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The Great Bronx Bar Tour Promises a 20-Bar Voyage Through the Borough

By Patrick Wall for DNAinfo.com

The Bronx Beer Hall owners Paul Ramirez, Anthony Ramirez II and…

Let's get this straight, folks. 

Jenner is an elementary school.  K-8th graders attend this school. I've worked in this beautiful school with the kids there. Many who travel 2 hours each way via CTA to get there, as they have been displaced by Cabrini Green being torn down.

A TEN YEAR OLD. 10 years old, said the following:

At Manierre closing hearings, several students testified they had been “jumped on” for being on the wrong side of Division.

“Please don’t send us to Jenner,” 10-year-old Dominique Brooks said with tears in her eyes. “I beg you, please.”

Last summer, Dominique said eight Jenner girls beat her bloody near Seward Park as she walked to a By The Hand Club For Kids after-school program.

And she was going to an after school program. She was doing the right thing. 

These are babies. I know some of these children. They've been made into adults in just a few years on this earth. 

What the hell are we going to do about it?

Elementary school students.

CPS School Closings: A Discussion on In the Loop

How will school closings in Chicago affect the children? If the city needs to save money, will closing schools do this? These are the questions on the minds of many since the first round of public education centers shut down beginning in 2011.

In the Loop hosts Chris Bury, Barbara Pinto and guests answered these important questions on Episode 107. If you missed last night's broadcast, you can catch an encore presentation of In the Loop this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. CT. For a complete list of guests and panelists from Episode 107, please visit the WYCC PBS blog here.

Many upset parents, teachers, students, and allies took to the streets this week to protest. Both DNAinfo.com and NPR's "This American Life" reveal that children from these closing schools do not join gangs, but based upon where they are born and raised, are automatically affiliated with them. But there are concerns other than gang violence looming for parents.

Jeanette Taylor, one parent interviewed for In the Loop, does not believe consolidating schools will improve education for children and fears her child's school will face overcrowding. Mollison Elementary already has 36 students per classroom and the nearby closing will bring another 400 more school-wide. "You're talking about building for money, not education for the kids," Taylor said.  

Community organizer Jitu Brown from Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, also interviewed for ITL, noted that more schools are in need of more arts programs, not closures.

Did you ever receive a sweater during the holidays that you were afraid to wear out in public? 

If your one of those people that has a stash of unworn, hideous holiday sweaters that you couldn’t throw out because your favorite aunt or grandmother bought it for you, fear not, there is now a use for them.

DNAinfo.com posted about a solution, and it’s tomorrow at noon on Fifth Avenue and East 23rd Street.

It’s called the Ugly Sweater Contest, and yes, it is as awesome as it sounds. Contestants will strut their stuff in the most hideous holiday sweater they’ve ever received and enter to win prizes!

This is the second year the event is happening, but the first time we’ve heard of it. We can’t wait to see what people show up with.

If you only have one ugly holiday sweater, perhaps you can join forces with another contestant and tailor together a Siamese mutant sweater. If you don't have any, you can always make one yourself, like this guy!

According to DNAinfo.com, prizes include a, “two-night stay at the Mave Hotel and a $100 gift card to O’Live Organic Spa and Green Square Tavern.”

  If you actually LOVE holiday sweaters and believe that others just don’t understand the beauty and craftsmanship put into sewing those reindeer noses, we found a Tumblr page that will satisfy all your holiday sweater cravings.

I saw this article to other day about a couple in Harlem who have been deemed "professional agitators" by the NYPD for filming police as they stop and question pedestrians. As we know, the NYPD has a LOOONNGGG history of police brutality with cases involving Sean Bell, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, and thousands of otehrs that have been swept under the rug.

As a nation, we have every right to "alter or abolish" any part of government when they destruct our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I DIDN'T WRITE THAT. The people who put forth this system are responsible for creating this law. So the fact that Matthew Swaye and Christina Gonzalez are being treated like criminals for protecting something that it rightfully theirs is absurd and, in all honesty, exhausting. 

I worked at this bookshop all through college and off and on over the years since I graduated from school. The store was never perfect (lacking decent sections for poetry, drama, biography). The buying and selling of books was secondary to the connections made with the full spectrum of people living in or passing through New York City.

The store is closing because the rent is too high, yes. But take it from me, the real reason Bookberries will exist no more is because our daily lives make no room for noticing or entering a place that doesn't scream a brand name at passersby, let alone making a purchase inside.

For the locals in the neighborhood, they found comfort in our corner store, and made substantial purchases when they wanted to. They also walked out and went to Barnes & Noble or logged onto Amazon.com when we didn't have the title they sought at the very moment they asked for it.

I don't have all the answers as to why "mom & pop" shops have disappeared from the sidewalks of my home city. I need to save money as much as the next person and I, too, would rather buy a book on sale from a large outlet than at full price from a store in a distant neighborhood. I get my news from Google Reader subscriptions and am asking Santa for a B&N Nook this Christmas.