Saturday, May 31, 2008

Hey, I Didn't Know About This...

The Kensington blog recently made posed a question to readers about how one goes about adding a forum to the blog. A reader (and soon-to-be Kensington resident) made the following suggestion:

I'm moving from Prospect Heights to Kensington in a couple of weeks and was bummed to find how few neighborhoodies were posting on the Brooklynian.com message board for the nabe. Perhaps if you link to it on your blog, the day to day traffic will increase and we can begin to build an e-community.
Here's the direct link to our board: 


So how why didn't any of you tell me about this?

TheRealFlatbush Announces Summer Book Buddy Program & Free Summer Concerts at the BPL

Summer Book Buddy
TheRealFlatbush
Summer is fast approaching and for some teens there is not much to do.
Why not Volunteer for:
Summer Book Buddy
Learn new skills and be a role model for other kids
If you're a teen volunteer (ages 12-18), you can help
librarians read aloud to children and assist with  
all kinds of cool youth programs.
Responsibilities
Read aloud to children.
Assist staff in the administration of the popular Reading Is Fundamental
(RIF) program.
Assist staff in planning, conducting, and evaluating children's programs like
arts and crafts, drawing and painting, puzzles and games.
Enter registration information for the Library's Summer Reading participants.
Requirements
12-18 years old.
Consent portion of Volunteer Application signed by parent or guardian before
starting the assignment.
A friendly manner and a strong commitment to working with children.
Book Buddies are asked to make a minimum commitment of volunteering
2-3 hours a day, 2-3 days a week for at least 3 weeks during the summer.
How to Apply
1. Go to your local library and request a Summer Book Buddy application.
2. Contact 718-230-2406
or e-mail at
volunteer@brooklynpubliclibrary.org.   
___________________________________
Free Concerts
THE KICK START YOUR SUMMER WITH THESE GREAT CONCERTS ON THE GRANITE STEPS OF CENTRAL LIBRARY!
EVERY SATURDAYS • 2 PM • CENTRAL LIBRARY STEPS • GRAND ARMY PLAZA
For more information go to
http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/pdf/events/libraryrocks.pdf

London Calling.

Yeah, I know it's been covered 100 times over...but not by the Pigeon! So here's a few shots I took down at the Brooklyn to London Giant Telescope installation down on the Fulton Landing.

The crowd was amused by the huge contraption.

Brooklynites vie for a place up front.

Brooklynite makes an inquiry via whiteboard message.

Londoner responds.

This six-year-old Brooklynite writes a message 
to an eight-year-old Brit across the pond

Update on Pomegranate Supermarket.

For those of you who are concerned about parking at the new store, a commenter offers the following:

anonymous said...
the old auto shop on the corner was cleared out and that will be the parking lot.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Featured Brooklynite of the Week: John Wojtowicz (aka "Sonny Wortzik")

Who was John Wojtowicz?

John Wojtowicz, a Brooklyn folkhero.

