SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS: Daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) began on Sunday. You were supposed to set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3,  2005. DO IT NOW.

CITY NEWS: The MTA has decided NOT to close subway booths. According to New York 1, the 169 booths  set to be closed will remain open but the attendants will still be out in the station acting as customer service representatives. Subway booths will remain accessible to the clerks so that they can use the phone to call police or fix metro card problems.

_The federal government issued report saying that the city’s bridges are structurally inadequate or obsolete.

As of last Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

BROOKLYN BEAT:  Residents of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the city’s largest Polish community, mourned the death of the first Polish Pope.

_Tafare Berryman, a promising college basketball player from Brooklyn was shot dead outside a nightclub in Long Island.

_The New York Times reported on Saturday that Bruce C. Ratner bought two properties owned by a rival developer, thus removing a potential obstacle for his $2.5 billion sports and housing project for the Atlantic Yards. He paid $44 million to Leviev Boymelgreen for the two properties that Mr. Boymelgreen paid $20 million in August 2004.

_A rash of muggings at
MS 51 by students from other middle schools resulted in a meeting
between school parents and the 78th pct.

_When more than 500
District 15 fifth graders received the news that they
were not admitted to any of their three top choices for middle school,
City Council Member Bill DiBlasio pressed Chancellor
Klein at an Education Committee hearing, invited colleagues who also
represent District 15 to follow up by letter, and joined parents at a
Community Education Council meeting. ‘This situation should have been
anticipated and avoided through better planning and communication,’ he
said.  ‘I’ve been working with my colleagues to ensure as many students
as possible have their choices honored this year and that the process
is improved next year. " From
a press release distributed by Councilman DiBlasio’s office.

_Brooklyn now has a city program aimed at treating sexual assault
victims very quickly in the hopes of increasing the odds of catching
the attackers. This program, which includes a response team with
specially trained forensic examiners, and rape crisis counselors to
treat every victim within one hour of their arrival at the hospital.
started in the Bronx and now includes Brooklyn.

_There have been a number of muggings between President and Ninth
Street
in Park Slope. The victims are women who are talking on their cell
phones. The suspect surprises them from behind, puts his hand over
their mouth and asks for money. According to the police, he hasn’t hurt
anyone; he just takes the cash and runs. The most recent incident was
on Tuesday at 4
p.m. on President Street on or near 8th Avenue.  If you have any
information, please call the 78th Precint Pct.,  re: Pattern 29.
718-636-6484.

IT’S MONDAY: The BAMCinematek presents: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more.

THIS SOUNDS COOL: Around the World in 80 Days at Puppetworks. Weekends at 12: 30 and 2:30 p.m.
338 Sixth Avenue at 4th Street.

_Too Cool for Shul: Festival of Contemporary Jewish Music. Various artists at the BAM Cafe. Weekends in April.

 
WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  OTBKB Daily Pix
photographer, Hugh Crawford, has a show of portrait work on view at Fou
Le Chakra 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets until May
16th.

_ In the documentary, "Let’s Get Real" kids speak out about
bullying, name calling, and other root causes of violence in school. The
film explores a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying including
racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning
disabilities, sexual harassment and others. A panel discussion will
follow the screening on April 16th at The ImaginAsian Theater 239 East
59th Street in Manhattan between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 10:00 am until noon. The film is appropriate for kids ages
10 and up. Reservations necessary: urbina9@aol.com

HERE/SAY:
"New York is city of conversations overheard, of people at the next
restaurant table (micrometers away) checking your watch, of people
reading the stories in your newspaper on the subway train."  – Willian
Geist

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES

2747413_stdNow I know how the other half lives. Literally. My other half.  While our guests slept in  our apartment on Third Street, we slept at my twin sister’s a few blocks a way. 

My twin sister and her husband, who were away for the weekend, have an immaculate place – no clutter, no mess. And everything is brand new – coffeemaker, televisions, stainless steel refrigerator, granite counters. It helps that they don’t have kids yet (they’re adopting a little girl from Russia in a few months) because they’re both neatniks and everything has to be just so. 

Much as I would love to live this way, it just doesn’t seem possible in our apartment, with our children. Our’s is chock full of things – clothing, books, computer equipment, school papers, toys. We’re four people with lots of combined interests, activities and STUFF.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of the way my sister lives. It’s so calming to be here. There’s nothing to distract you from the lovely colored walls, the Arts and Crafts pottery, the framed prints on the wall, the view of Prospect Park out their window.

In this regard, we couldn’t be more different, my sister and I. Or maybe we’ve just made different choices. She’s always been the more visual one. Even in elementary school – she was the artist and I was the musician. Now she’s in film and I’m a writer. We’ve always staked out different areas to throw ourselves into. It was a coping strategy, a way not to step on each other’s toes.

And our husbands are quite different, too. Mine is a lovable packrat with an inability to part with even the most mundane piece of paper. He collects cameras and computer equipment, books, and strange things like Greek diner coffee cups.

My brother-in-law  is compulsively neat.  His closet says it all: suits, shirts, pants and ties are arranged in something akin to alphabetical order. He has not one, but two dressers full of perfectly folded clothing, and his shoes are lined up on the closet floor.

Serenely elegant, thier apartment is like a hotel. They’ve got a sumptuous brown leather sofa, an upholstered headboard,  an entertainment unit, built-in bookcases, a dining room set – it could be featured in a shelter magazine. It’s that nice.

To be honest, our place is a little more rococo, decorated as it is with antique furniture handed down or found on the street. There are a few items, like the green leather couch from Ikea, and the Noguchi coffee table, that we actually picked out and bought. It’s a hodge-podge at best, a well-intended one, but a hodge-podge just the same.

So I spent the weekend comparing myself to my sister, it’s a natural thing for siblings to do. But it’s not really all that fun as it bring up subtle shades of sibling rivalry. It wouldn’t be that hard to redecorate, I kept thinking, to throw things away and organize what we have…

So despite the calming decor and the world’s most comfortable bed, I didn’t sleep that well at my sisters. The traffic noise on Prospect Park West and  the rain on their bedroom air conditioner had me up at one-hour intervals. It’s always strange sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, with unfamiliar noises.

I guess I have to admit, even if it’s not quite right, there is no place like home. Simply because it’s mine.

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD TODAY: Daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place TODAY. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3,  2005.

CITY NEWS: Man hit by a subway at at the West 4th Street Station in Greenwich Village.

_MTA picks Jets Stadium for the West Side Rail Yards.

_Court of Appeals declines to hear two gay marriage cases, a major
setback to those who believe that marriage should be open to gay and
lesbian couples.

