Red Hook Star-Revue, October 2024

STAR REVUE

Where have all the scooters gone?

by R.J. CIRILLO

A Boomer/ Millennial Dialogue with Armin Rosen Journalist

We are in Casita, a snug little coffee on 11th Street in Park Slope.

R.J.-  Armin the first question is, walking with coffee these days, instead of taking a break and sitting down?

Armin- “I think it has to do with the American mentality of always having to be doing something productive, a

Columbia Street runs south all the way to Red Hook Farms. Then, before the street meets Halleck Street, a piece of it branches off to the left. The street continues, stretching alongside the Gowanus Bay, before making a tight right. At this point, you can follow it another 750 feet or so until you come to a tall metal fence. Although access ends, Google Maps shows how the land takes another sharp right, creating a thin, stiff-lined “U” of land which, along with the IKEA waterfront, spoons a body of water called Erie Basin. This final “arm’” of land holds approximately 7,000 cars. This is the Erie Basin Pound).

Criminals on 2 wheels?

On June 5, Mayor Adams and former New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Caban announced enhanced enforcement against illegal mopeds and scooters. The NYC Department of Sanitation hosted the announcement’s press event, which involved destroying more than 200 confiscated mopeds and scooters. The increased attention on mopeds resulted from a spike in confiscated illegal and unregistered motorized 2-wheeled vehicles last year. The spike continued into 2024, made more stark by reports that scooters and other small vehicles were being used by criminals to facilitate fast escapes. In addition to increasing enforcement by the NYPD, the Adams administration has advocated for two pieces of legislation aimed at requiring registration and licensing at the point of sale for motorcycles (Senate Bill S7703 sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Bill A8450 proposed by Assemblymember Alex Bores).

function of how that mindset eliminates spaces dedicated to sitting around and frittering away time. It’s a very European thing to sit and watch the world go by, letting your mind wander, not so much here in the last few decades. It’s a kind of a luxury that belongs to people who can hang around Park Slope for a living, which is what I do.

R.J.- “OK, what do you do for a living?”

Armin- I’m a writer for a small magazine called THE TABLET. I also do freelance work when the opportunity arises.

R.J.- What is your feeling regarding the Boomer vs Millennial thing?

Armin- Yes, I’d have to say the term

by Katherine Rivard

According to a spokesperson from the NYPD Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information, the number of 2-wheeled vehicles and ATVs seized by the police have increased between 2023 and 2024 citywide (18,430 vehicles in 2023 versus 21,338 between the start of 2024 and September 18), and the increase in “Brooklyn South” has been even more drastic (1,703 vehicles in 2023 versus 3,085 between the start of 2024 and September 18). The spike in moped confiscations means that the Erie Basin Pound has received a growing number of mopeds, alongside cars, ebikes, and more. It is currently home to tens of thousands of mopeds.

Unclaimed bikes destroyed

Those hoping to have their vehicles returned must jump through several hoops. Beyond its discreet location, the Pound has limited hours for release of vehicles: Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m.

“Boomer” has become a catch-all phrase meaning “You’re too old to matter!”

R.J.- Exactly! (We both laugh)

Armin- it’s now just a purely ageist word with no real relativity to anything.

R.J.- But people running the world seem to be Boomers.

Armin- That’s true, they’ve had a real run, it kind of makes sense, they’re the product of a demographic boom, so they have the numbers, a big numerical advantage. Also their connection to the most mythologized period in American history, the sixties.

R.J.- Yes, we had the sixties which was a huge cultural upheaval that still resonates

(closed on holidays). Once their paperwork is complete, visitors to the Pound must find their vehicle among hundreds of others, with little system besides separation by year and borough. Language access is yet another barrier. Visitors who do not speak English must either find someone to help translate, use a translation app on their phones, or, if they’re lucky, receive assistance from the two NYPD staff members who speak Spanish. If a vehicle is privately towed, the owner incurs a $170.56 towing fee. Additionally, owners must pay a storage fee of $5 a day once the vehicle is cataloged at the Pound. If mopeds are not claimed (and more than half are not), they are removed by a private carter. Owners have approximately 90 days to collect their vehicle before it may be taken away.

The only silver lining to having to visit the Erie Basin Pound? A trip out to a hidden piece of Red Hook’s waterfront.

Unlicensed transportation seized by the city awaits destruction in Red Hook

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Editor & PublishEr

George Fiala

rEPortErs Nathan Weiser

Brian Abate

Oscar Fock

Katherine Rivard

FEaturEs Kelsey Sobel

inquirEr Lisa Gitlin

CulturE Roderick Thomas

ovErsEas man Dario Muccilli

insights Joe Enright

musiC Kurt Gottschalk

Jazz George Grella

Film Dante A. Ciampaglia

books Michael Quinn

Cartoons Marc Jackson

Sophie Furman

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dEsign George Fiala

Merry Band of Contributors

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Nino Pantano

R.J. Cirillo

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Turning a passion into a really cool business

Inside of Wet Whistle Wines on Van Brunt Street there are some cool-looking drinking glasses on display. These are courtesy of Meghan Mardiney's passion for antique barware. Her husband is Cory Hil, who co-owns the wine shop.

Megan has made a business from her passion. We first encountered her last December at the gift fairs that were held at BWAC.

Mardiney is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She came to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design in the Village. She decided to stay and has lived in Brooklyn for 30 years.

“I have been an art and creative director since I graduated,” she told us. “I spent 10 years working in the fashion industry doing design for a trade show producer, and then I went into publishing. I was the art director for Vanity Fair magazine for a few years. After that, I was at a startup for a little while and then I started my own business which does everything from museum exhibit design to branding…Lots of print but also some interior stuff.”

During the pandemic, Mardiney’s work slowed down and she was able

by Brian Abate

to search for vintage barware and glassware.

“Even though it wasn’t my job, it is my passion and I love it,” Mardiney said. “I spent a lot of time going to estate sales and thrift shops. I was looking for little gems and I also did a lot of research on types of glasses. During the pandemic, I really found a lot.”

Additionally, Mardiney’s daughter, who lives in California, helped out by doing a lot of research and finding out how much certain patterns would usually sell for as well as the history of different glassmakers.

“Last year I did the Red Hook Holiday Market, which was the first time I’d done a market and it was super fun,” she said. “I sold enough to cover the market expenses which was good. The cool thing about having a lot of people seeing the glassware is that they all have a story about someone who had the same or similar ones whether it’s their mom or their grandmother. It brings back memories for people, which I love. That was the most common theme during the holiday market.”

Shipping fragile items

A challenge is shipping fragile glassware. A lot of it is also heavy.

“There was a learning curve finding the perfect way to pack the glassware,” Mardiney said. “You definitely don’t want to send it to somebody and have it arrive to someone broken and you know it has survived in this beautiful state for so long so you don’t want it to break. I like having the pop up here and then when I have everything on my website, if somebody local wants something, I can bring it here for them to pick up.”

As for finding the glassware she frequents thrift stores along the East Coast as well as attending estate sales. Speaking about the estate sales, Meghan says: “A lot of people aren’t looking for glassware, so I’ll get there early and look in the kitchens. In a way, it’s weird being in someone’s home but it’s also cool because the

people liked what they had and I can give that glassware new passion and new life where other people can enjoy it. I went to one in Mill Basin in a house on the water, and it was like a movie set. Everything was clean but all of the furniture was from the ‘60s. I also really enjoy seeing different people’s spaces.”

Mardiney also spoke about some of her favorite glassware.

“I love finding some of the ones with brighter colors and cool geometric patterns,” Mardiney said. “One of my favorite manufacturers is Culver. A lot of their stuff has 22k gold on the rims and they just have really beautiful patterns.”

For Mardiney, finding the glassware is like a treasure hunt. However, she also has to pace herself and make sure she sells some of it before buying too much. Right now, she has a lot of glasses and is not letting herself buy \ more until she sells some.

“I love doing this, and I love finding hidden gems.”

Meghan's website is www.barflyvintage.com. All the merchandise on the website is available through appointment. She also has been setting up at pop up markets, and you can always talk to her husband at Wet Whistle Wines, 357 Van Brunt Street.

Meghan Mardiney

The Barfly Vintage display table at BWAC last Christmas

COLUMN: People Get Together

Ihave this theory which I first thought of about ten years ago that there is a special school for people who run public meetings. I'm not sure if that would be the field of public relations, or government relations, or facilitating, but what they are teaching is how to make people think they are taking part in a Democracy without actually being in one.

The first time I encountered this was during the process that former Council member Brad Lander dubbed "Bridging Gowanus." That first meeting, in a large school auditorium was unlike any meeting I had been to previously, where people sit in seats and after a presentation, raised their hands and in an orderly manner ask questions that would be answered for all to hear.

This is how Katia Kelly described that December 2013 meeting in her popular blog Pardon Me For Asking: "The community, as a whole, seemed to agree that it wanted "to preserve the overarching character of Gowanus," its "grittiness," its human scale, and the view of the sky.

Personally, I was impressed that so many people showed up last night. It indicates that people really want to be involved and want to have a say in the area's future.

I did, however, have a real problem with the way the meeting was set up. It seemed very strange that Pratt's presentation did not include a map of the area we were discussing. How can a meaningful, informed conversation take place without knowledge of the boundaries and present uses of the area in question?

I was also surprised that residents were

separated into groups, so that discussions were limited to individual tables. The conversation that followed Pratt's presentation would have been more inclusive if it had engaged all the residents at the same time.

Most importantly, there was no indication at all either by Brad Lander or by Pratt Center of how to actually achieve a zoning plan that incorporates all of the community's wishes. Hopefully more details will come from the working groups and further discussions.

According to Councilman Lander's office, "the end result of the Bridging Gowanus process will be a community supported blueprint, released in Summer 2014, for an environmentally safe, vibrant, and sustainable Gowanus to inform the DeBlasio Administration."

We need to make sure that the blueprint is a real reflection of what the community wishes. That means we all need to stay involved, on our guard and make sure that incoming Mayor DeBlasio actually listens to us.

You should read the above very carefully. Katia understood right away what I also got, that this new method of community engagement was a way to make people think they are having a voice, but really they are being spoon-fed a master plan already decided behind closed doors, but made to believe it came from them.

The end result of Lander's "process" became a proverbial wet dream for developers. If you don't believe me, just take a walk over to Gowanus.

Anyway, it's more than ten years later and now we are talking about the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, with the EDC proclaiming loudly that a grounds up community process will inform the plan.

Except that in the two months since the process began, there have been two top-

"This new method of community engagement was a way to make people think they are having a voice, but really they are being spoon-fed a master plan already decided behind closed doors, made to believe it came from them."

down engagements. The first a webinar where nobody saw anybody, and then the art gallery opening style meeting described in this issue. And PS - the "community driven process" has so far neglected any communication at all with your local community newspaper.

So on the one side, there is the City of NY which has finally figured out a politically viable way to redo the Columbia Street and Red Hook Waterfront, and on the other side there are the people who live here that will see outside forces re-doing our neighborhoods hoping for some hope of control.

Here is my two cents about the way forward. First of all, we - the various neighborhoods which include Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens as well, need to figure out their own priorities - say each group pick five things. John Leyva has become the community leader of CWD; Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens have their respective organizations; and Red Hook has, well, lots of groups that occasionally work together. A big pow-wow with representatives from all these groups should get together privately and hash out a uni-

fied agreement on a community-led vision for the future.

Once that unified vision exists, then DEMAND (I don't use that word lightly), a public meeting with the head of the EDC, Andrew Kimball, and present the vision. The most important thing is to be unified, because the powers on the top are already unified with their own vision. They win when the opposition is not together – they can pick and choose disparate parts of various factions to incorporate into their plan and pretend they are doing what the community wants.

I don't pretend that my ideas are any better than anyone else's. My particular local hero is Jim Tampakis who discusses his ideas elsewhere in this issue.

But I will reprint my thoughts which I first published in this space a few months ago. I encourage local groups to unify and discuss any and all ideas and come up with a plan which will offer an alternative to the City's, which I'm sure is basically an extension of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and with it a new Dumbo.

1 - Modernize the container terminal with a new lease for Mike Stamatis

2 - Mixed housing with ground floor commercial

3 - Create a logical truck route

4 - A stadium

5 - Open Space

6 - Restaurants

7 - A museum

8 - Possibly some maker space

9 - NO public/private partnerships

10 - NO truck parking.

Cartoon Section with Marc and Sophie

FUNNY SIDE UP BY MARC JACKSON

Publisher George Fiala

SHORT SHORTS:

BY STAR-REVUE STAFF

Goldman takes credit

Congressman Dan Goldman announced a coalition of elected officials secured a $163,800,000 award from the US Department of Transportation which will be used by the City of New York to revitalize the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT).

As Chair of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force, Congressman Goldman led a letter of support for the grant award to the U.S. DOT.

Upgrades and repairs to the Red Hook Container Terminal as well as the Cruise Terminal will ensure the future viability of the working waterfront.

Once complete, the modernization of the BMT will create quality jobs and reduce truck trips while serving as a global model for modern shipping utilizing low-emission, last-mile freight movement, community hiring, and neighborhood engagement.

“This incredible investment in our Red Hook community will be transformative. This infusion will allow our city to fully enhance the economic growth and health of the BMT," Goldman is quoted as saying in this press release.

Black follicles

Would you alter your hair for a job? This bold question lies at the heart of  BAD

Hair Uprooted: The Untold History of Black Follicles, a groundbreaking exhibition set to open on October 10 at 7 PM at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn, NY. Through a collection of powerful interviews with non-Black individuals, this exhibition offers a fresh perspective on hair discrimination and the far-reaching implications of unequal hair rights.

While celebrating the beauty and diversity of natural hair, award-winning Social Entrepreneur and photographer  Mireille Liong, M.S., seeks to uncover the deeper societal biases that continue to fuel hair-based discrimination.  BAD Hair Uprooted flips the script, exposing long-ignored prejudices that extend beyond personal appearance and dive into issues of race, identity, and self-expression.

From BAD Hair Uprooted, the Untold History of Black Follicles Black people are uniquely pressured to conform to Eurocentric hair standards, particularly in the workplace. For Black women, this often means

chemically altering their natural hair or wearing wigs and weaves to meet restrictive and outdated dress codes— just to maintain employment.

The consequences of these pressures are staggering: 73% of Black women suffer from hair loss, class action lawsuits are mounting against companies that manufacture toxic relaxers, and the Black hair care industry has ballooned to billions, disproportionately impacting communities of color.

