Brooklyn Spiritual Technology and Iconography: Three Patriarchs

Brooklyn is filled with spiritual technology and architecture. Synagogues, churches, chapels, temples, store-front places of worship, cemetaries, art, imagery, ikons.

The word Icon (ikon) comes from the Greek word "eikon" which means image, the same word that describes the creation of man in God’s image and likeness.

Icons are attributed to the hand of Christian Saints (St. Luke) and many of the unsigned masters of the Byzantine era, St. Andrei Rublev, the acknowledged greatest iconographer of Russia, the famous post-Byzantine iconographer Theophane the Greek, Moscow’s Armory School founder Simon Ushakov, and many, many others.

The remarkable film director Andrei Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev" is a staggering epic of the fabrication of spiritual technology in the Byzantine era. One of my favorite films.

These are replicas of great art and great art treasures. This image of icons is from the exterior of the Three Patriarchs Greek Orthodox Church on Avenue P near E. 17th Street. I would assume these 3 patriarchs refer to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, known as the Patriarchs, are both the physical and spiritual ancestors of Judaism. They founded the religion now known as Judaism, and their descendants are the Jewish people.

Even the "Epistle to the Hebrews" in the Christian New Testament presents the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as examples of men of faith. They lived in hope. They lived with the promise of God's faithfulness.

Or, in this instance, the icon could refer to Patriarchs, which like Metropolitan, is a title of respect and authority in the Eastern Orthodox rite. The four Ancient Patriarchates of the Eastern Rite were Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The Primate of the OCA is the Metropolitan.

Brooklyn, in the unpretentious, everyday face that it shows to the world, is filled with art, spirituality and inspiration.

--Brooklyn Beat

De-Construction on Livingston Street

I know real estate is among the most concrete (oof) and popular blog topics in Brooklyn. However, RE is usually far afield for my blog. But I took these photos Friday night on my way home and sent them from my cell phone to another blog that has a much much greater interest in this topic but they either never got the pix or decided not to pick up on the tip. So, this may be ancient history already, since things move quickly in the realm of construction. But, waste not, want not, so here it is.

CODA to Super/Shrove Tuesday

I picked up my daughters at Starbucks on Seventh Avenue, with Mr. Obama's supporters combing the streets, joyful but perhaps a little too insistent on the virtue of their choice. My daughters told me that someone said to them "Tell your parents when they vote, to vote for Obama." They responded, "We are supporting Hillary" to which the campaigner responded snarkily/sarcastically, "Oh, you are old enough to vote ?" Most of the folks campaigning for Mr. Obama that I saw throughout the day were young and white (not that there is anything wrong with that).

Granted, there were not a lot of Hillary supporters on the streets. But maybe, like me, they were working, picking up their kids, or finding it enough of a challenge to get through the day and make it out to vote, instead of being fortunate enough to have the freedom to spend the day campaigning. Another blog observed that (I paraphrase) 'high school educated, Hispanic and working people' were the primary supporters of Ms. Clinton. Well, we fit only part of that profile and we supported Hillary.

We went to our polling place, the school on Coney Island Avenue near Newkirk, and there were still lots of people on the street, again, mostly young, mostly white, some with kids in strollers, all for Mr. Obama. Honestly, it felt a little intimidating, all of the young white campaigners, a little too eager and too insistent. In America, come election day, you don't have to explain your vote to anyone. It felt a little like being confronted by Jacobins on the street during the fall of the ancien regime. Did I need to look around to make sure there was no guillotine ? I thought the "enemy" was the GOP, the party that has wrecked the economy and squandered America's political capital and post 9/11 goodwill, not another Democratic candidate.

