Civics and Urban Life

SMARTMOM IS NO BLANCHE DUBOIS

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the award-winning Brooklyn Paper. The SNA newspaper of the year just won a new award from the Independent Free Papers of America, which cited the paper’s July 28 editorial, “Marty’s blind spot."

Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’s famous play, “A Streetcar
Named Desire” says, “I have always depended on the kindness of
strangers.”

But Smartmom begs to differ.

It’s the strangers
who turn into friends that Smartmom depends on. And that’s what
micro-community is all about. Indeed, it’s the small community
groupings that form within a larger community that make it such a
soulful place to live.

Here in Park Slope, there are many
intersecting micro-communities brought together by blocks, schools,
civic causes, PTA’s, cafes, running in the park, dogs, the Y, the
Community Bookstore.

Smartmom was reminded of this last week when
she got a call from a friend with the sad news that a mutual friend’s
father died suddenly on Rosh Hashanah.

In less than an hour,
e-mails were flying back and forth about carpooling to the funeral in
Westchester and where people could send money in their friend’s
father’s name.

This spontaneous show of love and support
impressed Smartmom. It is during tough times that the small gestures of
friendship mean so much. A card. Flowers. A phone call. It helps to
know that your friends are ready, willing, and able to do whatever
needs to be done.

This particular micro-community of women became
friends at PS 321. Smartmom met one of them in a rambunctious playgroup
that convened in Smartmom’s living room when the Oh So Feisty One was
an oh so feisty 1.

She and Smartmom have been friends ever since. They now share a therapist, a meditation circle, and numerous cosmetics catalogs.

Smartmom’s
writer’s group is another one of these micro-communities. On 9-11, when
the firefighter husband of one of the writer’s in the group perished at
the World Trade Center, the members sprung into action to do whatever
they could to help their friend and her son.

In the 10 years
they’ve been meeting, this group of writers have supported one another
through the thick and thin of death, divorce, the quest for an agent,
and writer’s block.

Then there’s the micro-community of the moms
that Smartmom met when OSFO was in pre-school at Congregation Beth
Elohim. At least four times a year, they meet for a “mom’s dinner.”
These hard-to-schedule events are cherished as a chance to catch up and
share what’s going on.

Last summer, only three of them managed to
get together for a quick dinner at Sette one humid night. But that
meant a more intimate conversation and more Italian rosé to go around.

While nibbling on the restaurant’s delicious
and decadent Parmesan fritters, Smartmom fretted because she didn’t
know where Teen Spirit was going to high school in the fall. History
Mom, a teacher at a Manhattan private school, told her about a school
(let’s call it “Hippie School”) that would be perfect for him.

“Call them,” she said. “I just have a feeling it might be a good fit.”

Smartmom
knows enough to listen to her smart friend. When she called Hippie
School the next day, nobody picked up the phone. Later, she tried the
cellphone number listed for Hippie School’s parent coordinator.

The
principal answered and the rest is history. Apparently his Blackberry
was broken and he’d borrowed the parent coordinator’s cell.
Coincidence? Fate? You be the judge.

Teen Spirit is now enrolled at this unique school, and Smartmom got History Mom a bouquet of flowers from Zuzu’s Petals.

“I didn’t do anything!” History Mom exclaimed.

“Yes,
you did! Your suggestion set it all in motion. It’s all because we got
together for dinner the other night,” Smartmom said.

Then there’s
the ad-hoc micro-community that is Third Street (on the north side
between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). Last Spring, when a neighbor was
dying of cancer, neighbors shared their shock and grief and tried to
figure out how to be of help. It was one of the most difficult things
this micro-community has had to face.

Sometimes, there is pain. But more often there are shared bottles of wine, impromptu BBQs and sidewalk conversations.

The
other evening, Smartmom saw a Third Streeter saying goodbye to her son
as he got into a car bound for college in upstate New York.