Through thought-provoking photography and deeply personal narratives, BAD Hair Uprooted: The Untold History of Black Follicles explores the physical, mental, and financial tolls of hair discrimination. With each portrait, Liong brings attention to the urgent need for equal hair rights, one head-shot at a time.

Accompanying the exhibition is a limited-edition photo book, available for order, which offers an in-depth exploration of the themes presented.

BAD Hair Uprooted: The Untold History of Black Follicles

Date: October 10 - Time: 7 pm

Location: Restoration Plaza, Brooklyn, NY. For more information visit What Naturals Love.com. To RSVP: https://whatnaturalslove. com/pages/bad-hair-uprooted-registration-form

Local filmmaker at the Brooklyn Museum I AM NOT OK, the award-winning dance film from choreographer and filmmaker Gabrielle Lansner, has been selected for The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, a group show celebrating the diversity of Brooklyn creatives, on view at The Brooklyn Museum, October 4 - January 26, 2025. Lansner’s 12-minute film, first released in 2022, immerses the viewer in a mother’s emotional response to the unending killings of Black Americans amidst the backdrop of the protests that followed the death of George Floyd. Lansner was one of 200 artists selected from over 4,000 applicants for the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition. The exhibition will open on the occasion of The Brooklyn Museum’s 200th Anniversary.

Directed by Red Hook resident Gabrielle Lansner, with narration and writing by Tiffiney Davis, I AM NOT OK weaves together dance, music, spoken word, and archival photographs to convey the response of a mother and son to the killing of George Floyd in 2020 amidst the backdrop of protests that followed. Lansner’s film is set to an actual Facebook Live recording posted at the time by Davis, executive director of the Red Hook Arts Project. I AM NOT OK, starring danc-

Find in the City

SHORT SHORTS:

BY STAR-REVUE STAFF

(continued from previous page)

er/choreographer Pat Hall and dancer Dahsir Hausif, powerfully portrays the fear, outrage, and pent-up anger that came to symbolize a global movement to end anti-Black racism. For more information and to view the trailer for I AM NOT OK, please visit Gabrielle Lansner I AM NOT OK. For more information on The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, please visit: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/brooklynartists-exhibitions-2024.

ILA strike

On October 1st, dockworkers all over the East Coast went on strike. Locally this meant that shipping at the Red Hook Container Terminal was suspended because Local 1814 went on strike. The national union issued the following statement: Even though the ILA’s members worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure that the nation’s commerce flowed and continue to sacrifice time with their own families so that goods can arrive in the homes of other families throughout: the world, still, due to corporate greed, employers refuse to compensate the ILA’s members fairly. Over the last several years, the net revenues of these companies have grown astronomically

from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars while the ILA member’s wage increases do not even cover the cost of inflation. The ILA is fighting for respect, appreciation, and fairness in a world in which corporations are dead set on replacing hardworking people with automation. Employers push automation under the guise of safety, but it is really about cutting labor costs to increase their already exceptionally high profits. As the last six years have demonstrated, automation cannot outperform the skilled men and women of the ILA. Automation of our nations’ ports should be a concern for everyone; the truth is, robots do not pay taxes, and they do not spread money in their communities. The ILA will continue to fight until its members receive the fair contract they deserve.

LETTERS to the Editor:

On the Brooklyn Marine Terminal

Great writeup, George. If, and when implemented I think the project will be transformational for the area and surrounding neighborhood. However, I hope part of the plan includes giving residents of the NYC Housing the option to purchase their units if they can afford to. — Olefumi Falebita, Boerum Hill

Takes issue with Dante

THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR was never banned; never suppressed. It played at movie theatres and driveins, on a regular basis and on a sporadic basis, for 11 years. It had its best run between 1973 and 1976; and then from 1977 onwards, it would play at a theatre or drive-in here and there throughout the United States until 1984. After that, an occasional screening at non-theatrical venues; including colleges and film festivals. — Tim O'Neill

The G line

Completion of the G train upgrade could result in expanded service opportunities beyond the future introduction of full length eight or ten car trains. From 2001 to 2010, the G train ran overnight and weekends between

Brooklyn and Forest Hills. 2010 Budget cuts ended this service ended.  As a result, the G train terminated in Long Island City.

In Brooklyn, G line service could be extended beyond Church Avenue south to Kings Highway or Coney Island Stillwell Avenue Terminal.  This could also support reintroduction of F line express service on the middle third track AM peak Manhattan bound and PM peak Coney Island bound.

The G line Fulton Street train station is only several blocks from the Atlantic Avenue/Barclay Center LIRR/ NYC Transit subway station complex.  A simple underground passageway could be constructed.  This could provide a direct indoor connection to the G line from the 2,3,4 & 5 IRT; B, D, N, Q & R BMT subway lines along with the Flatbush Avenue Long Island Rail Road Station.

Implementation would enhance the commuting experience and provide additional service options for current G line Hunters Point, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, BedfordStuyvesant, Fort Green, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Park Slope along with thousands more potential new Brooklyn and Queens subway riders with a one seat rider without having to change trains. — Larry Penner

Local strikers at Hamilton and Van Brunt on October 1. (photo by George Fiala)

BROOKLYN MARINE TERMINAL NEWS

Perspective: Sticky notes and Brooklyn Bread welcomed at BMT meeting

by Katherine Rivard

On September 28, despite drizzling rain, the Miccio Center was packed at midday for a meeting about the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Red Hook residents, members of the press, and elected officials scrambled into the senior center’s gym to: grab a coffee and a pastry or sandwich (provided by Brooklyn Bread); grill members of the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and WXY Studio (WXY), EDC’s designated contractor for community engagement on the project; and add their opinions to posters and maps about the project.

Reset, Slow Down, Listen

Outside the center’s entrance, the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Neighbors Alliance—a newly formed activist group concerned about the project— tabled, asking individuals to subscribe to their mailing list and sign a petition to slow down the project. Earlier in the morning, a tan Escalade was parked on Degraw Street, with the group’s tagline written in white on the SUV’s glass: “Reset, Slow Down, Listen!”

The workshop consisted of different stations dotting the perimeter of the gym. Each station was manned by a representative from EDC or WXY. The stations began with an overview of the project, much of which had been covered in the previous month’s information session. The stated vision for Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) “is a generational opportunity to reimagine the site with a modern maritime port at its core and mixed-uses, including housing and community amenities.”

Next, attendees were welcomed to share their priorities for the project. Each attendee received two stickers to place on images that corresponded

to their preferred priorities. The proposed priorities ranged from public parks and open space (very popular!) to job training (not popular!).

Transportation a concern

Another station covered the planning process for the project, and allowed attendees to pose questions they had for the advisory groups via post-its. Many questions focused on transportation concerns and how the project would take into account the on-

was not wanted, primarily housing or more traffic.

For their part, EDC and WXY have created a clear process with many opportunities for feedback, and yet they cannot seem to calm residents’ concerns about being heard, and about high-rises filling the site. Regarding the former problem, a solution is not clear. If community workshops, feedback sessions, a task force made up of various types of local stakeholders,

"With the city-led redevelopment of BMT, there is an opportunity for the community to request as much affordable housing as possible, but it will not come without a compromise."

going BQE project and traffic. Some of the questions on the post-its were a bit confusing. “How do neighbors directly impacted have their voices heard?” one person asked, while attending one of the very public workshops meant to allow neighbors to give feedback. Other questions were relevant to the neighborhood, but not quite relevant to this project or EDC, like one about stopping the preponderance of last mile delivery operations in Red Hook.

In the center of the room, giant maps of the project site were laid out on tables so that residents could place mini-posts with their ideas for specific parts of the site. What did the community want? New parks, dog parks, and maybe even some indoor pools. But in addition to ideas, the map contained many notes focused on what

and public surveys do not sufficiently allow residents to voice their concerns and opinions, what will?

Housing is necessary

High-rises, on the other hand, are a legitimate concern. One attendee stated that they did not want multimillion dollar apartments on the site; in response, an EDC representative noted that housing is necessary for the city at every price point (a true, but not so consoling response).

While the city is desperate for more housing at every income level (which leads to greater affordability), one might quickly rebut that multi-million dollar apartments are usually not housing at all, as much as they are real estate investments. Meanwhile, while the city needs affordable housing most, it is often hand-tied in provid-

ing it, with few carrots to offer developers; with the city-led redevelopment of BMT, there is an opportunity for the community to request as much affordable housing as possible, but it will not come without a compromise. The truth is—it’s rare for anyone to want more housing built nearby. After all, more housing means more traffic, more noise, an altered look of the neighborhood, and the potential for gentrification. Housing in the neighborhood will either be an altruistic decision to fight the city’s housing crunch, or an economic one, motivated by the potential for developers to help make this piece of waterfront shine, like they have in Domino Park or Brooklyn Bridge Park. Whether or not the community and task force include housing among the final list of recommendations for the area, the biggest obstacle for a brilliant BMT is not the quick process or lack of input, but rather an opposition group that spends so much time saying “no” to the project, that they run out of time to participate. The project will likely move forward. Let’s hope it does so with the countless unique ideas residents can dream up for Red Hook, and not just the laundry list of changes they don’t want to see.

BROOKLYN MARINE TERMINAL NEWS

Community shows up at first BMT public workshop

by Oscar Fock

After years of talk and several failed attempts, it seems that the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) will finally get a long-overdue facelift. In May this year, the city traded a container terminal on Staten Island to the Port Authority for 122 acres along the Red Hook waterfront. The plan is to transform the Brooklyn Marine Terminal into “an asset for modern maritime jobs and vibrant mixed-use community hub,” according to the city. What this entails exactly is yet to be determined and will be decided by a task force of elected officials, unions, waterfront stakeholders, Brooklyn businesses, workforce development, the adjacent community and the maritime industry. If all goes well, the task force will have a master plan ready in early 2025.

Input from the community will be an essential part of the planning process, according to the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which leads the project on behalf of the city. While the truth in that claim has been called into question, the EDC is holding a pair of public workshops for community members to share with the task force what they want to see in what they call this “21st century maritime port and mixed-use community.” The first workshop was held in Red Hook on Saturday, Sept. 28, and although it remains to be seen how much the community’s wishes will actually count in the end, Red Hook residents, local business owners and others interested in the future of the New York Harbor made sure that their questions, concerns and wishes would at least be recorded.

Color coded sticky notes

It was illuminating to review the hundreds of sticky notes attached to the maps and poster boards set up on the second floor of the Miccio Center. On one board, attendees were asked to share their priorities, choosing between areas like housing, climate resilience, truck traffic and maritime job growth. Based on the colored stickers — the colors signified your affiliation to the neighborhood: green for Red

Hook residents, purple for people living in the surrounding communities, blue for Brooklyn Marine Terminal workers, orange for those working in the area, and brown for everyone else

"The redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal is a massive and complex undertaking, where hot-button issues like a citywide housing shortage, flood risk, air pollution, blue-collar job preservation and historic injustices intersect."

— truck traffic was a top priority for many; as was public parks and open space.

One thing in particular stood out, however: Neighbors do not want Red Hook to look like Williamsburg.

Post-it notes with “NO HIGHRISES,” “NOT (sic.) BUILDING GIANT GLASS CONDOS,” “No new highrises,” and “Why housing in an industrial flood zone?” had been placed on the board, highlighting the fear that some community members have that the Red Hook waterfront will be offered up to the city’s big real estate developers.

Climate resilience and sustainability were also frequent topics of conversation among attendees. Some post-it notes asked that adequate flood protection be prioritized, and Dr. Michael

Menser, associate professor at CUNY and co-director of the NYC Climate Justice Hub, hoped that the redevelopment of the marine terminal would be an example of a just transition.

Social justice

“How do we go to a more resilient renewable energy future in a way that enhances the opportunities of frontline communities who often get excluded?” said Menser, who also sits on the “waterfront, environmental justice, resilience” advisory group to the BMT task force.

“How do you empower them and also bridge to the new economy that will promote renewable energy, reduce emissions, adapt to the new climate and address the racial injustices in the past, bringing that all together in one project? You can really do that in Red Hook.”

Process is too rushed

Some community members at the workshop, while hopeful, were worried about the pace of the planning. The redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal is a massive and complex undertaking, where hotbutton issues like a citywide housing shortage, flood risk, air pollution, blue-collar job preservation and historic injustices intersect, and several people noted that the timeline for the project seems overly optimistic and rushed. Cindy, donning a bike helmet as she crisscrossed the Miccio Center’s floor, said that she feared things would be missed because the project was moving so fast.

Not really a workshop

For much of the three hours that the public workshop — which was more of an open house than a workshop — the space was filled with people curious about the future of Red Hook’s waterfront.

“There’s a lot of conversations happening, connection happening among the community, which is nice to see, although it doesn’t feel that effective for finding consensus and talking about the deeper issues at play in this situation,” said Eve Marenghi, a

Red Hook resident. She, like Cindy, had concerns about the timeline. “The best case scenario is that the people in charge of this process decide to slow it down so that we can foster deeper community engagement and create spaces where we can connect with each other and listen to each other and have more focused conversations where we get to the heart of how people feel.”

Mikelle Adgate, senior vice president in charge of government and community relations at the EDC, explained that the task force will get to make the final decision on how the city and state move forward on the redevelopment of the marine terminal. “And so that means that not just our elected officials, but neighborhood and resident organizations, industrial maritime organizations and community development groups, who represent such a wide variety of stakeholders across all of these neighborhoods, will be in the trenches with us as we’re learning about the site conditions, the feasibility analysis, the market analysis, all of those things. And ultimately, they will have the sign-off on that vision plan,” she said.

Toxic vapors not necessarily bad says Health Dept.

by Oscar Fock

Parents, community members and state officials gathered in the gymnasium of P.S. 372 — the Children’s School — in Gowanus on Thursday, Sept. 19, for a presentation from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health on the agencies’ soil vapor intrusion investigation, which began last year.

In September 2023, the state launched a Gowanus-wide investigation to uncover how widespread the issue of soil vapor intrusion is in the neighborhood. The first round of testing, con-

ducted during the 2023-2024 heating season, was done in 113 buildings across Gowanus, and it revealed 15 cases where the levels of toxic vapors were so high that the buildings required mitigation.

Ahead of the second round of monitoring, which will happen during the 2024-2025 heating season, the DEC and the DOH called the community to an availability session where Gowanus residents and other concerned New Yorkers could ask agency representatives about the results from the 2023/2024 sampling report.

The meeting drew a crowd to the Children’s School, itself a site connected to the soil vapor intrusion investigation, as it was recently revealed that elevated levels of petroleum-related vapors had been found in the school’s basement.

No expectations

But ahead of the presentation, community members didn’t exactly exude confidence in what the DEC and DOH would deliver.

