TODAY IS NYC MARATHON DAY: STREET CLOSINGS
It’s bad for traffic but it’s great for spectators watching one of the world’s great sporting events. I got this info off of the IMG Marathon Website.
Most streets and bridges along the marathon route will be completely closed to traffic during the race.
Plan your travel—and have your friends and family plan theirs—accordingly.
The following closing times are among those planned for Sunday, November 4. These times are subject to change.
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island-Brooklyn
Upper level (both directions): closed 12:01 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Lower level, Staten Island-bound side: closed 7:00 a.m.-Noon.
Lower level, Brooklyn-bound side: closed 8:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
Please note that the bridge allows vehicular traffic only. No spectators or pedestrians (other than marathoners) are allowed on the bridge.
Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn
Closed 8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Pulaski Bridge, Brooklyn – Queens
Closed 9:00 a.m.-2:50 p.m.
Queensboro/59th Street Bridge, Queens – Manhattan
Lower level: closed 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Upper level will remain open
First Avenue, Manhattan, 59th Street – 125th Street
Closed 9:15 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Willis Avenue Bridge, Bronx – Manhattan
Closed 5:00 a.m.-4:45 p.m.
Madison Avenue Bridge, Bronx – Manhattan
Closed 8:00 a.m.-4:45 p.m.
Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
Closed 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m.
Central Park Transverse
79th Street Transverse: Closed to motor vehicles all day. Open to pedestrians.
86th Street Transverse: Closed to motor vehicles all day. Open to pedestrians.
East/West motor vehicle traffic will be detoured south to 57th Street or north to 138th Street.
THE MARATHON PARK SLOPE STYLE
Head on over to Fourth Avenue to watch the NYC Marathon with the rest of Park Slope. It’s Brooklyn’s marathon through mile 12.
Park Slope is 6 miles in (that’s an educated guess). So most of the runners still look energetic and sprightly. Make a sign. Hand out a cup of water. Call out words of encouragement.
Wear a raincoat if you’re doing water duty. You can get pretty wet trying to hand a cup to a runner; splashed by a cup being tossed away….
SMARTMOM’S LITTLE MUSHROOM
Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper.
Smartmom used to think that parents were responsible for everything good, bad, and indifferent about their children.
She thought that raising children was like raising African Violets or Orchids; tending to a child with the unswerving dedication of a master gardener.
But after being a parent for more than 16 years, Smartmom has learned that, while some kids are like flowers, others are more like exotic mushrooms.
In other words, the less you do, the better.
While no one can deny that it is important to nurture, love, feed, educate and guide one’s children, sometimes being a parent requires a healthy dose of distance.
Take Teen Spirit. In the last year, he has turned into an accomplished rhythm guitar player. And this is the kid who refused every music lesson he’s ever been offered.
But that’s not all. On his own, he’s become an avid reader of early 20th-century poetry and has been obsessively writing songs that could give Bob Dylan a run for his money.
(Smartmom’s his mother. She’s allowed to kvell).
Unlike the Oh So Feisty One, he doesn’t like to share everything with his mom. That OSFO, she loves to be guided and encouraged. When she practices the piano, she insists Smartmom sit right next to her.
“Stop it,” she screams when Smartmom sings along with one of her classical pieces. But if Smartmom dares to get up: “Get back here!”
Teen Sprit couldn’t be more different. He’s always been an independent sort. The less interest shown the better. An overzealous parent can blow his enthusiasm right out the window.
The other day, these thoughts were foremost on Smartmom’s mind as she and Hepcat made their way to Teen Spirit’s solo gig at the Bowery Poetry Club.
Smartmom ordered a glass of Chardonnay to calm her substantial nerves. While Teen Spirit has been playing bass with his band, Cool and Unusual Punishment, for three years, this was his first solo performance.
As audience members filled the dark performance space, Smartmom thought about the dark growing rooms where white, brown and Portobello mushrooms are harvested.
Just like those mushrooms, Teen Spirit was growing on his own without the bright artificial light of his mother’s attention. On his own, he had transformed himself into a serious singer-songwriter.
It all seemed very sudden to Smartmom. That’s probably because she had nothing to do with it. Truth is, he seems to have little use for her constant nagging: Wake up. Take a shower. Go to school. Do your homework. Go to bed.
But that’s what mothers do. That’s part of the job description. And it’s part of the parental delusion of control that their children can’t develop without them.
Waiting for Teen Spirit to play, Smartmom found herself stressing: Would he know how to use a microphone? Was his guitar in tune? Would his hair fall into his face and cover his eyes? Would he remember the lyrics to his self-penned songs? Would he sing loudly enough?
Smartmom was channeling Gypsy’s Mama Rose big time. Sing out Teen Spirit. Sing out.
Turns out, Smartmom didn’t need to worry a bit. Teen Spirit took hold of that stage and didn’t let go.
“This is a song about a family,” he told the audience at one point. “But it’s not autobiographical.”
“A mother says to her daughter, never marry a man like your father, all he’ll make you do is cry, all he’ll give you is black eyes, like the ones that pollute your mother’s face,” he sang.
Some of the songs gave her chills. Others made her swoon. One or two simply took her breath away.
“We are sacred, we are pure, we are rare, we are obscure, we are all that we have left.”
Afterward, Smartmom and Hepcat were in awe of their offspring. But could they take any credit for it?
