Archive for September, 2009

What To Do WIth An Abundance Of Plums

Look at these!I didn’t even pick half of the plums that were on the tree but I ran out of time and ended up with two boxes. I didn’t think it was very much until I started using them and the boxes NEVER seemed to look any emptier.We ate lots of the plums fresh until I finally had to let the kids know what would happen to their bowels if they didn’t stop. And then I was faced with what to do with

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Dwain Celistan, Lucilla Feliciano, Ariel and 2 more joined Secrets of the Job Hunt Network

Dwain Celistan, Lucilla Feliciano, Ariel and 2 more joined Secrets of the Job Hunt Network

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Natalie Joan commented on Natalie Joan’s blog post ‘Do you need a cover letter?’

Natalie Joan commented on Natalie Joan’s blog post ‘Do you need a cover letter?

Absolutely. This was my “for heavens sake, write one” post. I’ve been meaning to compose a “what should or should not be included in a cover letter” post. Stay tuned.

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Connie commented on Hannah Morgan’s blog post ‘Knowing and Doing are Two Different Things’

Connie commented on Hannah Morgan’s blog post ‘Knowing and Doing are Two Different Things

If job seekers/candidates are starting out or feeling a little weary from the journey, this is a great list to print and post on a desk or in a notebook and review once a week. I agree with all the tips; for the LinkedIn one, I think it depends on…

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Brad Attig commented on Natalie Joan’s blog post ‘Do you need a cover letter?’

Brad Attig commented on Natalie Joan’s blog post ‘Do you need a cover letter?

Natalie,

Here are my thoughts. If you are only going to attach a generic, one size fits nobody, “To whom it may concern” cover letter, don’t bother. If you are willing to take the time to think about the cover letter, add pertinent and valuable i…

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SEPTEMBER’s SCREENING - Men With Carts Double Bill!!

Date and time TBA

MAN PUSH CART, Ramin Bahrani, 2005 (87mins)

Man Push Cart is a 2005 American independent film by Ramin Bahrani that tells the story of a former Pakistani rock star who now sells coffee and donuts from his push cart on the streets of Manhattan.

Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a Pakistani immigrant, struggles to drag his heavy cart along the streets of New York to his corner in Midtown Manhattan. And every morning, from inside his cart he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. On his free time Ahmad Razvi sells pornographic DVDs. He lives a hard life, drinks Heineken and smokes Parliament cigarettes and goes to clubs. Like the workers found on every street corner in every city, he is a man who wonders if he will ever escape his fate.

BOROM SARRET, Ousmane Sembene (20mins)

Borom Sarret was the cinematic debut of Senegalese novelist and Moscow-trained filmmaker Ousmane Sembene - and also represents the earliest film directed by an indigenous filmmaker in sub-Sahara Africa.

Borom Sarret opens to the stark emptiness of a black screen, evocatively filled by the sound of a solemn, mystical tribal chant incanted amid the asynchrony of a blunt, rhythmic beat. The darkness subsequently reveals a high contrast, daylight shot of the impoverished native quarters, cutting to a shot of the supplicant (Ly Abdoulaye) praying for benediction in the foreground with his wife silently toiling in the background, as the pair assiduously perform their disparate (and intrinsically revelatory) rituals at the break of dawn.

Retrieving his family’s sole possession - the horse Albourah - from a clearing, the unnamed man then leaves to fetch his wooden cart in order to earn a paltry income as a borom sarret, (a derivative of the French term bonhomme charret), a horse-cart driver for hire operating around the native quarters of Dakar, often picking up equally destitute passengers who can only offer an indebted (and indefinite) promise of payment or a wordless, ambiguous handshake in lieu of the fare. Nevertheless, the day seemingly turns auspicious as actual paying customers begin to hire his services - an overloaded delivery of construction concrete blocks and an expectant couple hurrying to the hospital for the birth of their child - begin to replace the destitute early morning commuters (and presumptuous hitchhikers) catching a free ride to the main town square.

With earned money in hand, he decides to stop at an intersection in order to enjoy the idyllic morning, eat his meager kola nut lunch, and tend to a persistently squeaking wheel on his cart before being distracted by the uplifting voice of a traditional singer performing on the street. The singer’s ancient tales enhearten the borom sarret, evoking images of his ancestral family’s nobility and former glory, and in an act of impulsive and negligent pride, magnanimously hands over his entire earnings to the charismatic singer. Now running out of time and anxious to recuperate his lost income, the desperate borom sarret begins to accept a series of desperate and dubious passengers, and soon finds himself driving his outmoded, derelict cart into the modernized - and forbidden - hillside colonial-era community appropriately called the Heights.

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Project Reclaim Targets (Updated)

Update - Jeffries spokesperson Lupe Todd clarifies that the list of properties provided by Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is a list of developments, not a list of developments confirmed as financially troubled.
So the map based on Jeffries’ list is inaccurate and I took it down.

I will
email the Assemblyman’s office to find out if an accurate and updated list is forthcoming.


Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries wants to convert empty and/or financially troubled
developments in his district into affordable housing. He is calling this initiative:
Project Reclaim. Whether this means luxury apartments become rent to own or straight up
rental properties has not been finalized yet but Jeffries is meeting with
State housing finance officials, banks and developers to get the process started.

I used Google Maps to map (h/t: The Local)
the properties that have made Assemblyman Jeffries list and also
to start tracking where I may move next!



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