Narrows Community Theater Auditions – April 24th and 25th

Narrows Community Theater Auditions for Showboat  – more information and contact

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Forged in Fire Class in Brooklyn

What do you get for a person who has everything?  I get them a class in something they have never done and I think they might enjoy. I’m a teacher so I know people love learning new things.  I found Theo Nazz, a Forged in Fire Champion was giving classes at his forge in Red Hook – 201 Richards Street Brooklyn, New York 11231. I highly recommend his class if you want to learn this. Theo has a good sense of humor and is an excellent teacher. 

For Lee’s birthday this year, I got him a class in blacksmithing. I don’t watch television much, but I do like watching Forged in Fire with Lee. He loves watching the blacksmiths create knives and I love seeing the different contestants that come to Brooklyn to film the show.

If you follow me on Instagram, you have already seen these pictures and I have gone live during some of the classes too.  This is the knife I am making:  (it wasn’t quenched or sharpened yet)

The knife was formed from a steel bar – see them leaning up against the wall.

It took a lot of heating and hammering, but it’s so worth it when you see the knife forming.

Theo showed us how to quench the blade.

What they don’t show you on Forged in Fire is that the knife is heated in an oven for a few hours.

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12 Illegal Massage Parlors Busted in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights

Yes, Again.

Here’s the story.

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Bay Ridge Fights Back

I’ve been talking about the new political activist groups in Bay Ridge a lot lately.

Tonight,  Fight Back Bay Ridge held a Town Hall because Dan Donovan wouldn’t. I have to tell you, I was cautious about this group because of their logo. I’ve been seeing the fist (above) representing a lot of groups of people.  I was pleasantly surprised how organized these Bay Ridge and Staten Island residents were. This event was well planned out and informative. I hope the organizers would think about running for office in Bay Ridge because they are passionate and want the people’s voice to be heard.

Panelists

There was some very good panelists.  (Tomorrow I will add more)

Particularly impressive was the passion of Andrea Shapiro. I never heard her speak before, but she was a powerhouse. 

Participants

There were some great panelists – I really felt for the parents who spoke up about funding public schools. otably, there was a pre-teen named Althea who spoke out and really brought up something I have been meaning to talk about (more tomorrow as I have to get to bed). 

City Council Candidates

Finally, some City Council candidates were present at the meeting and we saw some true colors tonight.

a) Liam McCabe didn’t understand why this evening wasn’t for him to promote himself.  McCabe worked for Donovan and knows that Donovan should have ran this evening.  While McCabe worked for Donovan, McCabe didn’t push Donovan to have a town hall in Bay Ridge. Donovan has the funds to rent a catering hall and  run the event for Bay Ridge.  I was surprised that McCabe took the low road as he has been in politics a long time and should have known better. Donovan didn’t want to attend because he was afraid of a rowdy audience and actually McCabe was the only one who was acting out. Watch the video. And of course Donovan has endorsed McCabe. 

b) I caught Reverend Khader El-Yateem not being so supportive!  The camera happen to capture El-Yateem not throwing up his emoji panel when the panelists encouraged more women to run for office. Moments later,  El-Yateem threw the emojii up in the air when the panelists said that people who care should run for office. Check the video – it’s online.  

c) Justin Brannan was there sending out humorous tweets 

d) I didn’t see John Quaglione or the carpetbaggers, Bob Capano or Nancy Tong on the video – they could have been there, but there were no social media entries from any of them either. I’ll check with someone who went to confirm this for sure. 

My Question

My question was asked during the meeting. Bay Ridge, you may not know this, but property owners are turning apartment buildings into SRO and no representatives are talking about it. The apartment building owner says he couldn’t find enough renters to rent the building so he turned the apartments into SROs. Residents find out when the police keep showing up at the building because the people living in the SROs like to fight with each other. It has to be someone’s job to tell the residents because this type of housing wasn’t present here when most purchased homes here. 

Well done Fight Back Bay Ridge! You are amazing activists and organizers.  :) 

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Psychologist for Adults and Children in Bay Ridge

Psychologist for Adults in Bay Ridge:

1. Brooklyn Women’s Services  9201 4th Avenue (the office building behind Pizzeria Unos)

2. Neighborhood Counseling Center   7701 13th Avenue  (This place seems very busy as I had a friend who waited weeks to be seen by them…..but she did like the psychologist she spoke to)

Child Psychologist in Bay Ridge:

1. Dr Eileen Feliciano 551 Bay Ridge Pkwy 718-551-4796

2. Neighborhood Counseling Center  7701 13th Ave

3. NYU Child Study Center in Manhattan – (646) 754-5000 or  [email protected]

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SBP Resist – Pushing El-Yateem on Bay Ridge?

The SBP Resist group      SBP stands for South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance Group. I believe these are a group of socialists. I never thought I would be speaking about socialists in 2017. I mean Socialism is just above Communism. I haven’t seen enough from this group to know if they are into Socialism the same way the rest of the world recognizes Socialism. 