From Wikipedia:
John Stanley Wojtowicz (Born on March 25,1941 in New York - Died on January 2, 2006) in New York, New York) was an American Bank Robber whose story inspired the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon.
Wojtowicz, who was bisexual married his first wife, Carmen Bifulco, in 1967. They had two children, and separated in 1969. Wojtowicz met pre-operative transexual Elizabeth Eden (then known as Ernest Aron) in 1971 at an Italian Feast in New York City. Wojtowicz and Eden were married on December 4, 1971.
Perhaps because of stress over her inability to afford sex reassignment surgery, Eden attempted suicide several times. Wojtowicz set on the path that made him famous after failing to procure funds for Eden's birthday on August 19, 1972. On August 20, 1972 Eden attempted suicide again. The following day, Wojtowicz went to the psychiatric ward to try to get Eden released but was told she would not be released until she was cured of her gender identity problem. Wojtowicz assumed this meant either curing her homosexuality or receiving a sex change operation.
On August 22, 1972, Wojtowicz, along with Sal Naturile and another man, attempted to rob a branch of the Chase Manhattan bank on the corner of East Third Street and Avenue P in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Wojtowicz and Naturile held seven Chase Manhattan bank employees hostage for 14 hours. Wojtowicz, a former bank teller, had some knowledge of bank operations. However, he apparently based his plan on scenes from the movie The Godfather, which he had seen earlier that day.
The robbers became media celebrities. Wojtowicz was arrested, but Naturile was killed by the FBI during the final moments of the incident.
According to Wojtowicz, he was offered a deal for pleading guilty, which the court did not honor and on April 23, 1973, he was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison of which he served 14, being released on April 10, 1987. He made $7,500 selling the movie rights to the story, and helped finance Eden's sex reassignment surgery with these funds. In 1987, Time reported that Eden, 41, died of AIDS-related pneumonia in Rochester.
Wojtowicz's story was used as the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The movie was released in 1975, and starred Al Pacino as Wojtowicz (called "Sonny Wortzik" in the film), and John Cazale, Pacino's co-star in The Godfather, as Naturile. Eden, known as "Leon" in the film, was portrayed by actor Chris Sarandon.
In 1975 John Wojtowicz wrote a letter to The New York Times out of concern that people would believe the movie version of the events which he said was only 30% accurate. Wojtowicz's main objection was the inaccurate portrayal of his wife Carmen Bifulco as a plain, overweight woman whose behavior led to his relationship with Elizabeth Eden, when in fact he had left her two years before he met Eden. Other concerns he had that were fictionalized in the movie were that he never spoke to his mother and that the police refused to let him speak to his wife Carmen. In addition, the movie intimated that John 'sold out' Sal Naturile to the police, and although he claims this to be untrue, several attempts were made on John's life following an inmate screening of the movie. He did however praise Al Pacino and Chris Sarandon's characterizations of himself and wife Elizabeth Eden as accurate. In a 2006 interview, the screenwriter of the movie, Frank Pierson, said that he tried to visit John Wojtowicz in prison many times to get more details about his story when he wrote the screenplay but Wojtowicz refused each time to see him because he thought he was not paid enough money for the rights of his story.
Wojtowicz was also the subject of two documentaries, The Third Memory in 2000 and Based on A True Story in 2005. In 2001, The New York Times reported that he was living on welfare in Brooklyn.
Wojtowicz died of cancer on January 2, 2006.

___________________________________

The Actual Events of August 22, 1973 in Gravesend, Brooklyn:

The Standoff with the NYPD

Wojotowicz issues warnings

Negotiations begin

Negotiations continue


The bank where the robbery took place was a branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank,at 450 Avenue P in Brooklyn, at the cross street of East 3rd Street, in Gravesend Brooklyn. Today the location of Brooklyn Medical Imaging Center.

______________________________________

Wojtowicz married the pre-operative Elizabeth Eden (then Ernest Aron) on December 4, 1971. Unfortunately same-sex marriage was unheard of and Wojtowicz was still legally married to his first wife.

The Next Wild Brooklyn Parrot Safari: Saturday, June 14, 2008, at 12 Noon.

From the Brooklyn Parrots web site:

