…and quite a few OTBKB readers, including Richard, Lumi, Eric, Naomi, Susan and a few other people I don’t know who heard about the event on OTBKB. It was great to see all of you and thanks for coming out on a rainy Monday night in June.

I got this in my in-box this morning. I never know what I’m going to find. “i know your kids may or may not be in this age range, but… thought it would be fun for you (they are looking for kids): its for a band playing Union Hall on friday night called the EAMES ERA from new orleans….”

What:
A music video shoot about a kid’s birthday party. There will be food, music, games and a clown. And it takes place in a cookie factory.

Date:
Saturday, June 16th

Time:
Noon

Location:
Eleni’s bakery
47-25 34st btw 47th & 48th ave.
Long Island City

Dress:
The video is about hipster kids, so kids should dress stylish, punky, retro, anything a 22 year old on the lower east side would wear to an indie rock show. Western shirts, hoodies, track jackets, cool t-shirts, funky bracelets, trucker hats, colorful skirts Converse, Vans, little Member’s only jackets(they exist!). Just give it your best shot and we’ll have plenty of other stuff for them at the shoot.

Questions/RSVP:

Jonathan Emmerling
jonemmerling@hotmail.com
917-841-4480

The talented duo are performing Southside Stories and an excerpt from Giovonni Songs at the Old Stone House on June 16th at 8 p.m. 40 bucks supports programs at the Old Stone House (including Brooklyn Reading Works) and gets you great music, champange and dessert.

There is some confusion about how to get tickets. Here’s the correct information.

Advance tickets can be purchased online at
www.nycharities.org. Go
to its Events
Calendar listing, look to the right and click on View All, then
click on June 16. You can also call the Old Stone House: 718-768-3195. Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 at the door.

The Department of Sanitation has the stats on all the nabes in the city and Park Slope rates the hightest with a  30% recycling rate, that’s capturing 60-65% of recyclable waste.

Clearly we are doing much better than the rest of the city. But as those of us who look at local garbage know, we could be doing better. 

There are still common mistakes when it comes to reclycing: People shouldn’t be using blue bags. People still don’t know that glass is recyclable again (it’s been 3 years) and combining bottles and paper.

There is still some confusion and there’s a real need for basic and advanced recycling education. And that’s what the new Office of Recycling Outreach and Education, a part of the Council of the Environment,  is set up to do. Just opened and fully staffed in February of 2007, the office is selecting  districts and doing city-wide education, presentations, and training. Check out their nice website (above).

Christine Salzi works for the Office of REcycling Outreach and Education and wants to do a fun recycling teach-in as part of Stoopendous. Are you planning a Stoopendous event that could use a speaker expert n the ins and outs of recycling? How about composting? She has a fun recycling game she’s happy  to teach you and your friends.

If you are interested, email Christine at csalvi (at) cenyc.org

Gowanus Lounge reports on the latest in the fight to save the Red Hook food vendors. He’s got pix, too.

Will the beloved Red Hook vendors be subjected to a competitive bidding
process that could result in the loss of yet another Brooklyn
institution? Cesar Fuentes, the head of the vendor’s group will be meeting on Tuesday with Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe
(who has so far been silent on an issue that has been prominent in the
media and on which even U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has weighted in), Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Julius Spiegel, City Council Member Sara Gonzalez and others. Food blogger Porkchop Express,
who has reviewed all of the Red Hook food stands in detail, has also
apparently been invited in order to offer his perspective on the
vendors and their importance to the community.

This from Kensington Blog:

We’re pretty happy about the press our local peeping Tom has received. Because of the post done here both channel 9 news and Courier Life (June 8th
print edition) have completed stories on the "Tom". We think its great
that the word has gotten out and hope the guy gets caught!

For information leading to the arrest of the "Tom" or to report an incident call Detective Dawson at the 66th Precinct at (718) 851-5611

OTBKB reader Peter Loffredo sent this post by Jamie Lee Curtis from Arianna Huffington’s blog.