Sure, Teen Spirit had inherited Smartmom’s musicality and her wondrous way with words. But he owned his effort and his talent fair and square. Teen Spirit had created himself out of sight of his parent’s hovering.
“Was that great or are we just prejudiced because we’re his parents?” Smartmom asked her spouse as they walked to the F train. Hepcat, who recorded the show with his brand new Zoom H4, reminded her, “Some of the other kids’ parents were impressed, too.”
In fact, the mother of Teen Spirit’s oldest friend told Smartmom to tell Teen Spirit that she was very proud of him. Then she paused to rephrase. “No, tell Teen Spirit we were blown away.”
And there it was: Perhaps Smartmom couldn’t take credit for teaching Teen Spirit anything, but he had certainly taught her that not all children are flowers. Some are mushrooms and you just have to leave ’em alone.
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
JAY FIDLER IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALL ABOARD?:
My Uncle Jay, who died this week, wrote to the Metropolitan Diary in 1991. I found this yesterday when I googled his name. I love the word: laggard.
Dear Diary:
One recent evening on my regular Metro-North commuter train, the time for departure from Grand Central had come. A young conductor stood at a train door looking toward the ramp leading to the train.
The door warning bell sounded. The conductor called out loudly and impatiently to a laggard commuter, “Get on the train, stupid.” Whatever happened to “All aboard”? — JAY W. FIDLER
A FUNERAL ON THE DAY OF THE DEAD
Yesterday was the Mexican Day of the Dead. I went to the funeral of my 84-year-old Uncle Jay, where two rabbis and five family members spoke eloquently about an exceptional, larger-than-life man.
Poems were read. Hebrew prayers recited Even a Hopi prayer was intoned.
But in the end, a line of black limousines and cars followed a hearse to the cemetery, where my maternal grandparents are buried. We mourners shoveled dirt onto my Uncle’s grave.
That was the business of the day.
The rabbi explained that by shoveling dirt into the grave, Jews do the work of burying their own and “creating a blanket for the dead.”
We were told to use the back of the shovel; a symbol of just how difficult it is to cover one’s loved one in dirt. Nevously I waited for my turn. Would I be able to dig the shovel into the dirt, lift it, and turn it over into my Uncle’s deep grave?
I did it when my turn came. I was moved by the site of others, young and old, doing the same.
The rabbi led the group in the Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead. Traditionally, sons are required to recite the Kaddish three times a day for a year. In the reform tradition, of course, daughters are allowed to say Kaddish as well I am glad to say.
According to The Jewish Virtual Library: “the word Kaddish means sanctification, and the prayer is a sanctification of God’s name. Kaddish is only said with a minyan (prayer quorum of ten men), following a psalm or prayer that has been said in the presence of a minyan, since the essence of the Kaddish is public sanctification. The one who says Kaddish always stands.
All present placed a single purple tulip in the grave. There was a chill in the air. I looked down at the large, pine casket and lingered for a moment of unthinkable thoughts. Finality. Endings. Where are we going?
The rabbi told the group to make two lines facing each other so that the immediate family could walk through and feel surrounded by the love and support of friends.
Back at my aunt’s sunny apartment, the mirrors were covered with wrapping paper and cloth. Another Jewish custom: to cover mirrors during mourning as a way to ignore the physicality of the world and ourselves; a way to focus on the reality of being a soul.
I could see myself through the shiva coverings anyway. The apartment filled with relatives that, sadly, I see too infrequently, on Thanksgiving, at Bat Mitzvah’s, weddings, and funerals.
When I was younger it surprised (even embarassed) me that people could be festive after a funeral. But now I understand. Life goes on in spite of pain and loss.
Mexicans know that. The Day of the Dead is an upbeat celebration honoring the deceased. Mexicans believe that death is not the end but the beginning of a new stage. Some families build altars or shrines, and on this day, they pray and tell stories.
Some wear shells on their clothing so that when they dance the dead will wake.
That afternoon, the conversations were rich, vibrant, full of life. What are you doing? Where do you live now? Your children, what do they do?
The voices were loud. There was laughter. Stories about my Uncle. Memories shared. Were these our shells?
There was wine and good food. Rugalach, cheese cake, cookies, dried fruit. Friends and family caught up with each other.
Life goes on and yet…
On every surface, photographs of my Uncle and others who have died.
They go on. They do. Through us. Within us. They do.
TODAY AT 4PM: JONATHAN LETHEM AT THE LIRBRARY
Author Jonathan Lethem will be reading and talking about his work at the Brooklyn Public Library on Saturday at 4 p.m. They have a new auditorium called the Dweck Center. It might be fun to take a look.
Saturday, November 3, 4:00 PM
Central Library, Dweck CenterJonathan Lethem: In Conversation
Jonathan Lethem received critical accolades for his novels Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude, both of which were set in Brooklyn, where he was raised and spends part of every year. His most recent novel, though, You Don’t Love Me Yet, is set in L.A., where he worked as a young man. Lethem has written in a range of literary genres and is known for his fondness for popular culture. In this free-ranging interview, Lethem will discuss his ideas, his life, and his work. This program is co-sponsored by Con Edison.
