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The Storyteller of Shimokitazawa – pt 2

April 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Reporting From A Bar In Brooklyn

The account of the Storyteller of Shimokitazawa continues in Park Slope, Brooklyn: The Sock Man

Two detectives, one a Sufi mystical Muslim and the other a Zen Buddhist, find themselves together searching for a criminal who has murdered a number of speleologists inside caves of London and Tokyo respectively. The criminal whose name is Bertrand Folville eludes the detectives in Tokyo (read Part 1 in Issue 46) and escapes to the seedy streets of Park Slope, Brooklyn…

The two detectives realized that they had to go to the caves north of Tokyo where the Hyakuana tombs are located. There, they found the dead bodies of two speleologists. An avalanche of rocks had fallen on them. They were members of the French Federation of Speleology. One of them, Olivier Gaultier was related to Eduard- Alfred Martel, the father of modern speleology. Olivier’s deceased partner, Vincent Roux,was a well-known caver. He had no academic credentials in the field, but he had created an impressive cave cartography of the Cloaca Maxima in Rome.

Detective Nishiyama asked de Ockam if he had seen the drawing on the wall next to the dead bodies. De Ockam said he had. The drawing was of eight apples. Two of them had been erased. They immediately realized that the apple referred to New York City. There were now six speleologists alive and one of them was the criminal. The walls of the cave also had an “enso” symbol. After making arrangements with New York City Police Department, they flew to New York where they met detective Éamon Borchard de Valera who gave them tips about the Park Slope underworld, including Jackie’s bar.

During the flight from Tokyo to NYC the two detectives learned that they were both avid readers of detective stories. They pondered about the meaning of good and evil and discussed the meaning of evil as far as: Moriarty from the Final problem, Barabbas from the Jew from Malta, Claudius from Hamlet, Mr. Kurtz from the Heart of Darkness. They also discussed Yoji Shimadas and his book, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders. Both agreed that deductive reasoning would always lead to a logical solution. Death and the Compass by Borges proved otherwise, said Nishiyama. The end of Borges’ story always vexed him. De Ockam also confessed that he was autistic. He told Nishiyama that he used words he only understood. Words like: goree, shomping kot, shalupu, peeku, pumpy, bumpy, beeku. Shomping kot, for instance, was a word meant to re-create a situation, to make an arrest or to confuse or distract.

Jackie’s bar in Park Slope was out of step with the times and the changing neighborhood. The bar’s patrons also knew this. One of them was Docteur Edouard Colson, an eminent French scholar who had been deported to the United States. His crime was exposing in Les Temps Modernes that the French government was spying on its citizens. He also accused the French government of making Paris a Disneyworld for tourists. His punishment was expulsion from France, and they condemned him to sell baguettes for the rest of his life in one of the French cafes in Park Slope. The doctor acquiesced without complaint. On his free days he was allowed by the DCRI (French police) to go to Jackie’s bar, where he would sit with a bucket of a dozen “pony” beers that were on sale for ten dollars. As part of his sentence, he wasn’t allowed to attend what the neighborhood called “nice” restaurants, like Café Dada, Al Di La, Convivium, Fonda, Talde, Applewood, Stone Park Café, or Palo Santo. McDonald’s was acceptable and so was Le Pain Quotidien, where he was allowed to eat out on weekends, including Bastille day. On those days he wrote a satire (his vindication) to describe the people he saw moving to Park Slope. It was titled the “Trust Fund Babies and their Search for the Perfect Brie and Baguette.” His satire was also about changes happening in Paris where his beloved café, Les Deux Magots, had been hijacked by tourists.

Roberto Grimaldi was also another regular at Jackie’s. Roberto was a tall man who had an “intellectual” look about him. He was not an intellectual even though he frequently carried a book along with him. He was a former rodeo clown in Monaco, but Roberto had illusions about being a gigolo in New York City. Now in Brooklyn, he thought being a gigolo would help him escape from what he called “a rat’s life.” Born in Monaco, he never progressed beyond being a petty thief. At Jackie’s he kept his past to himself and dreamed about a wealthy American woman who would help him get a green card to a better life. The regulars at Jackie’s listened to him but never understood the difference between Monaco and Morocco. To make things worse, Docteur Edouard called Monaco a big Atlantic City with yachts. Roberto’s dates usually ended with him sitting alone at Jackie’s or eating a burger at 4 a.m. at 7th Avenue Donuts & Luncheonette.

Both detectives walked down 5th Avenue and found Jackie’s. This is what the detectives saw at the bar: Docteur Edouard was talking to Roberto. A woman called Stacy was sitting holding hands with a man named Peter. Both of them had scars in their faces and looked uncomfortable when they noticed the two detectives. The regulars sitting at the bar counter had names like Shane, Steve, Justin, Pat, Alma, Finnette, Sophia, Luisa . . .there was also a woman sitting alone named Hanna who appeared to be rehearsing for a play. A Mexican man was also drinking a beer and a shot of tequila at the same time. His name was Mictlantecuhtli. People at the bar called him Miguel. According to rumors, Miguel never talked because he lost his tongue in a knife fight back in his native Tlaxcala. A woman named Kristin was singing a Latin song titled “Sali Porque Sali.” A bartender, whose name was Cristobal Queens, had a few fingers missing, looked at the detectives, and spat on the floor. He asked them in a hostile voice what they wanted. De Ockam asked for a shot of whisky, and Nishiyama asked for a Pony beer. They sat down next to a table where two men were playing chess. One was Jason Mavromoustafakis-Banakas—The Sock Man—but was also called a techie for a series of cloud computing thefts he had committed. For that, he had spent thirty years in jail. Now he sold socks and knew the Park Slope underworld better than anyone. He looked to be in his seventies, fragile and shaky. He lived by the Gowanus Canal and alleged that the folks at Jackie’s were mutated fish who had emerged from its contaminated waters. Their mission was to conquer the world. Jason was playing The Professor, a name given to him for the theft he had committed at a Boston Art Museum. The Professor and his partner Pat “The Weasel” Robles were counterfeit art criminals specializing in selling online fake Picassos, Dalis, and Vermeers.

The game between the professor and Jason was, according to Nishiyama, identical to the game of Capablanca vs. Lasker, a classic Queen’s gambit declined, 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 . . . “Never have fear in your heart,” one of the players said. The Professor suddenly made a gesture to his partner Pat that was noticed by the tongueless man. Pat was indeed trying to help his friend, The Professor. The tongueles guy, who was a friend of The Sock Man, took a dagger as a woman entered the bar. She told the tongueless guy, “Tranquilo.” She was a beautiful woman who looked like a model. Her name was Sophie but known by the Gowanus Canal mutant fish as La Muñeca Diabolica. Sophie spoke fluent Spanish, Catalan, and French. She was reputed to be a high-class French prostitute, drug dealer, and poet. She recited a poem written by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651-1695), “Silly, you men—so very adept/at wrongly faulting womankind/ not seeing you’re alone to blame for faults you plant in woman’s mind.” The tongueless man was one of her bodyguards.

Nishiyama took advantage of the situation and told The Sock Man that he was a detective looking for a one-eyed man named Bertrand Folville. After buying all the remaining socks and paying some extra money, he got some information. Folville was a regular at Jackie’s. As the detectives left the bar, Kristin was singing an old song titled “encadenados.” Docteur Edouard looked pensive. Roberto, who was reading a book titled How the French Invented Love by Marilyn Yalom Hanna, was laughing out loud. La Muñeca was dancing, and a woman named Emily K—another mutant fi sh— was reciting her own poem: “Th ere has been enough torture with the sword, at the cusp/a girl’s mirage hanging in a tin bedroom, also world. Th e bedroom is made of tin to stop the lid closing, breathing-in fucking velvet way, no wings. Flies stick, stoning/ Th eir black thin arms rub like prayers/or eating death caressed by soap-bar, cares/All ungrateful weirdos, stick, un-bitch:/In gift s there is unbeaten foam, rich for cleansing mouth.”