The girls (who are 13) came into the voting booth with me. At first I thought I had a problem with the machine. None of the Democratic levers would work. Ironically, I think the poll watcher had me pegged (erroneously) by my demographics (white guy in his 50s) as a Republican. She twiddled with the knobs outside and we were ready to vote. The girls symbolically helped me to pull the lever for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I have done my part and voted for the candidate of my choice. I still hope Ms. Clinton gets the nomination although I am concerned about all of those Hillary-haters out there in both parties. On her war vote, yep, it was a mistake, but a lot of us, in the time after 9/11 were concerned about WMDs, etc. Who knew we were being lied to by the most cynical US Chief Executive (and Vice Chief Executive) of modern times. Unfortunately, a lot of people were pro-war, I dare say even many of the supporters of Mr. Obama. As a father of a teenage son, I don't think the 100 year war advocated now by Mr. McCain, after years of the Iraq conflagration, is a good thing. I didn't support the Iraq War either but I am not an intelligence analyst, so, I like many people I think, second guessed my own reluctance to beat the drum for war. It is safe to say that Ms. Clinton, along with many other elected officials and citizens, do not now support the war, and realize that the Iraq entanglement is terrible. We are all clear that the Bush administration has made a mess of the country (Iraq and our own). Mr. Obama, who was not in the Senate at that time, never had to actually face that vote. But it is a moot point, who knows how he would have voted.

That said, I am totally prepared to vote for Mr. Obama should he be the eventual Democratic candidate, whether he runs again Messrs. McCain, Huckabee, or Bloomberg. The Democratic Party needs to be returned to the White House. We cannot stand even one more term of the Republican Party, regardless of who that candidate is. They have made a muck of it and must pay the price.

However, I am very concerned that many of those voters, in their obvious enthusiasm for Mr. Obama, will be unable to support Ms Clinton should she be selected as the Democratic candidate, whether as the presumptive candidate in March, or at the Democratic convention later this year. I was on the fence like a lot of voters, but I made my decision. Perhaps it is loyalty to Ms. Clinton as our State's Junior Senator. Just as Illinois supported Mr. Obama, it appears many New Yorkers supported Mrs. Clinton. I could not "drink the kool aid" and go against my generally very positive feelings for Ms. Clinton, so I supported her. But, as I said, come the fall, my loyalties are with the Democratic candidate, in order to defeat the GOP, despite the fact that I am an Aging (but not average !), White Guy, which I guess is a Republican demographic.

Therefore, I found it very disturbing to read that Ms. Michelle Obama, Mr. Obama's First Lady, indicated that "she would have to think hard" about supporting Ms. Clinton should her husband not be victorious and should Ms. Clinton be chosen as the Democratic Presidential candidate. What is that all about ? That is an echo of the Conservatives who are threatening to become "Suicide Voters" and vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton and against John McCain should he be the Republican candidate. Something uncool is happening. As I said in my earlier blog post, things do not bode well for the future of this country if the Democrats can't get it together, after the disastrous Bush Presidency.

I doubt that Mrs. Clinton would agree to run for Vice President should Mr. Obama get the nomination. Perhaps she would be more valuable as a leader in the US Senate than as a (traditionally powerless) vice president. . But I am certain that she would support Mr. Obama fully and unreservedly. I would be very surprised if she did not.

However, I am concerned that the same may not be true for Mr. Obama and his supporters.

--Brooklyn Beat

Super Tuesday

We are heading in a new direction, folks. Perhaps not the direction promised by the Greens or Ralph Nader, but a new direction nevertheless. If McCain is the Republican candidate, will the Conservatives run a third (or fourth) party candidate? McCain as Liberal Warrior, perhaps soft on social issues but promising a new 100 Years War ? (Did Ann Coulter really say that Hillary is more conservative than McCain? ) But of course Super Tuesday, even if not totally decisive, promises to better spill the beans on where the Democratic Party will be in November.

Barack Obama: Despite the fabulous oratory, is he really "Republican lite" ? (see the fascinating Salon link on the Economics of Obama).

Hillary, likewise a centrist Democrat, although now willing to embrace the more Progressive, traditionally Democratic mantle ? If Barack wins the nomination will this keep Bloomberg out of the race? If Hillary, the bete noir of mainstream and conservative Republicans, gets the nod, is Mayor Mike in it to win it?

So, THIS IS WHAT AN INTER-GENERATIONAL, MULTI-CULTURAL, INTER-GENDER Political Environment is all about. (To paraphrase Captain Beefheart on Bongo Fury: "So this is a drive-in-restaurant in Hollywood, so this is a drive-in-restraurant in Hollywood...")