_The right to distribute leaflets in front of schools is upheld by a
Federal District Court. Under
the settlement, reached earlier this month, the New York Civil Liberties Union,
which represented the group, the Ya-Ya Network, and lawyers for the
city agreed that the department would instruct police officers that a
state law against loitering near schools and colleges "does not apply
to First Amendment activity."

The Police
Department issued a one-page directive to all precincts on March 21
instructing police officers not to enforce the loitering law against
First Amendment activity, including "the holding of signs, placards and
leaflets, chanting and singing."

_New York University will
limit student’s access to balconies in two
dormitories. The school also installed a plexiglass guard wall in the
school’s main library. This is all part of the school’s efforts to
prevent
student suicides. Last year there were five such deaths.

_iPods are getting stolen on the subway pushing up city’s subway crime rate, which is up for the first time in years.

_City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_As of last Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

BROOKLYN BEAT:
  A rash of muggings at MS 51 by students from other middle schools resulted in a meeting between school parents and the 78th pct.
_When more than 500
District 15 fifth graders received the news that they
were not admitted to any of their three top choices for middle school,
City Council Member Bill DiBlasio pressed Chancellor
Klein at an Education Committee hearing, invited colleagues who also
represent District 15 to follow up by letter, and joined parents at a
Community Education Council meeting. ‘This situation should have been
anticipated and avoided through better planning and communication,’ he
said.  ‘I’ve been working with my colleagues to ensure as many students
as possible have their choices honored this year and that the process
is improved next year. " From
a press release distributed by Councilman DiBlasio’s office.

_A Brooklyn yellow cab driver was shot in the back by a passenger at
Pierrepont Street and Hicks in Brooklyn Heights at 8:45 p.m. on
Thursday night. The driver, who is recovering from the incident, was
completely surprised by the attack. The suspect is a white male in his
twenties.

_According to the 78th Pct. there was a bank robbery in the South
Slope (bank and date not specified) this week.  On Thursday, a police
helicopter was hovering over the neighborhood searching for the perp.
More news to come as soon as there is some.

<>

_A delivery man on bicycle was killed after being hit by a truck on 75th Street and Sixth Avenue in Bay Ridge.

_Brooklyn now has a city program aimed at treating sexual assault
victims very quickly in the hopes of increasing the odds of catching
the attackers. This program, which includes a response team with
specially trained forensic examiners, and rape crisis counselors to
treat every victim within one hour of their arrival at the hospital.
started in the Bronx and now includes Brooklyn.

_There have been a number of muggings between President and Ninth
Street
in Park Slope. The victims are women who are talking on their cell
phones. The suspect surprises them from behind, puts his hand over
their mouth and asks for money. According to the police, he hasn’t hurt
anyone; he just takes the cash and runs. The most recent incident was
on Tuesday at 4
p.m. on President Street on or near 8th Avenue.  If you have any
information, please call the 78th Precint Pct.,  re: Pattern 29.
718-636-6484.

_New performance spaces for dance are flourishing in Brooklyn
neighborhoods like Ft. Greene, Bushwick, and Williamsburg. Last year,
more than a third of the audience that came to see events at the
Brooklyn Arts Exchange on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope came from
Manhattan.

IT’S SUNDAY: Baseball legends of the Green-Wood Cemetary. Tour gathers at the main entrance at 1 p.m. 5th Avenue and 25th Street. Admission: $10. Who’s Afraid of Mike Nichols Film Series.  March 31 – April 19th.

The BAMCinematek presents: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more.

_"Play Without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, said to be one of the most
important contemporary choreographers in Britain. SUNDAY at 2 p.m. BAM.

Around the World in 80 DaysAt Puppetworks. SUNDAY at 12: 30 and 2:30 p.m.
338 Sixth Avenue at 4th Street.

_Too Cool for Shul: Festival of Contemporary Jewish Music. Various artists at the BAM Cafe. Weekends in April.

_Sunday is Recycle Your Electronics Day at Grand Army Plaza.
11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Bring your old computers. Bring your friends. Help
load the truck. You can bring: working and non-working computers,
servers, fax machines, scanners, TV’s, radios, CD players, etc.
Donations will go to Per Scholas, an organization that gives electronic
equipment and training to South Bronx residents in need.
_Self-Care Fair at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture.
Food, health products, musical meditation, relaxation, chair massages,
and more. On Sunday from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. at 53 Prospect Park West.

_Forsythia Day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Sunday all day.  

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:
 
OTBKB Daily Pix
photographer, Hugh Crawford, has a show of portrait work on view at Fou
Le Chakra 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets until May
16th.

_ In the documentary, "Let’s Get Real" kids speak out about
bullying, name calling, and other root causes of violence in school. The
film explores a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying including
racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning
disabilities, sexual harassment and others. A panel discussion will
follow the screening on April 16th at The ImaginAsian Theater 239 East
59th Street in Manhattan between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 10:00 am until noon. The film is appropriate for kids ages
10 and up. Reservations necessary: urbina9@aol.com

HERE/SAY:

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_KINGSTON

2959575_stdOur friends from Kingston came down for the weekend. They used to live in Park Slope so it’s always nostalgic for them to revisit the neighborhood where they spent the first few years of their children’s lives.

They moved away almost exactly three years ago. It was in April and their friends gathered at Ozzies to say a noisy farewell just hours before they drove off in their overstuffed blue Volvo.

Over time, they created a new life for themselves in a yellow Victorian house on a grand, tree-lined street in a small upstate city.

It wasn’t easy at first. They renovated their house and one of them, a lifetime non-driver, had to learn how to drive. But eventually, they settled in and made friends through the strong homeschooling network in Ulster County, and the local Unitarian Church.

The kids thrived with a huge backyard and ample space for creative activities and imaginary play.  There’s nothing like a house with two stairways to make a childhood fun, particularly for games of Hide and Seek.

Still,  it’s sad to have them so far away. And in some ways, they are still Brooklynites at heart. They miss the Food Coop, the Botanic Gardens, the street life, and the friends they made here when their children were small. Our kids reconnect almost instantly. It’s a raucous time – they seem to bring out the LOUD in each other.

As for the adults, the distance seems to have intensified the friendship and proved to  them all that it wasn’t just being neighbors that pulled them together as friends.

Tomorrow they’ll  do all their favorite Brooklyn things: lunch at the Taqueria, the Carousel in Prospect Park, First Night at the Brooklyn Museum, a visit with friends from pre-school, and a walk down Seventh Avenue just to see who they run into.

On Sunday, they’ll go back up to Kingston restored by their weekend in Brooklyn. Filled up with the things that they miss the most, they’ll return to the sane, non-Brooklyn life they’ve created in the new place they call home.

Yours From Brooklyn,
OTBKB

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD ON SUNDAY: Daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3,  2005.

CITY NEWS: Man hit by subway at at the West 4th Street Station in Greenwich Village.