Smartmom
watched as this strapping young man she’s known since he was 5 hugged
his mother and brother. While she did shed a tear, she knew enough not
to interrupt this moment of tenderness.

Listening. Caring. Networking. Yenta-ing. Wanting to solve one another’s problems. That’s what micro-community is all about.

A micro-community grows together
and offers love and support as needed. It’s about knowing when to help
and when not to intrude. Subtle. Heartfelt and real: these
micro-communities are a source of strength.

So Blanche, it’s not the kindness of strangers. It’s the strangers who become friends that are worth believing in

Postcard from the Slope

BIG FIRE AT OR NEAR SETTE THIS AFTERNOON

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When Hepcat walked home this evening from the Seventh Avenue  F-train station around 7 p.m., he saw fire trucks and various pieces of equipment parked along Seventh Avenue from 4th Street to 7th Streets (Squad 1 and 122 were there).

He said, there seemed to be a lot of water going into the building on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Another eye witness saw a crane near the roof of Sette.

A reader wrote in that he thinks Sette may have had a fire. Does anyone know anything?

Postcard from the Slope

F-TRAIN STATION CLOSED THIS MORNING: SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE

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I must have been in a bubble today. Well, I was in Prospect Park all morning (running and walking) and then at home so I totally missed the news on Gowanus Lounge.

A "suspicious package" was found around 11AM this morning at the
Seventh Avenue F Station in Park Slope, leading to the closure of the
station and surrounding streets. Several blocks of both Seventh Avenue
and Ninth Street were sealed off as was the station…

Read more HERE.

GUEST BLOGGER

THE WANDERING STRANGER OF SCHERMERHORN STREET

Here’s another great post from frequent OTBKB contributor, Brooklyn Beat. He has his own blog, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn.

He is a wandering stranger and here he is (once again) on Schermerhorn
Street. If you want to get a sense of the NYC economy, visit
Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn. The food stamp offices, the
welfare offices, the unemployment offices, they all have their lines,
their ennui, and their quiet desperation that spills onto the streets
everyday. Until recently, a homeless shelter was there also, built
under the parking gararge on Bond Street. I have been passing through
that neighborhood on foot for several years on my way to work. Since
last spring, I noticed a number of homeless folks camped outside along
the side of the gararge on Schermerhorn Street, sleeping on broken
office furniture, with sleeping bags, rolling suitcases, some who
looked as though they had lived on the streets for awhile, others who
seemed new to that existence. I read recently that the homeless
shelter, I think this one, had been closed. Suddenly, the homeless
folks were once again gone.

This week however, the wandering stranger was back. I have seen him
camped out, surrounded by a mass of ripped black trashbags with his
possessions, sitting on the sidewalk, gazing off into space, or into
mysterious universes that most of us will never see. Unlike even the
most scruffy of the usual homeless crew on Schermerhorn Street, the
wandering stranger inhabits another place altogether. He is incredibly
unkempt and filthy. His hair black, matted, skin filthy through ripped
clothes. I have seen him over and over again for the past several
years. He must travel around the borough, or the city, perhaps the
planet. Eventually making his way back to Schermerhorn Street, never
bathing or changing his torn clothes. Carrying the same gear, only more
tattered than the last time.

He is like a mountain man, surviving, he finds a spot. Once he returns,
he will seem rooted to the same spot until he disappears and, hopefully
for him, returns again. As I passed yesterday, a man was berating the
wandering stranger, how he is a disgrace, what is wrong with him, etc.
Perhaps he is mentally ill, or perhaps he inhabits a place beyond the
material, beyond the need for home or comfortable clothes. Does he feel
free, like Jeremiah Johnson, like a mountain man? Existentially free?
Pitying us poor fools with our office-cubicle prisons or welfare
humiliations? It is certainly beyond my ability to tell. But meanwhile
he will remain rooted to his spot, with his trash and his visions,
until it is time for him to move on again.

