NYPD Gets Overly Aggressive (As Usual) Breaking Up Student Protest

The NYPD was called in to stop a student protest earlier today at the New School near Union Square. As usual they abuse their power, are overly aggressive, and physically assault and arrest people for no discernible reason (other than they were protesting?). Enjoy.

Gowanus Canal to Smell Better Soon?

According to OTBKB via Gothamist the Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Gonorrhea, er....Gowanus Canal a priority, specifically the canal has been put on the Superfund National Priorities List which basically means they are going to try to clean it up. Which is great because there wont be a festering stink puddle so near by but unfortunate in the sense that it will likely make the area more ripe (heh) for development.

Edit: For those that may not know that gonorrhea reference wasn't a joke, there really was gonorrhea in there.

NYC School Fights Back Against Budget Cuts

A Jackson Heights charter school facing a budget freeze (which is tantamount to a budget cut as these school rely on year after year increases) decided to fight back against the cuts. In addition to letter writing and pone banking politicians the school got together and took their message to the street. Check out this inspiring video:



Here is what one of the organizers said about the event:

As you might know, we have been hit with the devastating news that politicians in Albany are seeking to "freeze" charter school funding at 08-09 levels for the next school year. For our little school in Jackson Heights, that would represent a loss of revenue (a "cut") of $500,000 to $612,000 for next year, on top of the state aid we don't receive due to the funding lag, a double cut. Needless to say, this would mean a massive change in our ability to function as an effective, successful school. After a staff meeting yesterday, we decided we needed to speak out and fight against this unfair double cut on New York charter Schools.

Taking the morning to prepare, I worked with our staff to guide our 350 middle school and high school students into action. Students received a teach-in and question and answer session. Then students broke into 12 different classrooms to write letters, call elected officials, alert the press, make signs, design chants, make flyers for our local community. We hit the street an hour and a half later at let our community, Jackson Heights, know how the Renaissance community feels about these proposed cuts. We rallied in front of two Jackson Heights local officials offices and marched down the main commercial district in the neighborhood, 37th avenue. Needless to say, it was inspiring.

The video is Part 2 of a 3 part series chronicling the protest, you can check out the other parts if you click on the video.

Spring

Looks like a week of Spring ahead, some trees are about to pop...farewell ice flow.

MTA Wants More!

Here comes the fare hike and the service cuts. $103 for monthly passes and $2.50 a ride.

20 bus routes being eliminated. LIRR and Metro North rate increases. MTA bridges and tunnels tolls to increase. MTA also wants to make it clear it is definitely not their fault.

Oh, and it's apparently now official.

Gowanus Lounge Founder Robert Guskind, R.I.P.

photo by Robert Guskind

The blogger behind the great Brooklyn based blog, Gowanus Lounge has passed away. His name was Robert Guskind. The blog tended to focus on development issues in the neighborhoods of Gowanus, Park Slope, Carrol Gardens, Coney Island and Williamsburg areas though it was truly a Brooklyn blog. It was the first Brooklyn blog that I became a loyal reader of. Many beautiful pictures from around Brooklyn were posted on the blog daily. I guess the blogs been out of service for a few days. Hopefully, someone will bring it back. Sad stuff.

You can check out his still active flickr page for some of his (and others) great photos of Brooklyn.

Radio Lab is Best

I do a fair amount of radio and podcast listening thanks to my day job. I have to say one of the best programs out there is Radio Lab. In fact, Radio Lab is one of the best programs I have ever heard in any media. Seriously, if you haven't heard it do your self a favor and check it out. It is a "science" show produced by WNYC, NYC's local public radio station. I say its a science show but its definitely made for non-scientists.

Here is a link to the show web page. There have been a few seasons of radio shows (a season is about 6 episodes) and all can be downloaded from the website or perhaps easier as a podcast on iTunes.

The editing of the show, the content, and the use of sound is amazing. Excellent, excellent stuff. Seriously, go listen to it!

Cakey Racism

Thanks to a special delivery from the messenger we have this inspiring tale of an idiot bakery owner who made some cakes inspired by President Obama. Apparently, he told a customer they were "drunken negro" cakes and intimated that Obama would share the same fate as Abraham Lincoln. Check out the Gothamist for more info and for a video of a local newscast on the jack-ass and watch him try to defend himself. "His brother-in-law is Cuban" therefore, he can't be racist.... Oh and where is this bakery? Alabama? Mississippi? Nope, Greenwich Village, uh...Manhattan.

Cop Tasers Emotionally Diturbed Man, Man Dies, Cop Gets Promotion

I guess this is what it takes to get ahead in the NYPD.

The officer who shocked a man perched on a fire escape, who then fell to his death on the sidewalk, was promoted to Detective a couple weeks after the incident. The incident took place last September in Bed-Stuy. The Lieutenant who actually ordered the tasering committed suicide a few days after the incident.

Here's a link to Gothamist's detailed account from September

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year.

Winter Weekend

The New Coney Island?

From Brownstoner, where you'll find some pics. More here, straight from the source, the Municipal Art Society of NY.

Flying clown heads?

Local Blast! Tax!

New York State Governor David Patterson is facing something of a budget crisis here in the Empire State. His proposed remedies are not very inspired. The two major areas he is looking at to save money is Healthcare and Public Education. Get that? Need more money? Mess with health and edumacation.

