A PERFECTLY WONDERFUL DEPRESSING RAINY DAY

Ain’t it just?

It’s teeming rain out there and the sky is dark. Resolutely unsunny. The still green leaves on the tree in front of our living room window adds just the right amount of color. Nobody is awake and I’ve got my coffee and my computer.

It’s a perfect day to do nothing and feel completely justified in it.

It’s also a perfect day to mull, write, bake cookies, clean a closet, read a book, play the guitar. do sit ups…

But whatever you do don’t go out. And if you do, put on your green wellies and a really good raincoat.

Don’t forget to take an umbrella.

GROUNDBREAKING FOR NEW POOL AT PROSPECT PARK YMCA

This from NY1:

Swimmers at a Brooklyn YMCA will soon get a brand new place to practice their strokes.

A groundbreaking was held today for the new Aquatics Center at the Prospect Park YMCA. The nearly $6 million pool is being built to replace the current pool which opened in 1927.

The new pool will feature more lanes and increased accommodations for members with special needs.

“We definitely have a huge demand in this community for more aquatics programs,” said YMCA Vice President of Operations Sean Andrews. “We’re going to be able to serve over a thousand local school children with free swimming lessons as a result of the pool and really expand its capacity.”

The new pool is slated to be complete by 2009.

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH: PS MEET-UPS AT UNION STREET TEA LOUNGE

Where else?

I did NANOWRIMO a few years back. It’s the basis of the novel I am now revising. It’s called “The Last Sublet” and if you’re interested in taking a look let me know.

There will be BROOKLYN Meetups and Write-Ins Once a week:

Tuesday’s at the Union Street Tea Lounge from 7 pm until late.

Thursdays (starting 11/8) will be in Williamsburg at the Alligator Lounge on Metropolitan Avenue (free brick oven pizza with every drink!) from 7-ish to late.

NANO WRIMO IS (here’s the blurb):

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

In 2006, we had over 79,000 participants. Nearly 13,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time.

Who: You! We can’t do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let’s write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2007. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works page!

SLOPE HALLOWEEN FUN: RAIN OR SHINE

The Prospect Park Halloween Haunted Walk happens rain or shine.

Prospect Park celebrates Halloween with good old-fashioned fright! Check out the Haunted Walk and Carnival on Saturday, October 27. On Saturday and Sunday, the Park offers great events for kids at the Carousel, Lefferts Historic House, and the Audubon Center. Click here for more information about Halloween.

So do the fun Halloween-related activities at the Green Market at Grand Army Plaza.

THIS JUST IN: INAKA SUSHI CLOSING AT END OF OCTOBER

An OTBKB reader just sent an email saying that Inaka Sushi is closing at the end of October. Wow. That’s the end of an era. Hepcat and I used to eat there when the restaurant was located where Sotto Voce is now. I ocassionally eat lunch there.

My wife and I were sad to learn this week that Inaka Sushi House on 7th Avenue will close at the end of October.

The owner tells us the landlord sold the building and the new owner plans to renovate, forcing her out. She
plans to retire.

Fans of the restaurant are encouraged to pay it one last visit this week.

PARKER PLACE: NEW PS DAY CARE OPENING STALLED

Park Slope desperately needs day care centers. But rules are rules. Especially the rule about there being two separate exits onto the sidewalk (means of egress). It’s all about fire safety and that’s very important when children are concerned.

Still it is very time consuming and costly to get a day care center off the ground. Legally that is.

There must be a way that the city can help expeditie this process. The alternative is more illegal daycare. Is that really better?

Parker Place, a new South Slope daycare in the space where Baby Bird used to be, is having trouble getting the permits required by the City to stay open.

The owners have excellent intentions and many interested parents. The space just didn’t meet code

The City Room lists some of the reasons why Park Place was denied permits:

For one thing, applicants have to secure a change in their site’s certificate of occupancy from the Department of Buildings, a process that can take months.

