PLG Bookshelf: Two Local Authors Get Rave Reviews

Mike Hudson and Seth Mnookin, two journalist/authors in our neighborhood, have recently published must-read books about contemporary crises.

Hudson, a staff writer at the Center for Public Integrity, wrote The Monster, an account of the complicity of Wall Street in morally bankrupt predatory lending and fraud led to the global financial meltdown. The deal that gives the book its name, a complicated fraud perpetrated on the economically unsophisticated, was the basis of a fascinating (albeit depressing) talk that Michael gave at Adult Education in November. You can read an excerpt of the book here. For what other people have said, check out these raves:

"Magnificently and heartbreakingly told. . . . What I appreciated most about this tremendous, well-documented book is that it shows vividly that really filthy, face-to-face fraud and hard-sell bullying are the original ingredients, the required counters, in the increasingly abstract financial instruments that brought the economy down around our ears."--The Boston Globe

"Whereas much of the reporting of the economic meltdown has been focused on Wall Street, Hudson has a talent for describing what was happening on the ground. He takes us on a tour of the financial carnival tent pitched by subprime factories like Ameriquest… Did some people borrow beyond their means? Certainly. But as Hudson demonstrates, the public was no match for an industry that lived off deceit fueled by Wall Street."—Time Magazine

You can read more praise for The Monster here and here.

Seth Mnookin's history of the dangerous anti-vaccination movement, The Panic Virus, came out earlier this week. Mnookin, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, seeks to analyze not only the history of the anti-vaccine movement but the psychological and sociological reasons behind the persistence by so many people of a link between vaccines and autism despite the lack of any credible scientific proof. The Wall Street Journal calls the book "a brilliant piece of reportage and science writing."

This afternoon, Seth participated in a Q&A with the readers of Gawker, after that site posted an excerpt. You can read the excerpt and the Q&A here.

The praise has been rolling in:

Mnookin presents a thorough and lucid debunking of the claims of a link between vaccines and autism and the charlatanism and profiteering of those who publicize it. The result is a hard-hitting contribution to the debate and a troubling portrait of a public sphere that elevates intuition and emotion above reason and evidence. – Publisher’s Weekly

Mnookin has written a well-documented history of how this scare grew from a fringe phenomenon to a widely accepted part of the public discourse. That he manages to explain some difficult science and also maintain a page-turner narrative is a tribute to his storytelling skills. The result is devastating. To paraphrase Ross Perot, if the story Mnookin documents doesn’t scare you to death, nothing will. – The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC

I have read neither book yet, but hope to do so soon (I'm staring at my copy of The Monster as I type). Congratulations to both authors for taking on such difficult topics with such good results.

In Memoriam: Delroy "Fatty Boo" Wilson

Delroy "Fatty Boo" Wilson was a fixture outside of his shop, the Unique Mini Mart at 65a Fenimore Street. Whenever the weather would allow it, he was in front of his market cooking jerk chicken on a small oil drum grill. Sadly, Mr. Wilson passed away over the New Years' weekend. His viewing and funeral will be held later this week (details below).

PLG resident Carmen posted her memories of Mr. Wilson - "Mr. D" as she called him - at her blog Talking Out Loud, and I'll excerpt from her eulogy here:

When we first moved to the neighborhood, Mr. D was one of the very first people we met. He owns a bodega on my block which at the time had two other mom & pop shops on either side. As gentrification took hold on the neighborhood, the two stores on either side of his were brought out and new, hip businesses emerged. Mr. D stayed put, and continued to cook his tongue-tingling BBQ-jerk spicy chicken just like he'd done for almost twenty years. From the very beginning, we hit it off with him. Kai grew very fond of Mr. D and even though she was only nine months old, she thoroughly enjoyed his cooking, particularly the spicy chicken. In fact, there have been times where Kai wouldn't eat any meat unless it came from Mr. D's grill. No matter what the weather, Mr. D's store was always open six days out of the week. His grill, located right outside his store, was in service from Memorial Day until it got too cold to cook outside. Each day that we left our block, we had to pass by Mr. D's store. We always said hello and he would always stop what he was doing to chat with Kai. Last summer he even offered to let her grill some chicken, but she declined, wanting instead to watch him work his cooking magic.

A viewing of Mr. Wilson will be held on Friday, January 14th from 5pm - 8pm at the Home for Funerals (169 Empire Boulevard, east of Bedford (gmap)). The service will begin on on Saturday, January 15th at 8:30am at the Pilgrim Father Church (1338-44 Broadway in Bushwick (gmap)).

(If someone could send us a photo of Mr. Wilson, we'd love to add it to the post.)

PLG: "A Good Neighborhood To Get Stuck In"

Today's New York Post has a collection of blizzard stories from around the city.  Here's a nice bit about our neck of the woods:

Residents in the closely knit Prospect Lefferts Garden community emerged from their homes early yesterday after realizing that motorists had been stuck in their vehicles overnight.