Under the fist in the word RESIST, they put the SI together for Staten Island (see below).  

SBP states it is CB 11 – which means Dan Donovan’s district of Bay Ridge and Staten Island. Why would Staten Islanders care who was councilman in Bay Ridge. The only reason we can think that anyone in Staten Island would care about this position would be if they were trying to get a job. Staten Island has never cared about Bay Ridge.  

Here’s some infomation about the meetings they will hold.  Whose funding this group? And where have these people been all these years that Senator Golden and Nicole Malliotakis has been playing their games?

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Trump Socialists Emerge in Bay Ridge

President Donald Trump woke up a whole lot of people who had been sleeping. Bay Ridge has some new groups. One group are Democratic Socialists. Yes, socialism apparently is alive with some residents. Where have these people been all these years? Where were they when Jamie Kemmerer was fighting against fracking and getting money out of the government? The Trump Socialists were sleeping. Why were they silent all these years?  In November, Senator Golden and Nicole Malliotakis ran unchallenged and they were silent across social media.  But then Trump came along and they woke up.    

Last year (2016) there was a March on Hate, but I don’t remember a Socialist Group claiming they were running the march. This year the march was sponsored by this group. The group hadn’t done anything else in the community until Trump came along. Now that they are awake, they went to Malliotakis’ home in Staten Island (although Malliotakis’ social media showed she was in Albany voting on the budget at the time). Maybe they wanted to be there when she wasn’t home or maybe they need a better organizer who is actually interested in politics and reads Malliotakis’ social media acct. The Socialist Worker website printed a story (probably from a press release because Malliotakis’ location wasn’t mentioned and the picture was sent by someone in the group).

The Bay Ridge for Social Justice icon on Facebook is “Love Your Neighbo.”    I think the members of this group should practice what they preach.  Here they posted an article that they thought was good for our neighborhood. When the article was questioned for being racist because it blames people of one race for the problem, the Bay Ridge for Social Justice group has a snarky answer and the BR Social Justice acct called the man, DUDE.  Are 15 year olds running the FB page?  This is no different from racists referring to groups of people as “these type of people.” The only way growth and “love they neighbor” exists is when people are respectful.

Yesterday on Twitter one of them thought it was okay to tell me about my WHITE PRIVILEGE even though the person said they didn’t know me.    I see idiots saying “white privilege”  to anyone who is white.  The group obviously has some problems with maturity and being neighbors people can count on. Calling people by color is ridiculous. If you think it’s acceptable to repeat nonsense to your neighbor – YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.  And because you get this wrong, it messes it up for the next generation who sees you being a moron and thinks it is alright. When special interest groups try to set our neighborhood back because of personal agendas,  Bay Ridge people are going to question it. Neighbors in this community look out for each other. How do I know this? We have lived in this neighborhood for almost eight years and the neighbors on my street are all different nationalities, but we all have each others backs. We have never had a discussion with any of them on nationality or religion because we are all Ridgites and we talk about our community. If you don’t understand that or don’t experience that, then check yourself – it’s you not doing your part as a neighbor.   

Ohhhh and please don’t tell me that Muslim men and women in Bay Ridge are afraid of their neighbors. Maybe initially after the incident they were afraid, as were non-Muslims  in the area. Over the years there have been very few instances of xenophobia in Bay Ridge from racists or more likely people with mental issues since 9/11.  If children are afraid, then it’s the parents and adults who need to explain what is going on in the world.   We know Muslim men are not afraid because if they  were they would move their family to another, (cheaper) area of NYC. As far as I can tell, the Arabic population has increased in Bay Ridge. They still want to live in Bay Ridge because they love it here just like everyone else. 

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New Yoga Studio in Bay Ridge

A new yoga studio called Vinnyasa Yoga Studio opened at 468 – 77th Street. See their FB – reiki classes too.

Classes at the Vinnyasa Yoga Studio:

Tuesday 8am with Jamison

Wednesday 8pm with Jamison

Thursday 12:15pm with Vinny (45 minute)

Friday 5pm with Vinny

Sunday 9:30am Beginners Yoga with Vinny.

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  This chocolate rabbits are from Deliso’s Chocolate Store at  278 87th Street in Bay Ridge

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Bay Ridge Needs Beat Cops

Bring Back the Beat Cop!

• Woman was held at knifepoint in Bay Ridge on Monday, April 3rd  – story here

•  Bike rider hit in Bay Ridge and driver took off

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Jesus Was More Human Than He Had Ever Been

Usually Easter is the highlight of the whole season, but this year I heard these words and they chimed through me for days:  “Jesus was more human than he had ever been.”

Luke 22:39-46 Jesus went to Gethsemane. He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

I know I have heard the story many years over the years, but Jesus’ humanity really stuck with me this year.

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April 15, 2017

Kulichi – Greek Orthodox Church

I had no idea what paska (also known as kulichi) was until this year. It’s a type of Easter bread that people bring in baskets to Orthodox Christian churches. It was very pretty and different than the way we celebrate Easter.

 

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