A Carroll Gardens mural reminding us to spread love. Photo: Kate Hooker
Hello BB and welcome to July! Sure, why the hell not? Seems totally normal that more than half of this berserk 2020 experiment is behind us already, right? If it’s otherwise difficult to wrap my head around this incomprehensible passage of time, the amount and caliber of the sustained fireworks activity happening in my hood on Saturday at least made it impossible to ignore that we have very much made it to the Fourth of July. The news of the infection spikes happening elsewhere in the country is obviously discouraging and scary, but I’m so relieved that my beloved New Yorkers are (so far, and for the most part) still being cautious and respectful of the health and safety of themselves and others. I know it’s hard to keep it going, but it is truly a bright spot in these dark days to know that we can count on each other to be smart, rational, and caring as we all struggle to keep our own state’s numbers down. Sadly, this means that there still isn’t a hell of a lot by way of in-person social events to choose from, but we’ve managed to round up some pretty cool stuff happening that we wanted to pass along to you.
There are still a few hours left to check out Experience:NYC, a partnership between Time OutNY and Instagram to highlight some BIPOC, female, and LGBTQ+-owned businesses throughout the city: check out the schedule here. On Monday night, Colin Jost will be promoting his new book, A Very Punchable Face, in conversation with Michael Che via a livestream from Murmrr Theatre. Incidentally, Murmrr has added a few interesting things to its July calendar that you might want to take note of, including live streaming concerts from Surfer Blood and Guided By Voices. The Highline and Governors Island are both reopening next week, and you can make reservations for passes/ferry tix now if you are so inclined. Also, it will be a while before the city’s museums are back to business as usual, but the good news is that a handful of art galleries are opening up again this week for socially distant poking around, which might be a decent tropical storm activity if you can’t possibly stay in your apartment any longer. I will throw in a personal recommendation for my activities from last weekend, which involved a trip to the Rockaways followed by a takeaway seafood boil from Red Hook Lobster Pound, and a socially distanced dining experience in the backyard of Olmsted, for when the weather clears up again. It *almost* felt like a normal summer weekend. While it’s pouring out, though, what are you all watching/reading? I’m interested in this collection of new short stories related to Covid-19 that was inspired by The Decameron and commissioned by the New York Times. I also confess to having already watched the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries in its entirety (complete with some frantic, related Reddit research).
Otherwise, I’m laying low and riding things out for a bit (storms, pandemics, whatever the case may be), and hope you all are too. It’s really something to have the opportunity to live in a place as special as Brooklyn, and when I left my neighborhood for the first time in a while to pick up a book I’d ordered from Books Are Magic, I felt sick when I saw how many storefronts are already permanently shuttered on Smith Street. Just past the now-gone cheese and gourmet food purveyor Stinky Bklyn (RIP), I came across the mural above reminding us to spread love, so that’s what I plan to keep doing, in every way feasible, including devoting my time, money, and energy to helping the small businesses that remain get back on their feet. Stay safe (and dry) and keep those masks up, friends! We can do this!
