Park Slope Reader

Sofia Pipolo

It’s A Wonderful Life

By Filed Under: Park Slope Life

Nothing compares to the classic gift of a beautiful fresh flower bouquet. Whether for a birthday, anniversary, or “just because” flowers are a sure way to brighten up a room and bring a smile to your face. No one in Brooklyn knows this better than at Zuzu’s Petals flower shop.

Zuzu’s Petals has been sending flowers to loved one’s for over 50 years. Opened in 1971 as simply a plant shop, Zuzu’s has grown guided by owner Fonda Sarah’s leadership to become a Park Slope shopping staple. On July 27, 2023, The Assembly State of New York welcomed Zuzu’s Petals into the New York State Historical Business Preservation Registry. They recognized Zuzu’s for its outstanding contribution to their beloved neighborhood.

“I love growing things. I have a physical reaction to beautiful flowers and well-grown plants,” gushes Fonda reflecting on her favorite aspects of owning the business. “I have great affection for many of the people who have worked with me over the years and used the experience to grow into something they love doing.”

The New York State Historical Business Preservation Registry (HBPR) was established by Chapter 241 of the Laws of 2020, sponsored by Senator Jose Serrano and Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell. It is a non-competitive nomination-based program, in which businesses are nominated by elected state officials including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and members of the Senate or Assembly. HBPR states, “The program is administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation and highlights businesses that have been in operation for at least 50 years and have contributed to their community’s history. At a time when many businesses face new and unique challenges, this registry allows us to recognize and honor historic businesses, while providing educational and promotional assistance to ensure their continued viability and success.”

Some other Brooklyn businesses currently in the registry include Sahadi Importing Company, JoMart Chocolates, and Kellogg’s Diner.

Now added to this titular list is the beautiful and friendly flower shop located in the heart of Park Slope. The HBPR proclamation event was hosted at the 5th Avenue storefront as assemblymembers, coworkers, friends, and loyal customers gathered to celebrate and support the years of accomplishments achieved by Fonda and her ever-evolving team of Zuzu’s.

State assemblymembers proclaimed, “Whereas Zuzu’s Petals opened its doors in Park Slope in 1971, and soon became a neighborhood institution by bringing the beauty and artistry of flowers to everything from weddings and birthdays to holidays and everyday life of generations of Park Slope residents; and Whereas Zuzu’s Petals has been a successful woman-owned business for all these decades and makes a special contribution to the culture and fabric of the Park Slope community; and Whereas Zuzu’s Petals is deeply rooted in Park Slope and will continue to delight and inspire its many customers for generations.”

Named from the classic Christmas film, It’s A Wonderful Life, Zuzu’s Petals offers personalized fresh flower bouquets, custom delivery arrangements, and a retail space filled with gifts and houseplants. In the summer months, they have a backyard nursery of garden flowers and plants. Fonda has kept this community-oriented feel alive through her personal, thoughtful, and hands-on approach to customer service, staff management, and flower design. True care and heart goes into the work of each and every flower arrangement that leaves the store.

Zuzu’s see flowers as a universal gift of connection, appreciation, and friendship for all your loved ones. One floral designer remarks, “I most enjoy the experience of helping someone pick out flowers knowing they are a gift for a particular person. Thinking about what the other person will like. It’s more than just selling a random product at a store, it’s creating individual pieces of art that will be gifted at a special moment in their life.”

When you visit Zuzu’s you are welcomed to a large fresh-cut flower bar. Blooms from ranunculus, sunflowers, and anemones, to hydrangeas, anthurium, and delphinum. And, of course, a gorgeous color selection of roses. They even receive locally grown stems from upstate flower farms, like camomile, cornflower, and teddybear sunflowers. The talented team of designers will assist you in choosing and arranging a unique selection perfect for you.

Almost all of the store’s flower stock is carefully hand-selected by Fonda from the NYC Flower Market. For all these years, Fonda has visited the flower market, located on 28th St in Manhattan, no later than 5 AM to pick out the most beautiful seasonal flower bundles.

“The wholesale flower market was multi-generational families…all men. There was a culture of gambling and drinking mixed in with a heavy dose of sexism…but I found my people and they taught me what to buy and how much to pay,” says Fonda remembering being a self-taught young woman entering the business. Today her strong and positive relationships at the market have earned Zuzu’s a reputation for unique, lasting, and exceptional quality flowers.

Longtime Park Slope residents may remember shopping at Zuzu’s Petals at its original location on 7th Ave. “For 2 years, I managed the shop (which only sold plants) [previously called Growing Things] and bought it in August 1974. The day after I bought the business another plant store moved into our former space a block away and within a year another one opened around the corner. Competition was a challenge, but I eventually outlasted both of them,” tells Fonda. During those early days, Fonda worked 7 days a week with only one employee. She went to a greenhouse retailer in New Jersey every week for the store stock. “These growers raised and hybridized their varieties. It was like shopping in a museum. People were seriously into collecting plants as a hobby. And then, plants were being grown and shipped up from Florida. They were crap but cheap and that killed the market for quality.”

Because of this Fonda pivoted to selling cut stems. This major transition has guided Zuzu’s to where it is today. “I have learned how to successfully buy and sell growing things. I have always sold quality plants and flowers and educated my customers on their care. I have established a good reputation with my vendors. And I have a deep loyal customer base that I am forever grateful for.”

Tragically, in 2004 a building fire destroyed that store and forced the business to regroup and relocate to 5th Avenue. This happened at a time when the slope’s 5th Avenue was not as bustling. Zuzu’s was one of those independent businesses that helped to build up the street into the busy local shopping hub it is today. With the generous support of friends, trusted customers, and neighbors Zuzu’s was able to rebuild and sprout again into a new era at its current storefront.

“The business has been threatened by several economic downturns, destroyed by fire, stalled by Hurricane Sandy, and shut down for the pandemic.” Fonda reflects on other challenges, “Not to mention competition and the internet which totally changed the economic model of bricks-and-mortar independent business. People don’t shop in person for anything they can get online so street traffic as a culture has diminished.”

Yet regular customers continue to stop into Zuzu’s storefront, amused and delighted by the lush green plants, colorful dahlias, and friendly staff. Longtime employee Lorriane expresses her gratitude saying, “We wouldn’t be here without the customers that come back every week all these years.”

Over the years, the business has grown with a beautifully balanced and experienced team of designers; skillfully trained to design bridal bouquets, flower crowns, corsages, centerpieces, and any arrangement you may need. Zuzu’s Petals prides itself on being an independent woman-owned and operated business— valuing quality service, beautiful arrangements, and products that are personal and specialized for each individual. When receiving a bouquet from the shop it’s easy to see the dedication and affection each designer has for their craft.

One such beloved Zuzu’s customer is well-respected funeral director Amy Cunningham of Fitting Tributes. She comments, “Fonda, you’re a phenomenal floral designer and event brainstormer, but perhaps most remarkable as a gifted business owner and staff motivator, seeing your worthy endeavor through lean times and some tough moments. You’ve guided our community through all kinds of milestones. Enjoy this one!!”

On the future of Zuzu’s Fonda simply says, “The shop will continue to grow, adapt, and flourish under the guidance of a new generation of Zuzus.”

Follow Zuzu’s Petals @zuzuspetalsbrooklyn

https://www.zuzuspetalsbrooklyn.com

Learn more about the HBPR: parks.ny.gov/historic-preservation/business-registry

Brooklyn Eviction Defense: Where Organization Becomes Conscious

By Filed Under: Uncategorized

Each month it becomes more apparent the cost of living here in Brooklyn is not getting any lower. Only higher! After 9 consecutive months of rent increases, this past June 2022 experienced the highest year-over-year median rent growth. Bringing the median rent in Brooklyn to $3,500.

