Brooklyn Children's Museum

Planet Brooklyn: Chinese New Year celebration will kick off the Year of the
Boar at Brooklyn Children's Museum on Saturday, February 10, from 12-5pm. Families can create their own lanterns, learn to play shuttlecock and other Chinese games, and meet real "dragons" from the Museum's live animal collection. And don't miss a special performance by the lion dance team from Yee's Hung Ga Kung Fu Association of Brooklyn - including a peek inside the lion's head!

145 Brooklyn Avenue

Brooklyn Museum

Celebrate Heart of Brooklyn's fifth anniversary in Brooklyn Museum's spectacular collection of ancient Egyptian masterpieces. The galleries include more than 1,000 treasures spanning 5,000 years, from pre-dynastic times through the reign of Cleopatra. See beautifully decorated coffins, a mummy, monumental stone statues, jewelry worn by the pharoahs, and a relief with the world's first-known representation of a kiss, all a part of the collection considered to be one of the finest in the world. And be sure to catch the newly opened Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism. This exhibition has over forty superb examples of nineteenth century French and American landscapes by such artists as Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent.

The New York Times had a deeply disturbing article in Sunday's Arts section. The article describes several exhibitions on Moses, and flowing from them, an effort to rehabilitate his name, which has since Robert Caro's The Power Broker never quite recovered.

“It could be that ‘The Power Broker’ was a reflection of its time: New York was in trouble and had been in decline for 15 years. Now, for a whole host of reasons, New York is entering a new time, a time of optimism, growth and revival that hasn’t been seen in half a century. And that causes us to look at our infrastructure.”

“A lot of big projects are on the table again, and it kind of suggests a Moses era without Moses,” added [Kenneth T. Jackson, a historian of New York City at Columbia who co-edited the exhibition catalog].

It's true enough that we have a new Moses era, but that requires us to precisely not forget his legacy. And that legacy is mixed. Robert Moses destroyed the South Bronx and built the Cross-Bronx Expressway. He built hundreds of playgrounds in Manhattan, only one of which – according to The Powerbroker, it was decorated with little brass monkeys playing – was north of 125th Street. Robert Moses segregated previously integrated neighborhoods. The parkways leading out to the open air, the ones he built while starving mass transit, feature pretty little bridges built so low that no buses can use them, cutting off the poor (read: the black) from this bounty. Robert Moses' racism permeates literally all he has done. Along the way, he engaged in staggering acts of corruption that would be impossible today, the best efforts of Joe Bruno and Efrain Gonzalez notwithstanding.

Here are some events going on in Brooklyn:

Brooklyn Children's Museum

Grab your mittens and your magnifying glass, it's time to become a snow scientist at Brooklyn Children's Museum! The Science of Snow, Saturday, January 27 from 1-3pm, gives you an up-close look at this icy winter wonder. Learn how animals survive in the winter, and explore snowy weather strategies used by different cultures. Conduct experiments to see how salt effects ice, and investigate snowflake crystals. Make a snowy decoration to take home. Ages 6+

Please note: Due to the Museum's ongoing expansion, the Totally Tots gallery will be closed January 16, 2007. A special early learner gallery will open February 10, 2007. Please contact (718) 735-4400 x321 for additional information and questions.

145 Brooklyn Avenue

Brooklyn Museum

Come to the Brooklyn Museum to see the newly opened Ancient Egyptian Magic: Manipulating Image, Word, and Reality, a special exhibition in the galleries containing Brooklyn MuseumÂ’s world-famous collection of ancient Egyptian art. Magic presents twenty-one objects that explore how the early Egyptians addressed the unknown forces in the universe. It is also the opening weekend of The Eye of the Artist: The Work of Devorah Sperber. Sperber, a New York artist presents seven works including her eye-catching thread-spool installations recreating Da VinciÂ’s The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa that can only be fully seen by looking through an optical device. This weekend will also be your last chance to see Ron MueckÂ’s amazingly life-like figure sculptures that have been leaving thousands of visitors in awe!

Here are some upcoming events in Brooklyn, all good things.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society presents Portraits of a Garden III at Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery through Sunday, November 5, 2006. Included in this exhibit of all new work by Florilegium Society artists is a special work-in-progress illustration of "Baby," BBG's world-famous Amorphophallus titanum, by Paul Harwood, Herbarium Supervisor at BBG.

Save the date for the Garden's 14th Annual Chile Pepper Fiesta - New York's Hottest Fall tradition - Saturday, September 30, 10am - 6pm.

BBG's free Spanish language class, El Arte del Compostaje, takes place September 25, 6pm - 8pm. Sign up by calling (718) 623-7220.

Plus, registration is now open for BBG's Children's Garden program, Trees and Saplings (starting October 4), where caregivers learn alongside their three- or four- year-old to enhance their youngster's experience at BBG. Call (718) 623-7220 for more information.

Brooklyn Children's Museum

Join storyteller Tammy Hall for Amazing Tales of Wonder, a performance of spirited stories full of magic and whimsy. On Saturday, September 16 at 1pm and 2pm, Tammy mixes culture, creativity, and fun in her collection of tales from around the world. All ages.