Got an email from Mark Dicus of the Church Avenue Business Improvement District, who writes:
...Yes the current MTA financial crisis isn’t helping matters. However, I did have a meeting with the MTA with Assembly Member Rhoda Jacobs last week and my understanding is that something is being worked on. I couldn’t get any details, but we’ll keep pressing.
We'll see.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Well, let's just say it's two steps forward and one step back. Bella woke us up last night, at 2 am, and Yasmin was unable to go back to sleep. (I was having a dream about performing with Ornette Coleman, strangely more concerned about the seats in the auditorium than the music. Interpretations?) I delivered Bella to camp this morning and she was a little clingy; she didn't cry, but was feeling out of sorts. Luckily, Zeb, the teenager that works there as a counselor, picked her up and held her as I was leaving. I love that kid. So, speaking of change we can believe in, here's some change that we can debate about. I mentioned earlier that the area around Maple Street is gentrifying. Over the past five years, many young professionals have moved into the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood, and bought and renovated houses. (Not us, we're down the road a spell.) Lincoln Road, with a new cafe, Mexican Restaurant, and Maple Street School is in some sense a meeting ground for the newcomers and longtime residents of the area; the dynamics of that convergence are being played out on that one-block strip. Article idea. Bgoing!!
Anyway, big-time development is following. Next to Maple Street is a vacant lot on which is being developed a 23-story condo building.
As I understand it, this is not a done deal, and several neighborhood groups are fighting it, including Community Board 9. What effect this will have on the functioning of the school (noise, dust) is unclear. I found this video-debate by two Brooklyn bloggers below. Check it out:I want to keep things real as much as the next white liberal. But one thing that bugs me is that in these debates over gentrification, journalists too often fail to ask the older residents of the community what they think (or even to consider that many of them might stand to benefit from development). It's always a preservationist, or a professional neighborhood rabble-rouser versus a capitalist. There are (many) other sides, too. What about the working-class property owners in the area, of which there are MANY. This is a Caribbean neighborhood, after all, in which the goal is to "Buy house!" What do some of them think?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Maple Street is located right next to the Prospect Park subway stop, which is a destination of the now famous S train, the little train that can. Click on the link to see why.
So, as I mentioned earlier, Bella has been doing great at camp. She's been roundly praised by her teachers as being social, outgoing, and attentive. Didn't cry once. She's been sleeping well too, with the aid of a couple Teletubby dolls, which is especially impressive to me as she's in new digs with strangers. I'm also convinced camp has boosted her development: she's acting more like a kid and less like a baby. She's drinking fewer bottles (babas), eating a bag lunch by herself - you should see her mix the wasabi, ginger, and soy with chopsticks (kidding) -, going to sleep earlier. Last night she slept through, which she hasn't done in 3 or 4 months. Usually she wakes up crying at about 3 a.m. and asks for a bottle, which I prepare and bring to her. Other times she'll wake up, get out of bed, amble down the hallway, and throw open our door like a gunslinger with a blanky entering a saloon, and hop into bed with us. A few times I've woken up in the dead of night to see her face an inch from mine as she stood next to our bed. Freaky.
But I digress. Camp is great because the kids are actively exploring Prospect Park. Bella's 2s group is called "The Wanderers" which makes me chuckle because that's the name of a seminal 1979 movie about an Italian gang in the Bronx in the early 1960s . Her first street gang. They go swimming. They go to the Botanical Garden. They go to the Zoo. Today they went to the Audubon Center and learned about the bugs and worms that live in the soil.
I got a chance today to speak with Jennifer Smith, the director of the camp, and the author of its curriculum.
"I have always worked in early childhood education," said Smith, who taught previously in housing projects in Washington D.C., and at theEthical Culture Fieldston School, in Riverdale. "A few years ago I took a break to help a friend open a wine store, but I needed to be creative and I couldn't be creative doing the books. I was bored out of my mind. The curriculum during the summer is really different from the usual school year. In the summer we have kids from all over for a short amount of time. In the school year the curriculum is more child-led," she said, referring to Maple Street's philosophy of tailoring subject matter to its childrens' interests. "The summer camp is for a limited time so its fun to go with a theme. Kids over the last few years have been into pirates and spies, so we set those themes for this summer. We stress recycling so we do art projects with recycled materials, we do an 'Earth Week.'" Smith stressed some key words: "Outside, fun, water, walking. As much nature as possible. I grew up in the country so I try to pretend we're there."
I'm enrolling.
