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Be Prepared

May 15, 2018 By Nicole Kear Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: children, family, lesson, mother, sleep away camp, Summer camp, worrying

 

I never went to sleepaway camp as a child. I never wanted to, really, and it certainly wasn’t the sort of thing my over-protective mother would have suggested. She wouldn’t even let my sisters take candy from strangers on Halloween, opting instead to drive us to pre-arranged trick-or-treating sites, where we could trust the Kit-Kats were razor-blade-free. My mother was what is now called a helicopter parent, though that would be an understatement, I think, for her style of watchful parenting.  

I always thought she went way overboard with her constant worrying.  Then I had children. And I still thought it was pretty overboard. And then I sent those children to sleepaway camp. 

It was the packing list that activated my anxiety. Not so much what was on the list, but what wasn’t. 

“I thought the list would be longer,” I told my husband David, handing over the single–sided sheet. “Can this really be all a ten-year-old needs? For two weeks? In the woods?”

Woods make me nervous. This is mainly because I’m a city girl, but the fairytales I read as a child didn’t help. In fairytales, nothing good every happens in the woods. When kids enter the woods, witches try to eat them and wolves try to eat them and huntsman try to rip their hearts out of their chests. 

“Everything she needs is on there,” said David, a veteran sleepaway camper and former Boy Scout. Despite his experience, I didn’t find this reassuring. He doesn’t really subscribe to the Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared!” He’s a classic under-packer and the few times we’ve hiked, he’s refused to carry bear spray, and only begrudgingly consented to a bear whistle. 

So I decided to trust my instincts and use the camp’s packing list as a first draft, a rough outline on which to build. I wanted to benefit from the experience of other parents so I posted on Facebook, soliciting suggestions of items to add. 

“A bathrobe,” one friend wrote. “So she doesn’t have to walk from the bathrooms to her cabin in a towel.” 

“Flip flops, for the gross showers,” wrote another.

I read these to my husband, with satisfaction. 

“See? This stuff didn’t even occur to us!” I told him. “And we don’t want her walking around in a towel, for God’s sake. In the woods.”

“So pack her a bathrobe.” 

“Of course I’m packing her a bathrobe,” I said. “The point is, we almost overlooked all this stuff.”

“And she would have been fine,” he grumbled.

“And she would have gotten Athlete’s Foot.”

Another friend responded to my post, advising that I treat my daughter’s clothes with permethrin. When I, ignorant, asked what this was, she explained it was a tick repellant. 

Ticks. 

Ticks.

I’d been so busy worrying about bears that I’d forgotten about ticks. Lyme-disease-carrying poppy-seed-sized ticks. What else, I wondered, was I forgetting about? 

I purchased a large vat of Permethrin, which ended up being a sandora’s Box. Where do you draw the line on what gets treated? Shirts and shorts, obviously. But what about pajamas? And sheets? And the now-indispensable bathrobe? 

I chatted with another mom who was also sending her daughter to sleepaway camp for the first time, and at first, this fellow feeling relaxed me.

.“The more you know, the more you worry,” she said. 

“It’s true,” I agreed. 

“Il’s like, I used to enjoy water parks,” she sighed.

“What’s wrong with water parks?”  

“Oh, just the pedophiles.” 

“WHAT PEDOPHILES?” I nearly screamed. 

“Oh, it’s just – you didn’t know that water parks are, like, the number one place to find pedophiles?”

“No,” I said. “I did not know that.” 

There was much I did not know. The awareness of how much was, to say the least, disquieting.

The more I worried, the more stuff I added to my packing list. I could not eradicate ticks, or far worse things, but I could pack stuff to repel them.  My list swelled. 

I packed three different kinds of flashlights, with extra batteries, because if the woods are menacing, imagine the woods in the dark. 

I packed a battery-opened fan to clip onto the bed because what if it was broiling hot at night and she couldn’t fall asleep and that led to insomnia which can really ruin your day, I thought at 2am. 

I packed a large pile of pre-addressed and pre-stamped enough envelopes.

“It couldn’t be easier for her to write to us now?” I showed David with pride. 

“You could write the letters for her,” he said.  

“I’m just worried she won’t communicate with us and we won’t know what’s going on.” 

“Oh I know what you’re worried about,” he said. “Trust me.” 

Drowning. 

Tick bites.

Homicidal maniac loose in the woods.  

Bullying. 

Bears. 

Social isolation.

Meningitis.

Nuclear warfare.

Getting lost in the woods. 

Insomnia. 

Homesickness. 

That she’d have so much fun, her life back at home would pale in comparison, and she’d forever chase the halcyon days of summer camp. 

My list grew. It needed staples.

Worrying is really very exhausting but what’s far more exhausting is worrying while pretending you are not – the which is critical, of course. Because you want your child to be unfettered and free and have a great time! And not give a passing thought to secondary drowning!  I thought, more than once, that it was lucky I’d been professionally trained as an actress. 

The monumentally time-consuming and expensive feat of procuring every item on my list was only matched in difficulty by the feat of fitting it all in the oversize duffel bag I had purchased. I was up past midnight on the night before she left, but I managed to make it work. Before I zipped it closed and handed it over to David, I had the idea to write little notes of love and encouragement and to tuck them into pairs of socks and shirts and bathrobe pockets. Then I went to bed and worried that those notes might be embarrassing and lead to public ridicule and potentially bullying, item number four on my list of Stuff to Worry About. But by then, the duffel bag had been lugged out to the car and was out of reach. 