As
the denouement of a really upsetting celebrity scandal came to its
close, a tearful child pleaded to her mother… "Mom, it’s not right."

It was a painful episode to watch. A young woman, begging her mother,
the person who should have taught her right from wrong, to help her, to
teach her the rules of life. It was a little too late. And so she wept
as the Universe was bringing the teaching and settling the score.

I’m in no glass house. I understand only too well the pitfalls of
maternal amnesia and denial. I am not throwing stones but merely a
lifesaver, a buoy of sanity and understanding.

"My analyst told me, that I was right out of my head," Joni Mitchell
sang in the song "Twisted." I was twisted. I am twisted. I am deluded
that my attempts at being liked and loved by my children and friends
with them — all at the same time — were going to result in "well
raised children." We were the generation that would take the job of
raising our children and turn it into… PARENTING.

We were the
generation who applauded every move they made. Every step they took.
"Good climbing, Brandon" was our hue and cry. We were raised by people
who didn’t "understand" us and now we don’t "understand" why our
children are so messed up.

It is a national epidemic. Omnipotent children running amok or sitting
amok as they watch TV and play electronic games and shop on eBay.

The sad paths of the three most popular young women — privileged but
from varying backgrounds, talented, beautiful and spectacular — have
ended in prison, rehab and mental illness. I hope their mothers are
worried sick and wondering, "What could I have done differently?"

And
our culture should be asking the same question too.

What we need to do is look long and hard at our part in all this. Where
did our children get the message that the rules don’t apply to them?
And where did we, the Mothers, get the message that if we abdicate our
responsibilities as Mothers, the Universe will do our job for us? And
it does, but without any of the love and tenderness and compassion that
we could have given, along with the lessons.

Now it’s just the cold hard facts of a jail cell or the emptiness of a rehab room.

I’m not pointing fingers. I’m asking questions.

Can we take the wrenching sight of Paris asking her mother, "why?" and ask it of ourselves?

My analyst told me this: "Children are paparazzi. They take your
picture mentally when you don’t want them to, when you don’t look good,
and show it back to you in their behavior."

Let’s hope that we all learn what is RIGHT and what is so WRONG. Wake up, Mothers and smell the denial.

Pack a picnic, grab a blanket, and experience opera under the stars
as the Metropolitan Opera returns to Prospect Park with Gounod’s Faust.

A summertime tradition in New York since 1967 and in New Jersey since
1987, the series opens with back-to-back concerts in Manhattan’s
Central Park on June 12 and 13, with six additional performances in
each borough of the city and two locations in New Jersey.

All performances begin at 8pm and are free of charge.

For more information and a full schedule, visit our Met
in the Parks web page.

For tips on what to bring and when to show up, read our parks primer

Two events at the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets in beautiful JJ Byrne Park.

***10th Anniversary reading of the 808 Union Writing Group at 8 p.m. on June 11th.  Good writing, cocktails and fun people.  Just come. Did I mention cocktails?

***Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen perform Southside Stories excerpts from Giovonni Songs at 8 p.m. on June 16th (Saturday night).  Enthralling music, champagne, social hoopla. RESERVE TICKETS AT theoldstonehouse.org

The 10th Anniversary Reading of 808 Union Writer’s Group features:

Kevin McPartland reading a novel about pre-gentrified Park Slope gangs and all by someone who lived it.

Marian Fontana reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

Louise Crawford, AKA Smartmom, reading a short story called "Halloween Blonde."

Mary Crowley reading a beautiful set of poems.

Wendy Ponte reading from novel about a woman in search of her Portugese identity.

Barbara Ensor, author of "Cinderella (As if you didn’t already know the Story)" reading from her forthcoming young adult book, "Thumbelia, Runaway Tiny Bride."

Playwright Rosemary Moore presenting scenes from a new play with actors.

An OTBKB reader and frequent commenter had this to say about the Soprano’s just hours before many Park Slopers settled in for a night of great television. He wrote this letter to the New York Times in response to Dick Cavett’s Op-Ed, “Soprano’s Grief.”

