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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, August 25, 2021

August 25, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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GREENEST WINDOW BOXES IN BROOKLYN: Gardeners got creative with their window boxes as the pandemic scaled back the 2021 Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest. With the mindset that foregoing another growing season was unacceptable, many tried their hand at window box gardening for the first time, while others brought this technique to the next level with resourceful and sustainable practices. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Tuesday announced the winners in several categories, including the National Grid Leadership in Sustainable Practices Award, Best Overall Window Box — Commercial, and Most Window Boxes Nominated on a Single Block.

Encouraging kids to garden at an early age, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden also had a Best Children’s Window Box award (for window boxes planted and nurtured by gardeners ages 16 and younger).

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MUSICAL THEATRE FOR KIDS: Brooklyn Children’s Theatre is offering free after school and weekend musical theatre classes to NYC students in grades 1-12 this fall who qualify for free or reduced lunch.  Weekend classes, all of which are held in person at BCT Studios in Gowanus, feature full-day programming (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) that incorporates acting, singing, and dancing technique, and in devising a musical play in a season. For more information and to register, visit https://www.brooklynchildrenstheatre.org/fall2021productionclasses/ or call BCT’s General Manager, Nick Robertson, at (626) 823-9303.

Students in all weekday classes will be cast in a short musical play and perform live on stage at the end of the semester at the historic Brooklyn Music School.

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READERS WITH TEENS, TAKE NOTE: The Brooklyn Children’s Theatre, with studios in Gowanus (see above) is also recruiting for a new group high school intern. Considered a vital part of the team that helps get productions from the rehearsal room to stage, the interns take attendance, take notes for the director, maintain a stage blocking and choreography book, learn songs and dance routines, assist during rehearsals, and do other tasks as needed. Applicants must be in 9th through 12th grades, be fully vaccinated and must enjoy working with younger kids.

Theatre background is a plus. Interns will be given credit in volunteer hours to fulfill their schools’ requirements.

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EARLY 9/11 COMMEMORATION: All Americans, and New Yorkers in particular, are urged to wave the American flag on Tuesday, Sept. 7, in remembrance of the 20th Anniversary of the September tragedy.  National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA), which gathers every Tuesday morning from 9-10 am ET to raise the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance from the Freeport Flag Ladies Monument in Jonesboro, Maine, will host a live commemoration on its official Facebook page and broadcast over Wreaths Across America Radio, starting at 8:45, in time to mourn the 8:46 a.m. attack on the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

The event, being held on the day of the week that 9/11 unfolded instead of on Sept. 11 — which this year falls on a Saturday — will include Gold Star families whose loved ones answered the call to serve after 9/11; veterans; and first responders and their families.

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ACTING SWIFTLY ON COVID PROTECTION: Governor Kathy Hochul, on her first day in office,  announced a new, comprehensive plan to help ensure a safe, productive return to schools this fall in the midst of rising COVID-19 numbers that the Delta variant is fueling. As part of this plan, Governor Hochul has directed the New York State Department of Health to institute a universal mask requirement in all schools, public and private, as determined necessary at the discretion of the commissioner.  To help ensure that testing is available to students as they return to school, Hochul is using $335 million in federal funds to launch a new COVID-19 Testing in Schools Program in partnership with local health departments.

Governor Hochul also launched an additional back-to-school COVID-19 testing program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rite Aid and BioReference to make testing more widely available for New York State public school students before the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

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ANOTHER HEAT WAVE: As more August heat is forecast for the balance of this week, Con Edison declares itself prepared to respond to any service problems. The utility urges customers to conserve energy whenever possible and report any outages, often caused when cables overheat due to the high demand from air conditioners.  Con Edison cautions also that these weather patterns frequently bring thunderstorms with gusty winds, which also cause downed wires, and that New Yorkers to call their local police department or 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633) to report downed wires.

Con Edison may send workers to guard downed wires and protect members of the public from going near them. These workers will carry identification.

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NEXT ‘BROOKLYN RESISTS’ PROGRAM: Brutally beaten because she wanted to vote, Fannie Lou Hamer carried her fury to the 1964 Democratic Convention, where her searing speech opened eyes across the country to the violence perpetrated by Southern racists. Her story is the subject of a Zoom virtual program with the Center for Brooklyn History, on Thursday, Sept. 9. Titled “Indomitable Spirit: Civil Rights Leader Fannie Lou Hamer,” the program will include panelists Kate Clifford Larson, author of Walk With Me, which traces Hamer’s life; Karen Hill of The Harriet Tubman House; and Cynthia Copeland, of The Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History. Register for the 6:30 p.m. program on the Brooklyn Public Library’s website.

This program is part of the multi-faceted public history project, Brooklyn Resists, which includes an exhibition at the Center for Brooklyn History, a collecting initiative, website, curriculum, as well as regular evening programs.

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NATIONAL GUARD PROMOTION: A soldier from Bushwick has been promoted in rank where she serves in the New York Army National Guard. Major General Ray Shields, the Adjutant General for the State of New York, announced the promotion of Yuleisi Castillo to private first class. Ms. Castillo is assigned to the 1,569th Transportation Company.

These promotions additionally recognize the best qualified soldiers and attract and retain the highest caliber citizen soldiers for a career in the New York Army National Guard.

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