’re the ones shouting the loudest
At the farthest table.
Au Contraire: Don’t Bring Babies to a School Talent Show, Please
Our pal Peter Loffredo, of Full Permission Living, went to the talent show at the Brooklyn New School. Unfortunately the elementary-aged performers were drowned out by BABIES. Once again, Brooklyn parents refuse to leave their very young children home:
Well, I have to do it. I have to say something unpopular again about this generation of parents in this part of Brooklyn un-raising their kids to their ultimate future detriment. Last night I went to the Brooklyn New School’s “Extravaganza,” a kind of talent night in which the elementary-age student participants are allowed to showcase their talents for comedy, music, poetry, dance, etc., in original ways, created by the students. Sounds like a pretty enlightened concept, right?
And indeed, as public schools go, BNS is pretty enlightened, certainly when compared to the absurdly – and undeservedly – vaunted PS 321.
Unfortunately, just like last year’s Extravaganza, the show was a debacle… and here’s why: there was no adult presence present. Oh, there were plenty of parents there, plenty of people between the ages of 35 and 55, but there weren’t any grown-ups! A number of the said parents saw fit to bring their screaming infants and bored, talkative toddlers to the event, making it next to impossible to enjoy or focus on the efforts of the older kids on stage trying to express something. (Many other parents there, without babies in tow since their kids were now older, but feeling guilty and identified with the disrupters nonetheless, didn’t say anything to silence the rudeness, even though the director of the Extravaganza, Jose, implored the audience to show some respect for the young performers on stage.)
Why did these people bring their babies to an evening talent show (just as they fought to be able to bring them to local bars)? So the tots could absorb the cultural experience? Have a social night out with other 3-month olds? Hello?!
Does not their wailing and restlessness indicate that they are in an inappropriate environment? And let’s not even mention the blatant rudeness of these hapless parents not caring in the slightest bit whether there might have been some other parents there who actually wanted to hear their 4th grader deliver her version of “Who’s On First?” (One of the few skits I could actually enjoy, only because I once performed it in high school and so had all the lines memorized and didn’t totally need to hear above the din of the miserably uncomfortable little ones.)
Here’s the really saddest thing, though, to me, as a therapist who has done a lot of work with children: these kids are used to not being heard. They are indulged and raised without boundaries and treated like faux princes and princesses, but they are not heard. They are put on stage, literally and figuratively, by their vicariously acting out, emotionally needy, egotistical parents… and then ignored, only to later be cooed over, while watching the video tape.
In one of the most poignant and powerful moments of the evening, two girls performed a beautiful piece combining music and original poetry, in which one of the actors expressed a desperate desire to scream in order to be heard by the adult world.
I wonder how many parents were actually listening
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Photography by Lara Wechsler: School Yard
Weekend Movies Playing in the Vicinity
Catch a movie this weekend:
There’s 21 (about the MIT blackjack team. Great book. Not sure about the movie), George Clooney in Leatherheads, The Bank Job, Horton Hears a Who, Stop-Loss, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Shine a Light, and a whole bunch of stuff you probably don’t want to see.
What Happened to the Gay-borhood?
Leon Freilich just sent this in.
The San Diego Independent ran this article a few days ago. It’s by Penny Patterson, who writes an online column about gay life at independent.com/gaygirl.
It’s true that Park Slope used to be known as a lesbian neighborhood. Now it’s stroller central. Which isn’t to say that PS doesn’t have its fair share of gay parents—and plenty of lesbians.
But things have changed.
Last month, my girlfriend, Jackie, and I went on our first vacation together. We went to New York to visit a Santa Barbara friend who moved there to broaden her professional horizons and, for an added bonus, date a few ladies. Despite having lived in Santa Barbara for a good three years, my friend had never really met any dateable gals. The one time she did end up with a girl’s phone number, we were at a club in West Hollywood. After a few pleasant phone conversations, WeHo Woman got a little obsessed and wouldn’t stop calling my friend. Chalk up another failed attempt with the ladies.
But New York would be different. My friend lived in Park Slope in Brooklyn, and practically every travel book Jackie and I read used some variation of the phrase, “Park Slope, or Dyke Slope as it’s referred to because of the high concentration of lesbians, is a lovely brownstone neighborhood …” Plus, two New York natives swore it was lesbian heaven, and one of my coworkers, who lived in the city for seven years, actually said,
“You’ll be in paradise; you won’t ever want to come back.”