They went from car to car offering food and drinks, as well as the use of their homes for rest or bathroom breaks.

"This is a good neighborhood to get stuck in," said Ellen Neipris of Rutland Avenue. "We came out of our house this morning, and were shocked to see people sleeping in their cars. We went to get food and coffee. Everyone is doing what they can."

Full story here. (Thanks, Andrea!)

(Photo: JJ Katz)

 

Local Do-Gooders Nominated for Award

Congratulations to PLGer Laura Frenzer for being nominated as a Brooklyn Do Gooder by the Brooklyn Community Foundation.

Laura was nominated for her work with PLG Arts - including the Lincoln Road/Flatbush Avenue mural project and the Alphabet Arts puppet shows - and her fundraising for an uninsured neighbor who was stricken with cancer.

Read more about her nomination and vote for her at: http://www.dogoodrighthere.org

UPDATE: Rohana Elias-Reyes has also been nominated for her work with PLG Arts. You can vote for her here: http://www.dogoodrighthere.org.

According to Ms. Elias-Reyes, "if one of us wins, PLG Arts can receive some funding to continue and expand all the things we do in the neighborhood - free summer play, Artmart, murals, Jazz at the Inkwell... BUT that means we're in competition (only on their website, in real life we're a team). So pick just one and vote like crazy - it won't hurt our feelings, because if PLG Arts wins, we all win."

Which makes me wonder whether I should have updated at all, since it may steal votes from Ms. Frenzer...

 

NY Times on Rutland Road's Book Club

The Times has been showing the love for PLG lately: today we've got the second feel-good article on our neighborhood in a week. "The Rutland Road Readers" focuses on a group of women, all on the same block, who formed a book club.

Among the 16 women members are a special education teacher, an administrator for visiting nurse services, a television producer, a costume designer, a lawyer, stay-at-home moms, widows, newlyweds and grandmothers. At 63, Sheryl Foster is the oldest member; she has lived on the block since 1984. Emma Straub, 30, is the youngest.

“When I describe the book club to other people, they look at me like I’m from Mars,” said Ms. Straub, a writer. “I grew up on the Upper West Side and didn’t know more than a handful of people. After a month on the block, I know everybody.”

You can read the rest here.

Flatbush jobs listing mystery solved!

For ages, Charles and I have wondered what was up with the flyers containing job listings that are posted along Flatbush. Most of the postings list municipal entry-level jobs, and they run from Flatbush, south of Parkside, down to Linden or thereabouts.

The other day, on my way to get some jerk chicken, I saw a woman taping a job listing to one of those electrical boxes on the street. She looked like she was of retirement age and spoke with a Caribbean accent. We talked for a bit, and she said that, yes, she is the one responsible for the flyers. No, she doesn't work for the City. She goes to the library every week to get new job listings, then prints them out for posting. "I see so many young men wasting their lives," she said. "This is what I do."

I asked if I could interview her but, though she told me her name, she declined, saying that she preferred to remain anonymous.

So next time you're walking down south on Flatbush, keep your eyes peeled on the senior ladies. You never know who may be a superhero.

Raising chickens in Brooklyn? Not as hard as you'd think

Karen Oh is one of the first people I met after moving to PLG a few years ago. Feral cats were running rampant on our block and she offered to help me get them spayed and neutered. It's not every woman who will spend hours helping a stranger corral cats. Karen is one of those exceptional types. Since moving here in 2005, she's become actively involved in the neighborhood but doesn't make a lot of noise about it.

When not corralling feral cats, Karen sits on the board of the PLG CSA, is working on a team to bring a food coop to the neighborhood, and helps lead her Sterling Street block organization. For cash, she relies on freelance jobs doing graphic design. But we didn't talk to Karen about her community work or other jobs. We talked to her about her chickens.

That's right, Ms. Oh and her husband, Chris Rado, are among the increasing ranks of urbanites who keep chickens in their back yard.  A peculiar habit, yes, but one that started seeming a lot more appealing and much less insane to this writer after viewing a recent undercover video shot at an industrial egg hatchery.

I visited Karen at home last week, to see her chickens in action and to collect some free booty: six gorgeous, fresh brown eggs that turned out to be delicious as well.

Hawthorne Street: What made you want to raise chickens?

Karen Oh: I used to live in Maine and always wanted chickens. For me it's a way of feeling connected to rural living. And, of course, I like eggs. Fresh eggs from small flocks taste different than your standard grocery store eggs. The yolk is a very deep color, almost orange, though it depends on what you feed them. The eggs are also very rich and have more of an "egg-y" flavor.

How often do your chickens produce eggs?

They lay about five per day total [about one each], but that will taper off after two or three years. At that point you can eat them or just keep them as pets. We'll probably eat them but I haven't really thought about the butchering process. That's a ton of work and I'm not sure how to go about it.

Most chicken in the supermarket is from birds that are about nine months old. At two or three years, we're basically getting stew chicken. You know the saying, "tough as an old bird"? It's true. Older chickens aren't exactly the tastiest.