CONTENTS_28 FEB 05
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Afterimage by Louise G. Crawford
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
Learn how to win: Power Struggles with Kids, Running with Jack Rabbit, Controversy at MS 51, Horror Movies at BAM
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Points of Light or Why I Want an Oscar by Oswegatchie, Last Night at the Oscars by Louise Crawford
SIDE PANELS_Everything you want to know about Brooklyn but didn’t know where to find it. Scroll around.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise G. Crawford
What was it about The Gates that kept bringing 9/11 to mind?
The color for one thing. Christo and Jeanne Claude’s choice of hue was both an acknowledgement and a joyful defiance of the city’s perpetual orange alert.
One friend said the plastic orange structures reminded her of the twin towers. And the way everyone kept looking up at the fabric recalled those nightmare September days when everyone was looking up at the sky.
Someone else said that when The Gates are dismantled, it will be like life after September 11th. The way we still see the twin towers in their absence; ghost images in the skyline of what once was and will always be.
The Gates united our city in much the same way that 9/11 did. But this time we weren’t joined in grief, fear and confusion. The Gates were about joy, about the meaning of art, about being alive.
It was a carefree walk in the park for our neighbors and friends. And for that The Gates was worth every penny Christo and Jeanne-Claude spent on them.
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: Snow: the sequel. Expect 2-5 inches. More Brooklyn weather here.
CITY NEWS: Wake up and shell out more money! MTA fair hike went into effect this weekend.
The price of a $70 Metrocard rocketed up to $76. A weekly pass from
$21 to $24. The cost of a single ride remains: $2.00.Read all about it.
BROOKLYN BEAT: Slope Kids Bash American Soldier, was
the headline in our local "Park Slope Paper." The article goes on to
say that sixth graders at MS 51 sent so-called "demoralizing letters"
to a soldier stationed near North Korea as part of a social studies
assignment. Several of the letters sent to Pfc. Rob Jacobs by students
"attacked soldier for participating in the war in Iraq." writes Park
Slope Paper reporter Jotham Sederstrom. Deputy Schools Chancellor
Carmen Farina said on Tuesday that she will personally issue an apology
to the New Jersey soldier and his family. The teacher, Alex Kunhardt,
was reprimanded by Principal Xavier Castelli, who said that he plans to
add a letter of reprimand to Kunhardt’s teacher’s file.
_Two con artists robbed the Park Slope Food Co-op of a money bag containing nearly $5,000 on February 16.
_The ASPCA arrested Hearts and Homes Animal Shelter founder Carmello
Salamone, who is charged with overdriving, torturing, and injuring
animals and failure to provide proper sustenance for animals, says the
district attorney’s office. He could face up to 11 years in prison.
_Firefighters battled a huge blaze at a Brooklyn
Navy Yard warehouse said to belong to B&H Camera. The fire started
when sparks from a worker’s blow torch ignited plastic and cardboard
inside the warehouse. An acetylyne tank then exploded things making
things much worse.
_The human body parts that were found in a recycling plant in
Greenpoint and a nearby subway tunel belong to a 19-year old murder
victim named Rahshawn Brazell. Read all about it.
MONDAY: Public school kids back to school. Hear the the sound of parent’s sighing in relief.
_Workshop on Sibling Rivalry for Parents presented by Family First, 250 Baltic Streetm. 8:30 p.m
_Ft. Greene Association discusses Atlantic Yards. Lafayette Presbyterian Church. 35 South Oxford Street. www.historicftgreen.org
TUESDAY: PS 321 Presents: Power Struggles and Kids. Dr. Bernard Ott offers advice and
expertise to parents. March 1. 7:30 p.m. PS 321. Seventh
Avenue
between 1st and 2nd Streets.
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: Kathleen Edwards, "Failer," Zoe Records. Her new album, "Back to Me" comes out tomorrow. Hers are story songs with a smidgen of Lucinda Williams and a pinch of Tom Petty. The cuts: "Hockey Skates" and "Another Song the Radio Won’t Like" are winners.
THIS SOUNDS COOL: This month at BAMcinematek:
"Fright Nights: International Horror," a selection of a dozen films,
playing Mondays and Tuesdays from Feb. 21 to March 29 at the ,
including "Demons" (Italy, 1985; screens March 29) about a horror film
audience who turn into monsters in their seats and "The Devil-Doll"
(USA, 1936; March 21) directed by Tod Browning. Also "Kwaidan" (Japan,
1964; March 8) and more.