Money Runs Underground
Interesting to consider how the state of subway stations, like school districts, tend to correspond to the affluence of those that live above them. Take the B/Q lines for example. In Brooklyn the Atlantic Center stop (admittedly a hub - Nostrand too - so maybe they should be left out of the discussion) and 7th Avenue stops are well kept, paint clings unfrayed to the walls, plaster stands stolidly intact. By the time you get to to my neighborhood, though, things change. The Parkside Avenue and Church Avenue stops look like bombed-out Balkan train stations from WWII. Filthy, wall-skin peeling away, they beg for renovation. And then mysteriously, as you proceed to Cortelyou and Newkirk, conditions improve.
Seeing how the MTA's doing, renovations don't seem likely any time soon. (At my end of Church Avenue, the attendant is frequently missing, and I have to wait for exiting riders to open the security door for me to enter with Bella in her stroller; a few times I've had to lift her in the stroller, over the turn-styles.)
Marc Dicus, Director of the Church Avenue Business Improvement District, and a key player in local Brooklyn politics, spearheaded a a push to get the MTA to renovate the Church Station last August, when he and several officials did a walk-through of the station. As of last Novemeber he had received no news from the MTA. I emailed State Senator Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat, last year and received this reply on August 25, 2007:
I too believe the Church Avenue station is in need of repairs. I met with several community groups to see how we can compel the MTA to include the station in their capital improvement agenda. The last word I received, we may have been successful in accomplishing this task. I will keep you updated as we move along.
I have calls in to Eric and Mark's offices for an update. Stay tuned.
A palate-cleanser
While I try and get it together (we have been battling a killer tummy virus at Chez Waltzer), a palate-cleanser. This is not my daughter.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Oblivious to the world around her
So, I was informed by her new 'camp counselors,' Dory and Nelcia that she was a joy, very social, didn't cry once, ate all her lunch, and slept through nap time and beyond, which kind of provides for less dramatic traction than I would like for this blog. But, I was, and am, very proud of her ability to adapt to new surroundings.
"Bella go to new school. It was really, really...fun," she said.
I thought the adventure called for an ice cream, and we indulged ourselves.
"Bella go to new school. It was really, really...fun," she said.
I thought the adventure called for an ice cream, and we indulged ourselves.
In the morning, my wife and I left, and Bella seemed pretty content. I got the privilege of going to pick her up at 2.30pm, which felt like 45 minutes later. (This is a bane of a schedule ruled by child-care arrangements: time evaporates, and it feels impossible to get anything done.)
This, though, was a special opportunity for me. I have never seen Bella in a school or daycare setting in which she's oblivious to my presence. We've never seen her be her own person in our absence. I got to sneak up behind her group in the Park when they were having an African drums and songs session. She (sitting next to the boy in the red T-shirt, standing) was being attentive, and quiet. It was pretty delicious to watch, and I snapped the following pics.
This, though, was a special opportunity for me. I have never seen Bella in a school or daycare setting in which she's oblivious to my presence. We've never seen her be her own person in our absence. I got to sneak up behind her group in the Park when they were having an African drums and songs session. She (sitting next to the boy in the red T-shirt, standing) was being attentive, and quiet. It was pretty delicious to watch, and I snapped the following pics.
Trepidation
After washing her hands for about 20 minutes I took this shot. She looks, a little, well....trepidatious.
The little sinks
Bella loves to wash her hands. Perhaps it's the beginning of an obsessive compulsion. There could be worse ones, no? When we arrived for her first day yesterday morning, she went right for the little sinks.
Maple Street
This is the Maple Street School, on Lincoln Road in Flatbush. It's adjacent to the Prospect Park stop on the B/Q train.
I learned about the school from my friend Anthony Pinciotti, the jazz drummer, who sent his son, Sal, there. "They check out Miles Davis. I went in there and they were listening to 'Kind of Blue,' instead of watching Barney or some dumb-ass shit like that," I remember him telling me and my wife 3 years ago.
The school's director is Wendy Cole with whom I am going to try and catch up in the next few days for a chat about the history of the school and its role in the community. Suffice it to say, though, that we were attracted to the school for a few reasons. Besides being nearby, it stresses child-directed learning through interaction with other children, the environment and the arts. It is based, in part on the Reggio-Emilia and Waldorf-Steiner educational philosophies. Also, the school, unlike some others we visited, is highly diverse - racially and economically- and actively struggles to maintain its identity as an institution rooted in the community. That is, as it has grown, and grown more expensive since its inception in 1978, it continues to serve the Flatbush community, as well as the generally more affluent newcomers that have been part of the area's gentrification over the past five years. It is also a cooperative that puts its pupils' parents to work. More on that later.
I learned about the school from my friend Anthony Pinciotti, the jazz drummer, who sent his son, Sal, there. "They check out Miles Davis. I went in there and they were listening to 'Kind of Blue,' instead of watching Barney or some dumb-ass shit like that," I remember him telling me and my wife 3 years ago.
