Short notice, yes, but its a lovely day and you should go get your tipico on in Sunset Park. It starts at noon, runs until 6 p.m., and I have full faith that someone will be able to carry the festivities forward. Boriqua festival next week. Stay tuned.

Photo taken by EyOne

In December, the Metropolitan Transpiration Agency passed controversial budget cuts which would, among other things, discontinue a program that provides free MetroCards for over half a million students in New York City. Under the current plan, students would begin to pay half price for rides this September, and full price fares at the start of the 2011 school year. The Urban Youth Collaborative opposes the cuts, and says eliminating the cards will affect students’ ability to attend school.

The group, sponsored in part by Sunset Park’s UPROSE, will hold a protest at MTA headquarters tomorrow, February 1 at 12:30 pm.

Here is the information sent in an email this weekend:

Location: 347 Madison Ave, between E 44th st and 45th st
Time: 12.30 pm
Train Directions: 4.5.6.. line to 42ND St Grand Central
B.D.F.V to 47-50th st Rockefeller Center

WE REALLY WANT YOU TO COME OUT & ACT TO MAKE A CHANGE!
If you have an organization or affiliate interested in participating,
please contact us ASAP!
Urban Youth Collaborative.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact the event
administrators via facebook:

Khaair Morrison, email:khaairmorrison@aol.com
Sharmin Hossain, email: sharmin.hossain@hotmail.com

Feel Free to email us or message us via facebook.

Chilly? Sunset Park’s got your back.

This Saturday locals in need of winter wear can visit the Sunset Park Rec Center, which with Family Heath Plus will distribute 900 free coats to those in need, along with free hats and gloves. Get there early–the event begins at noon, and though the center allows only one coat per person, it has limited supplies.

The Coat Distribution will take place Saturday, January 30th from 12-4pm at the Sunset Park Recreation Center, Seventh Avenue at 43rd Street, Sunset Park.

For those on the fence about hearing Gabriel Thompson read tonight, a profile on Brooklyn Based offers a little more on Thompson and his projects.  The release of Thompson’s Working in the Shadows tonight at at Soda Bar. It begins at 7 pm.

Soda Bar, 629 Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn.

I had heard whispers, but the blogs blew it up–Brownstoner reported yesterday on the new yoga studio to open on the north side of Sunset Park.

Suryasta Yoga will open the doors at its 36th Street loft this weekend.  Founder Jenya Andrianova, a Sunset Park resident, is among the studio’s four teachers. The schedule lists morning and evening classes on weekdays, kids classes on weekends at 10am, and community classes (which are generally offered at a discount) Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:15pm. Classes cost $10 throughout February.

Curious? You can check out the studio this Sunday, January 31st from 5-7pm at a welcome that will include wine, food, hobnobbing and maybe even a little downward dog.

(The pairing of edibles and oms is also rather timely given this article in the New York Times today).

Suryasta Yoga, 462 36th Street, Brooklyn, NY off the N, R and D trains.

Warrior Politics (2008). Used motor oil mixed media on paper

By coincidence, the Sunset Park-themed events this weekend all have a green bent. Given that it is apparently emerging as the “newest, biggest, fastest-changing neighborhood” according to the Brooklyn Eagle, that it is avant garde should be no surprise. You can take or leave the Eagle’s claim, but certainly take the neighborhood up on these free events.

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Big Bird flirts with Pat Nixon

How do you get to Sesame Street?

For those of you still pondering this existential question, the Sunset Park Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library can help. The branch this Saturday will hold a “Sesame Street” themed family event from 12-3:30pm. It will feature crafts, bilingual storytelling and a screening of Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. (Fun fact. Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is the only item to vanish from the collection of the Bibliobús this year. Hot item, you know).

Saturday’s event is part of a larger Brooklyn Public Library exhibition on Sesame Street celebrating “40 years of life of the street.” Thug life, Big Bird style.

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