I knew it would be a battle not to cry when we said goodbye, but it was a battle I waged fiercely, knowing she’d take her cue from me, and it was a battle I won. My eyes were dry as I waved brightly and walked, fast, out the screen door. 

What I didn’t know is that immediately after that, I’d start to feel relieved. I waited for the other shoe to drop but it didn’t. My worry was dialed way down from High to a Low Simmer, the kind you can ignore. What took its place was excitement about all the adventures my daughter would have. 

As we drove over the Brooklyn Bridge, almost back home, I said to David: “I’m actually feeling better.”

“Good,” he said. “I thought you would. You like to be prepared. Though you do tend to go way overboard.”

“But I let them go trick-or-treating!” I protested. “And I really never worry about razor blades in the Kit Kats.”

He nodded. “We all have to start somewhere.”

 

 

Nicole C. Kear is the author of The Fix-It Friends chapter book series for children, including the most recent titles, Three’s A Crowd and Eyes on the Prize. You can find more info at nicolekear.com.

Illustration by Heather Heckel

 

 

Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: children, family, lesson, mother, sleep away camp, Summer camp, worrying

Aiming for Adventure: Get Your Skills On

February 14, 2018 By Meghan Cook Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: activities, adventure, business, community, family, friendly, hobbies, local, neighborhood, Park Slope

In a neighborhood rich with leaders ready to help children grow, athletically as well as creatively, wintertime activities do not have to be confined to the walls of your home. With a variety of sports, hobbies, and live shows at its disposal, Park Slope has plenty to offer every kind of family in the cold stretch between fall and spring. By Meghan Cook


Rolando Balboa, Head Coach at the Brooklyn Fencing Center, is just one of many talented instructors in the neighborhood. Balboa stated that their mission is “to make the fun and excitement of fencing accessible to Brooklynites of all ages.” Like many of the activities listed, fencing is more than a sport. When it comes to educating children, a larger part of engaging their minds is offering them “shine on their own merits.”

John Finn of Birdman Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, who recently opened a new Brooklyn location just north of Park Slope, advocated for his business by emphasizing the importance of bolstering confidence in young students. Finn maintained that defensive martial arts provide great tools to combat bullying by helping students “develop a strong sense of flow through timing and technique, not speed and strength.”

Similarly, Gordon Wormser of Aikido of Park Slope spoke on the importance of teaching young children the art of self-defense through gentle measures with “smiles and safety.” Wormser went on to say that the atmosphere of their center is disciplined, yet fun. “It offers an environment in which your child can grow physically, intellectually, and emotionally,” explained Wormser.

Ora Fruchter of Yellow Sneaker, a local group that entertains young minds with music and puppetry, also focused on the importance of building a light, comfortable environment where kids can be themselves. “At our weekly Yellow Sneaker sing-alongs you’ll find a community of people and puppets who can’t wait to have some fun, make some friends and dance it out,” said Fruchter. “We create a cozy and welcoming space that is fun and laid back for kids and their caregivers.”

This winter, consider looking into the following children’s programs local to Park Slope and enjoy the dual benefits of supporting community businesses while encouraging your kids to take on new skills.

 

Brooklyn Boulders

Arm your kids with the bravery and self-assurance to tackle obstacles and climb new heights at Brooklyn Boulders. With a ratio of one belayer paired to five kids, children are always given the consideration and care they need to ensure their safety while rock climbing. Kids Academy is available daily, while Brooklyn Boulders Adventures offer full-week programs. Both are open to children aged 5-12. Prices range from $49-$709.

Website: https://brooklynboulders.com/brooklyn/youth/

 

Gotham Archery

Located just north of Park Slope in Gowanus is Gotham Archery, a recently renovated archery facility. Gotham Archery boasts 43 lanes, equipment rentals, and introductory classes for new beginners. This activity is mostly reserved for older children as only ten and up are allowed access to equipment, per safety concerns, though children as young as 8 can participate in the Junior Olympic Archery Development program.

Website: https://www.got-archery.com

 

Birdman Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Birdman Brazilian Jiu Jitsu boasts a brand new, state of the art facility just a few blocks up from Union St subway station. While they just opened their newest location in Park Slope on January 1st, instructor John “Birdman” Finn has been practicing and teaching the art form for many years, and offers experienced black belt instruction. Jiu Jitsu promotes team building, confidence, and dedication to technique. Open to children from ages seven and up.

Website: http://birdmanbjj.com

 

Pure Energy Martial Arts

Toronto native Tessa Gordon owns and operates Pure Energy Martial Arts, now a staple in the Park Slope Community. With a 6th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Master Gordon exhibits full command and knowledge of the Korean art form, and uses her school to share and teach that ability to her students. Gordon hosts kids programs for children as young as three and for teens/adults of all belts. Programs include: Juniors, Cage Fitness, Demo Team, and Birdman Brazilian Ju Jitsu. Free trial classes available.

Website: http://www.pureenergymartialarts.com

 

Brooklyn Fencing

Right at the top of Park Slope is Brooklyn Fencing Center. Fencing is a unique skill that fosters coordination and poise. For kids with a competitive streak, Brooklyn Fencing also hosts tournaments throughout the year. The center offers child classes for kids aged 7-9, junior classes for 10-17. Levels are inclusive to fencers new to the sport as well as for the more advanced: “New Beginners,” “Intermediate & Competitive Fencers,” and “Bouting.” Private lessons are also available. Beginner group rates start at $199 a month.