The school's director is Wendy Cole with whom I am going to try and catch up in the next few days for a chat about the history of the school and its role in the community. Suffice it to say, though, that we were attracted to the school for a few reasons. Besides being nearby, it stresses child-directed learning through interaction with other children, the environment and the arts. It is based, in part on the Reggio-Emilia and Waldorf-Steiner educational philosophies. Also, the school, unlike some others we visited, is highly diverse - racially and economically- and actively struggles to maintain its identity as an institution rooted in the community. That is, as it has grown, and grown more expensive since its inception in 1978, it continues to serve the Flatbush community, as well as the generally more affluent newcomers that have been part of the area's gentrification over the past five years. It is also a cooperative that puts its pupils' parents to work. More on that later.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Contraband
International press was shown the following items confiscated from FARC rebels by Colombian goverment forces.
1) A TLC Kashi Apple Bar
2) A muenster cheese sandwich on pita. It was later transferred to tinfoil because "everyone knows, cheese sweats."
3) A bag of highly addictive "Tings" with a street value in the thousands of dollars.
4) An apple juice box, also highly addictive, habit-forming, having a severe effect on the behavior of young children due to its sugar content. Authorities are made to watch training films showing toddlers under the effect of this substance.
5) A bowl of grapes and apples.
6) A bag with the codename "Bella"
7) Water in a bizarre container
Bella has always been fed. This is the first time we've prepared food for her to take and feed to herself. It's a big deal (for us).
1) A TLC Kashi Apple Bar
2) A muenster cheese sandwich on pita. It was later transferred to tinfoil because "everyone knows, cheese sweats."
3) A bag of highly addictive "Tings" with a street value in the thousands of dollars.
4) An apple juice box, also highly addictive, habit-forming, having a severe effect on the behavior of young children due to its sugar content. Authorities are made to watch training films showing toddlers under the effect of this substance.
5) A bowl of grapes and apples.
6) A bag with the codename "Bella"
7) Water in a bizarre container
Bella has always been fed. This is the first time we've prepared food for her to take and feed to herself. It's a big deal (for us).
Getting ready for the first day of summer camp.
Today was a big day for Bella Spiro Waltzer, our daughter; it might have been a bigger day for my wife and I. Bella is two and a quarter, and her short life has been marked, in our minds at least, by transitions away from us, toward her own independence (I know, she's only 2, we're not talking going off to Africa for the Peace Corps, but it's a big deal to us).
First came leaving her with a sitter for three days a week. Second was leaving her when she was about 1, at a day care nearby, on the Kensington side of Prospect Park, about a 15-minute walk from where we live on the Parade Grounds. The ladies there are Russian - Ukrainian, some of them, like Bella's great-grandparents - and Bella picked up their accent. She calls me 'Daddieh,' and speaks like Irina, who I think is her favorite, "Ahhh, maybe-eh I have cookie...maybe-eh." It's a flat world: we should have sent her to a Chinese day-care center for her career prospects. But... getting back to the topic at hand.
This is another transition. In September, Bella will leave the Russians to go to the Maple Street School, a cooperative day care in Flatbush, or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens (it depends on which real-estate agent you're speaking with) and undergo another changing of the guard, literally. It's a big deal for us and Bella, the kind of event that makes one take pictures, video, reflect, and get a little choked up. We thought it would be a good idea to get Bella acclimated to her new school and new friends by sending her to the Maple Street Day Camp for a week before she makes the transition in the fall. This blog will be a week long chronicle of her experience, and ours, and maybe a little about the world she's trying to find her way in.
First came leaving her with a sitter for three days a week. Second was leaving her when she was about 1, at a day care nearby, on the Kensington side of Prospect Park, about a 15-minute walk from where we live on the Parade Grounds. The ladies there are Russian - Ukrainian, some of them, like Bella's great-grandparents - and Bella picked up their accent. She calls me 'Daddieh,' and speaks like Irina, who I think is her favorite, "Ahhh, maybe-eh I have cookie...maybe-eh." It's a flat world: we should have sent her to a Chinese day-care center for her career prospects. But... getting back to the topic at hand.
This is another transition. In September, Bella will leave the Russians to go to the Maple Street School, a cooperative day care in Flatbush, or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens (it depends on which real-estate agent you're speaking with) and undergo another changing of the guard, literally. It's a big deal for us and Bella, the kind of event that makes one take pictures, video, reflect, and get a little choked up. We thought it would be a good idea to get Bella acclimated to her new school and new friends by sending her to the Maple Street Day Camp for a week before she makes the transition in the fall. This blog will be a week long chronicle of her experience, and ours, and maybe a little about the world she's trying to find her way in.
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