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Community Corner

🌱 Mulchfest + World HIV/AIDS Awareness + LittlePuss Press

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Brooklyn.

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(Patch Media)

Good morning, neighbors. It's Wednesday in Brooklyn and I'm back in your inbox to get you caught up on all the most important things happening in our community. Today you'll read about:

  • 2022's Christmas trees get new life after 'death'
  • How a Brooklyn heath organization is raising HIV/AIDS awareness
  • A woman-owned publisher and the trans literary renaissance

But first, today's weather:

🌤 Partly sunny. High: 42 Low: 33.

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Here are the top stories in Brooklyn today:

1. Nothing kills the holiday spirit quite like seeing a discarded Christmas tree, left to wither away on the side of the road. Fortunately, Brooklyn's trees don't have to meet such a mood-dampening end, thanks to Mulchfest 2023. Prospect Park Alliance is inviting people across the city to stop by the park with their holiday trees to transform them into environmentally-friendly mulch that will help nourish the park's trees. During Chipping Weekend, this year on January 7 and 8, folks can bring their trees to the Lincoln Road and Ocean Avenue entrance, 3rd Street entrance, or Park Circle entrance; trees will be collected by staff members and volunteers for chipping. And if you can't make it on Chipping Weekend, trees can also be dropped off at any Mulchfest location during park hours from now until January 8.

Brooklyn Patch

2. One Brooklyn Health (OBH) is celebrating World AIDS Day by educating and raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and how the virus continues to impact the borough. "Our HIV awareness day is designed to educate all members of our community about HIV with a special focus on those in need of care and treatment options that are accessible and convenient," said Dr. Patrick Lee, chair of medicine at OBH. AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is the name given to multiple infections and illnesses that become life-threatening if an individual's immune system has been compromised by HIV (transmitted sexually or through contact with infected blood). There is no cure for HIV/AIDS at present, and it continues to effect millions of people globally—half of whom die from the virus. For OBH chair Dr. Lee, marking World AIDS day was especially important in Brooklyn, where the borough's central neighborhoods continue to see high rates of HIV diagnosis.

Brooklyn Paper

3. Two Brooklyn women and their LittlePuss Press are making other trans women "crack up in public." Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett met decades ago in a writing class and both came into their own as writers and editors during what Plett calls the "trans lit renaissance." The goal of LittlePuss press, based in Brooklyn, has been to publish writers—largely trans—who they believe would have otherwise gone unpublished. This year, they hosted a big party to celebrate burgeoning writers: Some 100 people were invited to Fitzpatrick's row house in South Brooklyn for a night full of author readings and general reverie. You can read more about LittlePuss, its founders, and the trans literary renaissance at the link below.

Subscription / The New York Times

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Today in Brooklyn:

  • Celebrate Kwanzaa, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Today @ 10 a.m. | Details
  • Marine Park Alliance Festival of Lights: Kwanzaa, Carmine Carro Community Center, Today @ 5 p.m. | Details
  • Foreigner on Ice @ STUDIOSKATE, 99 Scott Studio, Today @ 6 p.m. | Details
  • Noé Socha, Tambour Music Bistro & Wine Bar, Toda @ 6:30 p.m. | Details
  • Brooklyn Made Holiday Pop-Up Shop, Industry City, Today—Dec. 31 | Details

🐝 Brooklyn Buzz:

  • Hip-hop nostalgia inspires this Bushwick's artist street art: "Miniaturist Danny Cortes re-creates hip-hop-infused street scenes of a gritty New York with dexterous hands and child-like enthusiasm." Read more at the link. (TRT World)
  • 2023 will see NYC learner's permits extended: "New drivers in the Empire State now have a little longer to earn their license. Previously, new drivers had just six months to use their learner's permits before having to get a proper license. Under a new plan that begins Dec. 27, the DMV will be extending the expiration of learner's permits to one full year." (News 12 Brooklyn)

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Thanks for following along and staying informed! See you all tomorrow morning for your next update.

— Carlie Houser

About me: I'm a recent grad based in Brooklyn, NY. I love to write, run, read, and find new restaurants and venues around the city.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Brooklyn Daily? Contact me at brooklyn@patch.com

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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