Leaf peeping is around the corner. Photo by Kirby Kizuki on Unsplash Welcome to the first official weekend of fall, the best season available around these parts. Yes, it is getting dark distressingly early, but on the other hand we’re right at the precipice of leaf peeping/apple picking/hot cocoa/sweater weather times. In these trying times, that’s enough to get excited about, provided that I can actually find a pair of my jeans that …
What to do this week(end): Sept. 17 to Sept. 24
Photo: Kelly Marshall Well, friends, there’s no escaping it… we’re fully back in the thick of it now. No more long, lazy summer days, no more ignoring work emails because the odds are good that at least someone on the chain is on vacation, and, sadly, no more holding out hope for summer 2021 to be the definitive turning point of this blasted pandemic. Yes, things are much better than they were at this time last year — I’m vaccinated and so is everyone else I know who is over 12, so why is it that I don’t actually feel better? Why is making and keeping plans so…
What to do this week(end): Aug. 13–19
How ya feelin’, Brooklyn (besides, obviously, HOT as all hell)? As per usual these days, there’s been a lot to digest in the past week or so, whether it’s confusing new COVID guidance, the conclusion of the weirdest Olympics in memory, a truly terrifying report on climate change, a new governor in Albany, or the long-awaited emancipation of Britney Spears! It’s tough to feel grounded about anything when both the immediate and long-term future feels so opaque—my office has pushed back it’s September reopening indefinitely, a friend’s wedding in New Orleans next month seems back up in the …
What to do this weekend: Fourth of July edition
After one of the hottest stretches in memory, we are heading into a holiday weekend that looks, well, a little iffy weather-wise. If you were regretting not planning a nearby getaway before all the Airbnbs booked up, take solace in the fact that tomorrow looks like a washout, and you’re probably better off saving your cash and sticking around here anyway. And, as anyone who has lived here for a while can tell you, a holiday weekend…
What to do this week(end): June 11–17
Greetings on this Friday following my first official, in-person work event in 15 months. It happened last night and involved staying out way too late after allowing a coworker who was born when I was in college to buy not one, but two rounds of ill-advised shots. Should I have left earlier? Sure, but this is pretty on brand for my pandemic reemergence so far—everything still feels a little rusty. While it is wonderful to have options and the ability to travel and connect with people, so far the whole thing feels less “hot vax summer,” and more “I need to…
What to do this week(end): June 4–10
Cheers, on this first Friday in June, and wowie zowie, a lot has changed around here since my last dispatch! The BB inbox is positively flooded with emails from concert venues, comedy clubs, restaurants, bars, and PR folks promoting all kinds of events. And it really looks like it’s shaping up to be the banner summer that we’ve all been so cautiously keeping our fingers and toes so tightly crossed for. Honestly, it feels great, so great even that I’ll ignore for a minute the fact…
What to do this week(end): May 14–20
Hey hey hey on this glorious Friday, when I’m finding it impossible to focus on anything other than the perfect weather and the fact that the CDC says I can 86 the mask! Sorry, work meetings, but today I’ve got better things to do, like fantasizing about air travel and bars and yoga classes and pedicures and music festivals! I talk a big game but of course this is all counterbalanced against some intense mental health fallout from the …
What to do this week(end): May 7–13
Three cheers for Friday! Sure, sure, the weekend looks like a bit of a washout, but let’s focus on the positive: 48 hours of Zoom-less leisure await, now with rapidly decreasing positivity rates and improved outdoor seating options! I just booked a dinner reservation for tonight at Victor, which I’ve been keen to check out since Kara Zuaro reviewed it for us. And all I’ll say is that I am over-ready for some celebratory drinks and the opportunity to show off the first professional haircut I’ve had in 2020 or 2021. Unfortunately I’m still processing the proclamation that side parts and skinny jeans are for old …
What to do this week(end): March 12-18
We all deserve some alpacas. Balmy, beautiful weather! Gaining an extra hour of sunlight! An announcement that everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one starting May 1! I’m so excited about all of it I can hardly stand it, and fantasy vacation planning is taking up way too much of my time this week. It’s an odd juxtaposition of giddy anticipation set against the grim anniversary of the day shit suddenly got really scary last March. For me…
What to do this week(end): Feb. 26-March 4
Happy Friday friends, and congrats on being able to go outside in reasonable comfort again! For that reason alone, and even in spite of rainy forecasts for the weekend and unsettling news about the new virus variants spreading in the city, things feel a little more upbeat around here these days, don’t you think? I think I’ve read thousands of articles about people cleaning out their closets or upgrading their apartments during this extended period at home with a mix of annoyance, jealousy, and awe, but last weekend I finally tackled mine (only took a year!) and it does feel freer to be living in marginally less clutter. That said…
Reminder: BHA Annual Meeting Tonight
The Annual Meeting of the Brooklyn Heights Association will be held this evening by Zoom, beginning at 7:00 p.m. At least eight of the nine announced candidates for City Council from District 33, which includes Brooklyn Heights, will be present on line and available to answer questions. Incumbent Council Member Steve Levin is term limited. You do not need to be a BHA member to attend, and admission is free, but to get the Zoom link you must register here.