And next week at the library:
Saturday, November 10, 2:00 PM
Central Library, 2nd Floor Meeting RoomBrooklyn Writers for Brooklyn Readers: Michael Thomas
Thomas is interviewed by Leonard Lopate and reads from “Man Gone Down” about a man who finds himself broke and estranged from his wife and children. Brooklyn Writers for Brooklyn Readers is supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency
INNER LIVES, DEVELOPING CHARACTERS: ALL DAY WORKSHOP WITH REGINA MCBRIDE ON NOVEMBER 10th
Novelist Regina McBride, author of The Nature of Water and Air, The Land of Women, and The Marriage Bed comes to Park Slope once a month to teach a one day, intensive workshop, Inner Lives Developing Characters.
Register now to reserve a place in her November 10th Workshop from 10 am until 5 pm that is designed for writers of all levels. The cost is $125.
NOTE FRM OTBKB: I have studied with Regina McBride since 1998 and I recommend her classes to all writers wherever you are in your process. Using relaxation and sense memory, her technique is wonderful whether you are just beginning to write, embarking on a novel or memoir, or very experienced and in the midst of a novel or short story.
For inspiration, character development and incredible writing exercises, Regina’s course has been vital to my development as a writer as it always propels me to my best writing. Especially great when your work needs a little jump start.
If you are interested, please email nightsea21@nyc.rr.com
Inner Lives: Developing Characters
An Intensive Workshop with the Focus on the Fictional Character
With Regina McBride
Using relaxation, sense memory, and emotional memory (Stanislavski acting techniques transformed for the writer) a variety of exercises will be offered to enable the student to find a deeper, richer connection to the character he or she is creating.
Exercises will be followed by writing periods, and opportunities for people to read and share their work. The atmosphere will be safe, with the focus on exploration. The class is designed to help the student break into new territory with the character, and with the story itself.
NEXT UP AT BROOKLYN READING WORKS: POETRY PUNCH ON NOVEMBER 15th
Does anyone have a good recipe for punch? I am serving poetry at Punch Poetry. I mean I am serving punch at Poetry Punch. Please send your ideas.
Poetry Punch, a delicious and heady mix of poetry at Brooklyn Reading Works on November 15th at 8 p.m. featuring Lynn Chandhok, Michele Madigan Somerville, Marietta Abrams, Zaedryn Meade (see below) and Cheryl B. at The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope. The house is an old stone building in JJ Byrne Park. Don’t think you are lost. It’s a house in a park.
Here is a poem by Zaedryn Meade, which appears on NPR’s This I Believe website.
Me in a Nutshell by Zaedryn Meade
I believe love is the closest we get to divinity
I believe in waiting patiently on the corner for the light to change
I believe in being kind
I believe that as birds fly, and fish swim, humans create;
it is our ‘natural’ mode of operation
I believe the opposite of war is not peace, it’s creation
I believe creative expression is a way to get to know
what we don’t know
that we already know
I believe in finding common ground and elevating the discussion
in wanting what I have and giving what I need
I believe in asking myself how it is that I will come alive
because that is what the world needs
I believe in keeping rocks in my pockets
to remind me to stay close to the ground
I believe stones and aerial maps of the ocean floor
teach me to fly
I believe to be free is not merely to cast off one’s shackles
but to live in a way
that respects
and enhances
the freedom of others
I believe in leaving everything and everyone and everywhere
just a little better off then when I found it
I believe when we let go of who we are, we become who we might be
I believe in paying my library fees
I believe in psychics, astrology, epigraphs
crossing fingers at cemeteries
lifting feet when going over a bridge
ice cream on the hot days
I believe in swimming at the glacier in the summer
and chomping icebergs like snow-cones
I believe asking for – and getting – someone’s consent is sexy
and knowing the pleasure you want and how to get it
is subversive and revolutionary
I believe gender and power and play is what makes the sex hot
I believe stretch marks and scars are beautiful
because they tell the history of the body
I believe the body is a temple to be worshipped
that we are not separate than the earth, but rather from the earth
I believe it feels good to shit outside
I believe in cranberries, avocados and cashews
in redheads and black ink
in leaving a trail on an unmarked canvas
in drawings on skin
in tiny yellow flowers under the chin to check if I like butter
I believe in watching the media, pop culture, consumerism,
and celebreality with a critical eye
I believe in turning off the TV
I believe in accessories: shoes, belts, bags, scarves, glasses
I believe growth requires the temporary suspension of security
in second chances and red balloons
I believe in wishing on the full moon and faery rings
and dandelions gone to seed and eyelashes
and shooting stars and lovers’ laughter and birthday candles
I believe very few people are actually out to get us
but are rather just distracted by their own
human-drama-bubble of daily life
I believe differences are the only way we learn
I believe intentions do matter
I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt
but still protecting the gentle red ribbed cage
around my heart
I believe you and I are not mistakes, we are stardust
I believe in unfolding my own mythology
like an origami swan
asking every day:
what will I do with my one wild and precious life?
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
REPORT CARDS FOR NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The nation’s biggest public school system is about to start giving out grades — to its schools.
More than 1,200 New York City schools will be given report-card-style letter grades next week, for the first time. An A will mean bonus money; a D or an F could mean a new principal or a complete shutdown.
The grades are based largely on standardized tests. Schools will be compared to other schools with similar demographics, among other measures.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says the new system will enable schools officials and parents to “hold our schools fully accountable.”