Portrait of young woman holding signs and shouting while protesting at environmental disaster site

Each month I share in the struggle of paying rent I feel I can barely afford while consulting on which meal we should skip to save money. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Meanwhile, I walk down the avenues here in Park Slope and notice yet another of my favorite local businesses closing. I ask why, and the owner talks about lower profits and higher rent. Later I receive a text that a friend has to move because their “covid rent deal” is over, and their rent went up over 50%. Along the way home, I spot a flier for “Brooklyn Eviction Defense.”

We all know these situations too well. It’s a struggle, and often one we feel powerless against. However, Brooklyn Eviction Defense is working to bring the power back to us!

Brooklyn Eviction Defense (BED) works as a grassroots, mutual-aid organization providing resources, education, protest, and training for tenants. They understand the need for long-term political and legal solutions, while also providing service for the immediate needs of tenants and members of our community. The group has weekly meetings, hosts events, has zines and online reading resources, community fliers, and organizes community activists events and protests— all with the goal to combat landlord harassment, disrepair, rising rent, and threats of eviction. Their network understands and lives the experience of us individuals in Brooklyn, those who have called these neighborhoods our home for generations, and those beginning a new chapter of their life here.

While there is always change, it is essential we do not feel powerless against these forces. Brooklyn Eviction Defense is here to empower our neighborhood community so we may all live safely, justly, and happily.

Below is my interview with some members of BED.

Who makes up the Brooklyn Eviction Defense?

BED is composed of organized worker-tenants either unaffiliated or affiliated with a formal tenant association within the BED union. We do not have staff. We are a member-led organization. “Volunteer” makes what we do sound like charity. What we do is collectively and consciously build power with and for tenants (including ourselves) in order to combat the dispossessory conditions baked into the landlord-tenant relationship. An important part is also leadership development— the process of unearthing the true potential of every tenant to their own protagonist in the struggle for a right to housing.

What are some of the major programs BED runs?

In recent months our work has focused on building tenant associations to fight disrepair, rent hikes (legal and illegal), and harassment by landlords. Tenants will reach out through our hotline or email to report issues in their building; then we get to work with them, sending organizers to help doorknock, flier, attend meetings, and organize a TA to fight back against those issues. Importantly, we do not view tenants as “people to help.” We are tenants organizing alongside

tenants towards the common goal of ending tenancy— that is, of building a world where we control how and where we live. We have been very successful in the past 9 months at building dozens of TAs across Brooklyn and hope to continue. As tenants, we are strongest when we realize our collective interests and organize alongside each other!

Whom are you fighting for? On an individual level? On a collective level? Your strategy includes “a collective fight for tenant’s rights and tenant protection.” What does that look like in an emergency situation, for example, if an individual is facing eviction?

We are fighting for the precarious and unstable; those who do not control the means of production, specifically those who are systematically denied control over their housing and communities. In an emergency situation that means we recognize that eviction is never an atomized or individual event. We fight to defend our neighbors not out of a sense of goodwill but out of the recognition that the forces behind eviction are the same forces exerting control/power over each of us in our daily lives. Eviction defense then is a defense against the violence of capitalism.

That also means we recognize that the law, being a tool of capitalism, won’t save us. The legal system treats evictions as isolated events, but we know that evictions are not an aberration or extraordinary event, but the rule. That means we aim to not just mobilize in “emergency situations” (quotes because evictions don’t represent a state of emergency, the intended outcome of capitalist logic), we aim to organize tenants to take back control over their homes/communities in a long-term way. Done through tenant associations, rent strikes, and collective actions that mobilize entire buildings and blocks. We are not here to play whack-a-mole with evictions, we are here to build power and transform power relations.

Currently, Brooklyn is facing rezoning; major rezoning projects are expanding from downtown Brooklyn, including Gowanus, Park Slope 5th and 4th Ave, even talks of condos on Governor’s Island— Do these projects pose a threat to the work you do? How? And what are some of the harmful effects?

Rezoning, displacement, and gentrification are inseparably linked under the tyranny of real estate. As long as housing exists for profit rather than its use (the actual lived home, the site our social lives are (re)produced, raise our kids) then it will always be mere commodities for developers, financiers, and landlords to profit from. There’s no such thing as affordable housing and new development will always impact, and disproportionately displace, dispossess, and genocide the culture of black and brown communities. We must demystify the market-based policy solutions (a strategy to build more without considering the inevitable and historic consequences) in favor of our work to sharpen analysis of the terrain and antagonisms lurking within it.

These projects pose a threat to where and how we live. Our mission is to empower greater sovereignty of those things. Is it a threat? It is more like our class enemy.

Our readership is mainly in Park Slope; many residents here own homes, rather than renting— some of them landlords themselves. Are they still at a disadvantage when it comes to these rezoning projects? What advantages and disadvantages may they need to be aware of?

We do not support landlords— nor the false dichotomy of big vs small landlords. They subsist on the life force and stolen value that tenants produce. Rezoning affects homeowners in many ways: sometimes it increases their property’s value i.e. their equity, sometimes it blocks the view

of a toxic river, or, like many racists would say, “affordable housing” invites “undesirables” into their backyards and they oppose them. There are many camps that oppose development without a clear political framework.

We exist to help tenants actualize the power they already have and build movements from that collective power. Also to protect the cultural identity and demographic of a community, including homeowners who are not landlords and are often targeted by refinancing deed theft schemes. We are not a safety net for small landlords. There’s enough of that already.

What effects has gentrification created here in Brooklyn? How is it impacting your organization’s work?

Gentrification is the process of developers, investors, and landlords identifying neighborhoods where they see a “rent gap”— that is, a gap between how much tenants are paying in rent and how much they could be paying— and then evicting long-time, disproportionately black and brown tenants, lobbying for favorable rezonings and subsidies, and effectively remaking the neighborhood into a new, whiter, more profitable(!) set of buildings. This is, by design, a process that dispossessed working-class tenants, which we all are, wholeheartedly, committed to fighting.

We believe the best defense against the forces of gentrification; against the oppressive and genocidal tactics of landlordism; against the financialization of people’s very lives, is, undoubtedly, an organized community— from the building to borough level. Strong, militant tenant associations can fight against dispossession, and when tenant associations across neighborhoods band together, they can fight gentrification. The key is this: landlords, developers, investors, and their political friends are highly organized toward the pursuit of their class interests (reaping immense profit from tenants). The only way we beat them is to out-organize as a class— which we intend to do.

How can individuals support Brooklyn Eviction Defense?

Join our growing union, organize with your neighbors, and create a democratic culture of decision-making and leadership in your buildings! Share our stories about our wins and our struggles, come to our general assemblies, and share our literature and know-your-right pamphlets. Connect to a wider (international) struggle against the bulwark of displacement which is capitalism. We are a member-led organization, with no staffers, no 501.c3 status, no bank accounts, no grant funding. Our movement is powered by the people— so that means support means we need you. Supporting us is just like supporting yourself.

Learn more at brooklynevictiondefense.org

Summer Sustainability Guide: Invest in Our Community, Invest in Our Planet – Part 2

By Filed Under: Park Slope Life

Every Summer I look forward to the 5th Ave street fairs for the farmer’s markets, live music, and outdoor eating. These warm Summer days invite us to be fully engaged with our neighborhood— welcoming community commitment and collaboration.

  • Calla Jean of Oddment Salvage
  • Park Slope Food Coop
  • GreenMarket Park
  • Grow NYC

The spirit of community collaboration is essential to creating a sustainable neighborhood and sustainable world. Supporting and investing in local programs that build long-term sustainability ensures that our neighborhoods care for, heal, and protect the Earth.

In the previous Spring magazine, our guide focused on ethical, environmentally conscious consumer and commercial habits, like reuse shopping, second-hand fashion, and mutual aid networks. Now we bring you ways to phase out destructive consumption.

