I have a story in the Times today about the furor over the Footprints exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library.

The exhibition comprises photographs, drawings and paintings of the people, places and buildings that lie in the approximately 22-acre ‘footprint’ of developer Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards development. The furor has been caused by the library’s decision to exclude some works it deemed too political or abstract, leading to charges of censorship.

Since the development is controversial and since the library’s decision to exclude some works has proved controversial, I expect that my story will come in for criticism too. So be it. However, there are a couple of things I would like to add, since the 450 word count for the Times story was a constraint.

Although people are accusing the library of censorship the exhibition in and of itself carries an anti-development message. However hard the library might have tried to exclude works that it deemed too political the sum total of the exhibition is to leave the visitor—or this one at least—with the depressing impression that if the development goes ahead all of the people and places featured will be gone.

Another aspect missing from today’s story is the image of the picture above. In my story I mention that the painting Console Yourself, by Aisha Cousins, is included in the exhibition, but the impact of the work is only clear if you can see it for yourself. The painting depicts an Atlantic Yards development-shaped Pac-Man (controlled by shady-looking executives?) about to devour neighborhood homes. I don’t think anyone could have made their feelings plainer than that.

Of course this raises more questions than it answers. Chiefly, if the library was willing to show the picture above, why not show Donald O’Finn’s collage of the arena as a gigantic, glowing toilet (below)? And if the library was willing to stage this exhibition, and include the work above, how can people be so quick to accuse the library of being frightened of offending the developer?

Further reading:
GL on the BPL in the NYT (Gowanus Lounge)
“Footprints” portrait hagiography or not? You decide (Atlantic Yards Report)
Hagiography at the library! (No Land Grab)
Shhhush. This is a Library! (Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn)

A German paragliding champion has survived being sucked into a storm that pulled her higher than Mount Everest.

Ewa Wisnierska, 35, who lost consciousness as she soared skywards, was covered in ice and battled hailstones the size of oranges.

She was pulled 9,940m (32,612 feet) above sea level in the storm near Tamworth, in New South Wales, paragliding officials said.

Paraglider survives 32,000ft fall, BBC News.

I’ve been working on a story about documentary film making for MovieMaker magazine. And among the films I have been looking at is 51 Birch Street, by Doug Block, a moving film about the complex private lives of an apparently ordinary American couple.

The New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times chose 51 Birch Street as among their top ten films of 2006. It will be showing at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan on Monday, February 19. If you live in New York, I highly recommend taking the opportunity to see it.

His decision to memorize and recite the digits of pi was an important turning point. Racked by nervousness the night before the recitation, he fell into a deep sleep and dreamed that he was walking through the landscape of pi — that he was actually deep inside the number, enveloped by its sights and colors and textures.

The recitation took place at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, lasted five hours and nine minutes and was monitored by students from the department of mathematical sciences at Oxford Brookes University. Mr. Tammet made no mistakes.

“I wanted to go as far into the other place as I could go,” he said, speaking of the world of numbers. “Having reached that point, I felt a kind of release because I could look back and in my mind’s eye I could see all the numbers — all 22,000 numbers in my head — and I actually turned around in my head and waved them good-bye, because I knew that I wasn’t going to see them again, I wasn’t going to do something like that again.

“It’s still with me,” he said, “but it’s not any longer something I have to go into to feel happy and comfortable. I can feel happy in the world of people. My partner makes me happy. My friends make me happy. Numbers are still a part of my life, just not all of it.”

Brainman, at Rest in His Oasis, New York Times

The sex educators had come to a Queens housing complex to discuss condoms and foreplay and sexually transmitted diseases.

Those assembled were told that their demographic was showing increases in sexual activity and an accompanying rise in promiscuity, homosexuality and H.I.V. infection.

As the teacher, Monique Binford, delved into an unexpurgated discussion covering issues from vaginal dryness to Viagra, one student’s cane clattered to the floor, another student adjusted his hearing aid and a third fidgeted in her orthopedic shoes. By the time Ms. Binford got around to describing a safe sexual act involving Saran Wrap, a woman shouted, “Enough, already!” and the room erupted in laughter.

The sex educators had news for this class of 40 people in their 70s and 80s, just in time for Valentine’s Day: Older folks are friskier than ever, and it’s never too late to learn about safe sex.

Greatest Generation Learns About Great Safe Sex New York Times