“Low,” one parent said and laughed sardonically when asked about her

“

expectations for the night. The parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, had just moved to the neighborhood when she heard about the benzene vapors in the school’s basement. Her son had just begun his first semester in P.S. 372. “Not a fun start, but hopefully, it gets resolved sooner rather than later,” she said.

The presentation was primarily held by the environmental conservation department’s Aaron Fischer and the health department’s Scarlett Messier-McLaughlin. Fischer, the project manager, focused on how the monitoring was conducted and gave insight into how the state agency works with property owners. Notably, mitigation systems for buildings with vapor levels over the state’s guidelines are offered at no cost.

Messier-McLaughlin followed and tried to ease concerns over the health risks of living in a building with toxic vapors in the indoor air. “No substance can harm you unless you come in contact with it. And if you do come in contact with something, it doesn’t mean a health effect will occur,” she said. She explained how the Department of Health sets its guidelines for acceptable limits of toxic vapors in indoor air and how the agency evaluates results from soil vapor intrusion monitoring. She highlighted the DOH’s decision matrices as essential guides for responding to elevated levels of harmful fumes. She clarified that the limits set by the agency for when mitigation is required are set conservatively and are below the amounts required for people to experience health effects. Messier-McLaughlin also noted that chemicals are a part of our lives. “There’s a lot of people who don’t want any chemicals in the air. That’s not practical. It’s not even possible, necessarily, to have zero chemicals in the indoor air for some of these analyses. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that there are health effects associated with it,” she said.

Following the presentation, questions submitted by the audience were answered by DEC and DOH representatives. As expected, many were concerned with the toxic air in the Children’s School. Heidi-Marie Dudek, DEC section chief at the Division of Environmental Remediation, explained that a design for the mitigation system that will be placed in the school’s basement is nearly complete. However, she added, the system won’t likely be installed before Christmas, and the agency is currently aiming for early 2025.

If you live outside the area subject to the investigation, you may still be able to get your building tested, the DEC announced. However, it depends on how close you live to the boundaries of the designated area, and the decision lies with the state.

The two state agencies provided plenty of important information and clarifications, giving the community some much-needed answers. But they also (continued on next page)

The city now wants blue highways. Jim Tampakis has advocated for it for years

New York City is remaking the Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a waterfront fit for the 21st century. One plan the city has for the marine terminal is to act as a hub for its “blue highways” initiative, an effort to move some freight from the streets to the city’s waterways. 120,000 trucks pass through the city each day, with many of them going through Red Hook. The City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) leads the effort and plans to renovate several piers where barges can drop off packages to small vans and e-cargo bikes that do the “last mile” deliveries. The project is still in its early stages, and renovation of the piers won’t begin until late 2025.

Too many trucks

Today, trucks move nearly 90% of all freight in New York City, according to the EDC, significantly more than the 70% national average. The Blue Highways initiative also falls short of adequately addressing the city’s issues with truck traffic, according to some experts. Yet, the fact that the city is exploring increased use of water transport could indicate that local officials are beginning to see the benefits of getting trucks off the road.

For some community members, using boats to transport Amazon packages and HelloFresh food boxes is not exactly a novel idea, however. Jim Tampakis, owner of Marine Spares International, has worked in the maritime industry for decades and advocated for increased use of the city’s waters for nearly as long.

“We would bring in the containers — let’s say from New Jersey or Pennsylvania because that’s where the majority are coming from — via water, unload them in the Red Hook marine terminals. Then, we have the freight broken down, and then it goes out again via water with smaller boats that go and do deliveries along New York City’s 520 miles of waterfront. Then they’re collected and delivered to people via bicycle,” Tampakis explained.

TOXIC VAPORS

(continued from previous page)

left the audience with a few headscratchers.

“Good news is, we didn’t see nearly as much contamination as one might expect from an over a hundred-yearold industrial area. It’s not everywhere. It seems to be small, isolated areas,” Dudek said when asked if any patterns had emerged from the first round of the investigation. This claim is somewhat puzzling, given that only about one of six buildings included in the first phase were tested. Several buildings along the Gowanus Canal currently under the state’s brown-

Interview with Oscar Fock

The city’s five boroughs receive about 2.3 million packages each day — over 3.5 million if you also count groceries and prepared food, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Freight Systems revealed in 2022. That’s a lot of packages. Tampakis be-

"On the piers over here in the Red Hook harbor, when we bring in these containers, we could put in a few additional buildings because we have a lot of space there. One building could possibly be a sorting facility."

lieves the city can take advantage of this through a package tax, as a way to fund the transition from road to water transport. Charging 25 cents per package means the city could pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars every day, he said.

Package tax could help the environment

“If you’re ordering your toothpaste online and it costs $6.25 to have it delivered, an additional 25 cents — is it a big killer? I don’t think so,” he said.

Tampakis is teeming with ideas for how to give Red Hook a blue — and green — future. “On the piers over here in the Red Hook harbor, when we bring in these containers, we could

field cleanup program, have also been found to have significantly elevated levels of harmful vapors.

After the meeting, Patrick Foster, deputy commissioner of environmental remediation and materials management at the DEC, clarified the claim, explaining, “We haven’t found any concerning hot spots during the first phase beyond what we already understood.”

He wants more properties to be part of the study, he said but admitted that there is a belief that the monitoring could uncover information that would affect property values.

Since this summer, when information about toxic soil vapors became known

put in a few additional buildings because we have a lot of space there,” he said. “One building could possibly be a sorting facility. This way, a piece of it goes to Amazon, a piece of it goes to UPS, a piece of it goes here, a piece of it goes there. We can have all of this freight coming in, and it’s all concentrated, and then it can, in turn, go out via these electrified, smaller ferry boats and do the last-mile deliveries. It would come into the terminal via water and go out again via water.”

A core pillar of Tampakis’s vision is sustainability. After all, what’s the point of improving air quality by taking emission-spewing trucks off the roads if the alternative, the water transport, also runs on polluting fossil fuels?

Solar power

“We don’t want to pollute,” he said. “I think all the buildings should have solar panels. Put solar panels on the roofs so that we can set up charging stations for the tugboats and the delivery boats.” There are already companies like Crowley Maritime, he continued, that have electric tugboats. (The green-transition startup Amogy, located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, has a tugboat that runs on ammonia and is emission-free.)

“When these guys are coming alongside, and they’re unloading the containers, well, they’re there for two hours or an hour, and they can plug in and recharge from the solar panels and then just leave and not have any kind of pollution footprint. That would be a beautiful thing,” Tampakis explained.

But as a seasoned advocate for water transport in New York, Tampakis knows all too well that it is a city, despite being surrounded by water, that is wary of it.

“It’s the lack of knowledge and understanding. I spoke in 2018 or 2019 to the city council, and I explained all of this. And everybody is scratching their heads, saying,’ I don’t know about the water.’ Meanwhile, in Europe, go to France, go to Belgium, go

to the larger public, many community members have criticized the environmental conservation department for not securing the health of the community long-term. Foster said the soil vapor mitigation systems can run for “a long time,” and they will warn the user if they malfunction. He added that the community can trust that the agency adequately protects public health in Gowanus. “We do these types of cleanups all throughout the state of New York. We’ve been doing them for decades. We are experts at them, and we are very confident that our regulations and our standards that we hold everybody to when they are doing a cleanup under one of our programs are sufficient for the protec-

here, go there. They use their waterways all the time, and they use them wisely. The problem that we have here is that people have to believe in the water again.”

On Sept. 19, EDC announced the members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force —  a diverse group of stakeholders, including community leaders and local business owners, elected officials and climate justice advocates — which early next year will decide on the future of the marine terminal. And Jim Tampakis is on it. Despite the city’s recent history of trepidation toward utilizing the water, he views the redevelopment as an opportunity to chart a new course.

Embrace the water

“Right now, what we need to do is focus on the BMT for what it was and what it is — a Brooklyn maritime terminal. We’re not building something for the short term here. We’re creating a whole new network, just the way Robert Moses, 90 years ago, created the highway system, and it became part of our lives. That’s what we want to do here. This is going to be the first step

tion of public health and the environment.”

Some Gowanus residents were not convinced by the state’s presentation, however.

Developers should pay

“It did take a lot of pressure from the community to have them do this testing, and we had to push for that to happen, and I think they realized it needed to happen,” said Joan SalomeRodriguez, a member of the Gowanus Community Advisory Group. “But my concerns are that they’re always picking this easier, cheaper alternative. I don’t care if a developer has to pay $10 million more, honestly, to really make it clean.”

Jim Tampakis (photo by Erik Frankel)

INSIGHT: This is not Cupid's arrow

by Joe Enright

On a beautiful late summer evening in Windsor Terrace some two hundred people jammed into the Holy Name auditorium just off Prospect Avenue to air their grievances. The sounding board on this occasion was Community Board 7, mandated by the New York City Charter to solicit comments from residents about the proposed upzoning of a large oddly-shaped section of land a block west, occupied since 1978 by the Arrow Linen Supply Company.

In 2003 Arrow signed a 25 year property tax reduction deal worth $895,000 with the City’s Economic Development Corp and employed an average of 200 sorters, washers, pressers, and drivers there. But at last count, there’s very few left since Arrow moved its business to a new Garden City plant in 2014, leaving Prospect Avenue to serve mainly as a depot for its trucks. Anyway, there are likely very few tears being shed by Arrow employees over the exodus to Nassau County, given that a dozen of them sued the owners, the brothers John and Sal Magliocco, in Brooklyn federal court for failure to pay overtime and minimum hourly wages.

No matter. For the past three years, Arrow has been frying much bigger fish, meeting with all sorts of City officials seeking support for a grand rezoning plan that would enable it to sell its property at a maximum profit. Of course, they could’ve sold it already for eight figures to some developer happy to build a bunch of three story apartment buildings, joining all the others on the block, because that’s exactly what the present zoning allows as of right. But by spending a million dollars on lobbyists, attorneys, consultants, architects, developers and what-have-you’s to push for rezoning, they’re hoping to reach that nine figure nirvana sales price. Why settle for 10 or 20 million bucks when you can screw everybody and make 100 million? DUH. This is New York, bub, wake up.

Arrow has found a receptive climate among office holders for its plan to build two 13 story towers – which will

probably grow to 19 stories if the City of Yes Magila gets passed this Fall. They’ve engaged a developer with no pertinent experience (charter schools are their niche) and as a departing shock to the rest of the block, their bizarre property footprint required the 11 neighboring three story buildings to be included in its upzoning proposal as well. Here’s a tip: be sure to attend Community Board meetings to find out if your building or block is being upzoned this month. Upzoning is really cool nowadays. Given the appetite to build-build-build, you can upzone damn near anything if your City Council Member agrees. All you need is an effective PR machine to babble constantly about affordable housing, drape every new realty initiative to

"By spending a million dollars on lobbyists, attorneys, consultants, architects, developers and what-have-you’s to push for rezoning, they’re hoping to reach that nine figure nirvana sales price."

hired an audio visual guy but he didn’t show up”); fix the mic (“we can’t hear you!”); and take the roll call (“16 out of 30, we have a quorum”), so I wandered around the SRO crowd, hearing tidbits here and there about the Arrow family’s mob history (open source confirms the CEO and President are the son and grandson of a Colombo Family captain, Ambrogio Magliocco, who himself was the brother of “Fat Joe” Giuseppe Magliocco, former head of the Profaci Family). “More than laundry gets laundered there,” someone snickered, followed by a reply of “Did they make the electeds an offer they can’t refuse?”

the 400-1 lottery for one of the affordable scraps thrown in!” And “I’m sick of being priced out of this community, so let’s build towers of unaffordable apartments in the hope that the price of real estate will eventually go down!”

A couple of folks denied any affiliation and started addressing the crowd as “You people!” – probably recent graduates from the Open New York Finishing School needing more training.

Is there a limit?

City Planning as a way to combat the housing crisis, feed the downtrodden youth with progressive academic treatises, and dismiss as old, rich, entitled NIMBY namby-pambies all those who want to lower the temperature and slow things down a little to preserve the essential ingredient that makes Brooklyn such a great place to live: our wonderfully unique neighborhoods. Which brings us back to Holy Name. Early arrivals for the 6:30 pm confab noticed rows of 30-somethings up near the front bearing drab green signs reading, “I Support Building Homes.” They were outnumbered by 50-to60-somethings displaying glossy “Housing Not Highrises” handouts. It took a half hour for the Community Board to set up a projector (“we

“Quiet, please!” The Board’s Chair made an announcement (“the Catholic Charities proposal to build two 8 story towers of 100% affordable housing was rejected by the owners”), and then the owner’s attorney showed slides of the beauteous 13 story towers (75% unaffordable) flanking the 11 doomed row houses and their rent-stabilized tenants, with a beauteous garden pathway in the rear connecting the hundreds of residents who will be traipsing back and forth behind those 11 houses. But only until their owners yield to hedge fund offers and perhaps even larger beauteous towers will emerge, although by then, there won’t be anyone left to bamboozle and they can just build the usual ugly aluminum & glass hulks. Then the ultimate power broker here, Council Member Shahana Hanif, stepped to the podium to announce she couldn’t reveal her true feelings about the proposal yet but by golly, 16 stories would be a story too tall!

And Assemblyman Bobby Carroll got a rousing ovation as the only elected who felt “the character of a neighborhood still mattered,” offering 9 story all-affordable solutions, a proposal subsequent advocates scoffed at for not “penciling out,” if I may borrow a phrase from the realty journals I subscribe to now for early warnings about possible nightclubs slated to open on my neighbor’s roof.

At 7:30 pm the parade of speakers started and it went something like this: For every two opponents (“This will displace the tenants in the row houses!” and “These luxury apartments will drive up the prices in neighboring areas!”), there was a member of the fat-cat-developer-funded lobbying group, Open New York for Housing, complaining: “I can’t afford to live here, so let’s build more unaffordable housing and maybe I’ll win

One has to wonder at what height will a residential tower be considered ridiculous by housing advocates? Hanif said 15 is her limit, but that’s on a block consisting of 3 story houses. What about blocks with 8 story apartments houses? Would that make erection of 100 story buildings next door fine and dandy because everybody’s drunk on the development industry Kool-Aid (Brand Name: “Knock It All Down and Build-Baby-Build!”).

