Archive for News and Current Events
Posted by learninglab
May 15, 2008 at 3:30 pm · Filed under Kids and Parents, News and Current Events
A Summer Writing Intensive
What is Reading-Based Writing?
The basic idea behind reading-based writing is that we read to write and write to read. Because these two disciplines are intertwined, we’re always thinking critically, not just when we’re “studying.” The course will improve students’ writing skills by teaching them how to:
• Comfortably read/write in different genres
• Organize concepts critically
• Develop an organic voice
• Present an effective argument
• Integrate revisions
How it Works
• Classes meet for 2 hours, once per week in July. Instructor will provide all reading materials.
• Students are expected to complete one reading assignment (a story; a poem; an essay) each week and be prepared to discuss it.
• Since the course is run as a workshop, all students will present individual work to be discussed by the class. Additionally, all students will offer written feedback to their peers.
• Instructor will provide individual student evaluations, which include a writing diagnosis.
• The cost of the course is $450.
Using a variety of writing genres, students will learn the techniques of reading-based writing. We will explore:
• Creative writing (fiction, poetry, spoken word)
• Personal narrative/memoir (college essay)
• The five paragraph essay (used on standardized tests like the SAT Writing Test)
• The analytic academic paper (high school, college, and beyond)
About the Instructor
Jill Di Donato holds a BA in English from Barnard College and an MFA in writing from Columbia University. She’s taught “University Writing” to undergrads at Columbia University, developed high school writing programs as a member of Columbia/Artist Teacher, served as a mentor in Columbia University’s Writing Pedagogy Development program for graduate/professional students, and
consulted for the NYC Board of Education on the Creative Curriculum. Her writing can be found in various literary journals and magazines.
EMAIL: jilldidonato@gmail.com PHONE: 917.655.8290
Brooklyn Heights & Park Slope Locations
Posted by admin
August 28, 2006 at 3:17 pm · Filed under Cars vs People, News and Current Events
Whoa… Diane writes on the Park Slope Message Board:
“Wow! At 3 AM, my son looked out the window - 6th Ave bet.10-11th St. and witnessed this huge tree come crashing down…totally destroying a Honda. Thank goodness this happened in the middle of the night and so there were no cars or people walking around. This happened because the city is finally taking down the “eyesore” vacant buidling and were digging with a big piece of machinery right in front of building.”
“Apparently they severed the roots of the tree & last night it came tumbling down. I think the initial digging had something to do with disconnecting the pipes but I really don’t know exactly what they were doing. The fire dept. sawed off the limbs but the entire tree trunk was still there this morning blocking all traffic in both directions.”
Here’s an image that was also posted over at the Brooklyn Record:
Posted by admin
August 11, 2006 at 12:40 am · Filed under Crime, Mischief, and Tomfoolery, News and Current Events
kensingtonmom writes on the Park Slope Message Board:
Does this latest terrorist plot make anyone wonder if living here is such a hot idea?
I can’t help but think when we are ALWAYS the target if I should cash in on my mega profits made from my Park Slope coop … and flee to another city before they do get us again.
Paranoid? Realistic?
Is it really so much better here than say, Philadelphia? And what happens when they do finally get the subway…is it worth it?
You know it’s always in the back of your mind and now it’s on the Park Slope Message Board
Posted by admin
August 9, 2006 at 10:14 am · Filed under News and Current Events
quijibo writes:
oh feck. how much duct tape are we gonna need for this?
the media along with the medical community feed the hysteria
people wish to have a sense of control
even when we don’t
i’d wish they’d stop spraying that crap on the streets
couldn’t we release an infestation of bats to eat all the squeeters?
and then of course we’d need monkeys in the trees
right above the double parked mcclaren’s
on 7th avenue
Counterpoint from Dr. Carnivore: “Bats are a major rabies vector, and rabies is much more deadly than West Nile!”
In all seriousness, Carnivore notes that the situation is made to sound worse than it is: “Don’t get me wrong- it’s important to know where cases develop and when. It’s just not much of a threat to most healthy people. West Nile can be a serious or even fatal illness in the very young, the very old, people with HIV and others with impaired immune systems. Most people who contract it get a flu-like syndrome, feel lousy and get over it.”
“It’s an important public health issue, but the media has raised the level of hysteria to the point where young healthy people without any symptoms come the the ER demanding to be tested for West Nile (which requires a spinal tap) because they have a mosquito bite.”
More on bugs and disease in the Park Slope Message Boards
Posted by 8thandPrez
April 25, 2006 at 2:12 pm · Filed under Crime, Mischief, and Tomfoolery, News and Current Events, Parks
Coming on the heels of an active discussion on the Park Slope Message Board regarding the safety of Propsect Park, a man was found stabbed to death in the park last weekend. 
61-year old William Oliver was found dead on a wooded trail in the infamous Vale of Cashmere section of Prospect Park.
The Vale of Cashmere (satellite image), long a gay cruising ground, has been the site of anti-gay violence in the past, most recently in 2005. While it’s not known if Mr Oliver was gay, the NYPD is currently looking into the possibility of a hate crime.
Read the New York Times story on the murder
Posted by admin
April 18, 2006 at 12:09 pm · Filed under News and Current Events
Thanks to kosherdave for these photos. This might not make sense if you haven’t read the gender-bending foofaraw over the “Found: Boy’s Hat” post on Park Slope Parents list.
You can read some Park Sloper comments on this in the Park Slope Message Boards.
PS. Here’s the e-mail at the bottom of the flyer: lost_boy_hat@hotmail.com
Posted by admin
February 15, 2006 at 10:40 pm · Filed under News and Current Events
A bit late, but here it is anyway. Thanks to Daniel, among others, for sending this in!