Personally, author Tom Cox’s viral Tweet has always stuck and really shook my mindset around consumerism and materialism: “Every plastic toothbrush you have used in your life still exists.” Take a moment to really think about that… Now think that it applies to everyone in your house, everyone on your block, everyone in Park Slope, in Brooklyn, in the five boroughs, in the United States, and everyone in the world… To say the least it’s a lot of toothbrushes. Commonly toothbrushes are made from polypropylene plastic and nylon that can take up to 500 years to decompose.

We consume and throw away, “out of sight out of mind”— but our items do not disappear.

Artists and self-described dumpster diver, Calla Jean creates art and decor pieces from discarded houseware and items from the Brooklyn streets. Her artisan business, Oddment Salvage, promotes a circular economy and eliminates neighborhood waste. Calla writes, “Everything you buy is already trash… No matter what our items will outlast us by hundreds or even thousands of years as trash. Almost everything produced will end up in a landfill eventually. We need to reduce our demand for new goods and shift to reusing what we already have… You can create a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products.”

In this Summer’s Sustainability Guide, we provide ways to radically shift how we consume, collaborate, and create. Remember, we are all connected! These local changes create large-scale transformation to the health and wellness of people and places around the planet.

  • The Painted Pot
  • Fresh pastas from Russo’s, Caputo’s, and Mercado’s

Repair, Don’t Buy New

Our guide has had many suggestions for buying and exchanging second-hand, so what could be even better? Well, simply repairing what you already have!

New does not mean better. Transforming our “throw-away culture” to one that truly shows value, respect, and appreciation for material goods allows us to grow in sentiment and gratitude.

We are quick to throw away, often forgetting we can repair almost anything— from furniture, ceramics, handbags, clothing, shoes, jewelry, watches, or upholstery. Start tailoring your clothing, especially your thrifted purchases. When our items gain some wear-and-tear or need some fresh paint, it’s an opportunity to learn a new skill. Or you can turn to the trusted hands of a local professional. By investing in repair businesses or an individual who can help (through mutual aid networks), you can bring new life to your precious items while saving the planet.

Here are the local businesses we recommend for your repair needs:

  • –  A Tamer Restoration & Reproduction (465 Baltic St)
  • –  Trailer Park (77 Sterling Pl)
  • –  Alvarado Shoe Repair (366 9th St)
  • –  Bob’s Shoe and Leather Service (70 7th Ave)
  • –  Angelo’s Shoe Repair (268 14th St)
  • –  J&Y Interiors Decorator Workroom (552 5th Ave)
  • –  Mario’s French Cleaners (457 4th Ave)
  • –  Brooklyn Cleaner & Tailor (421 7th Ave)
  • –  Mike’s Dry Cleaners & Tailors (281 Flatbush Ave)

Ethical Food What we Brooklyners eat is deeply enmeshed with a complex global system of agriculture, land use, supply and demand politics, labor practices, distribution chains, and food waste— a network that is ultimately destroying the environment.So how can you help? While it is a difficult undertaking— and far too complex to explain in this guide— we suggest beginning by making an effort to learn where your food comes from.NYU Food Studies professor and author, Fabio Parasecoli writes, “The future of the food system is in our hands, not only as consumers but also as citizens.”When you can skip the superstores with foods that have traveled around the world to get to your plate, instead opt for locally sourced, grown, and baked foods. Freshly made pastries, bagels, and loaves of bread from independent bakeries, meats from butcher shops in a close relationship with the farms, or sustainable aquaculture fish markets. Look for organic or gourmet groceries— those making fresh pastas, sauces, cheeses, and other in-house goods.You may even opt for farm-to-table and vegan restaurant options.Park Slope also famously hosts amazing farmer’s markets with independent farms and businesses from the northeastern area. You can find anything from honey, to seasonal vegetables, fresh poultry, aged-cheeses, homemade soups, pickles, breads, and more!

Eating is perhaps the most political act we perform every day. To do so mindfully, sustainably, and ethically is a challenge— and often a luxury; however it is one we must strive for, both individually and as a community.

Begin your dedication to investing in a more sustainable food system with these options:

  • –  Down To Earth Farmers Market (4th St & 5th Ave)
  • –  The Greenmarket (Grand Army Plaza)
  • –  Brooklyn Grange (63 Flushing Ave)
  • –  Park Slope Food Co-Op (782 Union St)
  • –  Russo’s Mozzarella & Pasta (363 7th Ave)
  • –  Caputo’s Fine Foods (460 Court St)
  • –  Hiller & Moon (814 Union St)
  • –  Mercado Central NYC (354 Degraw St)
  • –  Green Ivy (244 4th Ave)
  • –  Awesome Organic Market (493 5th Ave)
  • –  Om Organic (414 Court St)
  • –  Pisces Fish Market (413 5th Ave)
  • –  Fjord Fish Market (249 5th Ave)
  • –  Atlantic Halal Meat (282 Smith St)
  • –  Slow Money NYC
  • –  Grown NYC Wholesale

Additionally, you can begin to grow your own foods at home, at community gardens, or through an urban farming organization. Our local schools are even teaching gardening and agriculture programs, like through the successful Edible Garden at PS 39.

  1. Growing Green SpacesEqual access to nature and green space is incredibly necessary for not only a healthy environment but a healthy life.There are so many positive benefits of having any green space, like a park, garden, or even potted flowers outside of apartment buildings. Daily time with nature reduces mental health symptoms, like depression, anxiety, and chronic stress, increases positive physical health and exercise, and promotes community safety and cooperation. Simply having more trees on your block will cool down the street, reduce climate change effects, cleans the air, prevents flooding, promote biodiversity, and control insect and rodent populations. Plus, public parks and gardens are one of the few remaining places you aren’t expected to spend money.You can even bring nature into your own home! There are houseplants for any kind of indoor space, budget, and schedule— very sunny, low-light, dry air, humid air, safe for pets, small potted, hanging plants, fast growing, or low maintenance. Houseplants boast being therapeutic to care for; known to increase your mood, attention to detail, energy levels, and mental health.

Author and activist, Nick Hayes reminds us how urban areas must fight for infrastructure, politics, and communities that encourage individual’s land rights and accessibility to green space, “We treat the countryside like it’s a museum, not a place you can feel at home in… You’re looking at nature like you might pictures in a gallery. What we need is to be in and amongst it.. The structure of the law needs to change to encourage people to engage with nature.”

As mentioned you can take a tremendous step towards sustainability by growing your own food. Try tomato plants in your backyard, lettuce on your front stoop, or herbs in your window. Of course, you can join one of the amazing community gardens in Park Slope— get your hands in the soil with t like-minded gardeners to learn and grow with!

Nature is the infinite healer! Caring for nature means caring for your mental and physical health, your community, and the whole environment.

Begin your gardening journey by picking up a houseplant at one of these nurseries. Or visiting a community garden near you.

  • –  Greenspace on 4th (207 4th Ave)
  • –  Greenspace at President Street (222 5th Ave)
  • –  Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden (20 Lincoln Pl)
  • –  P.S. 39 Edible Community Garden
  • –  6/15 Green (6th Ave & 15th St)
  • –  Wyckoff-Bond (195 Wyckoff St)
  • –  Pacific Bears Community Garden (150 Flatbush Ave)
  • –  ZuZu’s Petals (375 5th Ave)
  • –  Natural Spirit Corp. (157 7th Ave)
  • –  Planted IN Park Slope (429 Bergen St)
  • –  Nature Based Nursery (123 3rd St)
  • –  Natty Garden (636 Washington Ave)

Composting Many gardens also host composting sites! Here you can compost food scraps and other natural organic waste, which will be used to replenish and nourish the soil, decrease waste, and invest in Brooklyn’s green life. These programs are often run by volunteer-based organizations, like GreenSpaceNYC, BANG Land Trust, Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, or Prospect Park Alliance— so get involved!

