FROM New York 1: Friends and family of a Manhattan man who contracted anthrax gathered Saturday for a vigil in a local church.

Drum-maker and African dancer, Vado Diomande contracted anthrax while working with untreated animal skins.

Daimonde’s friends plan to hold a "healing drum circle" ceremony
Saturday afternoon. They will play drums like the ones he uses in his
performances as a way to show their support for this recovery.

Doctors at the Pennsylvania Hospital where Diomande is being
treated say the he’s taken another turn for the worse, and been
downgraded to serious condition.

There is no word yet on what sparked the change in Diomande’s condition.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency says crews have
cleaned all but one of the six floors in the DUMBO warehouse where
Diomande worked with the skins.

When they are done, another round of testing will take place, to make sure the facility is clear of the bio-toxin.

The EPA tests on Diomande’s West Village apartment are complete and
officials say it is clear of any remaining traces of anthrax.

The EPA says test results on the warehouse should be available early next week.

Continue reading Vigil for Drum-maker and African Dancer →

From the  New York Times today, news about the Brooklyn House of Detention, that most "repellent" of Brooklyn buildings:

By almost any measure, the Brooklyn House of Detention, 10 stories of razor wire and wire-mesh windows in Boerum Hill, is a repellent sight.

But, the city reasons, it need not be so. So, to attract people other than criminal suspects to the 760-bed jail, the Correction Department has decided to convert part of the complex into 24,000 square feet of retail shopping space.

"The site is going to be redeveloped," Martin F. Horn, the correction commissioner, said in an interview this week. "One way or another, retail is going to be there."

Under Mr. Horn’s jail-with-retail plan, three sides of the block that the jail now occupies, along Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place, would be converted to one-story retail space beginning this summer. The jail entrance, now on Atlantic, would be moved to the fourth side of the block, along State Street.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. Horn said, "enthusiastically" supports the redevelopment plan, part of a $240 million reconception of the jail that will most likely also add more cell space. Mr. Horn declined to say exactly how many more inmates a bigger Brooklyn jail would hold.

Which retailers would be asked, or be willing, to open a shop on jail property remains to be seen, several city and local elected officials said. But Mr. Horn and several elected officials in Brooklyn, including Marty Markowitz, the borough president, and David Yassky, a city councilman from Brooklyn Heights, floated a few ideas this week.

An upscale food market, Mr. Horn suggested; a children’s clothing store, Mr. Yassky offered; law offices, Mr. Markowitz mentioned.

Mr. Markowitz, who is known to gush about how great Brooklyn is, said that even a boutique hotel on jail grounds would be nice — but only if the city razed the existing structure and rebuilt it from scratch.

"If it’s designed in such a way that the guests feel totally comfortable," he said yesterday, "why not?"

Mr. Markowitz added that although he would prefer to see the jail closed permanently, if it is to be open it should also have retail and, preferably, residential space.

"Let’s make it something that we never would have dreamed about," he said.

As a 2006 recipient of a Brooklyn Arts Council Grant (BAC) I was invited to the Brooklyn Arts Council 2006 Community Arts Regrant Awards Ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall. I bought a orange silk jacket at City Casuals to the event, which I figured would be artsy-dressy.

Borough President Marty Markowitz was the host. There were other speakers, too. Ella Weiss, President of BAC, Kate D. Levin, Commissioner, NYC Department of Culutral Affairs, and others from JP Morgan Chase Foundation, and the New York S tate Council on the Arts.

It was so great to hear the word ART over and over in thick Brooklyn accents. AHT. Even better – so great to be in a municipal building – in the magnificent courtroom no less – and hear politician after politician state the importance of the arts (ahts) and artists in particular to the social, economic, and cultural health of a city.