Posted by admin
February 12, 2006 at 9:04 am · Filed under News and Current Events
Super Cool: 86%
So Not Cool: 16%
Click here to view current poll status (and comments) in the Prospect Heights Message Boards:
daniel: “Cool…except when you can’t get a taxi home to Brooklyn from the city. Bastard taxi drivers, one after the other, denied us a ride. One, after we were already in the cab, suggested that we take a subway instead. I caxlled 311 with their medallion numbers, but was told that they wouldn’t do anything unless I was willing to appear in court. Lame.”
nybt: “Who’s got the over/under on the number of days ’til the snow is gone?! Not consulting any weather info, i’m going with 4 days ’til bare sidewalks…”
VOTE: Prospect Heights Message Boards
Posted by admin
February 4, 2006 at 11:34 am · Filed under News and Current Events
Flyer found adrift in Grand Army Plaza near the entrance to Prospect Park on Feb. 2, 2006.
“Answers to the name of ‘Olga.’ “
Have you seen her?
Posted by admin
February 2, 2006 at 7:06 am · Filed under News and Current Events
… time to start thinking about alternative energy sources. Wind power, anyone? gak writes about the wind vane on 8th Avenue on Flickr:
“A rural touch in an urban setting … There was enough wind to power this, along with a disposed indoor fan I saw piled up amongst the garbage on the curb.”
Posted by admin
January 1, 2006 at 10:34 pm · Filed under Cars vs People, News and Current Events
lasadh says: “This car crashed into the front door of my apartment building tonight (Dec. 29, 2005).”
Posted by admin
December 23, 2005 at 11:34 am · Filed under News and Current Events
Oiseau writes in the Message Boards: “…I ended up riding over the Brooklyn Bridge with the cars. It was the only way to ride over that bridge, other wise you had to walk it.”
“I yelled at Marty to get some bike lane police, and then turned around because my derailer cable broke and Bicycle Station was open real early and fixed it quickly, amazingly, because I was about to give up…”
“Then I found some abandoned pregnant cat and couldn’t take it to the animal shelter, not that that is a good thing, but at least it’s warm, but with the traffic and all, I just gave it some food.”
“And you?”
Check out the Message Boards
Posted by admin
December 21, 2005 at 10:58 pm · Filed under News and Current Events
And ponder the media…
The word “illegal” has been thrown around pretty loosely, and over and over again, at every opportunity, in the media.
And now, that sentiment is being echoed by the anti-strike crowd (by now, that crowd numbers approximately 99% of Brooklynites, MTA employees excluded).
One of the other “messages” that keeps surfacing in the local media is the claim that the international TWU had advised the NY branch NOT to strike. It would be nice to verify these claims, but like pretty much everybody else, we spent an extra 5 hours today negotiating traffic and logistic hassles brought on just in time for Christmas (at least UPS is still delivering).
Oh, hey… there are about 50,000 comments on this in the Prospect Heights and Park Slope message boards… let’s take a look:
IT’S ON - TWU STRIKES!! (Chaos ensues in more than 100 comments on the Prospect Heights Board)
WAR STORIES: How did you get there?? (Prospect Heights Board)
PRACTICAL! HELPFUL! Get a ride, offer a ride, right here on the message boards! (Prospect Heights Board)
I would TOTALLY start an illegal taxi service… if I had a car.
Will “Slugging” be the next NYC commuter trend? (PH Board)
Let’s discuss transit strike plans and then go completely off-topic into an argument about race and education (Park Slope Board)
Posted by admin
December 9, 2005 at 10:50 pm · Filed under News and Current Events
Guest writes: “A manhole cover blew on 5th ave. They started off ABC 6:00 news with this ‘breaking news’.”
Pitu adds: “Channel 7 is reporting … two buildings evacuated for carbon monoxide on Fifth Ave near Flatbush … “
Details: Check the message boards
Posted by admin
October 21, 2005 at 12:38 am · Filed under News and Current Events
MsAnthea writes: “A little over a week ago, there was an electical fire beneath the street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The fire eventually burst out of a manhole 5 houses down from me … I was without a phone for more than 24 hours, without DSL for over a week & my lights were flickering off & on as though the house were possessed…”
Posted by admin
October 20, 2005 at 4:30 pm · Filed under News and Current Events
The Park Slope Food Co-op just announced that it be switching to 100% wind-generated electricity from New York and Pennsylvania. The co-op board voted 66-0 in favor of the switch.
This is the largest private purchase of wind power in Brooklyn to date, and the first purchase of wind by a food co-op in the Northeast, according to Community Energy, which markets “NewWind” electricity around the country.
General Coordinator Joe Holtz: “We want to do our part to lessen U. S. dependence on foreign oil, reduce our emissions of CO2 and harmful pollutants, and raise people’s awareness” which apparently will include encouraging co-op members to make the switch, too.
The 920,000-kilowatt-hour purchase saves 800,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, comparable to taking 58 cars off the road, according to Community Energy.
You can buy wind power, too. One route is to go though Con Edison. Purchasing “25% NewWind Energy®/ 75% Small-hydro” will set you back an additional 1/2 cent per kWh on all usage, according to this Community Energy page.
Discuss: Park Slope Message Boards
Posted by admin
October 15, 2005 at 9:01 am · Filed under News and Current Events
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn reports:
“Wednesday at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Berkeley Place (btw 6th and 7th Aves.), a London Plain tree fell on a red car that was parked on the street… The tree, like many trees on the block, had been leaning dangerously for a long time. The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, which has jurisdiction over all trees growing in the public right of way including trees along streets, had been notified about the problem by block residents…”
LINK: Tree Crushes Car [OTBKB]