–Brooklyn Beat

real estate

THOR LETS SOME CONEY BUSINESSES STAY FOR NOW

This from New York 1:

Eight businesses along the Coney Island boardwalk have been granted a
reprieve, but the fate of Astroland still hangs in the balance.

Developer Thor Equities says the businesses will be around for the
2008 season, but it’s still not clear what will happen to the fabled
amusement park.

Thor Equities plans to eventually redevelop the entire site, as part of a multi-billion dollar re-development project. 

Astroland closed for the season nearly two weeks ago. The sale has no effect on the Cyclone rollercoaster.

New York Daily News

DAILY NEWS: INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES IN BKLYN ARE THRIVING

The New York Daily News reports that BookCourt in Cobble Hill, P.S. Bookshop in DUMBO, A Novel Idea in Bay Ridge and Spoonbill and Sugartown Booksellers in Williamsburg are all thriving despite superstore Barnes & Noble in the area.

The Written Nerd, my new fave New York lit scene blog has a post about the News piece and mentions that the Times’ also had an article about independent bookstores. The Written Nerd works at an ndependent bookstore in New York City’s SoHo
neighborhood. She writes: "Someday I will have a bookstore of my own in Brooklyn. I
love reading books, talking about books, and being where literature
hits the streets. I think independent bookstores can be a source for
culture, community, and social justice. I live in Brooklyn’s Park Slope
neighborhood with the ALP (Adorably Literate Partner), who reads
everything that I don’t."

The big, bad chain stores don’t scare them.

Independently owned bookstores in Brooklyn are thriving, providing bookworms with plenty of cozy places to find a great read.

"We represent a quality environment. It’s homespun; it’s cozy," said
Zack Zook, general manager at BookCourt in Cobble Hill, down the street
from a giant Barnes & Noble that opened seven years ago. "Bigger
bookstores just want to be everywhere."

Apparently, Barnes & Noble’s presence on Court St. hasn’t hurt BookCourt one bit.

Postcard from the Slope

RUDY DELSON. TONIGHT. BROOKLYN READING WORKS.

Wonder how the Maynard and Jennica reading at Barnes and Noble in Manhattan went last night.

Bet they didn’t have cheese from the Food Coop with labels and really good wine.

Bet Benjamin Kunkel, co-founder and co-editor of N+1, didn’t read an excerpt from the book.

Bet the room wasn’t filled with quirky Brooklyn book types.

Bet it wasn’t in a Revolutionary War historic site, like, the site of the Battle of Brooklyn?

Bet Community Bookstore wasn’t selling books there.

See you tonight when Rudy and friends read from Maynard and Jennica and party afterwards.  Brooklyn Reading Works at  the Old Stone House on 3rd Street between 3rd and 4th Streets in Park Slope. 8 p.m. 

Civics and Urban Life

KOSHER CANDY FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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That’s right. The Jewish Daily Forward has an article about Chocolate Girl, the new Kosher candy shop on Seventh Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets in Park Slope.

Owner Tziporah Avigayil Jaeger is making etrog jelly-filled chocolates
for Sukkot. I’m “trying to draw on the holiday. This is something that
captures [its] essence,” said Jaeger, an Orthodox Jew and veteran
candy-maker who has been selling chocolates wholesale for the past two
years. “Otherwise, there’s really nothing specific for Sukkot.”

New York Times

MTA MAKES DEAL FOR CELL PHONES IN SUBWAY STATIONS

Once this deal goes through there will be barely any cellphone free places in NYC. This means, you can talk on your cell just about every where except, of course, when the subway car you’re riding in in a tunnel.

Don’t you love it when the F-train goes overground at Smith and Ninth and Fourth Avenue? It’s a cacophony of cell phone rings and people talking, "Ma, I’m on my way home."  This from the New York Times:

All 277 underground stations in the subway system are to be wired for cellphone use, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced yesterday.