Could it be true? Lesbians, in herd-like form, taking over an entire part of an N.Y.C. borough? Its reputation alone would have required Jackie and me to make a stop in Park Slope, but we would be making
it our home base for a few weeks; we couldn’t believe our luck. The first morning we were there, I excitedly wiped the sleep from my eyes, put on my best dangly earrings, and bundled up in my warmest clothes: We were going to our first New York brunch and, to make matters infinitely better, there would be lesbians.Ah, the pang of disappointment: nary a lezzie in sight. In fact, quite the contrary; we were surrounded by straight couples and sat next to two gay fellas who spent a large portion of their morning trying to get their adopted child to say “Dad.”
That, more than lesbians, turned out to be the theme: families. Everywhere we went there were strollers, toddlers, criers, screamers, snotty noses, and Happy Meal toys. My friend, whose chosen career as a writer must be supplemented by more lucrative jobs like babysitting, is living it up with several well-paying gigs per week. And they’re predominantly heterosexual families, who are well-off and hoping to raise their children in the safe streets and good schools of Park Slope.
i
Help a Baby Get a Good Start In Life
Have you ever considered becoming a boarding care parent? I didn’t even know what it was until today when I got this email
Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children, a highly respected adoption agency serving New York, New Jersey and Long Island, needs families to provide temporary boarding care for infants awaiting permanent placement.
There’s more information here:
Always like to share emails from Fonda and the Zuzu’s. Sounds like the name of a band. Hello to you zuzushoppers….what great beautiful days we have been having at The Big. It is so exciting to bring the Gardenshop back to life for our 37th Spring. We have lots of fabulous Pansies….so far it has been too cold to bring out the more tender Annuals. We brought in a few early Perennials: Heuchera and Hellebore (to die for!)…. and some Pieris covered with thick strands of pearly white bells. We found some wintered over pots of multicolored Euonymous that look as if they dressed themselves to match the fabulous Antique Pansies below. We have a substantial wedding to do this weekend so i have not had time to take pictures of the garden…you need to use your imagination for the moment . It will be fine weather for gardening this weekend, not too hot and some refreshing intermittent showers. We have lots of new zuzutreats just in….summer table cloths and runners, watering cans, kids garden aprons, tools, carrot and tomato totes,and pots of every size and color….sorry no pictures of this stuff either. She has some new surprises too…garden hats, little kid aprons, kitten and puppy backpacks, and washable coloring dolls…see below. And Oh! I forgot! We have the first Lilac up from Virginia! Come visit…
Thanks to Leon Freilich for sending these words of warning about this weekend’s 2,3, service: 2 TRAIN No 2 trains between Atlantic Av and Chambers St 3 TRAIN No 3 trains running, take the 2, 5, or bus instead GIMMEE SUM FUZZ The little gooseberry Despised being peewee But became very merry When renamed the kiwi. Bob over at Gowanus Lounge has got the Celebrate Brooklyn scoop: He’s got names and dates. Here’s a sampling, the one’s I’ll try to make: Feist, Gilberto Gil, Miriam Makeba, Beth Orton, Marc Ribot, The Holmes Brothers, Dixie Hummingbirds, Brazilian Girls, Philip Glass…quite a line-up. The level of talent and renown is very high. OSFO and I were peeking our heads in Barrio yesterday and someone said, “April 21. We’ll be open on the 21st.” Barrio, which is the new place going in on Seventh Avenue and Third Street, better be good after all this attention we bloggers have been giving it. There hasn’t been a period of such a fervent excitement about Brooklyn homes since the advent of the brownstone more than 150 years ago. In Brooklyn Modern”, Diana Lind examines this architecture and interior design boom through 18 particularly innovative living spaces and the homeowners who designed them. In addition to Lind, the book includes essays by the blogerati, Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge and Jonathan Butler of Brownstoner, who all rhapsodize on some of the exciting new aesthetics within “the new cultural heart of New York.” Tonight: Brooklyn Reading Works presents: Fiction x 3 with Sheila Kohler, Barbara Ensor and Martin Kleinman. Renowned author Sheila Kohler will read from her novel of the French Revolution, Bluebird or the Invention of Happiness, a radiant and artful novel based on the life of Lucy Dillon, an 18th-century French aristocrat. The wildly creative Barbara Ensor will read excerpts from her funny, modern twists on fairy tales, including Cinderella (As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story), Thumbalina; Tiny Runaway Bride, and Little Red Riding Hood. Martin Kleinman will read from his new fiction. April 10th at 8 p.m. Suggested donation: $5 includes wine and light refreshments This from Leon Freilich. Ti ta nic It was on this day in 1912 that the R.M.S. Titanic departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. It was supposed to arrive in New York City on April 15th. It was the biggest passenger ship ever built at the time at 882 feet long and 92 feet wide. Its hull had a capacity of more than four and a half million cubic feet. The Titanic is generally remembered