Recycling Reduce, reuse, recycle! The phrase became popularized after Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976. But did you know that the EPA reports 55% of recyclable waste still ends up in landfills? It’s shameful really. So how do we prevent this?

Read up on the NYC Department of Sanitation recycling guidelines; following rules like separating plastic items, dismantling and tying up boxes, and calling 311 for larger items can ensure that our throwaways are recycled and discarded properly.

You can also look for programs that specialize in recycling specific materials, like textiles, razors, batteries, electronics, makeup, and hardware.

Here are some such Brooklyn-based recycle programs:

  • –  Green Tree Textile Recycling (partnered with Down To Earth Farmers Market)
  • –  Wearable Collections Clothing & Shoe Reuse (partnered with Greenmarket)
  • –  Grow NYC (partnered with Greenmarket)
  • –  Le Nature Store (233 5th Ave)
  • –  The Environmental Recycling of NY (580 Degraw St)
  • –  Owl Plastics (882 3rd Ave)
  • –  Benson Scrap Metal Recycler (543 Smith St)
  • –  My Battery Recyclers (95 Union St)

Gift Giving We have all experienced it: receiving a gift that we ultimately do not need or want, then after not wearing that sweater for 2 years or letting that knick-knack collect dust, you finally decide it’s time to get rid of those presents that end up being junk. And don’t lie to yourself, you have probably given these well-meaning, but burdening gifts to someone too.Of course, you can regift, upcycle, exchange, or donate to places mentioned previously in our guide. But how can we stop this wasteful-cycle from happening?

  • Here are some sustainable, waste-free, community and planet investing gift ideas:
    • –  Gift-certificates to a local restaurant
    • –  House-plant or flower arrangement
    • –  Concert or event tickets
    • –  Art or cooking or other in-person or online class
    • –  Museum or art exhibition tickets
    • –  Online video or streaming subscription service
    • –  Printed photo album or digital photo archive
    • –  Cleaning service or home-care help
    • –  A home-cooked meal or baked good
    • –  Painting or art piece from local artist
    • –  Used books or magazines
    • –  Fresh coffee beans, tea leaves, or herbs
    • –  Bottle of wine or liquor
    • –  Hand-made bath bombs, or body care products

To complete this guide we want to add a quote from the book A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore, “This reimagination is a collective act of liberation. Never under capitalism have the majority been asked about the world we’d like to live in. To dream, and dream seditiously, is something that many humans need to practice… Restoration ecology offers joy, looking for working and living spaces to be filled with equitable chances of recreation.”

We hope you return to these articles as your guide to this recreation. That we all may begin shifting our daily practices, consumer habits, and mindset to a circular community-based network of mutual aid that reminds us of our connection with our neighbors, with our fellow humans and animals around the globe— and our life-giving connection with the natural Earth!

Uncle Skunk’s New EP, Heaven River, Hits the Brooklyn Music Scene

By Filed Under: Music, The Arts

Brooklyn-based band, Uncle Skunk played a fantastic show to celebrate the release of their new EP, Heaven River. After a strong positive response, this milestone is an exciting step forward for the group.

Heaven River is the newest release from the alternative folk rock band made up of Otis Streeter (guitar, lead vocals), Henry Pearson (guitar), Sam Benezra (guitar), Robert Kim (bass guitar), Teddy Sidiropoulos (drums). This album features additional instrumental credits to Howe Pearson and Derrick Burt. Together this 5 song EP showcases the collaborative and eclectic sound two years in the making. It’s a densely packed rock sound matched with folk vocals and a droney soundscape. In songs like Together you’ll hear more metal influences hiding in the background— making them some heavy-hitters. Still the project has an overall textured acoustic feel that reflects the band’s individual and collective tastes and styles.

“Someone had described that it sounds like all of our personalities together,” says guitarist Sam.

“We tried recording this 5 times,” tells Henry, who was a principal songwriter along with Otis. The writing process began with Henry and Otis in Connecticut; evolving over time as they played shows and recorded bit-by-bit. Later they began recording at King Killer Studio, a DIY music studio in Gowanus. They also recorded instrumentals in their own homes.

This music was again given new life and new enthusiasm when bassist Robert joined the band. You can hear his beautiful cello featured in the songs Metal’s chorus and in Together. This interesting sonic layering was made possible by Matt Labozza, who mixed the album. Robert enthused, “He was able to find the right place for elements you think would take up a lot of space.” Matt creatively found pockets in the sound to fit in these elements from midi and synth samples, like the monkey sounds featured at the end of Stuck in a Toaster.

Continuously playing live also gave Uncle Skunk a stronger sense of knowing how each song needed to be recorded and put together. It took 2 years to piece everything together.

After so much time working on Heaven River, the band members all tell that its release felt like a huge weight off their shoulders. They are happy with the EP’s unexpected and vibrant form. “Working out these final recordings it felt like we didn’t have to make compromises in any fundamental way,” reflects Henry. And still now being able to play music live continues to bring new experimentation to the music.

Sam states, “Yes, these are the recorded versions but they are not the only versions.”

The Brooklyn live music scene has so much to offer; you can find venues, bands, or parties for any sounds or atmosphere you like best. Still, Uncle Skunk has never easily fit into one box—

whether it genre, vibe, or audience. They’re an eclectic group not only in sound but in make up— each member of the band coming from different backgrounds and college music.

Coming together now in Brooklyn, the competitive and gatekeeping nature of the live music industry has been difficult for band to navigate and find their place in. “We’ve always been a kind of lonely band.” That is why DIY spaces and openness to collaborate and create accessibility is a priority they hope continues to grow. For example there EP release party was hosted at the Tea Factory, a DIY music and artists space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. These communitie are valuable for all independent artists to create equal access to resources, venues, and audiences. As Henry explains, “The Brooklyn music scene is amazing from the consumer point. There’s always cool shows to be found! But creating those cool shows can be frustrating.”

Uncle Skunk’s enthusiasm continue to perform, collaborate, and expand their music will keep them playing shows in the coming months. Experimenting and fabricating their sound as they go. They plan to release more music by the end of the year.

Heaven River is available to stream and can follow Uncle Skunk at the links below. @uncleskunkmusic https://www.instagram.com/uncleskunkmusic/
Steam Music Here – https://linktr.ee/uncleskunk

Park Slope Sustainability Guide

By Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: ,

Spring is here! On every street, we are beginning to feel the warmth of the sun, the blossoms of tree buds, the songs of birds, and Prospect Park growing green again. We are reminded of the beauty nature brings to our lives!

Sadly, springtime also reminds me of our destructive disconnection with nature that’s ultimately led to the current global climate crisis. While, yes, this environmental emergency is not the total burden of us everyday citizens, its roots are still in our consumer practices, neighborhood framework, materialism, and daily habits.

This year’s Earth Day (April 22) theme is “Invest In Our Planet.” President of the Earth Day Network, Kathleen Roberts writes, “In 2022, we all must enter into one partnership for the planet. People, governments, and even most businesses fear change, but that status quo- the way we live today- is changing before our eyes. In building our future, individuals, businesses, governments each have a unique role – we need to act individually and together.”

Optimistically, we do have the power to redirect our personal choices; to individually and collectively reconnect and heal nature. We can bring more awareness to ourselves, to our neighborhood, to our country, and our global community— that is the lives of other humans, the lives of animals, and the Earth’s green life.

This may sound overwhelming. But worry not! We have created the ultimate guide to sustainability in Park Slope! Breaking down sustainable, environmentally conscious, and ethical alternatives to implement in your life, while supporting local businesses and building mutual aid with your neighbors in Brooklyn and around the world!

