Busy Sunday in Brooklyn Heights: Summer Space and Book Festival

By on September 18, 2011 11:39 pm in Arts and Entertainment, Events, Fun, Literature, Music, Pets, Poetry, Video

Karl is on hand with cam to catch all the action, from opera by Martha Cardona Theater to the BHA’s Dog Show to palmistry to yoga to great photos at Summer Space on Montague Street, then to the Brooklyn Book Festival on Borough Hall Plaza, starting with literary troubadours covering the 1961 Tokens hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and ending with a talk about erstwhile Heights resident Truman Capote by Evan Hughes, author of Literary Brooklyn.

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  • lois

    Thanks, Karl, You must have been up all night editing this piece but then again, “Karl is not only good looking, but he is the most intelligent person in Brooklyn Heights” (where did that thought come from?)

  • Bette

    the Book Festival was very cool. I went and saw Wallace Shawn and Fran Leibowitz (et al) speak at Trinity Church and although the place was packed to the rafters, you could have heard a pin drop. The topic was sort of where we are in America post 9/11. Fran took the reins of the thing and her frankness and political “incorrectness” was wonderfully refreshing! As she said when people kept asking, “What should we do? What can we do?” she said (paraphrasing), “First of all, be honest. Speak the truth, and don’t be intimidated to do so.” Yes, it’s true, the liberal left seems cowed by the angry shouting on the right. Perhaps we need a little “angry shouting” of our own?

    Other lines of note: “This isn’t a country, it’s a country club!” to which many are not invited, nor included.

    She suggested that the liberal left has spent the last few years cultivating (what she called) a “Bonsai” morality; that the left’s biggest accomplishment the last 7 years has been forbidding smoking in bars. Meanwhile, the right has been changing the country’s morality for the worse – thinking big and making big changes for the worse while the left has been discussing where the cheese on their grilled cheese sandwiches comes from.

    She feels that had there existed a draft when we went to war(s) there would have been no war(s) – or at least protests would have included all Americans. There’s no way the freshman class of Brown University would be sent to Iraq. (again paraphrasing, but you get the gist).

    Wallace Shawn spoke simply, but made his point well: That our country used to be “nice” and has moved toward “mean”; starting around the time of Reagan, who was both “nice” and “mean”. Again, simplistic, but everyone was nodding. America has become cold and divisive, toward not only our allies, but our own people. (and my own thought: who needs Al Quaeda when we’re being destroyed from within? Divide and conquer – very effective strategy.)

    It was really energizing. I didn’t agree with everything, but it was marvelous to hear some smart people talking about something other than the price of real estate.

  • Livingston

    Loved the dog show! So many cute pups. They’re all winners in my book.

    Also took time to check out the photos and vote. Haven’t heard who the winner is, but the girl who took my ballot commented that my #1 choice, the sunset street view looking down to the promenade, seemed to be a big favorite w/ voters.

    Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, “Karl is not only good looking, but he is the most intelligent person in Brooklyn Heights”

  • henrystreeter

    I tinhk they need to permanantly close Henry Street to car traffic and make it a pedistrian mall. SO much nicer

  • mhon

    Thanks for posting the video! I was away this weekend so missed out on all the fun. The pictures and dogs are all winners in my book.