_MTA picks Jets Stadium for the West Side Rail Yards.

_Court of Appeals declines to hear two gay marriage cases, a major
setback to those who believe that marriage should be open to gay and
lesbian couples.

_Study finds that New York City has the longest average commute to
work in the nation. The average time in the five boroughs is 38 minutes
compared to 24 minutes nationwide. Staten Islanders seem to have it the
worst. 

_The right to distribute leaflets in front of schools is upheld by a
Federal District Court. Under
the settlement, reached earlier this month, the New York Civil Liberties Union,
which represented the group, the Ya-Ya Network, and lawyers for the
city agreed that the department would instruct police officers that a
state law against loitering near schools and colleges "does not apply
to First Amendment activity."

The Police
Department issued a one-page directive to all precincts on March 21
instructing police officers not to enforce the loitering law against
First Amendment activity, including "the holding of signs, placards and
leaflets, chanting and singing."

_New York University will
limit student’s access to balconies in two
dormitories. The school also installed a plexiglass guard wall in the
school’s main library. This is all part of the school’s efforts to
prevent
student suicides. Last year there were five such deaths.

_iPods are getting stolen on the subway pushing up city’s subway crime rate, which is up for the first time in years.

_City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair  blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.

_As of last Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judysmoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

BROOKLYN BEAT:  "When more than 500
District 15 fifth graders received the disappointing news that they
were not admitted to any of their three top choices for middle school,
City Council Member Bill DiBlasio pressed Chancellor
Klein at an Education Committee hearing, invited colleagues who also
represent District 15 to follow up by letter, and joined parents at a
Community Education Council meeting. ‘This situation should have been
anticipated and avoided through better planning and communication,’ he
said.  ‘I’ve been working with my colleagues to ensure as many students
as possible have their choices honored this year and that the process
is improved next year.  I’ve spoken to the Chancellor and
Superintendent and now the DOE is expanding capacity at choice schools,
reevaluating student applications, creating wait lists, and
communicating with parents about next steps in the application
process.  Also, it must be a DOE priority to address the resource
issues that lead other schools to be perceived as less desirable." From
a press release distributed by Councilman’s DiBlasio’s office.

_A Brooklyn yellow cab driver was shot in the back by a passenger at
Pierrepont Street and Hicks in Brooklyn Heights at 8:45 p.m. on
Thursday night. The driver, who is recovering from the incident, was
completely surprised by the attack. The suspect is a white male in his
twenties.

 

 

_According to the 78th Pct. there was a bank robbery in the South
Slope (bank and date not specified) this week.  On Thursday, a police
helicopter was hovering over the neighborhood searching for the perp.
More news to come as soon as there is some.

_A delivery man on bicycle was killed after being hit by a truck on 75th Street and Sixth Avenue in Bay Ridge.

_Brooklyn now has a city program aimed at treating sexual assault
victims very quickly in the hopes of increasing the odds of catching
the attackers. This program, which includes a response team with
specially trained forensic examiners, and rape crisis counselors to
treat every victim within one hour of their arrival at the hospital.
started in the Bronx and now includes Brooklyn.

_There have been a number of muggings between President and Ninth
Street
in Park Slope. The victims are women who are talking on their cell
phones. The suspect surprises them from behind, puts his hand over
their mouth and asks for money. According to the police, he hasn’t hurt
anyone; he just takes the cash and runs. The most recent incident was
on Tuesday at 4
p.m. on President Street on or near 8th Avenue.  If you have any
information, please call the 78th Precint Pct.,  re: Pattern 29.
718-636-6484.

_New performance spaces for dance are flourishing in Brooklyn
neighborhoods like Ft. Greene, Bushwick, and Williamsburg. Last year,
more than a third of the audience that came to see events at the
Brooklyn Arts Exchange on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope came from
Manhattan.

THIS WEEKEND:

_ Valentines. Portraits by Hugh Crawford at Fou Le Chakra. Opening 3 p.m. 4/2. 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets.

<>

Who’s Afraid of Mike Nichols Film Series.  March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek presents: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more.

_"Play Without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, said to be one of the most
important contemporary choreographers in Britain. FRIDAY and SATURDAY AT 8 p.m. SUNDAY at 2 p.m. BAM.

_Too Cool for Shul: Festival of Contemporary Jewish Music. Various artists at the BAM Cafe. Weekends in April.

_First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. April 2nd. 6:30 –
8:30: Use oil pastels to creat your own Basquiat-inspired symbol on
canvas.  At 7 p.m. there’s a public reading of Whitman’s Leaves of
Grass followed by a musical setting of the poems by members of the
Brooklyn Philharmonic. Then it’s time to do some LATIN DANCING in the
Rotunda.

_Sunday is Recycle Your Electronics Day at Grand Army Plaza.
11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Bring your old computers. Bring your friends. Help
load the truck. You can bring: working and non-working computers,
servers, fax machines, scanners, TV’s, radios, CD players, etc.
Donations will go to Per Scholas, an organization that gives electronic
equipment and training to South Bronx residents in need.

_Self-Care Fair at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture.
Food, health products, musical meditation, relaxation, chair massages,
and more. On Sunday from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. at 53 Prospect Park West.

_Forsythia Day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Sunday all day.  

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:
 
OTBKB Daily Pix
photographer, Hugh Crawford, has a show of portrait work on view at Fou
Le Chakra 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets until May
16th.

_ In the documentary, "Let’s Get Real" kids speak out about
bullying, name calling, and other root causes of violence in school. The
film explores a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying including
racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning
disabilities, sexual harassment and others. A panel discussion will
follow the screening on April 16th at The ImaginAsian Theater 239 East
59th Street in Manhattan between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 10:00 am until noon. The film is appropriate for kids ages
10 and up. Reservations necessary: urbina9@aol.com

HERE/SAY:

"And she opens the door of her cadillac,
I step in back,
and we’re gone.
She turns me on –
There are very huge stars, man, in the sky,
and from somewhere very far off someone hands
me a slice of apple pie" – Robert Creely 1926 – 2005
   

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_PORTRAITS AT FOU

2cbw0276_stdOn Valentine’s Night, photographer Hugh Crawford set up his portable portrait studio: ancient grey backdrop, brand new strobe light, and a state-of-the-art Canon digital camera (souped up with a vintage Nikon lens),  at Fou Le Chakra, a small cafe/shop on Seventh Avenue, and waited for friends and neighbors to come in to have their pictures taken.

It was a rainy night and the turnout wasn’t as large as expected but more than 30 people did come by, primed for their close-up. The crowd included plenty of kids who were enthralled with the photographer’s flashing light.