Based on the information given by the sock man, the detectives decided to travel to the caves called the Howe Caverns. When they got there they found three people dead, shot at point-blank range. One speleologist murdered was the famous Lithuanian scholar named Giedrius Vytautas, who had written articles proving that women were pioneers as ancient cave painters. Vytautas studies were based on research done in Spain’s caves of Altamira, El Castillo, and Tito Bustillo. Th e other two cave scholars were Wayra Anslot-Deschanel who had conducted extensive research in La Chincana Grande in Cusco, Peru. Th e other man was a South African speleologist named Frikkie Saartjie who was writing a defi nitive work about the infl uence of South Africa’s Sterkfontein Caves on our understanding of early human remains. Th e meaning of hominid evolution was at the center of his studies. Th e enso symbol was also on one of the walls as well as the word chincana.

Nishiyama knew the meaning of the word chincana. It was a cave near the place where he was born. A plane took the detectives to Cusco, Perú.

Lindsey J. Palmer

April 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: The Reader Interview

From Masthead to Head of the Class

In 2011 Lindsey Palmer left her eight-year career in women’s magazine publishing to pursue a brand new career in education. In the final year, she wrote Pretty in Ink, a fictionalized tale of the anxieties, drama, and high-stakes world of recession-era consumer magazines. We sat down with the Park Slope native to discuss her big career transition and debut novel.

Park Slope Reader: How did you get into publishing?

Lindsey Palmer: Since I was little I always loved reading. That includes everything: books, magazines, anything I could get my hands on. And when I was in college I did a couple internships in book publishing. They were okay, but I felt they were a little too slow for me and making me not like to read books. They essentially gave me the slush pile, and so I found myself having to write rejection letter after rejection letter. I was like, you know what? I really want to keep books sacred, and so let me try magazines instead. The pace suited me better. I hit up my alumni network at Penn, and a senior editor at Glamour had gone to Penn and taken me under her wing. So I did that for eight years.

What was your trajectory?

I spent most of my years at Redbook, then at Self, and worked my way in the traditional way right up the masthead.

You decided at one point to leave—what prompted that decision?

As you can probably tell from the book, there’s a lot that I loved about the industry and a lot that I didn’t. And after a while, I just found that I wanted to try something new. As the recession raged on and there was competition from blogs and all sorts of free content online, my job became less about being an editor and more about being a brand manager. As you see from the characters in the book, there was more and more pressure for me to use my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts to promote every single thing we did at the magazine. It wasn’t why I got into it in the first place.

What motivated you to transition to education?

I’d always thought about teaching. The summer after college I taught writing at an arts camp in Vermont. I found that when I was twenty-one and my students were seventeen and eighteen, I was way too close in age and not mature enough to be a teacher. SoI thought, let’s put this on the back burner for a while.

It seemed like a way to work on the stuff I loved about magazines. I loved working with writers and helping them improve their story ideas. That was my idealized version of what it was like working with students. One of the other things I liked about working at magazines is that you reach such a large audience … but I didn’t know any of these people. When you are a teacher you have many fewer people you are reaching on any given day, but they are people you start to get to know. I felt like that was something that I wanted. I didn’t really know what I was in for.

Obviously they are two different worlds—Were there any major differences that made it difficult to adjust?

Yes! Any workplace, as you know, is its own world. And that’s what really motivated me to write this book. The place felt like its own character. This was such a crazy world to work in, and everyday I would think, What is going on here?!

Working in the New York City public school system is sort of the same, mammoth What is going on here?! Inherently I knew that working for a public institution would be different than working for a glitzy magazine. I never had to buy a toiletry in eight years! It was just always around—free food, free clothes, free coffee—I hardly went to stores at all.

And then you arrive at a public school. I had to buy my own paper to make my own photocopies. Now I feel what I am doing on a daily basis, though, is really challenging and I love it. No one goes into teaching for the glitz and glamor of it.

When did you start writing Pretty in Ink?

I wrote it in 2011. It was the kind of thing that had been in the back of my head for a long time. By the time I finally sat down to write it, it went very quickly. I also wrote it when I knew I was leaving. I worried that if I spent so much time thinking through this world in a fictional way that I wouldn’t be able to see it freshly. It was sort of a farewell for me.

Each chapter of the book takes on the perspective of a single character on the masthead. Are these characters based on actual people you know, or are they archetypes?

There are definitely some real-life moments in there. Things certainly happened where I thought, This is too good to be true; I have to write this down! But they’re certainly not based on real people. I’ve always had very mixed feelings about this world, and each character funnels an attitude I had at one point. I think they are more archetypal. If you ask somebody to free associate with women’s magazines they will mention all these different kinds of attitudes.

Print magazines have been struggling the most in recent years. The “bottom line” puts a lot of pressure on everyone, and you build your story around this conflict. Do you see any hope, or will things only get more competitive in publishing?

That’s a good question … Here’s the thing: I don’t think print magazines will ever disappear. It’s such a unique experience to just sit there with a paper magazine. It’s different from reading something online, and it’s different than reading a book. There was a big push three or so years ago to move magazines to tablets. But it didn’t go anywhere because it’s really not the same experience as flipping through. I can’t see that disappearing entirely.

I think in the future, instead of twenty women’s magazines there will be five. Some will get weeded out. The most creative brands will find new ways to reach people. New magazines are still being launched. My very first boss at Redbook is now the editor-in-chief of Dr. Oz Magazine, which just came out last month, and they sold out every issue! There is still interest.

Has your approach to writing changed since leaving the industry?

In some ways writing for magazines was really helpful because you learn how to write on a deadline. If you have X amount of stories to write every week you just do it—you can’t be precious about it.

But when you write for the same brand, you start to internalize that voice because you have to. I did find it nice to get some distance and think, Okay, what’s my voice? I can have some more serious sections, and not everything has to end in a punch and a headline.

Also, now that I teach creative writing to high school students, it’s very interesting for me to go back to basics. How does a story arc work? How do you develop a character? How do you build dialogue? It’s very interesting to think about again, even if you’ve been doing it for a while.

What have you learned about yourself through this process?

I realized how much I like a challenge. It’s fun to switch things up and try something new. I think when you’re trying something new you have fresh eyes. Towards the end of working for magazines I began to feel a little like I was on autopilot. I feel like everyday in my classroom now—even though there are days when I feel like I am a total failure—it’s still interesting, and I can go home and think, What can I do differently tomorrow? There are still days when I wake up and think, What the hell have I done?! But that’s okay. It’s made me less scared to try something new.

While Pretty in Ink certainly highlights the drama of the magazine industry—even pokes fun at it—there is this undercurrent of love that comes through. You dedicated an entire novel to it, afterall. Do you miss it?

Yeah, I do. In 2008 I got to report on the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and hear Obama’s speech at Mile High Stadium. I got to be the person speaking to America. Working for a huge brand, you can tap into opportunities.

I also really miss everyone. Everyone—with very few exceptions—who works at magazines are incredibly creative and interesting people who have a lot going for them. I’m glad that you picked up on that because I was really trying to convey a mixed picture.

Catch Lindsey Palmer on April 15th at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Manhattan, and on April 21st at Symposia Bookstore in Hoboken, NJ.

Yoga & Kids

April 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Yoga

“People ask me, ‘Can kids do yoga?’” says April Cantor, who teaches tots at Bend & Bloom. “And I say, ‘They already do!’”