NEW SNEAKERS: Jack Rabbit’s beginner and intermediate running
workshops are starting up in March. Great coaches, great people, great
motivation: the course will, without
a doubt, improve your running. Think about it. See Brooklyn Fitness on
the side panel.
Registration for the Brooklyn Half-marathon on March 19th is now open.
HEAR/SAY:
BROOKLYN THINKERS_by Louise Crawford
Last Night at the Oscars
It was a mostly uninspired night at the Oscars. Perhaps it had something to do with the new staging. Instead of having the presenters walk out on stage, many were filmed in the audience. It was like something out of "Lets Make a Deal." The winners walked up to a microphone-stand in the aisles, where they made their acceptance speeches. This definitely sped up the proceedings but, as Chris Rock said, what’s next, "the drive-thru Oscars, get your statue, your McFlurry and keep going."
There were a few high points and one or two surprises. Clint Eastwood winning over Martin Scorcese elicited major gasps in this apartment. Let’s not get started on that one. We were, however, pleased to see Morgan Freeman get his.
Robin Williams’ zany imitation of Marlon Brando as Bugs Bunny was probably the funniest bit of the night. The best acceptance speech belonged to the composer of the song from the "Motorcycle Diaries" who sang in Spanish into the mike.
The best moment of moral indignation was Sean Penn’s pissed off rebuttal to Chris Rock’s joke about Jude Law.
There were some moving moments: Sidney Lumet thanked "the movies" for his Lifetime Achievement Award, and listed a wonderfully eclectic group of inspiring filmmakers, including Jean Vigo. Nice cutaways to his daughters holding hands in the audience crying.
Robert Richardson, who won for best cinematography for "The Aviator" dispensed with the usual thanks and dedicated his Oscar to "my mother whose been in the hospital for 45 day This is for her caregivers and friends who have been watching over her." What a nice son.
We were all relieved when Hilary Swank thanked her husband Chad. And we kvelled over Jaime Foxx’s multi-layered acceptance speech, which included a Ray Charles moment, a nod to his young daughter who told him "Don’t worry Dad even if you don’t win you’re still good." And a choked-up mention of his grandmother, who he now speaks to in his dreams. "I can’t wait to go to sleep tonight because we’ve got a lot to talk about. I love you." Nice.
I missed most of Chris Rock’s introduction doing dinner dishes in the kitchen, but his final line was a pitch perfect send off. "Good night, Brooklyn," he said, and off we went to our bedrooms. The new high-speed Oscars were over before mid-night and boy were we tired.
–
Brooklyn Thinkers_by Oswegatchie
POINTS OF LIGHT or Why I Want an Oscar
One morning I sat across from my energy healer and confessed to
fantasizing about getting an Oscar. It felt like a horrible cliche, and
I always feel like I jinx my life by mentioning it. She mentioned that
a friend of hers really, really wants a Grammy.
"Really?
A Grammy?" I said. "I don’t want a Grammy at all." It was a revelation.
People really do fantasize about different things! Wow! "I mean, the
Grammy awards are full of music that’s just awful, yuck. They’re
infuriating." I saw immediately this applied just as well to the
Oscars. But the Oscars are not about quality, necessarily, and that’s
where different people’s fantasies come in. What are they about? I
remember when it finally became clear what they represent for me.
When
I was young I watched them every year. As a teenager I kept a
three-ring binder and typed up my notes of the winners each year and
kept it on my bookshelf. (Ha! Imagine feeling you had to do that now.)
I looked up the technical people in copies of American Cinematographer
and American Film that my dad had given me as gifts. I studied the
gowns and found them all wanting, reasoning that a tux would be much
more comfortable and allow me to stride confidently to the microphone
to receive my award. My favorite speeches became models of how to avoid
saying a simple "thank you," my favorites being Vanessa Redgrave
accepting for Julia (standing for principles despite the booing, life
is bigger than Oscar, people matter, people’s rights matter
dammit!), and Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer, because he’d always
boycotted awards and used his time to praise the other nominees and
bless the community of actors, who race to auditions from their taxi
shifts, and none of whom, really, are losers, which makes the whole
idea of awards suspect (but not too suspect to show up, accept your
award, and point all this out very eloquently).