On Saturday, the photographic bounty from that night will be on display at Fou Le Chakra. Crawford has painstakingly printed 30 large-scale and small prints that reveal his unique gift for capturing a subject’s unguarded essence, as well as his unerring sense of composition and timing.

"It’s reflexive in both senses of the word," says Crawford. I try to mirror the subject – so that he or she is, in a sense, looking in a mirror. And for me, it’s about improvisation and reflex; very subsonscous on my part."

There’s a nice symmetry about the show: the photographs are being displayed where they were created. Many of the subjects will be there. It’s amazing how a photograph can transform a rainy night endeavor into a full-fledged work of art.

Hope to see you at the opening on Saturday April 2nd at 3 p.m. The pictures will be up through May 16th. Fou Le Chakra. 411 Seventh Avenue. Between 13th and 14th Streets.

On the last Sunday of every month, Crawford will be setting up his
portable studio at Fou Le Chakra. The Portrait Project is a free sitting and the photographs can be viewed
the very next day at hughcrawford.smugmug.com, where you can order prints. It’s an interesting
concept; easy and inexpensive like a photobooth – but with a
skilled, professional art photographer at the helm. Who can resist? Come to the kick-off event on April 16th at Fou Le Chakra.

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

FYI: April Fool’s Day; watch out for silly pranks.

SPRING FORWARD THIS WEEKEND: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3,  2005.

CITY NEWS: MTA picks Jets Stadium for the West Side Rail Yards.

_Court of Appeals declines to hear two gay marriage cases, a major setback to those who believe that marriage should be open to gay and lesbian couples.

_Study finds that New York City has the longest average commute to work in the nation. The average time in the five boroughs is 38 minutes compared to 24 minutes nationwide. Staten Islanders seem to have it the worst. 

_The right to distribute leaflets in front of schools is upheld by a
Federal District Court. Under
the settlement, reached earlier this month, the New York Civil Liberties Union,
which represented the group, the Ya-Ya Network, and lawyers for the
city agreed that the department would instruct police officers that a
state law against loitering near schools and colleges "does not apply
to First Amendment activity."

The Police
Department issued a one-page directive to all precincts on March 21
instructing police officers not to enforce the loitering law against
First Amendment activity, including "the holding of signs, placards and
leaflets, chanting and singing."

_New York University will
limit student’s access to balconies in two
dormitories. The school also installed a plexiglass guard wall in the
school’s main library. This is all part of the school’s efforts to
prevent
student suicides. Last year there were five such deaths.

_iPods are getting stolen on the subway pushing up city’s subway crime rate, which is up for the first time in years.

_City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair  blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.

_As of last Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judysmoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

BROOKLYN BEAT:  "When more than 500 District 15 fifth graders received the disappointing news that they were not admitted to any of their three top choices for middle school, City Council Member Bill DiBlasio immediately appealed to the Department of Education to remedy the situation.  He pressed Chancellor Klein at an Education Committee hearing, invited colleagues who also represent District 15 to follow up by letter, and joined parents at a Community Education Council meeting. ‘This situation should have been anticipated and avoided through better planning and communication,’ he said.  ‘I’ve been working with my colleagues to ensure as many students as possible have their choices honored this year and that the process is improved next year.  I’ve spoken to the Chancellor and Superintendent and now the DOE is expanding capacity at choice schools, reevaluating student applications, creating wait lists, and communicating with parents about next steps in the application process.  Also, it must be a DOE priority to address the resource issues that lead other schools to be perceived as less desirable." From a press release from Councilman’s DiBlasio’s office.

_A Brooklyn yellow cab driver was shot in the back by a passenger at Pierrepont Street and Hicks in Brooklyn Heights at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday night. The driver, who is recovering from the incident, was completely surprised by the attack. The suspect is a white male in his twenties.

 

 

_According to the 78th Pct. there was a bank robbery in the South Slope (bank and date not specified) this week.  On Thursday, a police helicopter was hovering over the neighborhood searching for the perp. More news to come as soon as there is some.

_A delivery man on bicycle was killed after being hit by a truck on 75th Street and Sixth Avenue in Bay Ridge.

_Brooklyn now has a city program aimed at treating sexual assault victims very quickly in the hopes of increasing the odds of catching the attackers. This program, which includes a response team with specially trained forensic examiners, and rape crisis counselors to treat every victim within one hour of their arrival at the hospital. started in the Bronx and now includes Brooklyn.

_There have been a number of muggings between President and Ninth Street
in Park Slope. The victims are women who are talking on their cell
phones. The suspect surprises them from behind, puts his hand over
their mouth and asks for money. According to the police, he hasn’t hurt anyone; he just takes the cash and runs. The most recent incident was on Tuesday at 4
p.m. on President Street on or near 8th Avenue.  If you have any
information, please call the 78th Precint Pct.,  re: Pattern 29.
718-636-6484.

_New performance spaces for dance are flourishing in Brooklyn neighborhoods like Ft. Greene, Bushwick, and Williamsburg. Last year, more than a third of the audience that came to see events at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope came from Manhattan.

THIS WEEKEND:  Pianist Anthony Coleman plays the music of Jelly Roll Morton at Barbes on FRIDAY night. April 1. 7 p.m. And at 10 p.m.: The Wiyos, a band that combines Django Reinhardt, Gershwin, Doc Watson, Fats Waller and vaudeville.

_Who’s Afraid of Mike Nichols Film Series.  March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek presents: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more.

_"Play Without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, said to be one of the most
important contemporary choreographers in Britain. FRIDAY and SATURDAY AT 8 p.m. SUNDAY at 2 p.m. BAM.

_ Valentines. Portraits by Hugh Crawford at Fou Le Chakra. Opening 3 p.m. 4/2. 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets.

_Too Cool for Shul: Festival of Contemporary Jewish Music. Various artists at the BAM Cafe. Weekends in April.

_First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. April 2nd. 6:30 –
8:30: Use oil pastels to creat your own Basquiat-inspired symbol on
canvas.  At 7 p.m. there’s a public reading of Whitman’s Leaves of
Grass followed by a musical setting of the poems by members of the
Brooklyn Philharmonic. Then it’s time to do some LATIN DANCING in the
Rotunda.

_Sunday is Recycle Your Electronics Day at Grand Army Plaza. 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Bring your old computers. Bring your friends. Help load the truck. You can bring: working and non-working computers, servers, fax machines, scanners, TV’s, radios, CD players, etc. Donations will go to Per Scholas, an organization that gives electronic equipment and training to South Bronx residents in need.

_Self-Care Fair at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Food, health products, musical meditation, relaxation, chair massages, and more. On Sunday from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. at 53 Prospect Park West.

_Forsythia Day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Sunday all day.
 

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  OTBKB Daily Pix photographer, Hugh Crawford, has a show of portrait work on view at Fou Le Chakra 411 Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets until May 16th.