In fact, yoga is a natural for kids, from the obvious Child’s Pose (balasana), Happy Baby (ananda balasana, meaning blissful baby) on to Down and Up Dog, which, as anyone watching infants and toddlers knows, are movements kids do as they develop. “They’re teaching me,” says April. “I see these one- to three.year-olds doing cobra or downward dog without even a thought. When I say there’s a name for what they do, I see them light up.” Appealing to children’s universal love of animals are Frog, Lion, Cat, Cow, and Dolphin. These poses come from nature, and kids arrive in our lives trailing the vines and leaves of the wild behind them. As they grow, yoga provides an outlet for their explosive energy and has much to offer the young mind and body.

Kid-friendly Brooklyn has a breadth of classes bringing this ancient practice into all phases of a child’s life. New parents aching for a little exercise can find Mommy & Me classes at several studios in the Slope, and as children’s needs evolve, there are classes for every age, from tots to tweens to teens. On Saturdays, there are several studios where a whole family can jump into practice together.

With yoga, kids learn to manage their bodies and develop strength, coordination, flexibility, and courage. They refine their observation skills as they learn yoga’s range of twists, bends, and balances. Taught by dynamic, inventive teachers with varied backgrounds in dance, fitness, and theater, yoga can appeal to their imaginations. They can also learn the power of silence, with simple ways to calm the mind—coping skills from which we can all benefit.

From my years of teaching nursery school and dance to kids, I know that when you teach children, whatever the subject—clay, guitar, art, ceramics, math, writing, or dance—you’re teaching values. Yoga, with its roots in contemplation and guidelines for attitudes and personal conduct, articulates those values. The philosophy inherent in yoga practice really can work for all ages.

Jennifer Brilliant’s studio on the ground floor of her brownstone on Carroll Street has brightly colored walls painted on one side with the sun, on the other, the moon. The day I observed two classes, teacher Sarah Seely had just returned from a trip to Barbados where she had tried something completely new: surfing! Building her class around its elements, she asked the kids what might be required for this challenging sport, and they answered: balance, determination, stability, focus, confidence, and calm. Balance on moving water, courage to do something new, determination to persist through an awkward beginning, and observation of the movements of the ocean.

Grouped in pairs, each child came up behind a partner and gave a gentle shove. The foot that came forward as the partner lost and regained balance determined which one should lead on the surfboard. Sarah then broke down the activity into its moving parts: paddling out, with each child’s mat doubling as his or her own board; up dog (urdhva mukha svanasana) to watch and sense the coming wave, a twist as you follow that wave and align the board to the surf, and then a jump from up dog to standing on both legs at once—a tough move. I watched their ragged first attempts smooth out until there they were, ready to ride the wave. From this, they can see how yoga isn’t some group of arbitrary positions you do indoors, but a functional vocabulary alive in a real sport.

Yoga classes are a great opportunity to develop confidence. Sarah led a discussion among the teens. “What have you tried,” she asked, “that first was scary, then got easier, and then was fun?” One talked about diving, another about the terrors of sleepaway camp, another about swimming with sharks in France. Heavens, these Brooklynites are world travelers.

There were plenty of physical challenges in Sarah’s warm-up— five squats on one leg, holding boat pose—navasana, an abdominal feat—for a long series of counts. “This has nothing to do with surfing,” said one boy. A girl collapsed on the floor. Another protested, “My arms hurt.” Jennifer assisted, offering individual attention to focus a kid who’s distracted or needs extra help. A cell phone rang; someone didn’t turn hers off. Whatever the age, a teacher of children is defying entropy, the barely contained chaos that presses against the boundaries of every classroom. Against those odds, these teenagers learn to practice bramacharya— impulse control—an element essential to the harmony of the group.

Toddlers have no clue about a group. “They’re going to wander,” says April, “and anyone teaching tots has to be okay with a little bit of chaos.” She reels them in with music, giving them flight paths for their energy. “We’ll make our arms like airplanes and fly to one part of the room. Then we fly in triangle pose, because that’s how pilots fly their planes. Sequences are really creative movement. We can do a whole vinyasa flow.”

What a child absorbs in a yoga class may not seem obvious. All these teachers mentioned the indirect way children integrate what they’ve learned. “Even when you think they’re not really paying attention or haven’t quite grabbed it,” said Sarah, “something pops out of their mouths later, and I can see they’ve absorbed a lot. I’m so proud and inspired when I realize, ‘Oh you were listening.’” The same is true of the tiny yogis. April builds her drop-in classes at Bend & Bloom to include the parents and caregivers who accompany the kids to class. She tells them not to worry if their children don’t seem to be participating. Most often, “they want to observe it first,” she says. “Then they go home, remember it, and do the whole class.” When parents return, they tell her, “You know, you’re right. Just before bed, they want to do yoga to help themselves calm down.”

Among yoga’s essential tools are conscious breath and meditation. One teenager at Jennifer’s studio said she uses meditation to calm her nerves before a test; another waiting nervously with her cast members backstage before a dance performance shared a few minutes of quiet meditation and said, “It actually really helped.”

To teach kids about breath, April will produce a pinwheel for them to blow. “I’ll use feathers so they can watch the feathers dance in the wind they make. They start to understand the elements—earth, water, wind—and how they’re part of this earth, part of nature.”

Believe it or not, when their imagination is engaged, little children can learn to meditate. Everyone in April’s class wanted to be a car when the theme was transportation. So, at the end, she said, “Okay, let’s be the best parked cars we can be. We turn off our engines, we keep breathing. We close our doors, we shut off our headlights—we close our eyes—and when I ring the bell, I’m going to count to ten or fifteen, and all you have to do as a well-parked car is to breathe softly and to listen to my counts.’” They may sit with their eyes closed for ten seconds. Sometimes she’ll make it up to thirty or sixty. Over a few years, she can get these little ones to sit in meditation for up to a minute and a half, which is more than some of us grownups can do.

All these teachers aim to convey compassion to their students. “Kindness and respect is paramount,” said Sarah. “When you’re a kid, it’s so easy to be in the sphere of your own experience. But I want them to know how their actions affect those around them. I tell them to pay attention. It’s not just about your phone and what your friends are up to. There’s a lot more going on in the world.”

On the tot level, April has an age-appropriate way to teach about compassion. “I did a class on dinosaurs,” she recalls, “and I brought out a stuffed T-Rex that looks kind of mean, very fierce. Some kids were afraid of the doll, so they’d hug it and pass it on. And I said, ‘Sometimes someone who’s acting mean and looks mean needs some kindness. They really just need a hug and, and their real self will come out.’ And they get it, even at that age.”

“What’s most important to me,” said Jennifer Brilliant, who has offered kids classes at her studio the Park Slope for ten years, “is that they learn to like themselves, that they see how they can improve over time, in their own body, their own mind. I want them to learn how to treat others, but also develop a deeper relationship with themselves.”

Kids’ classes look different from those for adults. They may have songs, dancing, animals, sports, and games, but the underlying elements are all there. Observing kids’ classes and talking with their teachers has shown me—as a lifelong practitioner and yoga teacher—how yoga can both ease and empower us in each phase of our walk through life.