In my 30s,
long after passing by film classes for English lit and circling back
through cinema studies and dropping out of museum studies and being
unclear and working at nonprofits devoted to alternative media
exhibition, education, history, and criticism (the "little people" of
the film world), I was still watching the Oscars every year. In 1998,
my son was less than a year old and we still had television reception.
There were two things besides watching movies that H & I still used
the TV for: The X-Files and the Oscars, our baby a sleeping lump
between us. As usual, that year the awards dragged on with nothing very
interesting going on, except for any time the film Gods and Monsters
was nominated. There sat Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave
in a cluster, two of them behind the other so that they could hold
hands in a circle whenever their film was nominated. They radiated
intimacy, love and good feeling; they had made of their film set a functional family,
you could feel it. When Bill Condon won for his screenplay they hugged
and beamed, and showed real unselfconscious joy
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
CONTENTS_27 Feb 05
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise G. Crawford
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
Slope kids under fire for letters to American soldier, Park Slope Food Co-op scammed by scam artists, Big Navy Yard Fire and more.
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Points of Light or Why I Want an Oscar by Oswegatchie
SIDE PANELS_Links to everything you need to know about Brooklyn but didn’t know where to find it. Scroll up, scroll down.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_by Louise Crawford
Earlier today I got an interesting e-mail from a friend, the mother of a 12-year old girl: "I had a crazy experience last night watching all the teenagers that hang in front of PS 321 throwing up, being picked up in ambulances, and generally misbehaving. It really did me in. A friend and I were chatting about what we could do. I’m even thinking about organizing some kind of neighborhood meeting. I don’t know – it just really got to me."
My husband and I were eating dinner at Miracle Grill around the same time so we caught the very tail end of the incident my friend is talking about. We asked someone what happened and he said, "Some kids had too much to drink." That really got to me too. It got me good and scared for all of our children.
I know that a lot of parents are concerned about their tweens and teens. There do seem to be a lot of kids smoking, drinking and doing god knows what right out there on Seventh Avenue. Many of us are especially nervous because we did similar stuff when we were in high school and we’re scared out of our wits to go through it with our own children.
My friend’s idea: to have a community meeting seems like a good plan. In my mind, it’s not a clean up the neighborhood kind of meeting but a way to figure out how to really address the issues these kids are facing. I think the teens and tweens should be part of the meeting along with their parents and it should feel like a brainstorming session and not a reprimand. Maybe there’s some way we can prevent our kids from going down a road that leads to throwing up, being picked up in ambulances, and generally misbehaving.
What do YOU think?
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: SUNSHINE. High 36 degrees. More Brooklyn weather here.
CITY NEWS: MTA fair hike will go into effect this weekend.
The price of a $70 Metrocard will rocket up to $76. A weekly pass from
$21 to $24. The cost of a single ride remains: $2.00.Read all about it.
_Olympic Committe makes it clear; No Stadium: No Deal. Read all about it.
_City unveils plans for a waterfront park
underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The first public meeting for a Brooklyn
Bridge Park in nearly three years was held Tueday. Unveiled were the
new designs for the more than one-mile long waterfront park that
stretches under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Read all about it.
BROOKLYN BEAT: Slope Kids Bash American Soldier, was the headline in our local "Park Slope Paper." The article goes on to say that sixth graders at MS 51 sent so-called "demoralizing letters" to a soldier stationed near North Korea as part of a social studies assignment. Several of the letters sent to Pfc. Rob Jacobs by students "attacked soldier for participating in the war in Iraq." writes Park Slope Paper reporter Jotham Sederstrom. Deputy Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said on Tuesday that she will personally issue an apology to the New Jersey soldier and his family. The teacher, Alex Kunhardt, was reprimanded by Principal Xavier Castelli, who said that he plans to add a letter of reprimand to Kunhardt’s teacher’s file.
_Two con artists robbed the Park Slope Food Co-op of a money bag containing nearly $5,000 on February 16.
_ASPCA arrested Hearts and Homes Animal Shelter founder Carmello Salamone, who is charged with overdriving, torturing, and injuring animals and failure to provide proper sustenance for animals, says the district attorney’s office. He could face up to 11 years in prison.
_Firefighters battled a huge fire at a Brooklyn
Navy Yard warehouse said to belong to B&H Camera. The fire started
when sparks from a worker’s blow torch ignited plastic and cardboard
inside the warehouse. An acetylyne tank then exploded things making
things much worse.