But principals’ union spokesman Brian Gibbons says principals are concerned that the data may not be “accurate, understandable” or “fair.”
PARK SLOPE CIVIC COUNCIL: HOW’D TALK ON THE HOMELESS GO?
At last night’s Park Slope Civic Council Meeting, there was a discussion of the homeless at Old First inspired by Pastor Daniel Meeter’s column on his blog. I am interested to hear from those who were there how it went. Rabbi Andy Bachman, who wasn’t at the meeting either (because he was off studying the Torah), heard that it was a “good first step.”
“Word on the Street” is that the meeting at the Park Slope Civic Council tonight was a good first step for our community’s desire to take another systematic look at the challenge of dealing with our homeless residents. Inspired by Pastor Meeter’s blog about his congregation, Old First, and their own issues with homeless men, members of his worship community and ours, Beth Elohim, joined together at the Civic Council to attempt to forge a communal response to the lowest rung on our society’s socio-economic ladder.
It seemed fitting that as the meeting was taking place, some of us were studying Torah, Beit Midrash style, and looking in particular at the theological mandate, laid out in Exodus, for God to hear the cry of the Israelite people under servitude in Egypt; for God to answer that cry; and, finally, for Moses to answer the answer, as it were, and agree to be God’s agent in liberating his people from the bondage to Pharaoh..
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NEW COLUMNIST TAKES ON PS I LOVE YOU COLUMN IN BROOKLYN PAPER
And it’s my friend and fellow writer’s group member, Wendy Ponte. OTBKB is thrilled that Wendy is going to be writing the weekly Park Slope column for the Brooklyn Paper.
Here’s an excerpt from this week’s column, Wendy’s take on celebrity children’s book author, Julianne Moore, who read at the Seventh Avenue Barnes and Noble last week.
I think I’ll write a children’s book. I am a writer, so it’s not that much of a stretch. I know how to put words together in interesting ways. Of course I’ve never done that particular type of writing before, but that certainly hasn’t stopped other non-kids-book writers from the trade.
Indeed, hearing Julianne Moore last Thursday at the Barnes and Noble on Seventh Avenue reading from her new children’s book, “Freckleface Strawberry,” has given me hope. After all, she’s never had anything published before — and I have! And, anyway, it’s easy — right? There aren’t that many words, and all I need is a good moral, or some kind of childhood affliction that turns out to not matter after all. I didn’t have an annoying childhood nickname like Moore’s Freckleface Strawberry. But I did have awfully hairy arms for a 9-year-old girl, and the boy sitting next to me at school teased me all year until I finally convinced my mother to let me use bleach. Maybe I could call my book “Gorilla Girl,” or just plain “Hairyette.”
SUSTAINABLE FLATBUSH: TOWN HALL MEETING
Look here: Sustainable Flatbush is about to enter an exciting new phase of its development. And they want as many people as possible to get involved.
WHAT: Sustainable Flatbush Town Hall Meeting
WHEN: Monday, November 12th at 7pm
WHERE: 462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)
Longtime Flatbush resident Mark Levy has come onboard, bringing his
history of commitment to the neighborhood and experience as a
community organizer and environmental educator. He has also kindly
offered to host this meeting at his home. Thanks Mark!
We will form committees geared toward specific activities and service
projects, establish leadership roles, and set some new goals for
2008. To give you an idea of what’s in store, here are some of the
proposed committees:
• RECYCLING/WASTE REDUCTION
Focusing on recycling education and promotion, as well as other
methods of reducing waste in our homes and businesses, from
composting to blocking unwanted fliers.
• SUSTAINABLE GARDENING
Sharing knowledge and resources on sustainable approaches to all
forms of urban gardening, from yard landscaping to street tree pits
to organic farming. We will also be actively involved in the new
neighborhood community garden.
• TRANSPORTATION/LIVABLE STREETS
Working with Transportation Alternatives and other Livable Streets
advocates, we will bring a local perspective to the citywide
discussion of such issues as traffic calming, congestion pricing,
public transportation improvements, and infrastructure for
pedestrians and cyclists.
• ENERGY EFFICIENCY/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND FUELS
Let’s talk about how to save money by using less energy in our homes
and businesses, and how to incorporate alternative energy sources
such as biofuels and solar power into the landscape.
• LOCAL BUSINESS OUTREACH
Helping neighborhood businesses to adopt sustainability practices
that improve their “Triple Bottom Line”: People, Planet, and Profit.
• LOCAL SCHOOLS OUTREACH
Implementing environmental education and practices in our local
schools.
CLEVER DOC WANTS TO KNOW: DO YOU FEEL TRAPPED?
Here is the latest installment from Clever Doc who wants to help New Yorkers take a look at their lives and renew. Today she wants to know, do you feel trapped; like a victim of circumstance? If you missed the last three questions here they are:
Do you Laugh Enough?
Are You Still Learning?
How Angry Are You?
Edgar Allen Poe’s The Pit and The Pendulum captures desperation to a faretheewell. The short story describes a rat-infested torture chamber with high walls surrounding a fetid bottomless pit; a sharp-edged pendulum swings ever closer to a starving, innocent man. The man summons hope, then thought, then efforts to save himself. And then…Although fiction, the tale feels real and sets my heart racing.
How much of the way we see and feel about our own life is real?
Are we winners or losers? Victors or victims?