YOGA & KIDS Park Slope Resources

Bend & Bloom
708 Sackett Street | bendandbloom.com/kids-program

Jaya Yoga Center
1626 8th Avenue | jayayogacenter.com/kids

Jennifer Brilliant Yoga & Personal Training
732-A Carroll Street | jenniferbrilliant.com/kids

GoGo Babies
61 Tompkins Place | gogobabies.net

SoulShine.Life
5 Stratford Road, St. 3 | soulshinelife.com

Yogasana Center
118 3rd Avenue | yogasanacenter.com/yogasana-kids

Fun in the Sun

April 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Community

Though frozen sidewalks and mismatched mittens may not hint at the upcoming summer, school is out in only a few months. Soon complaints of frostbitten fingers will become whines of overheating and dehydration and pleas to go to the pool, the park, and anywhere with air conditioning will certainly become rampant. Though controlling the New York City weather may be a little out of reach, planning your kids’ summers, to be exciting, social, educational, and memorable, is easily achievable. From the artist to the athlete to the all-around all-star, Park Slope and its surrounding neighborhoods have plenty of fun and affordable options for kids of all ages.

Brooklyn Arts Exchange
Artistic kids will enjoy Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) Summer Arts Program, for kids entering grades K–6. Guests artists, specialists, and counselors will lead campers in daily classes explore art, media, theatre, music, circus arts, and much more. Each week culminates in an informal performance or gallery to show off to family and friends what busy, creative campers have been working on. An extended day program is also available, offering later pick-up for working parents.
youth.bax.org/general-information/school-breaks/summer-arts-program
Program Dates: June 30–August 15

Brooklyn Boulders
Kids who are climbing off the walls—or just in search of a bit of adventure—can attend Brooklyn Boulders Summer Adventures in Gowanus. Named one of ‘Time Out New York Kids: Best of 2013!’ this camp is an invigorating and adventurous experience for all kids! Brooklyn Boulders offers 22,000 square feet of rock climbing, complete with safety gear and strictly-enforced rules—a bit of reassurance for concerned parents! Climbing camp is dedicated to providing a fun and challenging experience for campers of all skill levels. This year, the camp will also partner up with Homage Brooklyn Skateboard Academy to offer a dual skate/climbing camp.
brooklynboulders.com
Program Dates: BKB Summer Adventures Session 1: June 30–July 3 Session 2: July 14–July 18 Session 3: July 28–August 1 Session 4: August 11– August 15 Session 5: August 25–August 29 BKB X Homage
Session 1: July–July 25 Session 2: August 18–August 22

Butterbeans
Get young cooks out of your kitchen and into someone else’s at ButterBeans Kitchen Food and Garden Summer Camp, which offers a complete farm-to-table summer experience for kids ages 6–10, and takes care of the mess! Food-focused activities include planting seed, harvesting fresh food, cooking seasonal summer lunches, and writing unique cookbooks. Kids will enjoy individual sessions with local food experts, getting hands-on with chickens and worms and learning the tricks to great composting. Fun “Top Chef ” challenges will help teams of kids create inventive lunches and snacks, and perhaps prep them for the next “MasterChef Junior.”
butterbeanskitchen.com
Program Dates:Session 1: July 7–July 18, Session 2: July 21– August 1, Session 3 : August 4–August 15, Session 4: August 18 –August 22

Park Slope Day Camp
For a traditional day camp experience, Brooklynites ages 31/2–14 can enjoy all the summer activities at Park Slope Day Camp. Those wanting a more specific experience can also register for the camps Sports Academy or Circus Camp programs. The camp also offers a free morning shuttle to local campers. Groups are split up by age. Camp activities include tennis, arts and crafts, music, theater, sports, nature, self-defense, climbing on the camp’s climbing wall, and field trips to locations like the beach or zoo. Instructional swimming as well as clubs for campers to join to suit their unique interests are also offered throughout the day.
parkslopedaycamp.com
Program Dates: June 30–August 22, selectable by week

Piper Theater
Acclaimed local theater Piper Theatre at Old Stone House offers kids ages 7–17 the opportunity to enter new worlds of imagination and wonder through their summer performance camps. Professional teachers will guide students in creating full-scale productions performed outdoors on the professional stage at the end of July. A new program this summer partnering with Off The Page offers a workshop for campers to create the show they will perform in! Specialized intensive workshops also include Shakespeare, Hands-on Film, an advanced workshop performing Amadeus, and an advanced musical workshop performing Hair.
pipertheatre.org
Program Dates: June 30–July 26

STREB
Brooklyn’s STREB Lab Camp offers a unique circus performance program, encouraging campers to engage with their surroundings and bodies in new and unique ways. Campers will build confidence and independence swinging from the trapeze, walking the tightrope, and goofing around in clowning gear. Kids can spend the summer performing in STREB’s circus for six one-week sessions, each of which culminate in a Friday performance and continue to build on practiced skills each consecutive week. Students who want to continue building on these skills can also continue with weekend and afterschool classes throughout the year.
streb.org
Program Dates: July 6–August 15, options for weekly sign-up

For kids ready to leave the house for a bit of time, several East Coast sleepaway camps are popular with Park Slope kids (and parents).

Beam Camp
Creative kids ages 7–17 learn to make their ideas a reality at Beam Camp, which specializes in fine and manual arts. Now in its tenth summer, the camp is celebrating a decade of innovation and community. Workshops are staffed by full-time and visiting professional architects, videographers, builders, engineers, designers, and other innovative makers from diverse backgrounds and skillsets. Campers will also collaborate on a commissioned, one-of-a-kind, large-scale Beam Project, unique to every summer. July’s project will be immersive mechanical light machines, and August will focus on a floating vessel combining the principles of Leonardo da Vinci with modern components. Future engineers, artists, and kids with curiosity will be happy to make this New Hampshire camp their summer home.
beamcamp.com
Program Dates: Session 1: July 2–27 Session 2: July 30–Aug 24

Camp Med-O-Lark
For over 50 years, Camp Med-O-Lark has been known throughout the country as a premiere summer arts institutions. Located in Washington, Maine, the lakefront property offers arts electives for kids 8-16. Unlike many traditional camps, Med-O-Lark does not host inter-camp sports competitions and tournaments but focuses on individual leadership and self-expression rather than competitiveness. Campers live in cozy cabins with bunk beds and participate in creative activities like dance, music, fine arts, circus arts, culinary arts, and performance arts. A skate park, sports field, and waterfront sports are also all available. Two, four, six, and eight week sessions are offered.
medolark.com
Program Dates: Session 1: June 27 –July 23 Session 2: July 25 –August 20

Camp Onas
Young Brooklynites ages 7–13 venture out to Bucks County, PA every summer to attend Camp Onas. The 72-acre property has been operating since 1922 and is accredited by the ACA. Onas offers a wide range of programs in arts, drama, sports, aquatics, and outdoors skills like hiking, gardening, and fishing. Overnight pioneer camping programs and day trips also allow campers to explore the world outside Onas. Camp Onas is rooted in the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, equality, and community, and aims to provide kids with a fun and memorable summer home and lifelong friends. Eight to nine campers live with counselors under the stars in the sleeping tents and pavilions, and boys and girls live on separate sides of camp, each with their own modern shower house. The rest of camp life is co-ed, including family style Dining Hall meals and camp-wide events. One-week sessions are also available to help ease younger campers into being away from home.
camponas.org
Program Dates:
Session 1: June 22 – July 5
Session 2: July 6 – July 19,
Session 3: July 20 – August 2,
Session 4: August 3 – August 16