Well, a week later Arrow Linen lost the first round when Community Board 7 voted 30 to 6 to reject the rezoning for now, requiring Arrow to “do further community engagement with Windsor Terrace residents.” Apparently the Board’s Land Use Committee was (GASP!) shocked, SHOCKED I say, to learn that the Arrow team had been doing some private outreach and hard lobbying of individual Board members and electeds. So look for new proposals to top their towers out…18 if City of Yes passes and 12 if it doesn’t? 17 and 11?? How about 9 and call it a day, Arrow? Or Arrow could just say screw all this and erect as of right 3 story buildings with a combined max of 94 units, all market rate. Quite a comedown from 250 to 300 units. Stay tuned. New York has the densest population in America. Yet, 70,000 apartments sit vacant, most warehoused by landlords awaiting gravy train developments, while the enormous stock of NYCHA apartments are under-served and under-maintained. Thousands of luxury and market-rate apartments sit empty year-round as money laundering parking spots for the elites. And we think more market-rate developments in prime neighborhoods will somehow reduce rents? Here’s an idea: if we don’t preserve our neighborhoods, nobody will want to live here anymore. Then we can become the East Coast version of Detroit and in the years to come, the academicians can explain how it was all because of old, entitled rich white folks who didn’t care enough to save what was truly irreplaceable.

The Community Board meeting discussing Arrow's plan.

Nick Forker teaches comics at our temporary library

Our temporary library on Van Brunt Street (as you know, our regular library has been deconstructed for the time being) has many classes and events every month and one regular one is Comic Book Drawing Class with Mr. Nick which takes place on Tuesdays from 3 pm to 4:30 pm. Nick Forker is originally from Chicago and has been interested in art since he was little.

“I like to think that everyone draws, and I mean every single human being, but for some reason, they stop,” Forker said. “I just never stopped. I still draw every day, all the time.”

Forker started off as a chess tutor. While he enjoyed chess, art was still his passion.

“Before the pandemic, I worked with an art company that assigned art teachers to underserved communities,” Forker said. “That company was called Project Art and my assign-

A Carroll Gardens

pizza icon remembered

by Brian Abate

Family, friends, and neighbors gathered to mourn Onofrio Gaudioso at Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church on September 9. Born in 1941, Gaudioso was remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and a true gentleman.

Gaudioso and his brother-in-law

John Teutonico became the owners of House of Pizza and Calzone 132 Union St. in 1963.

“We are here not because Onofrio died but because he lived,” said Monsignor Guy Massie. “He created a family and relationships.

“I don’t believe in coincidences and we’re doing this the day after a celebration that Onofrio was a part of and loved.”

The Procession for Maria SS. Addolorata through Carroll Gardens took place on September 8. “As we walk where Saint Mother Cabrini once ministered, we honor the immigrant stories that have shaped our community,” said an excerpt from the church about the celebration.

Gaudioso’s granddaughter, Victoria Teutonico gave a touching speech.

“Our Nonno was a man who touched each of our lives in a unique and lasting way,” she said. “To many of you, he was a Union Street legend, a loyal friend, a caring uncle, a devoted father, a loving brother, and most of all an endearing husband.

“But to us, he was the absolutely best Nonno: letting us make a mess in the kitchen making calzones and pizza, taking us to the candy store down the block, showing us how to garden, bringing us to the park, convincing us to try the most outrageous food, letting us prank him and being the best sport about it, giving us massages, giv-

by Brian Abate

ment was the Red Hook Public Library. Then the pandemic happened and I think the company folded but I went back to the library and said ‘We should do this again.’ So after that, we started it back up.

“Teaching comic book drawing was just a natural fit with the graphic novels that the library has. I decided I want to teach drawing through the lens of visual storytelling.”

During the pandemic, Forker continued teaching art but he had to do so over Zoom. Before the temporary library opened, he continued the program at places such as Pioneer Works.

Forker said that despite the many changes in location he was able to keep a core group of students.

“One of my favorite things about teaching is when you’re teaching new material to a student and you see that light bulb go on for them,” Forker said. “Those 'aha moments' are so great. It’s

ing us the craziest remedies of injuries: if you have a burn, rub a banana peel on it or the universal cure of eating a lemon.”

Gaudioso immigrated from Mola Di Bari, Italy, and worked at the pizza place on Union St., which was then called Simone’s. He and John Teutonico purchased the pizza place in 1963 and changed the name. The spot became known for its fried calzone.

The calzone originated from the Apuglia region on the eastern coast in southern Italy where the two boys hailed from. Traditionally fried and stuffed with cheeses and meats, the calzone was a perfect complement at the time to the still relatively new food concept called pizza. Both items possessed the characteristics necessary for the working class folk who lived and worked in the area; minimal prep time, portability, and most importantly, it was relatively inexpensive. There have been many elderly customers who continuously remind me that they used to get pizza here for only $0.10 a slice! And calzones were only a quarter! says the House of Pizza website.

A great job

Paul Diagostino and Gino Vitale took over as owners of House of Pizza and Calzone in 2004 and said that the brothers stayed in touch and would stop by, especially right after the sale. “They did a great job,” Diagostino said. “They maintained a very viable business for over 50 years with just three main items which were pizza, calzone, and zeppole.

“When I was starting out they noticed that I was taking notes on how they prepared the sauce, the dough, and the cheese. Onofrio asked what I was writing down and when I told him he asked ‘Do you want to do what we do?’ I said ‘Yes, it’s worked for you for 50 years and I’d be crazy to change it.’

“From then on, Onofrio and the other

also very fulfilling and I know it’s the best way to spend my time.”

In addition to his work as a teacher, Forker made a mural on the front gate of the restaurant Breakfast by Salt’s Cure at 368 Court Street.

“It’s a cloud mural and I’m hoping to get more businesses on Court St. to let me paint their gates because I want to do more cloud murals and call it Clouds on Court St.,” Forker said. “I could do unique ones for every business and I think it would be really cool.”

Forker also has a comics appreciation YouTube channel called Comics People NYC.

Comic Book Drawing with Mr. Nick will take place every Tuesday in October from 3 - 4:30 pm.

Other library events include Resume and Cover Letter Assistance which will take place on Oct. 10 and 24 from 2 to 3 pm, Kids Create which will take place every

owner John really took me by the hand and helped me. I think before that, they figured the new guy was going to come in and do whatever he wanted. At the very beginning, I just wanted to continue the tradition of what they did for all those decades.”

Diagostino believes that people in the neighborhood appreciate that House of Pizza and Calzone has kept that tradition going and they are also grateful for the work of Gaudioso and Teutonico. “Onofrio was a true gentleman,” Dia-

Thursday in October from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm, Ezra Jack Keats Story and Craft which will take place Oct. 7 and 21 from 3:30 pm-4:30 pm, Teen DIY which will take place on Oct. 9 and 23 from 3 pm to 4 pm, Stomp, Clap, and Sing with Miss Suzi which will take place on Oct. 21 from 10:30 am to 11:30 am, and Thrillers & Chillers: A Reading Series which will take place on Oct. 29 from 6 pm to 8 pm.

From the Star-Revue archives - Mary Ann Pietanza writes about Onofrio back in our November 2015 issue

I was invited to several of the club’s celebratory events over the past several months. I was not surprised by the friendliness, caliber and congeniality of the members. There was no evidence of rank among them, whether they were cooking, playing cards or debating issues. There was no telling who was the retired longshoreman or who was the judge.

I connected with some members on a more personal level when I became involved with a garden project that allowed me to visit some members homes. This was especially meaningful since my own father was a gardener and a farmer. Here is where I was able to get a glimpse into the modest yet accomplished lives of these life-loving immigrants whose generosity to their families and friends was overwhelming.

As a native of Red Hook, I was guilty myself of not understanding the mysteries of the club’s mysterious facade. Despite having half Molese bloodline, spending every summer’s end at the Festa della Madonna as a child, attending St. Stephen’s Church and even attending one or two Miss Mola dances with my Molese friends, the nameless men whom I passed by for years as I walked on Court Street remained elusive to me.

But thinking about it, many of the establishments that as Red Hookers came to love, were owned by these members. The House of Pizza and Calzone on Union Street, renowned for their Baresi calzones made with cheese and ham, and deep fried until golden brown, was owned by members Onofrio Gaudioso and John Teutonico.

gostino said. “That’s what everyone who comes in here says. People loved him around here.”

DEP, EPA propose alternatives for next phase of Gowanus CSO tank construction

by Oscar Fock

In early August, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced they had finished the first phase of the construction of the combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank that will sit between the Gowanus Canal and Nevins Street. This phase, which included building a deep underground concrete perimeter around the site, has been a source of concern for neighbors for months, as noxious odors have evaporated from the excavated soil. In our last issue, we wrote about an email thread between Gowanus residents, agency representatives and elected officials, detailing how questions have gone unanswered, promises have fallen through and frustration has grown.

Because of the criticism of the handling of the first phase, which did not receive any community input prior to work starting, the DEP and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attended the most recent Gowanus Community Advisory Group (CAG)

meeting to share with the community the options for phase two.

After setting the concrete walls, DEP, the agency in charge of construction (under EPA oversight), plans to excavate the lot to make room for the tank. The city agency claims less contaminated soil will be excavated this time as the digging won’t go as deep as during the first phase. Still, several community members have expressed concern over how phase two will impact the neighborhood. Some have, therefore, asked for a tent to be erected over the site to keep odors from escaping into the neighborhood. A tent covering the entire site is not a viable option, however, according to EPA Remedial Project Manager Thomas Mongelli. It would add 25 months to the current timeline of 10 months for phase two and incur an additional $90 million in costs, based on DEP estimates. The equipment needed to ventilate the tent and clean the air “would not physically fit within the footprint of the site,” said Mongelli. Similarly, a moveable tent would delay the project almost 2.5 years and cost $91 million more than the DEP’s current plan, which does not include a tent. Covering the southern half — the half with the most contaminated soil

— is not as expensive as the other two and would only add 19 months to the current timeline. All three options, Mongelli noted, would reduce odors but likely not eliminate them. Finally, the fourth option to the base plan would be to accelerate the schedule without a tent. This option has the greatest risk of odor impacts but would make the second phase four months shorter than initially estimated. It would mean that about 1,500 tons of dirt would have to be shipped off via truck every day, which is realistic, said Kevin Clarke, portfolio manager at the DEP.

John Prince, deputy director at EPA Region 2, clarified following Mongelli’s presentation that the estimates of additional time and costs are not to be taken as fact. “Don’t take the timeframes as gospel, and don’t take the costs as gospel. They’re the best the city can do to approximate what the cost additions would be to implement these options,” he said. Prince added that getting the work done so that sewage is kept out of the canal is also important.

The alternatives are still being evaluated and no decision has been made, said Mongelli, indicating that the community, while it has now had the chance to see the different potential routes, will have no say in what plan is chosen. This was not met with a lot of enthusiasm from community members. “The notion that somehow decisions will be made on one of these four options without consulting the community is, quite honestly, shocking. Shocking,” said Dr. Hildegaard Link.

The EPA’s plan is to hold another meeting where the different options are presented to the community in more detail, but the federal agency’s representatives at the CAG meeting did not say when that would be.

I went to the Brooklyn Ice House and got people talking about who they’re going to vote for by assuring them that I’m breaking with tradition and not using any names this time.

Chatting up a couple of people at the bar between bites of pulled pork:

You’re planning to vote, right?

“Well, I can tell you that three days before Joe Biden passed the torch I went online and bought a lawn sign even though I don’t have a lawn, and it said Willie for President. I love Willie Nelson and I felt we need a young voice for a change…”

Yeah, well Willie has a young spirit. So you’re not real happy with the two candidates we already have?

“I am happy now. I’m voting for Kamala. I not only respect her but I think she’s a good person. She’s a good person to be in charge of the country.”

How about you? What are your feelings?

I’m not talking about politics in a bar. It’s inappropriate. Oh, come on. This is the Ice House. Everything is appropriate.

“Well, I like Ike. I’ve always liked Ike.”

I get that. Eisenhower said something very wise.

“He warned us about the military industrial complex. He downsized the military more than any other president. And he was a five-star general.”

Some beer drinkers at the front picnic table:

“I’m voting Democrat. It’s the obvious choice in our circumstances.”

“We’re battling for the soul of America. In four years we wouldn’t recognize what America is under another Trump White house.”

What do you guys envision taking place?

“Dystopia! Do you know the movie Wolverines?”

“I was gonna say Robocop!”

“My wife is English and we’ve been contemplating moving to England. We own a home in Atlanta and we want to have a child. It will be a geriatric pregnancy. And with the laws they want to put forth on IVF and women’s health if we got into trouble you know, anything could happen to her. Like, they’re talking about tracking you down to another state if you want to have an abortion…It’s a shame that they’re putting forth all these rules that hate on women.”

“Conservative deep cuts!”

“Deep cuts?”

“It’s a term from old LP culture. It’s like a great song that

wasn’t made for radio play.”

“So for example, a JD Vance deep cut is that he rented a dog for a promotion appearance and it’s not his dog. The dog doesn’t even know him!”

“It’s endless weird.”

“It’s interesting that the Democrats have harnessed this word weird, and it’s kind of brilliant. Because people yearn for a less polarizing way of viewing our political scene. And so instead of saying we’re talking about good versus

“No, it’s not. It’s only a red hat."

Group at backyard table:

“I’m voting for Kamala. I mean, people are saying, so you want politics to be boring again? But right now it’s becoming this thing of riling people up against each other. And people are fighting a lot more than they used to. And I see no value in that. I’m not saying that whoever is in there is going to be the best version, but at least there won’t be so much of this attacking and name calling…So it’s not all about policies…”

You’re tired of all the rancor and the division and the fighting.

“Exactly.”

“I agree. But I think that we’ve been cornered into this posi-

PEOPLE OF RED HOOK by Lisa Gitlin

Where we talk to anyone. This month we hung out at the Ice House.

evil, we just say, let’s be honest, this guy is weird. And he is weird. If you’re using polarizing terms you’re baiting the extremists.”

“Trump will dismantle every office in our country to the point where there are no rules. He can set himself up as a demigod and roll through a third Trump term.”

“He’s a brilliant man. Because fifty percent of the population has a below average intelligence. That’s just how math works. He’s managed to … there’s a perfect word that I’m losing here because I’ve had several beers…activate! He’s managed to activate people with lower intelligence with this polarizing rhetoric.”

“My brother’s a journalist. He works for the Morning Joe show. And Trump says the people who are against him he’s gonna put in jail. So my brother, who is LGBT and works for a left-leaning news source, what’s he gonna do? He can’t stay in a country where they’re telling you they’re going to put reporters in jail.”

“Oh look, here’s a MAGA person right here!”

“Really?”

tion. The party really needs to expand, gain some kind of nuance. Because it is frustrating, at the eleventh hour, to get your potential nominee. And that was because our president aged out. It was very, very last minute. And it’s hard to not have the ability to get acquainted with your potential candidates….I mean I’m happy Kamala ended up for Biden, and I agree, everything is so inflammatory.”