Roseanne P. Evans, Grants Manager, Kay Turna, Folk Arts Director and Eleanor Geryk announced the names of the 133 winners, including Brooklyn Reading Works (me), 826NYC (Brookyn Superhero Supply Store), The Arab American Family Support Center (Intro to Arab-American poets), Colab for Artwalk ’06, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Caribbean American Sport and Cultural Youth Movement (steel drum workshops), Brooklyn Sax Quartet, Green-wood Cemetery site project, Volcano Love (Teen girl programs), Kwame Brandt-Pierce (for a storytelling project), Regina Opera, Brooklyn Ballet, CIRCUSundays at the Hudson Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge, GRIOT Circle (Yoruba woodcarving), Kristin Brenneman Eno for her Digital Story Workshop, Chez Bushwick Studios, Making Menorahs; Saving Jewish Tradition, Phat Phun Poetry Workshops, Documenting BRownsville, Fifth Annual Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair…

There were many more. The myriad ways that BAC enriches Brooklyn by helping Brooklyn artists is incredible – and I was thrilled to be part of it.

Needless to say, with 133 recipients there was no time for my "Oscar" speech. We were just asked to stand after they listed our names (in groupings depending on which grant group we were in – mine is New York City Department of Cultural Affairs). But I did have a speech ready…

The party afterward was fun – wine, cheese, cucumber sandwiches, chicken satay, turnovers, and more…A really interesting Brooklyn crowd. People networked, socialized, picked up their checks, congratulated one another…

When it was over, Hepcat and I ducked into the Borough Hall subway station that was right outside the door…

Brooklyn fiction writer, Martha Cooley, is the author of this wonderful first line in her acclaimed novel, The Archivist.

With a little effort, anything can be shown to connect to anything else; existence is infinitely cross-referenced. And everything has more than one definition.  A cat is a mammal, a narcissist, a companion, a riddle.

Speaking of connections, Martha, who also wrote, "Thirty-Three Swoons," called the other day to tell me all about the new MFA program at Adelphi (which is in Queens). And to invite the readers of OTBKB to an Open House introducing its new MFA program to interested potential applicants.   

The evening will include a short program of faculty readings, a question and answer session and an informal conversation.  Refreshments will be served.  Monday, March 27th at 6:00 p.m., 75 Varick Street, 2nd floor (Adelphi Manhattan Center)

Martha is trying to get the word out to SERIOUS WRITERS LOOKING FOR AN INTERESTING, TOP NOTCH MFA PROGRAM IN THE NYC AREA.

In addition to getting a chance to study with Martha Cooley, here are some other reasons you might want to check out Adelphi’s MFA program:

Why go for an MFA in Creative Writing at Adelphi University?  To become a better writer, of course.  To gain the versatility, confidence, and discipline to sustain yourself through a lifetime in the arts.  And to step off the sidelines, engaging actively with the literary realm at large–and with the particular cultural pleasures of New York, where novelty, variation, and flexibility constitute the most venerable of traditions. 

In our new Creative Writing Program, fiction writers, poets, and playwrights refine their skills in small, single-genre writing workshops, literature courses, and exchanges across the borders of prose, poetry, and drama.  Our students participate in a lively community encompassing not only Adelphi’s campus in Garden City, Long Island, but also nearby New York City’s artistically active boroughs

Adelphi’s creative writing faculty provide one-on-one mentoring for each MFA student.  Our students will have opportunities to run a reading series in SoHo, edit our literary journal, pursue lit-blogging and other on-line ventures, guide undergraduates at the university, and teach in public schools.  They will emerge from the program with a novel or set of stories, a play, or a collection of poems and a realistic sense of what a "life of letters" is all about.  They’ll connect with professional networks and opportunities in teaching and publishing, freelance writing, editorial consulting, and community-based writers’ workshops and organizations.  And they’ll be involved in the off- and off- off-Broadway stage as well as regional theaters.    

Faculty:

Judith Baumel, Poetry
Martha Cooley, Fiction
Imraan Coovadia, Fiction
Anton Dudley, Playwriting
Kermit Frazier, Playwriting
Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Poetry
Jiri Wyatt (Igor Webb), Non-Fiction Memoir

For more information, call the Department of English (516-877-4020).

I didn’t know her but she was a fixture on Seventh Avenue for as long as I’ve been around. Sitting on the steps of Old First Church, walking up and down Seventh Avenue with her shopping cart, Jackie Connor was a beloved figure around here.