Website: http://www.brooklynfencing.com

 

Ice Skating

Can’t get enough of the cold? Consider taking the kids ice-skating in the LeFrak Center at Lakeside Prospect Park. Lakeside offers two outdoor winter rinks to skate circles around your neighbors or hug the wall to your heart’s content. If you’d prefer a warmer activity, scurry inside for a hot apple cider at the Bluestone Cafe and pop on some rollerblades to skate indoors. Check back in the spring to explore Lakeside in new ways on boats and bikes. Admission to ice-skate is $7 on weekdays, $10 on weekends. Rollerblading: $6 on weekdays/$9 on weekends. Respective ice-skates and rollerblades are priced separately.

Website: http://lakesidebrooklyn.com/activities/

 

Aikido of Park Slope

Park Slope is also host to Brooklyn’s largest aikido dojo. Aikido is a Japanese martial art created in the 1900s that is protective, disciplined, and disarming; its aim is not to fight, but to neutralize opponents. Aikido’s children’s program is open to kids from ages five and over, for lessons which inspire problem solving and peaceful combat. Available at a monthly rate of $100.

Website: http://www.aikidoofparkslope.com

 

Puppet Show

For little ones with a creative spark, catch the Yellow Sneaker Puppet Sing-Alongs every Thursday at 10:30am at Sir D’s Lounge on Union Street. The musical group and their silly puppet friends join in song (both original and traditional) as they encourage children to clap and sing along. $10 for kids, $5 for each additional sibling.

Website: http://www.yellowsneakerpuppets.com

Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: activities, adventure, business, community, family, friendly, hobbies, local, neighborhood, Park Slope

Selfish Dreams

December 6, 2017 By Ambika Samarthya-Howard Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: career, children, dreams, family, life, mother, motherhood

There’s pivotal moment in every mom’s life after the birth or adoption of her child when she decides she has the space, desire, and need for self-care. This can come in the form of returning to the book by the bedside that’s been there since 36 weeks, or returning to her favorite yoga class.  Unfortunately, for working moms, this moment sometimes comes later, and for me, it came a year after my child was born and I went on my first retreat. From there, I was inspired to head back (reluctantly) to the gym.  And that’s where I met Natasha Forrest.

I think there’s a Natasha in many of our lives.  She’s the woman you randomly meet in the library or bar who is just a kick-ass woman, and then you realize that not only is she a mom, but she’s also doing amazing and unconventional things in their career. Natasha is even more of an inspiration for me because she’s a single mom. Natasha was a full time accountant, with crazy hours, doing part time fitness training on the side, when she was let go from her job during a company lay-off.  Her son was one at the time (he’s now five), and she decided she actually liked her part time job more. She had the choice to find a new accountant job, or follow her dreams.

So she decided to go for it.

The irony of having a child is that is gives you a deep awareness of what truly matters to you, but the clarity it shows you is even harder to put into place because you now have another being completely dependent on you.  I left my ad agency job after I had Ananda to go back to writing and filming for social good. I have friends who left their jobs after having a kid to pursue their novel or graduate degree.  I realize this is a position of economic privilege – to be able to leave your stable job to pursue a risky alternative.  With Natasha the courage was even more profound because she is the primary caretaker. “Is it selfish? Of course it is. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. You have to look out for you. At the end of the day no one else is going to,” she said honestly.

It’s a way of being and speaking we are not comfortable with because of many of the parameters of guilt and shame often put onto moms. I myself am often overwhelmed by the guilt that comes with caring about something outside of my child. I feel it both as a social taboo and a biological pull.  Annabel Crabb once said: “The obligation for working moms is a very precise one: the feeling that one ought to work as if one did not have children, while raising one’s children as if one didn’t have a job.”

It’s even more audacious for moms who love their job and pursue dreams, because they love what they do, and want to do more of it. I asked Natasha how she copes with the guilt, and she responded that following what she loves actually enables her more flexibility to be with her son. “I set my own hours, I don’t stay up all night stressed out with work.”

I found myself making similar adjustments when I took on the lead communications role at a global NGO based in South Africa. I start working as soon as I wake up at 6am on most days, to make sure I can pick up Ananda by mid-afternoon.  My job involves deadline pressures, conference presentations, and frequent travel – all of which sit with my personality quite easily. But I still catch myself justifying my career: whenever someone asks “wow, how do you balance all the hours” or “don’t you miss your son when you’re away?” I immediately explain how the job allows me flexibility to be on his schedule so I still spend half the day with him.

What’s shocking is how much I’ve internalized this, to the point that when someone says “sounds like the perfect job for you”, I still respond with the script of “but I do it cause I can make the hours work”. When did following our own dreams feel like such a guilty pleasure?

Motherhood and careers hardly feels a balance – it feels more like an avalanche. Natasha has worked hard the last four years, getting training certificates, putting in extra hours, all while managing drop offs and pick-ups. She’s had a series of promotions – and an insanely toned body – to show for it.  She also has a wonderful, active son.  The worst thing about giving your all to your career and your family is that you’re exhausted. “When I’ve been training all day, I’m tired at 9 and can’t play soccer with my son,” she confides.

Ironically, listening to Natasha’s long-term commitment to herself and family gave me the strength to pursue my last selfish goal: to get back to working out regularly.  I’ve started to see exhaustion as not a reason to not do something, but as part of the journey.

It’s always about trade-offs. But it’s also about being happy. And when a mom is happy, often her children and families are too. Natasha may be an ambitious personal trainer and single mom but she’s one happy woman, and I can imagine her son is better off for it. “I still sometimes ask myself when I’m going to get a real job,” she jokes. Then she turns and asks me to give her another set of mountain climbers.

Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: career, children, dreams, family, life, mother, motherhood

ONE BAD APPLE

October 18, 2017 By Nicole Kear Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: apple, children, family, love, people, relationships, story

You know when you share something you love with someone you love only to find they don’t love it the way you do? Or, even, at all? I’ve been on the receiving end of this equation frequently. It happens every time my 12 and 10-year old kids show me something on Youtube.

“Isn’t this hilarious?” they’ll ask, peering over at me expectantly.

“Uh huh,” I’ll reply, trying to simulate a smile. “Funny.”

But really I am thinking, “Is the damage done to my children’s brains from this onslaught of insipid garbage reparable?”

I love my kids but I do not always love what they love.  YouTube clips just aren’t my thing.

Recently, I was on the other end of this equation.

Recently, I took my grandmother apple picking.

Apple picking, to my mind, is far less objectionable than YouTube clips. In fact, it seems totally unobjectionable. What’s not to love about apple picking?

The orchard is beautiful. It smells good. You get all the benefits of nature, without having to get too dirty or exhausted, without incurring a lot of expense or doing much preparation. It’s Nature Lite, which is always my preference. And then, of course, there’s the apples. Who doesn’t love sinking their teeth through the taut skin of a perfectly tart Mutsu, newly plucked from its branch?

My grandmother, as it turns out.

It’s not that my grandmother doesn’t enjoy chomping into a nice Mutsu. She’d just prefer it if the Mutsu was eaten first.

My grandmother, Nonny, lived through World War ii, in Italy. This experience has made her averse to several things, not the least of which is wastefulness. It’s one of her defining characteristics — that, her obsessive cleanliness and her addiction to Dr. Phil.

Instead of the ubiquitous parental refrain, “Children in Africa are starving!” in my house, when you didn’t finish your food, you heard, “During the war, we woulda killed for dis rotten tomato!”

My grandmother eats leftovers, exclusively. Consequently, she doesn’t eat meals with us. She waits until we leave, takes stock of her leftovers and feasts on rejects. I can’t be sure because I’m not privy to this part, but I believe that in addition to her enjoyment of the food, there’s an added sense of purpose she feels, not unlike a solider in combat. She is, in a way, a soldier, waging a one-woman war against waste.

I didn’t forget this about Nonny when I invited her apple picking. It’s not something you can forget. It’s like forgetting that Dora’s an explorer or that dogs have fur.

What I’d forgotten is that apple picking is pretty much an exercise in waste.

It was mid-October, and we piled into the car early, positioning Nonny in the backseat with the kids. This is the only seat she will accept, Within an hour and a half, we were pulling through the orchard gate. Spirits were high, though – it’s worth noting – not infection. t

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I asked Nonny.

“Sure,” she said shrugging. She did not look displeased, which, sometimes, is the best you can hope for with grandmothers.

We decided our plan of attack while looking for a parking space.  First, Mutsu, if there were any left. Then Empires, Macintoshes and Red Delicious, for my husband. I find Red Delicious apples pedestrian but permissible. Jonagolds, or any other variety of Golden Delicious apples, on the other hand, is where I draw the line. I’d rather eat a pear.

My kids bounded out of the car and sprung into Turbo Picking mode while I helped Nonny out of the backseat.

“Be careful!” I warned Nonny as she stepped out. “The ground is covered in apples – it’s slippery.”

She looked down to the carpet of rotting apples underfoot, so many apples it looked more like a monochromatic ball pit than a grassy knoll. She gasped audibly.

“Whadda heck is dis?”

“Oh, it’s always like that,” I reassured her. “The apples fall and they rot or whatever.”

My 10-year-old daughter had, by then, already yanked an apple, taken a bite and was hurling it as far as she could over our heads.

“This tree’s no good!” my daughter announced. “Keep moving.”

“Whaddaya doin’?” Nonny shrieked. “You take-a one bite and trow it away?”

“No, No, Nonny, it’s okay,” I clarified. “That’s what you do. You taste the apples, but you don’t eat the whole thing.”

I’ve always enjoyed this part of the picking, because it makes me feel like Ramona Quimby, when she hid in her basement and took one bite out of all those apples. The first bite is the best. You can’t argue with that.

By the time I’d finished explaining the apple tasting system to Nonny, my daughter had already tasted, and discarded, a handful more apples. With every apple abandoned, my grandmother grew more apoplectic, Apple-plectic, if you will.

“Gimme da apples!” she ordered. “I gonna finish dem.”

So we did. We’d take a bite then pass them to Nonny. She ate as fast as she could. But there were many of us and only one of her. Soon, her hands were full of once-bitten apples. Soon, she started to look a little nauseous.

“Stop eating all the apples,” I warned her. “You’re going to get sick.”

“You wanna me to waste all de apples? Come on!” she said, her voice full of disgust.

Several times, I caught her picking apples up off the ground and polishing them on her shirt.

“Nothin’a da matta wit dis one!” she protested.

The kids were happy.

David and I were happy.

Nonny, not so much.

“Nonny, isn’t this fun?” I asked.

“Okay,” she replied, not able to mask the pained expression on her face.

We ate our picnic lunch — cold cuts piled on Italian bread. When asked what kind of sandwich she’d like, my grandmother replied, “Gimme what nobody else wants.”

After a few hours, we loaded everyone in the car, and heaved the massive, bulging bag of apples into the trunk.

“So, what’d you think?” I asked Nonny, turning around to face her.