A fair chunk of our reality is determined by our own attitudes, by what we ourselves think.
From his death camp experiences, Jewish psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrested the conviction that the last human freedom is the freedom to choose one’s attitude. Amazingly, we have control over our attitudes. Not, perhaps, if we are clinically depressed and need treatment, but otherwise, we do.
Studies suggest that people who feel “buff” also feel that they can successfully play whatever cards life deals them — even jokers. Other studies report that patients with a positive outlook have more full and satisfying lives than nay-sayers. In the context of how we see ourselves, and knowing that perception can change,
So, here is QUESTION #4:
How often in the past month did you feel trapped, a prisoner of circumstances?
Never (4 points)
Once or twice (3 points)
Several times (2 points)
Five or more times (1 point)
7+ (0 points)
MORE ON THE HOMELESS OF OLD FIRST
This story has legs. Hopefully a solution will be found for these men who have taken up residence on the steps of Old First. Read the rest at the Brooklyn Paper.
Three homeless men have driven one of Park Slope’s most liberal religious leaders to the very brink of what some would consider un-Christian behavior.
Rev. Daniel Meeter of Old First Reformed Presbyterian Church has gotten so fed up with the homeless people sleeping on the steps of his house of worship that he has begun throwing out their belongings — a move that has prompted a flurry of multi-denominational soul-searching in liberal Park Slope.
“It’s always been a simmering problem, but it heated up this summer,” said Meeter.
For years, the front steps of the church, at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street, unprotected by a fence, have served as a de facto homeless shelter.
By this summer, three men in particular were finding refuge there: Robert Royster, who’d been an on-and-off visitor for years, Will Franklin, who drinks on the stoop and sleeps elsewhere, and Frank Silano. All three have substance-abuse problems, according to Meeter
READING AT ROOM 58: SCRIPTS FOR THE BIG AND LITTLE SCREEN AND THE STAGE
I just heard from Scott Adkins of the Brooklyn Writer’s Space and Room 58 that Scripts in Progress, the new screenwriters reading series continues at Room 58.
According to Scott, the last one of these was so much fun, they’re doing it again. There will be beer and munchies. But the real reason to go says Scott: There’s some great writing happening.
SCRIPTS IN PROGRESS
On Monday November 5th Room 58 presents a night of scripts in progress.
You are invited to come and listen to excerpts from scripts written by established and emerging
screenwriters, playwrights, and TV writers.
Room 58 is located at 168 7th Street btw 2nd and 3rd Aves.
F train to 4th Ave Stop or R train to 9th Street stop.
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
WARM HALLOWEEN BUT NOT THE WARMEST
The warmest Halloween on record in New York City was 81 degrees in 1946. This evening the temperature was 58 degreets but it was much warmer during the day.
What were your favorite costumes at the Halloween parade?
LEGAL AID WANTS YOUR BOOKS
Someone at Legal Aid responded to my column about donating books. She says that Legal Aid would love gently used books. Here’s an email from Kim Maier, Executive Director of the Old Stone House, who spoke with the woman from Legal Aid.
They’d love book donations and will take deliveries
at 111 Livingston, between Bergen and Court,
at the front desk beween 8:30-5:30, Monday-Friday.
HOW TO BE A SINGLE MOM AT B&N TONIGHT
I got this email from Louise Sloan about her reading tonight at Barnes and Noble. I’ll be there. I guess she lives in Park Slope. The reading is at what time?
Hi, Louise–
I wanted to tell you about my reading at Park Slope B&N tomorrow, in case you might be interested in posting about it. My book is “Knock Yourself Up: A Tell-All Guide to Becoming a Single Mom.” It has been sparking a lot of heated debate online, after a Q&A in salon.com a week ago and an article in this week’s Newsweek. Links to all that and more at my book website, www.knockyourselfup.com. (Apparently I am a selfish, anti-fatherhood liberal abomination and my 16-month-old son Scott is a future criminal. Yikes!)Meanwhile, thanks for telling me the details of the Halloween parade tonight. Scott is going as a sheep, thanks to a hand-me-down costume from my sister, which is great because he likes to say “baa” really loudly.
Best,
Louise Sloan
www.knockyourselfup.com
BROOKLYN MATTERS AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE: NOVEMBER 5 AT 7 p.m.
I got this note from my friend Lumi over at No Land Grab about the Brookyn Matters screening at the Old Stone House. I am embarrassed to say that I havn’t seen Isabel Hill’s documentary yet. Can you believe that? I will go on the 5th. See you there.
I don’t know if you have had the chance to check out Brooklyn Matters yet. It is the documentary chronicling the political fight over Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards arena and high-rise plan. The next screening of the film produced and directed by Park Slope resident Isabel Hill is next Monday at the Old Stone House.
MONDAY
NOVEMBER 5, 7 pm
THE OLD STONE HOUSE
5th Avenue
btw 3rd and 4th Streetshttp://www.brooklynmatters.com
I posted info at: http://www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2007/10/brooklyn_matter_12.html
The running time is about 50 mins and is time well spent because you won’t get this information from the NY Times or even PBS.
BLOG OF THE DAY: BROOKLYN SKEPTIC
On Brooklyn Skeptic read about O’Connor’s, an old time Fifth Avenue Bar (39 Fifth Avenue).