To the Editor:
I guess I must be a lone voice in the wilderness who does not find a connection with the kind of accolades Dick Cavett showers on the HBO show, “The Sopranos.” Having watched it sporadically over the years, each time hoping to find what Mr. Cavett did, I always came away disappointed. Well-written and well-acted the show definitely is, but for me that is part of the problem.

The mobster culture is presented very realistically in the series, much moreso than in any of the “Godfather” movies, for example. As such, these sociopathic men, and their masochistic women, reveal no redeeming qualities, just like their real-life counterparts do not. They are gluttonous, ruthless, bigoted, misogynous, violent, crass and incredibly self-righteous to boot. Mr. Chase and company have indeed quite skillfully depicted an accurate portrayal of the psychopathy of the hard-core criminal personality, but for me, that ultimately made The Sopranos too much like a reality show.

What does it say about our culture that such a show is so wildly popular, even to intellectuals like Mr. Cavett? That in our harried, stressed, guilt-ridden lives, we vicariously admire those without conscience or empathy? Among other things, it explains to me how George “The Smirk” Bush and Dick “The Scowl” Cheney were elected twice to be the heads of our American “family.”

Sincerely,
Peter Loffredo

Three Gemini’s in one family. Three birthdays in one week. It’s always a festive week full of celebration, gifts, and cake.

Hepcat: June 6
Manhattan Granny: June 10
Teen Spirit: June 12th.

Day for Night: Is this not the greatest film ever made about movie making? Francois Truffaut in the role of the director also directed the film. Starring Jacqueline Bisset.

Fanny and Alexander: Is there a greater psychological work about childhood, death, and the power of the adult world to enchant and terrorize children. Bergman’s 3-hour classic,  is a lavish and lusty treasure I was thrilled to experience again.

Full Moon in Paris: Eric Rohmer’s strange, conversational film centers on a young Parisian woman struggling to rescue her freedom (her youth, her solitude) while still in a relationship with a man in the suburbs. A stylish postcard of Paris you won’t want to miss.

This from New York 1:

A Brooklyn family is trying to cope with the death of a man they called their hero, a soldier who was killed while fighting for his country.

Sergeant Kimmel Watt was killed June 2nd in a roadside bombing in Iraq, where he had been stationed since January.

Originally from Jamaica, Watt moved to the U.S. in 1985 when he was ten. He lived in East New York and decided to join the Army right out of high school.

His stepsister says he was recently accepted into a computer engineering program at the University of Maine. He died one day after getting the acceptance letter.

“He hasn’t lived yet. This seems like just an obstacle, you know,” said Desrene Watt. “And he believed; you couldn’t tell him he wasn’t doing good, you know. He believed he was doing good and this was the right thing to do right now, you know. And he’s helping.”

Watt’s body will be flown home for funeral services in Queens. His wake will take place on June 19th at the New Jerusalem Church in Springfield Gardens.

He’ll be buried the following day at Calverton National Cemetery

.

An OTBKB reader asked if Dressler is a good place to go in Williamsburg. Here’s something from the recently deceased Brooklyn Record about it. If anyone has anything to add, please do.

Dressler is the high-end branch of the Dumont Empire. Situated on the same quiet stretch of Broadway as Peter Luger, it has already managed to make itself a destination. A recent attempt at same-day dinner reservations for a party of three yielded one opening at 9:30. Given its popularity for dinner, I was happily surprised when there was no wait for brunch.

The key to a good brunch is having a balance between breakfast and lunch fare. Some places throw a mediocre pasta dish on a menu full of eggs and pancakes—sorry, that’s not brunch. Dressler does the meal right, offering a harmonious blend of omelets, french toast, burgers, and fried chicken. It was, in fact, the fried chicken that brought us there. A friend had recommended it, swearing it was the best he’d ever tasted.