But riders may have to talk fast, because the subway tunnels will not be wired, out of consideration for riders who do not want to be stuck in a subway car full of chattering cellphone users. …Transit Wireless, will pay New York City Transit a minimu of 46.8 million over 10 years, the agency said. The company will also pay the full cost of building the wireless network in the underground stations…

Richard Grayson

KLEZMER MEMORIES FROM RICHARD GRAYSON

Tarris150
Here’s another terrific story from frequent OTBKB contributor, Richard Grayson. Read a great interview with him here.

Tonight (September 20) at Barbes, you can catch Andy Statman at the 10 p.m. show.  The promo for his appearance says:

A truly extraordinary artist, Andy Statman began his career in the 70’s as a virtuoso Mandolinist who studied and performed David Grisman, went on to study clarinet the legendary Dave Tarras and became one of the main architect of a Klezmer revival which started out 30 years ago and has since informed and influenced folk, Jazz and improvised music forms. Andy draws equally from hassidic melodies, folk tunes from new and old worlds alike and Albert Ayler-influenced free-improv. The result reads like a very personal search for the sacred based both on traditions and introspection.

The “legendary Dave Tarras” was my Uncle Dave, called by Wikipedia “possibly the most famous 20th century klezmer musician. . .known for his long career and his very skilled clarinet playing.”

Uncle Dave and his klezmer band played at my bar mitzvah reception at the Deauville Beach Club in Sheepshead Bay back in 1964.  Many years before that, he played the clarinet at the wedding of my great-grandparents back in Ukraine .

Although he was my great-great-uncle, he was only 53 when I was born (in my family, we marry young or not at all) and was around till I was almost 40.  A couple of weeks after The Village Voice gave a nice notice to my first book in 1979, Uncle Dave trumped that with a Voice cover story that called him “King Klezmer.”

Married to my grandmother’s Aunt Shifra, Uncle Dave came to America with my grandmother and his in-laws, my great-great-grandparents, who’d later own a candy store on Stone Avenue in Brownsville .

At Ellis Island, they fumigated his clarinet and he was forced to work for his brother-in-law, my great-grandfather, a prominent furrier who’d been in America for years, until he could pay for a new one.

When I was a kid, Uncle Dave lived on Tilden Avenue in East Flatbush, just across the street from Tilden High School (closed last June and broken up into smaller schools).  At one point my mother decided I should have clarinet lessons and Uncle Dave came over and gamely tried to instruct me.

But I have no musical ability whatsoever and I hated the taste of the reed in my mouth. Although I loved Uncle Dave and wanted to please him, whatever came out of my clarinet must have sounded like a catfight.

After just a few weeks, he said, “You don’t like this, do you?”

I shook my head.

“What do you like to do?”

“I don’t know. . . writing?”

“Then you should write.”  He went downstairs and told my mother the clarinet was not for me.

Uncle Dave had come from a musical family, and his son-in-law Sammy Musiker, married to my grandmother’s cousin Brauny, was an ace on both the sax and clarinet.  A friend of Gene Krupa who played in Krupa’s band, Sammy brought jazz and swing influences into klezmer before his untimely death.

My friend Bert Stratton, a clarinetist with the Cleveland band Yiddishe Cup, once did research at the YIVO Institute and sent me a composition of Uncle Dave’s entitled “Richard’s Ba Mitzva,” though I’m pretty sure it was done not for me but for his grandson Richard Tarras or his grandnephew Richard Shapiro.  All of us were students at Meyer Levin JHS in the early 1960s, so the title could do triple-duty.

Although Uncle Dave was well-known in musical circles – he had a weekly show on a Brooklyn-based radio station when I was a kid – mainstream recognition came with the klezmer revival late in his life.  In 1984, the National Endowment for the Arts gave him a Heritage Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to traditional music.