_ In the documentary, "Let’s Get Real" kids speak out about
bullying, name calling, and other root causes of violence in school. The
film explores a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying including
racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning
disabilities, sexual harassment and others. A panel discussion will
follow the screening on April 16th at The ImaginAsian Theater 239 East
59th Street in Manhattan between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 10:00 am until noon. The film is appropriate for kids ages
10 and up. Reservations necessary: urbina9@aol.com

HERE/SAY: "
Calling somebody else fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone
stupid doesn’t make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George’s life
definitely didn’t make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to
solve the problem in front of you."
– From the 2004 film, "Mean Girls."

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_PRIVATE TALKS

4919182_stdMy 8-year-old daughter and I have long talks about what goes on in the playground of her school after lunch. Just about every day she has a story about one or more of the "mean girls" and some mean thing they did or said. Sometimes on our way to school in the morning she’ll point someone out and say: "There’s one of them. She’s a mean girl." And we’ll discreetly spy on her for a  moment, so that I’ll have a picture to go with the stories.

Recently, my daughter seems to be getting really fed up with one particular mean girl. Last night she stood on a chair and raised her hand very high and said: "I’ve had it up to here with her." She even wrote a note that she probably won’t give to her that says:

Dear ____, I do not like how you play. Mostly you are bose(sic) and mean too. I hate how you are to kids.

My daughter seems to want to stop being friends with the girl she wrote the letter to. But it’s hard. She seems simultanously drawn to and repelled by this girl. And as you can imagine, the girl is quite commanding both emotionally and physically.

After my last postcard about mean girls in the playground, I got this response from a friend: "Wait till 4th grade when it really, really kicks in. Oh my god. My daughter’s going through a hard time now, and if possible the girls have gotten meaner from when we went through it with my older daughter. I was actually thinking of asking the school to please have some kind of workshop addressing this issue, which is widely ignored by school authorities, though some teachers are better than others at dealing with it. I know a number of mothers whose first kids are boys and this all comes as a shock. Even thought I know what to expect, it isn’t any easier."

I’m one of those mothers of boys who had no idea what was going on in the playground all those years. The last few months have been a real education for me. I am grateful that my daughter has been so expressive about what’s going on. And conversations with other moms have helped too. It’s never too soon to address the issue at home and give our kids the time and support they need to really talk about it figure out what to do.

Thanks to Park Slope Parents, a Yahoo.com discussion group, a documentary film called "Let’s Be Real" has come to my attention. The film, which is appropriate for ages 10 and up, lets kids, both victims and bullies, speak out about the pain and confusion of bullying and taunting. It also explores a variety of issues that lead to it, including
racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning
disabilities, and sexual harassment. A discussion will
follow the screening on April 16th at the ImaginAsian Theater 239 East
59th Street in Manhattan between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 10:00 am until noon. Reservations necessary. For more information and registration: urbina9@aol.com

 
 

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3,  2005.

CITY NEWS: The right to distribute leaflets in front of schools is upheld by a
Federal Court. A group was seeking to stop army recruiters from setting
up tables in front of school. Under
the settlement, reached earlier this month in Federal District Court in
Manhattan, and dated March 16, the New York Civil Liberties Union,
which represented the group, the Ya-Ya Network, and lawyers for the
city agreed that the department would instruct police officers that a
state law against loitering near schools and colleges "does not apply
to First Amendment activity."

The Police
Department issued a one-page directive to all precincts on March 21
instructing police officers not to enforce the loitering law against
First Amendment activity, including "the holding of signs, placards and
leaflets, chanting and singing."

_New York University will
limit student’s access to balconies in two
dormitories. The school also installed a plexiglass guard wall in the
school’s main library. This is all part of the school’s effort to
prevent
student suicides. Last year there were five such deaths.

_iPods are getting stolen on the subway pushing up city’s subway crime rate, which is up for the first time in years.

_City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair  blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.

_As of Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judysmoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

BROOKLYN BEAT:  OTBKB has word that there have been a number of muggings between President and Ninth Street in Park Slope. The victims are women who are talking on their cell phones. The suspect surprises them from behind, puts his hand over their mouth and asks for money. Apparently he hasn’ t hurt anyone. He just takes the cash and runs. There was an incident on Tuesday at 4 p.m. on President Street on or near 8th Avenue.  If you have any information, please call the 78th Precint Pct.,  re: Pattern 29. 718-636-6484.

_The Department of
Education has instructed high-demand middle schools in District 15 to
admit 20-40 additional applicants. Parents were outraged when in-demand
middle schools rejected 550 qualified applicants."

_New York wants to reclaim the movie and TV production that’s been
going to Candada and other lower-priced shooting locations by offering
tax credits and other incentives. The city is hoping that the recently
completed Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will attract movie
and television producers.

_ Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site.
"Play without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, the
most important contemporary choreographer in Britian. 8 p.m. at BAM.

IT’S THURSDAY 3/31: Park Slope author James Grant reads from his book: "John Adams: Party
of One."
Old Stone House, JJ Byrne Park. Third Street between Fourth
and Fifth Avenue. 7 p.m.

Who’s Afraid of Mike Nichols Film Series.  March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program
includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more. This Thursday, March
31 at 7 p.m. Q & A with Nichols following "The Graduate."  

"Play without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, said to be one of the most
important contemporary choreographers in Britian. 8 p.m. at BAM.

THIS SOUNDS COOL: Valentines. Portraits by Hugh Crawford at Fou Le Chakra. Opening 3 p.m. 4/2. 411 Seventh Avenue

_Pianist Anthony Coleman plays the music of Jelly Roll Morton at Barbes on Friday night. April 1. 7 p.m. And at 10 p.m.: The Wiyos, a band that combines Django Reinhardt, Gershwin, Doc Watson, Fats Waller and vaudeville.

_First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. April 2nd. 6:30 –
8:30: Use oil pastels to creat your own Basquiat-inspired symbol on
canvas.  At 7 p.m. there’s a public reading of Whitman’s Leaves of
Grass followed by a musical setting of the poems by members of the
Brooklyn Philharmonic. Then it’s time to do some LATIN DANCING in the
Rotunda.

<>

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  In the documentary, "Let’s Get Real" kids speak out about
bullying, name calling, and other root causes of violence in school. The
film explores a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying including
racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning
disabilities, sexual harassment and others. A panel discussion will
follow the screening on April 16th at The ImaginAsian Theater 239 East
59th Street in Manhattan between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 10:00 am until noon. The film is appropriate for kids ages
10 and up. Reservations necessary: urbina9@aol.com

HERE/SAY:
"

Calling somebody else fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone
stupid doesn’t make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George’s life
definitely didn’t make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to
solve the problem in front of you." From the 2004 film "Mean Girls."