Zero-Waste Home Refills

Refill stores are radically transforming shopping for cleaning solutions, bath and body products, and other household needs. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annually reports over 27 million tons of single-use plastic pollutes landfills, coastal areas, and oceans.

Stores like La Nature Store offer a zero-waste alternative to stocking your home. They also host recycling programs for plastic such as toiletry packaging and razors. They promote, “La Nature was founded with a goal in mind- to make eco-friendly everyday products more accessible and to encourage more people around the world to decrease their ecological footprint by switching to sustainable, zero-waste alternatives.”

Simply buy or bring in your own container, like a glass jar or spray bottle, refill it with the solution you need, then pay per ounce.

Begin going zero-waste by refilling your shampoos, dish soap, cleaning sprays, body lotions, and more at these refill options in the neighborhood:

  • –  Le Nature Store (233 5th Ave)
  • –  Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store (232 5th Ave)
  • –  Park Slope Food Co-Op (782 Union St)
  • –  Tarzian West for Housewares (194 7th Ave)
  • –  Mazzone Ace Hardware (476 Bergen St)
  • –  Green In BKLYN (432 Myrtle Ave)Hand-Made Herbal WellnessSimilarly, herbal apothecary and botanica stores allow you to buy your spices, herbs, and other dry ingredients in bulk, often for a better deal and less waste than the supermarkets. These stores also support awareness of natural, holistic wellness, homemade and self-reliant cooking, skin-care, and healing. You’ll cultivate a deeper understanding of the ingredients you use.Take another step towards sustainability as many of these businesses even offer resources and classes on herbalism and making DIY herbal-based body and home care products.

Find sustainable organic, chemical-free, and locally sourced alternative products at these local herb stores:

  • –  Herboganic (262 Butler St)
  • –  Natural Spirit Corp. (157 7th Ave)
  • –  Remedies Herb Shop (453 Court St)
  • –  Radicle Herb Shop (394 Atlantic Ave)
  • –  Spiral Herbal Remedies (810 Washington Ave)Sustainable FashionAccording to the EPA, landfills receive a yearly average of 13 million tons of textiles; an insane amount of waste heavily caused by the fast-fashion industry’s over-production and over-consumption of clothing. The industry also contributes to water waste, plastic production, greenhouse gas emissions, and abusive labor practices, which disproportionately exploit women and girls.To minimize these abuses, we can radically transform our fashion culture. Opt for vintage, second-hand, thrifted, and re-worked fashion! The trend towards thrift and upcycled fashion has not only been praised for its environmental benefits, but for being more gender-inclusive, diversely creative, and broadening our ideas on appearance and outward self-expression.Some stores, like m.a.e Brooklyn, offer consignment options for vintage and high-end brands; a shopping alternative that invests in your neighbors, your favorite businesses, your wardrobe, and your planet.Diversify your wardrobe with vintage and upcycled fashion from the curated selections at these Park Slope stores:
  • –  m.a.e Brooklyn (362 7th Ave)
  • –  Slope Vintage (71 5th Ave)
  • –  pushcart vintage (270 Prospect Ave)
  • –  Life Boutique Thrift (66 5th Ave / 515 5th Ave)
  • –  Beacon’s Closet (92 5th Ave)
  • –  L Train (654 Sackett St)
  • –  All Almost New Clothing Inc. (68 St Marks Ave)
  • –  Out of the Closet – Brooklyn (475 Atlantic Ave)
  • –  Meshimar (433 7th Ave)
  • –  Nova’s Arc (443 7th Ave)
  • –  Allegra Vintji (58 2nd Ave)Antique Furniture and DecorSimilar criticism has begun on the “fast-furniture industry.” Referring to affordable, but cheaply-made, mass-produced furniture options— think Ikea or Wayfair; the target consumer being college students and new or short-term renters, who face a challenging combination of unstable incomes, unpredictable rent hikes, short-term subleases, often needing to move multiple times within a year. You’ve probably seen these broken dressers, dismantled bed frames, and sleeper sofas on the curb with a hand-written free sign. EPA estimates 9 million tons of discarded furniture end up in America’s landfills annually.Of course, do not blame people for buying affordable necessities; however, we must try creating environmentally conscious, sustainable alternatives! Immediately, by placing value in well-produced and maintained furniture and household products. In the long-term, easier moving options for renters and supporting affordable housing politics.Big Reuse is one local alternative! This donation-based super-reuse store stocks upcycled household necessities— from dining plate sets, to kitchen appliances, to hardware, to computer monitors, to clawfoot bathtubs, to handcrafted furniture.Big Reuse’s goal states, “NYC’s construction and demolition industry throws away nearly 7,000,000 tons of building materials annually! These materials clog our landfills, release carbon into the atmosphere, and create an artificial need for more materials to be manufactured. By salvaging usable items from demolition and remodel projects and reintroducing them to the market, we take a small step toward eliminating these significant environmental costs. Our goal is to demonstrate another option for materials diversion and hopefully inspire the city to require recycling and reuse for construction and demolition waste.”Invest in these great alternatives to sustainably furnish, remodel, and decorate your home:
  • –  Big Reuse (1 12th St)
  • –  Trailer Park (77 Sterling Pl)
  • –  Rewind Vintage (674 Union St)
  • –  Housing Works (266 5th Ave)
  • –  Yesterday’s News (428 Court St)

– Sterling Place (352 7th Ave)

Donating

Purging your home and closet has its own sustainability challenges; how do you ensure your well-meaning donations won’t end up in a landfill?

It’s difficult to know for sure, so we recommend instead of large-scale organizations, like Good Will or the Salvation Army, ensure to donate to local groups that focus on returning your pieces to your own immediate community.

Here are some neighborhood organizations doing amazing work:

  • –  Gowanus Free Store (Douglass & Bond St)
  • –  Housing Works (266 5th Ave)
  • –  CHiPS (200 4th Ave)
  • –  Out of the Closet – Brooklyn (475 Atlantic Ave)
  • –  10 Little Essentials (63 Flushing Ave)
  • –  St. Mary’s Church (233 Classon Ave)Online Community NetworksConnecting with fellow Brooklyners through Facebook Groups and other online networks to directly exchange and upcycle your clothes, houseware, or other items is an assuring way to know your things will go into good hands. Because you can literally hand it off to others!The Gowanus BuyNothing Group writes, “Give, receive, lend, share, and show gratitude in hyper-local gift economies, where the true wealth is the connections between real neighbors.”Here are some local channels to join:
  • –  Park Slope Together
  • –  Buy Nothing BoCoCa/Gowanus/Redhook
  • –  Buy Nothing Park Slope
  • –  Park Slope Plant Share
  • –  Park Slope Swappies
  • –  Park Slope ParentsMutual Aid ServicesPerhaps the most grass-roots way of transforming our community and investing in our planet is through mutual aid. Working with, donating to, and participating in mutual aid programs can help reduce textile, furniture, and food waste while supporting the immediate, necessary, and interconnected needs of our neighborhood.“Mutual aid means long-term solidarity with the community, not a momentary act of charity.”

Programs for free and affordable food, clothing, housing, healthcare, and job placement not only support individual financial and personal security, but a strong community with a safer neighborhood that values sustainability, class-consciousness, anti-racism, and radical empathy.

Gowanus Mutual Aid endlessly serves the surrounding neighborhoods. Donate or pick up from their free store on Douglass/Bond Street; their free community fridges are located at 123 3rd St and 326 6th St. Visit their website for all their programs.