What to do this week(end): Feb. 19-26
So, it looks like the month of February is hell bent on February-ing it up as much as possible this year, huh? Sure, why not? We’ve all been getting off easy around here lately; it’s as good a time as any to throw some new challenges into the mix! A spike in crimes targeting Asian Americans, more cockroaches in our apartments, weather making it impossible to get exercise or see anyone, and feeling more and more like we actually live in a third-world …
What to do this week(end): Feb. 12-18
Greetings, snow babies, and happy almost-weekend to you all! This one is a long weekend for many of us, with Valentine’s Day and the Lunar New Year thrown in for good measure, so hopefully there will be enough going on to shake us all out of this twin state of pandemic exhaustion and winter blues that feels palpable everywhere these days. That special brand of stir crazy finally led me and my sister to get off our bums and head out to Bushwick to try the much-lauded burger from Robertas’ offshoot Burgie’s, which we devoured in the car and declared 1000% worth the trip before…
February Culture Calendar: There’s actually a lot to do!
February made a dramatic entrance this year, dumping feet of snow across the East Coast and somehow managing to make the once simple notion of leaving one’s apartment feel even less safe and comfortable than it already did. After nearly a year of strict pandemic protocol adherence and midway through a winter that won’t go down without a fight, never have I felt more thirsty for entertainment and some connection to creativity and the world beyond my (very, very narrow) immediate sphere. Last week …
Long Line for Covid-19 Vaccine Leads to Hope for More Time with Grandkids
There was a long line-up this afternoon at George Westinghouse High School, down Tillary St. and around the corner onto Flatbush Ave., for the first day of Covid-19 vaccine distributions at the location. The crowd was diverse, with people of all ages patiently waiting their turn. A man in a neon vest spoke through a bullhorn, “Welcome to your first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine!” He then explained that because it was the first day, there were technical difficulties causing the long line, although everyone there had a time-specific appointment. The man informed the crowd that they would …
Donate to St. Ann’s Pop-Up Pantry to Help Those in Need
From St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church:“St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church has launched a weekly Pop-Up Pantry to address hunger while New Yorkers continue to cope with the prolonged economic and social fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. Every Tuesday, the pantry provides non-perishable food items to those who need them at the entrance of the church at Clinton and Montague Streets in Brooklyn Heights. Pantry guests are asked to wear masks and maintain social distance.We need support from our community to keep the pantry sufficiently stocked. Pantry bags contain grains (pasta, rice, quinoa), proteins (beans, canned tuna and chicken), canned fruits and veggies and extras like granola bars and nuts. We also supply peanut…
What to do this week(end): Dec. 11-Dec. 18
The curated vendors of Brooklyn Pop-Up are appearing at a few holiday markets this weekend, including the holiday fair at Lakeside. Photo: @brooklyn.pop.up Happy Friday Brooklyn babies, in this, one of the final weeks of 2020, a year whose motto should officially be “If the virus doesn’t get you, the debilitating anxiety and/or boredom will.” I’m fresh off a decisive win in my office’s virtual team trivia event last night, the sun is out, and I just polished off a slice of pizza leftover …
What to do this week(end): Nov. 13-19
What a long five years it’s been. Photo: Kate Hooker WHAT A WEEK! Before I even get into it, I just want to get it out of the way that I wasn’t in the city on Saturday, so I missed the pot-banging party of the century that happened, although I watched about a million shaky iPhone videos of the same so I was here in spirit. Instead, I got the news when my texts started blowing up in the deli …