After Aunt Shifra’s death, Uncle Dave lived with a widow whose family he’d known for many years.  To avoid losing social security benefits, they had only a religious marriage ceremony, not a civil one.  We celebrated their “wedding” at the Shang-Chai kosher Chinese restaurant on Flatbush Avenue .

The last time I saw Uncle Dave, he gave me a gift: a signed copy of an LP by Enrico Caruso.   I still treasure it.

Uncle Dave died at 95 and is buried next to Aunt Shifra in the family plot at Old Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens .  A musical staff adorns their headstone.

Andy Statman is carrying on and extending the traditions of klezmer music.  Catch him if you can.

Civics and Urban Life

SEE YOU AT RUDY DELSON’S READING

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You won’t want to miss tomorrow’s BROOKLYN READING WORKS reading at the Old Stone House at 8 p.m. because:

1. It’s the first reading of the year at Brooklyn Reading Works.

2. This year, there are many interesting readings planned and Rudy Delson’s is a great one to start with.

3. Rudy Delson is a hot new author with a hot new book called Maynard and Jennica, a very New York love story told by an astounding number of narrators. It’s ambitious, funny, smart, deep. This is sort of his first reading. He is doing a reading at Barnes and Noble in Manhattan today. But tomorrow at the Old Stone House will be a real EVENT.

4. It should be way fun to hear Rudy read from his book. Benjamin Kunkel, co-founder and editor of N+1, and others will be reading.

5. Rudy is bringing cheese with labels and wine from Red, White, and Bubbly. I am bringing goodies, too.

6. The Community Bookstore will be selling books.

7. Learn a little American History while you’re sipping wine.

Civics and Urban Life

WHAT A DEAL: NONO KITCHEN

So we finally tried NoNo Kitchen.

NoNo stands for North of New Orleans to those who don’t know. And the fare at this eatery on Seventh Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets is Cajun with some traditional southern cooking thrown in for good measure. It’s also fresh, delicious and nicely served. In fact, the service is very attentive and they have a good beer and wine list.

Love the corn bread.

But what a deal. On Monday-Thursday nights they have a $25. prix fix and it’s a lot of good food. The PF comes with an appetizer, a soup or salad, a main course and a delicious dessert.

We were impressed. Plus it’s a pleasant restaurant to sit in. For appetizers we tried the fried okra, the popcorn catfish and the Jambalaya Won Tons. For entrees, I had the Shrimp Creole, which was not on the Prix Fix menu. It was very good. Hepcat and Teen Spirit had the salmon, which was on the PF. And OSFO had the smothered steak, which was DELISH and EVERYONE at the table was stealing bites.

Frankly, I was surprised no one ordered the Honey and Cane Syrup Slow Roasted Pork Tender Loin Tender Pork Loin Served with Poor Man’s Gravy Cornbread Dressing & Vegetables. Yum, that sounded good.

Yes, we will return to NoNo kitchen when we’re in the mood for hearty good eats and Arrogant Bastard beer. It’s perfect for the winter months. Jamalaya. Creole. Ribs. Roasted Pork Loin. Steak. Hearty, hearty good stuff.

Postcard from the Slope

CLASSIC PARK SLOPE FILM FROM 1970’S AT FILM FORUM

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The Landlord was filmed in Park Slope in the 1970’s. It was directed by Hal Ashby and stars Lee Grant. She will be introducing the film at Film Forum at the 7:45 showing tonight.

Look at all the critical raves:

“The Landlord deserves attention and not just because it’s a terrific film.  Its one-week revival at Film Forum in Manhattan, is a chance for audiences to see a pivotal moment not only in the career of Mr. Ashby, but also in the histories of American film and, coincidentally, of New York real estate… ONE OF THE BEST EARLY PRODUCTS OF THE NOW-HALLOWED AMERICAN MAVERICKS OF THE 1970s.” – Mike Hale, The New York Times.

“ONE OF THE FUNNIEST SOCIAL COMEDIES OF THE PERIOD, as well as the most human…At once broad and nuanced in its characterizations.”
– J. Hoberman, The Village Voice.