My friend Marian Fontana called me today to say that Jackie died. Marian has special feelings for Jackie because after 9/11, Jackie gave Marian and all the guys at Squad 1 little angel figurines. Apparently, she collected angels and bought many of them at the Clay Pot, where she was always welcome. I imagine she was a collector of things. She once bought a pair of leather boots from one of my Stoop Sales – for her daughter I think.

I noticed a few months ago that she had no hair. Her hair was always short but she was bald and I thought to myself: she must be undergoing chemo.

Indeed, cancer claimed Jackie’s life. The Slope won’t be the same without her and her gift of angels. We will miss our neighbor, who just like us, lived her life on the Avenue.

For a totally fun art show – the kids and teens will love it –  get over to the Brooklyn Museum for the Willilam Wegman retrospective.

DOGS AND MORE "Funney/Strange," the first retrospective of William Wegman’s art in more than 15 years, opens Friday at the Brooklyn Museum. The show includes photography, painting, collage, and video, all with Mr. Wegman’s blend of light humor and darker undercurrents. He has created children’s books, television spots for "Sesame Street" and "Saturday Night Live," photographs focused on his dogs, and, most recently, a series of collage paintings that incorporate scenic postcards with drawing in addition to paint.This weekend, Mr. Wegman leads a gallery talk through his exhibit, followed by a book signing (Saturday, 3 p.m.). Exhibit: Friday through June 4, Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway at Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-638-5000, $8 general, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 12.

I learned about this Jenny Holzer piece, titled,  "Le Courbusier" on Curbed and went to James Wagner’s site for more.

James Wagner lives in New York and writes about art and politics on jameswagner.com. He is the editor, along with Barry Hoggard, of the arts calendar ArtCal. He had this to say about the piece at the new 7 WTC.

I think it will look fine, perhaps even very, very fine. At least
from a distance the Childs building seems to be an improvement over the
old 7 WTC, even if much of its virtue may be tied to its glassy near
invisibility. I worked in the old fortress for years, and even with a
lobby stocked with decent, large-scale late twentieth-century art I
shuddered every time I had to walk to or from the elevators. The
Lichtenstein, the Held, the Nevelson and the Bleckner [all destroyed]
were all basically add-ons inside that pompous and brutally cold
corporate control center lobby.

Today’s article describes some of the process of the collaboration
between the artist, architect David Childs and developer Larry
Silverstein. While it clearly won’t be one of Holzer’s more provocative
projects (the texts which had to be cleared by Silverstein, will
apparently be as close to sweetness and light as Manhattan ever gets),
we may still be able to hope for more later on: "I hope to feed it
again," Ms. Holzer said. "It would be nice to keep it alive."

For the sake of all of us, I wish her success.

*
the complete quote reads:

The George Washington Bridge
over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of
cables and steel beams, it gleams in the sky like a reversed arch. It
is blessed. It is the only seat of grace in the disordered city. It is
painted an aluminum color and, between water and sky, you see nothing
but the bent cord supported by two steel towers. When your car moves up
the ramp, the two towers rise so high that it brings you happiness;
their structure is so pure, so resolute, so regular that here, finally, steel architecture
seems to laugh… The second tower is very far away; innumerable vertical
cables, gleaming across the sky, are suspended from the magisterial
curve that swings down and then up. The rose-colored towers of New York
appear, a vision whose harshness is mitigated by distance.

The quote is by Le Courbousier

A Brooklyn Life is doing the brunch thing. Here’s what she has to say about our beloved Stone Park and others.

Midweek is the perfect time to start thinking about the weekend again. And what activity more thrills the hearts of Brooklynites everywhere? Brunch! I had a good one last weekend at the Stone Park Cafe on  5th Avenue. Gothamist recently gave the bistro a nod for its egg-topped burger (known as the short-rib sandwich), and not too long after it opened, Frank Bruni raved about it for its bone marrow in the Times. While I’m sure both of these are excellent, do try the brunch.

