Celebrating Community
I live in a 1,200 square foot apartment with three other adults. I share a room with my boyfriend, Eli, and we live with his sister, Tara, and her boyfriend, Andrew. This familial setup can be difficult to describe in casual conversation, “My boyfriend’s sister’s boyfriend is also my roommate…” I enjoy our family arrangement and I like to imagine […]
In my experience, middle schoolers are often pragmatic, logical beings. Each Friday, I teach current events to my sixth graders. This leads to fascinating discussions as I get to see the cogs turning inside each young brain, unencumbered by the desire to look or sound smart. Middle schoolers might not have a large repository of information to draw from, but […]
Eugene “Gene” Manigo, 66, lifts a long piece of wood that looks like a door and places it nearby a saw in his workshop, Hammer Time Studios. He provides instructions to his apprentice, explaining what length and width he’d like for this piece and how thick the wood should be. The two discuss and confirm numbers before the electric saw […]
(Art by Jane Wingfield, olysketcher.com) A recent Sunday in Red Hook begins with a trip to Baked. Overheard conversations include thoughts on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (it’s excellent) and compliments to the manager, Frank, on his impressive display of the day’s baked goods. “I spent some time,” he admitted proudly in response to the continued praise from a trio of three I […]
My Mom, born in 1959, speaks passionately about the feminist movement. Prior to Trump’s election, my sister and I rolled our eyes when Mom proudly recalled her days as a “women’s libber.” Mom’s generation had done the hard work. I was smug in my privilege. I had rights. I didn’t feel like opportunities had been denied to me based on […]
Try Rae’s First, a clothing store located at 430 Court Street, is closing. The store, named after owner Raina Passo’s mother Rae, was one of the first of its kind along Court Street in the mid-80s. Her lease was not renewed by the landlord. She has released the following letter to her clients: My store will be closing on December […]
I recently moved down the hill to Van Brunt from nearby Park Slope. Like many before me, I moved for love, but also for cheaper rent. In comparison to Park Slope’s children, stroller and dog-heavy streets, Red Hook feels, for lack of a better adjective, cool. I was hesitant to leave behind the leafy green oasis of Prospect Park, but […]
Scooters whiz through the night. Damn those guys are good, I thought, as I walked out the front door of Sunny’s, some years back, to have a cigarette and see what was going on in the night. A scooter goes whizzing by on the sidewalk. As it turned out, a friend of mine decided to bring a scooter to the […]