“Very nice,” she said, but any fool could see it had been a trial. She doesn’t simulate smiles. It’s the prerogative of the over-80 crowd.

“And look at all the apples we got!” I continued, not one to give up easy.

“Please!” she protested. “No more apples! I neva wanna see anotha apple as long as I live!”

Not only had Nonny not enjoyed our excursion but, I realized, it was entirely possible that I had ruined apples for her, forever.

From now on, the only place I’m taking Nonny apple picking is the supermarket.

 

Nicole C. Kear is the author of THE FIX-IT FRIENDS (Macmillan Kids), a chapter book series for children. You can find books 1 through 4 in bookstores now, and more info on FixItFriendsBooks.com.

 

 

Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: apple, children, family, love, people, relationships, story

We Stoop

September 6, 2016 By Rachael Olmi Filed Under: A Thousand Words Tagged With: Brooklyn, brownstone, children, culture, family, photography, stoop, summer

IMG_4757

IMG_4803

Water

Tree

stoop.

noun. steps in front of a house or other building.

verb. to bend one’s head or body forward and downward. to lower one’s moral standards so far as to do something reprehensible.

actually, scratch
that …

verb. to gather and visit and play and hang out on the stoops of our buildings..

in brooklyn we have redefined the verb

to stoop.

we have turned it into an utmost positive.

an act of happiness and joy, filled with laughter.

we stoop..

our children are raised playing on the stoops, in the front yards.

we gather on our stoops to chat.

we stoop.

stooping … it is not a lowering, there is nothing reprehensible about it.

in fact, it is the exact opposite of those things …

we gather on our stoops, to stoop, to visit and to watch our children play and laugh with each other …

to lift each other up.

we stoop.

Filed Under: A Thousand Words Tagged With: Brooklyn, brownstone, children, culture, family, photography, stoop, summer

Summer Reading

August 9, 2016 By Darley Stewart Filed Under: Books Tagged With: author, books, de Silva, de Witt, family, indie press, Larsen, Leibowitz, novel review, reading, Solomon, summer

Summer reading is better than ever. 

It’s true that most of us would rather spend our time during the summer eating BBQ, visiting Aruba, or finding any excuse to avoid our professional obligations. But summer reading at its finest isn’t work. It’s a clear, pure moment we find for ourselves as the weather gets hotter, muggier, messier. Some of us can’t afford anything other than a staycation, anyway!  

Without a good summer book to fall into, we are minimizing introspective pleasures that are as good as an intoxicating (or intoxicated) night by the blissful waterfront. A subway ride is almost intolerable without a good book, no matter the season, but especially summer as the tourists flood the city and every good urban citizen needs to bury their eyes in an alternate reality. Even more convenient when the alternate realities are as seductive as the ones I have listed below. The list doesn’t end — it merely begins here. Think of a good summer read as a new pair of shades, a really good pair, blocking out the sun in style. Substitute sun with urban idiocy and style with … style.


Leaving LucyLeaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon 

Fiction

Sink into Park Slope author Anna Solomon’s novel, about the entangled lives of two women in 1920s New England, who share their status as mothers of Lucy Pear, the beating heart of a novel that may be set in a historical framework but feels satisfying outside of the solidity of this composition, as the narrative moves with the force from its subtle substructures. You aren’t going to run into any comparisons to Rachel Cusk’s A Life’s Work or Pamela Erens’ Eleven Hours here. You aren’t going to find any comparisons from me, at least, as I think this is a rare novel, not for subject matter or technique (an omniscient narrator tells the story in order to bring clarity to how all the lives in the novel are changed by Lucy Pear), but for a fullness and hyper-dimensionality that heats up the page.

Though there are always twenty other writers a stone’s throw away, Anna Solomon is proud to call herself a local author. She has worked at the Brooklyn Writers Space for a number of years, where writers forge a community of genuine literary support. Perhaps some of the intense energy of returning to Park Slope after a few brief years in Providence, constantly surrounded here by other writers, has filtered into this gorgeous novel. Pack this novel with you on your next vacation, and don’t miss Anna’s summer readings at BookCourt on Wednesday, July 27 and at Community Bookstore on Thursday, July 28. There will be perry available, an alcoholic pear cider that is featured in Anna’s Prohibition era-based novel.


Stranger FatherStranger, Father, Beloved by Taylor Larsen

Fiction

Who says summer reading has to be light? In this novel about the American family and its deepest, most sordid secrets, nothing is as it appears. Michael wants to have himself replaced. He sees no redemption for his family as long as he is the head of it. Pure language you can sink into, knowing that while all that perfect summer scenery rolls in your view of emotion, memory and family will never be quite the same. This is more than a marriage falling apart, an ode to a fancy house with unhappy people in it, or a man fighting with the fragilities of his own mind. Taylor Larsen, based in Brooklyn, has written a searing first novel that takes us on a journey into the most fearful chambers of our own hearts.


Square Wave by Mark de Silva  

Fiction

Mark de Silva’s debut novel on indie press Two Dollar Radio is a literary gem you won’t want to miss this summer. de Silva, who writes both from and beyond an academic background in philosophy, is not necessarily taking an obvious “cerebral” approach to his narrative structures, though the novel has been noted for its difficult prose. Dystopian fiction is a term that you can leave behind at the beach. If you want rewarding, brain-battering prose with flashes of heart, Square Wave has at its center a crumbling America in which Carl Stagg investigates an assault and prepares a series of lectures about his ancestors’ exploits in 17th-century Sri Lanka.