When I first moved to New York, I was a misguided Manhattanite with little knowledge of the great borough of Brooklyn. Manhattan was brand new to me, with thousands of bars and restaurants at my disposal. Why on earth would I want to leave and try out Brooklyn?
At the time, I was also reading a biography called Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, which, despite being mainly set in Portland and Los Angeles, described a small portion of Smith’s life in which he lived in Park Slope. Although he played the odd show at clubs in Manhattan, he apparently spent most of his time in bars in Brooklyn, and wrote his most critically acclaimed album, XO, while sitting in O’Connor’s.
HOW DO DOE REFORMS AFFECT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS PROCESS?
The Department of Education has proposed reforms to the admission processes for the city’s gifted and talented programs. With these reforms the DOE is hoping to “expand access to gifted programs and create a single, rigorous standard—based on national norms—for ‘giftedness.'” Parents have until Nov. 25 to comment on the proposal. My question is this: How will this affect the middle school admissions process? I think it just affects schols that are Citywide Gifted options. Some parents in Park Slope apply to a school called NEST, which is one of the city’s G&T options. Not sure if MS 51 is included in this. Can anyone weigh in on this? This information is from Insideschools.org
All students will be tested for G+T at their schools, not at off-site testing centers.
Evaluations will continue to be based on two assessments (as they were last year for the first time). Children will continue to take the OLSAT. The Gifted Rating Scale will be replaced by something called the Bracken School Readiness Assessment, which the DOE says is “easier to administer in schools to many children.”
Children who take both tests will be given a composite score (75 percent OLSAT, 25 percent BSRA). Any child whose scores place him in the 95th percentile nationally will be guaranteed a slot in a gifted program in his district. Children whose scores are in the 97th percentile will be able to apply to the three citywide gifted schools: TAG, HunterAnderson, and NEST.Families will rank their choices from among the district and citywide options.
OSEPO will place students. Parents will know whether their child is guaranteed a G+T slot by March 31 and will get their placement offers by May 31.
To make the process even more equitable, beginning in 2008, all students — not just those whose parents request an evaluation — will be tested for G+T eligibility.
The DOE says it also plans to enhance the quality of instruction in self-contained G+T programs citywide — quality, like admissions procedures, has varied from district to district — and to expand enrichment opportunities for all students, not just those whose scores qualify for G+T programs.
You can attend a Town Hall meeting in your borough to learn more and give your feedback; the first meeting is Nov. 5 in Manhattan. See the Insideschools calendar for more dates. Through Nov. 25, you can also submit feedback via email or by phone at 212-374-5219..
JAY FIDLER, BROOKLYN BORN AND BRED, DIES
Jay Fidler, a great son of Brooklyn, died today. A family mourns, as well as a large community of friends, neighbors, and colleagues, who were touched by his robust spirit—at work, at play, at Brooklyn’s Madison High School, in the Army, at Brown University, in business, at home in Westchester and all the other places where he shared his warm personality and zest for life.
He was a leader in every sense of the word. Jay projected strength of character, good humor, kindness, smarts, and strong moral and ethical values in every thing he did.
A born athlete, he was a great storyteller, a respected boss, a loving father and grandfather, and a wonderful and devoted husband to my Aunt Rhoda, his wife of more than 60 years.
Born in Brooklyn, Jay was the son of Irving and Beatrice Fidler, of Lefferts Garden. He attended Madison High School, where he played football and distinguished himself in the arts.
Jay married his high school sweetheart, Rhoda Wander, and attended Brown University, where he was a football hero and later served on the Board of Trustees.
During the Second World War, Jay served in the US Army. Afterwards, he started working for Hercules Chemical Corporation at its office and
factory in lower Manhattan in New York City. The company, then a small
family-held corporation started by my grandfather, Samuel Wander, grew substantially under his leadership.
In the 1950’s Jay designed his family’s home, a Frank Lloyd Wright-style house, built with glass, brick and cement block.
Jay leaves behind three loving and devoted children and his wife Rhoda, who advocated for his health and well-being during a long illness with vigilance and dignity until the very end.
He also leaves behind five exceptional grandchildren, a wonderful brother, and many loving relatives and friends.
A light went out today because Jay is gone. But his memory will be cherished by all who knew him.
EXPLORING BROOKLYN BY BUS: RICHARD GRAYSON RIDES THE B35 FROM BROWNSVILLE TO SUNSET PARK
Aside from teaching seven classes at four different local colleges, writer Richard Grayson is the author of “I Brake for Delmore Schwartz,” “With Hitler in New York,” and “To Think He Kissed Him on Lorimar Street.” OTBKB is honored to present his ocassional columns. What a gift.
Several bus routes go east-west through nearly all of Brooklyn; closest to the center of the borough is the B35, Church Avenue/39 Street, which stretches from Brownsville to Sunset Park.
Many Brooklyn bus routes are based on the old trolley routes. The Church Avenue trolley is the only one I can recall riding; it was one of the last routes to go, lasting until I was five. On trips from her house to ours, Bubbe Ita, my great-grandmother, would let me stand on the wicker seat and pull the cord to request the stop.
The B35 begins at Mother Gaston Avenue, but I walk a few blocks up to where I began – at Brookdale Hospital, Beth-El Hospital in 1951, where I was delivered by the same Park Slope GP who’d delivered my mother twenty years before. I pass streets reflecting the earlier neighborhood ethnicity, Herzl Street and Strauss Street – but at Rockaway Parkway, Church Avenue’s alternative name is Bob Marley Boulevard.