Summer Camp Guide

Day Camps

14th Street Y
Manhattan, NY
14streety.org

Aviator Sports
Brooklyn, NY
aviatorcamps.com

Backpacks & Binoculars
Brooklyn, NY
backpacksandbinoculars.com

Beansprouts
Brooklyn, NY
beansproutsnurseryschool.com

Brainy Academy
Brooklyn, NY
brainyacademyny.com

Brooklyn Arts Exchange
Brooklyn, NY
youth.bax.org

Brooklyn Arts for Kids
Brooklyn, NY
brooklynartsforkids.com

Brooklyn Beanstalk
Brooklyn, NY
brooklynbeanstalk.com

Brooklyn Boulders
Brooklyn, NY
brooklynboulders.com

Brooklyn Conservatory of music
Brooklyn, NY
bqcm.org

Brooklyn Craft Farm
Brooklyn, NY
brooklyncraftfarm.com

Brooklyn Cultural Adventures Program
Brooklyn, NY
bklynpubliclibrary.org/bcap

Brooklyn Dance Foundry
Brooklyn, NY
brooklyndanceproject.com

Brooklyn Game Lab
Brooklyn, NY
brooklyngamelab.com

Brooklyn Players
Brooklyn, NY
brooklynplayers.com

Brooklyn Robot Foundry
Brooklyn, NY
brooklynrobotfoundry.com

Brooklyn Stars
Brooklyn, NY
bk-stars.com

The Brooklyn Strategist
Brooklyn, NY
thebrooklynstrategist.com

Butter Beans Food & Garden Summer Camp
Brooklyn, NY
butterbeanskitchen.com

Camp Half-Blood
Brooklyn, NY
camphalfbloodbklyn.com

Camp Intrepid
Manhattan, NY
intrepidmuseum.org

Camp Olympia
Brooklyn, NY
campolympiany.com

CBE Congregation Beth Elohim
Brooklyn, NY
congregationbethelohim.org

Child’s Play NY
Brooklyn, NY
childsplayny.com

Choice Scholars Day School
Brooklyn, NY
choicescholars.com

Construction Kids
Brooklyn, NY
constructionkids.com

The Co-op School
Brooklyn, NY
thecoopschool.com

Dancewave
Brooklyn, NY
dancewave.org

Engineering for Kids
Brooklyn, NY
engineeringforkids.net

Fastrackids
Brooklyn, NY
fastrackids.com

Free Spirits music
Brooklyn, NY
freespiritsmusic.com

Food Art for Kids
Brooklyn, NY
foodartforkids.com

Homage Brooklyn
Brooklyn, NY
homagebrooklyn.com

International School of Brooklyn
Brooklyn, NY
isbrooklyn.org

Juguemos A Cantar
Brooklyn, NY
juguemos.org

Kim’s Kids Summer Camp
Brooklyn, NY
kimskidscamp.com

Kings Bay Y
Brooklyn, NY
kingsbayy.org

Lango
Brooklyn, NY
langokidsnyc.com

Liu Children’s Academy Summer Camp
Brooklyn, NY
liu.edu

Mark Morris Dance Group
Brooklyn, NY
markmorrisdancegroup.org

NY K!ds Club
Brooklyn, Queens, & Manhattan, NY
nykidsclub.com

Park Explorers
Brooklyn, NY
parkexplorers.com

The Park Slope Day Camp
Brooklyn, NY
parkslopedaycamp.com

Piper Theatre Productions
Brooklyn, NY
pipertheatre.org

Pixel Academy
Brooklyn, NY
pixelacademy.org

Prospect Park Zoo education
Brooklyn, NY
prospectparkzoo.com

Spoke the Hub
Brooklyn, NY
spokethehub.org

Streb
Brooklyn, NY
streb.org

Shibley Day Camp
Brooklyn, NY
shibleydaycamp.com

Textile Arts Center
Brooklyn, NY
textileartscenter.com

Tinkergarten
Brooklyn, NY
tinkergarten.com

urBan martial Arts
Brooklyn, NY
urbandojo.com

Overnight Camps

Beam Camp
Strafford, NY
beamcamp.com

Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Camp
Copake, NY
bhecamp.org

Camp Eagle Hill
Elizaville, NY
campeaglehill.com

Camp Kodiak
Ontario, CA
campkodiak.com

Camp med-o-lark
Washington, ME
medolark.com

Camp Onas
Bucks County, PA
camponas.org

Camp Wekeela
hartford, ME
campwekeela.com

Eden Village Camp
Putnam Valley, NY
edenvillagecamp.org

Pinemere Camp
Stroudsburg, PA
pinemere.com

Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp
Windsor, NH
windsormountain.org

Detox with Kichadi

April 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Recipes

What comes to mind when you hear the word cleanse? A fast, kale juice for a week, or The Master Cleanse? Many cleanses these days ask that you move away from solid food and drink something consistently for a period of time. By taking away anything difficult to digest, the body reserves energy from over working hard to break down foods and makes room for any toxins to leave the body.

Spring cleaning: Remove clutter not only from your apartment but from your body as well. As the air starts to warm up and the days get continuously longer, this is an ideal time to rid the body of any residual winter toxins.

But let’s shift our perspective: Instead of taking things away, how can we be more mindful about what we are feeding our bodies? Times of fasting and detox can be a time to tune in with what your body can do without and commit to integrating wholesome, energetic foods. Let food be your medicine.

Kichadi is a primary Ayurvedic meal that has been prescribed for centuries for its many healing properties. It can be eaten when one feels they are about to get sick, are sick, or looking to detoxify the body. These meals are simple and can be made in one pot!

Simplicity is key here, as the organs do not have to work as hard and can receive nourishment more directly. Your liver is going to experience the most change during the spring, so let’s be kind to it.

Traditionally, kichadi calls for a grain and a legume with the mixture of medicinal oils and spices. Basmati rice and mung beans cooked with ghee (clarified butter) and spices such as coriander, cumin, and turmeric make up a classic kichadi dish. But you can make a kichadi specific to the season and for any ailment you are trying to address. This basic kichadi outline also gives you the freedom to experiment with different combinations of grains, legumes, oils, and spices. Additionally, adding fresh, seasonal vegetables at any point of the cooking process can amp up your kichadi powers.

Allow your liver to take it easy and stay away from alcohol, caffeine, meat, dairy, gluten, and white sugar. I am all about moderation, so try it for a weekend and if you are feeling good, try five days and then maybe seven days. Make yourself a big pot of kichadi to have for all meals. Again, moderation. If that seems crazy to you, try to have your kichadi for lunch and/or dinner.

While keeping it simple, this spring-appropriate recipe nourishes you and keeps you satisfied. The white rice has a cleansing property by literally scraping the organs clean. Brown rice can be used for more everyday consumption. The red lentils offer the necessary protein to keep you going. Ginger heats up the body to inspire purification and build immunity. Turmeric acts as an antiinflammatory, proven to be especially helpful with allergies. Cumin seeds are found in almost every kichadi recipe, as they are a great aid for digestion and assisting the absorption of necessary vitamins and minerals.

Spring Kichadi serves 2

3 cups of water
1/2 bunch of leafy greens (anything seasonal: escarole, bibb lettuce, spinach, etc)
3/4 cup of red lentils
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup of basmati white rice
1/2 cup of asparagus or zucchini, chopped
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of turmeric
pinch of cumin seeds
sea salt & black pepper to taste

Rinse rice and lentils until water runs clear. In a large, stainless steel pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, ginger, and turmeric, and toast until fragrant. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, then add the lentils and rice and sauté for about 2 more minutes. Next, add 3 cups of water, increase heat, and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a low simmer for about 20 minutes. Add your asparagus or zucchini (or both!), making sure there is enough water to steam the veggies. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the leafy greens and incorporate them into the contents of the pot. Add a little more water if too dry. Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes depending on heartiness of greens. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Leftovers? Just reheat in a pan and add some new spices to freshen it up. Enjoy!

A Culinary Melting Pot

April 21, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Eat Local

Restaurant Triumvirate Makes its Mark in Park Slope

Park Slope restauranteur triumvirate—John Bush, Dale Talde, and Dave Massoni—love feeding people. Creating their artful, often playful, and sometimes even irreverent dishes makes them feel like they’ve contributed to the community, something larger than themselves. I sat down with the three of them at TALDE, one of their three restaurants in Park Slope, to discuss cultural identity, the Park Slope food scene and their plans for the future.