Here are some other Brooklyn mutual aid groups creating sustainability and equality:

  • –  Gowanus Mutual Aid
  • –  CHiPS, Community Help in Park Slope
  • –  Brooklyn Book Bodega
  • –  Free Community Fridge
  • –  Brooklyn Relief Kitchen
  • –  The Rolling Library
  • –  Saint Lydia’s – Dinner Church
  • –  Recovery House of Worship Brooklyn

This spring let’s invest in our planet, starting inside our homes and building our network outward. Step-by-step we can use this guide come together to connect and heal. We be back in Summer for even more sustainability positiblities.

We Don’t Deserve Dogs: Park Slope Documentary Filmmakers Connecting The World

By Filed Under: Park Slope Life, The Arts Tagged With: , , , ,

What connects us? What makes us different? What’s it like being a shepherd in the isolated mountains of Romania? Or an evening with a dog walker under the streetlights of Istanbul? And how does listening to these stories help us grow together?

From Park Slope filmmakers Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker the new documentary We Don’t Deserve Dogs travels around the world beautifully capturing the lives of everyday individuals and their dogs. While we may never truly know what we did to deserve the unconditional love of our four-legged friends, there are sure to be life lessons in this special relationship.

The filmmaking duo of Urtext Films began their career in their home city of Adalene, Australia; and soon began developing and perfecting their own DIY hands-on way of documentary filmmaking. “When we started doing the documentary work we realized how much we could achieve just the two of us,” reflects Producer Rose Tucker. During production, Rose also manages Sound Recordist, while Matt takes the role of Director and Cinematographer. Together they’ve traveled the world intimately capturing the daily lives of individuals you may not normally see on screen. With just the two of them and sometimes a local translator as the crew, Matt and Rose are able to create a non-disruptive and personal filming experience, which reflects greatly in their work. The small, quiet details as incense smoke fill a prayer space. The rhythmic jingles of a dog’s collar tag. The friendly looks between patrons at a local pub. These natural moments make Matt and Rose’s first-person filmmaking style that much more mesmerizing, unique, and maybe a bit familiar.

Familiarity is always a starting point for Matt and Rose. Subjects that people are passionate about, things that get people talking. Their previous award-winning feature film, Barbecue (2017) covered BBQ culture across the planet. By capturing how everyday things manifest they can explore contrasts in cultures, while simultaneously connecting the things humans have in common. “It’s important to me because I come from a mixed-race background, so I’m always questioning what comes from each side,” says Director Matt Salleh. “We live in a seemingly very fractured world, and post-pandemic even more fractured. We can give insight and show commonalities in people’s lives while celebrating our unique differences.”

Of course, Park Slope is no stranger to the connective joy between fellow dog lovers. “One of the inspirations for this film is just looking out our window in Park Slope,” Rose remembers. “There are always people walking their dogs. People having relationships with each other based on their pets, visiting each other, and going to Prospect Park together.”

Filming for We Don’t Deserve Dogs took our fellow Park Slopers around the world. Traveling to 11 different countries in 9 months finding remarkable stories that would normally go untold. From Italy, Turkey, Uganda, Pakistan, Chile, Finland, Romania, Peru, Vietnam, Nepal, and Scotland; featuring 10 different languages, including some rarely seen on screen like the Acholi/

Lou language of Northern Uganda. “I think traveling when making a film is so different than traveling for tourism because you get that insight into what real life is like for people. You travel to neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally go to,” says Rose, who coordinated their travels and connections in each country.

By working with locals as tour guides, translators, and researchers they successfully sought out interview subjects and narratives. These tour guides, dubbed ‘fixers’ came from all walks of life. Some journalists, photographers, or students, all people who were embedded in the local community in some way and offered a bridge into that specific culture. For example, Matt tells about working with a female street performer in Santiago, Chile. “She created these street tours that took us to hidden parts of the city. She knew the lesser popularised history, like LGBTQ history, which meant she had to talk to people, understand the culture and people’s stories.”

Spending about 2 weeks in every country, the duo worked tirelessly, on foot, by car, and even on motorbike to capture the immersive terrains, complex soundscapes, and individual narratives. They didn’t seek to create the cliché cutesy dog film, nor interview celebrities or the boldest of personalities, but rather everyday individuals and their canine companions. Whether energetic or melancholy, spiritual or quirky, We Don’t Deserve Dogs shifts with each location’s distinct rhythms and pace of life. In Miraflores, Peru, you’ll meet young women throwing birthday parties for their adopted dogs. In Turku, Finland, support dogs for the elderly and disabled bring needed joy and cheer. In Gulu, Uganda, former child soldiers help rehabilitate street dogs as a form of trauma therapy. While directing Matt trusted subjects to share their experiences in their own voice and view. “We are not a voice-over saying what people should think about other people’s lives, we just want to show people’s lives as they are.”

While Matt and Rose feel privileged and bless to have their nomadic filmmaking lives, they have continued to find comfort in returning to Park Slope. A place that again brings together community and familiarity within the much larger New York City setting. Having immigrated to the United States four years ago, Rose expresses her appreciation, “We are lucky to have landed in Park Slope. We joke that we are more connected with our neighbors here than we were in a smaller city back in Australia. It’s a different kind of community living. In Australia everyone is in their house or in a car, here everyone is walking, sitting outside, everyone knows their neighbors and knows who works at the shops.” This aspect has also influenced the couple creatively. Not only reflecting on the immigrant experience, but the ability to find affinity, support, and friendship through genuine connection with those around us.

So here in their one-bedroom apartment, the editing process commenced for 3 months; reviewing hundred of translated transcripts, determining detailed story structure, meticulous color grading, and adding the beautiful score by composer Blake Ewing. Matt and Rose emerged from the editing cave in February 2020 (unfortunately only to return a month later for quarantine), and We Don’t Deserve Dogs made its virtual world premiere at South by Southwest 2020 Film Festival. The film is now digitally available for everyone to enjoy.

And it’s the perfect film for Park Slopers. Yes, of course, because of the dogs; but equally the showcasing of different cultures, religions, genders, and generations. “I think people in Brooklyn have a strong interest and deep respect for other cultures and want to know what’s happening around the world,” says Rose. “We made a very intentional decision to not film stories in Western countries like the U.S. or Australia. All of the stories are coming from lesser-known places. And I think people in Park Slope would be very interested in seeing for example what the relationship between a Muslim woman and her dog in Karachi [Pakistan] is like, and how that can relate to their own experience back here.”

There are no doubt commonalities seen right here in the melting pot that is Brooklyn. Every corner has a little – or more likely a lot – of history, culture, and influence from around the world. Matt expressed, “I don’t think Brooklyn would function in the way it does without all these different cultures coming together.” Matt and Rose even express how that if they find a food dish they love while traveling they have good faith in Brooklyn’s diversity they’ll be able to get it when they return home. “In filmmaking, we have this love and opportunity to travel and meet people from dozens of cultures, and they are all also right here in Brooklyn.”

If there is something special to be said about our ability to come together and blend cultures in our neighborhood, there is equally something to be said about how we can distinctly set each other apart. “We always start our films off with this positive hypothesis that there’s more good in the world than bad. Over and over again we meet people who prove that and amaze us with their stories. Their courage, their bravery, their insight into the world, how they preserve their history, how they celebrate their cultures,” Matt says when reflecting on what he hopes people will get out of the film. “So the fact our film is just listening to people talk about their lives, where they come from, and what is important in their culture, I think it’s a good first step to greater cultural understanding.”

In documenting these genuine stories, valuable kinships, and heartfelt moments from around the world, Matt and Rose’s film We Don’t Deserve Dogs follows the thread that connects us to the humanity, companionship, and unconditional love we may have with dogs and with each other.