“RECOMMENDED! An endlessly fascinating entry in the ‘Loosen up, whitey’ genre of seventies American filmmaking.”
– New York magazine

“FULL OF SHARP ABSURDIST HUMOR. Hal Ashby’s debut is one of his best.
Diana Sands gives probably her finest screen performance…
The dialogue is crisp and often quite startling, the picture has originality and depth.”
– Pauline Kael

“LIKE A BLAXPLOITATION MOVIE MADE BY BUNUEL! An outrageous debut, a film that,
34 years later, still feels daring, both stylistically and politically.”
– Darren Hughes, Senses of Cinema

“To put it plainly and succinctly as the rent bill, The Landlord is a honey, a wondrously wise, sad and hilarious comedy. Leaves an almost eerie tonic effect of truth and laughter, with some of the sharpest, funniest dialogue in a long time.”
– The New York Times

“Vibrant! Delightful comic touches combined with perceptive sidelights on black experience.” – Leonard Maltin

Atlantic Yards

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO AT NO LAND GRAB

Lumi sent me word of Future Perfect, a video installation about the Atlantic Yards that will be on view at the DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival later this month. No Land Grab has a version of the video on her site.  Check it out.

Edward Purver, along with co-creators Ariel Efron & Christian
Croft, conceived of Future Perfect as his thesis project for the
Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU’s Tisch School of
the Arts. The project is posted on the ITP web site, along with a fascinating description of how the project was developed.

For those of you who are interested in checking it out in person, Future Perfect will be running at the d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, September 28-30. 

Postcard from the Slope

COME TO MEETING ON CONGESTION PRICING PLAN

Craig Hammerman of Community Board 6 sent this email this morning about a meeting Thursday night at MS 51 about the Mayor’s congestion pricing plan.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the Mayor’s Congestion
Pricing plans, directly from City officials, is encouraged to attend. 

TO:MEMBERS OF THE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: TRANSPORTATION

DATE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

TIME: 6:30 PM

PLACE:
MIDDLE SCHOOL 51
350 5TH AVENUE
BROOKLYN, NY 11215
AUDITORIUM

A G E N D A

–
Briefing by representatives for the Department of Transportation on the
Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030 Transportation initatives, which includes a
proposed Congestion Pricing pilot program. The Transportation section
of the plan can be reviewed in advance and is available at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/plan/plan.shtml

– Update
from representatives for the Department of Transportation on the
Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Plan initiatives (Capital project
HWK1153) already underway, and discussion of further needs for 4th
Avenue corridor and environs.

LOUISE FINNEY, CO-CHAIR

JOANNE C. FOULKE, CO-CHAIR

Continue reading COME TO MEETING ON CONGESTION PRICING PLAN →

Civics and Urban Life

AD CAMPAIGN AIMED AT BIKERS AND DRIVERS

The city is spending $1 million on an advertising campaign intended to help prevent car and bike accidents on the streets of New York.

"Avoiding a crash comes down to one simple action: LOOK"

The ad will appear on bus shelters, taxi tops, phone kiosks, and
buses in English and Spanish this fall.

In the past ten years, 225 cyclists were killed and 3,462 additional
cyclists were injured on the streets of New York. 

That sucks.

Other Bloggers

BROOKLYN CREATIVE TYPES ON CREATIVE TIMES

Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times says that her passion lies in revealing the creative brilliance of people everywhere and in connecting those people to one another.

In August she posted a series interviews with interesting Brooklyn creatives like Barbara Ensor, children’s animation teacher and author of Cinderella (As if you didn’t already know the story), and Aaron Zimmerman, Director of the NY Writer’s Coaltition, which sponsors year-round workshops for members of unheard segments of the city’s population – at-risk young people, adult residents of supportive housing, the formerly incarcerated, seniors, and others.