As Hendrick Hertzberg in The New Yorker wonders, Does Hillary Rodham Clinton offer a competent, proven, battle-tested political organization and administration, albeit from Day 1 in a defensive posture, while Barack Obama may offer a transformative one ? Please, please, just promise me one thing -- that "We Won't Be Fooled Again"..

Whatever the outcome of Super Tuesday, and the continuing battles, both intra-party and inter-party, at least we can (hoprefully) wave goodbye to the horrific 8 years of the George W. Bush administration. Is there ANY Republican now who, Deep in His or Her Heart, can say that the Bush Administration has been a good thing for America ?

See you at the polls. And yes, God Bless America.

--Brooklyn Beat


Super Tuesday:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080205/D8UK6GBO0.html

www.Drudgereport.com

The Economics of Barack (& Hillary):

http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/02/04/economics_of_barack_obama/index.html

CODA: THE WALL

Cortelyou Road and East 17th Street, 7:45 AM, Monday, February 4, 2008

MEAT ME IN THE MORNING

There was an interesting article on a bit of gustatory sociology in Wednesday’s NY Times regarding the “Beefsteak” phenomenon in Northern New Jersey.

“Beefsteak,” not as in a cut of meat, but as a celebratory get together where folks previously gathered at a restaurant or other venue to basically eat meat of all kinds, virtually nothing but meat, washed down with beer, with no silverware or other refinements, thank you, immediately called to mind that great essay “All You Can Hold for Five Bucks” by New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell. Mitchell described Beefsteaks as a delivering a staggering array of meats (mini-hamburgers, lots of them, followed by kidneys-wrapped in-bacon, followed by tenderloin steak dipped in butter, washed down by beer, followed by more and more of the above, in virtually limitless quantities..Beefsteaks were often attended for political purposes, by Tammany Hall Club and others, as well as labor unions, and by businesses, just for a good time, primarily by men.

So, we have meat and we have misogyny, or at least male chauvinism.. Not politically correct by any means, but not without its peculiar charms.

Maybe because it is Super Bowl Weekend, and folks (not me, but folks) are out there shopping for their ribs, BBQ sauce and chipotle, and warming up the 52” flat screen LED or plasma TV, , and truth be told, I am not really much of a red meat eater, but there was something interesting, something that stirs a visceral yearning, and plucks a feral chord, in some guys, with the thought of hanging out around a table with a bunch of guys, whether in Northern New Jersey today or in Hells Kitchen in the 1940s, wearing a paper chef’s apron and hat (on which to wipe the grease from your hands, since you don’t use napkins or silverware) , as you savor your 15th or 18th tenderloin slice, stacking up the uneaten bread on which the tenderloin is served (better to save room for more meat), and quaff a little more beer, without worrying how I will explain it all to my wife or internist.

Anyway, here is the NY Times article on Contemporary Northern New Jersey Beefsteaks (be sure to watch the video):

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/dining/30beef.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1

The Upcoming Beacon Restaurant, 8th annual Beefsteak (& Fundraiser) in New York City (looks like fun). This posting also includes a link to an excerpt of the original New Yorker article by Joseph Mitchell on “All You Can Hold for Five Bucks”: Read it and run out to buy Joseph Mitchell’s fantastic collection Up in the Old Hotel. (Vintage Books)

http://www.beaconnyc.com/pdfs/beefsteak.pdf

Obscure Brooklyn Rock Venues: Loews/Universal 46th Street Theatre

Sure, you knew about the famed Fox and Paramount theaters downtown, where lots of early rock and pop acts performed. Even 9th Street's Prospect Theatre (now a C-town between 5th and 6th avenues) hosted the Dave Clark Five, among other groovies.

But did psychedelia ever make its way Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn? Sure enough, it did.

From November 11 through November 14, 1970, a fantastic double bill featured Hot Tuna with the Grateful Dead as an opening act at the "46th St. Rock Palace - Brooklyn, NY". This shows the early prominence of the Airplane and its personnel (Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady), while the Dead were still relatively less known, before becoming the enormous cultural phenomena (and pop cash machine) that it did in larter decades until guitarist Jerry Garcia's death in 1993.