Attention all Urban Parrot fans: the next Wild Brooklyn Parrot Safari will happen on Saturday, June 14, 2008, at 12 Noon. All interested wild parrot fans should meet at Brooklyn College's Hillel Gate, which is at the intersection of Hillel Place and Campus Road. Our tour runs in two sections. You can attend either section, or both, depending on how many wild parrots you'd like to see!
Please e-mail me if you want to attend, so I know how many folks are coming. Note: the rain date for this trip is Sunday, June 15th, same monk time, same monk location.
Wild Parrot Safari -- First Section (Brooklyn College): 12:00 Noon to 1:45PMAt noon, we'll inspect the Brooklyn Parrots' "Ellis Island." Their large nests around the soccer field represents the first major colony in Brooklyn. The site is easy to get to via public transportation. Just take the Number 2 train (Seventh Avenue IRT) to the end of the line, walk one block Southwest on Hillel Street past the new Starbucks, and look for the main Brooklyn College date. The tour begins at the entrance at Noon sharp. Allow some extra time, given that the MTA is doing lots of construction/train re-routing on weekends. Driving instructions are available at Brooklyn College's main Web site. Parking is fairly easy to come by in the neighborhood. If you're late, just call me: I'll give you directions so that you can meet up with us if the tour is already in progress.
Wild Parrot Safari -- Second Section (Green-Wood Cemetery): 2:30PM-5PM. Due to popular demand, our monthly tour will run an optional "second section." After getting our share of the raucous antics of the Brooklyn College Parrots, at approximately 1:45 PM, our group will walk to the Q Train (BMT) station at Avenue H and journey to Green-Wood Cemetery, where we will observe the late-afternoon antics of the parrots residing there. If you just want to see the Green-Wood parrots, show up at 2:30 PM and we'll be there. To get to Green-Wood, take the R Train to 25th Street and walk one block East to 25th and 5th Avenue.
What to Bring/What to WearPlease bring a photo ID (this is required by Brooklyn College Security). If you like, bring binoculars and a camera if you'd like to immortalize your wild parrot-watching experience. The weather will probably be balmy in early May, but we'll be exposed to the wind and possibly strong sun. I ordinarily do not cancel the tour unless the forecast is for sustained rain in which birds will not fly.
Please feel free to wear anything except bright orange (Monk Parrots freak out when you show them something orange: in fact orange tags are one of the best ways to convince Monk Parrots to build away from electrical infrastructure). Wear green, blue, white, but orange will drive away the birds. Go figure!
This Tour is Free, But the Parrots Are Hungry!The Wild Parrot Safari is free - if you wish to help your hungry urban feathered friends, bring some bird seed: trust me, the parrots won't soon forget the gesture. Wild monk parrots also appreciate "real parrot food," especially unshelled peanuts, sliced apples, and raw sunflower seeds. Finch food or millet are always welcomed by our hungry urban "peeps."
See you in wild, exotic Brooklyn!


Steve Baldwin, Webmaster, BrooklynParrots.com
steve@brooklynparrots.com
646-361-2879

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Upcoming Art Show at Smackmellon: THERE IS NO SYNONYM FOR HOPE. (Obama inspired?)


THERE IS NO SYNONYM FOR HOPE
Co-curated by Lauren Schell Dickens and Julie McKim

Sonya Blesofsky, José Luis Cortés S., Cristina Fontsare, Joshua Eggleton, Samuel Ekwurtzel, Rachel Hines, Takashi Horisaki, Karrie Hovey, Jeff Kao, Petra Kralickova, Noah Nakell, Beth Krebs, Andrew Scott Ross, MiYoung Sohn, K Staelin

Exhibition dates: June 14- July 27, 2008
Artists' reception: Saturday, June 14, 5-8pm
(Members' Tour with Curators begins @6pm)

Smack Mellon is pleased to present There is No Synonym for Hope. Each summer Smack Mellon selects guest curators to organize a show of emerging artists in our gallery space. This season curators Lauren Schell Dickens and Julie McKim have put together a thematic show featuring the work of fifteen international artists.

We live in uncertain times of deep cynicism and audacious hope. Assumed structures, both political and social, once deemed infallible have once again revealed their cracks. Our global world has reshuffled historic relationships, shifting economic and cultural paradigms, while fires, floods and war ravage the landscape. As these once promising structures break around us, we are forced to reconsider our place in the world as both physical and psychological beings. There is no synonym for hope showcases work by 15 emerging international artists who use sculpture, photography, video, drawing, performance, and site-specific installation to examine the contemporary landscape of uncertainty, and explore the consequences of these eroding structures.
Failing structures breed anxiety, fostering a climate of disillusionment and vulnerability, while also opening a void of possibility. As established systems break apart, we are left with the boundlessness of a model yet to be defined, a new beginning to rebuild and try again. Yet the visions presented in this exhibition are far from utopian. Working under a looming recession and a saturated art market, the artists in this show reflect survivalist and escapist tendencies; they are insolent and resilient, inspired not by a blind optimism, but by an obstinate hope that continuously drives their art production. There is no synonym for hope seeks to capture the emotional, political and psychological responses elicited by the interrelationship of hope and failure.