_The human body parts that were found in a recycling plant in Greenpoint and a nearby subway tunel belong to a 19-year old murder victim named Rahshawn Brazell. Read all about it.
_The Brooklyn dance floor where "Saturday
Night Fever" was filmed is on the auction block. Bids at e-bay are
expected to exceed $80,000 for the lighted Bay Ridge dance floor where
John Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, strutted his stuff. The club,
"2001 Odyssey" (renamed "Spectrum" after the movie was made) is
closing.
_Five Brooklyn bike riders are suing the city
over bumps on the Williamsburg Bridge. The cyclists claim they were
hurt when their bikes hit metal plates that are part of the bike path
on the bridge. Cyclists say these metal plates make the commute
difficult. The five riders who filed the law suit say they suffered
injuries from broken bones to fractured eye sockets. One rider said he
shattered his pelvis. They are suing for $2 million each. Read all about it.
SUNDAY: Austrailian didjeridoo workshop at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 1 p.m. to 2:30.
_"Porgy and Bess" at Walt Whitman Hall at Brooklyn College. 2 p.m. Tickets: $40.
_Brazillian music at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Fourth Avenue at President Street. Program features voice, drums, guitar and homemade instruments. $12. 7 p.m.
_Oscar Party at Cocotte, the cozy French restaurant on Fifth
Avenue at 4th Street: large screen
TV, Special prix fix dinner. Reservations are a good idea. Root for
Martin Scorcese for Best Director and Hilary Swank who trained for "
Million Dollar Baby" at Gleason’s Gym in DUMBO.
_ Laurie Anderson performs her one woman with violin show: "The End of the Moon" at BAM 2/22 – 3/1. According to The Yellow
Rabbit: " Part travelogue, part personal theory, history and dream The End of the Moon
looks at the relationships between war, aesthetics, spirituality and
consumerism. Anecdotal, wide ranging and epic, this original work also features her new music for violin and electronics. Of The End of the Moon
Anderson writes,
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
CONTENTS_26 Feb 05
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Recycling The Gates by Louise G. Crawford
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
Book sale, Show of Graffiti Art, Oscar Party at Cocotte, Soul Music at the Brooklyn Conservatory, Native American Storytelling at the Green-Wood Cemetery, Laurie Anderson at BAM, The Wooster Group in Dumbo, Klezmer master at Barbes
BROOKLYN THINKERS_We’ve Got Oranges by Oswegatchie, Bullets in the Hood: a documentary by Terence Fisher
SIDE PANELS_An ever-expanding list of links to Brooklyn essentials: meals, music, museums, theater, schools, services, stores, and much more. Scroll up, scroll down.
Postcard from the Slope_by Louise G. Crawford
Saturday and Sunday are the last two days to see orange drapes in Central Park. My husband has spent much of the last two weeks there. Day and night, in fair weather and snow, he’s been photographing The Gates, amassing an amazing collection of shots.
So what happens after The Gates leave the Park? Well, I’ll get my husband back for one thing. But first he’ll be out there phographing the dismantling of The Gates — and that should be a site to see.
It turns out that all the materials will be recycled: The steel bases are to be melted and recast as rods for reinforcing concrete, steel plates or steel coils.
The aluminum corners and base sleeves are to be recycled for gutters and aluminum sheeting.
The vinyl frames will be fed into large-capacity grinders and become products such as PVC pipe, fences, tool handles or the inner cores of paint rollers.
The ripstop nylon curtains will go back to being nylon thread.
I hope they leave at least one of The Gates up in the park, a reminder of a very unusual, art-crazed February in our city.
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: There’s gonna be sunshine. And wind. Slightly warmer than yesterday. More Brooklyn weather here.
CITY NEWS: MTA fair hike will go into effect this weekend. The price of a $70 Metrocard will rocket up to $76. A weekly pass from $21 to $24. The cost of a single ride remains: $2.00.Read all about it.
_Olympic Committe makes it clear: No Stadium: no deal. Read all about it.
_City unveils plans for a waterfront park
underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The first public meeting for a Brooklyn
Bridge Park in nearly three years was held Tueday. Unveiled were the
new designs for the more than one-mile long waterfront park that
stretches under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Read all about it.