“All she has to do to win is basically be not Donald Trump.”

“If he does lose this time, which I think is more likely, he might try to run again if he can, but the Republicans have done a thing where they’ve gotten aboard a ship, and it’s down to the last captain, and if they don’t get off now, and if Trump loses, how are they going to rebuild their party? How can they fin) a more normal politician that has conservative views, when it all became about this crazy person who is name calling and all this stuff —how do you get your party back?”

But look at how desperately dysfunctional this country had to have become for it to produce more than seventy

million people who love him, or at least support him… So we were already in big trouble.

“It proved to us that we should never leave those people out of the equation again. All of us New Yorkers and people in LA, we call a lot of the country flyover country, but when all those people have their power back they will use it, because they felt forgotten about. It’s not necessarily that they’re bad people, they’ll just say, we’ll, since we were forgotten about, we’re going to show you that we’re here through our votes. They felt seen by this person that was kind of bonkers…”

He made them feel seen, and he did something for their selfesteem, saying, you guys are in the right, you guys are the REAL Americans, not these people.

“He played into their angst, and then the pendulum swung way too far in one direction. So we might have to go through three or four terms of a candidate to get our equilibrium back. Because now we’re just in a tug of war… are we going to stay the same since what feels like the beginning of history, or are we going to have progress?”

But didn’t Trump divert our attention from all these issues, like economic inequality, so now they’re all still hanging there?

“Yes, and not only that but Trump created the illusion that those issues are all made up. He makes it all sound like fiction. And it’s working for people. And that’s scary too. In a massive way, he has a lot of people under his spell. If there was a family, and some guy was doing that to his brothers and sisters, we would be saying, that guy is fucking insane. It might seem like it’s all fun and games until it’s not.”

It’s not fun and games anymore.

“No, it’s not, and why are we still deciding on all the things that were decided on so long ago?

We should be getting to more nuanced issues and we’re still talking about the basics. Because he brought all the basics up for grabs again, like about equality and human rights…

“Like in Springfield, everything that’s happening with the Haitian population there. When there are seven salaries in one household, they can afford very expensive houses, so it’s driving the market up. And the people who grew up in Springfield are very angry about this. And that’s a real issue. That’s fair. But then you fast forward to this fucking rumor that Trump created about the Haitian immigrants eating their pets, as a way to play on that angst and that fear…and turn it into something wild and outlandish…”

And he probably didn’t even

lose any support over that… “No, because they’re used to it, and he’s still in control of the conversation, and he’s so happy that he’s in the news being talked about, everyone’s quoting him now, and people are trying to make sense of what he’s saying…I really wish that people would just stop talking about him. He’s going to do something crazy again; of course he’s going to say the election was rigged, like he did four years ago. It’s going to be even worse than four years ago.”

“He’s saying that he wants to get revenge on everybody that screwed him over, and if I had to choose between him having had his last term or this future one, I would choose that last one, because now he’s had a chance for all these ideas to bubble, it’s been an incubation period for him, and he’s, like, I’m gonna take this country down with me.”

So if Kamala does become president, and let’s say the Dems win the Congress, do you guys envision a correction in the path the country has taken?

“With women’s rights, I would expect that to happen quite quickly, but with other aspects…I’m not sure that things would turn around that quickly. Even in terms of having power in the House and Senate, that’s going to take time.”

“I’m a bit cynical about improvement over the next few terms, because all these current politicians have figured out a way to gridlock the system in such a way that, when you get a new president, it might not do much.”

Because it’s the same old people in charge?

“Yes. Because it’s the same old people in charge. It’s the Supreme Court turning, it’s the House turning…it’s so difficult to undo such harmful strategic plays. And that’s scariest part of all this.”

“The world is in a really scary, sad place right now. We’re in wars, and that’s another aspect of all this. We’re living in a really, really difficult time. And it’s hard to be positive about all that.”

The Craft Corner

TURN PAPER TOWEL AND TOILET PAPER ROLLS

INTO A SPOOKY HALLOWEEN CANDELABRA

by Marie Hueston and Sage Hueston

You’ve probably seen some cobweb covered houses and other spooky decor around the neighborhood recently. That’s right, it’s time for Halloween! Want to make a spooky decoration of your own? Follow these steps to create a DIY candelabra!

What you’ll need. You will need one paper towel roll and four toilet paper rolls per candelabra. In addition to that, you will need black and white or gray paint, paintbrushes, scissors, a hot glue gun, yellow construction paper, and markers.

Cut your rolls. Lightly pinch the bottom of your toilet paper rolls and cut out a small arc on one side. The cuts allow the toilet paper rolls to attach to each other more tightly and eliminate gaps.

Paint your rolls. Use a plastic cup or paper plate to mix

Millennial Life Hacking Late Stage Capitalism

by Giovanni M. Ravalli

Back in 2019, before COVID, there was this looming feeling of something impending. Not knowing exactly what it was, only that it was going to impact the economy for better or worse. Erring on the side of caution, I planned for the worst and hoped for the best.

My mom had just lost her battle with a rare cancer in November 2018. She named me and my brother as beneficiaries on an annuity which she had started for tax purposes and retirement. I used my half to buy an RV at the one year mark of her passing.

My 2020 resolution was to live life on my terms as best as possible because her death opened my eyes to the reality that I too will cease to exist one day and don’t want to regret the things I hadn’t tried.

I moved into the RV on January 24, 2020. This was the coldest night of my life. Being under the impression that I could sleep the way I had in my small one bedroom apartment that never had much heat, I recall waking up in the early morning hours in a fetal position so cold that I couldn’t even bring myself to get up for another blanket. I learned quickly to bundle up in layers and use more than one blanket in cold temperatures. Winter became easier as I eventually invested in a propane buddy heater. In the summer I use a portable air conditioner powered by my gas generator which also charges my e-scooter, portable battery for my hanging four

your black and white paint together to make a medium gray. If you already have gray paint, use that! Then paint the surface of all five rolls. It’s ok to leave small areas of brown uncovered to give your candelabra a weathered look. Finally, if you have black paint, blend tiny dabs onto your rolls while the gray paint is still wet to further add to the aged look.

Assemble your candelabra. Once the paint has dried completely, use your hot glue gun to connect your pieces. Follow the picture for prop-

watt Christmas lights and to keep my phone and laptop charged.

I found myself lacking all the modern conveniences which I had previously taken for granted—running water being one. This leads to one of the common questions I get: “how do you shower?” which happens to be the simplest question to answer. The gym. The other common question I get is where do I park my 28 foot apartment on wheels. We all know parking in NYC is atrocious. I personally have found that industrial zones where oversized commercial vehicles like charter buses, trucks and school buses are frequently parked overnight is a safe bet. So long as the alternate side parking rules are followed and no disturbance or mess is caused, we are generally left alone.

I started out parked on the side of a cemetery for about a year, then I found myself under the Gowanus expressway in South Slope, and now in this beautiful neighborhood of Red Hook. Over the years I adopted a dog, found another dog abandoned in the Washington Square Park dog run and suddenly became a twice blessed dog dad to the best dogs ever, Apollo and Onyx. “Do you cook?” Yes, but nothing heavy because smaller spaces get cluttered quickly and I’m not one for the cleanup. I have a setup for outdoor cooking where I use a cinder block as a rocket stove fueled with sticks I grab from the park while walking the pooches. My indoor setup consists of a folding rocket stove which is fueled by two, or three, sternos.

Water comes from a fire hydrant. On water day, I bring my monkey wrench, my two large water containers, two

er placement. Always have an adult help with hot glue. To create a base, cut a small oval out of cardboard, paint it in the same style, and use hot glue to adhere the bottom of your candelabra to it.

Make your flames. Cut three flame shapes out of yellow construction paper. Use red and orange markers to add details to your flames. Once finished, use a dab of hot glue to adhere each flame to the inside tops of your candelabra. Yellow or orange tissue paper would work well, too. Place on table or win-

buckets and a gallon jug. It’s the same water pumped through apartments and houses. I use the buckets for cleaning, usually to rinse my cookware after sudsing and scrubbing but also for various other cleaning needs like mopping. For a single man with two dogs, as well as being a full time college student, the lifestyle isn’t so bad. For me it had come down to being constrained by student loans, high rent and utilities I barely ever used because I was never home. I was working three jobs just to pay for all of that, with nothing but a place to crash and shower with rules on how I was allowed to live. Imagine that, working your ass off to pay a landlord for the ability to live in a space, but no pets, no washer and dryer, no guests for longer than three consecutive nights, etc. I felt like I had no autonomy over myself let alone the life I was living. So here I am now, a motor home owner with the dogs I always wanted, the ability to have guests, and the autonomy which was lacking for so long. It’s true that I don’t pay rent, but there are overhead expenses and hidden costs which do add up. However, being in more control of those expenses is worth the added freedom acquired. I kept working three jobs throughout the pandemic and saved a lot more than originally expected, but then inflation took it all away and left me with even more credit card debt than ever before. Going back to school for a second degree was not only a beckoning choice but also out of necessity. I couldn’t afford my student loan payments anyway so it made sense at that point to double down, follow my dreams and get a second, more use-

ful degree in fields which excite me: Communications, Visual and Media Studies with two minors Journalism and Film Production.

In order to create this life, I had to first break out of the 9-5 cubicle prison of monotony and mindless clickity clack. Living paycheck to paycheck is not living, it’s surviving. It got to a point for me where my time and autonomy became worth more than an employer who didn’t care about my wellbeing.

It started to feel like I would rather go hungry than put up with the rigid senseless rules and slavery to the matrix we tolerate. So I took a leap of faith, became a broke college student again and live day to day.

It really comes down to perspective. One could say I’m homeless, but to me home is where the heart and soul are found. Looking at it that way flips the script onto those following the herd into the abyss. Of course I don’t live in a brick and mortar home, but I’m still sheltered, fed and most importantly aligned within.

Giovanni M. Ravalli

Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club returns to it's roots

by Brian Abate

The first Brooklyn Rotary Club was founded in 1905 and met in Brooklyn Heights. Their successor club, the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club, is once again meeting in the Heights in a historic building at 21 Clark Street that first opened in 1928 as the exclusive Leverich Hotel.

Rotary is an international organization that brings together persons dedicated to giving back to their fellow humans. One of their most famous projects was the successful drive to eliminate polio in the 1950's.

A popular project today is called Gift of Life, where money is raised to bring children needing heart surgery from around the world to the US to receive life-saving surgeries. What makes this program possible is the global nature of the club. Members of any club are welcome at any club, and international relationships are made.

The Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club meets in the Gustaso Room at the Watermark, 21 Clark Street, at 6 pm on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. The meetings consist of a light dinner, club business, greetings and meetings, and often a local speaker. The next meeting, on October 9 features a talk from Ben FullerGoogins, local organizer of a group supporting private nannies.

The club began meeting at the Watermark just this fall, and the new location has proven a boon to the club.

Accessible

“The building is very nice and it’s also very accessible,” said Monica Bartley, a member of the Rotary Club and disability advocate. “The room where the meeting was held had a ramp and there are a lot of elevators.”

“It’s a beautiful building and it looks like a great place to have meetings,” said current member and former Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club President Vivian Jackson.

Michael Sutcliffe, director of sales for The Watermark, gave a tour of the

building and explained its history.

“The Watermark was built in 1927 and was originally a hotel called the Leverich Towers Hotel,” said Sutcliffe. “It functioned as a hotel until 1975 when it then became a dormitory building for Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were here until 2018 when our current owners took over. From what I’ve heard and read they did a great job maintaining the buildings and a lot of the windows here are the original mahogany ones. We are in a historic district and it’s a landmarked building.”

Baseball history

The building was once a spot where Brooklyn Dodgers players would spend time before games.

The Watermark is now a luxury senior living facility that includes independent living, assisted living, short-term stays, and memory care. The community has resort-style amenities, gourmet dining, many programs, integrated wellness offerings, an on-site salon and spa, a pool, and many expert caregivers.

The Watermark has two cafes, includ-

ing one in the lobby that is open to the public and gives those who live in the building a chance to mingle with others from the neighborhood.

There is also a library and a big main dining room, with sparkling chandeliers. The dining room is below the first floor with a nice view of it from above on the first floor.

“We offer physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy here,” Sutcliffe said. “We also have a pool which was not originally in the building. We did this during the renovation. It was made with our residents in mind so it is only four feet deep and it has gradual stairs in it and it can be used as part of therapy. There are classes or the pool can be reserved for 30-minute blocks.”

Classes

The Watermark also has an art studio. There are classes for things like watercolor painting, jewelry-making, and flowering classes. There was a lot of artwork on display and all of it was made by residents. Sometimes residents lead classes and they can also go to the studio on their own to make artwork.

Additionally, The Watermark has its own movie theater where movies are shown twice per day. Residents can make requests about which movies are shown. There is also a theater where they have live music, discussion groups and lectures.

“One of the most popular programs here is Watermark University,” Sutcliffe said. “These are lectures that are done by our staff, our residents, or people from the outside like historians or authors.”

Sutcliffe showed off a great view of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge Park from the top floor which is especially nice during sunrise, sunset, and nighttime.

The Watermark has a Jeffrey Foxx photography exhibit on display. He spent decades working as a photographer and is now a resident in the building.

“Seeing is what I enjoy about being alive,” Foxx said. “I graduated from Boston University in the 1960s and I was working jobs that I really didn’t like. The sound of the subway turnstile describing me the same way as everybody else didn’t sit well with me and I just felt different. In a pretty depressed state, I realized seeing was what I enjoyed and that the camera would be a good way for me to communicate that.”

Foxx wanted to travel and he spent time doing photography in America and then created an exhibit that illustrated the universality of childhood. He took the show to Canada, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Ghana, Egypt, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Mexico, and Brazil. After that, he spent time doing photography for Life Magazine and the National Geographic.

The Watermark exhibit displays people in the southernmost part of Mexico. Foxx photographed people on two sides of a mountain range. Though the distance between the two places was not great, their cultures were completely different. He also spent years photographing Mayan people and his exhibit at The Watermark is called “Living Maya: The Art of Ancient Dreams.”

Some of Foxx’s work can be viewed online at FoxxMayaArchive.com The site includes photos of Mayan culture in both Mexico and Guatemala, American Indian Culture, and much more.

“All of a sudden, I found myself in heaven with my work,” Foxx said. “I was challenged beautifully by how difficult it was, and I’ve always felt that if it was easy, someone else would have done it.”