I vaguely remember seeing a later version of Garcia's bluegrass spin-off, Old and in the Way, only with another musician substituting for Jerry Garcia on banjo, along with Peter Rowan and David Grisman, at Brooklyn College's Student Union (SUBO), in the early 70s, but my details are hazy.

But the idea of a Tuna/Dead show in Bensonhurst is fabulous. The 46th street theatre was located at 4515 New Utrecht Avenue. According to www.Cinematreasures.org,
Loew's 46th Street Theatre, now closed, seated 2,675 with a single screen, and an atmospheric theatre style. Architect: John Eberson. Closed in 1973, the Universal Theatre, better known as the 46th Street Theatre, was converted into retail space.

Theater photo courtesy of The John Chappell Collection

Bnote Mitzvah Time

Not to presume that this blog has been missed, but if it was, the reason has been that our family has been involved in Heavy Readiness Mode for the past few weeks as we prepared for the Bat Mitzvahs of our twin daughters, Ilana Miriam and Gabrielle, this past weekend. It has been a remarkable time. For my wife Judy (Jehudit) and myself, it is our third time through this incredible Gate of Life (previously with our slightly older 2 kids Danielle and Benjamin). The service, led by Rabbi Andy Bachman and Cantor Janet Leuchter, at Congregation Beth Elohim, and the service the previous night led by Rabbi Dan Bronstein, created a beautiful connection with the roots of our Jewish faith. Although I was not born into Judaism, for the past 20+ years it has become central to my life and my values, and the emotions and pure joy that welled up over me as the Rabbi and the Cantor consulted as to the extent of each of our daughters completion of their recitation of the parsha was profound and deep. Rabbi Bachman, who within the last 2 years, also presided over the funeral of Judy's late mother, promised us a meaningful service and it certainly was. The presence and support of many of our non-Jewish family, friends and colleagues at the service was also so joyful and gratifying. We also would like to acknowledge the preparation provided to the girls by Cantor Leuchter, the previous preparation provided by CBE president Jules (baby) Hirsch who has played a role in the preparation of all 4 of our children. The Dvar Torah preparation provided by Rabbi Dan Bronstein, CBE congregational scholar was likewise so much appreciated,as was the help of Executive Director Nancy Rubinger. We have been long-time members of Congregation Beth Elohim, sometimes more involved, sometimes less, but we are grateful to have completed this circle of growth and connection, through CBE.

--Brooklyn Beat/Tony Napoli

Brooklyn-Raised Chess Icon Bobby Fischer Dead at Age 64

Brooklyn-raised, Chicago-born chess icon Bobby Fischer, who became a Cold War symbol when he defeated Soviet Union's Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, has died at age 64.

In May 1949, the six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess from instructions found in a chess set that his sister had bought at a candy store below their Brooklyn apartment. He saw his first chess book a month later. For over a year he played chess on his own. At age seven, he joined the Brooklyn Chess Club and was taught by its president, Carmine Nigro.

Bobby Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School together with Barbra Streisand, though he later dropped out in 1959 when he turned 16. Many teachers remembered him as difficult. When his chess feats mounted, the student council of Erasmus Hall awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements.

Icon or avatar of a complex game, Bobby Fischer, perhaps like Ezra Pound, Charles Lindbergh, or other artists, geniuses, or heroes whose talent and exploits were overshadowed by their public and political views, leaves behind an enormous reputation in the annals of modern chess.

--Brooklyn Beat

Fischer died Thursday in a Reykjavik, Iceland, hospital, according to spokesman Gardar Sverrisson. There was no immediate word on the cause of death.

Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, Robert James Fischer was a U.S. chess champion at age 14, becoming a grand master at 15. When he beat Spassky in a series of games in Reykjavik, he claimed the U.S.A.'s first world chess championship in more than a century.

The event was given tremendous symbolic importance, pitting the intensely individualistic young American against Spassky who ws presented at home as a product of the grim and soulless Soviet Union.

The match also was marked by Bobby Fischer's somewhat peculiar behavior - possibly calculated psychological warfare against Spassky - including Fischer's arriving two days late to complaining about the lighting, TV cameras, the spectators, even the shine on the table.