BROOKLYN BEAT: Firefighters battled a huge fire at a Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse said to belong to B&H Camera. The fire started when sparks from a worker’s blow torch ignited plastic and cardboard inside the warehouse. An acetylyne tank then exploded things making things much worse.
_Human torso found in a Brooklyn recycling
plant. The remains were found around 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Rapid
Recycling Corporation in Greenpoint. The medical examiner is trying to figure out if the torso belongs to the victim whose arms and legs were discovered at a nearby subway station. Read all about it.
_The Brooklyn dance floor where "Saturday
Night Fever" was filmed is on the auction block. Bids at e-bay are
expected to exceed $80,000 for the lighted Bay Ridge dance floor where
John Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, strutted his stuff. The club,
"2001 Odyssey" (renamed "Spectrum" after the movie was made) is
closing.
_Five Brooklyn bike riders are suing the city
over bumps on the Williamsburg Bridge. The cyclists claim they were
hurt when their bikes hit metal plates that are part of the bike path
on the bridge. Cyclists say these metal plates make the commute
difficult. The five riders who filed the law suit say they suffered
injuries from broken bones to fractured eye sockets. One rider said he
shattered his pelvis. They are suing for $2 million each. Read all about it.
_Brooklyn preservation activists are calling
upon Ikea to save Brooklyn waterfront architecture that dates back to
the Civil War. The Municipal Art Society unveiled two alternative
plans on February 14th that would ensure that two dry docks and
buildings would not be destroyed to make room for the new Ikea in Red
Hook.
AMERICAN GIRL DOLL IN THE NEWS: Marisol, the new
Mexican-American American Girl Doll, is causing some controversy.
Actually it’s the book that is sold with the doll that has community
activitsts in Pilsen, a Hispanic community in Chicago, up in arms.
"While it is delightful that the company has decide to create a
Mexican-American doll, I find it insulting to the neighborhood that she
has to move to the suburbs to be safe," said Juan Guzman, Vice President of the Mexican Fine Arts Museum located in Pilsen: Read all about it.
SATURDAY: Native American storytelling and dancers at the Green-Wood Cemetery. 1 pm at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street.
_Book Fair at Park Slope United Methodist Church. Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
_Reception at Skylight Gallery for The Written War: A Retrospective of Graffiti Crews of Kings County. 1368 Fulton Street. Free. 6 p.m.
_ Laurie Anderson performs her one woman with violin
show, "The End of the Moon" at BAM 2/22 – 3/1. According to The Yellow
Rabbit: " Part travelogue, part personal theory, history and dream The End of the Moon
looks at the relationships between war, aesthetics, spirituality and
consumerism. Anecdotal, wide ranging and epic, this original work also features her new music for violin and electronics. Of The End of the Moon
Anderson writes,
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
CONTENTS_25 Feb 05
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Snow
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN THINKERS_We’ve Got the Oranges by Oswegatchie, Bullets in the Hood: a film by Terence Fisher,
Remembering Malcolm X, Fitness in the Slope
SIDE PANELS_An expanding list of links to Brooklyn essentials, food, movies, schools, museums, government, services, stores, blogs, and more. Scroll up, scroll down.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_New Fallen Snow
Except for the sound of a lone shoveler across the street, the Slope is hushed this morning. Sidewalks are thick with snow, tree branches iced with white frosting. For those of us who didn’t fly off to beach vacations, this is our reward.
It is Day Five of school vacation and children will rise happily, enthralled with what went on while they slept. The Third Street hill in Prospect Park is primed for giddy children on sleds, who won’t feel cold temperatures as they fly down the hill fast as comets.
Even the garbage pails awaiting pick-up look beautiful in the snow. Everything does. Winter has returned to our city.
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: Wake up and smell the snow. Getting up to 33 degrees. More Brooklyn weather here.
Alternate-side-of-the-street-parking suspended but you still have to feed the meters.
CITY NEWS: City unveils plans for a waterfront park
underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The first public meeting for a Brooklyn
Bridge Park in nearly three years was held Tueday. Unveiled were the
new designs for the more than one-mile long waterfront park that
stretches under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, boasting
spectacular views and lots of amenities including playing
fields, recreated natural areas, 10 acres of river that will be
available for kayaking, playgrounds, dog runs. Read all about it.