Read more at A Brooklyn Life

Sometimes I don’t see the No Words_Daily Pix until I get into my office. Hepcat posts the picture from his home computer while I’m in the shower, making breakfast, or searching for Teen Spirit’s shoes. Then it’s time for OSFO’s donut at the Mojo and drop off in the school yard. 

When I finally see the pix – it’s always a nice surprise. But today’s picture really made me smile with pride:

Hepcat has such a great eye. He has been a photographer for most of his life. Growing up on a farm in Northern California he discovered art at an early age as his grandmother and mother were both artists. He picked up a camera when he was a pre-teen and has had one around his neck ever since.

As a teen, he had an annual art show  at the local library with his grandmother (who studied painting with Hans Hoffman). Their work would hang side by side; huge vote of confidence and support from his family about his interest in art and his desire to pursue it as a career.

At Bard College he studied photography with Doug Baz, who was and is an important mentor (and now a reader of OTBKB).  He also studied painting with Elizabeth Murray andfilmmaking with Warren Sonbert. When he graduated from college he arrived in SoHo ready to embark on a photo career. He assisted Larry Williams, a great editorial photographer, from whom he learned a great deal on the set of rock album cover shoots and spreads for Rolling Stone Magazine. He even had some pictures in Rolling Stone.

Graduate school at CalArts followed, where he studied with John Baldassari and got an MFA with plans to teach at the college level.

Back in New York, the  Amiga computer, marriage, kids, the need to make money, the Internet, the dot.com boom and bust, Cisco — it all converged to keep him away from photography for a few years.

Then he came back. In 2003, he was outsourced and given a severance. "There were no computer jobs anyway, so it seemed like a great time to try to be a photographer, again," he always says.

The digital photography revolution was the right moment of re-entry for him, as he knows everything there is to know about computers, cameras, and photography (if it sounds like bragging, I’m allowed. As his wife and all).

Hepcat is an all or nothing kind of guy and he threw himself into the photography like he throws himself into everything he does…Intensely.

90,000 pictures later: "You gotta shoot and shoot to really get your chops back," Hepacat’s got his chops back.

And then came a phone call from a Start-up in Manhattan. He’s back in the computer biz…and pretty happy about it. The photo biz isn’t the most profitable.

He’s hoping for a gallery show soon. And he can print any of the No Words_Daily pix pictures for you. He’s also available to do amazing portraits for you…

The guy’s got a great eye.

For a serious article I am writing about religion in Brooklyn, I’d love to hear from you about your experience looking for and/or finding a suitable religious situation for yourself.

Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Unitarian, and more, I am interested. Post me a comment, or email me at louisecrawford@gmail.com

Include your phone number (in the e-mail) if you don’t mind being interviewed. Interview by e-mail is fine, too.

Here are my questions (specifiy your religion):

What were you looking for?

What is important to you in a church, synogogue, etc. experience?

How did you go about looking for it?

Where did you end up?

Did the reality measure up to the reputation of the church, synogogue, mosque, etc.

Continue reading SHOPPING FOR RELIGION →

Work has begun on Number One Prospect, Richard Meier’s glass building that is going up in the lot next to Union Temple in Grand Army Plaza.  Here’s a photo from Transfer
nyc’s chronicler of architecture, bad, good & otherwise.

Park Slope writer, Steve Berlin Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You, a book that Hepcat is always talking about, has a self-named blog. While it is definitely a book promotion site, he also talks about bloggy stuff that is of interest to him. Here is his bio, and some words about his book.

Steve Berlin Johnson is the best-selling author of four books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience. His writings have influenced everything from the way political campaigns use the Internet, to cutting-edge ideas in urban planning, to the battle against 21st-century terrorism.

His latest work, the national bestseller Everything Bad Is Good For You, was one of the most talked about books of 2005. Steven argues that the popular culture we love to hate—TV, movies, video games—are getting better and are making us (and our children) smarter. In addition to his books, Steven is a contributing editor for Wired magazine and a monthly columnist for Discover magazine. He is a Distinguished Writer In Residence at the New York University Department of Journalism. He lectures widely on technological, scientific, and cultural issues, both to corporate and education institutions.