Click here to read the full press release.

SMACKMELLON GALLERY
92 Plymouth Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Huge Brand Spanking New Supermarket Opening on Coney Island Avenue

Now, this isn't going to get the same quantity of blog press as Whole Foods or Ikea - if it gets any coverage at all other than this entry...But this baby's a doozer!


I have no idea when it's opening but my guess is that it will cater to the local Kosher community. It is located is at 1507 Coney Island Avenue (near Avenue L).



The Flatbush Junction BID Administers a Matching Grant Program for Storefront Improvements.


The Junction BID administers a matching grant program for storefront improvements along the Flatbush Nostrand Junction Commercial Corridor.

From the Flatbush Junction BID
We are proud to announce our first complete storefront belonging to 16 year Junction veteran Bulletproof Commics and Games at 2178 Nostrand Avenue between Avenue H and Hillel Place. Improvements include sign, awning, storefront glass and open grids placed in the security gate.

Bulletproof is a unique Junction business specializing in the latest games and gaming equipment, comic books, used games, T shirts, anime and other memorabilia. Bulletproof also runs competitive game tournaments most Sundays. Support a great local business and check it out!
To Hank and the rest of the staff at Bulletproof- thanks for investing in our neighborhood.
For more information regarding the matching grant program; email 
flatbushjunctionbid@yahoo.comor call (718) 951-5000, ext 1449

It's Official! BC Roosevelt Hall to be Demolished.


As reported by Brooklyn Junction several weeks ago (click here for details) and as just announced at Brooklyn College's 83rd Commencement exercises BC's Roosevelt Hall will be replaced by a "new state-of-the-art science facility" in the near future.

Dr. Smith and the Unique 2008 Commencement Exercises at NJ's Rowan University


The 2008 Commencement Exercise at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, weren't your run-of-the-mill pomp and circumstances. For one, the commencement address given by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. was one which gave it to the graduates straight up. Pitts told graduates: "Class of 2008, the sad truth is you are about to be turned loose into a world of stupid."

According to the Press of Atlantic City, Pitts went on to say;

Pitts jarred his audience from complacency with denouncements of a society littered with too many "intellectually lazy and morally unkempt" individuals "drugged" by technology, "a people hypnotized by a culture of acquisition and corporate values."
"We have more ways to say and yet less to say than ever before, more power and yet less willingness to use it than ever before," Pitts said. "We watch from the well of our own impotence as the world goes to hell. And when things seem most bleak, most hopeless, most dire, we shop. When the going gets tough, the tough go to the mall.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Pitts continued, "peace is not for sale at the mall. Justice is not for sale at the mall. Progress is not for sale at the mall. The things that enable you to look at yourself in the mirror and know that you are a worthwhile person, a contributor to this experiment called humanity, those things are not for sale at the mall. They come when you work for them, they come when you fight for them, they come when you plant trees."



If that wasn't inspiration enough for the class of '08, the lucky graduates got to witness the legendary Punk Priestess, Patti Smith, collect an honorary degree. Smith dropped out of the university - then known as Glassboro State 40 years ago to head to NYC for greater challenges. Of course, those challenges were met head on. In addition to her 2007 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as being awarded one of the highest French cultural honors; Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters, Smith now has the title of "Doctor" to add to her impressive dossier.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

IFC and Rooftop Films Summer Film Series 2008 FREE Warm-Up Screening.


FREE SCREENING!
IFC and Rooftop Films Present
At the Death House Door

     Pastor Carroll Pickett oversaw 95 executions at a Texas prison,
     but the experiences changed his views forever. Documentary.  

