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Family Feud: Will the Real Satmar Please Stand Up?
By Jenny ClevstromHere’s a tale—Shakespearian in drama—of feuding Hasidic brothers, sons of a grand rabbi with worldwide spiritual power, fighting over succession in a neighborhood otherwise spared from fraternity bar brawls.
I Want to Re-Home Your Pet
By Marjory GarrisonOn October 28, I found a puppy, left or lost, tied up near the Prospect Expressway in South Park Slope. The no-kill shelters were full; my friends were either unreliable or too broke to care for the pup; and the dog didn’t have tags or an identity microchip embedded in its coat (we had it scanned). So I called my roommate, took a Claritin and posted “found” notices on semi-reliable web sites describing the hapless pooch and lamenting my allergies.
A Benediction
By Eleanor J. BaderGrowing up in Bridgeport, Connecticut—the first city in the U.S. to declare bankruptcy—I knew few professionals. The women in my parent’s circle were housewives, waitresses and secretaries, and those men who weren’t disabled were truck drivers, salesmen or construction workers. I never heard anyone described as a community organizer.
What's for Dinner
By Marjory Garrison“We started with an appetizer of some vegetable pâté on spelt crackers,” says Rachel. She and her fiancé, Dan, share most meals, so on Friday evenings after picking up the Hebrew newspapers and having his beard trimmed by a barber in Crown Heights, Dan buys a kosher chicken for the couple’s dinner. It’s one of the few items they purchase in the neighborhood.
A Dividing Wall
By Megha BahreeDede Alpert, a native of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, shakes her head as she looks at a comic comparing the Israeli-Palestinian relationship with apartheid in South Africa. The comic strip depicts a conversation between the narrator and an African-American person.
Rich Man, Poor Man: A History of Fort Greene
By Carl Hancock Rux“The poverty stricken condition of the inhabitants residing in the [Fort Green*/Clinton Hill district] of Brooklyn render it almost an unknown land,” or so claimed an article published in the New York Times titled “Homes of the Poor.”
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