_Many in NYC are waiting to hear what the Supreme
Court has to say about the eminent domain case in New London, CT. The
case questions whether a city can seize a person’s property and
transfer it to private developers whose project could, theoretically,
boost an ailing economy. This could have ramifications for the Atlantic
Yards development… Read all about it.
_NYC
Transit handed out more than 20,000 MetroCards to city police officers
Thursday, in direct response to a deadly shooting inside a Manhattan
subway station last weekend.
Officers picked up 24,000 additional "Police Pass" MetroCards this
morning. This is in addition to the 15,000 cards the NYPD already
distributes to officers. The head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it responded quickly to the NYPD’s request for more cards. The NYPD is also trying to educate officers who are not familiar with the transit system. Read all about it.
BROOKLYN BEAT: Human torso found in a Brooklyn recycling
plant. The remains were found around 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Rapid
Recycling Corporation in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read all about it.
_The Brooklyn dance floor where "Saturday
Night Fever" was filmed is on the auction block. Bids at e-bay are
expected to exceed $80,000 for the lighted Bay Ridge dance floor where
John Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, strutted his stuff. The club,
"2001 Odyssey" (renamed "Spectrum" after the movie was made) is
closing.
_Five Brooklyn bike riders are suing the city
over bumps on the Williamsburg Bridge. The cyclists claim they were
hurt when their bikes hit metal plates that are part of the bike path
on the bridge. Cyclists say these metal plates make the commute
difficult. The five riders who filed the law suit say they suffered
injuries from broken bones to fractured eye sockets. One rider said he
shattered his pelvis. They are suing for $2 million each. Read all about it.
_Brooklyn preservation activists are calling
upon Ikea to save Brooklyn waterfront architecture that dates back to
the Civil War. The Municipal Art Society unveiled two alternative
plans on February 14th that would ensure that two dry docks and
buildings would not be destroyed to make room for the new Ikea in Red
Hook.
AMERICAN GIRL DOLL IN THE NEWS: Marisol, the new
Mexican-American American Girl Doll, is causing some controversy.
Actually it’s the book that is sold with the doll that has community
activitsts in Pilsen, a Hispanic community in Chicago, up in arms.
"While it is delightful that the company has decide to create a
Mexican-American doll, I find it insulting to the neighborhood that she
has to move to the suburbs to be safe," said Juan Guzman, vice
president of the Mexican Fine Arts Museum located in Pilsen: Read all about it.
VACATION NEWS FLASH: There’s a Children’s Winter Festival
daily in Prospect Park at the Audubon Center. Daily: Films, Nature and
Crafts, and Storytelling. More information here!
TODAY: Laurie Anderson performs her one woman with violin show, "The End of the Moon" at BAM 2/22 – 3/1. According to The Yellow Rabbit: " Part travelogue, part personal theory, history and dream The End of the Moon looks at the relationships between war, aesthetics, spirituality and consumerism. Anecdotal, wide ranging and epic, this original work also
features her new music for violin and electronics. Of The End of the Moon Anderson writes,
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Oranges
We’ve Got the Oranges by Oswegatchie
You can buy it on ebay for ten bucks: a swatch of fabric from The
Gates by Christo. They’re handing them out in Central Park, the people
in the gray suits with tennis balls on poles, the docents, or whatever
they call them.
It was "a good day for viewing," as they say.
Forty degrees, sunny, snow setting off the brillant
orange/tangerine/saffron/traffic cone color. The swatch doesn’t do it
justice, of course.
If I had been alone, or with my husband, we
might have made a day of it and kept walking. Gates draw you on, you
don’t want to step off course or abort the journey. Coming to a fork,
there’s a desire to go on both paths and not miss a single Gate. But we
were with R & A, and by the third time they asked if we were nearly
at the Natural History Museum, I knew we would see only ten blocks or
so of the whole.
I wish I could stop thinking of Bill Gates when I write this.
Like
you, I’ve gotten a lot of email from friends with their photos and
their comments. "It leaves me cold." "It’s beautiful, you have to see
it!" "Stunning." "There’s not much to it." "I wish they’d picked a deep
red."
I wished the color were a bit more yellow, but with the
sun behind the drapes, firing them up, it is one of the happiest
colors. But the festive atmosphere is the key to a public art project,
and I did feel it with this one. Everyone becomes a little more
present. Usually it takes a public emergency to do this for a city; how
much healthier when it is art. People look into each other’s faces and
smile at the shared experience, attention focuses on a thing, these
things
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Bullets in the Hood
Bullets in the Hood a film by Terence Fisher
The following is an excerpt from a web-site for the new Brooklyn documentary "Bullets in the Hood." Go here for more information.