I once told someone in South Florida who asked me where I was from in Brooklyn, “Around Church and Utica,” and the guy, a Jamaican, said, “That’s not Brooklyn; that’s the West Indies.” The familiar colors of the Jamaican flag are on local storefronts and posters.
West Indians started to move into East Flatbush in the late 1950s, about the time we left our apartment on East 54 Street just south of Church for our new house in Old Mill Basin. All our relatives left the neighborhood as “blockbusters” came in and scared the white people into moving. Both sets of my grandparents left in 1967 for Rockaway.
The last time I went to our old block was in 1980, when black friends brought me along to a party given by Carol, whose Jamaican father, it turned out, owned the apartment building on the corner. When I told Carol that I’d lived on this very block until 1958, she said, “Oh, I envy you. It must have been beautiful here before the Haitians came and ruined it.”
Around here, as in other places, Brooklyn’s varied street numbering patterns collide: on one side of Ralph Avenue, it’s the East 90s; on the other side the East 50s.
We pass the East Flatbush branch library, hair braiding places, Jerk City and the Brooklyn Jerk Center, and an inspirational mural of a (Caribbean?) beach with manna from heaving falling upon it. I spot, behind a car wash by Kings Highway, the third-story window of the bedroom where I misplaced my virginity in the spring of 1971.
Storefront houses of worship, like the Reviving Revelation Revivalist Pentacostal Church, its sign decorated with a crown, a cross, and a star of David, line Church Avenue. On lampposts are many signs of the times, all with some version of AVOID FORECLOSURE! By now the bus is jammed.
Most of the stores from my childhood are gone, of course, but SilverRod Pharmacy at the corner of Utica and Church, the crossroads of our neighborhood, still stands. As we stop, the driver calls over the PA system:
“Does anyone know where Kingsbrook Hospital is?”
I hesitate, then yell out, “Get out here and take the Utica bus four or five blocks north and then go left a few blocks.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure,” I yell. I decide not to add how I know: “My grandmother had rectal surgery there.”
I’m the only non-black person on the bus.
In the East 40s we pass restaurants like Linda’s Guyanese, West Indian and American Cuisine. Every three or four blocks, the numbered streets are broken up by streets named after cities: Utica, Schenectady, Troy, Albany, New York, Brooklyn (Saratoga, Kingston and Buffalo don’t go down this far).
We see more churches – Eglise Baptiste and Iglesia Pentecostal – as well as day care centers, a fast-food vegetarian restaurant and a storefront P.S. 245. At Nostrand Avenue lots of people leave for the subway. The corner Granada Theatre is long gone, in its place the Guyana Gold jewelry store. Banners decorated with a palm tree on a beach proclaim “East Flatbush, the Caribbean Heart and Soul of Brooklyn.”
Soon East Flatbush becomes Flatbush, and we’re at Flatbush Avenue, across from the old Dutch Reformed Church that I assume gave the avenue its name. This area was the Broadway of Brooklyn, with seven or eight theaters that no longer exist. The Kenmore, right by the bus stop, is a Modell’s Sporting Goods store.
On the other side of Ocean Ave, near the B/Q train station, is West Indian Farm, a great place to buy Caribbean produce. At the subway stop, an Indian woman in a sari gets on, along with Hispanic people and old Jewish man who sits beside me, replacing the woman who was reading the Bible in Creole.
On the south side of Church, brick stanchions with the PPS crest signal Prospect Park South, and both the fronts and sides of Victorian homes line the street. For a few blocks, English street names displace the East Teens: Rugby, Westminister, Marlborough, Stratford, Buckingham, Argyle.
Past Coney Island Avenue and where Ocean Parkway becomes the Prospect Expressway, the signs proclaim Kensington’s ethnic mélange: Transfer D’Argent Haiti, a taqueria, a giant yeshiva, Mazowsze Polish Deli, Plaza 5 de Mayo, Productos Mexicanos, Pinosha Albanian Village, Kadima Cell Phones, food from Russia, Israel, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey. Just past Yummy Taco by McDonald Avenue’s F train el, a woman in a burqa pushes a shopping cart past Bangladesh Hair Design.
The East numbered streets are gone now as Kensington bleeds into Boro Park, and Church Avenue ends, diagonally interrupting the plain-numbered streets and avenues that dominate western Brooklyn.
The bus goes up 36 Street past auto body shops, a matzoh factory, the Heimishe Bakery a few stores down from a Mexican supermarket. Past Fort Hamilton Parkway, we pass Camp Warehouse, your spot to buy everything for summer campers.
The bus rides on 39 Street now, and I see some signs in Arabic, but also a kosher market with yarmulke-wearing customers, and a Mexican eagle in front of a barbershop.
It’s kind of industrial here: auto repair shops, furniture stores and factories. Passing Fourteenth Avenue, there’s The Largest Sukkah Manufacturer in the World, the Eretfsz Hachaim gas station and the Heimeshe Coffee Shop. But all the men with yarmulkes get off the bus and the only new passengers look Mexican or Central American.
