Oopsie made a whoopsie

I forgot to do my research this month!

I’m ashamed to admit that I just realized something - it’s Black History Month and I haven’t done a goddam thing. I want to chalk it up to still being busy at my new job, but I can do better. I usually spend the month of Feb researching and learning about new-to-me aspects of Black history and I just completely dropped the ball this year. To me, that’s the point of these types of dedicated months - to act as a reminder to learn about, engage with, or support a certain community that you may not think about daily. So better late then never, reminder noted.

I didn’t have time to research and write a new piece this week, so I went back and reread some of the Black history stuff that I’ve written about in the past. I don’t reread my stuff often (because embarrassing 🫣) but it was nice to refresh my memory and revisit some past issues. Even if you’ve been subscribed to BCLF for a while, I encourage you to go back and reread at least one of the issues linked below. I’m obviously a big believer in education and I think that learning about our (sometimes not too distant) past is a crucial step in creating a better future. For the last week of Black History Month, I’ll come through with some NYC Black history! If there’s anything you’d like me to research, anything you’re interested in, let me know so I can include it.

BCLF will come through with a Learning piece on Black History next week, and remember how I said I was taking a ceramic tea set making class? Well that just wrapped up so you’ll get to see the finished product next week! I’m happy to say that it turned out pretty good and is actually functional; Lorenzo and I enjoyed a sticky rice pu-erh tea that I picked up from Grand Tea Imports over the weekend and there is nothing like sipping tea out of a cup you created 🥹

I’m also really really committing to two things and I’m telling you what they are so please hold me accountable: 1) after I get my hair cut next week I’m going to take a cute passport photo so that I can finally register to take the NYC tour guide exam and 2) I’m signing up to host a Jane’s Walk in the spring! Both require a good deal of prep on my end, so there might be some future service interruptions. More to come on both of those, I am excited and nauseous.

Chonky cat for the algorithm. Would you look at that fuckin belly?

🤓 To Read:

Learn about Weeksville, an historically Black neighborhood in Brooklyn. And if you have time for an adventure, please visit the Weeksville Heritage Center. You can walk around the grounds and tour really old homes. If it’s too cold, wait until June when they do their annual Juneteenth Festival. This issue also contains a writeup on The Met’s Afrofuturist Period Room. I was never a big fan of The Met’s period rooms until I stumbled into this one and now I visit it every time I’m at the museum.

The Morgan Library has become one of my favorite museums and right now they have a great exhibit on Belle da Costa Greene. She was JP Morgan’s personal librarian and had a huge hand in building his collection of rare books and manuscripts. I visited this exhibit last month and it’s a great retrospective on Belle’s life and also offers insight into how Black folks who could pass as lighter skinned were afforded different opportunities.

This issue is very apropos because just this week I met Danielle for our annual Pancake Day (this year’s flavor was apple pie). But read past the pancakes and learn about another neighborhood that was home to a large Black population - Addisleigh Park in Queens. At one point it was known as the African American Gold Coast.

Another historically Black neighborhood worth learning about is Sugar Hill, a national historic district in Harlem. I love that the name implied that anyone living there could have a taste of “the sweet life.” It feels like nowadays neighborhoods are named by real estate agents hoping to latch onto clout from a “cool” area. Looking at you East Williamsburg and Greenwood Heights…

This issue explores the history of Seneca Village, which was once home to a thriving Black population and was bulldozed to create Central Park via the old “eminent domain” use case. The Central Park Conservancy runs great tours about the history of this site and I absolutely recommend taking one to learn more. If you prefer a DIY approach, read this post for the history and then supplement with a walk in the park while reading the various plaques that are up in this area.

Finally, please take some time to learn about Elizabeth Jennings Graham. I’ve seen a lot of Rosa Parks posters on MTA buses this month (and I kinda love that campaign idea). But EJG is well worth learning about for the stand she took against the Third Avenue Railroad Company for racial discrimination. She was even known as the Nineteenth-Century Rosa Parks!

A Black History Month Love Note

This one isn’t mine obviously, but

This Needs Hot Sauce

shared this post and I thought it was really great and worth a read! The author examines the loss of corporate Black History events and concludes that Black History Month was never about the fanfare, but rather “an effort of Black librarians and researchers to preserve memory and build self.”

