The Slope Survey returns for its 36th installment.

Marian Fontana is the author of A Widow’s Walk (Simon and Schuster) called “a riveting personal narrative” by Newsweek, selected by People Magazine as one of the Top Ten Great Reads of 2005 and was on the New York Times best-selling biography list.
Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Salon.com, O Magazine, The Guardian, The Boston Globe and more. Her essays have appeared in four anthologies including Money Changes Everything, (Jenny Offil) and The Time of My Life (Rob Spillman).
As a playwright and actress, she has written and performed four one-woman shows including A Woman and her Bassoon at Playwrights Horizons. Her short play Falling Short premiered at 59 E 59th St.’s Summershorts and this past February she had a reading of her new play with music My Borough based on the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder.
She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn and has one adult son Aidan who lives in Staten Island, NY.
What brought you to Park Slope?
I was living with my boyfriend (soon to be husband) on the Upper East Side. He was a sculptor but had taken the fire department test to join the FDNY. He was a lifeguard out at Jones Beach and a lot of his friends were joining the FDNY. He just finished his training on Randalls Island and his first assignment was a firehouse on 11th street in Park Slope, Brooklyn (Ladder 122). At first, I didn’t want to leave Manhattan. I was working and performing late at night and so it seemed too far. Dave convinced me to just take a look, and I immediately fell in love with the neighborhood. It felt like a real community. The first apartment we looked at was a Ground Floor apartment in a Brownstone on 4th street for $800 a month. It had a garden and a huge kitchen and a really nice family that owned it. They never raised our rent or we would never have been able to stay.
What is your most memorable Park Slope moment?
Sadly, my husband was killed on 9-11 with eleven other men from Squad 1 on Union Street. I had just dropped off my son off for his second day of Kindergarten at PS 321 and was waiting at Connecticut muffin across the street for Dave to meet me. We were going to spend the day in the city for our 8th wedding anniversary. We all know what happened that day but what was most memorable was the sea of friends and neighbors who never left my side, who cooked, who hosted my family, who helped me plan his memorial. The generosity seemed never ending and it made me so grateful that I live in such a supportive, loving neighborhood.
Describe your community superpower.
Two weeks after 9-11, the city tried to shut down my husband’s firehouse (Squad 1 on Union St). I was outraged as I was practically living there waiting for news from the firefighters when they returned from Ground Zero. I organized a protest in front of Squad for that Friday to try and keep it open. All I had to do was make two phone calls. I had been a teacher in the neighborhood (at Huggs Day School and Park Slope Dance Studio) so I knew A LOT of families. Parents and friends spread the word and by Friday, there were literally thousands of people in front of the firehouse. I saw my students holding signs and candles and a sea of people crying as I spoke. I have never been so moved and best of all, we managed to keep the firehouse open. So it wasn’t me…it was the community. Community is the superpower.
If you could change one thing about the neighborhood, what would it be?
Overdevelopment. I can’t believe how much has been built and how much has changed. I miss diners, mom and pop shops and local stores. I think we have enough coffee shop chains, enough cell phone stores, enough nail salons. I miss when there were no cell phones and people actually walked by and smiled and didn’t always have their ear buds in.
I am saddened that the creative community that made Park Slope special, can no longer afford to live here. More affordable housing would be wonderful.
I would love more policing of electric bikes. Delivery bikes ride at dangerous speeds on the sidewalks and don’t follow traffic laws and they are making the neighborhood dangerous. Okay, I think that rant is the Park Slope equivalent of “hey kid, get off of my lawn.” I am officially old.
What do you think Park Slope will look like in 10 years?
Well, if it keeps going in this direction, very different. More chain stores, less diversity. The only thing that won’t change is there will be lots of kids, babies and dogs. It’s in the water here. Even I got a dog recently.
What are you reading, would you recommend it?
I just finished Circe by Madeline Miller and loved it. We could use a good Goddess story when women are being so marginalized in this country. All my friends insisted I read “All Fours” by Miranda July and while I appreciate her writing, I stopped halfway through because I was cringing and scratching my head. In between books, I always reread David Sedaris essays. I want to write some humor essays. I published a memoir about 9-11 and it feels weird to be known for something so sad, when I have spent most of my life trying to make people laugh.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Going to see live theater and music. I was writing and performing theater before my husband died and I miss it, so I go to the theater a lot. I just finished a play and had a reading recently so I’m tiptoeing back into that world and it feels like returning home. We’re in crazy times right now and so to be transported by theater, music or movies feels vital right now.
If you couldn’t live in Park Slope or in Brooklyn, where would you go?
Well, for financial, emotional and parking reasons, I moved back to where I grew up in Staten Island after my husband died. I stayed there for 15 years. I went back to Manhattan for a while, bought a place in the Hudson valley when it was affordable, but I always find myself back here in Brooklyn.. I travel a lot (yes, another extravagance) but I always love coming back here. There are other cities and places in the world that I can imagine living for periods of time, but as Dorothy wisely said, “there’s no place like Park Slope…I mean, home. ”

Who is your hero, real or fictional?
I am totally biased on this, but rescue workers and teachers. I was a teacher in Park Slope, my husband was a firefighter. They are not easy jobs, but they are incredibly rewarding on so many levels. During Covid my heroes were the doctors, the rescue workers, the UPS driver, everyone that kept our lives going. I worked in Special Ed for a while and I have such tremendous respect for the teachers that work in that field, especially the parents who meet the daily challenge with love and acceptance.
I could go on and on. There are so many unsung heroes too. In general, the people who move through the world being kind, in spite of this crazy world, who give up their seat for an elder, who hold a door open, who say thank you and please. I am thinking of my mail carrier in my building. She is always singing to herself, smiling and saying hello to everyone. It may seem like a small thing, but it makes life better for all of us especially at a time when just living with kindness is an act of heroism.
Last Word, What’s turning you on these days?
I’m too tired to be turned on!
I have and always will appreciate humor. Recently, on a whim, I took myself to BAM to see a movie. It was an independent film called “The Ballad of Wallis Island.” It was a small, simple film but it moved me and made me laugh. I love that. There’s so much content out there, it’s overwhelming. By the time I find a show or movie, I’m too tired to watch it, so I find myself rewatching old stuff: Seinfeld, Modern Family. The first season of Modern Family made me laugh hard more than once. Not an easy feat as I’m a tough audience but I loved it and we need laughter more than ever now. It’s like coming up for air.
photo credits: Kimberly M Wang@Eardog.com
@eardogfoto