Suddenly, the street is residential, mostly two-story brick houses, but there’s a brand-new five-story building too. At Fort Hamilton Parkway, there’s the mammoth white brick Lamp Warehouse, its sign featuring two portraits of Thomas Edison and the store’s founder and these quotations: “Let there be light.” – The inventor. “Let there be discounts.” – The Maven
At Eleventh Ave only Chinese people get on, and by Tenth Avenue and the New Utrecht Avenue el, we pass mostly Chinese venues like Long Sing Bakery and Q Q Poultry Market, though I spot Korean signs as well. Eighth Avenue is dominated by stores featuring furniture, plumbing and heating supplies and what appear to be factories for some kind of electric, glass and stone products.
We start to go downhill as we pass Sixth and Fifth Avenues, and there’s a weird Days Inn hotel tucked into a street otherwise filled with older houses with aluminum siding.
At Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, we stop a long time for a switch of bus drivers as a crowd gets on: a woman wearing a hijab, Hispanic teens, an elderly Chinese couple, a black woman chatting on a cell phone, more Arabs, and white couple speaking a language I can’t make out.
Past the Gowanus Parkway exit, at Second Avenue, the cobblestone streets have old trolley tracks coming up in all directions. This area is industrial, with huge Mack tractor-trailer trucks, the Closeout Connection and the Eat It Corporation warehouses.
A two-story Costco has a parking lot huge even by suburban standards. Very prominent nearby is Peyton’s Play Pen, a Gentlemen’s Club that’s All Nude All the Time – not that I’ve ever been inside.
Getting off the bus, I walk to the barbed wire at the end of 39 Street. I smell the brackish harbor and look out at the water. The Bayonne Bridge seems surprisingly close. My journey across the heart of Brooklyn has taken over an hour and my unlimited MetroCard is ready to head back east
KIDS PLAYING IN GOWANUS WHOLE FOODS TOXIC CONSTRUCTION SITE?
The Gowanus Whole Foods toxic construction site has been inadvertantly open to the public since a fence fell down on October 10. I ask you this: should a health food store be built on top of a toxic site? This from the Daily News.
lA construction site on a toxic brown field slated to become home to Brooklyn’s first Whole Foods Market has been wide open since last month.
Protective fencing surrounding the 2.1-acre brown field near Third St. and Third Ave. in Gowanus has been down for several weeks, angering neighbors and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who called for an immediate repair Wednesday.
“Here’s a contaminated site with a broken fence and kids playing in the area that shows a disregard for safety,” said Gotbaum.
“While we need to take steps to invest in our neighborhoods and clean up toxic sites, we shouldn’t compromise public health and safety in the process.”
Neighbors have called 311 to complain about the fallen fence and to report kids rummaging inside the landmarked Stone Company Building on the site since Oct. 10, but no repairs have been made by the contractor at the project.
“We have a work site that’s unsecure, and naturally that’s always going to be a concern to us,” said Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman, who reported the problem to Yoswein New York, Whole Foods’ public relations firm.
J
oe Mariano, a retiree who lives on President St., said he has twice witnessed groups of neighborhood kids walking in and out of the 135-year-old Stone Company building that is on the corner of the site. The door to the landmark is now unlocked, he said.
“I saw kids running in and out, and when I went there one of the kids looked at me and said, ‘Do you own the house?’ and I said, ‘No,'” said Mariano, “and they looked guilty and then scuttled off. I’m scared they’re going to get hurt or start a fire.”
After a 2-1/2-year investigation and the ongoing cleanup, a draft report by the state Department of Environmental Conservation concluded in January that the Whole Foods parcel is no longer a “significant threat to public health or the environment.”
While not all the contaminants – which include benzene, PCBs and the metal cadmium – will be completely eliminated, a cleanup plan calls for removal of two oil drums and tainted soil up to 10 feet below ground.
Whole Foods Market spokesman Fred Shank said the fence would be repaired within days.
“We were recently notified that a portion of the fence at our Brooklyn development site was down, and we immediately contacted our contractor to repair it,” said Shank. “We will make sure that it is repaired as soon as possible.”
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
KLEZMER DON’T DESTROY: KLEZMATICS BENEFIT FOR DDDB
This just in from Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn:
Grammy-winning band klezmer band the Klezmatics will play a special concert on November 8 at the Brooklyn Lyceum to benefit Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB). Two other area musical groups, Kakande and the Demolition String Band, will also perform.
The benefit concert will raise funds towards DDDB’s state lawsuit challenging the Atlantic Yards project’s environmental review and approval and the federal lawsuit challenging the state’s abuse of eminent domain. Both of these lawsuits were organized by DDDB, and are funded entirely by individual donations from the community and fundraising events throughout the year. Both lawsuits are pending; a victory in either suit would mean that developer Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project would not move forward.
DDDB supporters are pleased to receive such significant backing from the area’s musical community. “It is a great honor to have such accomplished musicians as The Klezmatics performing to help raise funds and awareness for the legal fight against Atlantic Yards. We are very proud to have their support,” said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein.
Concert Details are as follows:
The Klezmatics, Kakande, and Demolition String Band
Thursday, November 8
Doors at 7pm
Brooklyn Lyceum
227 4th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 857-4816
$20 in advance, $25 at the door
For online tickets, go to http://www.dddb.net/klezmaticsSeveral local merchants, such as Erica’s Rugelach and Maria’s Mexican Bistro, will be donating food, baked goods, and drinks to the show