An alternative remedy to the budget problem would be to impose a tax on state millionaires. You know rich ass people. Patterson, as well as others, believe that raising taxes on the rich will result in the relocation of many of the states millionaires. Really? I don't have the numbers but I can't imagine many other states offer as many ultra-high paying jobs as we have here in NY, especially NYC. So, maybe some will relocate to New Jersey. If a small percentage tax increase is enough to to scare extremely rich people out of the state, well, good.

NYPD Hates Change and Hope

The NYPD was dispatched to Williamsburg in Brooklyn on election night and SURPRISE they got violent. Crowds gathered all over NYC on Tuesday night, Brooklyn, in particular was ecstatic. Apparently, there were no other problems any where else. Check out the videos of these overzealous assholes.



and this one of one guy getting arrested and another guy getting abused...



more videos and info (including pro-McCain conversation down at the police station) here

Also, on happier note, here's a link to a bunch of Brooklyn Obama celebrations.

NYC Marathon 2008

The New York City Marathon sped, then lumbered, then dragged itself through the neighborhood today. Here's a few shots from the back end.

Juggler

High Five (sort of)

French Clown

Union Square Make Me Money!

As part of a plan set in motion by the Park Department and the Business Improvement District (whose members include some of the surrounding businesses, like the overpriced Whole Foods), the Pavilion and children's playground in Union Square will soon become a restaurant.

See that? A public space becoming a private space. Cha-ching.

According to the Community Improvement District, a group opposing the restaurant plan, the financial backer is anonymous and those who will profit from the plan are not known. Shhh! Cha-ching!

Currently, there is an injunction against the building of the restaurant as a result of a lawsuit to stop the plan. The premise of the lawsuit is that permission from the state legislature to put a private entity on park land was never sought. There is a petition you can peruse and sign right here.

Feminist Art at the MoMA?

We all remember Jerry Saltz's astute criticism of MoMA for the pitiful number of women artists on display in their permanent collection. Printed after a summer of blowout women’s art exhibitions that prompted Nancy Princenthal in Art in America to call 2007 “a banner year for feminism in the visual arts,” such an exposé made MoMA look rather foolish and behind the times, at least in my mind. However, with full awareness of their cultural hegemony, the MoMA seemed to shrug off Saltz’s words with little effort (or at least get away with ignoring the critique completely)…or did it?

Let me take a step back for a moment. Having moved to the city recently, I’ve been making the standard museum and gallery rounds. So naturally I made my way uptown to see the Olafur Eliasson show before it closed (who doesn’t want to see some Smithson and James Turrell slickly rehashed?). However, what peaked my interest was not what I came to see, but instead a room tucked away in the contemporary galleries devoted to Sigalit Landau, a contemporary female Israeli artist. The exhibition is part of MoMA’s Projects Series, founded in 1971 as a forum for young emerging artists. This mini-exhibition consists of three remarkable video works and a number of salt-encrusted lamp-like sculptures. The most recognizable of the videos is Barbed Hula (2000) featured in Global Feminisms. However the most memorable is DeadSee (2005) in which a raft-like spiral of whole and half-eaten watermelons floats on the Dead Sea and slowly unfurls. The artist, locked in the center, is spun around and around until the watermelon coil is unraveled, leaving her body exposed. This incredible body of work can be seen here.

If MoMA’s “all boys club” reputation is valid, then what is work by an artist in Global Feminisms doing there?

It's worth noting that Landau isn’t the only feminist artist currently on display. In the contemporary galleries reside a powerful Nancy Spero, a visceral set of Lynda Benglis sculptures, and an incredible Louise Bourgeois along with a number of other works by female artists either explicitly or implicitly feminist.
Is MoMA finally jumping on the bandwagon? Is MoMA finally heeding the Guerrilla Girls’ warnings? Or is it temporarily paying lip service to the pressure to show artists from more diverse backgrounds?

While Eliasson still dominates, perhaps this is a step in the direction of positive change. Perhaps this is also a sign that for better or for worse feminist art is less of a radical movement and is gradually being integrated into major art historical institutions…but that’s an issue I’ll take up another day.

Starbucks Brooklyn

Starbucks rolled out a new drink called the "Brooklyn". It's just the existing vanilla Frappuccino with more sugar. Well, it's a pretty boring little marketing move but it will probably be huge among teenage girls in NYC suburbs who look at Brooklyn as some sort of hipster mecca.

Oh, and the "Brooklyn" doesn't have any caffeine.

Anyways, I am waiting on the "Staten Island" or the "Jersey Shore"...mmmm!

Art's Happening: Yoko Ono

This is an excerpt from the "Picks of the Week," a blog series I've just started working on for the Brooklyn Museum Feminist Art Blog. Enjoy!

This is the last week to see Yoko Ono’s Touch Me, which closes May 31, 2008 at Galerie Lelong in Manhattan. This multi-dimensional fluxus artist focuses on the female experience in this exhibition through sculpture, painting, interactive installation and includes a film of her 1964 performance of Cut Piece.

(Yoko Ono, Touch me III, 2008. Cast silicone, wood, bowl, water. Courtesy of Galerie Lelong.)

Don’t miss the chance to see this legendary artist’s work at her first exhibition since 2003!

The Best News Ever!

The Real World is coming to town! Brooklyn Town! No idea where exactly. The pictures above are from Bed-Stuy...

Tip o' the cap to El Astro-ho.

The Brooklyn Blogosphere is burning tonight!