*Venue: on the lawn at Fort Greene Park
*Directions: Enter the park near N. Portland on the Myrtle Ave. side.
*Train: take almost any train that goes into Brooklyn to get near the park
* When: Saturday, May 31st, 9 PM
*Admission: FREE!
*Program Notes
*Watch the film on IFC next week

Rooftop Films a summer film series dedicated to showing new, independent films in unique outdoor locations. The official opening night is Friday July 6 on the roof of the New Design High School in the Lower East Side. We screen every weekend in June & July all over the city. If you would like the full schedule or more information visit: www.rooftopfilms.com

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 Roster

As posted by Creative Times blog earlier today here is the roster of participants in BROOKLYN BLOGFEST 2008. Give them a visit!

http://www.110livingston.net/


http://www.30secondlife.tumblr.com/

http://www.3c.com/

http://www.adamvarga.com/

http://www.alternativefilmsforkids.blogspot.com/

http://www.americana.blog.lemonde.fr/

http://www.bayridge.tv/


http://www.bcat.tv/

http://www.bedstuybanana.com/

http://www.bedstuyblog.com/

http://www.bergencarroll.com/

http://www.bitefromtheapple.blogspot.com/

www.bluebarnpictures.com/blog/

http://www.britinbrooklyn.squarespace.com/

http://www.brooklyncb6.org/

http://www.brooklynfudge.blogspot.com/

http://www.brooklynheightsblog.com/

http://blog.myspace.com/brooklynindiemarket

www.brooklynmuseum.org/bloggers

http://www.brooklynometry.blogspot.com/

http://www.brooklynoptimist.blogspot.com/

http://www.brooklynron.com/

http://www.brooklynskeptic.net/

http://www.candypenny.blogspot.com/

http://www.citybystorm.blogspot.com/

http://www.claudzilla.com/

http://www.clearpeak.net/

http://www.clintonhillchill.com/

http://www.creativetimes.blogspot.com/

http://www.cyclechicny.net/

http://www.davidmquintana.blogspot.com/

http://www.dearfamousasshole.blogspot.com/

http://www.didyouhearthat.com/

http://www.dithob.blogspot.com/

http://www.e-string.com/

http://www.eats.com/

http://www.elonanit.blogspot.com/

http://www.errorink.wordpress.com/

http://www.etruxey.com/

http://www.fadingad.wordpress.com/

http://www.fictioncircus.com/

http://www.firstandcourt.blogspot.com/

http://www.flatbushgardener.blogspot.com/

http://www.flatbushpigeon.blogspot.com/

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/

http://www.forkthis.blogspot.com/

http://www.foundinbrooklyn.blogspot.com/

http://www.freakinblog.com/

http://www.gaswaternothing.com/

http://www.gerritsenbeach.net/

http://www.gothamcityinsider.com/

http://www.gowanuslounge.com/

http://www.green-house.tv/

http://www.groceryguy.blogspot.com/

http://www.habeasbrulee.com/

http://www.help.org/

http://www.henrysinnewyork.blogspot.com/

http://www.herebeoldthings.com/

http://www.hipslopemama.blogspot.com/

http://www.in3.org/

http://www.inabbondanza.com/

www.jakilevy.com/blog

www.jhhl.net/fbw

http://www.joesnyc.com/

http://www.kandureviews.blogspot.com/

http://www.keka.net/

http://www.kensinger.blogspot.com/

http://www.kingstonlounge.blogspot.com/

www.larawechsler.com/photoblog

http://www.lenmorris.com/

http://www.levjoy.com/

http://www.midnightcowgirls.blogspot.com/

www.misnomes.org/blog

http://www.nancyscola.com/

http://www.newsgroper.com/

http://www.newyorkshitty.com/

http://www.nolandgrab.org/

http://www.nospray.org/

http://www.nqny.blogspot.com/

http://www.nycschoolhelp.com/

http://www.oldfirst.com/

www.onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com/

www.onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com/only_the_blog_knows_brook/no_words_daily_pix_by_hugh_crawford/index.html