as a luxury liner, but only 325 of the 2,224 people on board were traveling in first class. Many of the passengers were European immigrants hoping to start new lives in America. On the fifth night of the ship’s voyage, the weather was clear and windless. There was no moon. It had been an especially warm winter and many icebergs had broken off from glaciers farther north, so the lookout men had been told to keep an eye out for them. At about 11:40, one of the lookouts, Frederick Fleet, saw a huge dark object floating in the water in front of the ship. He yelled, “Iceberg right ahead,” and rang an alarm bell. Many of the passengers awake that night later said that they felt a slight bump. The sinking of the Titanic was one of the worst maritime disasters in history, and it has been a great inspiration to artists of all kinds. More than 500 songs were written about the disaster, most famously “It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down” by Pop Stoneman, with the lines, “Oh they threw the lifeboats out o’er the dark and stormy sea / The band struck up with ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ / Children wept and cried as the water rushed through the side / It was sad when that great ship went down.” The disaster has also been the subject of more than a hundred books and at least a dozen movies. Broader rules sought to pick gifted pupils (Times) Arrest of cigarette seller is a coup (Times) What’s with that Obama poster? (NPR) Spring decorating with poinsettias, holly and snowflakes (Pardon Me for Asking) Breslin on Jack Kerouac in Brooklyn (Village Voice) Winery in Red Hook (Brownstoner) Presentation Skills for Women workshop, the two-hour class I took with Jezra Kaye last week was probably the most VALUABLE two hours I have spent in ages. Every woman should take this class if you have to do any kind of public speaking or presentations (sales, meetings, speeches, non-profit, corporate, etc). What a great workshop for women of all ages. An interesting group of women gathered at a space on 23rd Street and in two hours Jezra had us writing and presenting short speeches. We also did breathing exercises and learned a bit about the differences between men and women’s speaking styles. All fascinating. Jezra Kaye founded Communicate with Power and Ease to bring her passion for speaker coaching to clients in business, not-for-profits and the arts. Before setting out on her own, Jezra worked for 16 years as a writer/creative director and speaker coach working with executives and managers of Fortune 500 companies. A noted speaker in her own right, Jezra lives in Brooklyn NY, where she practices communicating with her husband and their 18-year-old daughter. Get in touch with me or Jezra if you are interested. Check out the fascinating resources on her site. First he put the cyclops octopus sculpture in the space that used to be Seventh Avenue Books. Now the multi-talented Mark Ravitz is displaying drawings from his blueprint series on the front window. The one up now is called: Oh The Libido Now We’re Talking. Other blueprints in this humorous, tongue-in-cheek and smart series include: I am an Island Floating in a Sea of Allness, Emotions are My Enemy Emotions Are My Friend. Physics Six Simple Machines. The Theory of Relative-ity. And more. You can see them at Mark’s website. Or go to the window on Seventh Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Street. Share in the creative explosion of Mark Ravitz. And you thought he just did paint drips on the building? I walked by Barrio at noon on Wednesday and it looked like they were having serious training session for the staff in the outdoor/tented area of that new restaurant on Seventh Avenue and Third Street. They had printed materials and everything. Looks like they’re taking things very seriously over at the new place. Bodes well, I’d say. Toby Pannone, a 4-year-old boy from Park Slope was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma just a year ago. Since that time, he and his family have been living a nightmare. Thankfully, they have received much support from friends and neighbors. Many have cooked meals, baked cookies, or offered words of hope. Now there is something else that people can do for Toby and his parents, Mookie and Stephen. I saw this on Park Slope Parents: Kids Walk for Kids with Cancer, in Central Park on Saturday, May 10, is an We are organizing a TEAM FOR TOBY and I hope that everyone will come How wonderful would it be to show Mooki and Stephen, his parents, that Please email me at walkfortoby@gmail.com Helen Cook from BAM sent me this email about Eat, Drink, and Be Literary. I went to one of these and it’s a very interesting experience. You get drinks, dinner, and a little chit chat with the other people at your table (a bit like being at a wedding with Brooklyn literati). This is followed by an intimate reading and Q&A with a renowned author. I saw Cynthia Ozick, who signed my copy of a book of hers I LOVE called Heir to the Glimmering World. I must check what she wrote in there. I overheard her talking to a teenage writer. She told her to keep going at all costs. It’s good advice. I’ve been reading your blog and wanted to share information about an upcoming event at BAM with you. A unique series for sophisticated writers, readers, and eaters, Eat, Drink & Be Literary brings major contemporary authors to BAMcafé for intimate dinners, entertaining readings, and engaging discussions. Muldoon has received international honors that include the 1994 