And the chicken is indeed pretty great. The breading is crispy and thick, substantial without being heavy. The mild seasoning flavors the skin with a light herbiness. It comes with a giant, flaky biscuit, which barely fit in my hand.

These enormous biscuits also serve as the platform for the Benedict, Dressler’s turn at the requisite brunch dish. Hickory-smoked ham replaces Canadian bacon, but don’t worry, the Hollandaise is still there. This is the must-have dish for my next visit.

Finally, there’s the Fresh Baked Goods, a side whose particular composition changes from week to week. When we were there, the main attraction was a pair of glazed doughnut holes that made me resent every Dunkin’ I’ve ever put in my mouth.

149 Broadway, Williamsburg. (718) 384-6343.

She lost 1.6 pounds.

The Union Writing Group is having a 10th year anniversay reading on Monday June 11 at 8 p.m. It’s at the Old Stone House. Did I mention that there will be cocktails. Come listen. Hang out. Party. It’s a great group of writers, many of whom have been meeting every Tuesday night for ten years.

OTBKB fave and former Park Slope resident, Marian Fontana, whose critically acclaimed and best selling memoir “A Widow’s Walk” about life after her husband, Lt. David Fontana of Squad 1 died on 9/ll, will be reading from hilarious and poignant new memoir-in-progress about dating. She will have you laughing and crying: that’s her gift. Great for anyone whose ever endured the humiliation and promise of dating. Other readers include:

–Louise Crawford reading from a story called, “Halloween Blonde.”
–Mary Crowley reading a set of beautiful poems.
–Wendy Ponte reading a section from her novel about a woman in search of her Portugese identity.
–Rosemary Moore presenting two scenes from a new play.
–Barbara Ensor reading from her forthcoming “young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.”
–Kevin McPartland reading from “Brownstone Dreams,” a novel about gangs in Park Slope in the early 1960’s.
–Marian Fontana reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

The Union Writing Group is having a 10th year anniversay reading on Monday June 11 at 8 p.m. It’s at the Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Did I mention that there will be cocktails? Come listen. Hang out. Party. It’s a great group of writers, many of whom have been meeting every Tuesday night for ten years.

Kevin McPartland, a novelist who grew up in Park Slope, went to Viet Nam and worked for Ma Bell for 30 years, will read from “Brownstone Dreams,” his un-published novel about Park Slope in the early 1960’s. It’s West Side Story meets Scorsese. This is pre-gentrfied Park Slope with a vengence and McPartland lived it first hand.

A must hear, must read for everyone — especially for those interested in powerful fiction and Brooklyn in the early 1960’s when it was a vastly different place. The other writers are:

–Louise Crawford reading from a story called, “Halloween Blonde.”
–Mary Crowley reading a set of beautiful poems.
–Wendy Ponte reading a section from her novel about a woman in search of her Portugese identity.
–Rosemary Moore presenting two scenes from a new play.
–Barbara Ensor reading from her forthcoming “young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.”
–Kevin McPartland reading from Brownstone Dreams, a novel about gangs in Park Slope in the early 1960’s.
–Marian Fontana reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

Streetsblog has the story and a picture. Cyclists be warned.

It’s been a bit more than a week and Smartmom hasn’t had General Tso’s chicken from Hunan Delight, a slice of whole-wheat pizza from Pino’s or a buttery croissant from Cousin John’s.

She hasn’t eaten even one M&M or thought about ordering a cheeseburger deluxe from Grand Canyon.

It’s been salad, salad, and more salad, which is pretty boring. But that’s OK, because Smartmom has to lose weight and she has to lose it bad.

On Sunday morning, Smartmom even let Diaper Diva convince her to join the Weight Watcher’s meeting at the Montauk Club.

Smartmom is a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. She joined in 1998 to lose those pesky post-pregnancy pounds that just refused to go away.

Back then, she attended the Wednesday meeting at the American Legion Hall on Ninth Street — a far cry from the elegant second-floor ballroom at the Montauk Club. At that meeting, the women would strip down to shorts and t-shirts in the bathroom before their weigh-in.