http://www.oswegatchia.blogspot.com/

http://blog.outside.in/

http://www.pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/

http://www.popgadget.com/

http://www.powerdayoff!.blogspot.com/

http://www.reclaimedhome.com/

http://www.regal-literary.com/

http://www.regal-literary.com/

http://www.rooseveltislander.blogspot.com/

http://www.saucytart.typepad.com/

http://www.secondavenuesagas.com/

www.seeinggreen.typepad.com/my_weblog/

http://www.selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/

http://www.sogood.tv/

http://www.stickymap.com/

http://www.stickymap.com/

http://www.supervegan.com/

http://www.sympathetic-compass.blogspot.com/

http://www.talkingscience.org/

http://www.therealdeal.com/

http://www.thickblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.thingstodowhilewaiting.blogspot.com/

http://www.tnaw.com/

http://www.trailersundone.com/

http://www.urbanseashell.blogspot.com/

http://www.vgspacecadet.wordpress.com/

http://www.washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/

http://www.wmthing.com/

http://www.wnyc.org/

http://www.writeouschicks.wordpress.com/

http://www.zombie-popcorn.com/

Newkirk Plaza's Centennial Celebration May 31, 2008

Come celebrate the 100 year Anniversary of the dedication of Newkirk Plaza.
Saturday May 31, 2008.
Newkirk Plaza Station House
2:00 - 3:00
(right after the Flatbush Neighborhood Cleanup.)
All Welcome!

The FDC Flatbush Neighborhood Clean-up Sat. May. 31, 2008

The FDC Flatbush
Neighborhood Clean-up

Sat. May. 31, 2008

Spend the day doing something useful for our neighborhood. Bring your kids and friends and lets make an outing of it.
The Clean-up is from -10:00 am-2:00 pm (only 4 hours!!!) on Saturday, May 31, 2008. We'll be painting over graffiti. Please join us. Come at 10 amto 1616 Newkirk Avenue (FDC offices)
All are welcome. (Whole day participation is not necessary) From 2:00pm - 3:00pm Party on Newkirk Plaza to celebrate 100 years of the oldest outdoor commercial pedestrian mall in the country.


Here are 3 easy things you can do:
1. Call your Neighborhood Association president and make sure they are involved.
2. Find out what areas your neighbors are painting or cleaning. Sign up now to help paint over graffiti/tagged up eyesores in your neighborhood.
3. Come out that day to 1616 Newkirk Avenue at 10 am, Clean your lawn/sidewalk/curb. Need tools/paint? No problem, just Call FDC
Phone: 718 859-3800 or fax: 718 859-4632



Bags, gloves, paint, etc. can be picked up from the FDC office between 9am - 11am, same day.
Pass the word around!! Rain or Shine, Flatbush will be cleaned!!!
This event is sponsored by the Flatbush Development Corporation; funded inpart by Assemblymembers Rhoda Jacobs and Jim Brennan. Free T-Shirts, Garbage Bags and other clean-up supplies sponsored by Davis & Warshow Inc.Donations and sponsorships are still being accepted.
For More Information, Contact:Mannix GordonDirector of Economic Development
Flatbush Development Corporation1616 Newkirk AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11226


w: www.fdconline.org
e: mgordon@fdconline.org

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Tough Talking Tots!

Maybe some of you read all the hoopla about some chalkings in the Argyle Tot Lot as posted on the Ditmas Park Blog a few weeks ago.  If not, check it out here: Tot Lot Graffiti: Free Tibet Bitch.  My take on all that is that those 'political statements' were written by kids. And, you know what?: Brooklyn kids have always been and may always will be some pretty tough-talking specimens - and you better believe they mean what they're saying. So if a frickin' Brooklyn kid tells ya to "Free Tibet, Bitch" then Free Tibet, Bitch!  

Yet, apparently another neighborhood playground has trumped the Argyle kids in the tough-talking category. Clearly the Hot Spot Tot Lot (Ave H & Campus Road) is the arena for some mean-ass tots and they have RULES. I happened upon these chalkings Saturday morning. Do I worry that my six-year old will be transforming into one of these meanies because she read these chalkings? Nah, she said she would give the bad kids who wrote these words a big time-out. (And guess from whom she learned the effectiveness of that penalty!)