For more information about the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club email admin@brooklynbridgerotary.org or text 917 652-9128. The public is welcome to meetings, and the club is accepting new members.

21 Clark Street under construction, 1927

The view from the roof on 9/11

The elegant library at the Watermark at Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club at a recent meeting at the Watermark at Brooklyn Heights

Is there room for ambition in education?

by Kelsey Sobel

My first teaching job was at a Jewish day school in Brooklyn. I quickly learned I was not cut out to be a sixth grade teacher (students swallowing pennies during class just wasn’t for me) and set my sights on becoming a high school teacher.

I also learned it was generally more advantageous to work at a public school, (better pay raises, job security and benefits) so I set about actualizing that reality. If I rewind further back to graduate school, my original ambition was to be a writer. After realizing, during my three year program, that this ambition was truly the definition of a pipe dream in terms of securing health care or buying a home, I decided becoming a professor would be the next best thing.

This too became a Herculean effort, tied directly to my ability to publish a piece of work that rocketed me into writerly fame. If you know you know how difficult it is to break into higher education in 2024. In my group of graduate school friends, only one has managed to achieve a tenure track position, after ten long years of endless applications, interviews and rejections. Long story short, by the time I’d graduated from my MFA program, being a teacher didn’t seem so bad.  Two years into teaching middle school, I secured my first public high school teaching job. I felt I’d truly achieved something in my career. I felt I was moving forward.  Next up came my teaching certification. Generally speaking this wasn’t an issue as I only had to take a small amount of classes to meet the requirements of becoming a certified English teacher. What was an issue was pass-

ing my math praxis. If you’re someone who started struggling with math in first grade, and then spent most of high school cheating or skipping class altogether, a timed test consisting of every type of basic math seemed nearly impossible. The first time I blindly took the test I received 110 points. To pass, you need a minimum of 150. But I was determined.

An angel of a co-worker took me under her wing, quickly determining that my mathematical deficits were so extreme that we needed to go back to basics. I spent many Saturdays learning place value. But as painful and frustrating as the process to pass the math praxis was (just ask my husband, there were some dark days of adding and subtracting fractions) I was also humbled and inspired by the experience. Through my deeply personal struggle with math, I was reminded by how tasks and achievements vary exponentially in difficulty from person to person. I developed a new sense of empathy for my students and their academic struggles. Many of my teacher friends didn’t study for the math praxis and passed the exam with flying colors. It took me three attempts and a year to pass.

But in the end, regardless of the arduous journey, I was certified to teach grades 5-12 in New Hampshire. I had achieved my goal. So, what next? Even though education doesn’t necessarily encourage ambition, I’ve never found a way to turn my ambition off. After three years teaching at a small, progressive, and remote school in a poor area, my husband and I relocated to a more populous area where I was offered 10k more in salary. Again, this

move felt like a forward step in my career path. But after 1.5 more years in the classroom, teaching started to feel redundant. I felt I was stagnating. I wanted something more. But what? As an educator, I’ve found it isn’t necessarily normal to speak to coworkers about dissatisfaction in the work-

" I’ve never found a way to turn my ambition off."

place, specifically in the classroom. Many teachers settle in for the long haul - not only because of  their pure and genuine love of teaching, but also due to the reasonable schedule, mostly excellent health care and of course, pension and retirement. My options for next steps were mostly limited to administrative positions which would require more coursework, time, and no guarantee of a position.

The question is: how can educators be ambitious? How can educators continue to grow and develop as the years go by? In the American educational system, what structures can we provide to help nurture growth and development? It can feel, as an educator, that your growth is limited to becoming a better teacher. And how do we quantify what makes teachers excellent? At a certain point I felt I was creating all of my materials on my own - working in isolation without the benefit of collaboration or shared intellectual ideas. I didn’t feel inspired or challenged. Looking at transitioning out of teaching is also a scary prospect due to the specific set of skills

educators possess. It can be hard to convince someone you’d be good at event planning when one of your top skills is “grading essays” or “classroom management.” Another barrier can be finding a supportive networkperhaps not limited to educators who have ambition, but those who have made it out of the classroom and into other careers. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that with more focus on forward momentum and opportunity, more young people might consider roles in education.

After many applications, I did eventually take a role with an educational nonprofit that requires a more diverse set of skills. The most significant part of the role is that I’m not confined to a classroom. Much of the role requires creativity, flexibility and community outreach. Despite this, I can’t quite tell if I’ve taken a forward or lateral step in my career. What comes next?

As my husband gently reminds me, I have about thirty years of work ahead of me, so it isn’t as if I’m in any particular rush.

But the question remains, what can an ambitious educator do? I often find myself wishing I cared less about goals and achievements in the workplace. When I was younger my goals felt so clear cut but at this point, in my mid thirties, they feel more nuanced. Americans value ambition. I’m not sure I’ll ever arrive at a moment when I sigh and say to myself:  I’ve made it. But I do know I’ll continue trying. In the words of President Eisenhower: “Accomplishment will prove to be a journey, not a destination.”

Art is all around us, especially this fall

This morning I enjoyed a special benefit of my impersonation of an art critic when I attended the press opening of the Brooklyn Museum’s 200 Anniversary Celebration exhibitions, “The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” and the extensive reimagining of the museum’s “ American Art” collection. The “Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” includes over 200 artists and  occupies the ground floor galleries which once held the magnificent  American Indian collections.

Kick out the jams

And the massive reconstitution of the museum’s incredible holding of American art has taken over the fifth floor reassembling and dismantling the grand old hall with a spectacular salon style installation of a seemingly infinite array of the visual art of our niche of the hemisphere. Themes like  Water  and  Flowers separate halls that hold 19th century portraits, figurative paintings including an amusing wall of buttocks and a giant room full of faces, which form a collection of persons and their personalities which would vex a convention of  psychiatrists. Curatorial decisions can be critical and can be criticized but the matter at hand is that the staff has chosen to proverbially “Kick out the Jams” and what I saw constituted an ambitious and hugely successful retelling of our visual culture. The term awe is accurate on many levels.  In this review however I will concentrate on the contemporary offerings and include  as a matter of critical  local interest the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition recently mounted concurrent show “Salon de Refuses”which was  a direct response to the open call from the Brooklyn Museum.. The museum’s press release states that over 4000 artists responded to their solicitation.  BWAC, like  Brooklyn Museum chose to limit the number of accepted entrants to 200. And BWAC allowed only those who were in receipt of an official  rejection letter to apply. Plus there was no curation to speak of, as it was a matter of first come first served. These bookend exhibitions still  left at least  3,600 Brooklyn artists without wall space, a staggering number and an indication of the depth of the artmaking well  in the borough. The prospect of 200 rejected works and 200 selected works promised a survey which might help demystify the strange currents within our local tide of artmakers. Both programs are wildly ambitious and far ranging and both have a sweeping range of mediums and artistic visions and both share a striking similarity in presenting work of extraordinary varying quality. A working subtitle might be:”The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.

The noble  task which the museum set was to mount a representative survey of work by artists residing and working within the borough over the last

by Roger Bell

five years. BWAC offered a kind of spoiler.  Together we can see exactly how richly varied, deeply confused and largely derivative the contemporary artworld. has become. Perhaps there is not enough oxygen to support so many life forms or perhaps we have arrived at a position of encyclopedic diversity which promises and threatens the very  concept of  “meaning” in the visual arts, And perhaps, as I suggest we celebrate this collapse and potential rebirth as the Modernists we purport to be.and embrace this catholic eclecticism as the true and only real culture we have have ever known. The preferred versions of art that are so routinely made fashionable one year and de rigueur the next have cheated us from the full and possibly  final embrace of the infinite. And so in the words of a favorite cartoon hero I say;”To infinity and beyond!”

As I toured the Coalition’s old warehouse space nested between the canal like corridors of New York harbor, revealing the views of a harbor whose history has seen so much tumult and change, and with hurricane Helene reminding us of our fragile hold on our homes, lives and loves I was reminded how precious still is the practice of artmaking. An unkempt spatter of expressionist paint, an over-earnest rendering of a family, sepia toned photos and then along the stone wall some remarkable and punctual gesture full of heart and vision delivers me to the full house of an artist’s unique vision.

Go see both

In the museum the presentations were nobly high end, and frames which cost thousands of dollars lined the pristine white walls. The logistics of transport and registration and insurance and security and and... And then similarly among the orchestrated  offerings

a small gesture of solidarity with the soul of humankind, a standout and a beacon. I cannot name a single work from these two incredible gatherings because the myriad sensations are quilted too loosely  for me to comprehend, but I can strongly recommend that you see them both and find in

them some meaning for yourself. To paraphrase our  local  Red Hook art hero, Tiffiney Davis, in the remarkable film “I AM NOT OK” by Gabrielle Lanser included in the Brooklyn Museum’s survey: “Art Saves Lives”.

The Wall Gallery October 5 - November 10, 2024

Opening Reception October 5, 6-9 PM

The Wall Gallery 41 Seabring Street Red Hook, Brooklyn thewallgallerybrooklyn.net

Call for appointment 718.781.8263

The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar

by Oscar Fock

Sunny’s Bar is a community staple in Red Hook. It has served local patrons and outof-towners alike for over a hundred years as one of Brooklyn’s most prolific watering holes.

Now, it is also the subject of a play, titled The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar. “The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar rockskips across the decades, reaching into the deep past and leaping into the future. Beginning at The Waterfront Museum and ending at Sunny’s Bar, it invites audiences inside the lives of the real people who became the fabric of this community. The Wind and the Rain uses immersive design technology to tell a quintessential New York Story about how the currents of time and nature shaped our lives,” writes the press release. The play begins with a story about Tone Johansen, the widow of Sunny and the owner-operator of the bar, trying to save the bar following Hurricane Sandy. The story then takes us non-linearly through generations and eras, accompanied by live music (a new local musician will join the band every night) and creative light installations.

The play, commissioned by Vineyard Theatre and En Garde Arts, is written by playwright Sarah Gancher and directed by director Jared Mezzocchi. After the two were commissioned to create a play set in Red Hook, Gancher suggested they meet at the bar to start planning.

“Our first meeting here, Sarah was like,’ Well, why don’t we go to my fa-

vorite bar, Sunny’s?’ And so we sat down here, and over the course of a week-long residency that we had in Red Hook, we slowly realized, inevitably, that it had to be a piece about Sunny’s. I would say it was very much led by Sarah; she’s brought me into this amazing community of Sunny’s that I feel very transformed by,” Mezzocchi said.

Gancher has been going to Sunny’s Bar for over 20 years, both as a patron and as a part of Sunny’s many bluegrass jamborees (she plays the fiddle), and much of the play is the result of countless stories she’s collected over the years. Johansen was also instrumental in the writing of the play. “I’ve been in her band sometimes, and I feel very, very, very lucky that when we decided that we wanted to write about Sunny’s, Tone was up for not only allowing us to write about her place but also letting me interview her over many years, opening up her archives and her heart, her beautiful knowledge base about the bar, about her family and about Red Hook,” Gancher said. “It’s been a joyous thing to research and to get to think about and know about and rocktumble in my mind. I think I’ve written hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages on this, and now we have honed it down into this actually pretty compact little thing.”

This is a unique opportunity for her, she explained. “I love that I’m getting to write about and write for my Sunny’s community. I love that it feels like a gift. I love that it’s only happening

during this one little span of time. It can’t extend, it can’t transfer. It’s just for this place, just for this time, just for these people.”

Mezzocchi is a newcomer, comparatively, but quickly gained an appreciation for the tight-knit community. “I run a theater in New Hampshire that has been all about community building. And stepping away from that job this year, after 10 years of running it, it occurred to me, as I immediately leaped into this rehearsal process, that the community is so important to me. And I think what’s drawn me so much to Sunny’s is even walking in as a stranger on that first day — I mean, there’s a sign out front that says, ‘Welcome home.’ It’s quite a beautiful community of people. You are thrust into a myriad of history, just a ton of objects in the space and all these people who know it from very different angles, and then you are welcomed in to have your own experience. And it’s really hard to build that, especially in the transient culture of New York,” he said.

They admit that the play isn’t the easiest to describe. But it’s a bit like a bluegrass jam, they suggest. “In a bluegrass jam, when I play a song with people, we all know the song. But I’m going to do a solo and that’s what I have to say about the song. You take a solo and that’s what you have to say about the song. Somebody else takes a solo and that’s what they have to say about the song. In this play, Sunny’s is the song, and the generations

are taking their solos, and we’re learning about how they all have a different perspective, but they’re all singing about the same thing,” said Gancher. The two Obie Award winners want their play to appeal to a broad audience — like Sunny’s Bar. But it can be a challenge to create a narrative that is inclusive to people unfamiliar with the topic at hand, while also staying true to the lived realities of the many regulars and Red Hook residents who will attend the spectacle (used here, as Gancher did when we spoke to her, in a positive sense; the play will feature a silent disco, audience engagement, video and other multimedia elements).

“I think a wide lens play about love or marriage or anger or miscommunication is inaccessible to everyone because there’s no specificity to it,” Mezzocchi noted. “In these stories, we drop into very intense moments that sometimes only last a half page and then skip time but they’re all so specific and so rooted in information that it’s actually easier to chew on these larger themes that Sarah’s trying to explore in the piece because of its specificity.”

Essentially, they summarized, it should feel like Sunny’s: “My whole goal this entire time,” said Gancher, “has been to make a play that feels like Sunny’s, which is to say that it’s a play that’s going to make you feel like you’re at home as soon as you walk in the door.

Sarah Gancher and Jared Mezzocchi at the bar

BOOK SERIAL: Fishes, Purple, Tiny... by Bob Racioppo

Last Month

Zac's parents find out he has dropped out of college and his father tells him he must now find a job. Zac finishes dinner with his parents and goes out to meet his friends. That evening he meets Vera Sansone, an art student from Bay Ridge. 23 – In the Falcon

“Hey, you drive good.”

“I took driver’s ed in Kearney. Do you drive?”

“Uhhh, almost, gonna take by road test this month.”

They were on 5th Avenue, heading to the higher numbered streets. At 65th Street they passed under the elevated Gowanus Expressway into Bay Ridge, where the four story tenements became one family houses, with driveways and shaded avenues.

“This is my grandmother’s car.”

“It’s cool, Ford Falcon.”

“Yeah, a little clunky, but it gets me to school.”

Vera made a right on 75th Street and drove down the hill towards the waters of the Narrows. Just before Shore Road she pulled slowly into the driveway of a neat gabled house, with hedges and a small lawn. The house was dark except for a small light on the enclosed porch. Vera turned off the engine and the headlights.