Visit wedontdeservedogs.com to watch

Follow @urtext

Thrift 2 Death: Two Weekend Pop-Up Event Happening at Slope Vintage

By Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , ,

For the next 2 Saturdays, Thrift2Death will be hosting their End of Summer Pop-Up Event. Visit Slope Vintage on 5th Ave for amazing vendors with one-of-a-kind vintage clothes, fantastic thrift finds, and fresh streetwear. Treysaun McGeachy and his cofounder Christain Neils are hosting the free event on August 21st and 28th from 1 PM to 7 PM at Slope Vintage. 

“I’m excited for all of them really,” Treysaun says enthusiastically about the weekend’s vendors.

There will be a variety of vendors at the pop-up from vintage curators, custom clothing, graphic tees, and accessories. You’ll be able to meet the creators of new independent brands, those who are making one-of-one pieces and reworked fashion. They’ll also have handmade jewelry, bags, and crystal sellers. All the brands put an emphasis on creating sustainable fashion options; bringing a second life to clothes while remaining stylish and trendy. Thrift2Death also guarantees quality products at affordable prices for everyone, shopping options ranging from $10 to $200. And rest assured all the artists, designers, and curators will be bringing out their best pieces for the weekend event!

Visitors are welcome to come and go as they please. There will be drinks, food, and music. Of course, Slope Vintage will also be open with some great summer sales. And you’ll even have the chance to enter the giveaways for a Thrift2Death tote bag.

Treysaun McGeachy

Trey and Christain’s mission with Thrift2Death is to connect the next generations of buyers and sellers at fashion events. As many small brands and clothing curators continue to emerge, they saw that these young business owners needed a physical place to connect with their customers directly. And then had the idea for a pop-up shop event that would not only allow business owners a place to sell but the ability to meet other creators in a positive collective space.

Christain Neils

Trey, a 23-year-old recent graduate from Manhattan College, gained his following through TikTok as he began making thrift store review videos. He would showcase the best thrift and second-hand vintage stores in New York. He then began working at Slope Vintage and taking over their social media. The owner helped make Trey’s idea possible by allowing him to host Thrift2Death’s first event outside the store in July. With the combination of 5th Avenue street closure, increased foot traffic, and top-tier vendors the event was a huge success.

“It gave me a lot of confidence in our idea. It made me believe we could do this more and more,” says Trey. They were able to target their key audiences of Gen Z and Millenial shoppers, bringing a good profit and new followers for the businesses and brands, and learned how to make the next event even better.

Trey believes that Park Slope is a somewhat untapped neighborhood for young people. While everyone tends to go to the trendy areas of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and the Lower East Side; he sees Park Slope 5th Ave as a centralized location in Brooklyn that is easy for people to connect to all around New York. He hopes with the success of Thrift2Death more business and storefront owners in Park Slope will begin to see the potential in connecting and serving the next generation of brand owners and their customers. That young people have successful ideas, achievable ambitions, and have money to spend.

In the future, Trey and Christian plan to make Thrift2Death greater, with new vendors, larger spaces, and collaborating with more stores and venue spaces. They would even like to expand outside of NYC, hosting events in other cities like Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

You can follow Trift2Death on Instagram for more updates and previews on the vendors this weekend. We will see you at the End of Summer Pop-Up on August 21sh and 28th! 

Pride in Park Slope

By Filed Under: Community, Feature Tagged With: , ,

There’s something special about celebrating Pride in NYC – the history, the grassroots movements, the fabulous festivities! 

Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.”

Barbara Gittings, American LGBTQ Activist

The Stonewall Rebellion at the landmark Christopher Street Inn on June 28th, 1969 gave fuel to the fire of LGBTQ+ liberation for years to come. We remember historic New York trailblazers from Marsha P Johnson and Slyvia Rivera, who together founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries,  to self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” Audre Lorde, to artistic advocate and activist Keith Haring, to so many more who paved the way for leaders today. 

While together we have accomplished so much, there is still work to be done. Being part of Pride events throughout this month give us the opportunity to be activists, advocates, and allies. To celebrate and better what makes our community historic, rebellious, diverse, and full of joy. 

Here are some neighborhood Pride events going on throughout the month. Whether you’ll be attending, volunteering, or donating we encourage you to check out and get involved with the amazing organizations that continue to work throughout the year to support the LGBTQ+ community here in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Pride Kick Off Party 

June 7th, Monday 5:00-8:00 at Out of the Closet

AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Brooklyn Pride are throwing a rooftop cocktail party to kick-off Pride week! Hosted at Out of the Closet Thrift Brooklyn, where 96 cents of every dollar directly funds AHF’s programs, their housing services, and on-site pharmacies and free HIV testing. Drink, mix, and mingle supporting a great cause! More Information

Brooklyn Pride 5K Run/Walk

June 12th, Saturday 10:00-12:00 at Prospect Park 

This is the 25th Annual Brooklyn Pride LGBTQIA+ 5K partnered with Maimonides Medical Center and Front Runners New York. Register for the race or donate to earn your t-shirt and swag. Then Saturday morning join the race or show up to cheer on the runners. Let’s go! More Information

Pride Mini-Street Festival 

June 12, Saturday 12:00-5:30 at Old Stone House 

After the 5K, the party continues to everyone’s favorite Old Stone House in Washington Park. Vendors and organizations will be set up, plus music for everyone – rock, hip-hop, and even some Drag Performances! Support local businesses, artists, and mutual aid groups. More Information

Drag Queen Story Hour

June 15 & 23 (Virtual), 18 (Walt Whitman Library), 24 (Dumbo Archway)

Drag Queen Story Hour is a wonderfully fun time for kids to imagine, learn, and make new friends. Partnered with Brooklyn Public Libary, there are virtual and in-person storytimes for ages 3 to 8. Kids can enjoy songs and stories read by a glamorous queen while learning about gender fluidity and self-expression. More Information, Follow On Instagram for Live Events

Drag Queen’s Makeup Tutorial Hour

June 16, Wednesday 3:30-4:30 (Virtual)

Tune in to the live stream on the Drag Queen Story Hour NYC Instagram page for a makeup tutorial from Cholula Lemon. Kids and teens of all genders and makeup experience levels will get something out of this workshop. You can follow along to learn new techniques and tips for fabulous eye makeup looks! More Information, Follow on Instagram for Virtual Live Event

Ice Cream Social Celebrating Pride Month 

June 17th, Thursday 6:30-8:00 at Prospect Park 

There’s no better way to celebrate in summer than with ice cream! Join the METRO New York Library Council Uncle Louie G’s then head over to Prospect Park for an ice-cream social. An evening of sweet treats and even sweeter friends! More Information

Brooklyn Community Pride Center 

Self Care, STD Testing, Support Programs, and More Donate Now 

Throughout Pride Month and every month, Brooklyn Community Pride Center hosts a vast arrange of events, from self-care days, meditation and yoga classes, support groups, and game nights. On Wednesdays, they partner with Brooklyn G.H.O.S.T. Project to distribute food, clothes, and other resources to Trans and Gender Non-Conforming community members. On Thursdays, they provide Free HIV testing and safe sex kits. All programs can be found on their calendar and you can visit their website for more information on how to get involved and donate. Brooklyn Community Pride Events, Brooklyn Ghost Project

Additional Resources:

Park Slope Puppy Boom: How Our Pets are Helping Us Cope

By Filed Under: Bark Slope, Feature, Pandemic Diaries Tagged With: , ,

The overall mental health and wellbeing of our neighborhood (and entire planet) has shifted due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. With new stresses, a global financial crisis, and loved ones lost, there is much that can’t be replaced. Through it all, many of us have found solace in our new and old pets. Because individuals and families are spending more time at home than ever before, Park Slope has seen a “Puppy Boom.”

The Kingham family (Stuart, Roz, and 10-year-old Isla) rescued German-Shepard mix Macy to help uplift their spirits. While reluctant before Covid, Roz knew that getting a dog would give them something positive to focus on after Isla kept mentioning her experience with remote learning as “lonely.” Stuart reflected on his increased stress from all-day screen time, working from home, and worrying about the health and safety of his family, as a kind of low-grade PTSD. He reflects, “Everything was a worry, even going to stores.”

