Say, What??

Rewind, and catch up on what made the headlines this week, in the words of the people who said it best!

“It was so astoundingly good that I lent it to my brother who devoured it in two sittings. Then I demanded that he return it to me so I could read it again. I also framed the hardback cover and hung it on my wall.”

--BSP contributor Rachel Signer effuses over how much she enjoyed the book Freedom

Top 5 Summer Reads for These Long, Sunny Days

“According to the 1790 Census, 60 percent of families in Kings County, Brooklyn, enslaved at least one person in their household.”

--Jennifer Scott, director of research at the Weeksville Heritage Center and Museum, describes how a slave-based economy was so central to New York City’s early development

Another (Very Good) Reason to Celebrate July 4th in New York

“What am I supposed to do, starve? There’s been no work, nothing, nothing… I’m getting so stressed out.”

--Bed-Stuy resident Geneva Young expresses her frustration with the jobs center on Dekalb Avenue, after being out of work for more than a year and after the jobs center was late sending her food stamps

Bed-Stuy Residents Grow Increasingly Impatient, Desperate With Unemployment Outlook

“I hope you will not look at me with disdain when I tell you your iPod or portable device is not your only mode of entertainment and that having a family meal without interruptions from texts is mandatory.”

--From mother to child; an excerpt from a letter by “Parent Talk” columnist Sung Bin Park

Parenting in the Digital Age

“We don’t know who he was shooting at or why, but we know he had an intended target.”

--An 81st Pct. Police officer on why 9 shots were fired on Monday, July 4, on the corner of Schenectady Avenue and Herkimer Street.

Police Blotter: A Drug Bust, a Shooting And a Sexual Assault

“There was a lady wearing the wrong dress, a drunk person who broke a glass, mammas, aunts, cousins and papas getting down on the dance floor…”

--Brazil native Karine Silva describes her experience of attending her first gay wedding in the United States

Coming to America: A Brazil Native’s Account of Attending Her First Gay Wedding