Are you ready to learn the RULES?  Well Here ya go...



Did you get that?
RULES
No talking
No no NO holding hands
Just sit down 
and don't play 
Unless
I say 
SO
No singing
and
No writting
Also I will 
kill you if you 
stand up!!

You read that right.

Here's another little tyrants set of RULES:

You can play. 
No taking crap. 
No peeing.
You can smack 
people with the swing...
You can 
show your
 ass and your pennise
and (? something)


Now pay attention to these ones kids. These are the most important rules of the Hot Spot playground:

NO
SINGING!
and...
No twisting or 
(? something will happen to you.)

Ok.  Got that straight now?  Good, because these kids aren't messing around. Just try to kick up in the Hot Spot Playground singing the Itsy-Bitsy Spider or the ABCs.  I dare you!
>

Friday, May 23, 2008

AIDS Walk Caribbean to Raise Funds for HIV programs in celebration of Caribbean Heritage Month.


AIDS Walk Caribbean is sponsored by Caribbean People's International Collective to raise funds for HIV programs in celebration of Caribbean Heritage Month.



WHEN: Sunday June 8, 2008

TIME: 1000 AM- Registration and Pre-walk activities

WHERE: Flatbush & Nostrand Ave Brooklyn New York (Final Destination Wingate Park Brooklyn NY)

Should you have questions about becoming a team leader, or creating a team please call Truda Hickman at 718 576-1839.

To learn more, please contact Dawn Stewart at 718 576-1839 or 703 441-2619 or email us at cpicincny@aol.com.

Students can be a part of annual "International Youth Summit" to support AIDS Walk Caribbean. Before this school year ends get as many of your friends together as you can to raise money for the AIDS Walk Caribbean. Register your team.

Three TOP FUNDRAISING STUDENT will WIN a free trip to Guyana, South America to participate in the Annual International Youth Summit scheduled for July 2008. Hosted by Monique's Helping Hands, and CPIC Inc!

Money raised by AIDS Walk Caribbean is used to support HIV/AIDS in the Brooklyn communities and CPIC Inc goal to reduce the rates of HIV.


Thursday, May 22, 2008

Nominations Now Being Accepted for theThird Annual Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award


Nominations Now Being Accepted for theThird Annual Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award
The Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award (YGCP) acknowledges the often-unsung leaders of grassroots, community-based planning. The award was created to commemorate the work of Ms. Yolanda Garcia, a community activist in the South Bronx. Under Ms. Garcia’s leadership, the residents of Melrose challenged the city, created an alternative to an urban renewal plan, and transformed a neighborhood. The organization created by Ms. Garcia, We Stay/Nos Quedamos, is bringing that community’s vision to life through planning, design, construction, and programming. On April 19, 2007, the second annual YGCP award was presented to Ms. Elizabeth Yeampierre during a spirited celebration for her work at UPROSE.
This year the Planning Center is seeking to present the YGCP award to a community planner who embodies the spirit of the work of Ms. Garcia and Nos Quedamos. The award will be presented to an individual who has demonstrated his or her ability to overcome the many obstacles to grassroots, community-based planning and has succeeded in bringing neighborhood need and vision into New York City’s planning process.
The award recipient must:
Work on a placed-based community plan aimed at addressing local needs, limiting displacement, and improving the overall quality of life for neighborhood residents;
Be a self-taught planner with no formal, academic, or professional training as a planner;
Work in a low to moderate income community within NYC’s five boroughs;
Use an inclusive, community-driven approach that values participation and the use of local knowledge;
Have a proactive approach to planning focusing not only on advocacy but the actual creation and implementation of a community-based plan.
Nominations are to be submitted as essays, not to exceed 500 words, by a person familiar with the applicant’s work.
Nominations will be reviewed by the YGCP awards selection committee. Member of the selection committee include: Yolanda Gonzalez/Nos Quedamos, Tom Angotti/Hunter College, Ron Shiffman/Pratt Institute, Micaela Birmingham/New Yorkers for Parks, Damaris Reyes/GOLES, and Harry Bubbins/Friends of Brook Park.
The recipient will receive a $2,500 cash gift and will be honored at a ceremony in early July.
To learn more about the award and to nominate someone click
here. For questions, please contact Lacey Tauber at ltauber@mas.org or 212.935.3960 ext. 261.