About Barbara Ensor: "During our chat at Park Slope’s Union Hall, Barbara let me know that her family traveled a lot when she was little, so she and her siblings found ways to adapt to different surroundings. For example, they played with dolls way past when they were supposed to, age-wise. They also created a puppet theater. “It was all about setting up the story,” shared Barbara."

About Aaron Zimmerman: "Aaron, like his staff of workshop facilitators, is adept at getting others to tell their stories through writing. He himself has an interesting tale to tell about his own life path. In high school, Aron liked the writing he did in English classes. He also loved acting. In college, he studied film an ended up taking script-writing classes. For the final project, where most students made a film, Aron wrote a screenplay. It was a way of combining his interest in acting with his passion for constructing story through the use of language."

New York Times

WATER POLO AT ST. FRANCIS IN THE TIMES’

St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights has a world-class water polo team. As the New York Times’ points out it sure doesn’t fit the profile of most top college water polo teams: It’s not in California, it’s not a military academy and it’s not in the ivy league. St. Francis is a small liberal arts college with 2,200 students. Check out the article and the sexy pictures in today’s New York Times:

St. Francis’s 15-man squad consists of three Americans, one Israeli, three Hungarians and eight Serbs, all with an eye on keeping St. Francis among the national elite. The Terriers are consistently ranked in the top 20 in Division I and made the Final Four in 2005, yet the college hardly fits the traditional mold of a water polo powerhouse.

Election

FIRST STREET ON PRIMARY DAY

There was a cluster of candidates, handlers, and campaigners on the corner of First Street and Seventh Avenue in front of Artisanna, the store that sells furniture from exotic places, urging Park Slopers to vote at PS 321.

For most of the day there were more candidates, handlers and flyer people than voters from what I could tell.

"Did you vote yet? This is Park Slope," one man said as he thrust a ShawnDya Simpson flyer in my face. The race between the two women running for Surrogate Court Judge seemed to be all anyone was talking about.

On the corner of 2nd Street, a man was saying "ShwandyaLevine, SawndyLevine" so fast I thought, "What an interesting name." Nancy Levine was the name of a candidate for another judgeship.

Inside the school, PTA parents were selling baked goods at the tradition primary day bake sale.  "Lately, it’s been a lot of Entemann’s at the bake sales," a friend told me. "But everything looked very homemade there."

Must be the new kindergarten parents.

At 7:30 p.m.  ShawnDya Simpson was standing on the corner talking to a voter, still hopeful that she could get enough votes to beat Diana Johnson, her rival.

But it was State Supreme Court Justice Johnson, who won the Democratic nomination for a Surrogate’s Court judgeship with 60% of what must have been a small number of votes.

In November Johnson will face Theodore Alatsas, a lawyer, who is running on the Republican and Conservative Party tickets.

If she wins, she will be the first African American Surrogate Court Judge.

EDUCATION

NYC SCHOOLS WIN AN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

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New York City’s public school system won the Broad Prize for student achievement and the lessening of the gap between white and minority students.

Mayor Bloomberg accepted the award yesterday along with Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein in Washington. The $500,000 prize money will go to scholarship funds.

Eli Broad, is a philanthropist in LA, is head of the Broad Foundation, which works to improve large school districts nationwide

Postcard from the Slope

IT’S PRIMARY DAY: VOTE

We’re voting for Kings County Surrogate Judge today among other things. Gotham Gazette has lots of info about today’s races. Thanks Gowanus Lounge for telling us that we’ll be making history today by voting for the first African-American surrogate judge  (both candidates are African-American).

What excactly is a surrogate judge? I checked the Surrogate Court website (handily linked to by GW) and found this: "The Surrogate’s Court hears cases involving affairs of decedents including the probate of wills and the administration of estates. It also handles adoptions."

For what it’s worth: the New York Times’ endorsed Shawndya L. Simpson for Surrogate Judge.

Serving Park Slope and Beyond