Woman, 19 Challenges 6 Year Old From Queens on NY1.

Watching My NY1 this morning and caught the story of the woman in SoHo who was sexually assaulted last night at 330 while walking home from the subway. There was NY1 with a live report being filed, interviewing neighbors; there was the NYPD in their white suits, dusting for prints, yellow tape, lights going. It was, rightfully, being reported as a big deal.
Remember the 6 year old girl who was sodomized in broad daylight three weeks ago in a Woodside park? If you don't it's because it didn't merit that level of attention.
Perhaps we should get our own news channel? Our own Police Department? Oh, right. Nevermind.
Does anyone have the phone number to the 114th Precinct? Do they have a phone number?

Free Outdoor Fitness Classes at Socrates!

SOCRATES
SCULPTURE PARK


OUTDOOR FITNESS IN THE PARK
SPRING / SUMMER / FALL 2008

Yoga in the Park
Saturdays, May 10 - September 27 (rain or shine)
First session: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Second session: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Socrates offers free Kripalu Yoga, a system of Hatha Yoga that integrates body postures, breathing techniques, relaxation and meditation. Taught by Monique Schubert, participants are encouraged to integrate their yoga practices with this very special waterfront environment of nature and art. Suitable for all experience levels. Participants should bring a mat or towel.

Pilates in the Park
Sundays, May 11 - June 29 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (rain or shine)
Socrates Sculpture Park is pleased to introduce a fourth outdoor exercise class into its weekly repertoire. Classical Pilates encourages proper breathing, spinal alignment, core strengthening, muscle flexibility and balance in the body. Taught by Cortnie Vitali, participants will leave feeling empowered, and stress free.

Tai Chi in the Park
Sundays, May 11 - September 28 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (rain or shine) Socrates hosts free Tai Chi classes in the Park led by members of the Taoist Tai Chi Society. Participants will have the opportunity to relax and exercise among the changing exhibitions of contemporary outdoor sculpture. Classes are designed for all experience levels. Participants should wear comfortable clothing.

Capoeira in the Park
Saturdays, May 10 - September 27 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (rain or shine) Capoeira is a lively martial art that originated in Brazil over 450 years ago. Self-defense techniques are concealed by graceful dance moves and spectacular acrobatics set to music. Taught by Professor Abará. Classes are designed for all experience levels. Participants should wear comfortable clothing.

OTHER EXHIBITIONS & PROGRAMS:

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
MAY 4 - AUGUST 3, 2008
Curated by Robyn Donohue with Alyson Baker and Marichris Ty, this group exhibition explores interpretations and responses to the motivations, goals, realities, politics, and practices of recycling, with works by: Jonathan Allen, The Canary Project (Annie Murdock, Ed Morris, and Jussara Lee), Tony Feher, Lars Fisk, Miwa Koizumi, Rainy Lehrman, Carole Frances Lung, Julian Montague, Macrae Semans, Austin Shull, Courtney Smith, Shinique Smith, Jade Townsend & Michael Petersen, Paul Villinski, Letha Wilson, and Randy Wray.

SATURDAY SCULPTURE WORKSHOPS MAY 10 - SEPTEMBER 27
SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION JUNE 21
OUTDOOR CINEMA WEDNESDAYS, JULY 6 - AUGUST 27
LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE EVENTS HERE!

EVEN A SMALL GIFT
MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE:
A contribution of any size is a tremendous gift to the 72,000 people that visit us annually. Your donation to Socrates Sculpture Park helps us to ensure that all of the Park's dynamic exhibitions, artmaking workshops, film screenings, fitness classes, concerts, performances and annual events remain open to the public for FREE.

You can make your donation right here or mail a check to:

Socrates Sculpture Park
PO Box 6259, 32-01 Vernon Boulevard
Long Island City, NY 11106

TELL YOUR FRIENDS:
An exciting new season is now in development and we look forward to sharing the details with you and your friends. Like you, your friends can receive up-to-the-minute information about Socrates' upcoming exhibitions and programs by email:


ABOUT SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK:
Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of sculptor Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. Once a rubble-strewn lot, it now flourishes as an ever-evolving natural landscape.

Located in an industrial neighborhood in Long Island City, Socrates is a waterfront park that overlooks the Manhattan skyline; the site is an affecting and inspiring place for artists to work and a spectacular setting for the presentation of public art. To date, Socrates has hosted close to 700 artists and currently attracts more than 72,000 visitors annually.

Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multi-media installations in an outdoor environment that invites interaction between artists, artworks and the public.

Socrates Sculpture Park is open 365 days a year from 10am to sunset. The Park is located at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City.

DIRECTIONS:
BY SUBWAY: Monday through Friday take the N or W trains to the Broadway stop in Queens and walk eight blocks along Broadway toward the East River. On Saturday and Sunday take the N train to the Broadway stop. For driving, cycling and walking directions, please visit our website: www.socratessculpturepark.org.

