From the magical marionette artists of Park Slope to one Williamsburg writer who believes he can upend the world of women’s mags, escape from the Twitterverse for a moment and immerse yourself in one, or all 10, of our favorite long-form reads from the past month.
1. Melissa Carroll’s Technicolor Dream
Melissa Carroll has spent the last three years battling a rare form of cancer, which has served as artistic inspiration. Photo: Tara Israel/Narratively
A life-changing diagnosis and three years of suffering yield an unexpected fountain of inspiration for one young Brooklyn artist. Narratively has the in-depth story on up-and-coming painter Melissa Carroll.
2. Blast from the Past
The Brevoort Theater interior, as it was in 1918. Photo: Cinema Treasures
Brownstoner takes a look at vintage photos of Bed-Stuy’s once-magnificent Brefoort Theater, and gives us its history.
3. Gentrification vs. Nostalgia
Over on Gothamist, Bushwick no longer feels like home for one native, and she was so moved by publisher Jake Dobkin’s take on gentrification that she wrote a stirring rebuttal.
4. Board Games are Back
Brooklyn Based took a look at the world of independently produced and developed board games, and their Kickstarter funding sweet spot. Get ready for Moby Dick, the card game.
5. Marionette Magic
These Puppetworks’ marionettes hang their strings in Park Slope. Photo: Emon Hassan/Narratively
Narratively stepped into the world of puppetry at Park Slope’s marionette theater Puppetworks as they prepared for their revival of Aladdin.
6. Brooklyn Geniuses
If you ever thought you were living among a borough of geniuses, well you are officially correct. Four out of this year’s twenty-four winners of MacArthur Genius Grants are from Brooklyn.
7. Bringing Lacrosse to Brooklyn
The sport of lacrosse is finally expanding beyond its racial and socio-economic stereotypes. The New York Times looks at a Brooklyn-based lacrosse club, and others like it, that are expanding the sport’s reach to underserved areas of the city.
8. Tales from Craigslist
A brief bro-mance emerges after a call to help move furniture from Manhattan to Park Slope is answered by a stranger in one of Narratively’s Tales from Talking to Strangers.
9. The Love Affairs of Brooklyn
Adelle Waldman tackles love, ego, insecurities and the artists of Brooklyn in her book, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. In her Brooklyn Based interview, Waldam talks about the complexities of her characters, how real Brooklynites face similar challenges and gives some sage dating advice to singles.
10. Adventures in Publishing
Bryan Goldberg, founder of the Bleacher Report, has a new venture run out of a brownstone in Williamsburg. The New Yorker highlights the unconventionalities of the predominantly woman-run site that reads “like the result of a one-night stand between Us Weekly and the U.S. News & World Report.”
