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October, 2008

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Where Do I Go to Vote?

My grandmother worked the polls for every election in her small town until she was physically unable to.  I remember her going “off to the polls” when I was little and not really understanding what that meant but gathering that it was an exciting thing to be doing.

Election Day still feels like a holiday to me (more people would turn out to vote if it were!) so, I’m gearing up.  Where I grew up in Massachusetts, everyone always went to the elementary school cafeteria to vote and if you forgot where to go you could ask anyone in town and they’d tell you – it’s harder here in Brooklyn, fourth largest city (if it weren’t a borough) in the U.S.

Which is why I checked out the New York City Board of Elections handy Poll Site Locator to find out where you go to vote on November 4th:

http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm

Fiesta Time!

fall fiestaI don’t know about you all, but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks (election antics, economic meltdowns…). I’m looking forward to great music by OP! and all the other fun to be had this Thursday night at BHS’ Fall Fiesta. This year ticket proceeds will go to support Education programs at BHS.

Rumor has it that the guests to the Fiesta will get spaldeens in their gift bags (spaldeens are those red bouncy balls that you use to play handball or streetball with), which I’m thinking can also double as a fantastic stress-reliever when the fiesta-ing is over.

Back on the Block

Check out this video on the New York Times website where a reporter returns to her Brooklyn neighborhood after 20 years:

Back on the Block

Cinema of the Vietnam War

Tomorrow at 6:30pm we’ll be screening Thanh’s War, the fourth in the series Cinema of the Vietnam War we’ve been co-hosting with Brooklyn For Peace.  Moss Roberts, Professor of East Asian Studies at NYU will be leading the discussion following the film.

These film discussions have been really great.  At the last one, Brooklynite and former Congressmember Elizabeth Holtzman talked about Constitutional war-making powers and how things haven’t been the same since Nixon’s secret bombing of Cambodia.

You can listen to the converstation through our podcast on iTunes (search the iTunes store for Brooklyn Historical Society).

Pollution Testimonies

I’ve lived in Greenpoint for three years now, I get most of my food from an organic farm and I’m generally health conscious all around – yet somehow I manage to conspicuously Not Worry about living above the largest oil spill on the planet which still oozes on the underground water table at Newtown Creek.

A plume of oil – 17 million gallons, bigger than the famous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska – was discovered in 1978 and while cleanup began in 1990, it’s been slow and underfunded and not much has improved.

“Are you worried about health problems caused by the pollution in your neighborhood?”

A community group in Brooklyn called the Newtown Creek Alliance is documenting the public health concerns of people living in communities along Newtown Creek (Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Maspeth, Queens).

For more information email: newtowncreekstudy@gmail.com

Or attend an information session:

Saturday, October 18th at 3pm
Greenpoint Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, 107 Norman Ave @ Leonard

Monday, October 27th at 6pm
Leonard Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, 81 Devoe Street @ Leonard

photo courtesy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (1989)

photo courtesy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (1989)