White Nights In Split Town City Finale cover trimmedWhite Nights in Split Town City by Annie de Witt

Fiction

Tyrant Books is run by Giancarlo Trapano, who has published father and son Lish (Gordon and Atticus) and here we have Annie de Witt’s first novel, White Nights in Split Town City, a slender elegant beast set to cure your summer wanderlust. Not all of us have the luxury of leaving town this summer, but the pages of this novel will penetrate your notion of what it means to belong to a place. Praised by Ben Marcus as a “word-drunk novel,” you will read Jean’s thirteen-year-old “coming-of-age” story that fully possesses the lyricism you would expect from a tale set on the last unpaved road in a rural American town in the summer of 1990. What you may not be prepared for is how strangely and (at first glance) simply the prose disintegrates any ideas you might have about fixed identities and escapist fantasies — in less than two-hundred pages, you will be coldly pressed into dialogue and lifted up into shards of light. Take a risk.


Fran Hi-ResThe Fran Lebowitz Reader

Vintage, Non-Fiction

Laugh a little. Fran Lebowitz will take you there. You can’t always read new books. In Fran’s own words, “Summer has an unfortunate effect upon hostesses who have been unduly influenced by the photography of Irving Penn and take the season as a cue to serve dinners of astonishingly meager proportions.” Revise your summer literary menu with these short, crisp essays on everything from water chestnuts to conceptual art.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: author, books, de Silva, de Witt, family, indie press, Larsen, Leibowitz, novel review, reading, Solomon, summer

You Can Do This!

February 23, 2016 By Melanie Hoopes Filed Under: Hypocrite's Almanac Tagged With: advice, Alzheimer’s, counseling, family

Dear Hypocrite,

I know you’re not a therapist—you’ve been saying that for years—but I’m struggling with some real issues and looking for help or insight everywhere I can think of. You might just be the one to tell me something useful or perhaps make me feel not so alone. Besides, you’re free.

My mom has Alzheimer’s. It was obvious after several events (her walking out in traffic and setting her kitchen on fire) that she was no longer able to live at home by herself. I hired a part-time aide for a while, but she needed even more care, so last June I moved her into my apartment. I got a friend of mine to watch her during the day until I came home from work. When my mom stopped sleeping at night, life became unlivable. She’s now in a memory unit at a nursing home in Forest Hills. It’s a pretty dismal place. The people are kind but she pretty much wanders the halls all day looking for her “parents.” I visit her on the weekend. I don’t know what else I can do.

To add to this, I have many unresolved feelings towards her. She wasn’t the greatest mom. She was a drinker and distant and blamed me and my brother for getting in the way of the life she was meant to live. Obviously, there’s no point in talking to her now about my issues. She’s not sure who I am most of the time. On a good day, she calls me by her sister’s name.

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. I know you’re going to tell me to see a therapist or find a support group. Is there anything else I can do?

Signed,

Not So Dutiful Daughter

 

Dear Daughter,

I am so sorry for your loss. I know she’s still there for you to touch, see, and talk to, but a big part of what made her your mom is not there anymore and that is very hard to experience every time you see her. Add to that your unresolved feelings and you have a very complicated concoction of sadness and anger.

Even if you feel alone, you are not. I venture to say that many of the people you pass on the street are going through some version of your experience. What puts you in a special category is that you are the primary caregiver, which brings with it some serious stress and the feeling that you can never do enough for your mom. But here’s your new mantra: I can only do what I can. In other words, don’t try to do what you think you should or what someone else did. Do what you can do. You can only visit her on the weekends. So do that. Get to know her nurses, take her on a walk outside, bring her flowers…then go home and take a shower, see a movie, or have dinner with a friend. You need to extract the guilt from that cocktail of sadness and anger that’s already lodged in your chest. I do have some thoughts on sadness, however.

Yesterday I went for a walk around the track of a nearby school. It had just rained and there were big, beautiful earthworms crossing the track to get back to the soil. The only problem was the majority of them were headed toward the artificial turf that was in the center of the track. I couldn’t simply walk over them knowing they were going to a place that had nothing for them, that couldn’t sustain them.

My father has had Parkinson’s for fifteen years and I have a fourteen-year-old dog that is blind and deaf and can’t hold his urine. Seeing these worms cross the road to a place that would do nothing to keep them alive was more sadness than I could bear. It took me five minutes but I whipped every one of those worms back to the side with the real soil. A woman in full Lululemon passed by and asked what I was doing. When I told her she gave me a sad little look, not a judgmental one, but a look that said, “You poor woman. You feel too much.” At this point in my life, I do. Saving worms seemed the only option at that moment. I’m sure to Lulu I’ll be forever known as ‘The Worm Girl,’ but as nicknames go, it’s not a bad one. I’ve had worse.

We like to think we are in control of our lives. We keep our houses clean to the best of our abilities; we fill our days with errands and appointments to keep surprises to a minimum; we complain when teachers, food, or service fall below our standards. But all the while, as Carlos Castaneda said, death stalks us. There is suffering for those doing the dying and for those who bear witness to it. The witnesses have the job of easing the suffering of those fading. It’s normal to feel like you can’t do enough. But we do what you can. For my dog, I can change his food, give him cuddles, and take him to his favorite park. For my dad, I can visit, comb his hair, give him a massage, and buy him a pillow for his wheelchair. For the worms, I can fling them onto the grass.

To ease our own suffering, we need to get sleep, eat healthy foods, and exercise while knowing that the pain of sadness is something that we have to go through. But my dear daughter, you shouldn’t go through it alone. Here’s what you were expecting: find a therapist and get a support group. You need help. Get out there and meet people who are going through the same thing.