“Here we are…”

“Yeah, right.”

There was an awkward teenage silence in the darkness of the front seat. Zak turned left, she turned right. After a brief eye-to-eye meeting, they kissed softly. When the kiss broke, Zak looked straight ahead saying:

“Wow!”

“Wow?” said Vera, smiling.

“Yeah, wow!”

“OK, I’m up early so…”

“Oh yeah, sure, me too… one thing, can I call you?”

Vera got a little pad out of the glove compartment and wrote SH55526, handing it to Zak.

As they got out of the car she said, “Don’t slam the door.”

“Right,” he clicked the car door closed.

She went up the few steps to the glass and wooden front door, gave a quick wave, leaving him standing on the quiet street. Sunset Park was never this quiet, and Zak Wozny was never this happy.

24 – The Long Walk Home

He stood for a while in the darkness outside her house, not

wanting to move, not wanting to break this spell. A spell only available to a teenager feeling for the first time a magical connection to another. Zak had been on dates in high school, made out in doorways with neighborhood girls. The goal always to try and get a feel and maybe a handjob to relieve the built up sexual tension that started in puberty.

This was different. He didn’t know what it was but he knew it was different.

He went down the half block to Shore Road, looked across the strip of water at the darkened hills of Staten Island, sprinkled with a few lights. A ferry was coming in from the island to the 69th Street Pier. Zak began his midnight trek back to the lower numbered streets of Sunset Park.

He wanted to keep the Vera vibe with him as long as he could, but after a few blocks his personal situation pried its way back in. The Automat incident… “fuck that,” Miss Kemp, “that could hang around,” being a college dropout, “well can’t avoid that,” and now the biggest thing THE DRAFT. He’d be 18 next week and have to register.

Zak reached into his pocket for the paper with Vera’s number. SH-52266. Shore Road, another new telephone exchange to dial.

Passing the borderline of 65th Street, he was back in Sunset Park, on 1st Avenue which ran right next to the piers. There were railroad tracks connecting factories and warehouses, and some of the streets still had cobblestones. Deserted now, but teeming with workers during the day. All was silent until he heard a car coming up behind him. Didn’t think anything of it and just kept walking, but when the car passed him slowly, he saw it was a cop car.

Still didn’t think anything until the car stopped a short distance in front of him and two cops got out and stood by their car as he approached.”

“Hi, how ya doing?”

“I’m ok” said Zak, stopping instinctively.

“What ya doin’ down here?” asked the Irish looking cop, the other one leaning on the car, arms folded.

“Just walkin’.”

“Just walkin’, walkin’ where?”

“Home, 40th Street.”

The folded arms cop mumbled to the Irish looking cop who then said, “Well, we gotta search ya.”

Zak raised his hands and was patted down from his ankles up to his

crotch and along his sides.

“OK… you got a woolen hat?”

“A woolen hat?”

“Yeah, a woolen hat, empty your coat pockets.

Zak did as he was told, taking out a set of keys, then turning his pockets inside out.

“OK, why don’t you just get on home.”

“Yes, sure officer.”

They got back in the dark bluegreen cop car and drove off slowly.

Deserted 1st Avenue looked different now, like a shadowed movie set where something bad was about to happen. He doubled his pace to 451 40th Street and was glad of one thing… that he didn’t have a woolen hat in his pocket.

25 – Flashback: The Roots of Disconnection #1

He is sleeping now, safely in his room at the back of apartment 2R. Maybe he dreams, maybe he is in the deep blank sleep of nothingness. Either way, we pause here for a brief flashback, in an effort to explain the possible origin of his disconnection and mental fluctuation, I.E. Mind ONE, Mind TWO, etc.

At the age of six in 1957, Zak Wozny began first grade at St. Michael’s grammar school. He would walk alone down his block to Fourth Avenue, left three blocks to 43rd Street, where he would join the line of first graders outside the three story brick building.

At 8:30 a nun would appear on the steps and ring a loud clanging bell and the children would file neatly up the stairs into their classrooms. They would learn to read and write, add and subtract and be quiet.

At noon there was an hour break. Zak along with most of the kids would walk home for lunch. Helen Wozny, like many mothers in those days didn’t work and was there to greet her son with a sandwich, glass of milk, and on good days a chocolate Drake’s Ring Ding. It was all very normal until one day during his first semester. Back at 451 for lunch Zak rang the downstairs bell as usual, was buzzed in as usual. But his mother then came to the second floor banister and leaned over saying “Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Zak replied, starting up the stairs.

“Me who?”

“Me Zak.”

He reached the second floor to see his mother standing in the doorway of 2R.

“I’m sorry little boy, I think you have the wrong house.”

“What, it’s me… Zak!!”

“But you don’t live here. I’ve never seen you before.”

Then he began screaming. “It’s me… it’s me!”

And crying, sobbing loudly.

His mother ran over and hugged him saying, “Oh Zak, that’s right, of course it’s you.”

She brought him into the apartment, but he cried for a while. His mother apologized for her “joke” and served him lunch. Zak ate his sandwich, drank his milk, walked back to school, but he never totally trusted her again.

26 – Your father wants to talk to you

Zak slept late. It was almost noon when his mother’s voice through the door woke him.

“Zak, your father is gonna be home for lunch, he wants to talk to you.”

Now awake, he lied still.

“Zak you gotta get up.”

“Yeah, I’m up, I’ll be right there.”

“I made potatoes and eggs.”

“Oh good, be out in a minute.”

Zak and his father never spoke much, besides being father and son, didn’t have much in common. Frank Wozny grew up poor in the Depression of the 1930s, quit school in sixth grade to help support his big Polish family in South Brooklyn. He wasn’t mean to Zak, just wasn’t around much. The fact that he wanted to talk to him now carried some weight.

Just after noon, the Woznys were seated around the oval table in their usual places. The centerpiece was a large round platter of potatoes and eggs. Helen served a good-sized wedge to her husband and another to her son, and took a smaller slice for herself.

“Ketchup?” she asked.

Both father and son said yes to ketchup. They ate quietly until FrankWozny spoke.

“So Zak, what are you gonna do… now?”

Knowing the right answer, Zak said “I’m gonna get a job,”

Continued Next Month

Author Bob Racioppo is a founding member of the Shirts, a New York-based American punk band that was one of the seminal CBGB bands. After signing a record deal they toured the US and Europe. In addition to music, Robert is an accomplished fine artist. This is his first novel. He grew up in Sunset Park and now lives in Windsor Terrace. To order a copy of the full book ($15) text 917 652-9128 with your address.

Film: Dispatch from the New York Film Festival: A disorienting trip into Portugal’s past a highlight

The 62nd New York Film Festival kicked off September 27 with Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel. What followed on the main slate was one heavy hitter after another: U.S. premieres of The Room Next Door, Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Brady Corbet’s Oscar frontrunner The Brutalist, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, and Hard Truths, a new film directed by Mike Leigh starring the incomparable Marianne Jean-Baptiste; the North American premiere of Oscar-winner Steve McQueen’s World War 2 drama Blitz; director Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora.

Even more big guns are found in the Spotlight section: the U.S. premieres of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, which could earn star and former Bond Daniel Craig a Best Actor Oscar nomination, and new films by Leos Carax (It’s Not Me) and Walter Salles (I’m Still Here); Cannes-favorite musical Emilia Pérez; a new film co-directed by the singular Guy Maddin, Rumours; some new bits and bobs from Jean-Luc Godard (RIP).

All sure to be crowd pleasers — and many destined for New York art houses and multiplexes before the year is out. Which is why my festival card is filled by more off-path stuff, like what’s in the Currents lineup. Here you can find interesting new voices and out-there films, plus four programs of shorts, which are always worth a deeper look. It’s the more experimental side of the festival — or, at least, the most indie. It’s where you go to be challenged and surprised.

A meditation on history

One film that did just that was Fire of Wind, the debut feature from Portuguese filmmaker Marta Mateus. In a brisk 72 minutes, Mateus conjures a meditation on Portugal’s authoritarian past and exploitative present where time, experience, and memory are fluid and overlapping. By turns stark and dreamy, the film is so laden with symbolism that those not immersed in Portuguese history need a cheat sheet. But we’re never too at sea. The images are so beautiful, the faces so recognizable, the stories so familiar, that there is a kind of universal language — simplistic and broken, perhaps — that makes the film accessible through a side door.

That was my way in, anyway. And I was locked in from the first minutes, where we’re in the fields with workers picking bunches of grapes in the Alentejo region in southern Portugal. They’re hot, stooped, overworked and undernourished. When it’s time to rest, they head into a cool forest where they’re soon chased into the trees by a runaway bull that may or may not have been loosed on them by a boss

by Dante A. Ciampaglia

frustrated by their productivity. With nothing else to do, they tell stories and share memories: of husbands lost to colonial wars; of working to bring down the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar; of mothers; of children; of false hopes and broken dreams. Mateus shoots everyone in the laborer group in a way that conveys ultimate dignity. They’re sweaty and dirty but lounge in the trees like royalty. When they talk, they’re eloquent and heroic. They recall Depression-era documentary photographs taken by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans and the social realist cinema of Sergei Eisenstein and Mikhail Kalatozov. It’s easy to get lost in these images, particularly as the film progresses and crawls deeper into Portugal’s history and subconscious. These are faces we know and experiences we understand.

But even without grasping what the real meaning of this or that story is, the point is clear that the past is never past and that the present is always the future. A soldier in World War I military attire seeps from from a recollection into the now to escort a young woman through time. The grape pickers watch from the trees as the boss sends in giant machines to do their jobs. Are they living in the before? Are they witnessing what’s to come? Are they alive? Dead? Is the forest a real place to eat lunch between shifts or some spiritual waystation on a different journey? Was there ever really a bull?

I’m not entirely sure. What I do know, though, is that layers of Fire of Wind only revealed themselves days after viewing it. None of them put me closer to understanding Portugal’s social experience or Mateus’ commentary on it. But I don’t find that problematic. The film is aesthetically gorgeous, sure, but the metaphysical ideas misting through the film are what I keep coming back to. How do we exist in active conversation with the past?

How do we act today to ensure a better tomorrow? Who are the people and what are the struggles that shape who we are? And how do we engage with them, share them, keep them close to us? In a time of exponential technological advancement, generative artificial intelligence, increasing social isolation, and decreasing engagement with history, those questions become provocations. Such a challenge makes watching Fire of Wind an expansive experience, albeit at times disorienting. You also learn a bit about a nation we tend not to hear much about. And it pairs well with another film screening in New York, though not at the festival, this month.

Twittering Soul, playing at Anthology Film Archives October 26-31, is a 70-minute 3D film set in late 19th century Lithuania directed by Lith-

uanian artist Deimantas Narkevicius. It’s more straightforward than Fire of Wind, though the comparison is relative. Here, we get a fairly conventionally-staged series of episodes

"The point is clear that the past is never past and that the present is always the future."

following the daughter of a wealthy landowner, a couple of earthy pagan women, and two itinerant musicians. But there is just as much symbolism, if not more, in Twittering Soul. And it seems more central to the overarching narrative: one of the pagan women is bitten by a snake, slowly dies, and floats into the heavens.

Exquisite camera work

From the press notes, I learned that much of what’s in the film is based on Lithuanian folk tales and, indeed, much of the film has that kind of fable-like quality. This is certainly aided by the 3D, which adds a layer of unreality to the proceedings. And more often than not, Narkevicius uses it well. The extra dimension builds out what are often closed-in spaces in often clever ways, like a shot through a corridor of doorways that makes a mansion look far bigger than it likely was and recalls the Orson Welles’ famous wall of mirrors shot from Citizen Kane. Narkevicius also positions his camera high and away while his characters are low and separated, which has the effect of making people look toy-like and landscapes look endless. And he creates one of the most beautiful 3D shots I’ve seen in any film: a candle in the foreground illuminating a photo print with the eye of the character viewing the picture visible in the background through the print. That’s the kind of image 3D is made for. The use of the technology is a cheeky

counterpoint to the pastoral nature of Twittering Soul, a nod to the novelty of cinema in the time period the film is set, and a commentary on the concerns about new machines and automation bearing down on society at the end of the 1800s. Some of the characters here are materialistic, others hedonistic, but all are deeply connected to the land and nature. And to folk wisdom and legends. In one scene, a maid tells her charge about the witches who circle a tree outside the window, which is followed by one of the pagan women sucking out the poison from her snake-bit companion’s leg and reciting a witch-like incantation. Later, the maid tells a story about fairies spinning flax, which cuts to a room of women spinning flax. Are the two women witches? Are those spinsters fairies? Maybe. Probably. Does it matter?

Like Fire of Wind, we’re dropped into end-of-the-century Lithuania without a map. And that’s OK. Without knowing much of anything about Lithuanian history or culture, we can experience Twittering Soul more purely, learning about the country through the film while keeping our eyes, ears, and minds open to deeper, more primal insights. Plus, there’s the novelty of seeing a Lithuanian film in 3D — in fact, the first Lithuanian feature to be shot that way. I’m not sure it needed it, but it is a singular film.

And, like Fire of Wind, Twittering Soul gets us thinking: about our place in nature, our beliefs and why we hold them, and the importance of storytelling in making sense of the world and preserving some unique, necessary part of our identity. I guess it could be said that all films are concerned with this. But there’s something about encountering other cultures in such an honest, open way that encourages empathy — and deep engagement with our world and ourselves. And, really, isn’t that what cinema is all about?

The 2024 New York Film Festival is eld from September 27, 2024 to October 14, 2024 at Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street.

The Anthology Film Archives is lo-

In the feature debut of Portuguese filmmaker Marta Mateus, a peasant community of vineyard workers at harvest time become characters in a timeless myth. (photo courtesy of Marta Mateus)

Who says a jazz band can’t play rock music? George Clinton didn’t quite ask that question on the 1978 Funkadelic track “Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?” but it’s a logical implication of the various permutations of the lyric, which questioned genre divisions at a time when radio and television were still segregated, even if schools weren’t. These days, the boundaries are thankfully more fluid. Musicians are more likely to move between false divisions, or borrow from more than one at the same time.

Case in point, the bassist Mali Obomsawin, whose Sweet Tooth was one of the best jazz debuts of 2022. But she’s worked at least as much as a songwriter with the trio Lula Wiles and in more esoteric efforts with guitarist Magdalena Abrego. Symbiont (CD, LP, download out last month on Smithsonian Folkways) is a set of songs with the exceptional multi-instrumentalist Jake Blount, drawing on indigenous (Obomsawin is Abenaki First Nation at Odanak) and African-American (Blount both plays and writes about the creolized music of Black Americans) sources. Whether they’re playing rock or jazz or global folk and native funk can be determined Oct. 17, when they appear at the BRIC JazzFest in downtown Brooklyn.