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise G. Crawford

CattreeCo-Editing  "Pandamonium," PS 321’s poetry magazine, is mostly a labor of love. But it’s also a bucket-load of work. Since 2001, I’ve headed up the team of parents who type, design, scan, proof read and edit the 70-page magazine, which features one poem from every child at the school; 1300 poems in all. It’s  nothing if not inclusive and that’s what I love most about it.

From pre-K to fifth grade, there’s a wide range of subject matter, quality, and style. You can learn a little bit about the teachers through the poems their students write. Some classes produce lots of poems about "rain going pitter pat." Other teachers  help kids dig deep for content and forms of expression.

There are so many interesting poems, it’s hard to pick a few to mention here. I enjoyed a vivid poem about an asthma attack, a humorous piece about a boy not wanting to "Practice, practice, practice" his horn, a sad poem about the divorce of a girl’s parents, and one called: "When Alliteration Hits Me:"

When Alliteration hits me / I/ Marvel at Monkeys maliciously/Mashing Mangos making/Metropolitan Museum Mummies/Melancholy/When Aliteration hits me…

The end of March is always crunch time for me, and I’ve been holed up in my office for the last five days doing a final proofing before sending the file to the printer. I feel like I’m going blurry-eyed making sure that students’ names are spelled correctly and that there are no typos or punctuation errors.

Much as I can’t wait for this laborious task to be finished, I do enjoy these long days spent sitting on the floor in my office, reading the poetry of children. It is a rare chance to get inside their heads and find out what makes them tick. Like this excerpt from a poem by a fourth grader:

Me

Violet purple
sleeping flamingo pink
pony-tailed brown hair
dirty sand brown eyes

My hometown Brooklyn
Florida, I come from
Jamaica, I come from
Barbados, I come from
Africa, I come from
but love is what I have

Yours from Brooklyn,

OTBKB

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3, 2005.

CITY NEWS: New York University will limit student’s access to balconies in two
dormitories. The school also installed a plexiglass guard wall in the school’s main library. This is all part of the school’s effort to prevent
student suicides. Last year there were five such deaths.

_iPods are getting stolen on the subway pushing up city’s subway crime rate. 

_City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair  blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.

_As of Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judysmoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

_NYPD arrested 37 protesters,
members of Critical Mass, a group that celebrates cycling and other
non-polluting forms of transportation. Those arrested were charged with
parading without a permit. The city is going to court to demand that
these cyclists get a permit for their month protest. Earlier this year
a Federal judge said permits weren’t necessary.

_The City’s Department of Education sent out
test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and
grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover:
Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with
excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune
mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors
and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation
of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."

BROOKLYN BEAT: _The Department of
Education has instructed high-demand middle schools in District 15 to
admit 20-40 additional applicants. Parents were outraged when in-demand
middle schools rejected 550 qualified applicants."

_New York wants to reclaim the movie and TV production that’s been
going to Candada and other lower-priced shooting locations by offering
tax credits and other incentives. The city is hoping that the recently
completed Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will attract movie
and television producers.

_ Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site.   "Play without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, the most important contemporary choreographer in Britian. 8 p.m. at BAM.

IT’S WEDNESDAY 3/30:  "Play without Words," a dance-theater piece by Matthew Bourne, said to be one of the most
important contemporary choreographers in Britian. 8 p.m. at BAM.

THIS SOUNDS COOL: "Who’s Afraid of Mike
Nichols?"
film series. March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program
includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more. This Thursday, March
31 at 7 p.m. Q & A with Nichols following "The Graduate."

Pianist Anthony Coleman plays the music of Jelly Roll Morton at Barbes on Friday night. April 1. 7 p.m. And at 10 p.m.: The Wiyos, a band that combines Django Reinhardt, Gershwin, Doc Watson, Fats Waller and vaudeville.

_First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. April 2nd. 6:30 – 8:30: Use oil pastels to creat your own Basquiat-inspired symbol on canvas.  At 7 p.m. there’s a public reading of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass followed by a musical setting of the poems by members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Then it’s time to do some LATIN DANCING in the Rotunda.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month.
HERE/SAY: "We love those who know the worst of us and don’t turn their faces away." Walker Percy 

 

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_LOUIS ROSEN CAPATHIA JENKINS

Ds014344_stdHe’s in our midst. He looks just like everyone else. Drops his kid off at PS 321 and drinks coffee in the morning; he helps out with PTA activities and does the Times’ crossword puzzle at the same table every day at Starbucks.

Bu this man has another identity too. He’s a prodigiously talented composer and songwriter. His work will make you swoon, laugh, even cry. Just like I did. Lifted out of the every day, his work delivered me to the worlds of Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and a white, Jewish guy from the Southside of Chicago.

His name is Louis Rosen. And Sunday night at Joe’s Pub, Capathia Jenkens, sang, among other things, a song-cycle he created based on the sassy eloquence of Maya Angelou’s poetry. Rosen uses a variety of song styles to bring the poet’s words to life – blues, jazz, musical theater, classical – with suprising leaps of melody and harmony. His music brings out the poet’s voice in a  way that enhances and enthralls.

Vocalist Capathia Jenkins is a discovery. Like Rosen, she deserves to be a star. The songs, which were created expressly for her multi-timbered voice, give life to Angelou’s women. And Capathia becomes these characters in an instant – her stance, the way she holds her microphone or moves her hand. In tiny theatrical ways, she embodies these phenomenal women and stirs the room with virtuousic blues in a deep alto-to-high soprano range. Her earthy emotionality belies a sophisticated vocal control.

What a pair. Louis and Capathia: a handsome, skinny guy from Chicago’s Southside and a ravishing, voluptuous black woman with a voice that makes you laugh and cry.

The audience at Joe’s Pub was in their thrall Sunday night. Louis on the piano singing an autobiographical song about growing up. Capathia endearing herself to the crowd while taking us on a journey through a universe of identities.

The room took them in with all the cabaret-attention it could muster. Waitresses served, people ate from plates of delicious food, drinks were a-plenty, but the audience was rapt and they applauded ferociously after every song-poem, honored to be among the few to see what was probably the best show in town.

Monday morning I saw Louis in the Slope but I didn’t say hello. Feeling a little awed, a little shy, I watched to see if there was a spring in his step after such a phenomenal night. He kissed his son good bye in the lobby of PS 321 and found his usual table at the local Starbucks.

Back to being a regular guy. Someone who looks just like everyone else.

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3, 2005.

CITY NEWS: City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_On Monday night in the rain, Ringling Brothers Circus elephants snarled up traffic as they came out of the Midtown tunnel and crossed 34th Street to Madison Square Garden for their annual crosstown walk.

_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair  blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.

