FortGreenester hiatus

Dear friends,

FortGreenester is on a bit of a hiatus, and quite possibly a permanent one at that.

Meantime, we would love to refer you to the resource that is blog aggregator outside.in, where you can find a wealth of information about just about any neighborhood, including Fort Greene -- as well as a number of excellent blogs (and other blogs, quite frankly) that write about the area.

Thanks for reading.

BK Fashion Weekend

Two weekends ago, FortGreenester made it to the Tobacco Warehouse under the Brooklyn Bridge to catch the final night of BK Fashion Weekend. So did Council Member Letitia James and Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Professional high schoolers

Seventeen-year-old Ashley Marrero bolts from school in Fort Greene to work in midtown Manhattan four days a week. She can work noon to 7 p.m. on weekdays because seniors at her high school are done for the day at 11:35 a.m.

Students like Ashley at Fort Greene’s Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice make jobs work with their hectic high school schedules to save money for basics, luxuries and college. The school, which is a four-year-old public high school, is home to an energetic, mostly-young staff and faculty that ask a lot of its students—and the kids seem to respond well.

For three years, Ashley has worked at Rocket, Inc., a textile company where her sister has worked for 10 years, she says.

“[My sister] noticed that I was interested in fashion as well,” Ashley says. “I took the opportunity and ran with it.”

Initially, the money she earned was quickly spent.

“I would use it for clothing for me, I would use it for food for the house,” she says. “Right now I’m saving up for college applications.”

Her fiscal responsibility is well beyond what many might expect for a high school student. She also saved up at one point for an exchange program to Costa Rica, where she spent six months from February to August of this year.

These students know how to keep busy.

Shannon Quashie, 15 (but 16 in two weeks), felt frustrated trying to keep up with her social life while working at a non-profit.

“On Wednesdays we used to get out [of school] earlier,” she says. “So I used to have to go straight to work when everybody went to McDonald’s or everybody went downtown to chill. I was always feeling left out but at the same time I was benefiting at the end.”

Shannon doesn’t have a job now. She’s focusing on her junior year of high school, “the important year.”

She had been working at the Vera Institute of Justice, a non-profit organization that studies the justice system and spins off independent organizations to address issues like juvenile delinquency.

Originally she worked as an intern, for which her school compensated her, says Nicole Simon, the School for Law and Justice’s director of college awareness programs.

“We raise money so that we can pay kids for certain internships,” says Simon. “Shannon worked at Vera Institute of Justice and was paid a stipend by the school. We do that so that kids who need money don't make a choice between, say working at McDonalds and interning at the US Attorney's Office.”

Eventually the Vera Institute hired Shannon. Among her duties was reading mail from prisoners requesting publications about things like foster care or incarcerated fathers reintegrating into families and communities.

“At first it was easy,” Shannon says, “but as tenth grade started to get more intense it started to get a little harder. But I didn’t want to give up because working at a non-profit organization at the age of 15 looks good on your college resume.”

Charles Walker, also a 17-year-old senior who lives in Flatbush, is between jobs. He used to work for Each One Teach One, an education reform non-profit, and next month will start work at the Au Bon Pain on Wall Street.

“The manager that works there lives in my building,” he says.
Charles says he’ll spend some of the money he earns on, “you know, teenage stuff,” like “hanging out at the movies or IHOP – and the rest I'm gonna save for college.”

Charles says he lives with his mother and his five sisters. Shannon says she lives with her mother, her brother, her grandparents, her aunt and her three turtles. Ashley says she lives with her mother and her twin brother.

“They’re divorced,” Ashley says of her parents. “He also lives in Brooklyn, but not in my area. I do see him.”

The students have a lot of things in common, not least of which is respect for the challenges ahead.

“I haven’t spent a dime,” Shannon says. “All my money’s in the bank for college. Ever since I got the stipend from the school and ever since I got my checks I’ve been taking it to the bank, and it’s all in the bank now.”

When Ashley gets home from work at the textile company – at around 8:30 p.m. after the hour-long ride back from Manhattan to home in East New York – she says she gets straight to her homework.

All that and she says she still finds time to socialize.

“That’s the Saturdays and the Sundays,” she says. “Sometimes Fridays, too, because sometimes we get out at 5 p.m. The night is still young.”

And, though her responsibilities might make you forget it, so is she.

If I had a cute car I would take it here

Saw this on DeKalb Avenue

Did yeti once roam the subways beneath Fort Greene?

More Kevin Powell invites in my inbox

I've been getting invites to a bunch of Kevin Powell for Congress events.

Powell is running as a Democrat in the 10th Congressional District, which includes Fort Greene. That's the seat currently held by Edolphus Towns -- also a Democrat. Towns has held the seat since just a little before I was born. For reference, his predecessor (in 1982) was Chuck Schumer.

Anyway, last week it was an event in Harlem. Next week, it's the LES. The events don't seem to be listed on Powell's Web site, but the fund raiser next Tuesday is at Kush Lounge at 7 p.m. The "host committee" includes DJs, lawyers and at least one renaissance woman. Oh my.

Powell said he'd challenge Towns in 2006, but dropped out of that race to pursue other interests.

Slideshow of Folks at Tillie's coffeee shop

Real Fort Greensters hang out at Tillie's.