Smartmom got very attached to that meeting’s leader, a Catholic schoolteacher from Bay Ridge with a great sense of humor.

She’d lost 100 pounds and had managed to keep it off for years by avoiding “muffins the size of your head.”

Once Smartmom reached her goal weight, which took about five months, she stopped going. She remembers her first summer after the weight loss.

Ah. The joy of not hating her body (OK, she still hated it a little). But it was such fun to try on swimsuits, mini-skirts and sexy lingerie.

After September 11, however, Smartmom started putting the weight back on. It was from all the comfort food and wine she put into her body in an ill-fated attempt to feel better during the worst of times.

A couple of years later, she decided to try Zoloft. At first, she lost some weight and ran the Brooklyn half-marathon (13 miles from Coney Island to Prospect Park). But after the race, she started putting on the pounds.

She couldn’t fit into her usual size of jeans, her usual size of dress, her usual size of…

It was pretty humiliating.

Weight gain is a very common side effect of Zoloft. But Smartmom didn’t feel like switching to another anti-depressant because she liked the new, less irritable Smartmom.

But it quickly becomes a problem when the anti-depressant starts to make you depressed every time you step on the scale. Something had to give — either she had to limit her portion sizes of pastel-colored cocktails, Mallomars, and Haagen Dazs, or she had to tear up her prescription.

She kept the pills — and also gained 15 pounds.

The other night, Smartmom came home from her writer’s group and found herself huffing and puffing as she reached the third-floor landing.

“I’m concerned about you,” Hepcat said when he saw that she was out of breath.

“What do you mean?” Smartmom asked.

“I’m concerned about your health,”

“My health?” she said.

“I don’t want you to suddenly drop dead,” he said.

Smartmom was furious. Deep down she knew that he was trying to be nice (maybe). But his so-called concern made her feel like the fat lady at the circus with a triple chin and calves like buoys. She felt like she was living life on the verge of cardiac arrest.

As usual, Hepcat said the wrong thing. And Smartmom wouldn’t forgive him. No matter how many times he tried to explain. She went straight to bed and faced away from Hepcat for the entire night. He’s the one, she thought, who never exercises and has a potbelly.

The next morning, Smartmom decided it was time to get healthy. No butter, no cheese, no donuts, and no gelato. And she knew she could lose the weight because she’d done it before. And once Smartmom makes up her mind…

On Sunday morning, as Smartmom got ready to meet Diaper Diva at the 10:30 Weight Watchers meeting, the Oh So Feisty One asked if she could come along. This made Smartmom nervous. What if she gets the wrong idea? What if she decides that she wants to be supermodel thin?

But OSFO insisted; she really wanted to see Diaper Diva and Ducky. So Smartmom relented.

“What do we do at the meeting?” OSFO asked on the way.

“I’m going to weigh myself,” Smartmom told her.

“Can I weigh myself, too?” she said.

“Absolutely not. You don’t need to lose weight,” she told her. “Besides. This isn’t about the way I look. It’s about my health and the way I feel. I want to stop eating unhealthy foods.”

“Should I stop eating unhealthy foods?” OSFO asked.

“No. Well, yes. Candy and sugar aren’t great for your teeth,” Smartmom told her. “But otherwise, you can keep on eating what you’ve been eating.”

The conversation was making Smartmom very uncomfortable. She wants OSFO to feel good about her body and she’s scared to death that she’ll hate her body as much as Smartmom hates hers. Most of the moms of girls she knows are terrified that their daughters will develop anorexia.

Buddha knows they don’t want their daughters to spend the rest of their lives wanting to be as thin as Kate Moss.

One friend is worried because her daughter has stopped eating breakfast and lunch. Another friend’s daughter is on diet to lose 10 pounds and she’s already razor thin.

Still another mom worries that her daughter is overweight but she doesn’t know what to say. And then there’s Mrs. Cleavage, who is worried that her 9-year-old son doesn’t know how to tell when his stomach is full.