While Blount and Obomsawin draw inspiration from Caribbean and African folk songs, gospel and shape singing and the chants that echoed across the land before Europeans arrived, they also make use of processed beats and sampled voices, electric guitars and synthesizers to give the album a strong and insistent currency. Seated within the ancient and the contemporary sounds is the impetus of the album, a moral mirror reflecting a time when people lived more compatibly with the planet. Maybe it’s looking forward to such a time as well. That remains to be seen.

Guitarist Wendy Eisenberg may be no more firmly encamped in the jazz

world, but can certainly be found in various houses of improv around town. On the other hand, earlier this year they released a brief little 12” of compositions for solo electric guitar by New York School composers Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff, so calling genre is anyone’s game. On the other other hand, Eisenberg’s new Viewfinder (LP and download out last month from American Dreams) is a set of odd and infectious songs inspired by the world coming into focus after getting Lasik surgery in 2021. In fact, the first track and lead single is titled simply “Lasik,” and came with a video of blurry colors to match. It’s a very direct song, a literal description of coming out of the surgery with the chilling tagline “changing isn’t healing.” But while the lyrics are straightforward, the music is off kilter and dizzying—piano, bass, drums, trombone and Eisenberg’s guitar all stumbling, off balance but moving in the same general direction. It’s fantastically literal. The eight other tracks cohere a bit more, with long, light melody lines and counter-melodies that sometimes veer toward the jazzy but are always catchy and steady. There’s a lot of great playing, but against layered vocals and stacked instrumental lines, it’s drummer Booker Stardrum who keeps them laser focused.

One in Paradise (for Hal Willner) (LP, download out Oct. 18 from Shimmy-Disc): 13 (of course) settings of Edgar Allen Poe verses made

with a cavalcade of voice artists. The album is produced and for the most part played by the mono-named Kramer, whose past credits include Shockabilly, Bongwater, and stints in Butthole Surfers, Half Japanese and Ween, as well as launching NYC proto indie-label Shimmy-Disc back in 1987. After a long hiatus, he rebooted the label in 2020. This century’s Shimmy has been a bit more ethereal, a bit less manic than the days of yore, and indeed To One in Paradise is more somber, nearly miserable, than it is scary, befitting much of the master of macabre’s finest verses. The titular dedicatee is the master of the tribute album. Willner produced fine albums of the work of Thelonious Monk, Nino Rota, Kurt Weill and others, overseeing all aspects of production. Kramer follows suit, employing the voices of Jennifer Charles, Joan As Police Woman, Lydia Lunch, Eric Mingus, Thurston and Eva Moore, Anne Waldman, Chloe Webb and others into a lonesome and dismal sonic portrait. The album concludes with a voice from beyond the grave in the form of an archival recording of Allen Ginsberg (1926-1977) reading “The Bells,” which was only published after Poe’s death in 1849. Lou Reed (1942-1913) recorded his own take on “The Bells” in 1979, 24 years before working on a full album based on Poe’s work with Willner (1956-2020). The spirits are all around us. You don’t need poetry and song to connect with them, but it doesn’t hurt.

Retro Yé-yé with a Turkish twist. I first heard the British duo Kit Lambert on the 2021 David Bowie tribute album Modern Love. Their take on his 1973 song “Lady Grinning Soul” was a standout on the album, both faithful and radically reinterpreted, reminding me of ‘90s atmospheric electropop from the likes of Portishead and Hooverphonic. They’d already been around for at least a couple of years by that point, but I didn’t pick up the lead until the EP New Internationale (CD, LP, cassette and download out last month from Brainfeeder) crossed my digital desk. It’s a mere 24 minutes, and about

a third of that is radio edits of three of the four songs. But it’s wonderful fun. The songs play up Istanbul-born singer Merve Erdem’s heritage but more than that set a Euro-cosmo scene of Swingin’ London. The other half of the band is multi-instrumentalist Kit Martin, who has just the right twang in his guitar and just the right stride in his step to strut and stroll across countries and decades and into your earbuds.

COFFEE

(continued from page 1) your time, something like, “This is the age of……what?

Armin- Good question. The Boomers had connections to momentous events that were mostly positive, and that’s where they got their sense of moral authority.  The war, the period of great American creativity lasted until you hit the eighties.  What do we have that compares?  It’s a question that screams in the back of my mind when I’m writing about arts and culture. Is music getting worse? Is film getting worse? Are we just not as good at making rock albums as people in the ‘60s and ’70s? And wouldn’t it be strange if all the great rock music was made in the first 15 years of its existence? So there is the question, what is ours, what unique cultural products do we have to compete?  I would say TYLER THE CREATOR’S last few albums come to mind, he’s emblematic of his generation and brilliant.  A couple of movies too: UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, VOX LUX , and of course every DEERHUNTER Album.

R.J.- IMHO these bands and movies you cite here might be incredible and life changing but, when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show the entire country was tuned in.  Look, there were only 5 stations to choose from at the time, not the thousands available today.   Tyler the creator, amazing as he might be, only gets a small sliver of the public mind.  (Authors note: I checked out tyler on my phone post-interview and his sound is new and great.). BTW Armin, I see you’re wearing a Bob Dylan T-shirt.

Armin- (without looking down). Yes, yes I am.

Music for weeping above a nameless grave. Just in time for your Halloween mixtape—hell, it could be your Halloween mixtape—is To

Quinn on Books

Pick a card, pick any card

Review of “Tarot for Creativity,” by

Chelsey Pippin Mizzi

Review by Michael Quinn

If you value listening to your inner voice, you know there are many ways to access this wisdom. I’ve studied astrolo gy since I was a teenager, meditate daily and keep a dream journal. Now, I’m exploring tarot—not for the first time.

Stepping into the unknown (The Fool)

I had a brief flirtation with tarot when I first moved to New York in the 1990s. During this goth phase, I wore all black and stomped around the East Village in flamecovered Creepers. Many of the “cool” people I knew used tarot, so I convinced a friend to buy me a deck—I heard it was bad luck to buy your own. I kept it wrapped in silk and slept with it under my pillow to “absorb my energy.” Beyond that, I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. Every book seemed too complicated. I liked the idea of tarot, but like the skull rings I wore, it was more about projecting an image.

Reigniting my creative spark (Ace of Wands)

A few months ago, my interest was again piqued after I read an article about using tarot to help with the writing process. The advice was simple, clear and actionable. When I learned it was excerpted from a forthcoming book, I had to track it down.

Shifting my perspective (The Hanged Man)

“Tarot for Creativity” showcases author Chelsey Pippin Mizzi’s belief that everyone is creative. That doesn’t mean we don’t feel stuck sometimes. She sees tarot as a tool for getting the creative juices flowing. Each card can be used as prompt, encouraging you to see challenges from a fresh angle.

Tapping into ancient wisdom (The Hierophant)

Most modern decks consist of 78 cards divided into two categories: the 22-card Major Arcana (significant life events on “The Fool’s Journey” from naivety to wisdom) and the 56-card Minor Arcana (the stuff of everyday life). The latter is divided into four suits: cups (emotions), swords (intellect), wands (creativity) and pentacles (material resources). It’s a rich visual language full of symbols. Look at each card. What stands out to you? Every picture holds a clue to a mystery your unconscious already knows.

Harnessing creative power (The Magician)

For a reading, you select cards at random (or is it?) and lay them out in a spread. Pippin Mizzi says, “Trust that whatever way the cards inspire you is the right way to work with them.” My old deck is long gone, so I visited the always-reliable Namaste Bookshop on 14th Street in Manhattan to get a new one. (Pippin Mizzi doesn’t believe in the superstition against buying your deck.) There were dozens to choose from, but only one called my name, so to speak.

Challenging old ways of working (The Page of Swords)

I decided to do a spread to help me write this review. I drew my cards, consulted Pippin Mizzi’s interpretations, and allowed my insights to rise to the surface. While working within the framework of tradition (book reviewing) or institutions (this paper), expressing something personal (my writing) is a powerful approach (The Hierophant). Including personal memories allows my individuality and authenticity to shine (Queen of Cups). Prioritizing joy and playfulness over self-criticism (Six of Cups) is a crucial investment in my creative independence (Nine of Pentacles). And I can break free of restraints by pushing my creative boundaries (Eight of Swords)—I took this to mean experimenting with form, such as using tarot to write about tarot. Talk about meta! Finding guidance beyond fortune-telling (The Star)

This experience highlights how “Tarot for Creativity” goes beyond traditional interpretations. It’s not about fortune-telling (you’ll notice, for example, there was no mention of my winning the Pulitzer). From Pippin Mizzi’s perspective, the cards can help you tap into and amplify your inner voice, which is what creative expression is all about. Her straightforward and encouraging approach helps you understand the tarot is telling not just any story, but your story. With her guidance, I’ve discovered a practical way to incorporate tarot into my creative process, enriching my writing— and this very review. How can tarot help you?

Jazz by Grella

The Perpetual Library of Powell

by George Grella

By the time you read this, Bud Powell’s 100th birthday (September 27) will have passed, with a 24-hour broadcast from WKCR and a 25% discount promotion from Blue Note records on the two Powell LPs on their label currently in print. So after blowing out the candles, let’s take a look at how that is a tragedy.

Powell was the first and greatest bebop pianist. He was overshadowed by his contemporary Thelonious Monk, who was promoted as the “High Priest of Bebop” even though he wasn’t a bop player. Monk was the Stravinsky of jazz piano, not only reviving stride and swing through a modernist sensibility, but using rhythm and meter as the foundation of his composing, getting endless mileage out of taking simple, discrete ideas and shifting them around through time. Powell on the other hand was an absolute bopper, his right hand spinning out twisting, self-perpetuating lines like those of a horn player, adding the melodic curlicues and rhythmic accents that were essential to the bop vernacular that Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie created. Powell was in and of the idiom. Like those two, he revolutionized ideas they all had picked up from the great swing musicians.

Even though he’s the pianist on the Parker-Gillespie Jazz at Massey Hall album, famously called the “greatest jazz concert ever,” Powell has run a distant second to Monk in the public mind. Among musicians, his stature and influence have always been prominent (and not just in jazz; the great French classical pianist Samson François was a huge Powell fan, and you can hear that influence in the way François played Chopin, with a lean manner that emphasized the top lines in the music), but Powell has never been more than a marginal figure for the greater jazz public. That his albums have not been consistently in print is a huge part of that, and is a tragedy that compounds that of Powell’s own life. He died in 1966 at the age of 41, having endured decades of severe mental illness with roots in a serious beating at the hands of the police and compounded by electroconvulsive therapy (Bertrand Tavernier’s 1986 film Round Midnight, starring tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, was based in large part on Powell’s life as an expatriate in France).

The one Powell album to have if you can have only one is Bud Plays Bird, a piano trio date with bassist George Duvivier and drummer Art Taylor. Recorded across late 1957 and early 1958, Powell runs through tunes like “Yardbird Suite,” “Ornithology,” and “Moose the Mooche” with high spirits, intelligence, elegance, and plenty of fire. But don’t look for it; the tapes sat in a vault until discovered by Michael

Cuscuna and released on CD by Blue Note in 1997, whereafter it was left to go out of print.

Currently in print are The Amazing Bud Powell Vol 1 and Time Waits, both on Blue Note. The invaluable CD collections The Complete Blue Note and Roost Recordings and The Complete Bud Powell on Verve, which between them have his greatest sessions (except for Bud Plays Bird which came out the year after the Blue Note collection was released)—the latter with his fantastic solo album Bud Powell’s Moods (also issued as The Genius of Bud Powell)—are out of print and have

"The tragedy of Powell’s life is compounded by the tragic indifference of the record companies to his musical legacy."

been for decades.

To be absolutely specific, the albums on these collections can be found in cheap knock-off sets from Europe, where they are no longer under copyright and can be reissued by anyone who wants to produce them. So the music is out on the general market, but keep in mind that labels like Chrome Dreams and Reel to Reel do not have the original tapes, these are copied off of previous reissues, likely ripped and repackaged CDs. Caveat emptor.

Does Bud live? If an artist has no records available to be heard, does he make a sound? The tragedy of Powell’s life is compounded by the tragic indifference of the record companies to his musical legacy, which is one of the greatest and most important in the history of jazz, itself one of the greatest and most important facets of American culture. Jazz is neither owned nor controlled by the musicians, though, in this case it’s in the hands of the capitalists who run the Universal Music Group, which owns both Blue Note and Verve, and UMG is not even an American corporation. American aesthetic culture—music, literature, painting—is subservient to American social culture, which is organized around worship of the almighty dollar, this is the fundamental divide. For writing, the fine arts, even film, there are institutions that ameliorate

this and preserve the things that will matter more in hundreds of years than who was the richest person at any given time. Why can’t we have the same thing for jazz?

The model I look to is the Library of America, a nonprofit publisher that keeps important American writing in print. Their catalogue is constantly expanding, and it stretches from the 17th to the 21st century. The editions are carefully edited and authoritative, printed on acid-free paper so they last, and most importantly once they are in print they remain in print. That’s the point, to preserve American literary culture, from early poetry to Herman Melville, Jane Bowles to Albert Murray, Henry James to Don DeLillo. DeLillo is an example of how Library of America works. In two volumes, they’ve republished The Names, White Noise, Libra, Mao II, and Underworld, even as each of these remains currently in print from their for-profit publishers. This is a living author, still writing, still selling books; eventually his publishers (Vintage, Penguin, and Scribner) will stop selling the books, at least temporarily, but they will never go out of print or be unavailable.

If this is possible with a living writer, conceptually it is possible with the catalogues of dead jazz musicians. And it should be possible. DeLillo is indisputably important to American culture, and so is Powell (and Monk and Parker and Gillespie, and how about Duke Ellington and his complete RCA Victor recordings, another collection that has disappeared?). There’s a lot of lip service that comes out of prestigious American institutions like Lincoln Center and PBS about how jazz is essential to America. The idea is right, but it doesn’t appear to be true, because jazz has been left in the hands of giant corporations like UMG where profit and loss are the only things that matter in the end.

Jazz needs this, but jazz also deserves it. Bud Powell deserves it, and people who listen to and care about jazz deserve to be able to hear him (and no, Spotify is not a reasonable option because it exists to enrich executives and there’s no guarantee the music will always be available). For something as important and also economically marginal as jazz, the non-profit music library is the ideal institution, a place that preserves one of the most important parts of America and keeps it available, in perpetuity, for everyone. Surely, we can do this.