Woodside Cafe:Esparks A-OK

Sunday I went to ESparks Café on Roosevelt Ave @ 59th Street. It turned into a beautiful day as I sat there grading papers. I left the house on a grey Sunday looking for a quiet place to get some work done away from the kids. I got a decent cup of coffee and was treated well by the "barrista" (an awful and pretentious name for a coffee-clerk). There were people in the café on a Sunday afternoon, which made me happy since it is the first "bourgeois" amenity in this part of Woodside. I want this place to thrive, because it is the first place like it in Woodside. Now, I've tried drinking Coffee at Mango Café on 61st St and Woodside Pizza on 60th and 44th Ave and, while they were kind enough the vibes were all wrong: they are restaurants not a cafés, where you can "camp." (La Flor Café, an excellent spot, is just a bit too far away for me to grade, and it is a brunch joint on Sunday afternoons.)
I asked the guy who came by cleaning the counter near me how to pronounce espark's: is ot "e-Sparks" or "Esparks?" Because all the workers that day looked latino I thought it might be that the addition of the "e" to the dipthong "sp," because in Spanish they don't usually start words with s-dipthongs, my brother's name often suffers from that and he becomes Estaffor (for Stafford). Rather, the name is because the Parks started the café to sell Espresso (where the extra "s" went to, I don't know). A Korean-American cafe, peopled by latinos and Asians, serving coffee and cakes to JOJ Irish people pushing fancy strollers, is exactly why I love Woodside Queens.
I had a great day scrapping through six student essays: sinceI only turned the page sideways to write SUMMARY alongside of three paragraphs it was a good day. I had a nice stretch of window counter facing out at Evangeline's Filipino bakery and restaurant. It is so-so according to the mabuhay cognoscenti: Tito Rad's over by PC Richards on Queens Boulevard and 59th is what my Filipino friends like. As I looked up there were almost always people out on the street, families and delivery people mostly, kids licking cones from Carvel and a couple of drunks staggering by with the colors of African Liberation wrapped in their blonde dreadlocks. I think I admire the working class whites that haven't fled the neighborhood as much as anyone, I'm glad I'm allowed to feel comfortable here now.
As I graded the third paper I looked up and jackets were suddenly tied around waists and the sun was streaming down through the Elevated, looking something like the venetian blinds in a noire film. But as the skate punks stood aside to let the families and retirees stream out of St. Sebastian's around the corner after mass I started to see why I am so happy to have moved to Woodside. I am glad to live in a neighborhood where EVERYBODY fits in.
I just have to say watching the three scooter delivery guys from the Chinese restaurant around the corner was a welcome diversion for me. It seemed each time I had to stop to write "¿thesis?" they'd be headed out or back or both. I love seeing delivery guys work out how to stack the goods on the scooters and joke between deliveries around the fur-mittened scooters with the duct-tape holding them together. It is a reminder of my younger days messengering. I miss the esprit de corps of delivery riders, even if they don't have the cachet of the track-bike-messenger I was in the 1980s; it is the same gig. (I'll bet we have the same brakes: none!)
The coffee was good and Esparks had the welcome and welcoming vibe of the corporate megafauna, but I was avoiding the corporatization of Queens. I have to say that when I lived in Sunnyside I liked the two Cafes there "The Grind" @ 39th Pl and Queens Boulevard and Café Aubergine on Skillman and 50th, but now they are too far away, so here is where I'll have to tipple my joe. Woodside lacks the intimacy of Sunnyside gardens with its painfully cute houses, gardens and trees, but Roosevelt Ave is as nice a "high Street" as there is in New York. Esparks is a damn fine addition with all of the comfort and ambiance of any café, well it is a bit bourgeois and neat, not like The Grind or the Mission Café's of San Francisco, but it is a great meeting place in Woodside.
59-02 Woodside Ave Woodside, NY 11377
http://www.yelp.com/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.esparkscoffee.com&src_bizid=5_S4tBhVm7s7kCgDslKmbw
I just learned that they have another branch that was favorably reviewed other places, And if I was a reviewer instead of a romantic I'd tell you the important things that those other reviews included like ireless access and baked goods and the like. I hear they are hiring. I'm glad I already have a job.

Jackson Heights Poetry Contest--Reading & Winners

Announcing the Winners of the First Annual Jackson Heights Poetry Festival Student Poetry Contest

Winners, listed at www.jhpfest.org, will receive awards and read their poems at the Jackson Heights Poetry Festival on Saturday, May 17

From May 15-17, 2008, Jackson Heights will open its doors to both the local community and NYC at large to celebrate the cultural diversity of Queens and the poetic talent of its students.

The Jackson Heights Poetry Festival is a 3-day event involving workshops taught by professors and poets, a poetry slam, and a series of readings at an all-day outdoor-poetry-extravaganza.

The poetry contest was held in all public and private middle and high schools throughout Queens for students in grades 6 – 12. A celebrity panel of judges, including Jonathan Galassi, Lynne Procope, and Roger Bonair-Agard judged the winners, announced May 1 and who will be featured at the Festival.

Events:

WORKSHOPS: Thursday May 15, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

The Garden School 33-16 79th Street, Jackson Heights NY, 11372



POETRY SLAM & OPEN MIC: Friday May 16, 9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Restaurant and Lounge Novo 78-23 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY



THE FESTIVAL: Saturday May 17, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

The Garden School 33-16 79th Street, Jackson Heights, NY



Noted Poets and Educators Taking Part in the JHPF Events:

Patrick Rosal, Jai Chakrabati, Michael Dumanis, Samantha Thornhill, Bill Zavatsky, Richard Marotta, Lee Schlesinger, and the first woman to be named the Poet Laureate of Queens, New York, Ishle Yi Park.



Sponsors/Organizers/Supporters:

New York Council for the Humanities

Jackson Heights Beautification Group

NYS Senator John D. Sabini

NYS Assemblyman José R. Peralta

NYC Councilman Hiram Monserrate

Marina Yoffe, Co-Founder/Director

­Sarah Heinemann, Co-Founder/Director

Contact info: JHPFest@gmail.com or (347) 239-2243


For more information please visit www.jhpfest.org

Garden & Grub Potluck Picnic at Two Coves Garden

Bring your family, friends, and favorite vegetarian dish. Let's picnic and help beautify the largest community gardens in Astoria.

Saturday, May 24th 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Location: Two Coves Garden/Triangle at 30th Ave.,
8th St., & Astoria Blvd

Learn about indoor and outdoor composting

Want a garden? Plots still available contact twocovesgarden@yahoo.com for info.

Co Sponsor: Two Coves Garden Association