Again, I am so sorry you’re going through this. I know how it feels. My dad is not getting better. He’ll die this year or if not, the year after. And it will be unbearably sad. Somehow I will get through it. But until then, I will do as much as I can for him and ask for support from friends, family, and my therapist who is worth every penny of her astronomical fee.

Before I go, I have a question. Where is your brother? It sounds like the majority of the weight of caring for your mother is falling on your shoulders. Can you enlist him in more help? Can you let him know you’re feeling overwhelmed? Can you send him this column?

Daughter, I’ll be thinking of you. See you next time.

Filed Under: Hypocrite's Almanac Tagged With: advice, Alzheimer’s, counseling, family

Playing House

February 22, 2016 By Nicole Kear Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: child raising, comedy, Dispatches from Babyville, dollhouse, family, family relations, humor, parenting, Park Slope

For Christmas last year, my daughters got a dollhouse. By New York City standards, it’s really more of a doll mansion than a house. Four stories, massive terrace on the second floor, private garage, and a charming two-person swing hanging from an attached archway. Every time I look at the dollhouse, I imagine what the doll version of our real apartment would be, an exercise that only depresses and demoralizes me. No parent would buy that doll-apartment—except maybe for New York City parents, because, after all, it would be a space-saver.

My girls love their dollhouse. I love their dollhouse. It fulfills my real estate dreams and allows me to realize my housekeeping aspirations. Because while I don’t have a shot in hell at keeping my real house tidy, I keep an immaculate dollhouse. 

My three children are humans (as far as I know) but their effect on our home is not like that of humans. It is like that of weather. Bad weather. Ruinous weather. Hurricanes. Tornadoes.

The eye of the storm is my three year-old, Terza. Her messes are not just epic, but Homeric. I’d be impressed by their breadth and ambition, if I wasn’t so busy having a nervous breakdown.

Terza is an upender. Before selecting a pair of socks, she needs to upend the entire bin and ponder all of her choices spread out before her. Ditto with the underwear and the pants and the shirts—and the toys. She upends packs of crayons, containers full of ponies, tubs of beads, packs of cards, boxes of blocks. Apparently, it takes so much energy to upend everything that there’s none left to put it all away. I try to get her to clean up, I really do. But being a savvy third child, she knows that more often than not, if she stalls long enough, we’ll eventually have to rush off to pick up or drop off a sibling, and by the time we get home, it’ll be past her bedtime and I’ll be so fried and ready for all three-year-olds to be asleep, that I’ll “put a pin” in her mess which is to say, send her to bed and clean it up myself.

[pullquote]Every night, the dollhouse looks as if it has been ransacked by a gang of thugs or has just hosted five simultaneous frat parties.[/pullquote]

The older kids—my daughter, eight and son, ten—no longer create state-of-emergency messes.  With the big kids, the mess is less a downpour and more a steady, unrelenting drizzle. They move through the place, constantly dropping personal belongings everywhere, like Hansel with his breadcrumbs—only for no good reason. Hairbrushes, socks, markers, books, headbands, and always, everywhere, endless pieces of paper. I’m surprised they have time to get anything else done, so busy are they picking up items and depositing them in a new location.

I’m surprised I have time to get anything done, so busy am I nagging them constantly to “Put this back where you found it!” and “Put your dirty clothes in the hamper!” and “Put these clothes back in your drawer and don’t you dare put them in the hamper because you wore them for five minutes and they are about as dirty as a Mister Rogers episode!”

On bad days—snow days, or worse, playdate days —it takes hours to wrestle our house into order again. Even on our best days, it takes a full hour– and even then, it’s not clean enough that I’d invite Child Protective Services—or my mother—over. I can never get our house clean. The most I can hope for is that it appears habitable.

But it takes mere minutes to make the dollhouse immaculate—no matter how anarchic the mess. And it does get anarchic in there.

When my girls play in the dollhouse, their dramas are not your usual “family” fare.  More often than not, they play with animals, many of which are feral. This results in much stampeding and charging and attacking—which wreaks havoc on a domicile. Even when they play with people, their dramas are tragedies of a very physical nature. Doctors are constantly being sent for because characters are inevitably wounded, sometimes fatally. There is also quite a lot of dancing that goes on in the dollhouse—dancing which brings the roof down, literally.

Every night, the dollhouse looks as if it has been ransacked by a gang of thugs or has just hosted five simultaneous frat parties. The furniture isn’t just overturned; it’s overturned in the wrong room. The fridge is in the master bedroom, the bunk beds are in the kitchen, the sofa’s on the terrace. Most disquieting of all, the charming two-person swing is off its hinge and lying on its side a few feet away.

So, every night, I groan and sigh and shake my head. And then, ignoring the mess in my actual home, I kneel down and set about tidying up the dollhouse. I don’t have to clean the dollhouse, but I want to. It calms me the way a glass of wine or evening yoga might calm a less crazy person.

Cleaning the dollhouse takes about three minutes. I return the master bed to the master bedroom, the fridge to the kitchen, the sofa to the living room. I hang the charming two-person swing on the charming archway created for this express purpose. The dollhouse is not just habitable. It is flawless—ready for its flawless family to move in.

I place the dollhouse Mom on the sofa, the dollhouse Dad in the armchair and the dollhouse child in her bed. Sure, it’d be fun to give her a push in the now-functional swing but it’s night and at night—in the dollhouse at least—children sleep. They do not run into the living room at 3 a.m., demanding marshmallows and begging to watch Mickey Mouse.