One of requirements that has proved trickiest is that day care centers must have two separate exits (or “means of egress,” in city lingo) onto the sidewalk. The rule applies to “family day care” centers, smaller facilities run out of their operators’ homes, too, and enforcement was intensified in November 2005 after the city’s Health and Fire Departments and the State Office of Children and Family Services met to clarify their policies

Hopefully, Parker Place will be up and running soon. The neighborhood needs it. So do the kids.

MOIM GETS ONE STAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

Moim, the Park Slope Korean restaurant on Garfield Place just off of Seventh Avenue, was very well reviewed by Frank Bruni in the New York Times this week.

Kudos to Moim

Bruni loved Chef Park’s Korean Korean appetizers, main dishes, especially Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop, vegetables, meat and rice served in a steaming hot stone rice bowl and her signature use of the Korean national condiment, Kimchi.

He wasn’t as crazy about Park’s take on American restaurant staples like duck breast. AND Bruni most emphatially did not like the service.

The service is a serious issue. On several visits the time that elapsed between our waiter’s visits to the table was so great — and those visits took on such a rare, eventful air — that my companions and I came to think of him as a comet. More than once one of us asked another: “Any idea where Halley is?”

It was the kind of review that that dropped hints about the way the restaurant, with some improvement, could one day get even more stars.

With a little more maturation, a rethinking of a bit of its menu and better service, Moim could join the increasingly populous club of Brooklyn restaurants, like Franny’s and Al di Là, that Manhattanites rightly and badly covet

.
OTBKB reviewed the restaurant in late July.

Well, something very special has come to Park Slope and it has an interesting Park Slope twist to it.

Moim is owned by a Korean couple who live in Park Slope. He is a CFO of a Queens hospital and she is the restaurant’s chef. They bought the brownstone that Moim is in and did a MAJOR renovation to the space where the Chinese laundry used to be.

But that’s not all. The owners dug a new foundation in the former backyard and added an elegant back room for the restaurant and a patio for dining alfresco. The addition also houses the wife’s high tech kitchen.

Not only did this couple put an enormous amount of money into the restaurant but also real architectural elegance and Asian style. For the extensive renovation, they hired a noted Tribeca architect, who did an incredible job.

Stone, black brick, Asian screens: beautiful architectural touches abound. Moim, which means “gathering” Korean is an exceedingly nice place to be.

Enough about the decor. The food and service were very good. The moderately priced menu is a a mysterious collection of Korean classics and what I think must be new Korean cuisine.

Still Bruni says that the restaurant wasn’t blogged about much. I know my review is on Yelp.

IN an age of countless food bloggers and tireless restaurant scouts, I’m not sure how a worthy restaurant winds up flying under the radar anymore. But that’s where the new Korean restaurant Moim finds itself, no doubt against its wishes, certainly against its interest

After the Times review I don’t think Moim is going to have any trouble attracting customers. The only problem is that people are unfamiliar with Korean food. It’s a largely unexplored cuisine in the US.

Bruni seemed to have nothing but respect for Chef Park’s cooking. Slightly less for her abilities as a restauranteur. But that will come for this gutsy Park Slope chef.

She’s new to this. A Korean immigrant who worked for 13 years as a graphic designer, she decided six years ago to become a professional cook, enrolling in the French Culinary Institute. Jobs as a line cook at Spice Market and Café Gray followed.

And in June, at the age of 48, she dared to open her own place. Its shortcomings suggest she has a way to go as a restaurateur. Its strengths demonstrate that as a chef she has traveled an impressive distance already.

KENSINGTON BLOG: IT TAKES A STRANGER TO SAVE YOUR LIFE

Kensington Blog has a personal post about how a relative, a friend, or a total stranger can do  something that will save your life.