We could all use some distractions here
I don’t even know what to say anymore. It’s been two weeks since I last checked in via this column, and in the space of that time the news cycle has been so relentless and turbulent that it would take some superhuman capacity to process it all. In this episode, we find our sentient orange fever dream and his unmerry band of grifter sycophants in a state of disarray because, after months of actively trying to contract and spread Covid-19, the inevitable has happened and he’s taken it as an opportunity to spread lies and hatred with renewed maniacal energy. The question of whether we can collectively make it until November 3—to say nothing of what …
The site of ground zero, twice
A nighttime street yoga session in Astoria this week was a reminder that nothing can break this city. Photo: Kate Hooker Nineteen years ago today I was just a kid entering my second year of grad school at NYU. I’d returned from a summer internship in India that involved fieldwork in Gujarat, which had recently been ravaged by a deadly earthquake, and I remember feeling grateful to be able to come home to a place where things like that didn’t happen, where the concept of…
Soaking in the final days of summer
Photo: @viamaria_nyc Happy almost-Labor-Day-Weekend, amigos, and here’s hoping you really get a chance to really marinate in the sunny, lazy, final days of summer’s glory before we get rudely pitched forward into a fall that is both unmapped and extremely high-stakes. At the same time that the city moves into Phase 4, with museums and gyms opening at reduced capacity, there are other signs that we are light years from resuming life as we knew it before the all-encompassing smackdown of 2020 swooped in for the kill. My office announced that we won’t be returning until July 2021 at the earliest, which has been a tough pill for…
The test of a New Yorker’s true mettle: Mid-August
Brooklyn Bridge Park has begun socially distanced events this month, from sunrise yoga to kayaking. Photo: Brooklyn Bridge Park And with the blink of an eye, we find ourselves in mid-August, the (in my opinion, anyway) most arduous test of a New Yorker’s true mettle. Year after year, I spend a few weeks in a hazy, sweaty, expletive-laden delirium until I ultimately cave and head north to visit family, and the pandemic has not changed a thing in that regard, as I’m currently writing this from a zero-gravity chair (Have you guys tried these things? They…
Brooklyn Book Festival Goes Virtual This Year
The Brooklyn Book Festival will be back for its fifteenth year from September 28 to October 5, but not in its usual location in front of Borough Hall (photo). This year, thanks to COVID-19, it will be held on line. As Kevin Duggan reports in The Brooklyn Paper, one of the Festival’s co-producers sees a bright side to this:“This really expanded the opportunity to bring in audiences from different time zones, as well as authors for whom in the past might have been very difficult to travel to the festival,” said Liz Koch, one of the fest’s co-producers. “Literally this year everyone can have a front row seat to this festival because they’re right at their laptop.”Nevertheless, your correspondent will miss the opportunity…
Learn how the ladies do it all at an intro to beekeeping class at Brooklyn Grange
Is 2020 the year you get into urban beekeeping? I hadn’t thought about it myself, but now I’m rethinking my little outdoor space after learning about Brooklyn Grange’s workshop offerings and how they provide you with such insightful facts. Did you know all worker bees are female!? Why am I not surprised… In this winter session of Intro to Beekeeping, join Head Beekeeper Geraldine Simonis in the basics of urban beekeeping, the biology, calendar, and lifecycle of bee colonies, as well as the 101 of equipment and safety when taking care of those queen bees. If this is the …
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