The trio’s Park Slope food foray began in 2010 when John Bush and David Missoni fell in love with the building on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Seventh Avenue and opened Thistle Hill Tavern. They describe the restaurant as an American tavern pub with strong English and Irish influences. Then in January of 2012 they opened Talde, an Asian-American restaurant and bar. Most recently in August of 2012, they opened Pork Slope, an Americana-inspired barbecue joint on Fifth Avenue.

It may seem like their diverse restaurants reflect incongruous tastes or perhaps even indecision, but there’s actually a prominent theme: Crave-worthy foods that playfully embrace the immigrant culture of Brooklyn.

And then there’s the question of why Park Slope—a neighborhood that isn’t exactly venerated over other areas of NYC for its hip factor. Its reputation tends more toward the mother-centric and stroller-friendly. Yet the trio is well aware of Park Slope’s stereotype and described it as “community-oriented, homey, and family-friendly.” In addition, they elaborated on the comfort and familiarity that living in such a personable, down-to-earth neighborhood brings: “You know the guy who works at the bodega, the pet store, and you feel a part of a community,” explained John Bush, who lives in an apartment above Pork Slope.

However, Park Slope’s earnest and cozy charm was not the only reason behind opening their mini-restaurant empire in this region of Brooklyn. It also came down to business basics. They put it simply: “Business is based on supply and demand.” They alluded to the neighborhood’s reputation of having a less-than.stellar restaurant scene, and because they live here or nearby they directly contributed to the demand. “Williamsburg is over.saturated and Park Slope was lacking,” Massoni noted.

The trio also spoke to the almost undetectable speed at which Park Slope, like the rest of Brooklyn, is changing. They reflected on its continuous transformation: “It’s not just families anymore. There are now more single people and couples—people who want to get out of the city,” they acknowledged. They also perceive Seventh Avenue to have grown into more of a hub than Fifth Avenue.

The dishes at all three of their restaurants reflect their desire to hone their own version of the American “melting pot.” Talde in particular pays tribute to the hyphenated identity of immigrants living in America, and in this case, Asian-American immigrants. A first-generation Filipino-American, Dale Talde is deeply, if not complexly, connected to both his Filipino and American roots. And his restaurant, Talde, is at its core a reflection and celebration of his own mixed cultural persona. Take the Pretzel Pork & Chive Dumplings for example. German pretzel meets the Asian dumpling in a novel recombination of cuisines that represents the ongoing exchange among ethnicities in New York in particular.

When Talde speaks about his visits to his hometown of Chicago, he indicates that his second-generation American family members are in some ways losing their connection to their Filipino roots. “I see the next generation, and they have zero connection to it,” he explains. It’s apparent that this is a conflict for Talde—an issue with which he grapples, yet ultimately accepts and interprets through his own cooking.

Bush, Talde, and Massoni are fascinated by American culture and the ways in which immigrant groups influence each other, meld together, change each other, and ultimately create something new. They believe food is one of the deepest expressions of culture and want the food they serve to showcase the many syntheses that happen in the U.S. And it does. It’s food that acknowledges the past and basks in change. It’s also comfort food—food that triggers waves of nostalgia and evokes childhood memories.

The trio has interesting and ambitious plans for the future. Yet curiously enough, and unfortunately for us, none of them involve Park Slope. Bush, Talde, and Massoni aim to start construction on two new restaurant concepts in Jersey City in the near future: a second Talde and Carrino Provisions. The Jersey City Talde will be twice the size of the Park Slope flagship, and Carrino Provisions will be Italian-inspired—half market and half restaurant offering house-made pastas, cured meats, and a stellar cheese program.
And foodie bookworms rejoice! Dale Talde is also coming out with a coffee table-style cookbook to be published by Grand Central Publishing in 2015. Described as “austere, beautiful, and tame,” it will tell the story of Talde’s culinary journey in addition to sharing his celebrated recipes.

So hey—if you haven’t checked out one of Bush, Talde, and Massoni’s three delightful restaurants in the hood, you might as well on your next available Saturday night. Their food is not just about pleasure. It’s a commentary on American culture and hyphenated identities. Thus, while digesting on your walk home from the restaurant, you’ll likely spend some time talking about what the food you just ate symbolizes.

A Big Burning Secret

April 18, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Hypocrite's Almanac

Dear Hypocrite,

I live in South Slope and I have a big burning secret. It’s not really my own secret; it’s the secret of two friends of mine whom I’ve gotten close with over the years because our kids go to the same school. These two friends are married to other people who are also my friends. Can you guess where this is going?

Last week I was on the Upper East Side to get my second of three goddamn root canals and there they were, let’s call them Bob and Marcy, coming out of a hotel holding hands. I tried to pretend I didn’t see them, I tried to put my head down and head toward the street, but it was too late. “What a coincidence!” “All three of us, so far from home!” “This is crazy!” We all took turns telling the story of what we were doing at the corner of Eighty-seventh and Lex. It was pathetic how terrible their lies were. Bob had an uncle in town staying at the hotel and Marcy was scouting locations for her cousin’s wedding. We stood there in silence for a moment looking at our feet. I know they expected me to go along with their game pretending that everything was normal. I couldn’t. I took a deep breath, exhaled loudly, and left them on the sidewalk. My dentist appointment was unusually difficult. We had to take breaks every few minutes because my jaw kept cramping. I know it was because I was so disgusted by what had just happened.

So here I am in the middle of a Woody Allen movie. I see Bob and Marcy and their families frequently at school events, parties, and soccer, and I don’t even try to hide my distain. I can’t help but shake my head or roll my eyes when they feebly try to engage me in chitchat. I find myself excessively complimenting their spouses in some lame effort to boost their confidence, to nudge them into thinking they deserve better than Bob or Marcy. I know it’s futile, but I’m so furious I’m in this position I can’t stop this behavior.

I’ve chosen not to say a thing to anyone about the affair. But because my social life revolves around a group of which Bob and Marcy are part, it’s been pretty much ruined. Whenever they’re near I’m on edge and I can’t stop fantasizing about calling them out as lying, cheating jerks. I don’t know how long I can take this. I understand that it’s none of my business and I should leave it alone, but then I think if my husband were cheating I’d sure as hell want to know. Advice?

Signed,
Social Life Ruined by Lying Cheating Jerks

Dear Social Life,

Root canals are terrible. I spent a good part of December in Midtown looking up at the bright, white light while my dentist worked hard to save what little I had left of my bottom, right molar. Three root canals? That’s tough. I’m assuming you’re straddling middle age. Those are the days when your teeth and many of your friends’ marriages fall apart. Right now, I know four couples getting divorced. Two of them involved some sneaking around. The other two might have. (We’ll see. It takes a while for all the facts to come out, sometimes years.) You feel for good friends who are in pain. You get angry and protective. A few years ago, my best friend’s husband walked out on her and her two kids. She was confused and heartbroken. I was livid.
There is one very troubling detail that I keep coming back to in your letter. I love giving people the benefit of the doubt—maybe it was all a crazy coincidence, maybe they weren’t lying and there’s perfectly logical explanation on why they were leaving a hotel together … but they were HOLDING HANDS. Hand-holding is reserved for those who really care about each other. Hand-holding does not say “let’s just get this out of our systems and never speak of it again.” Hand-holding is an intimate gesture, more intimate than doin’ it. You don’t hold hands with a sex worker—unless he or she needs help crossing the street.