_As of Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judysmoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

_NYPD arrested 37 protesters,
members of Critical Mass, a group that celebrates cycling and other
non-polluting forms of transportation. Those arrested were charged with
parading without a permit. The city is going to court to demand that
these cyclists get a permit for their month protest. Earlier this year
a Federal judge said permits weren’t necessary.

_The City’s Department of Education sent out
test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and
grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover:
Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with
excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune
mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors
and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation
of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."

BROOKLYN BEAT: Tenants of a burned out Brooklyn apartment building are suing the city saying that the FDNY was late to arrive to the blaze where two people died and that the fire hydrants were frozen.

-The Department of
Education has instructed high-demand middle schools in District 15 to
admit 20-40 additional applicants. Parents were outraged when in-demand
middle schools rejected 550 qualified applicants."

_New York wants to reclaim the movie and TV production that’s been
going to Candada and other lower-priced shooting locations by offering
tax credits and other incentives. The city is hoping that the recently
completed Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will attract movie
and television producers.

_ Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site.

Jury selection has been postponed in the $10 million malpractice case by the Brooklyn family of Yankel Rosenblum against Kings County Hospital.

IT’S TUESDAY 3/29:  When there’s nothing going on in the Slope, there’s always Barbes for some fun. Enjoy a SLAVIC SOUL PARTY! Matt Moran leads one of the best Balkan Brass Band anywhere.  

THIS SOUNDS COOL: "Who’s fraid of Mike
N ichols?" film series. March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program
includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "The Graduate," "Carnal
Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more. This Thursday, March
31 at 7 p.m. Q & A with Nichols following "The Graduate.

Do you have any old super 8 reels lying around. Stuff you found and never saw. Buried family footage. Barbes is having a SUPER 8 EXTRAVAGANZA on April 14th.  Show up  anything you have providing it’s under 5 minutes long. Show up, sign up before the show or email them at super8@barbesbrooklyn.com

_5th Annual Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival. April 5 – 10. Stand up and Laugh: New and Classic Jewish Comedies at BAM.

Jean Luc Godard Festival at BAM a chance to discover and rediscover the masterpieces. April 21-26.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month.

HERE/SAY:  "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies, I’m not cute or built to suit
a model’s fashion size, But when I start to tell them, They think I’m
telling lies. I say, It”s in the reach of my arms, The span of my
hips, The stride of my steps. The curl of my lips. I’m a woman,
Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman. That’s me." Maya Angelou 

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3, 2005.

CITY NEWS: As of Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judymoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

_NYPD arrested 37 protesters,
members of Critical Mass, a group that celebrates cycling and other
non-polluting forms of transportation. Those arrested were charged with
parading without a permit. The city is going to court to demand that
these cyclists get a permit for their month protest. Earlier this year
a Federal judge said permits weren’t necessary.

_Friday March 25th marked the
anniversary of two tragic fires: the Happy Land Social Club fire in the
Bronx and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

_Thieves make off with $5 million in diamond heist at a diamond exchanges on West 47th Street.

_The City’s Department of Education sent out
test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and
grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover:
Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with
excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune
mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors
and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation
of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."

BROOKLYN BEAT: The Department of Education has instructed high-demand middle schools in District 15 to admit 20-40 additional applicants. Parents were outraged when in-demand middle schools rejected 550 qualified applicants."

_New York wants to reclaim the movie and TV production that’s been going to Candada and other lower-priced shooting locations by offering tax credits and other incentives. The city is hoping that the recently completed Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will attract movie and television producers.

_ Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site.

Early Saturday morning, an 85 year old retired Russian physicist was
run down by a car at Bay Avenue and Cropsey Avenue, an intersection
that is said to be one of the city’s worst. The elderly man had just
finished his daily four mile morning walk.  He died Saturday morning at
Coney Island Hospital.

IT’S MONDAY 3/28: Barbes presents "The Three Penny Opera (1931) at 7 p.m. 376 9th Street near 6th Avenue. Live music begins at 9 p.m.

THIS SOUNDS COOL: "Who’s fraid of Mike Nichols?" film series. March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe," "The Graduate," "Carnal Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more. This Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m. Q & A with Nichols following "The Graduate."

<>

5th Annual Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival. April 5 – 10. Stand up and Laugh: New and Classic Jewish Comedies at BAM.

Jean Luc Godard Festival at BAM a chance to discover and rediscover the masterpieces. April 21-26.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month. 

HERE/SAY:  "A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end… but not necessarily in that order." Jean-Luc Godard

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise G. Crawford

2808072_stdSometimes I’m not sure I want winter to end. A part of me appreciates the cold, dreary season because it is, in its way, very forgiving of moodiness. Spending a winter weekend at home, making soup, and devouring the Sunday paper inspires not the least bit of regret that I am not doing something better with my time.

These first springy days bring with them a kind of pressure to take advantage of what the weather has to offer. I force myself to say: "Wake up everyone, it’s time to get out there and have some FUN," when really all I want to do is lie underneath my comforter until hunger and the need for coffee forces me to the kitchen.

Much has been said about winter depression. But what about the blues brought forth by the expectations that spring arouses. What if the reality and the expectation don’t exactly match up? I, for one, am not quite ready for perky tulips at the Korean market, the park full of fair-weather runners, or Easter, for that matter. Truth is, I’m just not ready for spring.

A great, great jazz tune sung by Betty Carter comes to mind. The lyrics by Fran Landesman really say it so well:

"Spring this year has got me feeling. Like a horse that never left the post. I cry in my room, staring up at the ceiling. Spring can really hang you up the most."

I think this is just a temporary thing. Transitions are often hard. You get kind of attached to the seasons, even the nasty ones, and it’s hard to move on. I’ll get past this. I know I will. But please, just a few days more of winter, so I can get this  malaise out of my system.

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB

 

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over early this morning, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3, 2005.

CITY NEWS: NYPD arrested 37 protesters, members of Critical Mass, a group that celebrates cycling and other non-polluting forms of transportation. Those arrested were charged with parading without a permit. The city is going to court to demand that these cyclists get a permit for their month protest. Earlier this year a Federal judge said permits weren’t necessary.

_Friday March 25th marked the
anniversary of two tragic fires: the Happy Land Social Club fire in the
Bronx and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

_Thieves make off with $5 million in diamond heist at a diamond exchanges on West 47th Street.

_The City’s Department of Education sent out
test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and
grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover:
Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with
excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune
mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors
and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation
of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."

BROOKLYN BEAT: Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site.

Early Saturday morning, an 85 year old retired Russian physicist was run down by a car at Bay Avenue and Cropsey Avenue, an intersection that is said to be one of the city’s worst. The elderly man had just finished his daily four mile morning walk.  He died Saturday morning at Coney Island Hospital.