Cleaning up my dollhouse reminds me of how well I used to parent, before I had kids. I was the absolute best mother when my kids were just figments of my imagination. I was patient and consistent. Fun but firm. I knew the answer to every question and exactly what to do in every situation. When I was a parent only in my day dreams, I never yelled, never caved, never doubted myself.

My imaginary children were paragons of obedience and self-regulation—they always cleaned up after themselves. They never bickered or whined or raised their voices. They watched absolutely no TV and ate absolutely all their vegetables. They always minded their manners and never minded sharing. They did everything I told them to, just like the dolls in the dollhouse.

Of course, my imaginary kids never surprised me. They never caused me to snort with laughter. They never made me feel like I was having a cardiac episode from such intense feeling—joy and terror and gratitude and wonder, all at the same time.

I remind myself of this as I turn my attention from the perfectly-ordered dollhouse to my real living room. I remind myself as I sweep up crushed Cheerios and load the dishwasher. I remind myself as I put dirty shirts in the hamper and fish out clean ones that somehow found their way in there.

I think about how it’s good to have a dollhouse to dream in and a real house to live in. A person needs both.

 


 

Nicole C. Kear is the author of the memoir Now I See You (St. Martin’s Press, 2014) and the forthcoming series for children, The Fix-It Friends, out in early 2017 from Macmillan Kids. 

Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: child raising, comedy, Dispatches from Babyville, dollhouse, family, family relations, humor, parenting, Park Slope

Picture Book Pitfalls

January 27, 2016 By Nicole Kear Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: dispatches, family, humor, parenting

Does this scene seem familiar? You’re curled up in bed or snuggled in a rocking chair or sitting on your stoop on a beautiful fall afternoon and you’re reading Bread and Jam for Frances to your child. You are feeling incredibly good about yourself because you know that reading builds a lifelong love of literature and ensures that your child will be adequately attached to you so that they won’t get strung out on heroin or drop out of high school or get ill-advised tats on their ankles.

Your child is leaning against you and it’s wonderful to smell that good, clean kid smell and also wonderful to know you are the best parent that ever existed, so exceptional you may, in fact, win Mother of the Year. Because you could have opted for a shorter book, maybe Sendak or Willems, which would have left you a few minutes to send emails, but you opted for this one because, well, they just grow up so fast.

You are admiring Hoban’s writing style—so simple, yet so satisfying, the literary equivalent of comfort food—and you are feeling delightfully charmed by Frances, who is not only the only badger you’ve ever encountered in children’s literature, but also the best. And then it happens.

Frances sings.

Of course she does. That badger will sing about anything. She will sing about eggs and tea sets and jump rope. Yes, it’s a part of her precocious appeal and yes, the songs are great—funny and smart and pithy. A part of you wishes Taylor Swift would release an album of Frances covers. But the fact remains that they put an undue onus on you, beleaguered mother, who did not get formal songwriting training at Julliard.

There you are, reading happily, until you crash right into those block quotes which instantly kill your buzz and trigger the following inner monologue:

Oh, come on. A song? Really. Now? Did the Hobans bother to give me a clue as to a melody that might work here? Did he insert a helpful footnote, clarifying that if you’ll just sing to the tune of “Oh Susanna,” you’ll be on cruise control? Something like:

“Why are there so many

Songs inside picture books?”*

*sing to the tune of “Rainbow Connection”

No, of course they did not.

I could speak the lyrics, as if it were a poem. That’s perfectly legit. We move the plot forward, we get character development, and without the stress of composing an original soundtrack. Still, I can’t help feeling like I’m giving everyone short shrift here. How hard is it, anyway, to sing a jaunty little tune? It’s not rocket science.

I’ll just pick a very basic melody; say, “The ABCs” or “Row Your Boat.” We’ll give that a shot.

And look at that, it’s a disaster because I’m not a direct descendant of Pete Seeger, and thus, it’s not that easy for me to match Frances’ lyrics about soft-boiled eggs to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It would be easier, really, just to improvise a new melody. You know, like the jazz giants did. Like Coltrane.

It seems like it would be easier, and yet it is not. Because as soon as I’ve sung one line of Francis’ incisive lyrics, I forget the melody I just came up with. You could call it “avant-guard,” if by that you meant “unbearable.”

So, I’ve exhausted all options, which means the only choice now is to imagine WWNNPD—what would non-neurotic people do? They would say: Who cares? It’s not like my daughter will notice. She probably thinks I sound like an angel and am beautiful too, because she is young and innocent in the ways of the world. And I get an A for effort, which still puts me in the running for the Mother of the Year, which, despite the fact that it is a fictional prize I know does not exist, I still have my heart set on. Not quite what non-neurotic people would do, but as close as I can get.

Repeat this monologue at every new mention of a song in a picture book. You get the idea. It’s draining.

It’s not the most pressing problem to plague families today, I’ll admit. Yet you’d think there’d be a hack for this. Or, better yet, an app. Yes, what we really need is an app in which you can search for picture books featuring un-scored lyrics, and then play an original composition for each tune, courtesy of some actual Julliard grad who, no doubt, could use the work.

Anyone?


Nicole Caccavo Kear is the author of the memoir Now I See You (St. Martin’s), now available in paperback. Her children’s series, The Fix-It Friends, comes out in 2017 by Macmillan Kids – and will not feature any original songs.

Filed Under: Dispatches From Babyville Tagged With: dispatches, family, humor, parenting

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