T. S. Eliot Prize, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Excellence in Poetry, and the 2004 Shakespeare Prize. Muldoon was recently appointed poetry editor of The New Yorker, and he remains chairman of the Princeton University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. The evening will begin at 6:30pm with a sumptuous buffet and select wines, and accompanied by live music. Following dinner, Muldoon will read from and be interviewed about his work and take questions from the audience. The event is sure to be an evening of candid glimpses into the creative process and the rich writings it yields. Tickets are $48. For more information or to buy tickets, visit BAM.org or http://www.bam.org/events/readings.aspx, or call BAM’s ticket services at 718.636.4100. I hope that you will share my enthusiasm for this event and post this event on your blog. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me by phone or via e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you. In today’s Dining Briefs in the Times, The Beer Table, on 15th Street and 7th Avenue got a veritible rave from reviewer Peter Meehan. The list of 25 or so bottled beers, which changes daily, is the focus. It is a fabulously succinct, remarkably reliable document, and most beers on it are not just unusual but unusually delicious. Instead of organizing the list by country or price or style, Mr. Philips has organized it from “most delicate” to “most rich.” It is a testament to his palate that the organization works, and that his descriptions of the beers are so reliable. Leipziger Gose, a beer I could drink by the bathtub full, is, per the menu, “super refreshing, herbal, somewhat briny.” Schlenkerla Urbock, a smoky brew from Bamberg, Germany, is “sausage in a glass.” The Philipses offer few, but worthy, companions to their beers: artisanal cheeses, malt-flavored ice cream and a spread of charcuterie — pork belly rilletes, chicken liver terrine and so on — that a friend makes a few times a week in Beer Table’s nook of a kitchen. A friend called the charcuterie and beer pairing “the perfect antidote to Bar Boulud.” I’ll call the place a fantastic spot for Park Slopers looking for a civilized way to wind down and a new pilgrimage site for beer geeks citywide. Spring Awakening at Zuzu’s Petals
you just have to get yourself over to The Big …but don’t neglect Little ZuProblematic Service on the 2 and 3 Train This Weekend
Uptown 2 replace the 5 from Bowling Green to 149 St
Uptown 5 replace the 2 from Chambers to 149 Sts
Apr 12 – 14, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon
For more information click on the mta.info link in this e-mail, pick up
a brochure, and read station signs.
Downtown 2 replace the 3 from 135 to Chambers Sts
Uptown 5 replace the 3 from Chambers to 135 Sts
The M7, M102, and free shuttle buses replace the 3 between 148 and 135 Sts
Apr 12 – 14, 12:01 AM Sat to 5 AM MonThe Oh So Prolific One: Leon Freilich, Verse Responder
Bob Says: Celebrate Brooklyn Schedule
Barrio Set to Open on April 21
Only the Blog Links
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Photography by Lara Wechsler: Pipe
Brookyn Modern: Urban Rebirth and Architecture
Cool Hunting, a blog dedicated to cool things worldwide, has a post about Brooklyn Modern, a new book from Rizzoli, about Brooklyn’s modern architecture boom. Written by Diana Lind, Contribution by Robert Ivy, Photographed by Yoko Inoue, the book is described as “the first book to explore the connection between Brooklyn’s astounding rebirth and its emerging architecture.”Fiction x Three at Brooklyn Reading Works: TONIGHT
Brooklyn Reading Works
The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope
info; 718-288-4290
louisecrawford(at)gmail (dot)comOh They Built a Ship Titanic
Only the Blog Links
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Photography by Lara Wechsler: Man and Tree
Presentation Skills for Women with Jezra Kaye
Creative Explosion at Mark Ravitz Storefront
Staff Meeting at Barrio
For Toby Pannone: Kids Walk for Kids With Cancer
annual event to raise money for pediatric cancer research at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center! This year’s funds will support research
at MSKCC on Stage IV Neuroblastoma, the cancer that Toby continues to
battle.
out and show support for this corageous boy and his loving family. The
event starts at 2 pm and will be a 4.5 mile walk, ending with cookies
and socializing. Everyone from babies in strollers to grandparents and
even pets are welcome!
we are literally walking with them as they endure this battle that no
parent should ever know !?! And what better weekend can it be than
Mother’s Day to share this gift of support and love…and celebrate our
own children’s health.
and tell me how many will join us for this very important cause. I will
then send you specifics of where to meet on the 10th and how to
designate our team on the sponser sheet. You may also check out the
event’s website for more details. www.walkforkidswithcancer.org
Eat, Drink and Be Literary at BAM with Paul Muldoon
On April 17th, Paul Muldoon will be reading from his work and engaging in discussion with moderator Edward Hirsch. A native of Northern Ireland , Paul Muldoon has published many poems, his first at age 16. Since then, he has published several collections, including New Weather (1973), Madoc: A Mystery (1990), and Moy Sand and Gravel (2002), for which he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize.Bar for Civilized Beer Geeks
Only the Blog Links
