January 4, 2008
Local Authors Fight Ratner's Atlantic Yards...With Words
Brooklyn writers are banding together to be the latest voice against Bruce Ratner's vision for Atlantic Yards. A number of local wordsmiths have contributed to Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology consisting of short essays and stories put together by two Vogue editor to benefit Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (a non-profit that fights development while uniting the community). From the press release:
"Brooklyn has given birth to some of America's greatest literary voices," note the anthology's co-editors, Chris Knutsen and Valerie Steiker. "Today, a new generation of authors has grown up or resettled here, a testament to Brooklyn's unique quality of life. These writers simply want to protect a community that has provided them with so much. Fortunately, the passion they feel for the place has yielded a vibrant collection of essays—and we are delighted that, with each book sold, something will be given back to Brooklyn."The book is available (as of yesterday) for $15, and of the 20 contributions you'll find works from Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Robert Sullivan, and Phillip Lopate -- who are all members of DDDB's advisory board. Egan's story, titled "Reading Lucy," follows "a woman who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II and wrote almost daily letters to her husband overseas," while Lethem's "Ruckus Flatbush" is described as "a wild, dystopian ride into Brooklyn's future, meant to serve as a warning shot to the barbarians at the horizon."
Upcoming readings include one at Park Slope's Barnes & Noble on 7th Avenue next Wednesday (the 9th, at 7:30pm) and one at BookCourt on Court and Pacific in Brooklyn next Tuesday (the 8th at 7pm).
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"Brooklyn Was Mine" is a pretty fitting title since the anti-Ratner crowd acts like theirs is the only valid opinion on the issue.
its seems to me that Bruce Ratner thinks his vision is the only valid vision for Brooklyn, wouldn't you say EastRiver ?
regardless, Brooklyn Was Mine seems like an apt title for a book of PERSONAL essays.
What a bunch of crap. Most of those writers weren't born or raised in Brooklyn! They just moved there and now feel threatened that their little shangri-la is being destoyed! Well guess what folks, if you don't like it - MOVE! Stop standing in the way of progress!
I'd rather see the Brooklyn Nets playing at the new Atlantic Stadium than to see this bunch of entitled yuppies driving/biking around!
Most of you are carpetbaggers! Well, go home!
well said, reality czech.
Tell it to Walt, Truman and Norman.
Oh, C'mon. Brooklyn has a long tradition of being welcoming to immigrants, and people from everywhere. I'm a native Manhattinite, but I've lived in BK for 7 years, does that make my opinion on BK invalid?
I think Mos Def said it best, 'One year as a resdient, deep in sentiment. They're shouting out Go Brooklyn, They're representing it. From teh tree lines blocks to tenements...'
Oh. Poetry stops the nasssty developer.
What a bunch of bone smugglers.
Is this godforsaken blog turning into "Smartmom"?
Make no mistake: Bruce Ratner is the only carpetbagger in this equation. Anyone who has seriously looked at this plan wouldn't dare call it "progress." And the local politicians and activists that have been bought and paid for by Ratner's company (like Marty Markowitz Al Shaprton, and ACORN) are just as greedy and twice as ignorant.
Really? Why is it bad? Traffic?
That won't matter with all teh traffic calming going on.
Because some hipster yuppies are being displaced? Tough shit.
Because some big buildings will be built? Well look around you, it's happening everywhere and yes, it's called progress.
Brooklyn has become so filled with the self-entitled that it almost looks like the upper east side.
Or worse.
no BongoBoy, MONEY stops the "nasssty" developers. ya fool.
"bone smugglers?" what is this friggin Maxim?
and RealityCzech, Why is it bad? i dunno, abusing the constitution, can we start there?