Spassky said in a brief phone call from France, where he lives, that he was "very sorry" to hear of Fischer's death.

Fischer's reputation as a genius of chess soon was eclipsed by his idiosyncrasies.

Fischer was world champion until 1975, when he forfeited the title and withdrew from competition because conditions he demanded proved unacceptable to the International Chess Federation.

After that, he lived in secret outside the United States. He emerged in 1992 to confront Spassky again, in a highly publicized match in Yugoslavia. Fischer beat Spassky 10-5 to win $3.35 million.

The U.S. government said Fischer's playing the match violated U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia, imposed for Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic's role in fomenting war in the Balkans.

Former Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov said Fischer's ascent of the chess world in the 1960s was "a revolutionary breakthrough" for the game.

"The tragedy is that he [Fischer] left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," Kasparov told The Associated Press.

Over the years, Fischer gave occasional interviews with a radio station in the Philippines, often digressing into anti-Semitic rants and accusing American officials of hounding him.

He praised the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying America should be "wiped out," and described Jews as "thieving, lying bastards." Fischer's mother was Jewish.

He also announced he had abandoned chess in 1996 and launched a new version in Argentina, "Fischerandom," a computerized shuffler that randomly distributes chess pieces on the back row of the board at the start of each game.

Fischer claimed it would bring the fun back into the game and rid it of cheats.

He renounced his American citizenship and moved in 2005 to Iceland, accepting an offer of citizenship from the country still grateful for its role as the site of his most famous match.

Fischer had been detained for nine months detention in Japan for trying to leave the country using an invalid U.S. passport. Japan agreed to release him after he accepted Iceland's offer of citizenship.

Fischer told reporters that year that he was finished with a chess world he regarded as corrupt, and sparred with U.S. journalists who asked about his anti-American tirades.

"The United States is evil. There's this axis of evil. What about the allies of evil - the United States, England, Japan, Australia? These are the evildoers," Fischer said. --Various news sources

Ditmas Grafitti War

Every day, or at least every day that I have taken my younger kids to school or gone downtown to my office, I pass a building near the corner of Cortelyou Road and East 17th Street that seems to reflect the pains to which people will go to dialogue without actually talking to each other.

At first, the building had a friendly environmental type painting, the kind of thing that a building owner will commission kids or neighborhood artists to paint. Then something happened to it because someone painted over that "Don't Let Me Catch You Fucking Up This Wall" or something to that effect. Then that was mysteriously painted over. Then it was replaced by what seemed a cry of frustration - "Human Beings don't want other human being to be happy"..but whether that was by the building owner or the artist, I don't know. Then that was whitewashed over.

Next, a free-for-all seems to have ensued -- "DAMN!" WORLD WE LIVE IN!" RACIAL" "WORD IS BORN", drawings of figures, in a wide array of colors with a scattering of "LAME" LAME" LAME" painted overall, like a flock of pigeons that wait until what seem like two inches before you approach before flying away.

I looked forward to passing it out of curiosity as to what I would see next, like checking your email or links. Anyway, since I am usually passing by this display in the early morning, I haven't had a chance to stop by the building to try to quiz the owner on what exactly is going on. That is, who started what and who did what to whom. But maybe, like a lot of things in life, a little positive mystery is a good thing. I am sure the owner of the building would in fact exact a price should he catch someone in the act.

But it is very interesting to see that not only the Blogosphere is a first amendment free-for-all, and that even Flatbush real estate can serve as a palett and a place to post.

--Brooklyn Beat

REMEMBERING BROOKLYN AUTHORS: ISAAC ASIMOV

Isaac Asimov (January 2, 1920 - April 6, 1992) remains one of the most prolific authors of the twentieth century. Dr. Asimov is widely known as a preeminent science fiction writer, having created the Foundation Series of novels and "I, Robot." In addition to devising the Three Laws of Robotics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics, Asimov published books on every topic imaginable; according to the Asimov online website, a treasure trove of information about the author, his life, and his books,
( http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html#non-literary ) Asimov has published books in nearly every category of the Dewey Decimal System except philosophy(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification )

When the Asimov family came to the United States in 1923, they moved into their first apartment at 425 Van Siclen Avenue, in the East New York section of Brooklyn. In the summer of 1925 they moved one block away to an apartment at 434 Miller Avenue. They moved half a mile eastward in December 1928 to another apartment at 651 Essex Street, above the second candy store bought by his father. In early 1933, they moved to an apartment on Church Avenue, and after a brief stay there they moved to an apartment above yet another family candy store, at 1312 Decatur Street, in the Ridgewood section of Brooklyn. In December of 1936, Asimov's father sold his third candy store and bought his fourth, at 174 Windsor Place, (between Fuller Place and 10th Avenue), and the family moved to a house across the street. At various times, Asimov helped out in the family business.

After completing military service and his work as a chemist with the government during WW 2, he returned to the states in May, and after his discharge from the army in July, he and his wife Gertrude moved into a small apartment in Brooklyn on 213 Dean Street in September 1946. In September of 1947 they moved to the downstairs apartment of his parents' house on Windsor Place. He later lived in Manhattan, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Asimov was educated in the NYC public schools, including Boys High, and at Columbia University.

As a kid, I grew up in Windsor Terrace (17th Street between 9th & 10th avenues) and I went through a phase of writing fan letters to collect autographs. I always loved writing and admired Asimov's remarkable prolificacy. I still can recall my excitement, receiving a meticulously typed USPS postcard from the Great One that said "Thank you for your letter. Once, many years ago, I lived in your neighborhood.. .. "

American Change, American Hope

What an amazing contest this is shaping up to be. Hlilary Rodham Clinton pulled the primary victory in New Hampshire from the jaws of defeat. Although we are exhausted and spent from 2 Bush terms, even John McCain's strong,passionate speech suggested that we are in for a hotly contested campaign but with the chance for a new vision, and real change, whether it is a resurgent Clinton, a populist Edwards, the passionate Obama; even the Republicans are speaking to the need for change and new direction after 8 years of greed and incompetence.

Beyond the personalities, time to get down with the issues: www.CNN.com

www.barackobama.com

www.hillaryclinton.com

www.johnedwards.com

www.johnmccain.com

www.mittromney.com

www.mikehuckabee.com

American Roulette

Ron Paul as Libertarian as Bigot ? The New Republic has it: http://www.tnr.com

What's the News Across the Nation ? The Drudge Report : http://www.drudgereport.com

CNN: Ex-President Clinton says media not tough enough on Sen. Barack Obama:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/08/nh.main/index.html

NY TIMES: Gloria Steinem: "Women are never front runners" ; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/opinion/08steinem.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Obama, McCain Expand Lead in New Hampshire: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0433304720080108?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true









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After the Holidays in Park Slope

From his early 20s, Devlin had a complicated view of Christmas. In his first apartment on PPW (aka, “the Parkside”), $175 a month for a one bedroom, he bought his first own Christmas tree but somehow never got around to taking it down until around Washington’s birthday. For weeks and weeks, his friends would drop by, convinced that, in his depth and creativity (if not depravity), Devlin had created some kind of Fluxus-style art work. Others thought it was a statement on Christmas and commercialism. His girlfriend played with his cat, Nova (so named because he found her the weekend of the Nova Convention, celebrating William S. Burroughs), and just shook her head in bewilderment. But in fact, it was largely sloth. The way inaction has a way of piling up on itself until, despite all good intentions, if you haven’t done it already, by the time you realize it, it is by then just Too Damn Late. As a result, being new to the building, Devlin was just so self-conscious about leaving a trail of fir needles and tinsel from his apartment, down the stairs, through the lobby, to the street, that he quickly realized that a plan was necessary. Therefore, in the dead of night, Devlin sawed the 6 foot tree apart with a serrated steak knife, like Raymond Burr did with his victim in REAR WINDOW, while fir needles scattered all about him like green-gray snowflakes, before putting it in a few black garbage bags and dumping it on the street on garbage day. He never bought a Christmas tree again after that.

--Brooklyn Beat

2008

Wasn't it just Y2K ? Tempis fugit in Brooklyn. Here we are in the future of our own making.