The Brooklyn Rail
Critical Perspectives on Art, Politics and Culture
April 2008
Local
Atlantic Yards Fallout
by Brian J. CarreiraLocal
Shortly over a year ago, I wrote a piece about the Atlantic Yards where I lamented our elected officials’ refusal to use their political leverage to demand a development over the rail yards that would be more in scale with and more beneficial to the surrounding community. Forest City Ratner’s proposal bypassed legislative bodies and skirted community input making it clear to many of us that any benefits the community would gain from the project were going to be accident more than intent.
Flea Market 2.0
by Nicole RobsonLocal
Once upon a time men and women gathered together everyday. The marketplace served as a hub where people bartered, gossiped and traded expertise. One imagines the odor of meat as it was seared from the bone, hearing the forging of metal as the blacksmith repaired a cooking pot; apothecaries grinding seeds and herbs to fill a prescription.
Food Not Bombs
by Shell FischerLocal
On the day before Easter, they arrived quietly in Fort Greene Park, pushing a heavy granny cart up a steep hill before settling under a huge European beech, choosing a spot just above the tents of the farmer’s market. Shouts from a soccer game mingled with the laughter of children in a nearby playground.
Debra Sweet, the Woman Behind World Can’t Wait
by Eleanor BaderLocal
When someone tells you she’s been an activist her whole life, it’s usually hyperbole. But not 56 year-old Debra Sweet.
The Bloomberg Mystique
by Richard WellsLocal
Mayor Bloomberg sure liked to let the press do all the speculating about whether he would run for president. Meantime, his self-funded committee working straight out of City Hall pumped up his national reputation and weighed his November prospects.