Steven’s argument in Everything Bad Is Good For You builds on brain research he investigated in his previous bestseller Mind Wide Open: Your Brain And The Neuroscience of Everyday Life. In that book, Steven uses his own personality as the test case for describing how the new brain science is yielding new understandings of human personality. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software was on four prestigious "Best Book of the Year" lists and was named a New York Times Notable Book. It was a finalist for the 2002 Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. Steven’s books have been translated into a dozen different languages.

He was the cofounder and editor-in-chief of FEED, the revolutionary web magazine blending technology, science and culture with a truly innovative interface. Newsweek named him one of the “Fifty People Who Matter Most on the Internet.” In addition to his columns, he’s published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, and many other periodicals. He’s also appeared on many high-profile televisions programs, including The Charlie Rose Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

He also blogged about the fact that Malcom Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point" and "Blink," has a blog. A warm welcome to Blogville to Malcolm and Steve. 

Very cool — Malcolm has a blog. This should be fun:

    In the past year I have often been asked why I don’t have a blog. My answer was always that I write so much, already, that I don’t have time to write anything else. But, as should be obvious, I’ve now changed my mind. I have come (belatedly) to the conclusion that a blog can be a very valuable supplement to my books and the writing I do for the New Yorker.

I told you the Brooklyn real estate bloggers would be all over yesterday’s magazine section (see below).

Brownstoner has pictures and comments on Bushwick, Midwood, Victorian Flatbush, and more.  And I haven’t even seen Curbed yet.

Speaking of real estate, did anyone see my pieces in BKLYN MAGAZINE? Beverley Square West, Issue Project Room, Sculpture in a Stoop, and Perch. Check it out. I think you can read on-line if you don’t hate PDF’s.  The URL for Erin Joslyn’s site may be wrong. I am gonna check and correct ASAP right here.

From Sunday’s OTBKB:

Real Estate. Read all about it in today’s  Magazine section.

"We are our houses, in other words, and over the last decade, as prices
have soared to impossible heights, real estate has occupied a much
larger part of our conversation. This week, we devote an entire issue
to the topic of real estate and how it changes us. Some of these
transformations are about broad economic forces: how Bushwick, one of the most crime-ridden places in New York, began to be populated by trendy restaurants and artists’ lofts; how an accidental tax deduction came to be thought of as the foundation of homeownership in the United States; and one economist’s surprising views on why housing prices are so high in some cities.

They should be talking about it all week in the real estate Blogosphere…

Tonight we will watch the Oscars at the home of Best and Oldest. She’s a screenwriter with lots of film biz smarts. So it should be fun.

We will, of course, be rooting for all the nominees with Brooklyn connections.

PARK SLOPE
First and foremost, we wish NOAH BAUMBACH all the luck that Park Slope can muster in his bid for the original screenwriting Oscar. Noah you and your brilliant film, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, make Park Slope proud. GO NOAH!!

BOREUM HILL
Next, we’re proud as punch to be neighbors of HEATH LEDGER AND MICHELLE WILLIAMS. Brooklyn continues to be the cool celebrity locale. And both of them were stellar in Brokeback Mountain.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

EVEN TRUMAN CAPOTE is a bit of a Brooklyn star. He wrote "IN COLD BLOOD" while living in a brownstone share in Brooklyn Heights. PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN as Capote is, in my opinion, the true owner of the 2006 Best Actor Oscar. You just have to look at that adorable, scruffy man to KNOW that his portrayal of Truman was a skillful act of transformation. 

PAUL GIAMATTI, the beloved star of SIDEWAYS is up for another Oscar in CINDERELLA MAN. I never saw the film. But Brooklyn is rooting for Paul, anyway!!!

My talented friend has caught the sewing bug. She’s taking sewing classes and just bought a sewing machine.

Last week she made an adorable skirt for Ducky. Doesn’t Ducky look like she’s just thrilled with her new skirt?