So there’s a whole lot of worry out there and confusion abounds. Smartmom wants OSFO to feel good about her looks. At all times. Without end.

Maybe Smartmom should just relax. No one is really sure what causes eating disorders anyway. It tends to strike between the ages of 14 and 18. Some researchers think it’s about control. During puberty, girls (and boys) feel like they don’t have much control over their lives. By controlling their own bodies, they regain some control — even if it is done in an unhealthy way.

Smartmom decided that it was time to tell OSFO the truth.

“I’ve never liked my body very much,” Smartmom told her.

“What don’t you like about it?” OSFO asked.

“Well, my belly is like Bluto. My upper arms are flabby. I guess I wish I had a different body sometimes.”

“But then you wouldn’t be you,” OSFO said simply. And it was the sweetest thing Smartmom had ever heard.

OSFO spotted Ducky and Diaper Diva off in the distance and ran over to them. She’d had enough of Smartmom’s true confessions and it was time to play. Smartmom was proud that her girl has a good head on her shoulders.

Smartmom went upstairs for her weigh-in. She didn’t really want to be skeleton-thin like Calista Flockhart or sleekly Amazonian like Uma Thurman. She just wanted to be a healthier and more beautiful version of herself. That’s why she was at the Montauk Club on a Sunday morning staring at an unspeakably high number on the scale.

Yikes.

But Smartmom was OK with it. She bought a Monthly Pass and a Starter Kit, which included a three-month eating journal. Smartmom knew she was making progress.

Anyone want to go out for pizza to celebrate

Gowanus Lounge has the report and the pix. And it sounds like it was quit the political and media event.

It was anything but a typical Saturday at the Red Hook Ballfields as Sen. Charles Schumer dropped by to demand that the city drop plans that could lead to the eviction of its Latino food vendors. The vendors’ most prominent and politically influential advocate was joined by Red Hook Vendors Committee director Cesar Fuentes, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, food writer Ed Levine and chef Andrew Carmellini. About a half-dozen TV crews and assorted bloggers, print journalists and photographers took in the scene.

I always love to watch  New York City’s second-largest Gay and Lesbian Pride event, the Brooklyn Pride Parade. It starts at Bartel- Pritchard Circle and goes along Prospect Park West from 15th Street to 9th Street and travels up 15th Street to Seventh Avenue, continuing north on Seventh Avenue to Lincoln Place.
It must have started around 9 p.m. I could hear the cheers and yelps from my apartment. We finally got out and the parade was just about over but OSFO and I walked north on Seventh Avenue and caught up with the beginning.
We saw Congressman Antony Weiner at Lincoln Place and I asked him for a quote. "One of the great things about Brooklyn is that it’s diverse. And today is a day that celebrates diversity," he said.
He pointed to Santa Fe Grill and said, that used to be an ice cream parlor. Then he pointed to Olive Vine and said, "And that used to be a bagel shop. I worked in the bagel shop in the morning and the ice cream shop in the afternoon. We didn’t go by our names, we went by ice cream flavors. I was strawberry.”
I asked him when that was. He said in the 1970’s. I asked him when he was born and he said 1965. "You’re younger than me," I told him.
Walking back up Seventh we saw Engarde, the gay and lesbian flag corps. They dance, swing flags and throw them up and down. It’s a great act.
Representatives from Kolot Chayenu marched as did the Park Slope Jewish Center, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Audrey Lorde Project, and Lesbians Against Facism.
OSFO bought three glow necklaces for five bucks. The parade ended at Lincoln Place but participants and onlookers seemed to head west on Union Street.

Come join us to take a stand against global warming!

Write (and if you like, decorate with your kids) a letter to Senators Clinton and Schumer to encourage them to pass federal legislation curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Parents for Climate Protection will have a table at the 3rd Street entrance of Prospect Park on Sunday, June 10th, 10-12a.m. We provide all the necessary supplies and we can even help you decide what to write. You only need to bring your family, your creativity and your outrage at the lack of action.