Though housetraining Macy was a challenge, they agree it has far outweighed the stresses of the outside world as the Kingham family saw their commitment to the new canine family member pay off. Over 2 months later, Macy is already growing up alongside Isla. Taking the time to step away from their screens and heavy workload, the endless news cycle, and the grief of pandemic losses to take care of puppy Macy has made Staut, Roz, and Isla feel a bit safer and happier.

Isla Kingham with her rescue puppy “Macy”

They train her together and connect with other dog-owners in the neighborhood. Roz says, “There’s definitely a dog community in Park Slope so just making that human connection on walks with other dog owners has been nice; everyone stops to talk when you have a puppy!” Their new routine includes early morning off-leash play in the park, after-school walks, and evenings spent on the front stoop where they sit to watch the world go by.

You’ll find many families enjoying similar daily pet pleasures. Park Slope has 10 dog parks, including the Prospect Park Dog Beach, making it an amazing community for pet owners. Pets, especially dogs and cats, are known to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, to ease loneliness and encourage exercise and playfulness. They also help children to grow up more secure and active, and provide valuable companionship for older adults.

These days everyone needs some extra stability, joy, and positive coping methods, one reason why pet adoption and sales have been through the roof this past year. Even veteran pet owners have become more appreciative and formed closer bonds with their furry friends. 

For example, the pandemic has heightened Park Slope resident, Ingrid’s anxiety; making her less motivated to deal with tasks beyond short term consideration. Ingrid said, “ Much of the structure I’ve built into my life over the years vanished overnight, along with any sense of what the future could or should look like.”  Her two cats, Cabiria aka Cabbie and Jean Harlow whom she’s had for over 3-years, have brought extra companionship and cuddles during these uncertain months of quarantining at home. “Taking care of the cats provide some structure to the days, and requires me to think about something other than myself… So I actually have something to discuss with friends or co-workers that isn’t horrible pandemic news or politics.” She’s found exchanging silly cat photos and having Cabbie and Jean meow over speakerphone a sure-fire way to bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Giselle with her partner and their rescue puppy “Pico”

Similarly, the unforeseeable future had spiked Diana Kane’s anxiety, so after some discussion adopting a dog felt like the right decision. And it was! Her family’s new 4-month-old rescue from Puerto Rico, Appa (named after the flying-bison from Avatar: The Last Airbender), has been a blessing for their mental and physical health. Diana and her family has been able to find peace and joy. She said, “I think Disney has it wrong: the Happiest Place on Earth is actually off-leash in Prospect Park.”

Giselle Navarro and her partner adopted a Jindo mix named Pico just before the city shut down. While worrying about their health and safety and only communicating with others through screens, they felt lucky to have Pico by their side. By structuring their quarantine days around the new puppy, their new routine for the new normal provides time to safely leave the apartment, stay motivated to train together, and actually get a steadier sleep schedule.

Pico’s need for cuddles and play was also a welcome distraction for Giselle. “She’s always so happy, I frequently tell others that I’m not sure how I would be getting through the pandemic if we didn’t have Pico. Living through this has been tough, but having her has made it a little bit easier. Even if I’m not feeling great, her good mood rubs off on me.”

The Free Black Women’s Library: A Space for Radical Ideas

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Back in 2015, visual artist, OlaRonke Akinmowo wanted to create an art project that empowered and honored Black women’s creativity, scholarship, education, and research. With a background in collage, printmaking, and decorating, Ola’s work brings different pieces together to create something new and unified. With this, she created The Free Black Women’s Library.

The Free Black Women’s Library is a literary social art project featuring traveling installations of over 2,000 books, magazines, and other material written by Black women. The program is simple: come to a library event, join the discussion, donate a book, and choose a book for yourself. Every event takes a different shape by taking on a different space. “Like a collage: poetry, horror, science fiction, romance, comic books, children’s books all written by Black women are being brought together in a way to create a library shape and community space.”

Nervous but excited and curious how the neighborhood would respond, Ola started the library one summer day off a front stoop in BedStuy, Brooklyn with just 100 books. With the forecast possibly showing rain, she remembers her main concern being the safety of her then small collection of books. She reminds us, “Books are precious objects.”

Over the next years, the library has grown and traveled to hundreds of locations around New York City, and outside to Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Each month there is a different theme, book, or writer that compliments the location. For example, this past March, for Women’s History Month, the installation at Weeksville Heritage Center in Crown heights focused on womanism within Black history. When it was at Concord Baptists Church, they focused on themes of humanity, spirituality, and love. Each installation brings new crowds, where everyone is welcomed to hang out all day, making new friends, reading, writing, and trading books.

The main goal is “to build a comfortable and creative space for radical ideas. Deep connections, vulnerability, joy, and pleasure… Visitors can come and find themselves in the space. I want it to feel like an inclusive space. Intergeneration. Always free.” The library has attracted young and old readers, families, and friend groups to visit and follow the program online. With a large collection of children’s books, classics, and contemporary literature, there is something for all interests, ages, perspectives, and reading levels. It’s a sustainable, ever-flowing, and connecting system where each individual’s participation influences the library’s collection.

By focusing on Black female authors, the library highlights the nuances of subjects, genres, and experiences of Black women. These vast distinctions and variety of voices are often disproportionately overlooked in traditional literary discussions. It works to share and give a platform to authors and ideas that may not be as widely recognized, especially in particular genres like fantasy or young adult novels. “The beauty of it is if you are a Black woman who has access to Black women writers it is very affirming to see yourself in art and literature. It’s humanizing.”

By inviting others to share in this empowering and humanizing art and activism, Ola strives to create a more positive world for her daughter (18). Motherhood has kept Ola constantly up, curious, and creating. It’s also one of her reasons for starting the Sister Outsider Relief Grant, a one-time cash grant for single community-working mothers. She states, “I want to make the world softer and kind.”

While recognizing how Black women deal with racism and sexism on an everyday basis, the library provides a space for Black women to express themselves and be seen as more than the archetypes they are too often boxed into. The Free Black Women’s Library asks more from visitors, readers, writers, and traditional institutions by exposing and bringing together the extensive works of Black women. Most importantly allowing them to be seen and be brilliant, imaginative, tough, funny, smarkt, and romantic. Anything one wants to be.

Everyone is invited to join the library community. Ola believes in the strong value of all genders, racers, ethnicities, and backgrounds to open and excite their minds to Black female authors. “It may take you out of your comfort zone and inspire you to think differently.” As an artists, activist, and educator Ola’s work invites and strives to open people’s minds. She advises, “Make sure your reading list is open and diverse. Read different types of stories. Not just stories that are written in this perfect Queen’s English, but slang and country English. And see the world through another woman’s eyes.”

While the COVID Pandemic had stopped the library from traveling and setting up installations, they have transitioned online, but it has been a challenge for a project that thrives on community. The library works best when people can come together with books in their hands, to meet face to face, and create a shared educational space. Now there are limits from internet access, to online devices, and scheduling. But the Free Black Women’s Library is still doing all it can by starting a YouTube channel, Instagram Live streams, and Zoom calls with readings, discussions, and writing prompts.

While they have been keeping people engaged, Ola has looked forward to when everyone can come together again and trade books, ideas, and smiles (even if it is behind a mask.) She will also be working towards some big long-term goals for the future of the library, including getting a vehicle for a bookmobile, creating an app, and establishing a full-time space and resource center.

Follow the Free Black Women’s Libary on Instagram @thefreeblackwomenslibrary and use the link in bio to learn more about how to support the program. Or visit their website here.

Support on Patreon.