No doubt your very presence on the corner of Eighty-seventh and Lex has pushed the hand-holding couple to consider their actions. I’m not sure how long ago “the coincidence” occurred, but I’d expect Bob and Marcy have had many conversations about ending it or coming clean since. Actually, they could be waiting for you to make a move. One of them might soon approach to ask what you intend to do with your information. You have a lot of power in this situation, of which they are very aware. It’s power that won’t get you much of anything; but to them, you possess the ability to unravel their worlds.

Are you doing the right thing by clamming up? There’s no easy answer. I hear what you’re saying about wanting to know if it was your husband messing around, but here’s a statistic. I Googled “percentage of couples who stay together after affairs” and got 50, 65, and 98 percent from the websites of three different well-respected couples’ therapists. Bullshit numbers aside, the majority of committed couples do survive infidelities. I suspect when the cheating partner is the one to reveal the affair (and not the neighbor, well-meaning friend, or anonymous letter on the windshield) the chances of reconciliation are even greater. This is a good thing. Anyone who’s been through a divorce will tell you that breaking up a family is messy, painful business for everyone involved.

Give Bob and Marcy time to do the right thing. Affairs show great lapses in judgment, but Bob and Marcy aren’t evil. Most likely they are weak or lonely or hurt and have justified their behavior in some extraordinarily creative way. Or … they could be in love. Either way, give them an opportunity to clean up after themselves. Eventually, all affairs make big messes. They explode or implode. And Bob and Marcy will have to pick up the pieces one by one. Should you ever tell? I think you should consider it if next time you’re at a party someone mentions casually to the group that Bob and Marcy are sleeping together. Bob and Marcy’s spouses do not need to suffer the indignity of gossip when they haven’t done anything wrong. But maybe you’re not the right person to expose the affair. Maybe you talk to a closer friend of the unhappy couples and argue that it’s time for the truth to come out. When it does, it will be very rocky for a while. But hopefully before long, people will get back on track and once again find hope and meaning in their days.

Social Life, before I go, I don’t think you should take their affair too personally. I know that this has affected your quality of life but ultimately, it is not about you. Let go of your disappointment in the hand holders and try to lower your expectations of the people around you. Then you won’t find yourself so out of sorts when they fall short. If you can do this, you’ll find yourself with more friends and perhaps fewer root canals (not based on any scientific studies whatsoever, just a hunch).
That’s it. See you next time.

Dodging Dark

April 18, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville

I love the start of spring. Who doesn’t? Even the mildest winter brings its share of discomfort and inconvenience, but after a Polar Vortex Special like the one we’ve just had, after the months of suiting up like an Artic explorer, of traversing filthy mountains of sidewalk snow, of combatting epic, legendary cases of cabin fever, well, after all that, the first stirrings of spring are nothing less than magical.

But I have another reason to celebrate the spring, and it’s one that not many people share. Spring means the start of long days, the seemingly endless parade of hours saturated with sunlight—and not only do I like light, I need it, lots of it because I’m night blind. Truth be told, night blindness is the tip of the iceberg as far as my eyes are concerned; there’s also the whopping case of tunnel vision, the color blindness, the myopia, and the nasty, non-removable cataracts. I’m legally blind, courtesy of a degenerative retinal disease called retinitis pigmentosa, and, as you can imagine, this impacts my life in a bunch of ways. I don’t drive fighter jets and I don’t stitch up facial lacerations.

And I’m not a big fan of the dark . . . or the semi-dark . . . or the dark-ish. If a place is even approaching penumbral, it’s a safe bet I do not want to go there.

Some low-light destinations are easy to avoid—particularly once you have three children—and in doing so, you forfeit your nightlife. Without the slightest effort, I can steer clear of the very hip, very dark bars where I passed many an hour in my twenties. I haven’t seen the inside of a nightclub since, well, since they were still called “nightclubs.” Similarly, I hardly ever find myself in the countryside, or Hades, or Iceland in winter.

Other dark places are impossible to avoid, though, and for these, I’ve had to develop practical strategies to make sure I don’t lose an appendage, or a child.

Topping the list is movie theaters. When you’re in charge of a gaggle of kids and you live in a place where it’s mercilessly cold half the year and mercilessly hot the other half, matinees are Mommy’s little helper. Of course, being struck totally blind upon entering the theater makes the experience considerably less enjoyable. I’ve suffered enough embarrassing mishaps (sitting on a grandpa’s lap, sitting on my children’s lap, sitting on a chair that wasn’t there, also known as the floor) to have learned a thing or two.

First lesson: get there before the lights go down. Typically, I’m the kind of person who is so chronically tardy that I will call a friend, not if I’m running late, but if I’m on time. When it comes to the movies, though, our asses are in the seats as soon as the last movie empties out. Once we are settled in, nobody moves for any reason. Primo wants popcorn? No dice. Terza’s thirsty? She’s got saliva, doesn’t she? Seconda has to pee? She should’ve thought of that the ten times I asked before we entered the theater. Builds bladder muscles, anyway.

All the rules and restrictions don’t make for a freewheeling, fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants good time, but we get in and out in one piece and we get to watch a motion picture.

Then there’s the Museum of Natural History. The place is aces and I’ve been going every year since I was in first grade, unpacking my lunch in the cafeteria that always smelled of old fish sticks. These days, though, unless I have an eagle-eyed adult companion with me on kid duty, there’s no way I step foot inside. The dinosaur rooms are fine, but the Hall of North American Mammals is as dim as an old lady’s parlor with the curtains perpetually drawn, to say nothing of the oh-so-moody Hall of Ocean Life. I’ve heard there are a squid and a whale down there but you could tell me it was a Sasquatch and a wallaby and I could not refute you.

Of all the dark places, the toughest to avoid is the entire out-of-doors after sunset. In the summer, it’s no huge impediment, since night doesn’t fall until nigh on nine p.m. But when the day begins at seven and ends just past four, the dark is always right around the corner. In winter, I understand the plight of closeted werewolves, desperate to get inside before the sun goes down.

I, do, of course, have several options. I could use a mobility cane. To explain why I don’t use one, I’d have to write an entire book, which I did, conveniently enough, and you can read it, starting in June.

I could also use a flashlight. It would, however, have to be industrial-strength and hands-free, so really, what I’d need is a miner’s headlamp. I’d consider these if Target released a line by Missoni, in multicolored woven textiles. As they do not, I will have to pass.

I could huddle in my apartment, comfortable and constrained. And I do, from time to time, especially when the temperature gets sub-Arctic. But this is New York, the city that never sleeps, and I’m just not that kind of girl.

So, I adventure out, dark or no dark, and I stick to the well-lit avenues and I curse the famous, beautiful trees that grow in Brooklyn, which are annoyingly light-obscuring, and I ask my kids to give me a heads-up when there’s a big crack in the pavement, or a fleet of rats ahead, or a garbage can strewn on the sidewalk.

And I dream of spring.

Then one day, it’s here. Flowers beginning to bloom at my feet and birds hazarding a chirp overhead, and sunlight—warming, brightening, revealing sunlight—streaming down on me morning, noon and into the night.

Nicole’s memoir, Now I See You, comes out June 24th by St. Martin’s Press. You can find out more info and preorder a copy on her website nicolekear.com.

Game Nights, Historic Sites & Tasty Delights

April 18, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: 36 Hours in Park Slope

Park Slope is often cited as being one of the best neighborhoods in all of New York City, and it is not hard to find out why. Beyond Prospect Park and the other stalwart points of interest, there is a lot to experience in the Slope, and it seems like almost every day there are new restaurants, boutiques, and fun activities to keep up with. If you only had thirty-six hours and wanted to get a first-hand look at some of the unique things that make Park Slope such a gem, what would you do? If you don’t know where to start, let me take you on a little guided tour.