Terrence Fisher, a teen living in a housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant,
Brooklyn, had seven of his friends shot and killed by a gun. Terrence is
not a gang member or a drug dealer
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Malcolm X
Remembering Malcolm X by Laments of the Unfinished
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X. Of
the four American leaders assassinated in the 60s, for some reason,
Malcolm X
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
CONTENTS_24 Feb 05
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Domestic Squabble
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Remembering Malcolm X by Laments of the Unfinished, Fitness in the Slope by Elizabeth Pongo
SIDE PANELS_Links to Brooklyn essentials, arts, movies, fitness, recreation, museums, parks, gardens, stores we love and much, much more. Scroll up and down
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Puple Tulips
My mother-in-law is coming to visit for a few days to see The Gates in
Central Park. She’ll be arriving at 5 a.m. in the morning (Jet Blue’s
red-eye from Oakland gets in bright and early.)
I spent much of the day thinking about ways to make the apartment appear less cluttered, less crowded than it really is. I rearranged the living room, and cleaned and cleared things away; threw out as much as I could. My husband, of course, picked through the garbage before it left the
apartment. But that’s to be expected.
Early evening, I asked him to clean his portion of the
living room: the part of the living room that has become his de-facto
photography studio and office. It is unbearably cluttered with computer
equipment, photography equipment, wires, boxes, magazines, manuals,
books, and other sundry detritus. The request made him very exasperated
and he told me that the real mess in the living room, the REAL MESS,
was mine. He then pointed to a small gaggle of things on the metal
table: a stapler, a pair of binoculars, some CD’s, this and that. It
was such an obvious diversionary tactic that I found myself
ENRAGED. So enraged, that I could barely speak for the rest of the
evening.
This
is a battle we’ve been fighting for too many years. Our domestic
styles just don’t mesh – any professional could tell you that. He with his packrat tendencies and me with my desire for a home I can feel proud of. On the eve of a visit from my mother-in-law, I am at my most vulnerable.
My husband and I are not speaking. His mother arrives early. The apartment is,
for the most part, clean. His portion of the living room looks
like a tornado zone.
He just returned from a quick outing to the Met Food for coffee. He brought flowers (probably from the Apple on Garfield). I am studiously avoiding them; they sit wrapped on the dining room table. Oh, maybe I should just put them in some water…
Deep purple tulips. They’re really quite pretty.
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: Partly cloudy. Snow is likely. 31 degrees is the top temperature. More Brooklyn weather here.
CITY NEWS: City unveils plans for a waterfront park underneath Brooklyn Bridge. The first public meeting for a Brooklyn Bridge Park in nearly three years was held Tueday. Unveiled were the new designs for the more than one-mile long waterfront park that stretches under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, boasting spectacular views and lots of amenities including playing fields, recreated natural areas, 10 acres of river that will be available for kayaking, playgrounds, dog runs. "Just about everything the neighbors could want in a park, says project designer Michael Van Valkenburgh. Read all about it.
_Many in NYC are waiting to hear what the Supreme
Court has to say about the eminent domain case in New London, CT. The
case questions whether a city can seize a person’s property and
transfer it to private developers whose project could, theoretically,
boost an ailing economy. This could have ramifications for the Atlantic
Yards development… Read all about it.
_In a recent study about the city
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Fitness in the Slope
Fitness Revolution by Elizabeth Pongo
As a personal trainer, here in Park Slope I’ve taken careful note of many an interesting phenomenon. Primarily, the gym is a surreal and extraordinary place. I enjoy the challenge of teaching people new things. And I must admit, sharing the excitement with my clients of learning how to grow and change things inspires me. After all, transformation of a body and growing into a functional, flexible, strong human being is no easy task! Yet,
above and beyond the joy of learning, is the power of knowledge.
But there’s one thing I know for sure, the gym is the school playground of the
middle aged.
If you threaten to take away a baby-boomer’s Social Security, you’ll see that
individual whip his or her self into shape, faster than you can say, "George, that’s a stupid idea." Strength and power come from within.
