Thank goodness for well-preserved audio archives!
On the occasion of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, WNYC is sharing a clip from their audio archives recorded in 1938:
This is William R. Rathvon, the only known eyewitness of both Lincoln’s arrival at Gettysburg and the address itself to have left an audio recording of his recollections.
Click here to listen.
High School Kids in the Vietnam Veterans Exhibition at BHS
Last Thursday, BHS hosted a particularly rich teacher workshop on Vietnam and oral history. Part of one of the wonderful “Teaching American History” projects that BHS collaborates on, this day was particularly wonderful because of the contribution made by a panel of veterans that spoke to the participating educators. The personal stories related by the vets really brought a new level of understanding and investment for the educators which augmented what we learned in the current exhibit In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans.
Also, teachers who bring classes to the exhibit can request to have a vet speak to their students here at the museum afterwards. This has been one of the most rewarding school programs we’ve offered.
Many of these workshops (PDs) are open registration for ANY teacher who teaches American history in a K-12 classroom.
Yesterday, we hosted the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable. I wasn’t there, but according to the Brooklyn Paper this morning, Red Hook developer Greg O’Connell (who built the Fairway) is proposing a high-end wedding hall near the end of Van Dyke Street.
The funny thing is, while this announcement was being discussed downstairs, I was upstairs interviewing Frank Palescandolo (b. 1917), a writer who grew up in Coney Island and whose most famous book Rumble on the Docks (1953) is set in Red Hook. It’s about longshoremen and teenage gangs, it’s got a classic pulp cover, and in 1956 it was made into a movie starring James Darren.
Saturday, February 28, 3 – 6pm
Organized by our friends at City Lore and featuring Dr. Natasha Lightfoot, DJ Kool Herc, Kool DJ Red Alert, Ralph McDaniels, and Co-founder of VP Records in Jamaica, Patricia Chin.
This sounds like it will be a really interesting community conversation:
Past, Present, Future of Food: Bushwick, Brooklyn
A(n Urban) (Farm) Salon
March 7, 2009
1:00 to 4:00
Brooklyn Public Library, Bushwick Branch
340 Bushwick Avenue, L train to Montrose stop
We will explore how Brooklyn and Bushwick in particular went from being so rich an agricultural community to the desert it is today, and we’ll talk about what people can and ARE doing to grow food here. How did it happen that all the land was developed? What kind of food can you get to eat here now? What’s made here? Is it good for you in any way, shape, or form? Do Twinkies count as food? How about Cup-O-Noodles? Is ketchup a vegetable? What do you have to do to get healthy food? Assuming that as animals, land, earth, plants, other animals (human or not), and agriculture are important to us, what should we do about it? We have rooftops, streets, empty lots, and plenty of light. We have water. What can we grow? What would happen if we ripped up Metropolitan Avenue and planted corn and potatoes? What would happen to the community? The price of homes? Could we raise fish in English Kills? Would people in Woodhull Hospital benefit fig trees in front of the building? Would juvenile crime decrease if teens had beans and beets to take care of or knew how to make bread out of the wheat they grew?
We will pose these questions and many more to a group of people that eat in Bushwick and that have some vested interest in their community. That means everyone. Hopefully you.