For me it was a hand that grabbed my foot when I was about two years
old. I guess the view of East 4th street from our roof looked inviting.
It was the hand of a young mother (my mom) that pulled me back inside
our apartment just moments before I would become another dot on a NYC
chart. For my cousin Pete, another son of Kensington and East 4th, it
was the voice of a stranger screaming at him to run faster just before
a piece of an airliner killed the person directly behind him on a sunny
day in September 2001. It may have also been the“Brooklyn” in my
cousins blood too that saved his life. When the loud speakers blared
the instructions that “everything is OK and there is no need to
evacuate at the present time”. My attorney cousin just said “bullshit”
and left only to meet up with falling jet parts on the street below.
Buy hey, he was back to work the next day up in Westchester, you got to
love that Empire Blue Cross.They probably helped him forget 9/11 by
making him work on 9/12.

READ MORE AT KENSINGTON BLOG.

CLEVER DOC WANTS TO KNOW: ARE YOU STILL LEARNING?

So how often did you laugh? Or did you just ignore Clever Doc’s first question? Clever Doc says that laughing, chuckling or smiling is good for you. Losing that ability is a danger sign. 

Here’s another post from from Clever Doc, also known as Linda Hawes Clever, friend of OTBKB and the founder of Renew.

A super-achiever with a streak of the Type-A, she’s a medical doctor and an occupational health specialist with a national reputation for activism and for professional and community service. In her work with Renew, she’s helping people battle the spiritual and physical exhaustion that zaps energy and the ability to live in the moment.

Just look around you on the subway, in the office, at school? Doesn’t everyone look hap hap happy?

MOST CHILDREN LAUGH 60 or more times a day. What happened to us? Our responsibilities grew; our simple pleasures diminished. We may be scattered or pressed. The first renewing question, “How many times did you really laugh yesterday?” checks out our sense of humor and fun.

Laughing, chuckling, or smiling is good for us; losing the ability is a danger signal.

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust although his family was killed, is the author of a short, must-read book called, "Man’s Search for Meaning." In it he describes his efforts to conduct sense-of-humor workshops for fellow concentration camp inmates. 

Even in the midst of unimaginable horrors, Frankl discovered, laughing breaks a downward spiral and lifts us out of the muck. Even for a moment, life changes for the better.

On a more personal note, I have a colleague who avoids human downers and seeks out people who make her laugh. Laughing buoys her in the moment and also leaves good memories.


Now, let’s talk about learning
. Learning helps us refresh, do better at work or home; expand horizons and, therefore, enhance freedom and choices.

Learning provides the savory pleasure of understanding our world, our neighborhood, maybe ourselves.

HERE is the Second Question:

2. How would you describe your recent learning?

–Haven’t learned a new subject in the last year (0 points)

–I’m focused exclusively on what I know (1 point)

–I read or search widely beyond my basics (2 points)

–I take courses outside my basics (3 points)

–I teach others (4 points)

PARK SLOPE PASTOR’S UPDATE ON HOMELESS

Pastor Daniel Meeter wants to thank the community for their interest and participation in the conversation about the homeless men wh live on the steps of Old First Church.

A large number of people saw his original post on the Old First Blog, on the New York Times’s blog, City Room, and on OTBKB. At next week’s Park Slope Civic Council meeting there will be a discussion of this matter.

It is all very gratifying to Pastor Meeter who believes that the community can work together to find a solution to this vexing problem.

On his blog, there’s a update on this developing story.

There are some new facts on the ground. On Sunday afternoon, the cops were called in twice by neighbors. I have to say the cops were great.

As I left the church on Sunday evening, I found a steel bar the guys were keeping as a weapon. On Monday morning I learned that the men had been urinating in front of nursery school children and into their play-yard. On Monday evening a deacon confirmed to me that the men had exposed themselves in front of children while urinating.

Yesterday Frank showed me his face, very badly bruised. He told me had fallen, but I don’t believe him. His face tells a different story. This morning I removed a blanket with blood stains on it.

“It’s come to this, oh yes, it’s come to this.” (I guess I always expected it would come to this.)

I have been denying them permission to sleep on our grounds since last July, but I found it impossible to enforce. As of this morning, the Commander of Precinct 78 agreed with me that the police would enforce it…

READ THE REST ON PASTOR MEETER’S BLOG.