And the baby-boomers, who grew up during the bloom and blush of the
cultural revolution of the 1960’s and 1970’s are striking back! Have you noticed the biceps on women who work out between the ages of 40 and 60 lately? Now there’s a bunch of women I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. I can just imagine what might happen if someone threatened one of these lovely ladies. The assailant would certainly be beaten down with a bag of organic vegetables.
I
admire the courage, the conviction and the commitment of my clients who
are middle aged. I look up to these people. I am the typical cute
little kid, who befriends the older kids, to make sure that I get taken
care of. What I’ve found is that while I admire their focus, and
encourage them to get stronger, we do end up addressing certain fears
about our bodies, and our selve’s together. That’s the real fun, and
the true catharsis. Looking at a weakness together and learning how to
tackle it as a team, is powerful stuff: the stuff that revolutions are
made of.
There’s
a lot to be afraid of in the school playground, and in the gym. While
some clients are afraid of the gym equipment, other clients are afraid
of the other members in the gym. I made the mistake of asking a client
to mount a stationary bike, before adjusting the seat for her. She replied, "That’s a 15 hand stallion, baby and I’m not getting up there."
People stand around and literally gawk at other people who are doing things that seem too difficult or exotic. This is much the same as the group of kids standing around and staring at the kid doing crazy things on the jungle gym. But all the while, we are learning from each other — no matter how uncomfortable or bizarre it may seem at the time.
Here’s how I see it: the important thing is the evolution of our society. The digital revolution and the information age may not be as exciting as the sexual revolution and the age of Aquarius, depending on your view point. But in order for a society to remain strong and healthy, a cultural revolution must take place every 30 years.
I think we’re in the middle of a new era, and although it may seem odd to run around like gerbils on a treadmill and go inside to an indoor playground in order to workout; these are monumental and surreal and important times we’re living in. And as the adults now, we must embrace that. So I say: play hard and be strong. We’ve got our work cut out for us. The revolution is here again!
Elizabeth Pongo is a stand up comedian and a fitness trainer in Park Slope. She can be reached on her cell phone at (917) 207-3588 or by e-mail: pongofitness@yahoo.com.
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
CONTENTS_23 FEB 05
NO WORDS_Daily Pix by Hugh Crawford
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Rejeuvenation
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN THINKERS_Remembering Malcolm X by Laments of the Unfinished, Vacation Brainstorm by OTBKB, Fitness Revolution by Elizabeth Pongo,
SIDE PANELS_Links to Brooklyn essentials: museums, movies, theater, arts, recreation, fitness, city government and more. Scroll around and see.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_Rejeuvenation
Yesterday was Day Two of the kid’s mid-winter break and I was so desperate for alone-time that my ride on the subway into Manhattan felt like a luxurious spa vacation. I closed my eyes and tried to meditate on the F-train. Breathing in, breathing out, I let my thoughts come and go and didn’t dwell on anything for long. No thinking, no thinking, just the rhythm of the rails; the doors opening, the doors closing; a panhandler asking for some change.
It was a heavenly break from the chaos of the apartment; from too much togetherness in too small a space. School vacations are fun but I was already in need of a vacation from this one.
When I got off the subway spa, I walked peacefully toward my endontist’s office on East 53rd Street past Rockefeller Center and the soothing hustle-bustle of Fifth Avenue. Even the root canal was better than the mayhem back home. The dentist barely spoke – so busy was he drilling and poking, and thrusting his fingers into my mouth. I lay on the chair, my mouth covered with rubber, dental dam in place. Eyes closed, breathing in and out through my nose, I listened to oldies on WCBS radio feeling thankful for this pensive, if not peaceful, time.
When the dental work was done, I was ready to re-enter vacationland. My husband and daughter met me for ice skating at Wollman Rink. We walked into Central Park and admired orange colored curtains, which have begun to feel like a permanent part of Olmstead’s plan. Rejevenated, I skated with my daughter for three hours on an unseasonably warm and blue sky day.
Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB
SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.
BROOKLYN WEATHER: Sunny day with temperature up to 42 degrees. More Brooklyn weather here.
CITY NEWS: Many in NYC are waiting to hear what the Supreme
Court has to say about the eminent domain case in New London, CT. The
case questions whether a city can seize a person’s property and
transfer it to private developers whose project could, theoretically,
boost an ailing economy. This could have ramifications for the Atlantic
Yards development… Read all about it.
_In a recent study about the city