Bob Schulties
Growing up in the 70s in my little NJ town, you went to school where you lived. Sure, there was some choice if you were Catholic or wanted private, but I didn’t know anyone who chose the private route. We didn’t even have a middle school. It was K-8, then shipped off to the high school.
When we were raising our children in Brooklyn in the aughts and teens, it was different. You did send them to the local elementary school for your area, but middle and high school was a ranked system, and then you were assigned to the school of your choice (assuming all the stars lined up). So, back a million years ago, I did my part and went to some school fairs where the middle schools all gathered together to try to convince you that their school was the best. Some schools sent administrators, and some sent PA representatives. But Park Slope Collegiate was represented by their principal, Jill Bloomberg.
Within about a minute of her speaking, it was clear she was the smartest one in the room. It wasn’t even close. We ended up sending our son to PSC for middle school and he had a really good experience.
What the DOE has done to her is a shame, of course, but it’s even worse for the students, parents, and fellow teachers who haven’t been able to learn from her leadership. I hope she gets the results she is looking for; she deserves it.
On Friday, March 1, we went to see The Crankies. It was an evening of absolutely wonderful folks telling terrific stories, some of which included singing and dancing, but all included the art form of crankies. Think of a Crankie as a sideways scroll, but moved along by one or two large cranks. That Wikipedia link explains it all nicely.
Between each performance, we heard songs from the duo Charming Disaster. I had never heard of them before, but they were a blast. They were funny. They played well. And, yep, they were charming.
The show was held at Flushing Town Hall and hosted by Emily Schubert. I hadn’t even been to the Flushing section of Queens, and I gotta tell you, it was like being on a quick holiday.
There were so many shops, restaurants, and bakeries all written in Chinese(?) I couldn’t tell you if it was Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese, but wow was it something. Now, some of the stores and signs also had English, but not all of them (maybe half, if I’m generous). We even stopped in a grocery store, and there were all kinds of products I had never seen before. All only 10 miles from my home (and in the same city). It was so great.
We ate at Nan Xiang Soup Dumplings and it was quite tasty. We got the soup dumplings, and they were very good, but we also got Beef Udon, and wow was the Udon good! Big thumbs up.
We will definitely go to The Crankies next year when the show returns.
I was going to link to the positive effects of NYC’s Congestion Pricing.
But then King Cheeto got involved. I don’t even know why since he doesn’t even live here. Perhaps it’s purely because he hates NYC for hating him and that translates to making it worse for folks living here. So much for States’ Rights, I guess.
And, man, I don’t understand my governor Kathy Hochul. She delayed this and even lowered the fee (forget the part where she totally made up the part where diner owners in NYC were worried folks from NJ weren’t going to go from NJ to NYC to go to a diner). But now that John Barron is getting all pushy Hochul is now in favor of it? Yeah, I know it’s working as intended and that’s why she is in favor of it, but not for lack of trying to make it not work.