I happened to listen to a podcast this morning about Robert Smalls. On May 13, 1862, in Charleston, South Carolina, a man named Robert Smalls took command of a Confederate ship called The Planter and liberated himself and his family from slavery. As they passed the Confederate-held Fort Sumter, Robert Smalls was said to have saluted it with a whistle, and then added an extra one, “as a farewell to the confederacy.” Robert Smalls’ great-great-grandson, Michael Boulware Moore, tells the story and it’s a great one.

• Where my Mr. Fruit stans at 🙋 Apparently every year a group of people engage in the Mr. Marathon, which involves visiting all of the Mr. Fruit stores around Brooklyn. My local store is Mr. Lemon and I fucking love it there. They regularly have fruit available for crazy cheap prices and yes the fruit is sometimes very ripe, but the trick is to just cut it up and freeze it for nighttime snackies!

• We’ve all been served “day in my life” videos while scrolling TikTok and I for one will never understand how someone can wake up, do pilates, shower, and make breakfast all before 9am. Like does my hair take a weirdly long time to dry compared to other people? Anyways, The Whitney has a new exhibit called A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City that is a collection of clips from these videos. The artist excerpted text mentioning specific hours of the day from thousands of publicly posted TikTok videos and at the top of every hour, a quote from a “day in my life in New York City” video referencing the specific hour appears in large font size on whitney.org, followed by a stream of animated responses from the source videos’ comment section. You can see a preview of that this looks like on TikTok, of course.

• The Orchid Show is now open at NYBG! I’ve been to the show in the past, but this year’s honestly looks amazing. The theme is Mexican Modernism and you can walk through bright arrangements of orchids in settings “inspired by the bold, multicolored designs of Mexican modernist architect Luis Barragán.” Like look at this preview on the NYBG Instagram - I’m in love with the colors 😍

• The Museum of the City of NY also has a new exhibit open called Songs of New York. The interactive experience takes you through 100 years of NYC music, “from be-bop to K-pop, hip-hop to punk, across genres, boroughs, and musical movements.” MCNY always has some of my favorite exhibits and the last time they had one involving music it was really cool, so I can’t wait to check this one out.

• I’ve been such a little pickle slut lately and I love a little pickling activity. At Wine & Brine on Feb 26, you’ll get to engage in some custom pickling while sipping on a variety of natural wines provided by Heaven and Earth. For the low low price of $36, you can go home with a jar of custom pickles and maybe even a new friend!

• If you’re feeling crafty, head to Brooklyn Brainery this Sunday to make Pressed Flower Coasters. You’ll get to make 4 coasters in the hour-ish long class and it’s less than the cost of a Sunday brunch ($35).

• I recently went to a show at Red Pavilion (coming soon to BCLF) and had a really great time. They’re having a Two Year Anniversary Party on Feb 27 and will be featuring a variety of acts including aerial artistry, burlesque, shibari, and live music.

• Ok trivia nerds, this one is for you. There’s a new NYC Trivia List on the scene that collects all trivia happening around the city! If anyone needs an additional trivia teammate, you know how to find me.

• A fun last minute activity - a Flirtation Card Workshop at Bowne & Co tonight at 6pm. You’ll get to learn about the history of these cards and see the Seaport Museum’s working collection of historical printing equipment in action. There will also be light refreshments, lighthearted games, and a chance to win prizes. I usually don’t share day of stuff, but this one is free and at a 19th century-style letterpress print shop, so it feels like a good move!

• Pour one out for Patsy Grimaldi, of both Patsy’s and Grimaldi’s fame (and later, Julianna’s). Grimaldi made a huge impact on the NYC pizza scene and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of pizza from his establishments. RIP to a real one.

• You’ve read about my love for Alamo Drafthouse numerous times in BCLF and I am incredibly saddened to learn that a large amount of staff were recently laid off. In yet another episode of “Sony ruins everything,” the unionized NYC locations attempted to reach an agreement with Alamo around cutting hours rather than laying folks off, but that obviously didn’t go well. The unionized Alamo workers are currently on strike and have multiple GoFundMes active via their Instagram page. Jane August also has a great explainer if you want to learn more. I’ve canceled my season pass and won’t be going to an NYC Alamo until this is resolved.

Oh to be a boy snoozing in a sunbeam; you just know he doesn’t have a single goddam worry.