BROOKLYN MIDDLE-SCHOOLER DIES FROM STAPH INFECTION MRSA

This from New York 1:

A 12-year-old student at I.S. 2-11 in Canarsie died October 14th. By this past Monday, city health officials had lab information confirming the death was due to an antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

The Department of Health says parents at the school were notified Thursday, but they are assuring them this was an isolated incident. DOH also does not believe the infection has been passed on to any other students.

Health officials say they have no definitive data at this point on just how the Brooklyn student contracted MRSA.

The Heath Department is reminding everyone that most staph infections are treatable and fatal cases are rare. It has also advised schools on how to prevent and reduce the risk of infection.

GOWANUS LOUNGE GIVES THANKS TO SITT FOR LETTING CONEY’S ASTROLAND STICK AROUND

For another year, that is.

Still, GL writes eloquently of the day last September when he bid farewell to Astroland. Here’s an excerpt. Read the rest at GL.

“When we left Astroland on September 9 after a long, long day of shooting photos, we turned around and literally said, “Goodbye” before we walked to the F Train feeling very empty. While we’re not happy that we will get to have that feeling all over again next September, for now, we’re glad to know there will be fireworks on Friday night, that we can go up in the Astrotower again and that we can wander around that outdated, little state fair-like midway again for another summer season. In its simplicity, Astroland reminds of us of something that is fast disappearing in a world of megabucks development and corporate blandness. It is real and it is genuine and it brings us back to a time when a carnival set up in a church parking lot and nobody knew what a latte was, let alone Starbucks.”

PARK SLOPE RABBI JOINS THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE SEVENTH AVENUE HOMELESS

Rabbi Bachman responds eloquently to Pastor Meeter’s post and proposes a Community Clean-Up Crew. Here’s an excerpt from his blog, Notes.

"Old First is in the middle of Seventh Avenue–not an easy place for a House of Worship. It’s across the street from Key Food and next door to La Bagel Delight. Nearby are boutiques, jewelry stores, video/dvd shops, hair salons, and restaurants. Opposite its stoop are two of the most successful real estate agencies in Park Slope, where real estate prices increased 11% in the last year alone. That there are homeless people eating and sleeping and relieving themselves in the shadows of such economic growth and expression seems to be calling us to some kind of action, no?

So in the spirit of Nachum of Chernobyl, I propose a Community Clean-Up Crew. Different neighbors volunteer to take a day of the week and help Old First fulfill the mitzvah of hospitality. Do we need a public toilet? Do we need a warm meal program? Do we need a shelter? It seems to be the fair thing to offer. Those of us who don’t worship there walk past, drop a coin, smile, and move on–the systemic issue is on someone else’s stoop, so to speak.

But is that right? Seventh Avenue is a public stoop. And when you happen to be the House of God on Seventh Avenue, everyone is watching to make sure that the “right thing” is done, though everyone that’s watching may not be rolling up their sleeves to help.

So Rev. Meeter, consider yourself having a acquired a partner in this problem.

In the spirit of Abraham our Forefather, we are all sleeping on the stoop of Old First. We are all asking for money. We are all in need of a little human dignity.

Give us a day and we’ll help.

We will share your pain and share the blessing of what it is to serve."

READ THE REST ON ANDY’S BLOG.

 

 

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

Here’s something from out pal, Pete, who now has a blog of his own called Full Permission Living. There’s even a picture of him there. Nice to put a face to all the words and ideas.

This week in the New York Times there was a piece on parents who have their children (not infants) sleep in their bed, and how many of said parents keep it a secret for fear of being criticized.

I can tell you of countless situations where a child was suffering from developmental problems and delayed maturity, even up to as old as seven-to-ten years of age, because parents were allowing the child into their adult bed. In these situations, when the parents followed my recommendation to get the child out of the parental bed, the child experienced a maturational growth spurt almost immediately. Why? Because what children want and what children need are not always the same thing. In early childhood, the pull to regress back to an earlier stage of development is strong.