Start your first morning off with a nice boost of caffeine at Konditori, a Swedish espresso bar that boasts a warm, Nordic atmosphere with modern Brooklyn flair. In addition to strong coffee (which may come with some Viking-inspired foam art), they also serve traditional Swedish pastries and classic coffee house sandwiches.

Once you’re properly caffeinated head over to Fifth Avenue where you’ll find one of Park Slope’s best kept secrets: the dozens of amazing vintage clothing boutiques. Williamsburg and the Lower East Side get the lion’s share of credit for great shopping, but Park Slope definitely has a horse in that race with stores like Almost New and Eponymy. If you’re traveling with kids, or if you’re one at heart, you will want to also check out the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. This kitschy store sells superhero paraphernalia—particle guns, deflector bracelets&ellip; the usual—and offers an all-inclusive superhero shopping experience with friendly staff and fun activities like a cape-testing wind tunnel. The storefront supports 826NYC, a nonprofit that provides children with tutoring services, so you’ll be shopping for a good cause.

After shopping it will be time for lunch. An easy crowd pleaser on Fifth Avenue is Dizzy’s, which offers delicious high-quality diner food. The biscuits and gravy are amazing, but if you want something a little lighter, go for Teo’s Italian Eggs. If you are visiting from out of town, it will probably be time to check into your hotel. Hopefully you are staying at Hotel Le Bleu, Park Slope’s premier boutique hotel. The rooms are thoughtfully designed, feature views of Manhattan, and are very reasonably priced, especially considering the amenities and features.

There’s no shortage of nightlife in Park Slope, but if you are looking for something a little out of the ordinary you can treat yourself to a grown-up game night. Start at Brooklyn Game Lab, which is a children’s after-school program and summer camp by day, but offers curated adult game events by night. If you are looking for something a little more throw back, you can hit up Fifth Avenue Bingo Hall, a no-frills, old school-style bingo hall where people come prepared to draw blood. There are rumblings that bingo could become the next big Brooklyn fad, so why not stay ahead of the curve?

For the second part of the evening, head on over to one of Park Slope’s newest institutions, Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club. Before heading in, grab a bite to eat at one of the many food carts parked outside. Once inside, treat yourself to a few drinks and a game of shuffleboard, and enjoy the subtle tropical ambiance. If you’re still in the competitive spirit, Union Hall, a Park Slope staple, is open until 4:00 a.m. This cozy bar features indoor bocce ball courts and always exudes a fun, raucous atmosphere.

Depending on how many games of shuffleboard and bocce you played the night before, the next morning you may be in the mood for a hearty brunch. Fortunately, you can’t shake a pair of hangover sunglasses without hitting a brunch spot. Applewood, a delicious eatery specializing in New England-style cuisine, is a solid choice. Any one of their seasonal omelets or grass-fed steak and eggs will do your body good!

With some grub in your stomach, stroll up to P.S. 321, which hosts one of Brooklyn’s best flea markets on Saturday and Sunday. Unlike the more “bougie” flea markets in the borough, the P.S. 321 Flea attracts a more eclectic collection of booths. Even if you are not looking to make any big purchases you’ll have a blast sifting through tables of old records, beguiling coffee mugs, and dusty tchotchkes.

Next stop is Old Stone House, one of Park Slope’s oldest historic sites. This reconstructed 1699 Dutch farmhouse hosts events year round and is open to the general public on Saturday and Sunday as a historic interpretive center focusing on the Battle of Brooklyn. If you are in the mood for a little more cultural exploration, head across the Slope to The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Housed in a historic mansion right on the edge of Prospect Park, the BSEC hosts practitioners of the Ethics Movement, a non-religious (although not necessarily not religious) organization whose members strive to live ethical lives without bowing to the constraints of society, culture, and tradition. Programs include seminars and meetings on philosophical subjects, as well as other events such as music, dances, and even stand-up comedy. There are even events for kids! Whether or not you are interested in attending, the building and grounds themselves are definitely worth checking out.

When your day is done stop by Sidecar for a late lunch of oysters or gumbo and cocktail, and give your feet a rest. In just thirty-six hours you will have walked all over the Slope, eaten at some of its best restaurants, enjoyed some of its unique amenities, and imbibed at some of its most exciting bars. Of course, thirty-six hours is not enough to see and do everything. If you already live in New York City, then you know Park Slope is just a hop, skip, and a jump away (or just outside your front door!). If you are visiting from out of town, then you just have dozens of excuses to visit again.

Breaking Free of Cabin Fever

April 18, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment Filed Under: Reader Recommendations

As I type this looking out my window in mid-January—snow and ice on the ground and the temperature hovering around 20—I can only assume that spring will someday arrive. The temperature will rise and fauna will return. While we await the thaw, here are some reasons to put on the rain boots and exit the apartment.

Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club
514 Union Street

Brooklyn has long been a home for obscure sports enthusiasts, offering everything from bocce, skee-ball, kick-ball leagues, and winter swimming a la the Polar Bear Club. Shuffleboard can now be added to this list of wonderful unique past-times with the opening of the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club. Located in a converted warehouse on Union Street in Gowanus, this new bar offers an experience completely unlike anything in the area. Royal Palms boasts ten regulation-sized shuffleboard courts and two 27-foot bars specializing in tropical drinks in the 17,000 square-foot Florida-inspired space. If all of the activity makes you hungry, there is space for local food trucks to pull right in and offer some of their grub. Take a tropical vacation without leaving the borough. Lanes can be rented for $40 an hour (for four players); and if you develop a real talent, you can join a league or become a member.

Child Baker to Culinary Chef
by Susan A. Tenteromano and Christopher E. Sanchez
Trafford Publishing

This book, from the owners of Le Petit Bakery in Fort Greene, is the perfect introduction for your budding chef. Simple and delicious recipes are laid out in a way that children can easily understand. Unlike other children’s cookbooks, these recipes aren’t just what you find on the kiddie menu of your local diner. These are trusted recipes, tested by the authors (a mother and son), and lovingly shared to inspire the next generation of foodies. Among the recipes you will find lemon squares, shortbread cookies, and chocolate covered pretzels. During the baking process, children learn math and reading comprehension with a delicious reward at the end. Susan Tenteromano designed the book specifically to help boost confidence in children as they complete each dessert. Child Baker to Culinary Chef can be ordered online, or you can reserve a copy at Le Petit Bakery (354 Myrtle Avenue) while picking up a cronut.

Puppet Works
338 6th Avenue

Looking for an interactive experience for your kids? Puppet Works runs performance of timeless classics for children ages three and up. These dazzling puppet shows make an ideal first-time theater outing for younger children. It’s an art-form that is best experienced live. Children and adults love the characters and craftsmanship in these interactive shows. This spring, the Puppet Works show features three well-known fables: Peter & the Wolf, The Ugly Duckling, and The Frog Prince. This not-for-profit puppet theater is a Park Slope landmark, operating out of its Sixth Avenue location since 1980. Performances take place 12:30 and 2:30 every Saturday, reservations are required. Tickets are $9 for adults and $8 for children—note that Puppet Works does not accept credit cards. Children are welcome to pull up a mat and get close to the action.

Touch-a-Truck!
May 17, 12-5pm
18th Street, between 6th & 7th Avenues

As the parent of a toddler, I can honestly say this is an ingenious idea. There’s a big star on our calendar for May 17th as P.S. 295 holds their fourth annual Touch-a-Truck Fundraiser. Twenty trucks—including a fire truck, police car, cement mixer, garbage truck, and ambulance—line Eighteenth Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Children are invited to not only touch, but climb into the trucks and meet their operators. Food trucks will also be on-hand to offer some sustenance to the little climbers and their parents. Admission is $5 and all proceeds benefit P.S. 295. To learn more visit www.ps295.org.