Featured Brooklynites of the Week: Brooklyn Environmentalist

This week's Featured Brooklynites of the Week honor goes to those folks who are truly contributing to the greening of our borough. You know them. You see them pushing shopping carts down the streets and rummaging through your trash looking for a for your discarded cans, plastic and glass bottles. Here's a few of our revered environmentalists cashing in at a local recycling center in Gravesend. These folks are truly worthy of our applause!









The Brooklyn College 2008 Commencement Speaker: Leonard Lopate

Here's a treat for BC grads and their guests as well as NPR fans. BC Alum Leonard Lopate will give the 2008 Commencement address on May 29 at 10:00. The only problem is getting tickets for the event...Even graduates have trouble getting them for their families! There is however a webcast that can be found on the BC website.

From the 2008 BC Commencement Program:

Leonard Lopate, ’67

__________________________


Leonard Lopate is a polymath, Renaissance man, and consummate interviewer in the media. Over the course of his career, he has been an artist, a novelist, and an advertising executive, and in 1977 he discovered his true calling in the world of radio. To his profession he brings his varied experience, his agile, inquisitive mind, and his wide range of knowledge, all of which have established him as an interlocutor extraordinaire, one of the most engaging and original personalities on the busy New York airwaves. Each weekday he burrows, quietly and intelligently, into the city’s - and particularly Brooklyn’s- cultural, social, intellectual, and political life.

Leonard Lopate and his brother Phillip grew up in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and East Flatbush neighborhoods. To blunt the edge of their sibling rivalry, they agreed in their teens to divide the creative world between them: Phillip would become a writer, and is now a respected essayist, novelist, poet, and teacher, and Leonard would become a painter.

At Brooklyn College, Leonard Lopate studied under Ad Reinhardt, among other luminaries. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he pursued a career as a painter, then turned to the literary arts, and subsequently to advertising, where he marketed records for country music singers Slim Whitman and Boxcar Willie. On a whim, Lopate auditioned for a job at WKCR, the
Columbia College radio station, and was hired to host a jazz show, which he did for about one year.


In 1977 his career in radio began in earnest—first, as the disc jockey for a gospel music show on WBAI-FM and then, on the same station, as the host of the weekly Round Midnight, a late-night talk show that invited listeners to call in for interview and discussion. There he discovered he could speak on art and literature, and on music, history, and politics, and could range from the general to the arcane.

In the mid-1980s he joined WNYC-AM, where he and veteran broadcaster Pegeen Fitzgerald cohosted the daily talk show New York and Company. His popularity earned him his own show, the Leonard Lopate Show, which airs every weekday at noon.

Throughout three decades on the air, Lopate, whom the New York Times has called a “conversational acrobat,” has interviewed poets, actors, physicists, novelists, comedians, chefs, building inspectors, and former presidents. Among his guests are former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Vice-President Al Gore, Nobel Prize and Academy Award winners, and a host of Brooklyn writers, such as Paula Fox, Kathryn Harrison, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, and Pulitzer Prize–winner Frank McCourt.

Lopate frequently appears at the 92nd Street Y, a New York mecca of discourse, where he interviews celebrities and is the panel moderator for his series, “Comparing Notes.” He serves regularly as the host and moderator of “Brooklyn on My Mind,” a reading discussion series held on the Brooklyn College campus. Under his guidance, the series focuses on the borough of Brooklyn as a community of writers and as a setting in fiction.

For his breadth of experience and expertise, informed by long and careful research, and for his insightful, penetrating, provocative, and always entertaining inquiry into the vastly varied life of a great city and the wider world, Brooklyn College honors Leonard Lopate with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

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