Growing up is hard. But in every species of higher mammal, the mother knows that her offsrping have to be pushed out of the nest and off of the maternal teat, so the young being can attain healthy, life-sustaining independence. Fortunately, for those animals such good parenting is instinctual. Unfortunately, for human children, parents can overrule their instincts. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – parents who let their children into their bed past infancy are emotionally lazy, and are not operating from a place of mature parental love, but rather are being driven by their own unworked on fears of deprivation. Get those kids out of your bed. Please!

Peter Loffredo, LCSW

JESUS H CHRIST AND THE FOUR HORNSMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Risa Mickenberg, who wrote the piece about Jamie today, is a member of the band Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse.

The New Yorker Magazine and many other music journalists love them:

This lovable local band transcends the novelty of its name with
wry, thundering power-pop songs about such previously under-explored
subjects as the boredom of living in the Constitution State
(“Connecticut Is for Fucking”), the appeal of the recently widowed (“Do
Me”), and how pharmaceuticals can help love (“Happy Me”)."

The song, "Obviously You Slept with That Girl at the Reunion" HAS TO BE LISTENED TO. Obviously.

DOES YOUR KID HAVE SCHOOL ANXIETY?

Guest blogger, Jill Di Donato, believes that anxiety can get in the way of a child’s success in school. To help remedy this, she runs a private practice in Brooklyn Heights
that caters to Brooklyn families looking to enrich their children’s
education and overall approach to learning.

With subject tutoring, test prep, writing workshops and academic advocacy, Jill works closely with teachers,
therapists, and school administrators. Interestingly, her approach incorporates not just academics but creative arts, and a mind-body connection.

Tune in to OTBKB for a continuing discussion by Jill of school anxiety in the digital
age, plus tips on how to effectively manage the challenges of schooling
in the city. 

NYC is home to some of the most progressive private schools and world-renown public schools, those in the know call, “magnets.” Competition is thick, as thousands of kids vie for a handful of coveted spots.

This weekend, scores of students will take the Specialized High School Exam. As parents, teachers, and educators, how can we build skills in our kids without bombarding them with demands?

When does ambition turn into anxiety, and when does it become a problem?

Given the climate of our fast-paced world, the term anxiety is thrown around a lot, especially when it comes to kids and the classroom. Do our high-tech advances add to the pressure?

Today’s students are flooded with sensory overload. Between the Myspace profiles, IM’s, and PSP’s, kids are carving out identities that are digitally heightened and amplified online. Such a saturation of stimuli might be especially distracting to kids already prone to anxiety. How can innovative technology enhance, not detract from the learning process?

For more information or to schedule an appointment with Jill you can reach her at academicadvocate(at)gmail.(dotcom)

DO YOU HAVE A GREAT VIEW?

A photographer working on a project called Out My Window contacted OTBKB in the hopes of finding more great places to take her photos.

This project is a series of
portraits in private spaces set against the view which reveals the
transformation of New York’s landscape.  The photographs will look at
how the landscape of 2007 is vastly different than the landscape that
preceded it, and how different that landscape will become.

The series will take me throughout New York’s five boroughs, to New
Jersey, and even to houseboats on the Hudson in order to photograph a
diverse set of people who live with the most interesting views of New
York. By "interesting," I do not mean to limit my search to the
classically beautiful view, although those could very well be included.

My photographs will include views made interesting by imposing
implementations of change—views obstructed by construction or
transformed by September 11th or interrupted by repurposing projects
(such as Columbia University’s migration into West Harlem.)

Please take a look at the project’s blog: 
http://outmywindownyc.blogspot.com/

I am hoping you will help me spread the word about this project so as
to find people who have interesting views.  Will you consider writing a
post about this project and/or adding the project’s blog to you links
section?  Any press would be greatly appreciated! 

JAMIE LIVINGSTON: A STILL MOMENT FOR EVERY DAY

Today would have been artist Jamie Livingston’s 50th birthday. It is also the 10th anniversary of his death. The following was written by his friend Risa Mickenberg in 1997. An exhibit of Jamie’s 6.600 Photos-of-the-Day is on view at Bard College through October 27th, 2007. A web site of all the photo’s will be rolled out shortly.