A single letter has the impact of 1,000 emails, so please join us!

See you on Sunday, June 10th, 10-12 a.m. at the 3rd Street entrance of Prospect Park .
Parents for Climate Protection

Karen Fuller
Claudia Friedetzky
Jacqueline Smith

She enjoyed some great fruit, veggies, and more at the Food Coop:
Check out the Food Coop’s Blog, too for new organic produce arrivals.

Sugar Snaps
Peaches to die for
Pluots to die for
Vegan sushi
Nectarines
Herb salad
Amazing tomatos
Corn on the cob
Egg Beaters
Gazpacho Soup to die for
Carrot Soup with Cilantro
Cucumbers
Artichokes

She also ate the garden salad at Olive Vine twice this week with a side order of Tabouli. She sat in the air-conditioned tented backyard area; the mint iced tea is tasty.

She succumbed to a cup of rice pudding flavored ice cream at Tasti D-lite on one occassion.

Skim lattes at Sweet Melissa’s were a treat.

When she wasn’t eating in one of the above places, Smartmom chomped on a lot of baby carrots.

Oh yeah, she and Hepcat dined at Fifth Avenue’s Blue Ribbon Restaurant for his birthday and Smartmom had an artichoke and a order of grilled fish and fennel salad.

Mrs. Kravitz called this morning to say, “Did I offend you last night?”

Smartmom didn’t have a clue what Mrs. Kravitz was talking about. Last night at the Third Street Cafe was so pleasant what with the margaritas, which she barely drank due to her diet, and the good conversation.

Turns out that Mrs. Kravitz said, “Don’t mention ____ on your blog.” Afterwards, she thought Smartmom got quiet and looked offended.

Smartmom was not offended. She is perfectly fine when people tell her that things are off the record. Generally when SM thinks something would make a good blog post she’ll say, “OOOOH, this is good. Can I blog about it?”

In fact, that’s her policy.

When people go out of their way to say: Don’t blog about this, it’s clearer than clear that SM shouldn’t mention it. It might sound like a casual thing to her, something worth mentioning. But obviously it’s not and she respects these three words: OFF THE RECORD.

Sometimes people will turn to her and say, “Don’t put that that on your blog,” and she’s very suprised because it would never have occurred to her to put it on her blog; SM has no interest in putting someone’s personal business on her blog. That’s gossip and SM doesn’t trade in gossip.

Have you ever read anything unseemly and unduly personal about someone on this blog? Really. Then again, Smartmom does do slice of life and stories that inspire her. Maybe she’s included details about people’s health and well-being that were crossing the line. Maybe she compromised people’s trust in that way.

It’s a tricky business this being the town blogger. People sort of love to be mentioned on OTBKB but also HATE it even if they are not mentioned by name.

PRIVACY. It’s an important thing. Mrs. Kravitz and Smartmom talked for quite some time this morning. She told her not to worry. She would always make it clear by saying, “Ooooh this is interesting. May I blog it?”

And if Mrs. Kravitz says, “This is off the record,” It’s off the record. OFF THE RECORD MEANS OFF THE RECORD.

Planning and producing events is one thing. Publicizing them is something else entirely. Getting people to leave the comfort of home is quite another.

I begin to feel like a broken record: Come to this, Come to that. But building an audience is the name of the game when it comes to arts events.

SO PLEASE COME TO THIS 10TH ANNIVERSARY READING OF THE UNION WRITER’S GROUP. HEAR ME AND MY WRITER-FRIENDS ON JUNE 11TH at 8 PM AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE ON FIFTH AVENUE AT THIRD STREET IN JJ BYRNE PARK.

Playwright Rosemary Moore is bringing actors to read two scenes from her new play; Barbara Ensor, author of ” Cinderella: As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story,” is reading an excerpt from her forthcoming young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway; Kevin McPartland is reading from a novel about gangs in pre-gentrified south Park Slope; Marian Fontana is reading from her hilarious new memoir about dating.

