Real Journalism written by people
Since I live in a very small and ugly apartment, one of my favorite activities when I’m a tourist (in my own city or elsewhere) is to visit historic homes that’ve opened themselves to the public. Different houses serve different purposes. Some – like the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park or Old Westbury Gardens on Long Island, famous primarily for […]
For the first time in the face of a proposed city-initiated rezoning, strategic advocacy by the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition – comprised of grassroots, neighborhood and citywide advocates – has led to the proposed calendaring of a set of neighborhood landmarks, prior to the proposed rezoning. “We view this as a great first step by the Landmarks Preservation Commission,” said Gowanus […]
On June 18, the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn, accepted the Cause for Canonization of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn. Msgr. Quinn, a champion for racial equality, established the first church for African American Catholics – St. Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church – in Bedford Stuyvesant in 1922. In 1928, Msgr. Quinn established the first orphanage for African American […]
I’ve kayaked only once in my life, about eight years ago on Lake Mohonk – a half-mile long glacial lake in upstate New York. For me, the experience was terrifying with the wooden pier disappearing from sight as I paddled away with so much empty water surrounding me in the single-person kayak. At one point I stopped, struck with panic […]
In the spring, the Red Hook Container Terminal added a new weekly container service to its roster of clients. Each Monday for the past two months, a vessel from Miami-based carrier Seaboard Marine’s North Atlantic-North Central America loop has docked in Red Hook, the last port of call on a route starting in Guatemala, with stops in Nicaragua, El Salvador, […]
WE WHO INHERIT THE EARTH It’s not just saints and prophets who endure the weak, the lame, the denialists. So too do Mets fans comprise such noble breed. To endure the hell of rooting for fallen heroes – great athletes who won’t bust it out of the box, adjust too eagerly to failure, or break down upon doing a deal […]
School may be out for the summer, but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t on people’s minds. A large group of parents, students, teachers, advocates and elected officials stood on the steps of City Hall on June 11, demanding smaller class sizes for an hour. They also urged the Department of Education (DOE) and Mayor Bill de Blasio to allocate […]
The Sunset Park Landmarks Committee, an activist association of neighborhood preservationists, celebrated a major victory on June 18 when the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) responded to their six years of organized advocacy by voting unanimously to protect four historic residential sections of Sunset Park. The Sunset Park North, Sunset Park South, Central Sunset Park, and Sunset Park 50th Street historic […]
For many beer enthusiasts, the greatest adventures are bucolic escapes to farmhouse breweries in Vermont’s remote Northeast Kingdom or the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, where, with monastic dedication, bearded bohemian hillbillies craft organic small-batch ales of such dignity and freshness that they seem almost healthful. But you need a car to get there. Fortunately, in February, Svendale […]
Every couple weeks, City Councilmember Brad Lander experiences a spasm of guilt over what Gowanus is going to look like in 10 years, and in order to relieve this sensation, he tweets a link to an article about the importance of increasing the housing supply as a means to combat rising rents in America’s cities. It may be Farhad Manjoo’s […]
July is upon us and there are a ton of concerts to get to this summer. Stop by Bene’s Record Shop to hear some Free Jazz Stylings or get into Jalopy to hear some fine roots and blues music. The free shows continue at Prospect Park Bandshell as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn summer festival: Mick Jenkins and Leikeli47 will […]