It’s
strange for someone to leave behind a record of every day of their
life. Or to obsessively follow a project whose only perfect completion
ends with their death.

Our work is always ahead of us. It
starts when we are born and it ends when we die – this work of seeing,
touching and affecting the world.

Jamie spread this collection out every year and examined it – reviewed it.

Our
lives are a flood of images and we are collectors who keep a strange
assortment of images: moments of extreme emotion, pain, beauty, and
fear stand out. Events we’re taught to remember: weddings, graduations,
births, deaths.

Then there are the millions of images that we
can’t shake out of our heads, that come to us at strange times – things
we can’t remember why we remember: the gold threads in an old stereo
speaker, the way the light hit a thousand cars in a parking lot by the
water, the face of a stranger in a restaurant, a friend standing in a
pool – you can’t remember where, slapping the water with the flat of
her hand.

Memory is a sieve that holds curious things. A life is a trail of strange, colorful memories.

Jamie’s
Photo-of-the-Day works like a life. A still moment from every day for
years. Remains of the day, immortalized. It is a selection: what we
choose to remember, what we add to our collection of days.

There was no set time of day.  It was when the mood struck: this is what I will take.

It’s an accumulation, a collection, a life’s work.

Risa Mickenberg wrote this soon after Jamie’s death in 1997. She is a writer and a member of the band,  Jesus H Christ & The 4 Hornsmen of the Apocalypse.

WHERE DO YOU BUY SPAGHETTIOS IN PARK SLOPE?

Author Melissa C. Walker, had a tough time finding SpaghettiOs in Park Slope last night. Now she wants to rant about it. Her first novel, Violet on the Runway, is in bookstores now.

I went to six, yes six, delis tonight in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and not one of them had good old-fashioned SpaghettiOs. When confronted about his lack of inventory, one owner said to me, "In this neighborhood, SpaghettiOs don’t sell!"

Neighbors, are we above the cheesy, tomatoey goodness of Campbell’s
classic circular pasta in a can? A food product with Vitamin A, four
essential B-vitamins, Iron, and–wait for it–fiber (an ingredient
which Dr. Oz says is "the most important part of your diet")?

For shame. I may have to move.

BROOKLYN’S BEST FAMILY FEST AT BAX

BROOKLYN’S BEST FAMILY FEST
Saturday, October 27, 11:30am-6pm

On Saturday October 27th, BAX presents Brooklyn’s Best Family Fest from 11:30 am-6pm.

Hear singer/songwriter Randy Kaplan,
Mario the Magician, BAXtivities and storytelling!
Advance ticket purchase encouraged. For tickets, call 718-832-0018.

11:30am-12:15pm

Singer/songwriter RANDY KAPLAN plays the Wee Ones Music Concert. Kaplan
blends American roots, folk, alternative, and pop in his songs for
kids and their families. "One of the most exciting newcomers to kids’
music…Kaplan’s debut is full of rollicking folk tunes," says Parenting
Magazine.

12:30PM-4:30PM

Baxtivities: for tots to ten-year-olds will feature:
Kid’s Playspace: fun with tunnels, huts, trapeze and more.
Halloween Masks:  if you can imagine in, you can make it.
Make a Scene:  get into character and capture it with a photo to take
away.
Wearable Art: make tribal jewelry, clothing or creepy crawly creatures.
Metal Drawing: carve in aluminum to create 2D milagros.
Tattoo You:  body art station for a tattoo that expresses YOU.
Face Painting: for kids & adults.

5PM-6PM (doors open at 4:30PM)

BAXstage Family Productions features illusionist MARIO THE MAGICIAN
performing The Magician’s Wand. ?Mario was superb ? good at magic, but
just as important, good with kids," says Newsweek International.

Family Fest also features celebrated storyteller ROBIN BADY throughout
the day. Bady has been exploring the power of stories for the last 35
years.

PRICES:
The concert and magic show are $12 for Adults; $8 for kids 16 and
under; kids under one year free!

Serving Park Slope and Beyond