–I’m reading from a story called, "Halloween Blonde."

—Mary Crowley is reading a set of beautiful poems.

—Wendy Ponte is reading a section from her novel about a woman in search of her Portugese heritage.

—Rosemary Moore is presenting two scenes from a new play.

—Barbara Ensor is reading from her forthcoming “young adult book, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride.”

—Kevin McPartland is reading from Brownstone Dreams.

—Marian Fontana is reading from her new memoir about dating.

The time limit per reader is 8 minutes. Strictly enforced. We all believe that less is more. There will be cocktails and it should be a fun, social evening on Monday, June 11 at the Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Gowanus Lounge reports that Senator Charles E. Schumer wants to save a Red Hook Treasure. Yay: Schumer.

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer will criticize a move by the Parks Department that could force food vendors operating at the ball fields in Red Hook out of business TOMORROW, Saturday, June 9 at 1:00pm in Red Hook. Every weekend, the vendors sell high-quality, affordable food, mostly Latin-style, at the ball fields and have become a much beloved weekend destination for families throughout Brooklyn and the entire city. However, the Parks Department informed the vendors that they would now have to competitively bid for permits they have held for years, which could result in an exponential increase in rates or the prospect of being out-bid by corporate conglomerates. Schumer said that these vendors are Brooklyn treasures, and are a symbol of the diverse cultural vitality of the community that should be preserved and supported, not subject to the City’s bottom line.

Last night had the feel of a summer night in the country. Smartmom sat on one of the new green, Mission-style plastic chairs, talked with her neighbors, and munched on snap peas from the Coop.

The kids — three families combined — were a wild and running band of playful children. They numbered 8. Four from one family and two each from the other two.

Maybe it was the chill in the air but it felt like an August night on Long Island or Cape Cod. The Third Street traffic was our ocean. The wind, a reminder of the natural world that so often gets drowned out by city racket.

The kids exercised an inventive playfulness that reminded me of summer night spent building playhouses out of a refrigerator box on the lawn at a friend’s country house in Orient Point.

Or romping with a huge family of four at Candlewood Lake back in the 1960’s. Feeling that rugged freedom borne of summer friends and country air.

Glow sticks seemed to be the thing. So as the kids ran, little wands of green and orange light accompanied them. At one point, one of the glow sticks got caught on a high ledge of the building and they had to figure out, as a group how to get it down.

They started a club called the Glow Stick Club, OSFO told me. “It’s fun having a club,” one of the other girls whispered to her mom.

Mr. Kravitz brought home a bottle of fancy Partida tequila from the office.

“Gotta make Margaritas, I guess,” said Mrs. Kravitz.

Smartmom told her that she had Triple Sec and lime juice. That there was a Margarita recipe on the label of the Triple Sec. The two made a bee-line to Smartmom’s apartment for the ingredients.

Smartmom ain’t no drinking girl since she decided to lose weight and liquor is just sugar. Still she sampled a sip of Margarita and it was tasty. And it went to her head (two weeks of not drinking, what do you expect?)

And it went to other people’s heads, too. The conversation was light and playful. Something came up that Mr. Kravitz told Smartmom she couldn’t write about but Smartmom has no memory of what that was.

Mrs. Kravitz told of having a tough week. Mother of Four, a new character in these tales, is a divorced mom with four children and a wonderful white mutt named Rufus, shared an inspiration she had that day about what she wants to do with her life.

Hepcat came down to fix a broken night-lite that one of the kids was really sad about. Smartmom was deep in thought about the things she is deep in thought about. Distracted, sad. There is much on her mind.

Somehow, the old “how I met my husband, how I met my wife stories” came out, which sequed seamlessly into birth stories…

Tales of Petosin, epidurals and cesarians in hospitals; stories of babies coming out so fast and sudden at home that there wasn’t even time to call the midwife, call the doctor.

Summer breezes. Sugar snaps. It was that kind of night at the Third Street Cafe.