_Brooklyn woman was mauled by her son’s pit bull.  The dogs were tranquilized and taken to An Animal Care Center.  Her arm was seriously wounded.

_Brooklyn Rebbe Naftali
Halberstam, who continued his father’s efforts to rebuild the Bobov
sect of Hasidism that was nearly eradicated by the Holocaust, died on
Thursday. The Bobov practice an ecstatic form of Judaism that centers
on a religious leader and an individual’s direct relationship with G-d.
The sect originated in Galicia, now southeastern Poland.

_  A teenager was stabbed in the stomach by an older man on the
Northbound R platform at the Ninth Street subway station in Park Slope.
Apparently the two were having an agrument. The teenager was taken to
Lutheran Hospital. Read all about it at New York 1.

_Brooklyn receives $1 million to spruce up Fulton Street.
Congresswoman Nydia Valazquez was able to secure the money from the
Transportation Appropriations Bill and a local developer.  Improvements
include better lighting, signage, sidewalks, and landscaping. Read all about it at New York 1.

IT’S EASTER/PURIM SUNDAY: Purim Festival at the Brookyn Lyceum. Sunday March 27th. Music by Golem and Jonathan Bayer.  3 p.m.

_"Play Without Words," a dance theater  piece by Matthew Bourne at BAM. Tonight through Saturday. 2 p.m.

_Catpathia Jenkins and Park Slope resident Louis Rosen perform their
song-cycle based on the work of Maya Angelou at Joe’s Pub. Sunday 7 pm.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month. 

THIS SOUNDS COOL: Mike Nichols answers
questions following a screening of "The Graduate" as part of BAM’s
"Who’s Afraid of Mike Nichols?" film series. Thursday March 31 at 7 p.m.

HERE/SAY:  He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers gave birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves." -Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 
Love in the Time of Cholera.

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather News. Stuff to Do.

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather. 

CITY NEWS: Friday March 25th marked the anniversary of two tragic fires: the Happy Land Social Club fire in the Bronx and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

_Thieves make off with $5 million in diamond heist in city’s diamond district.

_The City’s Department of Education sent out test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover: Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."

BROOKLYN BEAT: Brooklyn Rebbe Naftali Halberstam, who continued his father’s efforts to rebuild the Bobov sect of Hasidism that was nearly eradicated by the Holocaust, died on Thursday. The Bobov practice an ecstatic form of Judaism that centers on a religious leader and an individual’s direct relationship with G-d. The sect originated in Galicia, now southeastern Poland.

_  A teenager was stabbed in the stomach by an older man on the Northbound R platform at the Ninth Street subway station in Park Slope. Apparently the two were having an agrument. The teenager was taken to Lutheran Hospital. Read all about it at New York 1.

_Brooklyn receives $1 million to spruce up Fulton Street. Congresswoman Nydia Valazquez was able to secure the money from the Transportation Appropriations Bill and a local developer.  Improvements include better lighting, signage, sidewalks, and landscaping. Read all about it at New York 1.

IT’S SATURDAY: The Gallery Players present: "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)." 199 14th Street. 8 p.m. Great for older kids.

_The Brooklyn Philarmonic presents "Kurt Weill Goes Brooklyn" Ute Lemper is vocal soloist. At BAM 30 Lafayette Avenue. Saturday. 8 p.m.

_"Play Without Words," a dance theater  piece by Matthew Bourne at BAM. Tonight through Saturday. 8 p.m.

ON SUNDAY: Purim Festival at the Brookyn Lyceum. Sunday March 27th. Music by Golem and Jonathan Bayer. (see hand-picked below).

Catpathia Jenkins and Park Slope resident Louis Rosen perform their song-cycle based on the work of Maya Angelou at Joe’s Pub. Sunday 6 pm.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place. The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all month. 

THIS SOUNDS COOL: Mike Nichols answers questions following a screening of "The Graduate" as part of BAM’s "Who’s Afraid of Mike Nichols?" film series. Thursday March 31 at 7 p.m.

HERE/SAY: "They need to worry and betray time with urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won’t be at peace unless they can latch on to an established and proven worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit and go with it, which is, you see, unhappiness, and all the time it all flies by them and they know it and that too worries them no end."  ~Jack Kerouac

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise G. Crawford

3121281_stdThere are ghosts around here. And I’m not talking about the spooky kind. They’re friendly ghosts, like Caspar, ghosts of friends who have moved away from Brooklyn for greener pastures more than 90 minutes from here.

These friends have left behind pieces of of themselves that appear from time to time when I walk past their apartments or the well-worn spots on Seventh Avenue where we used to stand and talk.

Some of these ghosts are good friends, people we try to stay in touch with, and call on the phone. Friends who, regardless of the fact that they abandoned us for a huge Victorian in Rockland County, we continue to love.

Our friends from across the street fall into this category. They’re here but they’re not here. I check their window everytime I leave my building. What I’m checking for I don’t know. Now that it’s spring I half-expect to see her weeding her flower boxes, or pullilng her shopping cart chock-full of gourmet health food from the Food Coop.

And then there are our friends who up and left us for a big Victorian in Upstate New York. I still dial 718 when I call them on the phone. Yesterday I addressed a postcard to them and wrote Brooklyn, New York instead of…

There’s also the family downstairs, whose kids were best friends with ours.  "I’m going down to Eddie’s," was my son’s constant refrain until the day Eddie moved away. Eddie and his sister were like family, as were their two younger siblings, and their parents. Even if we were wildly different in our approaches to things, we found a common ground on Third Street.

This block is also full of ghosts of people that I never got to know but wonder how they are: the single mother with the adopted son from Viet Nam, the woman who writes T.V shows for PBS and her husband and son, the two moms with the two kids who moved to Montclair, the family from Yemen with the spunky daughter (does she wear a veil now that she’s grown up?). And there are more. Plenty more. And they’re all still here in their way.

It’s been hard to figure out how to be friends with the friends who have moved away. it takes time, a year or more, to accept that their ghostly apparitions are just that, and that they’re NOT coming back to the Slope. Denial can be deep.

The next step is learning how to be friends at a distance. Phone calls and addresses must be memorized. New conversational topics must be substituted for the old standbys like: local real estate, 321 teachers, Coop gripes, and Third Street gossip. The ease of shouting up to a window Brooklyn-style, must be replaced with the effort of picking up the phone

But it can be done. First come the good-byes. Then the ghosts. And then, after a very long time, the acceptance that they’re no-longer in their too-small apartment in Brooklyn, but a suburb or town that’s really not that far away.

Yours from Brooklyn,

OTBKB 

 

CONTENTS_25 March 05

Friday_4NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise G. Crawford

SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

GRAB BAG_BROOKLYN AND BEYOND

HAND-PICKED_DON’T MISS

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